International Herald Tribune
By
Michael Wines Published: February 6, 2007
JOHANNESBURG: For close to
seven years, Zimbabwe's economy and quality of
life have been in slow,
uninterrupted decline. They are still declining this
year, people there say,
with one notable difference: The pace is no longer
so slow.
Indeed,
Zimbabwe's economic descent has picked up so much speed that
President
Robert Mugabe, the nation's ruler for the past 27 years, is
starting to lose
support from parts of his own party.
In recent weeks, the national power
authority has warned of a collapse of
electrical service. A breakdown in
water treatment has set off a new
outbreak of cholera in the capital,
Harare. All public services were cut off
in Marondera, a regional capital of
50,000 in eastern Zimbabwe, after the
city ran out of money to fix broken
equipment. In Chitungwiza, just south of
Harare, electricity is supplied but
four days a week.
The government awarded all civil servants a 300 percent
raise just two weeks
ago. But the increase is only a fraction of the
inflation rate, so the
nation's 110,000 teachers are staging a work slowdown
for more money;
measured by the black-market value of Zimbabwe's ragtag
currency, even their
new salaries total less than $60 a
month.
Doctors and nurses have been on strike for five weeks, seeking a
mammoth pay
increase, and health care is all but nonexistent. Harare's
police chief
warned in a recently leaked memo that if officers did not get a
substantial
raise, they might riot.
In the past eight months,
"there's been a huge collapse in living
standards," Iden Wetherell, an
editor of the weekly Zimbabwe Independent,
said in a telephone interview,
"and also a deterioration in the
infrastructure - in standards of health
care, in education. There's a sort
of sense that things are
plunging."
Mugabe's fortunes appear to have dimmed as well. In December, the
ruling
party that has traditionally bowed to his will, the Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front, balked at supporting a constitutional
amendment that would have extended his term of office by two years, to 2010.
That unprecedented rebuff exposed a fissure in the party, known as ZANU- PF,
between Mugabe's hard-line backers and the so-called moderates who fear he
has brought their nation to the brink of collapse.
The trigger of
this crisis - hyperinflation - reached an annual rate of
1,281 percent this
month, and has been near or above 1,000 percent since
last April.
Hyperinflation has bankrupted the government, left 8 in 10
citizens
destitute and decimated the country's factories and farms. Pay
increases
have so utterly failed to keep pace with price increases that some
Harare
workers now complain that bus fare to and from work consumes their
entire
salaries.
Soaring costs have made it impossible for both national and
local
governments to meet budgets and for businesses to afford raw
materials,
while subsidies for basic commodities have drained the government
treasury
and promoted corruption.
Seeking to revive farm production,
for example, the government sells
gasoline to farmers at a deep discount of
330 Zimbabwe dollars, or about
$1.27, per liter - and farmers promptly
resell it on the black market for 10
times as much, leaving their fields
idle.
Mugabe, who blames a Western plot against him for Zimbabwe's
problems, has
rejected all calls for economic reform. The government refuses
to devalue
Zimbabwe's dollar, which fetches only 5 to 10 percent of its
official value
on the thriving black market, so foreign exchange to buy
crucial imported
goods like spare parts and fertilizer has effectively dried
up.
Despite acceptable rains, one international aid official said,
Zimbabwe's
corn crop is lagging behind the yield for last year - and that
harvest was
among the worst in history.
The central bank's latest
response to these problems, announced this week,
was to declare inflation
illegal. From March 1 to June 30, anyone who
increases prices or wages will
be arrested and punished. Only a "firm social
contract" to end corruption
and restructure the economy
will bring an end to the crisis, said the
reserve bank governor Gideon Gono.
The speech by Gono, a favorite of
Mugabe, was broadcast nationally. In
central Harare, the last half was
blacked out by a power failure.
Eighty-two years old, physically robust
and mentally wily, Mugabe has
survived both international condemnation and
domestic upheaval before. But
hyperinflation is eroding the government's
control over every aspect of
public life and, by extension, over its own
future.
"It's out of control now, and they have to bring it back in
control," said
John Robertson, a Harare economist and a frequent critic of
government
policies. "We're reaching the steepest slopes of the process.
They say they
can fix prices, but the things that cause price increases come
from so many
different directions that the government can't control them
all."
That growing loss of control is apparent. The black market, which
already
flourishes beyond the reach of tax collectors and regulators, is
likely to
grab an even larger share of the economy when the government
freezes prices
in March, because stores will be unable to make a profit
selling products at
government-fixed prices.
Problems with water and
power supplies have already become acute because of
a lack of foreign
exchange and salaries for workers; a wave of blackouts hit
the nation early
last month when 100 electrical workers walked out to
protest low
pay.
Zimbabwe's political opposition has never staged an effective work
stoppage
to protest living conditions. But public workers, the bedrock of
government
support, have begun this year to walk off the job because there
is no longer
enough money to pay them a living wage.
The average
teacher, for example, earns barely one-fourth of the salary
needed to keep a
family of six out of poverty. The military, unhappy with
the 300 percent pay
increase in January, is seeking 1,000 percent.
The growing number of
strikes has also emboldened the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions, a center
of public support and of opposition to Mugabe, to
make its own plans for a
general work stoppage.
"People in Zimbabwe tend to be resilient," said
Jamal Jafari, an analyst for
the Washington-based International Crisis
Group, which monitors political
risks worldwide. "But that having been said,
what has to be the scariest
statistic for the government is the fact that
large sectors of the civil
service and the military are far below the
poverty line. They simply can't
raise salaries fast enough."
Many
experts now believe that Zimbabwe faces a political showdown within
months,
as the governing bodies of ZANU-PF wrangle over whether to grant
Mugabe an
extended term or to put less-radical members of the ruling party
in power.
Few expect a democratic revolution; the one rival party, the
Movement for
Democratic Change, is riven by splits and lacks a competent
leader.
Regardless, they say, by failing to arrest this accelerating
decline,
Zimbabwe is edging toward a day of political reckoning that years
of
diplomatic jawboning and political jockeying have failed to
produce.
For the government, "the big problem about Zimbabwe is that the
one thing
you can't rig is the economy," said one Harare political analyst,
who spoke
on the condition of anonymity for fear of being
persecuted.
"When it fails, it fails. And that can have unpredictable
effects."
Zim Online
Wednesday 07 February 2007
By Hendriks
Chizhanje
HARARE - The Zimbabwean government has fired 60 doctors for
spearheading a
seven-week old strike that has paralysed operations at the
country's four
major hospitals.
The doctors, who are all based at
Harare Central Hospital, were handed their
dismissal letters on Tuesday
which were signed by Julius Nderere, the chief
executive officer at Harare
Central.
The doctors, who were among the 350 striking doctors across the
country,
were accused of absenting themselves from work for more than 30
days in
violation of the Health Services Regulations of 2006.
The
doctors downed their tools last December to press for better pay and
working
conditions. They wanted the government to award them salaries of Z$5
million
a month and allowances to buy personal vehicles.
"It has been noted that
you have not been reporting for duty for a
continuous period of 30 days
since the 22nd of December 2006.
"In view of the above you are hereby
discharged from service with effect
from 22nd December 2006 in terms of
Section 62 (e) of Health Service
Regulations of 2006," read part of the
dismissal letter.
Nderere refused to take questions on the matter
yesterday referring
ZimOnline to Health Minister David Parirenyatwa and his
permanent secretary
Mabhiza.
Parirenyatwa and Mabhiza could not be
reached for comment on the latest
development.
Hospital Doctors'
Association President Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa confirmed the
dismissal of his
colleagues saying the fate of the other doctors was still
unknown.
"The process (of dismissing doctors) is ongoing and it's
quite confusing
because the Minister (Parirenyatwa) was saying our
grievances were genuine,"
said Nyamutukwa.
Zimbabwe is already facing
a critical shortage of doctors and nurses many of
whom have left over the
past seven years to seek better jobs abroad.
Last month, the doctors said
they would quit en masse if the government
refused to accede to their salary
demands.
The doctors, who were earning about Z$56 000 a month, were
awarded a 300
percent salary hike last January which they rejected. The
government later
awarded them a further 300 percent salary hike to coax them
back to work,
which they also refused.
Zimbabwe's health delivery
system, once lauded as one of the best in Africa,
has virtually collapsed
after years of under-funding and mismanagement.
An acute economic crisis
now in its eighth year running has only helped
worsen the situation with the
government short of cash to import essential
medicines and equipment, while
the country has suffered the worst brain
drain of doctors, nurses and other
professionals seeking better
opportunities abroad. - ZimOnline
The Times
February 06, 2007
Jan Raath in Harare
Morale among the security apparatus that has
assured President Mugabe's
ruthless hold on power in Zimbabwe has slumped as
junior officers find that
out-of-control inflation has wiped out their
earnings.
A growing mood of militant discontent that has spurred doctors
and nurses to
strike, with teachers close behind, appears to be taking hold
of the rank
and file in the Army and police.
With inflation of 1,200
per cent, the worst in the world, the Government can
no longer keep their
wages ahead of the soaring cost of living.
A leaked memorandum from
Augustine Chihuri, the Commissioner of Police, says
that 3,500 officers - 14
per cent of the total - are to leave the force next
month. Absenteeism is
rife and resignations are pouring in because officers
cannot afford to feed
their families, despite regular hefty increases. A
constable gets Z$110,000
(£12.35) a month.
Mr Chihuri said that officers held the Government
responsible "for their
suffering" and predicted that a contemplated refusal
to allow them to resign
would fuel rebellion.
Military sources
confirm that the Army - where privates fare a little better
with wages of
Z$150,000 - has clamped down on resignations but soldiers
either go Awol or
report for duty only occasionally.
Mr Mugabe's notorious militia of
guerrilla war veterans is demanding an
eightfold increase in its pensions -
the Government's answer last week was a
wage freeze set for next
month.
"The lack of morale [in the uniformed services] is the most
difficult
challenge the State will be facing in the next couple of months,"
Eldred
Masunungure, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe,
said.
He saw a growing potential for an "explosion" triggered by a
nonpolitical
spark and a risk that police and soldiers would refuse to obey
commands. The
hopelessness and anger of ordinary people had created a sense
of militancy
that had not been apparent until recently.
The
Government has been unable to end a six-week strike by doctors, who have
just been joined by nurses - three of whom were arrested last week.
Teachers'
unions, whose members cannot afford the bus fare to schools, are
also
threatening to strike.
Some protests are still met with a
ruthless response: 22 mineworkers' wives
in the small town of Shurugwi went
to a police station to ask permission to
hold a demonstration about their
husbands' wages. "No," said the policeman.
The women turned round and walked
back towards the bus stop. Before they had
reached it, the police chased
them, arrested them and held them in the cells
overnight.
The women -
several of them pregnant and some with babies - were released in
the morning
after paying admis-sion-of-guilt fines.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
said that the police had decided that the
women walking together to the bus
stop constituted an illegal demonstration
The Times
February 06, 2007
Mugabe faces the beginnings
of revolt in Zimbabwe's military
Robert Mugabe has been sustained in power by
a military and security
apparatus that has successfully crushed the
political opposition, and
suppressed popular dissent by continual,
overwhelming intimidation. People
have become either too frightened to speak
out against the ruin he has
brought on Zimbabwe, or too exhausted by the
daily battle for survival to
protest. From the perspective of the ruling
clique, military-style campaigns
such as Murambatsvina, the forcible
demolition of shantytowns two years ago
that rendered some two million of
the urban poor homeless, have been highly
effective. Rootless, malnourished
people make feeble opponents. An important
part of Mr Mugabe's own strategy
for survival has been to convince
Zimbabweans that opposition is futile. Up
to four million have voted with
their feet, fleeing to South Africa and
other neighbouring countries.
But the catastrophic state of the
Zimbabwean economy, where inflation is now
1,282 per cent, the dollar
changes hands for 20 times the official exchange
rate and an estimated 80
per cent are unemployed, is presenting Mr Mugabe
with a new challenge,
against which repression is less likely to be
effective. In Zimbabwe, they
call it "the politics of the stomach", a
national upsurge of despair. The
Mugabe regime, like that of North Korea,
critically relies on keeping
soldiers, police, security agents and militias
happy. They are happy no
longer. Mr Mugabe may not be too disturbed that
doctors, nurses and teachers
are on strike for pay rises of up to 8,000 per
cent; the health services
collapsed some time ago, and, in a country where
education has traditionally
been highly prized, many children no longer
attend school anyway because
their parents cannot afford school fees or
uniforms. Discontent among the
security services and the politically potent
"veterans of the revolution" is
a different matter.
The regime has insulated these groups from the worst
effects of Zimbabwe's
economic collapse by raising their pay even faster
than the spiralling
inflation rate. But that, in turn, fed inflation, and
the point has been
reached where the State can no longer print money fast
enough. Soldiers
whose pay no longer feeds their families are failing to
report for duty and
even senior officers spend large amounts of time on the
farms given to them
after the expropriation of white-owned farms. As we
report today, a
confidential memorandum from the Zimbabwean police
commissioner says that 14
per cent of the force is due to leave in March and
that absenteeism is at
unprecedented levels. Elderly veterans of the 1970s
independence struggle
are being recalled to the army and police to fill the
gaps left by
deserters - and were given a fourfold pay increase yesterday
that can only
magnify discontent in the regular security services. The army
is in charge
of the hugely unpopular new policy of forcing communal farms to
grow maize
which they must then sell to the military-run state marketing
board. The
police still savagely repress protests, even those by
churchmen.
