Reuters
Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:47 PM GMT
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation raced to a new
record in
December, inflicting more pain on workers in a country recently
hit by
wildcat strikes against an economic crisis stoking political
tensions.
Inflation -- the highest in the world -- is the clearest sign
of a recession
that critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's politically
driven economic
decisions, resulting in runaway unemployment and shortages
of foreign
currency to food.
The Central Statistical Office (CSO)
said on Wednesday annual inflation
raced to 1,281.1 percent in December from
1,098.8 percent the previous
month, setting the stage for more price
increases for hard-pressed
consumers.
On a monthly basis inflation
rose to 36.3 percent, up from 30.1 percent the
previous month.
"The
top three items that contributed most to year-on-year and
month-on-month
inflation were domestic power: electricity, gas and other
fuels," Moffat
Nyoni, acting CSO director, told reporters.
Analysts blame inflation for
boycotts that have hit the health sector,
warning these could trigger wider,
spontaneous street protests and fuel
political tensions in the
country.
Public medical care has ground to a halt as doctors at state
hospitals
continue with a strike to demand salary hikes of more than 8,000
percent,
leaving hospital waiting rooms jammed with patients needing
treatment.
"Government thinks it is in full control, but if things grind
to a halt we
could find ourselves in a different situation altogether ...
these small
things could trigger the masses into action," Daniel Ndlela, a
Harare based
economist said.
The government has forecast inflation,
which it has branded the country's
chief enemy, to retreat to 350-400
percent by the end of this year. But
others, including the International
Monetary Fund, expect it to accelerate
further.
The CSO said average
inflation for 2006 measured 1,016.7 percent, up from
237.8 percent in
2005.
TOUGH TIMES
Zimbabweans, struggling to cope with spiralling
costs, are falling deeper
into poverty.
At a city bus station that
serves some of Harare's working class township
districts, commuters waited
for hours for a ride in a few state buses still
charging slightly lower
fares after increases of 100 percent two weeks ago.
"Things are very
tough, so I have to save every dollar where I can," said
James Mukore, a
cleaner at a nearby office block.
"It is very difficult to keep up with
the prices, here and in the shops," he
told Reuters in the main vernacular
Shona language, his eye out for the
"cheap" bus.
In the last two
weeks, there have been price rises across the board,
including that of
rentals, bread, fuel and medicines.
And in shops in the capital Harare,
the impact on consumers is clearly
evident. Angry or confused shoppers look
dazed as they are hit by new price
increases almost daily.
The CSO
said a family of five now needed to earn 344,256 Zimbabwe dollars a
month
not to be considered poor, up from Z$228,133 previously. The figure is
far
higher than the average earnings for most workers of less than
Z$50,000.
Mugabe, the country's sole ruler since independence from
Britain in 1980,
denies mismanaging the economy and charges that it has
fallen victim to a
Western campaign of sabotage.
Yahoo News
Wed
Jan 10, 5:25 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - The monthly average bill for households
in Zimbabwe has shot
up by more than 40 percent last month, according to
figures compiled by a
consumer watchdog.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe's (CCZ) said that the
cost of living for a
family of six living in urban areas had risen from
245,661 Zimbabwe dollars
in to 351,631, reflecting a 43.1 percent
incease.
The CCZ figures came on the same day that the government
released the
monthly inflation figure which rose to a new record high of
1,098 percent
last month, up 182 percentage points on the November
rate.
The consumer protection body bemoaned the escalating prices of
basic
foodstuffs like cooking oil, bread and the staple cornmeal which have
worsened the plight of poor families.
The price of bread, the most
common meal for the average Zimbabwean, went up
from 300 dollars early
December to 850 by the month's end while the price of
cooking oil also went
up nearly two-fold.
The average monthly salary for an urban worker in
65,000 dollars and most
families often resort to skipping some meals while
workers walk or cycle up
to 30 kilometres to work in order to stretch their
income to next pay day.
Some workers supplement their salaries by selling
goods like clothes at
workplaces while others double as cross-border traders
and street vending
during weekends and holidays.
For most families
ingredients like milk for tea and margarine or jam have
become luxuries they
have struck out of their list of groceries while a
square meal is
rare.
"Prices for almost all goods and services increased in this period
thereby
impacting negatively on the budgets for almost all consumers," the
CCZ said.
IOL
January 10 2007 at 01:32PM
Zimbabwe does not deserve the renewal of
European Union sanctions, a
spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe's party
said Wednesday ahead of a
key EU meeting to discuss the extension of travel
bans and asset freezes for
around 100 top Zimbabwean officials.
Nathan Shamuyarira, the ruling Zanu-PF party's secretary for
information and
publicity, said former colonial power Britain was pursuing
sinister agendas
and wanted to convince other countries to renew the
sanctions.
"Britain is pursuing a colonial practice, repression of other nations
and I
hope other countries will not be dragged by Britain in its sinister
agendas," Shamuyarira was quoted as saying in the official Herald
newspaper.
"Zimbabwe has done nothing wrong that
deserves those illegal
sanctions," he said.
EU sanctions were
first imposed in 2002 to protest alleged vote-
rigging and a worsening
rights situation here. The US has also imposed
sanctions, including a ban on
US companies doing business with blacklisted
Zimbabwean
interests.
Britain is likely to press for a sanctions rollover at a
key EU-Africa
summit in February. At least one EU state - Portugal - is
reported to be
against the renewal of EU sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's government regularly blames Zimbabwe's worsening economic
crisis on
EU and US sanctions, and encourages ordinary citizens to do the
same.
But in 2006, Xavier Marchal, the head of the European
Commission
delegation to Zimbabwe, insisted that the EU remains Zimbabwe's
biggest
donor and said the body had simply redirected funding to activities
with
direct benefit to Zimbabweans. - Sapa-DPA
Yahoo News
HARARE (AFP) - The doctor at the Parirenyatwa hospital shakes
his head in
despair as he issues his diagnosis of Zimbabwe's health service:
"The system
has literally collapsed and we are losing lives
unnecessarily."
Once renowned throughout southern Africa for its
standards of treatment, the
collapse of the health service has mirrored the
financial crisis in
Zimbabwe.
A seven-year recession which led to
inflation passing the 1,000 percent mark
last year means state hospitals
lack the means to pay for even the most
basic drugs such as
anti-inflammatory pain killers and pills to battle
hypertension.
"It's so painful when you have to tell a patient there
is nothing more you
can do to help them even though they are in agony," said
the doctor who
practises at the Parirenyatwa in Harare, the country's
biggest hospital.
"We often resort to bush medicine where we do trial and
error and use
combinations of the few drugs that are available to bring
temporary relief
to the patients," he added on condition of
anonymity.
The major state hospitals have no functioning radiotherapy
machine and rely
on donations from churches for chemotherapy drugs while
basic implements
like syringes and latex gloves are in short
supply.
All health centres have been hit by an exodus of staff including
specialist
doctors, pharmacists and nurses to countries such as Australia,
Britain and
neighbouring South Africa.
The situation deteriorated
further last week when doctors at state hospitals
downed their tools, the
culmination of a long-simmering pay dispute. The
strike has left patients
stranded, with nurses and government consultants
attending to emergencies
only.
The industrial action began three weeks ago when junior doctors
went on a
go-slow demanding a sharp increase in their salaries from the
current 56,000
Zimbabwean dollars (224 US dollars/172 euros).
They
also want the government to up a car allowance loan from 700,000 to 2.5
million dollars.
Another doctor working at Harare Central Hospital
said morale was at rock
bottom.
"Gone are the days when you simply
stretched your hand and you had all the
tools you need for the job at the
click of a finger," he said.
"You are supposed to smile at patients but
the work environment and the
conditions of service are depressing."
A
regular slot on television known as "Stories that break the heart"
features
people suffering from various illnesses that cannot be cured at
home,
appealing for funds for treatment abroad.
The cost is particularly
prohibitive in a country reeling under a serious
foreign exchange crunch and
only a lucky few get help in time.
One recent episode featured
three-year-old cancer sufferer Dexter Chipunza,
sent home from hospital with
one of his eyes protruding and a lump that had
blocked his
nostrils.
"The doctors say there are no drugs for his condition at all
state hospitals
and the machines for radiotherapy are down. I am appealing
to wellwishers to
help me raise money to take my son to South Africa for
urgent treatment,"
said his distraught mother Enia.
Dexter died at
home three weeks later as donations were still trickling in.
Doctors say
they are not to blame, insisting they had only embarked on
industrial action
as a last resort.
"We are as concerned as everyone else about patients
who are suffering as a
result of the deadlock between us and government,"
Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa,
president of the Hospital Doctors Association, told
AFP.
"The majority of us have no cars to attend to emergencies, we can
hardly
afford basic groceries. All we are asking for is a salary that will
make
coming to work worthwhile.
"The current junior doctor's salary
can only buy a few kilograms of meat and
these are the same grievances we
put forward when we went on strike last
year."
President Robert
Mugabe conceded last month that the health sector
"continues to face several
challenges, which include the shortage of
essential drugs and critical
equipment as well as the unending brain drain."
The government would soon
compel medical school graduates to serve in state
health centres for a
period equal to the duration of their training, he
said, while working out a
package to discourage the migration of senior
medics.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
10 January 2007
Several organisations have urged the
Zimbabwe government to find a solution
to the ongoing doctors strike as the
situation becomes more critical. The
Crisis Coalition released a statement
that said senior doctors (consultants)
have joined the industrial action
because they needed the demands by junior
staff to be met. According to the
statement, only 11out of 350 doctors at
Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare
reported for work Wednesday. Our sources
said patients are being turned away
at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo and
several other hospitals as the strike
continues in its 3rd week without any
response from the health
ministry.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) has
called upon
the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to take urgent steps to
resolve the
ongoing strike by junior doctors. Spokesperson Primrose
Matambanadzo said
Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospitals were treating emergency
cases only. She
said some patients were waiting days to be treated. A
statement released by
the ZADHR Wednesday said "the strike has severely
compromised the standard
of healthcare at the country's major referral
hospitals since 21 December
2006." It urged the Ministry of Health and other
relevant government
departments to resolve the crisis immediately in order
to "prevent further
loss of life and unavailability of health
care."
