http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by JOHN ROBERTSON
Tuesday, 12
January 2010 09:00
For those people who still wield authority to constantly
bleat about being
disqualified from certain benefits because of the conduct
of the self-same
people is to insult the intelligence of the hundreds of
countries and
thousands of organisations that wish Zimbabwe well.
ALREADY
this year, the “economic sanctions” monster has had its mythical
head pushed
into the all too real faces of Zimbabwe's Movement for
Democratic Change.
This accompanied a repeat of Zanu (PF)'s demand that MDC
must have those
wretched “sanctions” lifted before it has any right to
expect Zanu (PF) to
help Zimbabwe's Government of National Unity to actually
work. Zanu (PF)
members are constantly being reminded that any Zimbabwean
business can trade
with businesses in any country in the world and therefore
the “sanctions”
that do exist are political, not economic, and apply to
named individuals,
not the whole country. But this seems only to annoy them,
and they are now
making efforts to claim that Zimbabwe's exclusion from the
United States'
Africa Growth Opportunities Act as a clear case of vicious,
illegal economic
“sanctions”.
Duty-free access
But it is not. The Act rewards African
countries that make measurable
efforts to improve their own standards of
economic and political behaviour,
and the reward takes the form of duty-free
access to United States' markets.
To qualify, countries have only to show
that they are making progress
towards entirely acceptable objectives, most
of which relate to the
observance of the rule of law, the protection of
intellectual and other
property rights, the reduction of poverty and the
efforts needed to increase
access to health care and educational
opportunities.
All these have been found so readily acceptable that most
African
governments have been happy prove their eligibility and to make the
most of
their duty-free and quota-free access to the US markets. Nearly all
the
others are working on the outstanding issues and hope to qualify soon.
But
not Zimbabwe, simply because strengthening the rights of ordinary
citizens
would weaken the powers of a government that has nothing to offer
but
threats of violence. The clear intention of the US is to promote the
interests of people who deserve better standards of governance. However,
Zimbabwe's veteran politicians do not believe the citizens deserve any such
thing and instead prefer to accuse their critics of imposing
"illegal
economic “sanctions”".
More exports
But even though
Zimbabwe does not qualify for preferential treatment, the
country exports
more to the US than 35 of the 39 countries that do qualify.
And if this fact
is not enough to persuade Zanu (PF) that economic
“sanctions” do not exist,
perhaps one more will do it: about half of
Zimbabwe's population is
currently dependent of food aid that is supplied by
the very countries that
are accused of imposing economic “sanctions”.
Instead of conjuring up
fictions to deflect attention from embarrassing
facts, would it not be
easier for all concerned to simply meet the
requirements that so many others
have met? Easier, yes, but clearly too
costly for the few hundred people who
insist that their personal interests
far outweigh the interests of the 12
million or so that make up the rest of
Zimbabwe's population.
As
12million Zimbabweans have not effectively taken exception to this
bizarre
situation, the concerned international community has identified the
few
hundred culprits on their travel ban and blocked bank account lists.
Zimbabwe has not been singled out on the AGOA list, as Zanu (PF) claims, and
neither have these individuals. When the government chooses to make the
effort, the country will be admitted as a member of the club. The Millennium
Challenge Corporation, also based in the US, offers a similar set of
requirements, but countries that meet its evidence-of-progress criteria are
eligible for direct financial help. The MCC programme offers support to
countries that have made commitments to rule justly, to invest in their own
people and to provide a business climate that is based on economic freedoms
that are attractive to the private sector.
Control
corruption
Broad categories covering 17 indicators are used to assess the
eligibility
of each country. One of the tricky ones is to achieve a track
record of
genuine efforts to control corruption. The MCC argues that
development
assistance does not achieve very much unless corruption is
brought under
control. Other indicators relate to civil liberties, the rule
of law,
property
rights, access to health and education services,
government effectiveness
and accountability and the procedures for starting
a business.
The scores
Achieved on all of them are fully disclosed so
that governments keen to
qualify for assistance can see how they are doing
and compare their
positions with those of other countries.
Zimbabwe's
scorecard for 2009 shows that 15 of the 17 indicators were below
acceptable
standards, and on 0 percent to 100 percent scales that rank the
measures
from worst to best, six of these were so bad they had measures
below 0
percent, or negative numbers. The two acceptable figures were for
health
expenditures and natural resource management, but two that were
considered
acceptable in 2007, spending on primary education and girls
completing
primary education, could not be assessed in 2009 and appear to
have been
assumed to have slipped below acceptable standards.
By contrast, the
scorecard for Mozambique showed four unacceptable scores
out of 17, and
Tanzania showed two. Listings of MCC beneficiaries show
Mozambique and
Tanzania, but do not show Zimbabwe. Nobody questions the
thought that
Zimbabwe needs help, but it sees that nobody yet believes that
Zimbabwe is
deserving of help. So the country's escape from its own
self-inflicted
handicaps has to start with plausible efforts by its own
authorities, at
home. For those people who still wield authority to
constantly bleat about
being
disqualified from certain benefits because of the conduct of the
self-same
people is to insult the intelligence of the hundreds of countries
and
thousands of organisations that wish Zimbabwe well.