But the closer that the security services' families come to
sharing the
common hardship, the greater the possibility that their men will
disobey
orders that make them hated. Mr Mugabe will not go willingly. No
politician
can push him out. Africa has a tradition of military coups. The
classic
conditions for a coup now exist.
iafrica.com
Tue, 06 Feb
2007
Zimbabwe has witnessed a spate of unprecedented price increases for most
goods and services in the past week, many of which had been raised in
anticipation of a devaluation that did not materialise, Harare's Herald
Online reported on Tuesday.
A price survey conducted by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe just before the
monetary policy pronouncement last
Wednesday and another just after, showed
cost of foodstuffs, alcohol,
clothes, rent and furniture, among others, had
risen by up to 400 percent in
less than one week.
The survey was conducted in most chain stores and
other wholesale and retail
outlets.
Neck tie prices rocket
For
instance, the price of a two-litre bottle of cooking oil went up by 118
percent to $17 000 from $7782, tomatoes shot up by 205 percent to $4400 per
kg from $1440.97 while a 10 kg bag of roller meal rose by 48 percent to
$2500 from $1689.
A standard size full chicken went up by 75 percent
to $8300 from $4755.59
only a few days ago.
On the clothing front,
the highest climber was men's neck ties, which shot
up by 400 percent to $30
000.
Sapa
Reuters
Tue 6
Feb 2007 15:49:33 GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE, Feb 6 (Reuters) -
The cost of consumer goods in Zimbabwe surged by
more than 200 percent in
less than a week, a central bank document showed --
raising the chances of
widening strikes and added political pressure on
President Robert
Mugabe.
Political analysts say that with the economic crisis blamed
largely on
Mugabe's politics seen worsening, spontaneous strikes may be on
the cards,
as dissatisfied workers turn to the streets to express their
rage.
The country has this year seen wildcat strikes by doctors and
nurses, which
have crippled state hospitals. Some teachers at government
schools started
boycotting classes this week, with others on go slow, while
university
lecturers have reportedly gone on strike to demand better
pay.
"Every Zimbabwean is crying out for salvation from hunger, poverty,
destitution, escalating cost of living and meaningless wages," Arthur
Mutambara, the leader of a splinter group of the main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change told journalists.
"We will soon launch a
campaign of defiance against the regime ... the price
of freedom is death.
Give me freedom or give me death," Mutambara said on
Tuesday.
Zimbabwe opposition parties have vowed to resist plans by
Mugabe to extend
his long rule by two more years to 2010, which they say
will only further
cripple a struggling economy.
Analysts are however
cautious on the success of any anti-government
protests, saying Mugabe --
who has warned the army will "pull the trigger"
on opponents -- would use
state security agents to crush any demonstrations.
The southern African
country is in the grips of a deepening recession marked
by the world's
highest inflation rate of 1,281 percent, shortages of foreign
currency, fuel
and food and unemployment of around 80 percent and increasing
poverty. In a
survey made available to Reuters on Tuesday, the central bank
said prices of
basic food stuffs like meat, cooking oil and salt and
clothing items had
risen by up to 223 percent after governor Gideon Gono
presented a monetary
policy last Wednesday.
The 223 percent rise was in a sub-sector of the
main consumer price basket,
which is set to be updated next
week.
Gono did not devalue the local dollar as widely expected, fearing
this would
fuel inflation further but instead called for a price and incomes
freeze to
tame the "inflation dragon".
The Reserve Bank again called
for the freeze, which would also see Mugabe's
government slash spending
which is largely blamed for fuelling money supply
growth and
inflation.
"Short of this, the inflation monster will sink its claws deep
in the
economy to depths where no fiscal or monetary policy interventions
will be
able to reverse it," the bank said in remarks accompanying the
survey.
Critics however doubt the government's commitment to the pact,
while labour
groups said they would not favour a wage freeze at current
salary levels.
The government set the minimum wage at 100,000 Zimbabwe
dollars ($400) in
November, against a poverty line of about 344,256 Zimbabwe
dollars. The
Zimbabwe dollar is officially pegged at 250 to the greenback
but fetches up
to 5,000 on a thriving black market.
"There is no
reason to believe government, which failed to commit to a
tripartite
agreement reached with labour and business will do so this time
around,"
said Prosper Chitambara of the Labour and Economic Development
Research
Institute.
The country's main labour group, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions last
month gave the government a Feb. 23 deadline to address workers
demands such
as aligning salaries to the poverty line or face street
protests.
(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe)
It should be noted that despite the decision to allow sugar producers
to
raise the price of sugar by over 100 per cent, sugar producers are
still
restricting supplies of sugar to the market. They are maintaining
supplies
to essential industrial users but not to retailers and wholesalers.
Sugar
remains very scarce in all outlets and is not expected to increase in
supply
any time soon.
There is every indication that all price
controlled products are in short
supply and will remain so until the price
regime is corrected to provide for
present inflation trends. Cooking oil is
virtually unobtainable, fats are
also in short supply. Bread is now being
sold for half its real cost and
problems will emerge in this sector in the
near future.
It is understood that a complete freeze on all prices and
wages is about to
be implemented (perhaps from the begining of March) and
this will throw the
entire economy into chaos as none of the issues that
underpin present
inflation trends has been addressed. Coming on top of the
decision to
continue looting the export sector through low official exchange
rates (this
tax now costs the private sector more than PAYE and VAT combined)
the
decision to impose a complete price and wage freeze will plunge the
economy
into a new and unparalleled crisis.
Eddie Cross
6th
February
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
06 February 2007
02:09
Zimbabwe's splintered opposition should unite to block
plans by
President Robert Mugabe's ruling party to extend his rule by
another two
years to 2010, the head of a faction said
Tuesday.
"We are saying 'no' to Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF,"
declared
Arthur Mutambara, leader of the splinter Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC), at a news conference in the capital, Harare, where the party
launched
a defiance campaign.
"In pursuit of this, we
believe there is no alternative to
working together in the opposition. If we
don't work together, we are
working for Zanu-PF. We are surrogates and
sell-outs."
Zimbabwe's main opposition MDC ,led by Morgan
Tsvangirai, split
into two following a row over Senate polls in
2005.
The Mutambara faction contested the polls while the
Tsvangirai
side boycotted them, saying they were a luxury in an economically
ravaged
nation grappling with four-digit inflation, steep unemployment and
food
shortages.
Mutambara said the feuding factions were
already working
together in an umbrella grouping of rights and opposition
groups called the
"Save Zimbabwe Campaign."
"The year
2007 is a year of action to bring political and
economic change in our
country ... It's all-out war and ... we are saying no
to the illegal
extension to Mugabe's mandate beyond 2008."
"The price of
freedom is death," Mutambara said, adding that the
protests would include
rallies, marches and boycotts.
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesperson
for the rival faction, agreed it
was high time the fractured opposition
buried the hatchet.
"Unity of purpose far outweighs other
considerations that divide
us artificially," Chamisa
said.
"We want a synergy of efforts to try and unlock the
crisis in
this country and support any group that shares the same
thinking."
Mugabe, who has ruled the Southern African nation
for 27 years,
is due to step down in 2008.
But the ruling
party politburo endorsed that the presidential
polls should be held in 2010
to coincide with parliamentary polls. --
Sapa-AFP
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 6 Feb
2007 (IRIN) - More than 100 Zimbabwean white commercial
farmers whose
eviction notices expired this month can stay on to harvest
their crops, but
their farms will still be up for grabs. The government is
forging ahead with
plans to acquire more properties owned by white farmers,
according to a
senior official.
Lands minister Dydimus Mutasa told IRIN on Tuesday that
his ministry, in
consultation with other government departments, had agreed
to allow the
farmers to harvest their crops. But he insisted there was no
going back on
the acquisition of their properties.
"We have, as a
government, agreed to let them [white commercial farmers]
stay put and wind
up their businesses, at least until harvest time. It is
then that they will
be moving out and making way for our own people [black
farmers], who
urgently need land," said Mutasa.
The decision appeared to be a reprieve
of sorts after Mutasa announced
earlier this week that farmers who failed to
heed the expiry of their
eviction notices on 3 February faced
imprisonment.
"All I can say is that those who resist leaving the farms
will be arrested
and face the full wrath of the law. It is the duty of the
police see to it
that those who don't abide by the laws are incarcerated,"
he said.
"Our people have been deprived of productive land for decades
and decades,
and now is the time for them to get the full benefits of
freedom by getting
the land that rightfully belongs to them. There is
certainly no compromise
on the land redistribution issue."
The
Commercial Farmers Union, which represents the interests of white
farmers,
said it was pleased that its members had been allowed to stay,
though
temporarily.
Zimbabwe's Land Act, passed last month, gave the country's
remaining white
farmers up to 90 days to vacate their land. The move
followed the
nationalisation of all agricultural land in a 2005
constitutional amendment
that also prohibits white farmers from challenging
the seizure of their land
in court.
Before the skewed land reforms
began seven years ago, Zimbabwe had an
estimated 4,500 productive white
commercial farmers who hoisted the nation's
flag as the region's
breadbasket, but now only 400 - whose future looks
bleaker than ever - have
remained on their farms. Experts note that the
number will tumble
drastically as government continues the evictions.
Donald Styer, a
commercial farmer in Chiredzi district in southeastern
Zimbabwe, is among
those who will have to leave their farms around August.
He said he was
grateful that he would be able to harvest his crops, but
ruled out a legal
challenge to the acquisition of his property as a futile
exercise.
"At least there is some relief for us, but the damage has
already been done.
The agricultural sector has been thrown in a shambles and
nothing will be
the same again ... I am, however, happy I will be leaving
with my harvest."
Critics note that the more productive land has often
been allocated to
politicians and influential government officials aligned
to President Robert
Mugabe. Sharp divisions have emerged within the ruling
ZANU-PF party over
the land reform process, with Vice-President Joyce Mujuru
and Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono critical of politicians who have
underutilised the
farmland they now hold.
In a hard-hitting televised
speech on his monetary policy review last week,
Gono, who apparently enjoys
Mugabe's support and protection, accused
high-ranking government officials
of using their acquired farms as weekend
barbecue spots, rather than for
cultivation.
"Whilst, traditionally, it has become fashionable to blame
successive
droughts and illegal sanctions against us for the country's
hardships, the
reality on the ground does, however, reveal startling
contradictions and
distortions currently prevailing in the economy," he
commented. Gono also
urged a stop to "the retrogressive ... farm disruptions
that set a gloomy
fate for our economy and country."
Mugabe has
defended the land reforms, saying they were necessary to correct
colonial-era imbalances in land ownership, but critics have maintained that
many of the new black farmers, who have struggled to produce food, were
allocated farms on the basis of political patronage rather than agricultural
expertise.
Zimbabwe has experienced a serious deficit in food
production, which has
dipped by over 50 percent due to disruptions in the
agricultural sector.
In its latest report, released two weeks ago, the
USAID-funded Famine Early
Warning System Network (FEWSNET) noted that at
least 1.4 million Zimbabweans
were in urgent need of food aid, with
below-average yields expected this
year as a result of low
rainfall.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
.
By a
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) faction leader,
Arthur Mutambara yesterday sounded the war drums,
declaring that he is
prepared to die while resisting plans by the ruling
ZANU-PF party to extend
President Robert Mugabe's term without holding
elections.
Addressing a news conference in Harare today, Mutambara, who
leads a smaller
faction of the MDC demanded that presidential elections
should go ahead next
year, but under a new Constitution.
"It's
defiance or death for us. We are saying it's an all out war in
Zimbabwe to
stop Mugabe's plans. The price of freedom is death. If as
Zimbabweans we are
not prepared to sacrifice our lives then we don't deserve
democracy. We are
ready to die in order to stop Mugabe from extending his
term of office,"
said a fired up Mutambara.
Journalists were taken through an unusual
hour-long press conference that
included song, dance, and drama to animate
Zimbabwe's deepening economic and
political crisis.
ZANU-PF members
last year agreed to harmonize presidential and parliamentary
polls in a move
the party says will save costs and facilitate for smoother
running of
elections. Mugabe's term ends in March next year, while
parliamentary
elections are only due in 2010.
The ruling party dominated parliament is
likely to make necessary
constitutional amendments to push presidential
elections to 2010, giving the
country's 83-year-old leader a further two
years in office.
But the opposition and its civic society partners argue
that Mugabe wants to
manipulate the elections harmonization plan so that he
could die in office
enjoying immunity from threatened prosecution on crimes
against humanity
charges.
Mutambara said his party would use street
demonstrations and marches to
force Mugabe to step down at the end of his
term.
But he was non-committal on the time frame of the resistance
campaign or how
he would mobilize enough masses to participate in the
programme when his
faction has in the past only attracted a few supporters
to its gatherings.
"The defiance campaign is about saying no to the
postponement of the 2008
presidential election. It is about saying no to
unfree and unfair
elections. It is about demanding, mobilizing, organizing,
and collectively
engaging in resistance collectively engaging in resistance
for the
restoration of democracy, political freedoms and our dignity as a
people,"
said Mutambara, who was flanked by MDC founding deputy president
Gibson
Sibanda and secretary general. Welshman Ncube.