Reports said the Health Minister David Parirenyatwa initially denied
any
knowledge of the strike, but on Tuesday he finally met with
representatives
of the doctors to discuss their grievances. Parirenyatwa did
not respond
immediately. Matambanadzo said government was not treating the
situation
with enough urgency or assigning it a level of high priority. She
said
further delay will force more doctors to seek greener pastures because
they
are living below the poverty datum line. The striking junior doctors
currently earn Z$56,000 and are asking for a minimum Z$5 million as of
January 1.
President of The Hospital Doctors Association Kudakwashe
Nyamutukwa told us
earlier this week they will not return to work until
their needs are
addressed. They have been battling for decent salaries and
better working
conditions from the government for years now. Nyamutukwa said
going back
without a raise would be like shooting themselves in the
foot.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Telegraph
By Peta
Thornycroft, Zimbabwe Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:46am GMT
10/01/2007
As many as 20,000 miners have been arrested in
police raids across
Zimbabwe.
Their detention, in one of the
largest police actions in the country's
recent history, has left thousands
of family members without any support at
a time of rampant inflation and a
desperate shortage of maize meal, the
staple food.
Many of
those arrested are legally registered as miners with the mines
ministry. The
government has claimed it is detaining illegal gold panners
selling ore on
the black market and causing massive environmental damage.
"This is
not true," said a miner who runs two claims in western
Zimbabwe and a gold
processing plant in the second city, Bulawayo. "Many of
them are
established, legal, small-scale miners."
He asked not to be named to
protect himself and his workers, who have
been arrested
repeatedly.
In his case, the last raid was on Christmas Eve, when
47 policemen,
many armed with AK47 assault rifles, locked them up at Inyathi
police
station, 40 miles north of Bulawayo.
"It was cruel," he
said. "I saw about 1,000 people in the open, many
handcuffed to each other,
exposed day andnight to the sun and rain in a
small fenced field next to the
police station."
Another small-scale miner, who asked not to be
identified, said: "We
have two small gold mines. They are closed now and
under police guard. "We
also have a custom milling plant and I am forced to
mill rocks, which have
been stolen by police from poor guys trying to
support their families. If I
refuse I will be arrested again."
At least three miners died of exhaustion digging a gold deposit for
police,
according to unconfirmed reports.
On Dec 29, police confirmed that
a constable "accidentally" shot dead
Shepherd Mafiga, 23, when he tried to
evade arrest about 50 miles north-east
of Harare.
President
Robert Mugabe's government said it has detained more than
19,000 "illegal"
miners in recent weeks.
John Robertson, an economist, said the
arrests reflected panic as the
government was "chronically short of foreign
currency".
With a skewed exchange rate - the Zimbabwe dollar is
officially pegged
at 10 times more than its real value - gold panners say
they are forced to
sell their ore on the black market.
Others
believe Mr Mugabe intends to nationalise the mining sector six
years after
he precipitated the collapse of the the economy by seizing 90
per cent of
white-owned farms.
Last year, he said he would take 51 per cent of
all mines without
offering compensation.
He told supporters:
"To those who don't want to accept this, we say
goodbye and good
luck."
Hundreds of thousands of workers who lost their jobs on
white-owned
farms after they were taken over by Mr Mugabe, turned to
dangerous gold
panning to survive.
Blessing Chebundo, an MP for
the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change in central Zimbabwe - where
much of Zimbabwe's mineral deposits are
concentrated - said he sees panners
arrested almost every day.
"It is terrible, so many people depended
on them," he said. "Towns
near us are dying as there is no money going there
now."
Zim Online
Thursday 11 January 2007
HARARE -
Zimbabwe's top policeman has urged the government to fix the
country's
bleeding economy instead of relying on the police alone to end
lawlessness,
on the rise as many resort to illegal means to survive the
worst economic
crisis in the world outside a war zone.
Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri last month wrote to Home Affairs
Minister Kembo Mohadi that the
police were overstretched and virtually
unable to carry out normal policing
duties, as most officers were committed
on a myriad of special government
operations to restore law and order in the
limping economy.
These
ranged from operations to arrest shop owners selling basic commodities
above
prices stipulated by the state, public transporters overcharging for
their
services, illegal foreign currency traders, illegal grain buyers, with
the
latest being the ongoing operation to arrest illegal gold and diamond
miners, Chihuri said.
"We are overwhelmed by the numerous operations
that we are being asked to
carry out in almost every facet of government. It
is now as if the police
have been assigned the role of governing the
country," read part of Chihuri's
letter, dated December 8, 2006 and
referenced, "Cancellation of Leave".
ZimOnline was shown a copy of the
letter that Chihuri wrote to Mohadi in
response to an earlier request by the
Home Affairs Minister that the police
commander bars his officers from going
on leave or off so they could be
available for several special operations
planned by the government this year
to restore sanity in the
economy.
In a thinly veiled criticism of President Robert Mugabe's
government's
apparent predisposition to use strong-arm tactics instead of
sound economic
policy to restore order in the crumbling economy, Chihuri
said previous
operations had failed to stop a thriving black market for
basic commodities
or other unlawful economic activities.
He wrote:
"Some of the activities the principals want us to stop, the
normalcy they
want us to restore can only be best restored by solving
outstanding economic
issues. Without normalising the economy, all we can do
is put stop-gap
measures."
Chihuri said refusal by the army to provide the police with
extra manpower
to help carry out government assigned operations had left the
police
overstretched, forcing the law enforcement agency to "abandon normal
police
work".
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said he needed time
to check with Chihuri
when first contacted by ZimOnline earlier this week on
Monday for comment on
the matter.
When approached again on Wednesday,
Mandipaka said he was too busy to follow
up on the matter and asked to be
contacted next week. Mohadi was unreachable
on his phone.
Mugabe and
his ruling ZANU PF party have come to heavily rely on state
security forces
to not only keep public discontent in check in the face of
growing economic
hardships, but to also carry out government duties and
functions that are
normally performed by civilian authorities.
Several strategic state
institutions have in recent years also been placed
in the hands of either
serving or former military officers.
For example, the Grain Marketing
Board, tasked to feed the nation, is headed
by former army colonel Samuel
Muvuti, while retired Airforce of Zimbabwe
commodore Mike Karakadzai is
general manager of the National Railways of
Zimbabwe.
A former
military intelligence official, Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, is the
Attorney General
and former army colonel and High Court Judge George
Chiweshe chairs the
Zimbabwe Electoral Supervisory Commission to name just a
few former military
officers now running state institutions and departments.
Zimbabwe's
economic crisis has spawned hyperinflation and shortages of food,
fuel,
essential medicines, hard cash and just about every basic survival
commodity
- to leave political tensions in the once prosperous southern
African
country on a knife-edge. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 11 January
2007
BULAWAYO - Operations have virtually
come to a halt at two state hospitals
in Bulawayo after nurses at the
hospitals, which are the biggest in the
country's second largest city, this
week went on strike to press for more
pay and better working
conditions.
Nurses at Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) had been
on a go-slow
for the past two weeks but on Tuesday resolved to stop working
altogether,
joining intern doctors who have boycotted work for the last
three weeks also
demanding a review of salaries and working
conditions.
With senior doctors also absconding duty in solidarity with
striking
interns, only student nurses were left to take charge of most wards
at
Mpilo, probably the busiest public hospital in the southern half of the
country.
A few foreign doctors could be seen battling to attend to
very critical
cases but most patients had to be turned away at Mpilo as well
as at UBH
where nursing staff were just milling around refusing to attend to
the sick
until their salary grievances were addressed.
Nurses earn a
basic salary of $70 000 per month, an amount most say is a
pittance compared
to what their counterparts in the region are earning.
"What we earn is a
joke compared to what nurses in South Africa and Botswana
are earning and we
are not saying the government should match that but
anything close to what
those countries pay would be acceptable," Mary Ncube,
a nurse at Mpilo said
as she gathered up her belongings to return home.
Ncube said she had come
to the hospital to only "check the situation" but
not to work.
And
not far from where the ZimOnline news crew spoke to Ncube, an elderly
looking woman groaned in pain as she lay on an old blanket.
"What are
we the poor supposed to do? Where should we go for help?" the old
woman, who
later said her name was Alice Sigauke, asked to no one in
particular.
Sigauke, from Bulawayo's Magwegwe working class suburb,
suspects she broke
her leg when she tripped and fell on her way home from
church last week.
Her daughter had brought her to Mpilo so doctors could
have a look at her
leg but she would have to return home because the few
foreign doctors
available would not be able to attend to her as her
condition was not life
threatening.
"We could not even get pain
killers because there were no nurses at the
dispensary," Sigauke's daughter
said, as tears swelled up in her eyes.
Contacted for comment, Deputy
Health Minister Edwin Muguti said the
government was working flat out to
resolve both the nurses and intern
doctors' salary grievances.
He
said: "We are communicating with the doctors and the nurses grievances
are
not different to that of doctors and we are urging them top go back to
work
while we work out on their working conditions and salaries.
"We are for
dialogue, the doctors and the nurses know that their salaries
are going to
be reviewed in January and they should go back to work as they
are making
the ordinary people suffer."
Zimbabwe's health delivery system, once
lauded as one of the best in Africa,
has crumbled due years of to
under-funding and mismanagement.
An unprecedented seven-year old economic
crisis has seen the country fail to
import critically needed medicines
because of a severe shortage of foreign
currency, while the country has
suffered the worst brain drain of doctors,
nurses and other professionals as
economic conditions continue to
deteriorate. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 11 January 2007
HARARE -
The national executive committee of the larger faction of Zimbabwe's
opposition MDC party will meet on Friday to discuss possible reunification
of the splintered party as well as moves by the ruling ZANU PF party to
extend President Robert Mugabe's term to 2010.
Authoritative sources
in the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction told
ZimOnline that the top party
committee will hear feed-back from former chief
executive officer of the
banned Daily News newspaper Sam Sipepa Nkomo, who
heads a team set up by the
Tsvangirai group to negotiate with a rival
faction led by prominent
academic, Arthur Mutambara.
The MDC, once regarded as the biggest threat
to Mugabe and ZANU PF, split in
October 2005 after its top leaders disagreed
on whether to participate in a
Senate election.
"Several issues will
be under discussion but the most important item on the
agenda will be the
feedback from the team that is negotiating possible unity
with our erstwhile
colleagues," said a member of the party's national
executive who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
Both factions are divided on whether or not they
should unite. However both
Mutambara and Tsvangirai have recently issued
separate statements saying
there is no substitute for unity, fuelling
speculation that the two groups
could be moving to either unite or to at
least agree on peaceful
co-existence and co-operation.
The spokesman
for the Tsvangirai-led MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the Friday
meeting would
concentrate on discussing the national crisis, internal party
matters and
ZANU PF's decision to extend Mugabe's term by two more years
without an
election.
"On top of the agenda on Friday will be the regime's decision
to postpone
suffering, tyranny and oppression to 2010. The party will also
deliberate on
the operational framework of the party's political agenda,"
Chamisa said in
a statement issued yesterday.
Chamisa did not refer
to the issue of re-unification of the once vibrant
opposition
party.
Meanwhile, the two MDC factions are expected to field separate
candidates in
next month's parliamentary by-election in Chiredzi
constituency to replace
the late ZANU PF legislator, Aaron
Baloyi.
Friday's meeting by the Tsvangirai-led MDC is expected to endorse
the
candidature of Emmaculate Makondo, who narrowly lost to ZANU PF in the
March
2005 election while the Mutambara faction is expected to hold
primaries to
select its candidate in time for the nomination court scheduled
for next
week. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 11 January
2007
BULAWAYO - Thousands of students at
tertiary colleges in Zimbabwe failed to
attend classes on Tuesday after the
government increased tuition and
boarding fees by more than 1 000
percent.
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) secretary general,
Beloved
Chiweshe, said thousands of students had failed to turn up for the
new
semester because of the high fees.
Chiweshe said the situation
had been worsened because most colleges were
refusing to accept part
payments for tuition fees.
The ZINASU secretary general vowed to mobilise
students to force the
government to reverse the fee
increments.
"These fees are ridiculous, students cannot afford to pay
these fees and
that is the reason tertiary institutions are
deserted.
"The authorities should brace for massive protests because as
students we
cannot take this any more," said Chiweshe.
According to
the new fees structures announced at government-run tertiary
institutions,
students at polytechnic colleges will pay tuition fees of $
115 000 up from
$15 000 they paid last year.
Hostel fees had also shot up to $200 000 per
semester, up from the $50 000
they paid last semester.
Students at
teachers colleges will now fork out $120 000 in tuition fees and
a further
$300 000 in hostel fees. The situation at the School of Mines in
Bulawayo is
equally tough with students paying a total of $537 500 for both
tuition and
hostel fees.
University students will pay $100 000 per semester, up from
the previous $24
000 while hostel fees jumped from $24 000 to a massive $300
000 per
semester.
Higher Education Minister Stan Mudenge could not be
reached for comment on
the matter.
Zimbabwe's education system once
lauded as one of the best in Africa has
virtually crumbled because of
under-funding and poor management.
Protests by university and college
students over deteriorating standards and
high fees are common in Zimbabwe.
- ZimOnline
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington,
DC
10 January 2007
Tentative moves toward
reunification last year by factions of Zimbabwe's
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change seem to be faltering this year
despite calls from the
broader opposition movement for MDC leaders to
overcome their
differences.
MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara extended an olive branch
this week to
the rival faction headed by Morgan Tsvangirai - but a
Tsvangirai spokesman
quickly dismissed the reunification proposal, saying
the broad opposition
was already united.
The blunt rejection of
Mutambara's overture came despite repeated calls from
civil and religious
leaders for a rapprochement between the factions that
went separate ways in
late 2005 over the issue of whether the MDC should
contest senate
elections.
Tsvangirai faction spokesman Nelson Chamisa appeared to
dismiss out of hand
the suggestion from Mutambara that the two factions
rejoin forces. He told
reporter Peter Clottey of VOA's English to Africa
that Mutambara's offer was
disingenuous.
Reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 For Zimbabwe sought
perspective on the
problematic relationship between the MDC factions from
two political
observers: advocacy officer Fambai Ngirande of the National
Association of
Non-Governmental Organizations, and Nairobi-based political
analyst Brian
Kagoro.
On the programme Hot Seat, Violet continues her discussion with foreign correspondent Peta Thornycroft and Independent MP Professor Jonathan Moyo on the media in Zimbabwe.
First broadcast Tuesday 9th January
Peta
Thornycroft: Well, certainly not since 1965 when blank spaces appeared
in the Herald and where the media was extensively formally censored. What weve
seen certainly since independence, and I joined the state media in 1982, was a
creeping self censorship. It started as self censorship and then by the time
that Tommy Sithole took over editorship of the Herald in 1983, and he probably
did more damage to the press, than any other person. By that time one already
knew that the noble hopes of the Mass Media Trust would represent a free
democratic society and would guarantee freedom of speech, that it was gone. And,
if one looks back at how the media in Zimbabwe covered, for example,
Gukurahundi, it was absolutely shameful. And, at independence, Zimbabwean
newspapers actually recruited really skilled people; mostly journalists whod
fled South Africa or fled Rhodesia ; and there were some fine people there. But
they were all, every one of them, were forced to leave because of their
conscience or as soon as their contracts, you know, five year contracts, were
up, they quit. So theres really no tradition of free press/media in Zimbabwe .
Violet: And also now, under AIPPA, the law criminalises the practice of journalism without accreditation and provides for the possibility of a two year jail term for those found guilty. Now, this is a question for Professor Moyo. Do you think this is a proportionate punishment for such a petty administrative offence?
Jonathan Moyo: well, I think the fact that there is such a law is a reflection of the kind of society that we have been, its not something that developed over night. It is a culmination of our twenty year practice, although it was always difficult for journalists, maybe even impossible to practice without accreditation by the then Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications. One of the biggest responsibilities of that Ministry was accrediting journalists. And, as you know from various sources, major developments in Zimbabwe , notably the Gukurahundi was not reported by Zimbabwean journalists at all when there was no AIPPA. And, AIPPA was an attempt, I must admit a rather bad attempt at trying to regularise what was happening irregularly and what was giving the State a lot of discretion without any rules. You would be denied accreditation but there would be no explanation for it. I believe the worst period for journalism in Zimbabwe was during the ten year extension of the Rhodesian State of Emergency when the security apparatus was deciding on these things without being accountable to anyone and without anyone knowing what rules were being used. In AIPPAs case we know what the rules are. They continue to be applied selectively and, indeed, in a proper functioning society they would be unnecessary.
Violet: Peta do you agree that the worst period was during the Rhodesian period?
Jonathan: No, I didnt say Rhodesian. The Zimbabwean period, 1980 to 1990 when the Rhodesian State of Emergency was extended by the Zimbabweans.
Violet: Alright and then Peta still, would you agree, since you are a journalist still trying to work in Zimbabwe, covering the Zimbabwean story right now, would you say that things were worse then than now?
Peta: Violet Ian Smith deported or refused to allow at least ninety foreign journalists to work in Rhodesia . The first journalist I saw being evicted, expelled from Zimbabwe was I think it was early 1982. The headlines most made at that time was that Nick Worrall of the Guardian was deported because of what he had written about Gukurahundi, and it was an extremely frightening phase of Zimbabwe but it was confined to one area of the country. When the MDC was formed in 2000, I got there in 2001 but I had been up and down, I had no doubt that had there had been an MDC in Harare in the early 80s, Nathan Shamyurira would have dealt with the press; in Harare or in other places where the MDC had; as brutally as the press were dealt with post 2000 really, post 2002 following the Presidential election, when it has been so difficult. So, what Im saying is that political protest, political opposition to ZANU PF in each phase of that protest, whether it was in the 80s or the 2000s has been really vicious. I dont know if I can remember accurately enough. There was then a period after the Unity Accord of relative political submission. People were oppressed enough and the foreign journalists had little really to report on, and, Im talking from a foreign point of view. And so, it was quite OK for them, there were very few of them getting into any trouble because there was very little going on, like theres very little going on now.
But, the moment something happens politically, journalists do what journalists do, they try and tell the story, and they got cracked on now and then. Andrew Moyse, the Editor of Parade from 1984-85 onwards, I mean, you know, what a heroic job he did, and Im not saying it because I eventually worked for him. I mean just go back in the record spells it out for anyone who cares to look, it was the only voice in opposition, long before The Independent, long before the Daily Gazette. There was one voice and it was a monthly magazine and that magazine sold out every month. In fact, I can remember seeing the vendors coming and fighting with each other to get enough copies of it. And, go back and look at what he wrote. But it was really difficult for him, and that was before I joined him.
Violet: And what about AIPPA itself? What does that law do to peoples desire to get the truth into the public domain?
Peta: Violet, you know when you stand there in court and you watch Andrew Meldrum being charged and I cant remember who was charged with him, and you see perfectly respectable journalists being hauled before Magistrates; I mean they havent won a case yet, I cant even remember why they didnt win it because there have been such a mass of journalists getting into trouble etc. What does it mean? Youd have to ask people on a daily basis. I dont think of AIPPA; I mean Ive got used to it. Its think its lousy. Im worried about being caught; others are worried about being caught, but from time to time. And if there is a rise in Civil Society protests at the moment and we go back onto the streets, weve learned to be clever, weve learned to avoid detection, we have learnt to keep a low profile, and, there are so few of us. If something actually happens in the streets of Harare or there is some kind of protests, well, Im sure it will be just as difficult as it was in 2002.
Violet: And, Professor Moyo, there are some who say you created the AIPPA law which has led to people not being able to express themselves freely in Zimbabwe. That Mahoso and company are abusing the legislation is neither here nor there as you created that monster or at least the breeding ground where this monster has been well fed. Now, how would you respond to that?
Jonathan: Well what I would say to those people is that first they should recall that first of all it was not my creation; it was something that was already on the cards when I joined the Government of Zimbabwe. The aspect that can be seen as my creation, and an aspect which I accept fully, is that I was the incumbent Minister of Information and I therefore had to play the leading role in bringing that legislation to Parliament. But, this is not a Jonathan Moyo law, this is a law that came from the Government of Zimbabwe and was passed by Parliament of Zimbabwe. I dont think you are going to make any progress in personalising it and if you say this is a Moyo creation, you may satisfy yourself but you will not move forward because you will fail to understand that there is something deeply institutional and deeply political about this law which is why it is there in the books, well long after my departure.