Civic society
and political parties under the Save Zimbabwe Campaign have
already started
campaigning against the poll delay plans.
Mutambara said his party's
defiance campaign would complement the work done
by other
players.
"There is no alternative to working together as the opposition
in pursuit of
democracy. If we are not working together then we will be
working for
ZANU-PF. We will be regarded as ZANU-PF sellouts if we don't
work together.
There is more that unites us than that that divides us, said
Mutambara in
response to questions on whether he will unite with Morgan
Tsvangirai,
founding MDC leader and head of the larger wing of the
party.
"The defiance campaign is about Zimbabweans uniting to confront
our
challenges and organizing to resist our continued subjugation by the
ZANU-PF
government. We are part of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign and we will
also work
within that framework in addition to our own program of action,"
said
Mutambara.
The former student leader said his faction would not
contest elections next
year without an overhaul of the constitution,
electoral laws, and the voters'
roll, instruments he said were used by
ZANU-PF to rig elections.
"The current constitutional arrangements
continue to allow for undemocratic
rule and preserve the existence of the
ZANU-PF regime. It is imperative
that any election be preceded by a new
constitution which is the product of
a people driven process that ensures
the guarantee of fundamental freedoms
and protects the democratic
aspirations and values of the people. The people
of Zimbabwe through the
defiance campaign should therefore say no to
elections under the current
constitution which will make our vote an
exercise in futility."
The MDC leadership at the
weekend heightened its nationwide campaign to
rally the nation in demanding
a people-driven Constitution and rejecting
plans by the Zanu PF regime to
extend its tyranny .
In Harare, the national chairman, Isaac Matongo,
addressed huge crowds in
Mufakose and Mabvuku at the weekend, where he told
the people to resist
plans by the regime to extend the people's suffering to
2010. He said the
regime had rigged the parliamentary and presidential
elections and had no
claim to legitimacy. He said extending Mugabe's rule
was tantamount to
extending illegitimacy. It was tantamount to extending the
people's
suffering and misery. Any more day with Mugabe at the helm was not
in the
best interest of the people of Zimbabwe, the national chairman
said.
Matongo said the MDC was preparing for elections in March 2008 but
under a
new, people-driven Constitution. He said the party had come up with
a
comprehensive rural campaign strategy ahead of next year's Presidential
election. The national chairman told the people that they had a right to
express themselves against tyranny and oppression. He said 2007 was the year
in which the people should reassert and reclaim their power.
Next
week, the national chairman and other senior party leaders will address
another rally in Epworth in Harare South as the defiance campaign gathers
momentum. The MDC believes that Mugabe should not be allowed to succeed
himself.
In Manicaland, President Morgan Tsvangirai addressed two
rallies at Zhawari
and Gwirindindi business centres in Mutare West. The
President congratulated
the people in the two wards for voting for MDC
councillors in the rural
district council elections held last August. He
said all party structures
must prepare for a Presidential election next year
as the party had no plans
to partake in Zanu PF's treacherous wish to
postpone the Presidential poll
to 2010.
The President urged all
people, especially the youth, to register as voters
to enable them to vote
in next year's poll. He said the people had a right
to shape and determine
their destiny, saying next year's election provides
Zimbabweans with a
perfect opportunity to start afresh. He said the
starvation that has ravaged
all corners of the country and the rising cost
of basic goods and services
were the clearest indications that Zanu PF had
failed the people. The MDC,
the President said, understood that the people
of Zimbabwe deserved a
better deal from their leaders. He said the people
should not allow Mugabe
to buy himself any more day than his controversial
term allows
him.
In Chiredzi South, members of the Liberation team led by national
organising secretary Engineer Elias Mudzuri addressed several rallies over
the weekend. Apart from the rallies, the team met with local opinion leaders
to drum up support for Emmaculate Makondo, who is the party's candidate in
the by-election scheduled for 17 February. The various opinion leaders said
they were ready to support the party and its candidate. They accused Zanu PF
government of militarising the area ahead of the by-election. They
complained of the heavy presence of soldiers and military vehicles which
were being used to ferry food handouts to bribe voters ahead of the
poll.
Throughout the provinces and across the length and breadth of the
country,
the MDC has various teams that are interacting with people at
grassroots
level. Their mandate is to explain the party's position that the
people must
unite in rejecting Mugabe's plan to run away from a
Presidential election
by abusing a controversial technical majority in
Parliament.
Across the country, the people's concerns are significant.
They continue to
complain about the severe hardships they are facing and the
regime's
politicisation of food aid. Suspected MDC members are continously
being
denied food by some village heads and chiefs, who have now been forced
to
become extensions of the Zanu PF structures.
There is national
consensus that Zanu PF's time up. The regime has failed
the nation and the
visible signs of collapse are evident in the decay in the
country's health
and education delivery systems. Prices of basic commodities
and transport
fares have become unaffordable while the regime continues to
bury its head
in the sand.
The MDC shall continue to espouse the people's collective
spirit and their
desire for change. Our vision is a new Zimbabwe.We shall
continue to
mobilise the people to express themselves against tyranny and
misrule. We
shall not waver in our fight against the dictatorship until we
realise the
people's vision of a new Zimbabwe. We owe it to ourselves and to
posterity.
Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity
By Violet Gonda
6 February
2007
A peaceful demonstration over unaffordable fees and deteriorating
standards
of education has left scores of Bulawayo students in detention and
some
injured. The coordinator of the Students Solidarity Trust, Macdonald
Lewanika, said: "We have been able to account for 79 students who we know
police have taken away and about eight students who have been
injured."
He said students from colleges and universities in Bulawayo had
on Tuesday
marched from the centre of town to the provincial governor's
office when
armed riot police violently broke up the march. Lewanika said:
"In the
process they threw teargas at the students who started running in
different
directions and the police started chasing them, beating
some."
Those arrested are said to have been taken to Bulawayo Central
Police
Station. We were not able to get a comment from the
police.
The demonstration was attended by students from Bulawayo
Polytechnic
College, National University of Science and Technology, United
College of
Education and Hillside Teachers College. Lewanika said student
leaders from
other parts of the country also travelled to Bulawayo to act in
solidarity
with their peers.
He said: "Amongst those who have been
arrested, we have got a student leader
from the University of Zimbabwe. One
of the injured people is Edwin Murira,
who is from the SRC from the Chinhoyi
University.
Most of the grievances by the students centre on the issue of
tuition fee
increases, accommodation and social services and against plans
by the Mugabe
regime to move the presidential election from 2008 to
2010.
The coordinator of the Students Solidarity Trust said this was an
unjustified action on the part of the police and a clear case of
intimidation. "And what will probably happen is that most of these students
are going to be released without charge but after having been harassed,
after having been beaten."
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By WOZA
To: First Secretary
and Chairman, Zanu PF - R. G. Mugabe and John Nkomo; and
Presidents/Chairmen
of all other political parties:
Movement of Democratic Change (MDC)
Presidents Tsvangirai and Mutambara, PF
ZAPU, ZAPU 2000, Zanu Ndonga, UPM,
UPP, PUMA, DP, Zimbabwe Peoples
Democratic Party, Zimbabwe Youth in
Alliance; and leaders of
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civic
Movements.
Your Excellency, Honorable Members of Parliament, Senators,
Chiefs, Mayors,
Councilors, Comrades and Friends,
As we write this
open letter, Zimbabweans are living in a state of fear and
uncertainty. They
suffer discrimination in all its forms and are unable to
earn a
living.
Levels of poverty are high; unemployment is at 82% and inflation
at four
figures. Non-existent service delivery also makes life difficult.
Access to
education, housing and other basic needs is now only for the
rich.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has created thousands of orphans and
child-headed households, is a social catastrophe compounded by a failed
healthcare system and little or no access to ARVs. Further loss of valuable
human resources is happening due to people leaving the country in large
numbers. People have been unsuccessful at holding their government
accountable due to a raft of repressive laws and shrinking freedom of
expression/media space.
Corruption at all levels of government and
the politicisation of all aspects
of society has led to chaos and
disorganization in every
sector.
Women and men of WOZA have initiated
a non-violent campaign with the aim of
mobilising Zimbabweans to demand
social justice from their leaders. The time
has come to put the past behind
us and start building a better tomorrow. We
plan to hold existing leaders
accountable and mobilise people to demand
leaders who will deliver all
aspects of social justice and a genuinely
people-driven
constitution.
This resolution was made after an eleven-month, nationwide
consultation
process. During 2006, over 284 meetings, consulting almost
10,000 rural and
urban people on social justice were conducted. The people
spoke clearly
about what they want in a new Zimbabwe and their contributions
are contained
in the People's
Charter attached below.
Please open
up your heart and read it sincerely knowing that it contains the
dreams and
desires of a heartbroken nation. We are looking to ALL leaders to
provide a
public reply and endorsement of the People's Charter and would be
happy to
have this by Valentine's
Day on 14th February 2007.
WOZA looks forward
to working hand in hand with any political or civic
leaders who have
publicly endorsed the People's Charter to deliver social
justice and honour
the wishes of the Zimbabwean people.
Members and supporters of Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and Men of Zimbabwe
Arise Email: peoplescharter@yahoo.com
Business Day
06 February 2007
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE is facing the most widespread strikes and protests
by discontented
soldiers, public servants and impoverished workers since
independence in
1980.
The ground swell of discontent poses a
serious threat to President Robert
Mugabe's regime if the reported
disturbances within the army, a strike by
doctors and nurses, a go-slow by
teachers, and threats of protests by public
servants and students erupt into
a nationwide antigovernment campaign.
Last week opposition groups in the
country's second major city, Bulawayo,
staged unannounced marches against
Mugabe's attempt to extend his term of
office to 2010.
Zimbabwe,
gripped by political and economic instability for seven years now,
began the
year with strikes by doctors and nurses protesting against low
salaries and
poor working conditions.
A junior doctor earns Z$56000 (about R100) and a
nurse Z$35000 (about R60) a
month.
An average worker earns about
Z$20000 (R33) a month.
Junior doctors are seeking Z$5m (R8000) a month,
with benefits such as
accommodation and car loans.
Negotiations
between medical staff and the government have collapsed,
leaving thousands
barely treated in hospitals and clinics.
Three male nurses at Harare
Central Hospital were last week arrested on
allegations of inciting their
colleagues at Parirenyatwa Hospital to go on
strike.
Police
spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said the three had incited their
colleagues to
embark on an "illegal industrial action" and warned that
police would crush
any protests against the government. Many police officers
earn as little as
R33 a month.
The army has also been hit by a spate of desertions and
resignations, and
corruption is rife. It has reportedly ordered an
investigation into the
unrest by trainee soldiers. It is understood the army
is treating this as a
near mutiny.
Low-ranking soldiers earn Z$21000,
a mere R35 a month.
Thousands of teachers across the country have joined
a go-slow strike
campaign against the low salaries they earn.
The
Zimbabwe National Students' Union has threatened a class boycott if the
government fails to withdraw controversial increases of 300%-2000% in
tuition fees.
New Zimbabwe
By Mary
Revesai
Last updated: 02/06/2007 10:26:27
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert
Mugabe has become such dab hand at the art of
recycling dead wood within
government and quasi-government structures that
speculation that he is soon
to reshuffle his cabinet no longer arouses any
curiosity or sense of
expectation.
In most other countries cabinet reshuffles are supposed to
be an instrument
to improve efficiency and enhance the chances of achieving
the goals the
government has set itself as a way of addressing the needs and
aspirations
of the people. Most importantly, Cabinet reshuffles are supposed
to inject
new blood into the team.
Zimbabweans have noted with
increasing frustration however, that the thrust
of Mugabe's reshuffles is
the complete opposite. His aim is to ensure that
regardless of their
lacklustre performance, all the members of his tired
team remain on the
gravy train. The only headache for him is how to shift
the same people
around so that at the end of the exercise, everyone is still
at the feeding
trough.
This means that a non-performer like Agriculture Minister Joseph
Made who
does not seem to have the slightest inkling of what he is supposed
to do has
no incentive to pull up his socks because he knows he is always
assured of a
job in one form or another. In some countries, ministers have
turned down
new portfolios assigned to them after cabinet reshuffles if they
regarded
them either as demotions or not being fields where they could make
meaningful contributions. Not in Zimbabwe, where the ability to perform
effectively in a cabinet post does not seem to be a consideration when these
sinecures are dished out. I have often felt embarrassed for ministers who
have been prepared to be kicked around like tennis balls but have continued
to be grateful for whatever bone was thrown their way by the dispenser of
favours.
How many times for example, has Herbert Murerwa been
shuffled between
Finance and Higher Education? An even more important
question is what
outstanding achievements has he recorded in both portfolios
to deserve being
a second, their, fourth and fifth chance?
In the
short space of three years since he was retrieved from oblivion in
2004,
Didymus Mutasa has already won three cabinet hats but one would be
hard put
to cite a single outstanding success. Joyce Mujuru, who was
controversially
appointed to the position of vice-president two years ago,
has also served
as a governor and as minister of youth, sport and culture,
community
development and women's affairs and water resources and
development. Most
ministers in Mugabe's cabinet have been given the same
run-around and yet
they have never thought of resigning so as to make way
for new
talent.