Even so, I would like to bring what I think is an important consideration to your attention about this law. While I believe that in a society that is functioning as a normal democracy there would really be no need for this; and the evidence for that, as far as I am concerned, is the draft Constitution that was rejected in 2000, which I supported and in which I played a leading role along with others. We clearly had wanted, and we put a clause in the draft Constitution that sought to protect media freedom as a fundamental right. The Zimbabwean Constitution doesnt do it. It protects freedom of expression. There is, as you have seen for example in other jurisdictions like the United States, a world of difference between freedom of expression as a natural right, which we are grateful to God because we are born with, and freedom of the media where the media is an institution that is socially created and so forth. We need, in a dispensation such as ours that kind of right.
In the absence of that Violet, and given our experience over the last 20 years, one of the worst, worst aspects or worst problems really in terms of media practice and freedom of expression we have experienced is the absence of rules. That those in power make their rules, or make the rules as and when they want to in response to particular situations on the basis of whim. This is what happened during the ten year State of Emergency in Zimbabwe ; the extended Rhodesian State of Emergency. I think its better to have rules. To know what the rules are. To find ways of dealing with those rules if you find them unacceptable than to be a victim of a rule-less environment which is dictated by the personal whim of the Director of Information or the Minister of Information. With all its defects, I believe one good aspect of AIPPA is that it tells us in black and white what the rules are. And, you can then use those rules to fight the system.
One of the reasons, and I heard Peta saying this, and, she is correct, so far, of all the cases of a criminal kind that have been brought in the courts in Zimbabwe under AIPPA, the State has not won a single one. And, that is a significant development in terms of institutionalising the rule of law, because, at the end of the day, after losing one, two three and more cases, the Government gets embarrassed and it modifies its behaviour. And I think that, then, in an environment such as ours, can be progress.
Violet: Peta, what are your views on what Professor Moyo has just pointed out?
Peta: That I hope, one day, when Zimbabwe becomes a democracy, AIPPA along with POSA and some of the other security laws will be burned on a heap; a celebrations fire; and, we will never need odious laws, odious security laws again. It is undeniable that what the Government of Zimbabwe did was put rules down which nevertheless, rules being put in the hands of tormentors of democracy, would always be abused. Weve seen registered journalists being arrested, registered photographers; Im remembering a photographer from Reuters maybe eighteen months ago being arrested and locked up. So, registration is not necessarily a protection for the Press. Theyre out of control; AIPPA gave them control that they would always abuse whether its a good law or a bad law. I think its a lousy law and I just hope it goes because it gave laws which were unnecessary. There is defamation; unfortunately, there was criminal defamation even prior to AIPPA. Journalists have been deported continuously since independence. And many journalists in the domestic press, Im really talking about the State press here and we have seen some in sections of the privately owned media from time to time, practice tremendous self censorship because they are scared. And so, in an environment, it doesnt matter actually whether there is AIPPA or not AIPPA; it is a lousy place to work as a journalist.
And Im, of course, like many people who knew Jonathan Moyo before he joined the Government of Zimbabwe, when he became, when he was, one of the first and most articulate writers and analysts on the evils of ZANU PF. I think for me, and Ive said this to him, so its not a surprise to him to hear it from me now on your radio, is that knowing what I know about him, and his argument about the Constitution, I still cant catch it! How somebody who wrote at length and regularly and was arguably the most articulate and regularly published critic of ZANU PF could have joined them. But, actually, I dont think this advances anything that we are saying now because we are talking about the media in general and weve all been through this many times with Jonathan. And, one day, hes going to tell us fully, when its a better climate than it is now, because its a horrendous climate at the moment.
Violet: And then also Peta, still on the media, some people have been saying that the independent media has fallen victim to the polarisation of the country by protecting the Opposition and Civic Society from criticism and from any negative publicity. Would you agree with this?
Peta: I didnt know enough about the Opposition until just really before it split into two factions, nor did I know much about Civil Society. There were too many daily hard news stories going on. We went to the occasional press conference, we saw them, we saw them being arrested, we saw them being beaten, killed, etc, we saw that. But I dont think any of us really investigated. I think actually in defence, I think Trevor Ncube of The Independent; owns The Independent; was the first person to write, voice that critical
voice from the privately owned press. And then, the story started to come out actually from the foreign press. And, I think, actually following the split in the MDC; one saw some absolutely horrendous reporting. And, if one looks back on that, one can understand why it was horrendous, because there wasnt a tradition of accountability and you do have newspapers like The Independent, which did try very hard to not be partisan to one faction or the other. But then there were all these little internet publications that I used to, when I saw their stuff, I used to write them and tell them what the hell are you doing? Why are you writing this stuff? And, weve seen it in other so called privately owned or independent or foreign funded media which has not been responsible. Its got better now; maybe it has got better because the Opposition is just words and not deeds now so maybe thats why its died. But, it really did show the shallowness of understanding of many in the privately owned media when the MDC split in two and one saw that people, journalists, could not think beyond their personal admiration for one or other person there.
However, during; since the MDC split; and because thats the nature of journalism, one starts to ask questions; when did it start going wrong? And, whats horrendous, for a foreign journalist, is to find that it went wrong long ago, by 2001 they were squabbling with each other over this and that and I think then the domestic press did fail. I think the domestic media did fail and I actually think that was the job for the domestic press and not necessarily for the foreign media, we were interested in other things, other than the MDC.
Violet: Do you agree Professor Moyo?
Jonathan: Yes I agree. And, unfortunately, all this was happening against the background of a poisoned public sphere. One of the tragedies we have is that when the Nigerians gave a gift to Zimbabwe to buy the South African owned press, there was confusion about what that meant. And, what was supposed to be State ownership, and the State is you, me, everyone, all of us, but in our case it became just the Government, and in particular the ZANU PF Government, which then took ownership of the Mass Media Trust and through it Zimpapers, and, as we know, in the electronic media it took ownership of radio and TV. And, you cannot expect a proper check, or a means for check and balance where the private interests get caught up with the sort of issues that Peta was talking about. You cannot expect that to be corrected if the public media is in the hands of the Government of the day, and this is a position I held even when I was in Government.
I believe that Government has no business in owning newspapers; Government should in fact not even own radio. Any Government owned media is, by definition, propaganda pamphlet if its a newspaper or a propaganda voice if its an electronic media. This goes without saying, it is obvious, and yet this is the situation that obtains in Zimbabwe. And, when we made little efforts to get people to appreciate that Zimpapers is actually not a Government newspaper, its supposed to be a State newspaper owned by a Trust whose beneficiaries are all Zimbabweans; MDC Zimbabweans, ZANU PF Zimbabweans, Ndonga Zimbabweans, Independent Zimbabweans. They are all supposed to be represented by The Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust.
Ive been very, very surprised, I must tell you that, even when the issue came up in Parliament and we would say this, it had no takers. It came up again last year and there was some debate, again no takers. I even think that there are many grounds for Zimbabweans, through class action and other means to even approach the courts and say why is the Minister of Information appointing Board Members at Zimpapers, because he has no right to do that. Why is the Minister of Information going to direct things at ZBC? In terms of the Broadcast Services Act he has no right to do that. But yet, no one does anything about it and in the meantime everyone wants to give effect to the fiction that Zimpapers is a Government owned group, ZBC is Government station. And, as long as that continues then we will have problems.
Otherwise, yes, I agree with what Peta said. You know, there are many things which are wrong with Zimbabwe but those many things in many significant ways are a reflection of who we are, therefore a reflection of what is wrong with us. It might be a very easy thing for many or some to say ah, this is what is wrong with Jonathan Moyo, but if you look at this business, it really has become a growth industry, of intolerance. The institutionalised intolerance in our country to a point where we dont even want to agree that we were actually created differently. This is a fundamental problem that is arresting not just our development, but the search for a solution to the current crisis in Zimbabwe.
Peta: Jonathan do you think you can have any of those entrenched freedoms of expression and freedom of the media under ZANU PF? Its impossible.
Jonathan: No, I think you cant. You cant have it under ZANU PF. ZANU PF has become a poisoned institution and to move forward we cant move forward with ZANU PF, there is a lot of baggage, and that is why we must agree with everyone else who says we cant have these freedoms under the current constitutional dispensation. Zimbabwe needs not only a new leadership, it also needs a new movement, political formation and it needs a new constitution. Im not sure which one should come first.
Violet: Thats the question that I actually wanted to ask Peta, that is there any way of reviving the media right now or that can only be done after Mugabe?
Peta: You know, The Independent, in particular, does a sterling job, really it does and it wont cease because Trevor Ncube does or does not have a passport. The problem is if it doesnt reach a mass audience. But, I also need to say about the mass audience and think a lot of them dont actually believe what they see on dreadful ZBC and they buy the Herald for sports and for the advertisements. You can see it every day all over the country, and The Chronicle. I think The Independent does, in its field, a good job to a limited audience and its only once a week. The most important thing of course is the mass media, the electronic media; radio and television, in particular radio which has by far the largest reach of any other media and while it remains under the control of ZANU PF no, nothing can be done.
Jonathan: And I should say there quickly that the public media is definitely a lost cause and I dont think it has a future in Zimbabwe. We have done enough to destroy it permanently and its now a question of a media such as the Independent growing the audience and also becoming more accessible and to be more regular and to have a similar competition. I think the future for the media in Zimbabwe is a responsible private media which will be national. I think that is the direction.
Peta: No, sorry, you can also reform. The public broadcaster, if we go back to public broadcasting, there must be a public broadcaster in Zimbabwe that has a responsibility to all sections of the community but it is in a total and utter moral, intellectual and physical state of collapse. And, I think if there ever is democracy in Zimbabwe it would be one of those projects that one would have to seek outside funding for. Getting people trained properly and getting really good leaders in each section who will be answerable to the public.
Jonathan: Yes but, I was also going to say if you look at the technological trends they do not favour public broadcasting in the sense as we have known it because choice is going to be a bigger and much more widespread factor in broadcasting through cell phones, all these sorts of things. I do not see public broadcasters going into that space but I see the State coming up with regulations to require private broadcasters to carry certain public interest issues and in countries like South Africa and the UK where there is a tradition of the public broadcaster even though in South Africa perhaps a bit shaky in recent years, there is some hope of the public broadcaster transforming along with technological changes. But, in Zimbabwe, where public broadcasting has been basically a disaster, seen as a partisan platform, I dont think, I certainly am not optimistic about its future.
Violet: Due to unforeseen circumstances we have decided to extend the programme and bring you another edition. The concluding debate will include the citizenship issue which has seen newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube being stripped of his Zimbabwean citizenship. We also bring you a follow up on events within ZANU PF since their Goromonzi conference and discuss the opportunities that in-fighting within the ruling party has created for opposition groups.
Audio interview can be heard on SW Radio Africa s Hot Seat programme (Tues 9 Jan). Comments and feedback can be emailed to violet@swradioafrica.com
By Lance
Guma
10 January 2007
South Africa's education ministry is considering
plans to recruit science
and maths teachers from Zimbabwe in an attempt to
address serious shortages
in their schools. An education official in the
Gauteng province, Angie
Motshekga, told South African journalists that
Education Minister Naledi
Pandor confirmed Zimbabwean teachers had already
approached their government
over the vacancies. Raymond Majongwe the
Secretary General of the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) told
Newsreel that their
organisation's chapter in South Africa has been active
in trying to get
employment for their members in that
country.
Although no teachers have been recruited yet, South African
officials have
said they recognise Zimbabwean teaching qualifications and
recruiting them
was now a real possibility. A new curriculum has been
introduced for Grade
10 pupils, which requires them to do maths or maths
literacy as a subject.
The Gauteng province says it does not have many
trained science and maths
teachers, which is why they are predicting a
crisis. Teaching unions in
South Africa have said they will support the
recruitment only if it is not
done at the expense of Zimbabwe's education
sector.
Majongwe however told Newsreel that even if one wanted to be
patriotic,
there were certain economic fundamentals that could not be
ignored, and that
is 'people will always move to where the grass is
greener.' Commenting on a
recent offer by the Public Service Commission to
offer salaries below the
poverty datum line, he said the PTUZ is baffled as
to how the government
intended to retain skilled professionals with such
poor remuneration.
Majongwe launched a broadside at reserve bank governor
Gideon Gono for
arguing against salary increases for civil servants saying
they fuelled
inflation. He said it is amazing the same person has spent
US$365 000 of
foreign currency on a high powered Mercedes Brabus E-class
V12- bi-turbo
vehicle.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
IOL
January
10 2007 at 03:00PM
Education officials have hinted that they may
hire foreign teachers to
help fill the gaps in South African schools as the
school year begins.
The IOL Poll asked "Should we recruit teachers
from Zimbabwe?" and the
response was an overwhelming no.
Of the
769 readers who voted, 78 percent did not want Zimbabwean
teachers in South
African schools, and 22 percent voted yes.
The comments, which came
to more than a hundred, gave a more balanced
view on the issue.
Here are some comments from readers who welcome the idea:
Bianca:
What's the problem with that? The problem is that SA currently
has teachers
that are not qualified. I know of a girl from a farm school who
finished
matric and was asked to come and teach at the school. if that is
the type of
teachers we have in our rural areas, don't you think we need to
fix that up?
The problem is that as South Africans we are very closed minded
about the
rest of the world. Most people are of the opinion that all
Zimbabweans are
idiots like Robert Mugabe when in fact there are many
educated people from
the country. Children in rural areas are hungry for
education. Let's give it
to them.
Lungelo: We allow doctors and other
professionals to come to SA, so
why can't we allow teachers, because they'll
be here to teach our children.
Let's put our pride aside and accept that we
need help. We can build more
training institutions, but that won't help now,
because they are needed
right now, and with the issue of HIV/AIDS, more
teachers are dying, so we
really need more.
Anonymous: Why not,
as long as their first language are English? If
they are qualified and
willing to work here, then I say go fetch them. We
allow foreigners with
other professions to work here, what is the
difference.
While
others disagreed:
Kutlwano: What about thousands of South African
teachers who are
unemployed?
Winnie: Why should we give up on
our country's capability? My answer
is No! No! No! Give them enough training
and where there is no discipline,
tough measures should be practiced.
Especially to those teachers who don't
care because their kids attend
private schools. I think teachers should work
eight hours per day and get
leave, not holidays.
SL: Allow me to be a ray of doom in our bright
rainbow nation. Thabo
is trying to turn us into Zimbabwe, by allowing our
kids to be brainwashed
by Zanu-PF "teachers", he will expediate the
process.
http://www.africa-interactive.net/index.php?PageID=2765
10 January 2007 - PANA. Zimbabwe Wednesday put its
emergency services on
'red alert' throughout the country for flooding, as
heavy rains continue to
pound some areas, raising fears of a looming
disaster.
Some regions in the country, particularly in the south and north,
have
already experienced floods after heavy downpours.
The director
of the Civil Protection Unit (CPU), Sibusisiwe Ndlovu said
there were
threats of flooding in some areas of the country, forcing
government to take
precautionary measures.
"As heavy rains continue to pound most parts of the
country, all units of
the Civil Protection Unit have been put on alert to
avert possible
disaster," she said.
"We have also intensified our
flood awareness campaigns and we are urging
people to refrain from crossing
flooded rivers and seeking shelter in
unstable buildings," she added.
So
far, flooding has destroyed homes and crops in several parts of the
country,
and last week forced the air force to come to the rescue of
villagers
marooned on river banks in the south of the country.
Source: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (Hrforumzim)
Date: 20 Dec
2006
Who guards the guards? - Violations by law enforcement agencies in
Zimbabwe,
2000 to 2006
Introduction
A democratic state is one
in which the government respects human rights,
will freely allow democratic
activity, and whose law enforcement agencies
will try to protect all persons
against violation of their rights,
regardless of the political affiliation
of the people involved. The role of
the police in a democracy is summed up
in Article 1 of the United Nations
Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement
Officials as follows:
Law enforcement officials shall at all times fulfil
the duty imposed upon
them by law, by serving the community and by
protecting all persons against
illegal acts, consistent with the high degree
of responsibility required by
their profession.(1)
In stark contrast,
a repressive regime with no respect for human rights will
disallow ordinary
democratic activity, and will use the law enforcement
agencies to stifle
dissent and opposition. The law enforcement agencies will
themselves become
the main human rights violators and a source of fear for
those being
targeted. A state in which this situation prevails is described
pejoratively
as "a police state".
The last time the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
issued a specific report
concerning the conduct of members of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police [ZRP] was
in 2003.(2) In that report the Forum made serious
allegations about the
involvement of the ZRP in torture. The 2003 report was
based on reports that
the Forum and its member organisations had received in
the period from
January 2001 to August 2002.
The primary focus of the
present report is the behaviour by Zimbabwe
Republic Police, although it
also touches upon the conduct of other law
enforcement agencies and the
conduct on the part of army personnel when
acting in concert with the police
force.
This report examines the political environment in which the law
enforcement
agencies have been operating in Zimbabwe since 2000. It explores
the extent
to which the law enforcement agencies have become instruments of
state
repression, and the extent to which the abuses by these agencies are
officially condoned, sanctioned or encouraged by their commanders and by the
political leaders under whose auspices these agencies operate. As the title
of this report indicates, the main issue is: "who guards the guards?"
Applied to the law enforcement agencies 2002 (2003 Harare,). the question
is: who will guard against abuse of the vast powers possessed by members of
law enforcement agencies?
The report explores these issues by making
use of the data collected to date
by the Human Rights NGO Forum.
The
main conclusions of the present report are that:
- The law enforcement
agencies are a major source of human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe;
-
These agencies are being used to help the ruling party, ZANU (PF), to
suppress opposition and retain power;
- When these agencies operate
in conjunction with the army, there are often
increased levels of
brutality;
- Statements made by high-ranking members of the ruling party
encourage the
law enforcement agencies to perpetrate these abuses and it can
be argued
that the widespread abuses are state sponsored or at least
condoned;
- The protection of the law has in many cases been denied to
those
considered hostile to ZANU (PF);
- For these persons the law
enforcement agencies have become an instrument
of violence against them
rather than an institution that offers them
protection. They live in fear of
the very agencies that are supposed to
protect them;
- On the other
hand, the perpetrators of abuses against these persons have
often been
immune from legal responsibility for their actions, and this
impunity
encourages them to continue to commit abuses.
Notes:
(1) This Code
was adopted by General Assembly Resolution 34/169 of 17
December
1979.
(2) See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Torture by State Agents in
Zimbabwe:
January 2001 to August 2002 (2003
Harare,).
American Chronicle
Scott A. Morgan
Scott Morgan is a Human Rights Activist
and Commentor on US Policy in
Africa.
January 9, 2007
One of the
most underused quotes by Napeleon is that four hostile newspapers
are to be
feared more than thousands of bayonets. It appears that the rulers
in Harare
believe that hostile newspapers should be silenced by any means
necessary.
Any means necessary is a wide ranging concept. In the past
Intimidation of
Journalists have occured at the hands of the police.
Photographers have had
equipment destroyed and film exposed. On more than
one occasion legal action
was taken to force newspapers that dared to expose
what was really happening
there to close.
The list of victims is
long. First target of Oppression was the Daily News.
After a protracted
legal struggle that saw editorial staff arrested, the
Offices of the Paper
invaded by the Police and the Courts demanding the
Paper be allowed to
Publish despite the refusal of the Government the paper
ceased publication
and for a while moved outside the country before
disbanding.
Then
in a move that reminded some of the actions of a repressive South
Africa of
the 1970s, The Central Intelligence Organization which is the main
Intelligence Gathering body for the country bought interests into other
Newspapers such as the Financial Gazette. This allowed them access to
whomever was writing letters of discontent.
And now the most recent
action taken by this despotic regime is unreal.
There is a law within
Zimbabwe that only allows Media Interests to be owned
by Zimbabweans. This
law which is Xenophobic at best was designed to be a
tool to create a
Homogenous Business Climate.
This time the targets are the Standard and
Independent. Both journals
publish once a week and are the only remaining
critical voices left. And the
charges that the owner of the Paper Trevor
Ncube is a Zambian and not from
Zimbabwe is just another tactic used to
silence any criticism.
So if these papers close down that means the only
voices that are reporting
the news and offering Opinion are State Controlled
Outlets. This not not
healthy in a Democratic State but in what appears to
be an autocratic State
like Zimbabwe its Business as Usual. So when these
journals close it will be
a sad day for Freedom of
Expression.