Instead of bringing new faces into his team, Mugabe, has in fact
been known
to infuse real old and tired blood into his cabinet. The only
time he tried
to change his modus operandi was a few years ago when he
appointed his first
themed cabinet - the war cabinet. Despite including in
it technocrats such
as Simba Makoni and Nkosana Moyo, developments soon
proved that old habits
die hard. Mugabe was not prepared to have in his
cabinet ministers who did
not tell him what he wanted to hear but described
things as they were on the
ground. It did not take long for him to part ways
with Moyo and Makoni who
tried to look out for the national interest rather
than Mugabe's ego. His
subsequent statement that he only wanted "amadoda
sibili" in his cabinet has
proved to be classic double speak because it is
clear he wants sycophants
who dance to his tune.
A cynical and
frustrated Zimbabwean refers to this political patronage
system that Mugabe
presides over which has brought a once prosperous country
to its knees in
terms of the living standards of the majority of the people
as Robert Mugabe
Incorporated (Trading as Zanu PF).
Just how far and widely this "firm"
has spread its tentacles within the
populace is only obvious through the
firm grip Mugabe keeps on his cabinet.
Snippets of information come to the
fore in unexpected ways all the time to
show the extent to which Robert
Mugabe has come to regard Zimbabwe as his
personal fiefdom. Sometimes the
beneficiaries of his patronage are unmasked
through their involvement in
scandals in which someone spills the beans or
during court proceedings when
startling disclosures are made.
Zimbabweans learnt recently, for example,
that there are people employed in
the public sector whose salaries are drawn
from the national fiscus, but who
nevertheless, have "personal" contracts
with the head of state. This means
that these people unfairly enjoy
preferential treatment in terms of
remuneration and conditions of service.
The case reported in the press
recently involves a former Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) deputy
director now apparently living in
Canada, who is a fugitive from justice in
Zimbabwe. Before he skipped bail,
he had been facing fraud charges along
with some other CIO operatives. The
fraud case cannot be finalised until the
man can be extradited back to
Zimbabwe. His co-accused have complained about
unfair treatment in that
pending the conclusion of their trial for fraud,
they have been suspended
from the CIO while as their co-accused was given
his terminal benefits
because of his personal connections with the head of
state.
It was in
trying to explain this anomaly that the cat was let out of the
bag. It is
anyone's guess how many other people in the public sector are
enjoying
remuneration and conditions of service decreed personally by the
president,
thus rendering any Public Service Commission guidelines and
regulations
irrelevant. At the weekend, Mugabe and his wife Grace attended a
funeral in
Chihvu and unlikely as it may seem, this provided another insight
into the
tangled web of personal relationships that now determine the
caliber of
people serving in government and parastatals. The Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation reported that the man who was being mourned, Obert
Bimha, was
the president's brother-in-law. After this disclosure, the penny
dropped and
it became obvious that the late Obert's brothers, Mike and Joey,
are also
related by marriage to the head of state.
Mike is the new chairman of the
Air Zimbabwe board and Joey, a former
ambassador, is the permanent secretary
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Both brothers have been allocated farms
under the government's land reform
programme, a fact disclosed by Mike at
the funeral when he said: "We were
only three brothers and both myself and
my elder brother, Ambassador Bimha
no longer live at the family homestead as
we now live on our farms."
Such unwitting disclosures are only a tip of
the iceberg. The mind boggles
to think how big the submerged part of this
intricate maze of nepotism and
patronage is and what it will take to unravel
it so that Zimbabwe can belong
to all its citizens once more.
Mary
Revesai is a New Zimbabwe.com columnist and writes from Harare. Her
column
will appear here every Tuesday
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By
Sihlangu Tshuma
EVENTS unfolding in our motherland Zimbabwe can only
be portrayed in
calamitous terms. After the sun set of the Mugabe epoch, and
when Zimbabwe
wakes up from this nightmare the world will be impelled to
alter its
language to accommodate evil ingenuity of the Mugabe
sort.
The modern politician excels in the way he or she chooses his
words, because
some words attract responsibility to act. When the events in
Darfur unfolded
many looked upon the then US Secretary of State, Collin
Powell and Kofi
Annan to pronounce the word genocide.
There was
international frustration, as these men, invested with so much
authority,
hesitated to mention the g-word. Rwanda teaches us that, while
those in
positions of considerable influence vacillate to confront vice,
precious
lives are lost.
The Zimbabwean people have been made a spectacle of the
whole world. Once
again the world's attention is beckoned to the situation
in Zimbabwe. If one
was to be modest with language, one would still call it
a holocaust.
According to a study carried out to ascertain the impact of the
doctors'
strike in Zimbabwe, 60 000 people have perished to date.
The
survey says most of these deaths could have been prevented. At a time
when
the custodians of the world's authority are economic with terms,
Zimbabwe
has deteriorated into a land of the dying. I submit that the
actions of the
Mugabe regime will trigger a major paradigm shift in dealing
with genocidal
incidents.
Mugabe's addiction to power has cost Zimbabwe, a generation.
This is a man
who will hold on with tooth and claw despite the alarming loss
of lives. He
will not hesitate to render his countrymen homeless if that
would weaken the
opposition.
He will feed his supporters and starve
those who oppose him. He probably
knows that for the Gugurahundi atrocities
he is a dead man walking. The fate
of Saddam Hussein is one that every
dictator dreads privately. As a
candidate for The Hague, Mugabe and his
henchmen seek to immunise themselves
by continual dominance.
The
world has a picture of a dictator who is an uneducated, ugly army
general,
in military regalia, with a heavy accent. In contrast Mugabe is an
educated
and sophisticated brand of a dictator. Once the beloved adopted son
of the
West who patronised their palaces. I am sure that even Queen
Elizabeth could
not imagine this eloquent African could check in The Hague
one day. After
Mugabe is gone the annals will credit him as the author of a
smart
genocide.
Surely no-one suggests that Mugabe is responsible for the AIDS
pandemic. But
he is the brainchild of self-indulgence at the expense of
equity. The
Zimbabwean people have been denied the benefits of the
achievements made in
the treatment of HIV.
The health delivery system
is in a state of collapse owing to the crumbling
economy. The government has
abandoned its people in the struggle against
AIDS and the cost of the
anti-retrovirals is beyond the reach of many. The
great strides in the
treatment of AIDS, has seen lives being prolonged for
decades.
Unfortunately because of Zanu PF's obsession with power,
they would rather
talk politics and propaganda with their heads in the sand.
They pretend to
be oblivious of the plague and the affliction all around
them.
The evils of the Mugabe regime have always been understated.
This is a
regime which massacred at list 20 000 people in Matabeleland and
Midlands.
In the early 80s Mugabe became so paranoid with the opposition,
which stood
in the way of his ambition to establish a one party state. He
unleashed the
wrath of Korean trained 5th Brigade who excelled in torture
and murder.
Mugabe in his own words describes it as "a time of madness which
should not
be repeated again". After incurring losses in the referendum and
in the
parliamentary elections, Zanu PF invented a killing machine - the
Green
Bombers, with a licence to beat and terrorise people into
submission.
Young people were recruited and brain bleached. The practise
of using
children for military purposes is a common practice is rife in most
African
conflicts. The Zanu PF despots refer to some of their fellow
citizens as
'weed'. It is clear if you look at it through the brazen mouth
of Mugabe's
lieutenant Didymus Mutasa, who once said "we would be better off
with only
six million people with our people who support the liberation
struggle. We
do not want these extra people."
Words like
philanthropy, altruism are mandarin to Mugabe's regime. The world
watched
with disbelief as the bulldozers tore through the dwellings of our
fellow
countrymen. Infants and invalids were exposed to deadly elements.
Mugabe
gloated that "it had always been a long cherished desire."
The mere
mention of genocide attaches the obligation for the international
community
to intervene. The fall out of Somalia, when the Americans got
their fingers
burnt and the ongoing fiasco in Iraq, nations have become
lethargic in
responding to genocides. There is an indisputable disparity in
the response
rate to African hot spots in comparison with the rest of the
world.
Genocide Watch President Gregory Stanton modelled the
progression to full
blown genocide in eight stages. He says it evolves from
classification-dividing people into "us and them", then extermination and
later, denial. In the light of this model the Zimbabwe crisis bears every
hallmark of a man made cataclysm. This is not the sort of a catastrophe that
one can observe from the comforts of a hotel room. One needs to live in a
high density suburb of Zimbabwe for just a week. That is where you find the
people who are over laden with the brunt of tyranny.
The Mugabe
regime has presided over a world record breaking economic
meltdown. The
death rate is unprecedented for a country which is not at war.
3 500 people
die every week from AIDS and other reasons which stem from the
collapse of
the economy. This number dwarfs the death toll in Baghdad. The
government
has to account for the decline of the population. Demographic
projections
expected the population of Zimbabwe to have reached 18 million
in 2007. A
whole generation could be obliterated. Zimbabwe is a land where
the elderly
accompany the hearses bearing their young to an early grave.
This regime has
succeeded in turning Zimbabwe into a death house.
The unyielding
arrogance of the Zimbabwe government to the concerns of the
doctors has put
its citizens on death row. 60 000 people have perished since
the doctors
went on strike some two months ago. Most of these deaths could
have been
prevented. The strike highlights the collapsing state of
Zimbabwe's public
health service - once seen as one of the best in Africa.
As a novelty in
Zimbabwe, the haves and the have nots are now singing from
the same hymn
sheet. The state of the health delivery system does not
discriminate between
the rich and the poor. The blood bank has run dry. A
well to do family
looked helplessly as their son bled to the point of death.
The hospital
could not supply enough blood. The family combed the length and
breath of
the country for a pint of blood in vain.
One does not need be sensational
about what is happening in Zimbabwe. The
situation on the ground speaks for
itself. The authoritarian's hold to power
is unrelenting and remorseless. It
is obvious why Mugabe is so generous to
Mengistu Haile Mariam. Birds of a
feather flock together. Mugabe cannot
afford to extradite Mengistu, he is
not in the business of teaching his
successors how to deal with
dictators.
The silence of the world, while the nation of Zimbabwe wastes
away, is
ominous. The peace loving peoples of Zimbabwe feel betrayed by
those they
call friends around the globe. The world is fed up with leaders
who come
late on the scene and try to atone for their sins of omission by
saying, "if
only we had known better." The echoes of President Clinton's
voice can still
be heard. Speaking on his visit to Rwanda. He said, "All
over the world
there were people like me sitting in offices who did not
fully appreciate
the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed
by this
unimaginable terror."
The state of affairs in Zimbabwe has
evaded the comprehension of the world's
leaders. The world is waiting to see
blood flowing and amputees running amok
on the highways and byways of
Zimbabwe, to call it a genocide. Walking along
the streets of Bulawayo, the
second largest city, you may not see people
wielding machetes. You may not
hear any gun shots. But if you go and spend a
day at the West Park Cemetry
you will see the evidence of a smart genocide.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Andrew M
Manyevere
UNCERTAINITY is no tool to use in planning, but only as
equipment for
allowing disaster to rule over the future. Disaster sometimes
is not
physically tested or witnessed except as people read of it as having
happened and caused untold harm, always in the past and never in the future.
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is both a disaster and is fraught with
uncertainties in his outlook and political life style.
There is fate
caused disaster which account only to nature and providential
circumstances.
Even though America is claimed equipped to foresee disaster
prior occurring,
Tsunami or Oceanic disasters continue striking while the
guards are watching
un expectantly still.
There is no certainty even in science visa-avis
powers of God acts, for
example. But country constitutions are supposedly to
guarantor leadership
against dictatorship in vain, in growing
governments.
A political uncertainty is one of the treatises in
Machiavelli write up on
tyrannical kingdom's growing sustainable strategies.
Playing people against
one another takes an emanate role in causing weak,
the people who intent on
protest as a demand weapon to injustice implied or
applied by a ruler.
Mr Enos Nkala, who was a founder member of Zanu and a
one time strongman for
Zanu PF, now proffers to write certain of his
observations which will tell
the men Mugabe killed, but only to be published
when he is dead. The
reasoning of good old Nkala is that he cannot stand
Mugabe in dispute with
him over these issues, even though he claims; he does
not fear Robert
Mugabe.
What is fear if not the success of the
uncertainty of what can happen if you
do the unconventional with a tyrant?
There is uncertainty in Mr Nkala's mind
as to what should happen direct or
indirectly to him, if he dares say
certain of the secrets he shared with Mr
Robert Mugabe in the open, except
when he is dead and buried.
This is
a tool of political uncertainty, coming, from what Nkala knows
Mugabe to be
capable of doing when pushed in a political corner with a
threat of
languishment. What if we say that there is no more a political
corner of
threat, can these friends of Robert Mugabe tell everything on ills
of their
friend really?
The theory of Political uncertainty works on the
assumption that the wrong
that we did together which I have to level against
you because you have gone
beyond scale, can only be revealed when I am gone;
so you cannot put me to
trial or investigate the authenticity.
It
therefore follows that fatal event (including deaths arranged throw
crafted
accidents) that happen in people who are envisaged as cause of
political
threat to those in control of power by default, compound the
incomprehensible complex elements in this theory.
Because it is real
that people have seen fatal events spearheaded against
their loved ones
helpless and hopeless, they build a generalization approach
of looking for
the comfort zone, in denial process. They deny participation
in risk venture
on the knowledge of past history that can be repeated
mercilessly on them
without society doing or saying anything, in the case of
Africa.
That
there is nothing which can be done or said is the fertile ground on
which
the political uncertainties to being involved in retribution action,
kills
initiative and contribute to too much political apathy on the
continent of
Africa generally.
As the tyrant becomes virtually a law unto him,
maturing of destruction in
tyrannical leaderships begins seeding or only
death waits the removal of
such dictators.
Mugabe's word in Zimbabwe
is not worthy the paper on which it is written and
can be anything anytime
particularly for those who fight against his
political survival. It was
through this methodology of confusion, which can
only be used to best
advantage by a ruler, that Morgan Tsvangirai as leader
of the opposition
political party spends time and resources arguing against
a treason suite
from a government which does not use law but is guided by
the dictates of
tyrannical ruler tendencies.
In Zimbabwe, women have not been credited
with courage yet it is the women
who we find breaking away from the norm of
fear of Mugabe and protesting and
given tough punishment relentless. The
(WOZA), Women of Zimbabwe Arise
organization show impressive records of
protest in defiance, from 2000 to
this date: Reducing the theory of
political uncertainties on Mugabe as a
tough dictator. The determination to
sustain political uncertainties theory
for survival comes from Mugabe's
cronies who use him to make them rich
without wanting to openly admit their
benefit from Mr. Mugabe's long stay in
power.
The President guards to
Robert Mugabe went on the protest march at the
beginning of February 2007
and as usual it becomes a case of who verifies
the story than its moral
effects on political uncertainty in Zimbabwe. This
is how Robert Mugabe, for
the last twenty seven years, has used the
oppression of the media to do;
cover his side of the story and appear legal
in dealing with crime or
treason issues until recently when Zimbabweans have
openly shown and proven
the contrary as true. It has, as usual, taken life
away from people without
sufficient or no reporting, have them ostracized,
flagrantly discriminated
in terms of food allocation or jobs denial; until
all people refuse to
experiment with their life putting a fight against
Mugabe.
The most
common but sad fact in political uncertainties mind-set in many
Zimbabweans
is when those who have gone out of Zimbabwe are haunted, for
mental
convenience and denial to take active participation in politics of
engaging
Mugabe, claiming that Mugabe's diabolical hand of inhumanity and
poor
treatment of others is invisibly long. Covered with the certainty of
some
protocol in governments on matters of oppression and human rights
whereby it
is deemed as an orthodox to reprimand another state by either the
African
Union (AU) or Southern Africa Development Coordination (SADC), long
term,
makes President Robert Mugabe surrounded with scenarios of political
uncertainties which are part of international relations prefixed under
"respect of sovereignty state" dogmatism.
As referred to at the opening
of this expository write up, political
uncertainties do not make a wise
weapon to decision making. Instead they are
water down momentum on
struggling silent masses in the country, when it
appears as though the world
has given up on them by not condemning a system
as unjust as unjust. No
matter how world politics may approve the selling of
jet fighters to a
government with foreign currency deficits problems, when a
government has
citizens starving it should be ruled out to trade in
dangerous products,
from a humanitarian basis than to endorse the anomaly
under the loose term
of sovereignty of state.
Typically a human appearance in extreme avarice,
the rebellion by the
twenty-six personal guards to the President of Zimbabwe
should be another
political lesson on the maturation of the political
uncertainties of safe
politics by a head of state using rewards bargains
against real economic
fundamentals that embrace macro economics of survival
affecting everybody
Would despite these good signals of the wearing down
of political
uncertainties, Mr Robert Mugabe remain in control of political
power in
Zimbabwe? For as long as there is no consensus on
the-arise-and-protest-factor by all affected, it prolongs suffering and
retards zeal power to overcome, instead increasing the decay to tearing down
uncertainties that predispose people to fear of history behind a disaster.
The win-win situation against a disaster is only attained by employing
preemptive measures which have a rescue team in place.
The soldiers,
all law abiding body guards and secret agents, should be
really tired of an
endless economic sabotage from a failing crew of aimless
leaders, who cannot
accept failure or blame for it except stay on against
people wishes. Might
there be truth therefore in Morgan Tsvangirai's
statement of wait and see,
in reference to the outcome of protests in
Zimbabwe?
In January 2007,
at the beginning of the month the provincial executive led
a surprise demo
on the streets of Bulawayo led by the vice president of MDC
Ms Kupe. However
one may want to review political uncertainties in Zimbabwe
as permanent,
this single development when Zimbabweans have changed their
speeches and put
a strong direct command and demand for a step down measure
on Mugabe
inspires courage politically.
Two factors can account for this success
story contrasting regime response
to action:
1 - Morgan Tsvangirai
and his MDC are increasing the gaining of respect and
love from the
community after some disturbance of the political fracture
sponsored by Zanu
PF and still oiled from the coffers of Zanu-pf. This
factor gives organizers
of the MDC moral courage to negotiate with state
operators in the security
system to understand what they already are ready
to defend: People against
state abuse.
2 - There is no doubt that some good planning is going
on from the wake up
call to arise and walk protest stance currently in the
process of
implementation on the ground in Zimbabwe. The certainty of state
media
alleging divisions within the MDC executive on the effectiveness of
Morgan
Tsvangirai is again a weakness in Zanu-pf to accept but to play down
a
coming demand for change pressure protest as real. It is a ploy to divert
the attention of power seekers within the MDC so as to derail the focus on a
plan ripe for effective launch.
The Bulawayo march by the MDC main
opposition political party should open a
new chapter in pioneering
government change through democratic processes.
The courage to point out
that Mugabe must go must be sustained, intensified
and persistently echoed
from all social groups as the country goes to a
count down for freedom from
tyrannism.
It is both encouragement to the MDC cadres and not
motivational to the
efforts of Mugabe's mercenary rewarding methods on
soldiers and police, when
all he is harvesting from his efforts of blackmail
are protests from within
and outside in the country.
The message must
go home to all barracks that their role of defending the
country has been
abused by one man and his cronies, making Zimbabwe one of
the poorest
countries among the poor of the world. The people of Zimbabwe
need praising
on educational strategies that are obviously yielding
dividends and exhorted
to keep it up.
The observation that there are always few who cause the
disturbances to any
regime must be a fact well known that at any given time,
change comes from
the twenty percent in any population who share a loft
vision and agree to
sacrifice when implementing it. The analysis here is to
give emphasis to the
wearing down of the political uncertainties syndrome by
the MDC that has
ruled for the past twenty six years without forceful and
structured
resistance.
The note in the revelation of the dynamics taking
place in Zimbabwe politics
is that abject radicalism lives on wishes while
what unfolds in the country
undoubtedly is indicative of a consistent effort
by the movement to unsnarl
the schemes of an oppressor to nakedness;
locally, regionally and
internationally. This negation of political growth
to empower resistance by
a people emaciated from political fresh air
deliberately to politically
suffocate is a score for maturation in shaping a
democracy which takes
account of the pain of a struggle.
For those
who share dreams of optimism on Zimbabweans response to a wake up
call marks
the political past from the present. Whereas the past had a lot
of monetary
injection from NGOs for people to be motivated to go on protests
front line,
protests staged in Bulawayo, like the 1970s armed struggle,
comes out of the
pain of suffering; no wonder it deserves praise and
encouragement from every
Zimbabwean.
Inevitably the do or let go policy of Zanu-Pf is losing its
grip, given the
government funds they abuse are getting finish, and the use
of the state
machinery which is disintegrating one section by one: Zanu-Pf
has to queue
for a rest from power just like what UNIP of Zambia did. There
should be an
urgent appeal to the likes of Nkala and Tekere and many fence
skaters in
Zanu-Pf to join forces with a movement in order for the country
to push the
regime over the cliff or the regime pushes the country beyond
the cliff.
Political uncertainties which have given room for Mugabe
survival are
marginally dying too as the people take courage from pain and
suffering
which appears as the only classroom where fees are not a voluntary
subscription. The do or let die policy from Zanu-Pf is on one hand losing
its hold as cronies of Zanu-pf such as village chiefs go off topics on
issues of people protection contrasting it to basic human rights
violation.
Good governance cannot be controlled from political
uncertainties based on
the minds of community robbers, but on the practice
of sincerity and
integrity applied for the benefit of all. The Diaspora
plays its back
bencher role in making the struggle transparent to world
communities in
which we live and encouraging for an overwhelming vote to
holding free and
fair election which is supervised by international
electoral umpires
Bloomberg
By Nasreen Seria
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's central
bank may let the local currency
trade freely in the second half of this year
to boost exports and help pull
the economy out of an eight-year recession,
Governor Gideon Gono said.
President Robert Mugabe's government needs to
cut spending and stop printing
money before the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe can
end the currency peg, Gono
said in an interview at a conference in Gabarone,
Botswana late yesterday.
While inflation has accelerated to a record
1,281 percent, Gono, 47, has
resisted calls to devalue the Zimbabwe dollar,
saying it would only provide
temporary relief to exporters in the world's
fastest-shrinking economy.
Zimbabwe, which adopted a fixed exchange rate in
1996, pegs the currency at
250 to the dollar, while it sells for about 4,200
on the black market.
``Supporting exporters remains a key element of our
policies,'' Gono said.
``We want to move in the direction of a free-floating
exchange rate,'' which
would lead to ``improved inflows of foreign exchange,
make our exporters
more competitive and generally make the economy more
free.''
The economy fell into recession when Mugabe's government began to
seize
white-owned farms to give to black subsistence farmers, slashing
agricultural output and causing food and foreign currency shortages. Tobacco
production, once the country's biggest foreign currency earner, has plunged
about 75 percent since 2000.
Record Inflation
While abandoning
the currency peg may boost the inflation rate in the
short-term, Gono
expects increased production and investment to ease
shortages, helping to
push the inflation rate down to ``low double-digits''
by June next
year.
Gono has set targets for the government to end subsidies on corn
and fuel by
the end of the year to eliminate ``distortions.'' The Grain
Marketing Board
buys corn from farmers at 5,200 Zimbabwe dollars a metric
ton, and sells it
to millers for 600 Zimbabwe dollars, according to the
central bank.
``Inflation will come down if we remove the subsidies
because the level of
money printing will come down,'' Gono said. ``In the
short term, I expect
inflation to go up. That doesn't scare us. It will come
down in a dramatic
way once we've laid that solid
foundation.''
Zimbabwe, where more than half the population lives on $1 a
day, last
devalued its currency by 60 percent against the dollar on July 31.
Since
then, surging import costs, foreign currency shortages and the
printing of
money to pay government debts has boosted inflation to a
record.
Gono's plan to revive the economy includes selling state assets,
cutting
government spending and trying to win back foreign investors. That
may help
the economy expand this year, Gono said.
The IMF has
forecast that the economy will shrink 4.7 percent in 2007, while
inflation
will reach 4,000 percent.
``Non-implementation of the program could lead
to serious consequences,''
Gono said. ``More unemployment, more factory
closures, high inflation
levels, shortage of foreign exchange. It is a
watershed program.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Nasreen
Seria in Johannesburg
nseria@bloomberg.net
Last Updated:
February 6, 2007 03:16 EST
The Zimbabwean
( 06-02-07)
By ITAI
DZAMARA
HARARE :Hard-pressed parents are having to dig deeper into their
pockets
again to top up school fees they paid at the beginning of the term
following
continuous increases in prices of virtually all basic commodities
in the
country.
The Zimbabwean has established that whilst tension
continues between
government and most private schools over the school fees
row, notices are
being issued to parents to prepare huge top-ups at the end
of this month.
Most schools hiked fees at the beginning of the term to as
high as $1,5
million and said to parents those were interim because of the
high
uncertainty characterizing the economy.
A survey done by this paper
revealed that five top schools are asking
parents to make top-ups of amounts
ranging between $500 000 and $1 million
by the end of this
month.
Requesting to speak on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by
government, a headmaster at one such boarding school in Harare said: "We had
charged $1,4 million but that has already been washed away by huge increases
in prices of everything and we are struggling to pay salaries," he said. "We
are asking parents to top up an amount yet to be agreed upon by most likely
to be $500 000."
Trust Gore, a parent at one of the schools that have
issued notice for
top-up complained yet at the same time understood the
plight of schools. "It
is really difficult. At the school where my child
attends they want us to
top-up about $400 000 and that is after we paid $1
million recently at the
beginning of the term," he said. "However, one has
to understand the plight
of schools in the face of continuous increases in
prices of all basic
commodities. So if we want to accord our children better
educational
standards we have no option but find ways around the
problem."
Education minister Aenias Chigwedere has spent most of his time in
the
ministry over the past two years fighting battles with private schools
over
school fees levels, him insisting on charges lower than what most
schools
are asking for. The battles have reached the courts where government
lost
against the association of private schools late last year.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/07/2007
00:09:32
ZIMBABWE'S Water Minister Tuesday said poverty stricken Zimbabweans
are
increasingly resorting to using maize cobs and pieces of cloth in their
toilets due to the increasing cost of tissues.
Water and
Infrastructure Development Minister Munacho Mutezo, an engineer,
said this
before the parliamentary portfolio committee on local government
chaired by
Mazowe West Zanu PF MP Margaret Zinyemba.
The minister's claim comes
barely a year after another parliamentary
committee on justice was told by
prisoners during a tour of penitentiary
institutions that they were using
bible pages due to lack of toilet paper.