Mining Weekly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illegal
artisanal mining and prospecting is polluting the waters of the
Pungue river
in Mozambique, affecting the river's ecosystem, animal life
along its banks,
and endangering the supply of water to the local
population. This has been
revealed by Manica provincial governor Raimundo
Diomba - Manica being one of
the provinces through which the Pungue flows.
Diomba stated that the river
banks and bed were being subjected to a
"predatory" search for gold, causing
continuous pollution of the river. One
of the biggest problems is the
illegal entry into the country of Zimbabwean
artisanal miners, who find it
very easy to cross the frontier as it is
unguarded. So far, 31 Zimbabwean
illegal miners have been intercepted,
arrested, and deported, while another
two have been killed. The provincial
government is studying means of both
alerting the local public to the
problem and actively countering the illegal
operations. One of the options
is an appeal to the Army to deploy troops to
protect the area, however, it
is recognised that the fight against illegal
mining will be a long one.
The Herald
(Harare)
January 10, 2007
Posted to the web January 10,
2007
Chinhoyi
SOME parts of Chinhoyi have gone for two weeks
without water while some
suburbs have been receiving erratic supplies
forcing residents to fetch
untreated water from Hunyani
River.
Residents in the affected areas had a bleak
holiday.
Chinhoyi town clerk Mr Orbert Muzawazi said the water
disruptions were a
result of a breakdown of pumps at the town's water works
before the festive
season.
"We tried to augment pumping at the old
water works by moving a pump to the
old water works but one of the motors
was struck by lightning which
compounded the situation," said Mr
Muzawazi.
When council moved the pumps to the water works, he said one of
the
transformers had no oil and had been vandalised, causing further
delays.
The most affected areas are Chikonohono, Katanda, Brundish, parts
of
Hunyani, Mzari and White City.
Some residents in the affected
areas have resorted to fetching untreated
water from Hunyani River, which is
heavily polluted upstream from effluent
coming from Harare and other
towns.
Mr Muzawazi said council could not locate the companies that
repair pumps
and motors during the holiday as they had closed
down.
"We could not get the pumps fixed during the holiday because Alstom
Engineering Company, which specialises in the repair and rewinding of motors
and pumps, had gone for their annual shutdown," he said.
He, however,
said the situation would improve and return to normal within a
few days as
the company was expected to attend to the pumps yesterday.
Residents said
the situation had been neglected for a long time and council
should move
swiftly to avert a possible disease outbreak.
"They have to address the
situation quickly because we have endured for a
long time in silence. We
have not been having a decent bath lately and not
to mention the health
threat the situation is posing on us residents
especially children," said Mr
James Kanduna of Chikonohono.
Council has moved fire tenders to
ameliorate the situation on high gradient
areas such as Chikonohono and
White City.
Mr Muzawazi said council would continue to ration water until
all reservoirs
had gained and this meant supplies would be disconnected at
8pm and
reconnected at 6am before it was disconnected again at 9am.
The Herald
(Harare)
January 10, 2007
Posted to the web January 10,
2007
Harare
LOW turnout by markers owing to poor payment rates by
the Zimbabwe School
Examinations Council has seen the few examiners failing
to meet the December
marking deadline.
Most teachers for Ordinary
Level and Advanced Level refused to mark this
year's public examinations
saying Zimsec was offering unreasonable wages.
This has seen the
examinations body failing to meet the December marking
deadline.
Zimsec director Mr Happy Ndanga said they reviewed upwards
the marking rates
for the examiners and payment would begin next
Friday.
He could not, however, be drawn into saying what the new rates
were.
"Examination marking rates were reviewed upwards, Zimsec has
finalised the
payment process. Examiners are encouraged to check with their
respective
banking institutions for their money as from 12 January 2007,"
said Mr
Ndanga.
Markers who spoke to The Herald said they had been
advised that their
payment would now be $150, up from the initial $70 per
script.
This has, however, not gone down well with markers who wanted the
money to
be at least $200 per script.
They said they were further
advised that they would be paid 70 percent of
the total amount now, with the
balance set to be paid around March.
Mr Ndanga conceded that the
examinations body had not met its marking
deadline.
"The failure by
examiners to meet the set deadline could be attributed to
the low examiner
turnout during the December 2006 marking session," he said.
Concern has
already been raised on the quality of the output as some
observers indicated
that the low turnout might strain the markers, thereby
compromising
quality.
Some stakeholders have also anticipated a delay in the release
of results
this year, something Mr Ndanga has dismissed.
"Please note
that normal marking procedures apply regardless of the number
of examiners
to ensure the quality of marking is not compromised," said Mr
Ndanga.
"Examination results will be released as planned unless the
council faces
unforeseen challenges."
Zimsec has in the past been
dogged by exam leaks, among other
irregularities, raising concern over the
examinations body's capacity to run
public exams.
"Examination
question papers are always guarded by State and Zimsec security
details," he
said.
MDC INFORMATION &
PUBLICITY
National Headquarters
Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940
489, 091 850 556 email : mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com, website:
www.mdczw.org
The MDC will this Friday,
12 January, hold two crucial executives meetings
to deliberate on the
national crisis and to define the political framework
for 2007.
On
Friday morning, the party will hold a national executive meeting, which
comprises 48 members from the standing committee and the various party
secretaries. The national council, comprising the national executive,
representatives from the women and youth assemblies and representatives from
the all the 12 administrative provinces will confer in the afternoon on
issues ranging from the deteriorating national crisis to internal party
matters.
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 table; 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 on Friday will be the regime's decision to postpone
suffering,
tyranny and oppression to 2010. The party will also deliberate on
the
operational framework of the party's political agenda. 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 stabilization programme in a post-transitional
era.
The people are determined to save Zimbabwe. The MDC leadership
recognizes
its national obligation and duty to lead the process of
delivering change to
the people of Zimbabwe. We recognize that we carry the
nation's hope for a
new Zimbabwe and a new beginning. 2007 is a watershed
year.
Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity
New Zimbabwe
By
Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 01/10/2007 22:35:08
ZIMBABWE'S media hangman
Tafataona Mahoso has failed to submit the Media and
Information Commission's
(MIC) audited accounts to Parliament since its
creation in violation of the
country's Audit and Exchequer Act, it emerged
Tuesday.
A schedule by
the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee shows that the MIC
is one of the
government bodies and ministries that had failed to submit
their
reports
to Parliamentarians despite approving its budgetary allocations.
Last
year, two MIC workers who were suspended by Mahoso claimed during a
hearing
in the presence of other commissioners that Mahoso had abused MIC
funds.
The abuse included paying lawyers for personal matters using
the media
body''s
funds.
Business in Africa
Published: 10-JAN-07
Harare - South Africa's Impala
Platinum Holdings (Implats) said Tuesday it
planned to increase the
mineral's output in Zimbabwe to around one million
ounces per year in the
next few years from the current 100,000 ounces.
Implats is the biggest
platinum producer in Zimbabwe, which has the second
largest reserves of the
mineral in the world after South Africa.
Implats Group chief executive
David Brown said production at the company's
two mines in Zimbabwe would
shortly be beefed up to 450,000 ounces per
annum, and later more than
doubled to one million ounces after a series of
planned
investments.
"Zimbabwe represents very significant growth for us, the
organic growth in
the company, which could rise to a million ounces a year,"
he said.
"We don't have any reason to doubt our opportunities there," he
added.
The company has announced investment plans worth around $1bn in
Zimbabwe,
but has been unsettled by government threats to take over stakes
of up to 50
percent in foreign-controlled mining ventures in the country as
part of an
empowerment programme.
Brown said Implats and the
government were discussing the threats with the
authorities.
"We have
an ongoing dialogue," he said.-panapress
From The Daily Mirror, 10 January
Paidamoyo Muzulu
South Africa deported about
80 000 Zimbabweans, including 950 unaccompanied
minors, between May and end
of December 2006, according to the International
Organisation for Migration
(IOM). The figures were recorded at the
Beitbridge IOM Reception and Support
Centre established in May last year to
help rehabilitate returnees by
incorporating them back into society. Dyane
Epstein, the IOM official based
at the Harare Office, told The Daily Mirror
that the centre was created out
of dialogue among IOM, Zimbabwean and South
African government officials.
"Among other components is a blue print for a
Reception and Support Centre
for returned migrants offering food, shelter,
counselling and a plethora of
information for returnees on HIV, safe
migration and support was created,"
Epstein said. She explained that the IOM
lobbied authorities for improved
conditions of returned immigrants. "Once
returned to their countries,
however, IOM believes some form of
reintegration assistance forms an
integral part of the migration process,"
Epstein said. "Assistance to
returned migrants after arrival varies from
country to country world-wide
and may include assistance to start small
businesses, education, training
among other things."
Of the 80 000 deported immigrants, just over 39
000 chose to receive some
form of assistance from the IOM at the Beitbridge
centre. "The assistance
given ranged from a hot meal, transportation
assistance in Zimbabwe for
those who wish to travel home, a medical
assessment and where necessary
referrals for further treatment. "The centre
also provides overnight
shelter, counselling and safe migration advice, new
start vouchers for
voluntary counselling and testing for HIV," Epstein said.
The deportees
receive a food pack while children's centre was also built at
Beitbridge,
providing additional care and protection for unaccompanied kids.
"The
Children's Centre is operated by UNICEF and Save the Children Norway in
co-ordination with the Zimbabwean Social Welfare ministry. It provides
health, counselling as well as tracing and reunification services. Since
July last year the centre has assisted almost 950 unaccompanied minors,"
Epstein said. The Beitbridge Centre is the first of its kind in Africa and
offers vital services for people who were too often overlooked
previously.
The IOM said Beitbridge Border Post handled more than 97
000 deportees from
South Africa in 2005. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
estimates there are
1,2 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. Most of
them work in the
mining and agricultural sectors were those without the
right or any
documentation usually become vulnerable to exploitation and
abuse. Close to
3 million Zimbabweans live in the Diaspora for varying
reasons that ranging
from political asylum, economic refugees while others
are seeking education
or better employment opportunities, according to 2002
census. Economists
cite the deteriorating economic conditions in the country
as pushing most of
the immigrants to look for greener pastures. Zimbabwe's
economy has
contracted by more than 60 percent in the last six years with
inflation
rising from double to four digits.
IOL
January 10 2007
at 06:28PM
Zimbabwe's attempt to strip newspaper publisher Trevor
Ncube of his
citizenship threatened the ownership of his newspapers and
media freedom,
the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef)
warned on Wednesday.