Mutezo was responding to
questions from MPs on the government's plans to
avert a developing water
crisis in major towns, and constant breakdowns and
blockages in sewage
disposal facilities.
"We have maize cobs being used in toilets," Mutezo
told MPs. "We have cloth
being used in toilets. We have all sorts of objects
being used in toilets.
Let us use toilet paper; lets not use things that are
not meant for the
toilet. Let's not put things that cannot be digested by
the (sewage)
system."
Last year, prisoners told MPs that they were
going for weeks without soap or
toilet paper. Deprived of toilet paper, some
inmates said they had resorted
to using pages ripped from Bibles to wipe
themselves clean.
MPs found that malnutrition and disease were widespread
in the country's
overcrowded jails, which were designed for 16,000 people
but hold many more,
sounding the alarm about deteriorating prison conditions
amid Zimbabwe's
worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in
1980.
Water and power outages are common in Zimbabwe, and sanitation
facilities
are in urgent need of repair countrywide.
Mutezo said he
would be visiting Bulawayo, where the local council said it
would fight to
the finish in opposing plans to transfer the city's water
management to the
state-run Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
The visit is meant
to explain to the people and residents of Bulawayo the
wisdom in
transferring the management of water, Mutezo added.
"We have helped the
people of Bulawayo by sinking boreholes at Nyamandlovu
aquifer. There is
also the Mtshabezi and Gwayi - Shangani projects. It is
only government
which has the mandate and expertise needed for those
projects," said
Mutezo.
In Harare, he said Zinwa had increased water distribution
capacity from 350
mega liters to 650 mega liters.
"The reason why
Zinwa took over is that government saw that there was a gap
that local
authorities were failing to close. Other local authorities were
overcharging. It must be noted that even before the decision (to take over)
was reached by cabinet, some towns were approaching us to take over the
water management," he said.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is blamed
largely on disruptions to the
agriculture-based economy, linked to years of
drought and the seizure of
white-owned commercial farms for redistribution
to blacks since 2000 under
President Robert Mugabe.
Inflation has
soared to 1,300 percent, the highest rate in the world. There
are also acute
shortages of hard currency, gasoline and other key imports.
President
Mugabe now faces a wave of street protests and internal opposition
within
his ruling Zanu PF party.
New Zimbabwe
By Daniel Fortune
Molokele
Last updated: 02/06/2007 10:26:15
ON TUESDAY last week, I had the
opportunity to go and watch the movie,
'Blood Diamond'.
The recently
launched movie is still on circuit, at least here in South
Africa.
The movie has received wild acclaim worldwide for its
depiction of the
ghastly diamond-funded civil war in Sierra
Leone.
The broad theme of the movie is mainly to show the link between
the
protracted civil war in the West African country and the sale of illicit
diamonds smuggled out of the conflict zones via Liberia and then into the
global diamond sales market.
However, of particular concern to most
New Zimbabwe.com readers is the
critical fact that the movie's hero, Danny
Archer, is a Rhodesian born,
South African soldier of fortune.
The
role is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The hunky actor, who shot to global
fame a few years ago for his sterling performance in the legendary Titanic
movie, is back with a vengeance. This time he has managed to eke out yet
another Oscar nomination for 'Best Actor' for his convincing portrayal of
Danny Archer.
As already alluded to, Archer just like most of us who
are now based outside
Zimbabwe has a sad tale to tell about the
circumstances surrounding his
departure from our motherland.
He
claims to have left the country in 1978. He claims that both his parents
were killed in 1978 during the height of the guerrilla war waged against the
UDI regime. Thereafter he was taken to South Africa where he was drafted
into the army. He served in the Angolan war against Swapo and the Cubans.
Unfortunately, he ended up being redundant after the dawn of a new
democratic South Africa in 1994. From that time onwards he continued his
life as a vagabond mainly as what he himself calls a 'soldier of
fortune'.
And so it happens that when the storyline of the movie starts,
he is now
plying his trade in Sierra Leone, of all places! There, he is
mainly
involved as a 'blood diamond' smuggler for his former South African
army
colonel.
I would like to think that for me, the most telling
point of the movie is
when Archer visits his boss in Cape Town. During that
brief visit he
intimates to him that if the next deal succeeds he would like
to fly out of
Africa for good! To that, the boss shows him a handful of red
soil and
reminds him that the soil represents his own identity as a son of
Africa.
This is even so especially since its red colour may also be
symbolic of the
many bloody conflicts that the continent has experienced
over many centuries
up to this very day. The boss then insists to Archer
that whether he likes
it or not, he is a man from Africa and just like his
parents, he will also
have to die and be buried in the
motherland.
What struck me most is the fact that in the past five
years, I have been
battling with the very same thoughts and questions. I
have time and again
been asking myself if I am really prepared to leave the
African continent or
not.
Like many other Zimbabweans now scattered
all over the globe, I have also
entertained the view of emigrating from the
conflict riddled continent once
and for all. It is one thing to leave
Zimbabwe, but it is something else to
leave the continent
altogether!
Like Archer, I also totally feel that the continent has not
been a good host
for my people. My family also has a long history of
displacement covering
several generations. As it is, I am not sure if I
really have a specific
place I would like to be buried at if I were to die
today.
My problem is that I have never seen both the graves of my
maternal
grandparents. My mother's people were displaced in Matobo in the
1950s to
make way for the expansion of the Rhodes National Park. As for my
father's
people, the story actually takes another twist from bad to
worse.
My great-grandfather is buried in a village outside Mafikeng here
in South
Africa. My grandfather is buried at the famous Number 6 cemetery in
Bulawayo
whilst my own father is buried in a graveyard situated next to the
Hwange
Thermal Power Station. I have such a scattered heritage! So much that
I am
not so sure if I really have a place in Africa I really can call
home!
The story of course reaches to its worst levels when one considers
the fact
that my daughter was born and is now being raised in Pretoria!
This, it
appears, is the legacy I have received and have now bequeathed to
my own
child. It is a sad legacy of continual conflict and
displacement.
I wonder if during any day in modern African history, there
has been any
ever date in which blood stopped flowing into the thirsty soil
of the
continent. I wonder if there is ever going to be some day in the
future when
the blood drenched continent will feel so saturated and demand
an end to the
blood letting!
As Ghana leads the continent in
celebrating 50 years of black post-colonial
Africa, it is clear that the
continent is still far from ever achieving any
peaceful status. Worse still
for the proud black stars of Ghana, it appears
as if their former son-in-law
has also added Zimbabwe as one of the bloody
flashpoints of Africa
today!
Honestly, can Robert Mugabe, who spent a few years in Ghana
himself, proudly
stand up and say that his country has been better off
without the presence
of his British former colonial masters? Can he be able
to account for the
mega-liters of blood that has flowed from Zambezi to
Limpopo since 1980?
Ah, this is Africa! TIA!
Daniel Molokele is a
Zimbabwean Human Rights Lawyer who is based in
Johannesburg. He can be
contacted at zimvn@danielmolokele.com
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
MUTARE - The Zimbabwe Peace
Project says hostile police officers in
Zimbabwe are violating women in
their quest to clamp down on illegal mining
activities.
Officers from
the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the army launched operation
"Chikorokoza
Chapera" to nip illegal mining in the bud and thousands have
since been
arrested for possessing or trading in diamonds and other precious
minerals.
The organization said it had interviewed a number of women
who were
complaining about the way the police were treating them. Selina
Mundeta said
she and 48 other women were forced off different buses and
subjected to
degrading treatment at 22 miles as the hostile police searched
them. Most of
them are being stripped naked as the police search for
diamonds and other
precious minerals.
The ZPP alleges policewomen are
using their fingers to fish for diamonds
from the women's private part. The
police have been accusing some women for
hiding precious stones in their
private parts to evade them being detected
by the police.
"Although
the policewomen wear gloves, obviously for their own protection
and safety,
fears are high that the police women conducting the searches do
not change
the gloves," the ZPP said after victims told them of their
treatment.
"This has raised alarm and despondency among the many
victims of such
immoral searches as there is a very high risk of the women
contracting
diseases like HIV/AIDS and other STIs." The victims have also
accused the
police of stealing pieces of confiscated diamonds, gold and
emeralds from
panners and dealers."
"Youth militia in Manicaland is
causing alarm and despondency among citizens
and visitors to Mutare
especially those who use the Mutare Masvingo route,"
the ZPP statement
said.
www.fidh.org
6/02/2007
The
Observatory has been informed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR)
about acts of harassment against Mr. Arnold Tsunga, Executive
Director of
ZLHR, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association
(Zimrights) and 2006
Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights
Defenders[1], as well
as against Mr. Raymond Majongwe, Secretary General of
the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).
The Observatory for the Protection
of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH), requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in
Zimbabwe.
Brief description of the situation:
According to the
information received, on January 25, 2007, Mr. Arnold
Tsunga was detained at
the Harare International Airport, on his return from
the World Social Forum
in Kenya. Indeed, as he was leaving the arrivals
terminal in the airport,
Mr. Tsunga was approached by four men and brought
to an office where he was
briefly detained and interrogated. Mr. Tsunga was
then released without
charge. One of these men would be a well-known
operative of the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO), which is
responsible for vetting people as
they enter and exit the country. Since
then, Mr. Tsunga would have been
placed under surveillance by the CIO.
Furthermore, on February 1, 2007,
at around 5 a.m, several police officers
from the Law and Order Section at
Harare Central Police Station stormed into
Mr. Raymond Majongwe's house. His
wife indicated that Mr. Majongwe had
traveled out of Harare and could not
possibly attend to them. The officers
refused to heed to this information
and continued to harass Mrs. Majongwe,
threatening to arrest her and
confiscate her identity documents. After
protracted exchanges, the police
officers left with a stern demand that Mr.
Majongwe reports to the Harare
Central Police Station at 8 a.m. without
fail. No reasons were disclosed for
their intention to question and
obviously arrest him. Finally, Mr. Majongwe
and his lawyers decided to
report to the police station on February 5, 2007,
fearing to be detained
during the weekend.
In the past, Mr. Raymond
Majongwe has been arrested, detained, beaten,
prosecuted (but not convicted)
on numerous occasions for engaging in
peaceful protests for workers' rights
and democracy in Zimbabwe. Throughout
the country, in particular in rural
areas, PTUZ members have been regularly
harassed.
For instance, on
February 2, 2007, Messrs. Charles Kaguramhamba, Henry
Chinorumba and P.
Dube, three teachers and PTUZ members, were arrested at
the Gaza Secondary
School in Chipinge, for having organised a sit in calling
for better work
conditions of work and salaries. The three men are currently
being detained
at the Chipinge Police Station by officers from the Law and
Order Section
Chipinge.
Action requested :
Please write to the Zimbabwean
authorities, urging them to :
i. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the
physical and psychological integrity
of Messrs. Raymond Majongwe and his
wife, Arnold Tsunga, Charles
Kaguramhamba, Henry Chinorumba and P. Dube, as
well as of all human rights
defenders in Zimbabwe;
ii. Release
Messrs. Charles Kaguramhamba, Henry Chinorumba and P. Dube
immediately and
unconditionally since their detention is arbitrary;
iii. Put an end to
all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders
in
Zimbabwe;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human
Rights
Defenders, in particular its article 1 which states that "Everyone
has the
right, individually and in association with others, to promote and
to strive
for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental
freedoms
at the national and international levels", and article 12.2,
providing that
"the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the
protection by the
competent authorities of everyone, individually or in
association with
others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de
facto or de jure
adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary
action as a
consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights
referred to in
the present Declaration", as well as to comply with the
African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights, in particular articles 9, 10,
11 and 12, which
guarantee the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly
and association;
v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights
and fundamental
freedoms in accordance with international human rights
standards and
international instruments ratified by
Zimbabwe.
Addresses :
· President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert G.
Mugabe, Office of the President,
Private Bag 7700, Causeway, Harare,
Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211
· Mr. Khembo Mohadi, Minister of Home
Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs,
11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private Bag
7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe,
Fax : +263 4 726 716
· Mr. Patrick
Chinamasa, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs, Ministry of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fax: + 263 4
77 29 99 / +263 4 252
155
· Mr. Augustine Chihuri, Police Commissioner, Police Headquarters,
P.O. Box
8807, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253 212 / 728 768 /
726 084
· Mr. Sobuza Gula Ndebele, Attorney-General, Office of the
Attorney, PO Box
7714, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax: + 263 4 77 32
47
· Mrs. Chanetsa, Office of the Ombudsman Fax: + 263 4 70 41
19
· Ambassador Mr. Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to
the
United Nations in Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy,
Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.net
·
Ambassador Mr. Pununjwe, Embassy of Zimbabwe in Brussels, 11 SQ Josephine
Charlotte, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 96 05 / + 32
2 775 65 10, Email: zimbrussels@skynet.be
Please also
write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective
country.
***
Geneva - Paris, February 2, 2007
Kindly inform
us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in
your
reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of
Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support
in their time
of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998
Human Rights Prize of the French
Republic.
To contact the
Observatory, call the emergency line: Email:
Appeals@fidh-omct.org Tel and fax FIDH:
33 1 43 55 55 05 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 /
41 22 809 49 29
[1] The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
(MEA), created in
1993, is a unique collaboration among eleven of the
world's leading
non-governmental human rights organisations to give
protection to human
rights defenders worldwide. The Jury is composed of the
following: Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First,
OMCT, FIDH, the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Diakonie Germany,
International
Service for Human Rights, International Alert, Front Line, and
Huridocs. Mr.
Arnold Tsunga shares the 2006 MEA with the Iranian human
rights defender Mr.
Akbar Ganji.
Reuters
Tue Feb 6, 2007 5:22 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Gary Brent
and Sean Williams shared seven wickets as
Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in the
second one-day international in Harare on
Tuesday.
Zimbabwe reached
156 for two in the 35.2 overs in reply to Bangladesh's 153
for an
eight-wicket victory to level the four-match series at 1-1.
Medium pacer
Brent took four wickets for 30 while left-arm spinner Williams
claimed three
for 23 for career-best figures.
The Bangladesh batsmen struggled to come
to terms with Zimbabwe's accurate
bowling and disciplined fielding, and
Mohammad Rafique's 40 was their top
score. He was eventually caught and
bowled by Brent.
Zimbabwe made a commanding start to their reply when
Terry Duffin and Vusi
Sibanda, who was unbeaten on 93, shared 125 runs for
the first wicket.
The solid Duffin was run out for 32 in the 29th over
when bowler Saqibul
Hasan glanced Sibanda's drive on to the stumps at the
non-striker's end with
Duffin out of his ground.
Sibanda faced 117
balls and hit nine fours and a six.
The teams meet in the third match of
the series in Harare on Friday.
The Raw Story
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday
February 6, 2007
Harare- Zimbabwe's highest court has dismissed a bail
application by Michael
Hitschmann, a security expert arrested last year on
charges of illegally
possessing weapons, news reports said Tuesday. Supreme
Court Judge Elizabeth
Gwaunza dismissed Hitschmann's application Friday,
saying it lacked merit,
according to the official Herald
newspaper.
Hitschmann, who has been in custody since March on charges of
possessing
weapons for acts of insurgency, has made a total of four attempts
to secure
bail, the paper said.
The security expert, who is also a
former police reservist, was arrested
along with several opposition
officials and a member of parliament after
police discovered what they
claimed was an arms cache at Hitschmann's home
in the eastern city of
Mutare.
He and the opposition officials were accused of plotting to
assassinate
President Robert Mugabe. Charges were later dropped against the
opposition
members, and it later emerged that Hitschmann was a registered
arms dealer.
Hitschmann's trial is now set to continue in March in the
High Court after
he will have spent a year in custody.
© 2006 dpa
German Press Agency
Sunday Times, SA
By Donwald
Pressly
Power shortages in Bulawayo, the arrest of gold miners and
confusion over
price controls have contributed to a growing national crisis
in Zimbabwe,
the Movement for Democratic Change has
reported.
Power shortages in Bulawayo, the arrest of gold
miners and confusion over
price controls have contributed to a growing
national crisis in Zimbabwe,
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
reported.
The labour movement's economics adviser, Eddie Cross, said
in a statement
that by the party's estimate some 30 tons of gold was mined
and sold through
the informal sector each year.
"This is worth a
considerable sum at current gold prices of over US 600
dollars per fine
ounce and provides a living for some 500,000 people, almost
as many as are
employed in the formal sector," he said.
"All of this activity is now
under threat," said Cross, who said miners,
including those from larger
mining operations, were being arrested. He did
not provide detailed
figures.
However, he said: "They are being forced to cede control of
their gold
recovery equipment to the State and to pay a million Zimbabwe
dollars to
register their operations. In addition they are being required to
fence
their operations with security fending at their own
cost."
"Even those who are simply refining and processing gold
concentrates are
being arrested and harassed. Small-scale surface miners,
who are the great
majority, are being forced to fill in their working
(operations) and to stop
their activities altogether. This will put many
hundreds of thousands at
risk and unable to make a living in any form.
Already there are signs of an
increased exodus to South Africa and
Botswana," reported Cross.
He also reported that there had been a
marked deterioration in power
supplies to the city of Bulawayo - where he
resides - in the past two days.
"Yesterday (Tuesday) the city was
without power for most of the day. With
factories due to open on Monday
demand will start to rise again and it is
difficult to see what the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority can do to
avoid serious power
cuts."
Cross also reported "serious problems" emerging in the
operation of new
regulations covering price control. The price control
authorities were
approving price increases but were then unable to get
ministerial approval.
Sugar supplies, for example, were the latest
casualty. "All sugar producers
are withholding sugar supplies until they get
the price increase that has
been approved by the required authorities, but
ministers are unable to sign
off because of the political
ramifications."
In the meantime raids by officials - many without any
credentials - were
continuing.
Meanwhile, MDC information and
publicity secretary Nelson Chamisa reported
from Harare that the opposition
party's leadership will meet to define the
political framework for
2007.
Chamisa said: "The MDC is aware that the national crisis has
reached
alarming levels. The people are struggling to make ends meet and to
put food
on their tables. The cost of living has skyrocketed beyond the
people's
means while inflation continues to eat into the people's
incomes."
On top of the agenda would be the government's decision to
postpone
presidential elections to 2010 - from 2008.
"This year
is the year of change and the MDC will discuss the consolidation
of the
unfinished democratic resistance agenda as a necessary process to
make the
regime accept the need for sweeping political reforms which include
a new,
people driven constitution, free an fair elections under
international
supervision, a reconstruction and stabilisation programme in a
post-transitional era."
The MDC has split into two factions with
Morgan Tsvangirai's bigger faction
holding 21 of 41 Members of Parliament.
The mainline MDC said its leadership
recognised its national obligation to
lead the process of delivering change
to the people of
Zimbabwe.
"We recognise that we carry the nation's hope for a new
Zimbabwe and a new
beginning. 2007 is a watershed year," said the Chamisa
statement.
I-Net Bridge
From The Daily Mirror, 6 February
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
The Minister of Anti-corruption and Anti-monopolies,
Munyaradzi Paul
Mangwana, yesterday said the police must arrest and expose
the top
politicians and government officials they said were involved in
illegal
activities. In an interview with this newspaper, Mangwana said the
police
should exercise their statutory duty of arresting criminals without
fear or
favour. The minister said this on the backcloth of recent remarks by
police
deputy commissioner Godwin Matanga that politicians and senior
government
officials were illegally dealing in gold and other precious
minerals.
Matanga told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and
Environment
that some of the politicians and the government officials were
hindering the
police's crackdown on illegal gold panners."If the police are
confident they
have the names (of the politicians and senior government
officials) they
should expose and bring to book the culprits. After all, the
police are the
institution with powers to arrest," Mangwana said. "My
ministry cannot push
them to make arrests as it is their area of
jurisdiction. When the police
have information, we expect them to arrest the
criminals."
Matanga told the parliamentary committee that the top
politicians included
cabinet ministers and legislators. He said the
politicians and the
government officials were obstructing police officers
from effectively
executing their duties against illegal gold panners under
the ongoing
operation codenamed Chikorokoza Chapera / Isitsheketsha
Sesiphelile.
However, he declined to name the culprits and threatened that
the police
would in future expose them if they continued to interfere with
the
operation. Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono
also
alleged that "chefs" were engaging in shady deals, adding that some of
them
were operating like mafia and had become role models to the country's
youths. The blitz against illegal gold and other precious minerals was
launched in November last year. Ministry of Environment and Tourism
officials and police accused the panners of causing massive environmental
degradation. More than 27 000 illegal panners have since been arrested and
fined, with the police saying they have so far recovered precious minerals
worth $4,2 billion.
However, some of the miners claimed that they
were operating legally and
that the police were harassing them and
confiscating their equipment. The
panners told the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Mines and Environment
that the closure of their operations by
the police had arbitrarily taken
away their only source of livelihood. The
parliamentary portfolio committee
has since ordered police to investigate
the allegations raised by the
miners. Meanwhile, Mangwana said his ministry
was investigating various
cases of graft, but was not at liberty to release
details. "My ministry only
investigates and hands over the findings to the
police for arrests and later
prosecution. At the moment we do not have
arresting powers," he added. Last
year, Mangwana said his ministry was
proposing a new legislation that would
see the Anti-corruption Commission
being moulded around South Africa's
Scorpions. The Scorpions are an elite
anti-corruption investigating unit
that has powers to investigate, arrest
and lead prosecution. It works
closely with the National Prosecuting
Authority unlike the Zimbabwean outfit
that reports to the police.
Zim Online
Wednesday 07 February 2007
By Menzi
Sibanda
BULAWAYO - A Zimbabwean man was on Tuesday dragged to court in
Gwanda town
for allegedly wishing President Robert Mugabe dead following the
execution
of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Dingilizwe Ndlovu
was remanded out of custody to 26 February this year in
Gwanda, about 129
kilometres south of the second city of Bulawayo.
The state says Ndlovu
was overheard in the local Ndebele vernacular language
saying Mugabe should
have died instead of Saddam because he killed civilians
in Matabeleland in
the 1980s.
He is accused of having said: "Sokufe uSaddam ngebe kufe
olwangakithi lolu
ngendaba yeGukurahundi (Saddam is dead, but it should have
been the one of
our own who killed people during the Gukurahundi
era).
Ndlovu denies ever making the statement.
At least 20 000
minority Ndebeles were killed in the early 1980s after
Mugabe sent in a
crack unit of the army to crush an armed rebellion in the
Matabeleland and
Midlands provinces.
Under Zimbabwe's tough Public Order and Security Act
(POSA), it is an
offence punishable by a two-year jail sentence to "make
abusive" statements
about Mugabe.
Last year, a Gwanda court sentenced
Bassanio Chikwiriri to three months in
jail for allegedly saying Mugabe was
the architect of Zimbabwe's economic
crisis. - ZimOnline
As a JAG member or JAG Associate member, please send any classified
adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Classifieds: jagma@mango.zw
JAG Job Opportunities: jag@mango.zw
Rules for
Advertising:
Send all adverts in word document as short as possible (no
tables, spread
sheets, pictures, etc.) and quote your subscription receipt
number or
membership number.
Notify the JAG Office when Advert is no
longer needed, either by phone or
email.
Adverts are published for 2 weeks
only, for a longer period please notify
the JAG office, by resending via
email the entire advert asking for the
advert to be
re-inserted.
Please send your adverts by Tuesdays 11.00am (Adverts will
not appear until
payment is received.). Cheques to be made out to
JAGMA.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
For Sale Items
2. Wanted Items
3. Accommodation
4. Recreation
5.
Specialist Services
6. Pets
Corner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
OFFERED FOR
SALE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1
Generators & Inverters for Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
The JAG office
is now an official agent for GSC Generator Service (Pvt) Ltd
and receives a
generous commission on sales of all Kipor generators and
equipment.
Generators are on view at the JAG office.
The one stop shop for ALL your
Generator Requirements SALES: We are the
official suppliers, repairs and
maintenance team of KIPOR Equipment here in
Zimbabwe. We have in stock KIPOR
Generators from 1 KVA to 55 KVA. If we
don't have what you want we will get
it for you. We also
sell Inverters (1500w), complete with batteries and
rechargeable lamps. Our
prices are very competitive, if not the lowest in
town.
SERVICING & REPAIRS: We have a qualified team with many years
of experience
in the Generator field. We have been to Kipor, China for
training. We
carry out services and minor repairs on your premises. We
service and
repair most makes and models of Generators - both petrol and
diesel.
INSTALLATIONS: We have qualified electricians that carry out
installations
in a professional way.
SPARES: As we are the official
suppliers and maintainers of KIPOR Equipment,
we carry a full range of KIPOR
spares.
Don't forget, advice is free, so give us a call and see us at:
Bay 3,
Borgward Road, Msasa.
Sales: 884022, 480272 or admin@advas.co.zw Service: 480272, 480154
or
gsc@adas.co.zw
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2
For Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
So Far and No further! Rhodesia's Bid for
Independence during the Retreat
from Empire 1959-1965 by J.R.T.
Wood
533 pages; quality trade paperback; pub. Trafford ISBN
1-4120-4952-0
Southern African edition, pub. 30 Degrees South : ISBN
0-9584890-2-5
This definitive account traces Rhodesia's attempt to secure
independence
during the retreat from Empire after 1959. Based on unique
research, it
reveals why Rhodesia defied the world from
1965.
Representing Volume One of three volumes, Two and Three are in
preparation
and will take us to Tiger and thence to 1980;
To
purchase:
Zimbabwean buyers contact Trish Broderick: pbroderick@mango.zw
RSA buyers:
WWW. 30 degreessouth.co.za or Exclusives Books
Overseas buyers see: http://www.jrtwood.com
and a link to
Trafford Publishing http://www.trafford.com/04-2760
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3
Pet Food for Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
Still supplying pets food which
consists of 500g of precooked pork offal and
veg costing $700 and 250g of
pigs liver or heart costing $700 for 250g.
Collection points: Benbar
in Msasa at 10.30
Jag offices in Philips Rd, Belgravia at 11.30
Peacehaven
which is 75 Oxford St at 13.00
This is on Fridays only. Contact details:
phone 011 221 088 and E mail at
claassen@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4
Tractors for Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
1 MF 2640 - 1 year ex uk - full
cab - mechanically sound - fully
functional - new tyres front & rear -
front wheel assist - Highest offer
secures.
1 FORD 660 - Mechanically
sound - starts on key - new battery fitted - Rear
tyres good - Front tyres
fair - fully functional - Highest offer secures.