The Zimbabwe government is preventing Ncube
from renewing his
passport, claiming he is not a Zimbabwe citizen - a charge
he contests.
The action was "a serious inroad in what is left of
media freedom in
Zimbabwe and Ncube's personal freedom", Sanef chairperson
Ferial Haffajee
and Sanef media freedom sub-committee convenor
Raymond Louw said in a joint statement.
"Ncube states that he has
been informed that the government's conduct
has been approved 'at the
highest level' - which means that it has the
support of President Robert
Mugabe whose abysmal
vernance of Zimbabwe has been
vigorously criticised by Ncube's papers,
the Zimbabwe Independent and The
Standard, the last independent papers in
that country.
"This
can only mean that Mugabe wants to close down the papers or to
change their
critical stance by forcing on them a new ownership structure
more supportive
of him."
Haffajee and Louw said loss of citizenship would mean that
Ncube could
own only a 40 percent share in his newspapers, which meant
control would
pass from him.
They dismissed Zimbabwe's
state-appointed Media and Information
Commission's assurances that the
papers would be allowed to continue
publishing, saying the laws against
foreign ownership would prevail so
Ncube's papers would be unlikely to
continue their critical role.
Sanef raised concern that the action
could also impact on South
Africa's Mail & Guardian weekly newspaper,
which Ncube publishes and
Haffajee edits, and other media institutions in
which Ncube is involved.
"Sanef supports Ncube in his endeavours to
obtain legal redress
through the Zimbabwe High Court, but believes the
proper course of action
would be for the government to give him his
passport, stop
interfering with his freedom of movement and to leave
his papers
alone." - Sapa
People's Daily
Zimbabwe is committed to the eradication of the illicit trade in
small arms
and light weapons and will play its role to effect controls on
the movement
of such weapons, an official said on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe
Defence Industries general manager Tshinga Dube said Zimbabwe
appreciated
that most of the armed conflicts in Africa were a result of
uncontrolled
illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
"The proliferation of
small arms has caused untold suffering to many peoples
of Africa," he said,
adding many of the conflicts were caused by rebels
whose sources of arms
were questionable.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the United Nations
Convention on the Prohibition
or Restrictions on the Use of Certain
Conventional Weapons, which requires
member states to put in place measures
to control the movement and use of
such weapons.
Illicit trade in
small arms and light weapons has assisted in fanning civil
strife on the
African continent in such countries as Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Chad, Sudan
and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions of innocent
civilians
have either been maimed or killed in the conflicts.
Experts estimate that
more than 600 million small arms and light weapons are
in circulation
world-wide. Sources include but are not limited to illicit
brokering,
weapons left over from conflicts, illicit manufacturing, leakages
from
military and police stockpiles, smuggling and theft.
South Africa is one
of the countries in the world with a high crime rate
owing to a
proliferation of such weapons, which are used in the commission
of such
crimes as robberies, car jacking and thefts.
Dube said there was need for
the public in Zimbabwe to be aware of issues
involving weapons control as
the world was living under the constant threat
of a holocaust from both
small and sophisticated weapons.
Zimbabwe has always implemented
watertight measures to control movement of
such weapons and adherence to the
End User Certificate for both importers
and exporters of weapons,
Dube.
Source: Xinhua
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Andrew M Manyevere
THE Honourable Speaker of the
house, Her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of England and Ireland,
the Prime Minister of the UK, Honorable
Members of the House.
It is
unusual norm for the house to be addressed from outside, by citizens
of
former colonial territories on irritating subject that is becoming an
ordinary chit chat talk in the corridors of all world bodies with little
substantive action at all: But may be warranting now.
When
independence was granted to Zimbabwe in April 1980, it was known to the
British that the then leader of Zanla forces, comrade Robert Mugabe was a
vowed Marxist-Leninist Socialist in theory, and the practice was yet to be
seen coming.
It can also be admitted that the pronouncement of a
Reconciliation chit chat
statement, which was either passed into a policy,
or a substantive document
of government; made the British government relax
their guard against
eventualities of the possible poor governance approach,
as currently
unfolding in Zimbabwe.
It is easy for the British
Parliament to take cover under pretext of none
interference in a sovereign
state; but it can always be assumed that the
responsibility to act on the
general demands of the citizens of a country
for help to achieve democracy,
should be more respected, than waiting until
force is used to overthrow a
government.
Whether we like it or not, apportioning blame on either the
UK or
Zimbabweans for having employed delayed tactics or evaded a direct
engagement with tyrants to put an end on tyrannical games in Zimbabwe, will
be very unfortunate and only comparable to the circumstances that surrounded
the Rwanda tragedy.
Zimbabwe government has failed to run a democracy
and subsequently every
tenet of democracy is suffering, with the people and
human rights abuses
taking the front line crisis precipitating a political
decay, immorality and
corruption.
Incidentally this brings collapse
to the country from the roots to every
branch of government and civic bodies
as well as churches. The moral fabric
of the country is eroded.
The
British government has been like a Doctor with a cure for cancer, who
however pretends he has to ask the patient's opinion, when fully aware that
time is running out for the patient to soon die.
The debates in
parliament are very educative on how sympathetic the British
society is
becoming on ordinary Zimbabweans incurring the wrath of a
political maniac.
However, that in it self will not bring sanity to Robert
Mugabe or his
cabinet, who appear hell bent on using every piece of
force-power they have
to ruin the country to its last vestiges of decay and
decadent.
REQUEST AND RECOMMENDED ACTION.
You may ask, but
what next then, you Zimbabwean? Surely it is as easy as the
millions of
dollars which are used by the UN in keeping peace instead of
preventing that
messy from the outset.
What can the UN pride itself in, if not to
SUPERVISE an intimidation free
election, as well as to make sure that
transition is also supervised or
else, whoever wins elections will wake up
in the rusting oven of Zanu-Pf
army sycophants. Zanu PF has created a
Zanurized/politicized army. The
thoughts on what the Parliament of Her
Majesty's Government aught to spend
her money and energy debating on
Zimbabwe issues are as follows:
1. Influence the world body to allocate a
budget to put up a contingency
task force which will supervise an election
in Zimbabwe under a free and
fair atmosphere.
2. Zimbabwe parliament
and Parliamentarians should be dissolved as prelude
to transition.
3.
Political parties existing for five years and above, with ten or more
members representing their constituencies in Parliament should be admitted
to contest in the forthcoming Internationally Supervised
Elections.
4. Involving all stakeholders, set aside a date for the
country to have all
Zimbabweans, where ever they are, to participate in this
International
Supervised Election and rest the people choice over governance
once and for
all.
5. Allow a twelve months transition, to remove the
dirty influence of fear
implanted by Zanu-Pf and to allow political parties
to educate the people
for once on the evils of tyranny irrespective of who
comes to power.
COLLABORATIVE SUPPORT TO
RECOMMENDATIONS.
Zimbabweans are known for breeding opposition political
parties therefore
opening ground for more political parties in order to
register them for
contest, could drain useful funds from the fiscus unduly.
We must accept
that political party formation for Zimbabweans is just a
futile gift, most
probably a notable setback to effecting change on Mugabe
and cohorts so far
used by Zanu-pf against its opponents.
The nature
of divisions now surfacing in the Zanu-Pf itself show that scales
will
change with the departure of Robert Mugabe, be it through natural cause
or
any other method.
The desires for power among Zimbabweans today shows
too how nave
every one assumes that Zimbabweans are stupid, and that
once in power, they
can employ again Mugabe styles and perpetuate the legacy
of Zanu-Pf.
Consider the Stockholm syndrome study of fear and begin to
realize that your
talk each day in Parliament baptizes Mugabe's illegitimacy
into legitimacy.
If surely you will want Zimbabweans not to be a burden
for your country, as
it turns out to be currently, do something
practical.
Repeatedly, through a democratic means of elections in an
undemocratic
atmosphere, Zimbabweans have shown the world that they are
mature to
understand and use tenets of democracy, were it not for obtrusive
methods
Mugabe employs to stay in power.
Needless to refer to the
brutal attack by Robert Mugabe and his cronies at
lawful initiatives by
Zimbabweans to have people claim socio-political
rights democratically,
which have been met with unequaled force and
brutality.
We must
insist that the sanctions as currently designed will soon have no
effect at
all but to bless the mooted Zanu-Pf reform at
the expense of real peace
in Zimbabwe.
You claim to have taught us democracy but you deny us to
practice democracy,
when we ask you to kindly set an atmosphere conducive to
the holding of a
free and fair election.
All provisions of the
UN, AU, SADC and any organization with political
sanity have been trashed to
the dust bin by President Robert Mugabe and his
party, who behave like they
are outside planet earth. Your patience does not
teach us democracy but
duplicity.
Generations and generations of Zimbabweans shall never
forget this, which
while you debated in Her Majesty Parliament in UK;
thousands of Zimbabweans
perished much under pretext of HIV/AIDS
virus.
While that may be true, have you ever quantified the toll
Mugabe's poor
governance has contributed to overall depression, stress and
inhumanity in
the country and outside?
One day when society
wishes to do better research oriented to human life
saving, it will be found
that depression, stress and inhumanity contributes
high to causes of death
than aids, which can be fairly managed under happy
conditions. Zimbabwe has
an exaggerated HIV/AIDS virus picture which tent to
glorify Mugabe's
nonsense mismanagement of the economy.
If the world is driving to
instigate another Rwanda opportunity for gun
manufacturers to make millions
out of human life, it is unforgivable and
hypocritical of human rights show
manifested at many sessions. The Empire of
Her Majesty's government should
show her influence on matters of human
rights in former territories where
these political leaders are typically
influenced from her
civilization.
Sincerely,
Andrew M Manyevere.
Human
Rights and Political Analyst.
Toronto Canada
MDC INFORMATION & PUBLICITY
Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940
489, 091 850 556 email :mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com
Strikes a vote of no
confidence in the Zanu PF regime
The strikes by doctors and at ZESA as
well as the go-slow in the schools,
the police force and the army reflect a
serious national paralysis authored
and orchestrated by the Zanu PF
regime.
As a labour-backed party, the MDC supports the basic freedoms of
workers to
engage in collective job action and to express their discontent.