For any further
enquiries contact Doug - Ph/Fax: 068-22463 - Cell:
011212454 - tracspray@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5
For Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
Toyota Landcruiser 100 series GX, 2005
model with 20,000kms, white in
colour, manual, Turbo, sat radio, etc in
excellent condition. Worth looking
at.
Toyota Landcruiser 100 series
GX, 2001 Model with 100,000kms, white in
colour, turbo, full house manual and
TJM Aluminium bull bar and roof rack.
Toyota landcruiser V8 Cygnus, 1999
Model with 30,000kms genuine milage,
cream in colour hardly used in mint
condition, Full House Auto.
Phone Alex Hawkins, 091 261085 or Mike Asher
011
609709
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6
For Sale (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
SECOND HAND
2 - CAR BEDS - FOR
CHILDREN
1 - COT
1 - WALKING RING
1 - BABY BOUNCER
1 - ADJUSTABLE
CHAIR
1 - 3 PIECE PRAM
1 - HIGH CHAIR
1 - CAMP COT
For more
information please contact Charmaine on 620687 up to 9 for
the
above
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7
For Sale (Ad inserted 6/02/07)
Vintage Car: 1930 Model, a Ford. Genuine
buyers please contact us on
Telephone/Fax 332450 or 308960, Email conquest@mweb.co.zw.
Tri - Axle
Trailers: We have three Tri-axle trailers for sale. They can be
viewed by
arrangement in Harare. Contact Chris on 611205 or 611272 or
611708, Email conquest@mweb.co.zw.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8
For Sale (Ad inserted 6/02/07)
Opel Corsa pick-up 1600is, 1998, electric
windows, mags, cd player, custom
interior.
Offers? Phone 091901976
AFTER 2pm
ONLY.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9
For Sale (Ad inserted 6/02/07)
ZNSPCA IS SELLING GOODS DONATED FOR RESALE
TO HELP WITH OUR WORK. ZNSPCA HQ
156 Enterprise RD, tel 497574/ 497885 /
882566
Pets meat, 500g chicken $900 00 per packet
Steel Work Bench
with vice $2 000 000 NEG.
Double Bed Mattress - Therapaedic by Luxaire
(as new) $650 000
Colman Fluorescent light (as New) Twin tube Battery
Operated Adaptor for car
$150 000
Microwave $100 000
Window
Frames
Mazda Canopy
Parquet Wooden
Blocks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.10
Vehicle For Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Isuzu KB 250 D/C 4x2 LE 190
Series
Altitude compensated 2.5 litre diesel engine
Electric windows, air
con, CD player
16" Alloy wheels
Colour: Vortex Black
Delivery
mileage.
Phone 04 443017 or 091 337640 or 011
218792.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.11
Motorcycles For Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Yamaha YZ 125
Scrambler
2-stroke engine
2002 model
Excellent
condition.
Kawasaki KX 85 scrambler
2-stroke engine
2002
model
Excellent condition.
Phone 04 443017 or 091 337640 or 011
218792.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.12
For sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Kohler Generator 60 KVA. Phone 04 480459
or 011
863049.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.13
Tyres For Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Goodyear, Silverstone, Pirelli,
Dunlop.
All sizes available including agricultural and commercial vehicle
tyres.
If we don't have it, we'll find it. Phone 04 443017 or 091
337640.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.14
For Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
"THE WEAVERY".
Super gift ideas
for local and overseas friends and family. Hand woven
articles which are
light, easy to pack, and send, and fully washable.
Contact Anne on 332851
or
011212424.Or email joannew@zol.co.zw
Crocheted oven
gloves--$13,000.
Cotton oven gloves--$9,000.
Small woven
bags--$8,000.
Large woven bags--$12,000.
Crocheted
bags--$15,000.
Queen(approx.250x240cms) size bedcover--$105,000.
Other
sizes to order.
Single Duvet cushions(open into a duvet)--$60,000.
Other
sizes to order.
2x1 meter Throw--52,000.
Baby
Blanket(1x1meter)--$30,000.
3 piece toilet set--$25,000.
Bath
mat--$15,000.
Decorated cushion covers--$11,000.
Table
runner--$9,000.
Set(4)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$26,000.
Set(6)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$39,000.
Set(4) crocheted table mats
only--$18,000.
Set(6)fringed table mats + serviettes--$32,000.
Lots of
other combinations.
Small(approx.105x52cms) plain cotton
rug--$15,000.
Medium(approx.120x65cms) plain cotton
rug--$23,000
Large(approx.150x75cms) plain cotton
rug--$30,000.
Ex.Large(approx.230x130cms) plain cotton rug--$75,000.
Small
patterned cotton rug--$23,000.
Small rag rug--$15,000.
Medium patterned
cotton rug--$30,000.
Large patterned cotton rug--$53,000
Ex.Large
patterned cotton rug--$90,000.
Small patterned mohair rug--$53,000.
Medium
patterned mohair rug--$68,000
Large patterned mohair rug--$82,000.
Ex.
Large patterned mohair rug--$150,000.
Lots of other articles. PLEASE be
aware that prices may change
without
notice.
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1.15
Family Of 3 Hippos For Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
These beautifully
carved, wooden hippos are still "homeless" and going for
US$2000.They really
are unique and worth every cent. Phone Robyn--011413609.
Or you can view them
at Serendipity Coffee Shop--2a, Serendip Close, Mount
Pleasant (entrance on
Golden Stairs Road). Open from
9am-5pm-Tuesday-Saturday. Phone
334377.
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1.16
Motorcycle for Sale (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
2001 YAMAHA R1, A BEAUTIFUL
MACHINE, MUST BE SEEN. Please contact
Gavin
091600356
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2.
WANTED
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1
Wanted (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
AN APPEAL FROM A PENSIONER
I am the
proud owner of an Austin Mini Clubman, my only means of transport
and at the
moment unemployed but my little car has a problem with the tyres.
I need to
get hold of at least one tyre - 145/10 - as the car has been off
the road
since before Christmas and I need to go and look for work. NTS
have size I
need but at cost of $77 000-00 each without the tube.
I am asking if
anyone out there has one or two tyres size 145/10 that they
would be prepared
to sell me for a reasonable amount. They need not be new,
even re-treaded or
second hand will be greatfully accepted.
Maybe there is a farmer out
there who has a couple of old tyres for his
trailer that he no longer
needs.
I can be contacted on telephone 572031 or email: plastics@dpc.co.zw
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2.2
Wanted (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
WE ARE LOOKING FOR TOP SOIL TO SURFACE OLD
TENNIS COURT
PLEASE PHONE TINA ON: 091-908-720 OR
862167/8
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2.3
Wanted (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
Looking for a hardworking, reliable
gardener with traceable references.
Must be able to work with minimum
supervision.
Christonbank area, accommodation provided. Tel Graham 011
406023 / 741001,
or email gtech@zol.co.zw
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2.4
Radios Wanted (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
We are looking for 2 base sets and 7
mobile (hand held) radios. They need
to be in working order and clean. If
you have radios to sell please contact
us on one of the following: Email:
conquest@mweb.co.zw or
Telephone/Fax:
332450 /
308960.
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2.5
WANTED URGENTLY (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
1 GAS STOVE WITH OVEN
1 MEDIUM
SIZED GAS FRIDGE
PHONE: JUDY 091 233 166 / 04 791
321
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
ACCOMMODATION WANTED AND
OFFERED
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
One bedroom with bathroom,
which has a bath, basin and toilet in one lounge
For more information please
contact Charmaine on 620687 up to 9 for
the
above
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2
PROPERTY WANTED (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
Either a smallholding, Industrial,
or a business.
To operate a stock-feed mixing, milling business
from.
Preferably within Masasa through to Borrowdale areas.
Will
consider an existing business with premises.
If an Industrial would like a
shed of 1000m squared Minimum with the
ability to expand. MUST be accessible
to large trucks.
We can erect our own shed if it is a small
holding.
Contact Details 011-219800 / 011-424712 or
091-225413
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3.3
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Single gent, aged 55 years,a
non-drinker, non-smoker, seeking either a
furnished cottage or flat as soon
as possible. Will consider being a paying
boarder. Replies to aztec@zol.co.zw or 303504 (Business) cell
:
091-431873.
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4.
RECREATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1
Conquest Tours (Pvt) Ltd (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
2 King George Court,
Avondale, Harare
Bumi Hills Safari Lodge and Tiger Bay Safari Lodge have
recently been
refurbished and are looking wonderful. They are also under new
management.
Conquest Tours is the main agent in Zimbabwe and is looking
for agents, to
market these destinations.
South Africa -
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Port
Eliszbeth, East
London
Zambia - Lusaka, the Copperbelt,
Ndola
Botswana - Gaberone, Francis
Town
Malawi - Blantyre / Limbe,
Lilongwe
Mozambique - Beira,
Maputo
Swaziland - Mbabani, Manzeni,
Matsapa
Australia - Perth, Sydney, Brisbane,
Melbourne
New Zealand - Auckland,
Wellington
England - London, Edinburg, Manchester
etc
You may become an agent as an individual or you may know of a
Zimbabwean who
is interested, or someone who is involved in the travel
business in one of
the Cities in the Countries mentioned.
Please
contact us on one of the following for further details:
Email: conquest@mweb.co.zw, Telephone/Fax:
332450 or
308960
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5.
SPECIALIST
SERVICES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.1
STRESS & BURN OUT SEMINAR (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
In late 2006, two
one-day Stress & Burn Out Seminars were held, specifically
aimed at
farmers. These two days were both fully subscribed and it became
apparent
that there is a great need to continue this support for our
community. In
2007 we will conduct similar one-day sessions leading towards
group therapy
and support-group sessions.
We have asked the Christian Counselling
Centre to gear two introductory days
on 3rd and 23rd February towards this
end. Thereafter, we will be looking
for a number of facilitators to take the
process further. Please contact
the JAG offices to enrol for either of these
two introductory days. Or,
alternatively, contact the Christian Counselling
Centre directly on
hcc@mweb.co.zw or
telephone 744212.
As a community, we need to help one another
heal.
MANAGING STRESS
Led by: Ian Wilsher
A one-day,
practical workshop for anyone wanting to manage the pressure of
modern day
life in Zimbabwe. This workshop puts theory into practice.
Topics
include:
+ Identifying symptoms and stresses
+ Time
management
+ Dealing with the unchangeable
+ Managing
anger and more
Come and find out how you can harness stress to bring
positive change to
your life.
Date: Saturday, 23rd
February
Time: 9.00 am - 4.30 pm
Cost: Z$50 000 (includes lunch,
manual and teas).
Venue: Christian Counselling Centre, 8 Coltman Road, Mount
Pleasant,
Harare. Tel:
744212.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2
G-Tech services (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
Specialist diesel and component
rebuilds, generators and stationary engine
repairs and maintenance.
Tel
Graham : 011 406 023, 741001. e-mail : gtech@zol.co.zw
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.3
NEED HELP WITH TYPING (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
After hours typing
offered
For more information please contact Charmaine on 620687 up to 9
for
the
above
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.4
PARA LEGAL ADVISORY SERVICES (Ad inserted 30/01/07)
14yrs on and still
providing the following much needed valuable Advisory
Services
1.
Obtaining
- Full (Long) Birth Certificates (FBC) for Zimbabwe
(replacement of
old style)
- Registration of new
births
- Adoption Orders - Certified Extract of originals with
FBC
(identifying biological parent/s)
- Marriage
Certificates - Certified Extract of originals
- Death Certificates
(only possible in some instances)
- Zimbabwe Drivers Licenses - new,
replacement of lost, & Letter of
Confirmation (required when
needing to obtain a Drivers Licence
in
another country)
-
Divorce Orders - certified extract of originals
2.
Facilitating
- Immigration formalities into Zimbabwe, ie Residence
& Employment
Permits
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - New
Investor formalities
3. Company Registration Procedures
-
New Companies
- Statutory Returns
- completion &
submission of changes in Company/'s details
4. Para-Legal
Services
- Wills (preparation of and amendments)
-
Establishment of Discretionary Trusts
- enquire further as to what you
are needing
Contact us for further information and/or to arrange a no
obligation
consultation.
Financial Arrangements - We will always
assist 'bona fide' financially
challenged persons.
Contact: Thomas
Vallance ACIArb
Commissioner of Oaths, PARADiGM TRUST (Pvt) Ltd
Para-Legal
Advisory Services, Trust Executives & Administrators
Tels: (B) 302 207
(M) 011-617 161,
Emls:[paradigm@zol.co.zw],
[paradigm@mango.zw]
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5.5
Nursery School Places Available (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Places available
for 4-5 year olds at nursery school in Pomona due to
classes being moved
around. Need mainly girls to even out numbers.
Children need to go for
interview at school. Fees to be agreed at
interview. Pse call Lindie on
883230.
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5.6
Personalised Vehicle Service (Ad inserted 06/02/07)
Do you need a
Personalised Vehicle Service?
Opened in Msasa at no 179 Loraley Cr,
Msasa, a small workshop specialising
in basic services and brake repairs.
Phone Noel or Sandy Odendaal during
work hours on 447110 or Cell No 011 615
894 to book in your
vehicle.
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6.
PETS
CORNER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No
Adverts
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JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to help!
To
advertise (JAG Members): Please email classifieds to: jagma@mango.zw
with subject
"Classifieds".