At the core
of our social democracy philosophy is the respect of the working
people and
their inalienable right to demand a living wage and better
working
conditions. We stand in solidarity with the interests of the workers
and the
right to strike, which is not negotiable.
The strikes in the
civil service and the time bomb of general disgruntlement
in critical
parastatals, industry and the whole country reflect a vote of no
confidence
in the Zanu PF regime. They reflect a rejection of Zanu PF's
sterile agenda
of postponing misery and looting to 2010. They reflect the
national sentiment
that postponing Presidential elections is postponing
tyranny and oppression.
The strikes reflect a government that has basically
collapsed. They reflect
policies and systems that have dismally failed at a
time when the suffering
people of Zimbabwe desperately need efficient
services in health, education
and other critical sectors.
The MDC laments the humanitarian crisis that
the regime has caused by
refusing to address the grievances of the striking
workers. The regime must
be held accountable for the human, financial and
social cost of these work
stoppages. Lives have been unnecessarily lost in
our hospitals, power
shortages have cost this nation millions of dollars in
lost production,
there is strained service delivery in all sectors of the
economy while
morale is at an all time low among the country's teachers,
soldiers,
policemen and the entire civil service in general due to poor
salaries and
dismal working conditions.
Ordinary Zimbabweans are
struggling to bring food to their table. Pensioners
are receiving pitiful
monthly amounts of about $12 000. The majority of our
people have resorted to
selling goats, cattle and other personal belongings
to meet the escalating
cost of their children's basic right to education.
School fees and levies
have shot up to unaffordable levels and most parents
cannot simply afford to
discharge of their basic obligation to educate their
children. Such is the
cost of the dictatorship, which has failed to address
the visible signs of
collapse that have engulfed our troubled nation.
The MDC believes that no
worker should be dismissed for expressing
themselves. We condemn the
victimization of doctors and ZESA workers for
exercising their democratic
right to articulate their grievances through
collective job
action.
The strikes and protests are danger-warning signs, which can only
be ignored
at the risk of a full-scale national expression of discontent. In
the very
near future, these seemingly scattered protests shall catalyse into
a bigger
and more comprehensive national programme to achieve change and a
new
Zimbabwe. The simple message coming from the people is that the nation
is
restless for change. The crisis is now realizing its gestation period. It
is
time for delivery. We need to deliver a new Zimbabwe. The national
chorus
for change has engulfed the nation and the demise of the dictatorship
is
inevitable.
Ours is simply a crisis of governance and a
leadership paralysis that
requires a comprehensive political solution. The
regime should be forced to
embrace sweeping political reforms that include a
new, people-driven
Constitution, free and fair elections under international
supervision, a
reconstruction and stabilization programme in a
post-transitional era.
Zimbabwe deserves nothing less. 2007 is the year of
action, the year of
galvanizing all democratic forces, Zimbabweans in and
outside the country to
reclaim their destiny.
Nelson Chamisa,
MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity
The
Herald (Harare)
January 10, 2007
Posted to the web January 10,
2007
Harare
THE Veterinary Services Department has reported
outbreaks of lumpy skin
disease across the whole country while anthrax has
been reported in
Mashonaland East and Masvingo provinces.
In an
interview on Monday, acting principal director in the department, Dr
Unesu
Ushewokunze-Obatolu, said anthrax cases had been reported in Hwedza,
which
she described as a traditional area for the disease, Musami and
Chivi.
"Although I do not have the exact figures of animals that have
succumbed to
the disease, I can confirm that there has been fresh anthrax
outbreaks apart
from the ones which we recorded in Goromonzi in December
last year," said Dr
Ushewokunze-Obatolu.
She said efforts to contain
the outbreak were being hampered by lack of
foreign currency to import the
anthrax vaccine. Cases of livestock
succumbing to lumpy skin disease have
been recorded countrywide.
Dr Ushewokunze-Obatolu said the situation was
being worsened by the fact
that farmers were failing to immunise their
livestock against the disease.
She stressed that it was farmers'
responsibility to do so.
She added that some farmers were importing lumpy
skin vaccines from South
Africa, which she said was not the ideal situation
as local companies were
supposed to do so. Dr Ushewokunze-Obatolu said
tick-borne diseases such as
redwater and heartwater were also taking a toll
on the national herd due to
increased tick activity with the advent of the
summer season.
In December last year, three people and an undisclosed
number of livestock
were reported to have died from anthrax in
Goromonzi.
Zim Online
Thursday 11 January
2007
HARARE - Zimbabwe Cricket
has named six uncapped players in a
provisional 30-man squad for the World
Cup set for the West Indies in March,
with Charles Coventry's inclusion a
pleasant surprise after he turned his
back on national duty last
year.
However, there was no place for former captains Heath Streak
and
Tatenda Taibu or any other experienced players who walked out on
Zimbabwe in
acrimonious circumstances.
There was widespread
speculation Streak and Taibu might find the lure
of the World Cup
irresistible and return to Zimbabwe duty.
The 23-year-old Coventry
had vowed not to play for Zimbabwe again as
long as coaches Kevin Curran and
Andy Pycroft were involved in the game
following a misunderstanding during a
tour of the West Indies last April.
The big-hitting batsman, with
two Tests and 11 ODIs, left to play club
cricket in England but no sooner
had he returned to domestic cricket with
Bulawayo Athletic Club was he in
trouble for indiscipline last month.
However, Zimbabwe Cricket,
desperate for performers, included Coventry
in the preliminary squad for the
World Cup.
Opening batsmen Terrence Duffin and Vusumuzi Sibanda are
back in the
national side after missing last month's disastrous tour of
Bangladesh.
Sibanda has been playing club cricket in Australia,
while Duffin was
nursing an injury.
Seamer Tawanda Mupariwa,
who has been recuperating from a knee injury,
was the other notable
inclusion.
Graeme Cremer, Tendai Chisoro, Trevor Garwe, Tinashe
Hove, Friday
Kasteni and Timycen Maruma - who have all not played ODI
cricket - were
included in the provisional squad.
The rest of
the squad was predictable, with skipper Prosper Utseya,
Hamilton Masakadza,
Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Gary Brent and
Brendan Taylor likely to
form the nucleus of the team.
According to the ICC Cricket World
Cup regulations, all the
participating countries should, in the first
instance, have registered a
30-man squad by Saturday.
Zimbabwe
play Bangladesh in a four-match ODI series early next month
before the final
World Cup squad is named.
"Because that squad is not final, a
player or players not in the
initial list can still be added to the group
because the composition of the
30-man squad is open to change until the 13th
of February 2007 when it
should be trimmed to the final 15 who will then go
to the global cricket
showcase," Zimbabwe Cricket said in a
statement.
Zimbabwe provisional squad:
Prosper Utseya,
Gary Brent, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura,
Tendai Chisoro, Charles
Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Keith Dabengwa, Terrence
Duffin, Trevor Garwe, Ryan
Higgins, Tinashe Hove, Anthony Ireland, Tafadzwa
Kamungozi, Friday Kasteni,
Blessing Mahwire, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton
Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri,
Tinotenda Mawoyo, Christopher Mpofu,
Tafadzwa Mufambisi, Tawanda Mupariwa,
Mluleki Nkala, Edward Rainsford, Piet
Rinke, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Gregory
Strydom, Brendan Taylor and Sean
Williams. - ZimOnline
VOA
10 January 2007
Following a complaint from the New
York-based World Diamond Council that
gems from Zimbabwe are being exported
without certification under the
so-called Kimberly Process, a spokesperson
for the European Commission,
which currently chairs the Kimberly Process,
confirmed Wednesday an
investigation has been opened.
The allegations
as to the contravention of Kimberly Process rules arose in
the context of a
dispute over the ownership of a diamond mine in Beitbridge,
Matebeleland
South, and another in Marange in eastern Manicaland Province.
The
Beitbridge mine was taken over by the River Ranch consortium, of which
former general Solomon Mujuru, husband of Zimbabwean Vice President Joyce
Mujuru, is a principal. The Zimbabwean army seized control of the Marange
mine.
European Commission external relations spokeswoman Emma Udwin
told reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that a Kimberly
Process
investigation is under way, adding that the Harare government has
been
cooperating.
Udwin declined to provide further details on the
investigation.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
10
January 2007
Management of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority have confirmed that
a big restructuring of the troubled state
enterprise is in store, raising
fears that hundreds of workers could be laid
off soon after the resolution
of a worker walkout.
ZESA spokesman
James Maridadi confirmed a restructuring is planned, but said
that details
would only come from the utility's chairman, Christopher
Chetsanga, who is
to hold a news conference next week to outline the
turnaround
strategy.
The power company's aging infrastructure has been subject to
breakdowns
leading to widespread blackouts and power cuts, obliging ZESA to
import
electricity from South Africa, Zambia and other countries in the
region,
adding to its financial distress.
Members of the Zimbabwe
Electricity and Energy Workers Union said they have
not been informed of the
pending restructuring. The ZESA employees who
downed tools last week said
they are concerned that retrenchment packages
for those laid off are
unlikely to be substantial given the meager wages
they now
receive.
Bottom-ranked ZESA workers earn Z$23,000 a month (US$92 at the
official
exchange rate or some US$7 at the more commonly applied parallel
rate). ZESA
management has offered a 144% pay rise in response to union
demands for a
1,000% hike.
Former ZESA chief executive Simbarashe
Mangwengwende told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that restructuring is unlikely to
solve the massive problems besetting the
country's electric utility.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
10
January 2007
Zimbabweans are absorbing the latest surge in
inflation to a 1,181% annual
rate, but for some of those living with
HIV-AIDS the rise in prices is
particularly disturbing as the recent
doubling in price of antiretroviral
drugs has put them out of reach of
many.
About 50,000 Zimbabweans are enrolled in government and other ARV
drug
therapy programs. But many of those infected with the virus and
starting to
see their immune systems collapse must purchase the drugs from
private
pharmacies.
Those who need to take ARVs to defend their
immune systems must pay Z$60,000
to Z$150,000 a month depending on what
specific drugs they are taking.
Common ARVs like Lamavatin, Viagin and
Keltrat doubled in price in the past
10 days as druggists raised local
currency prices to reflect the mounting
cost of importing the
drugs.
National Director Benjamin Mazhindu of the Zimbabwe Network of
People Living
Positively with HIV and AIDS said ARV prices are beyond reach
of many.