Diplomatic
niceties and good manners stop them all from coming right out and
saying,
"Why are you so stupid?" Zimbabweans are also too polite. But the
sentiment
behind that question will be answered in the next election in the
form of a
blank square. A bold X will appear in an alternative box on
millions of
ballot papers.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26477
January 13, 2010
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu on Wednesday
dismissed a request
by Peter Michael Hitschmann to seek his own lawyer in
MDC treasurer general
Roy Bennett's terrorism trial in which he is the
state's key witness."Having
considered the matter," Bhunu said before a
packed court Tuesday, "I do not
see how anything which the witness would
have said in this court could have
a bearing on his appeal. Therefore, he is
required to testify. His request
is overruled."
The ruling by Bhunu
was in response to a request by Hitschmann who was
adamant he stood to
discredit an appeal he has made with the Supreme Court
against his own
conviction in 2006.
The firearms dealer, who was acquitted of the charges
which Bennett now
faces, was found guilty of violating sections of the
Public Order and
Security Act through illegal possession of dangerous
weapons.
"The Attorney General now requires answers to questions
pertaining to my
crime and I have to respectfully, Your Honour, request you
to consider my
rights," Hitschmann said as he interjected Attorney General
Johannes Tomana,
who is prosecuting the high profile case.
Tomana
wanted Hitschmann to admit he was the author of a 14-page document in
which
he was admitting to committing the crime with Bennett. Bennett denies
the
accusations.
"I am prepared to assist the state in which ever manner I
can but not to the
extent of possibly jeopardizing my appeal," said
Hitschmann.
"If you continue to proceed in this manner I would request
legal
representation."
Hitschmann said if he proceeded with giving
evidence based on statements
that he had already disowned, his rights were
being violated.
"I am placed in a somewhat difficult position your
honour," Hitschmann said
before a packed court at the High Court.
"I
have tried to cooperate as far as possible in my role as state witness of
which I have no choice, Your Honour, as you are aware that I am convicted on
High Court record 319/3/06.
Hitschmann further told the court he was
convicted by High Court judge
Alphias Chitakunye on July 2, 2006 and his
appeal against both conviction
and sentence were still pending in the
Supreme Court.
This is in spite of his having served his jail
sentence.
Said Hitschmann, "Justice Chitakunye did not challenge the fact
that I had
undergone torture and he ruled that any confessions, statements
or warned
and cautioned statements obtained from me without the presence of
a legal
counsel had to be excluded from my trial with respect to Your
Honour."
During their submissions, both the state and the defence were
locked in a
gruelling legal duel on whether the court should consider
Hitshmann's
request.
Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said it was bizarre for a
witness to be denied the
right to legal representation.
Mtetwa was
adamant the State could not proceed with the trial using
statements which
Hitschmann made during his trial arguing this was in
contravention of
Section 259 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act that
says confessions
by one person cannot be used against another.
"The evidence sought to be
adduced is inadmissible and clearly prejudicial
according to Section 259 of
the CP and E Act," said Mtetwa.
The said confessions which are contained
in a 14-page document were made "in
unfriendly and traumatic circumstances"
and without the presence of his
lawyers.
In his submissions, Tomana
said a witness loses his right to legal
representation if he becomes a state
witness.
"The appeal at the Supreme Court has not merit," added
Tomana.
"This process is not meant to cause his statement to be relied
upon by the
court. It is simply meant to prove that it was made in the first
place. It
is required in the process of impeaching the witness.
"His
statement is not a confession but a narration of events leading to the
recovery of the firearms. The process is to establish the actual truth. It
would be of no harm if the witness assists the courts.
Bennett's
trial, which resumed Monday after a month's break, saw Hitschmann
being
called to the witness's stand.
But proceedings were clogged by an attempt
by the state to declare him a
hostile witness and discredit his
evidence.
This is after Hitschmann had refused to give evidence based on
confessions
he says he made to the police under duress in which he
implicated Bennett as
co-accused in the serious allegations.
In his
ruling, Justice Bhunu said it was premature to impeach Hitschmann
without
going into the merits of the case.
The trial continues Wednesday
afternoon.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Thursday 14 January
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's High court on Wednesday turned down a
request for
permission to seek legal advice by a key state witness in the
treason trial
of Roy Bennett, a top aide to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Peter Hitschmann - a registered gun dealer the state says
worked with
Bennett in a plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe -- had
told Justice
Chinembiri Bhunu that he could not continue testifying without
seeking legal
advice because he feared jeopardising his appeal in a related
but separate
matter in which he was convicted of illegal possession of arms
of war.
But Bhunu ordered Hitschmann to testify, saying: "I do not see
how anything
which the witness would have said in this court would have a
bearing on his
appeal. Therefore he is required to testify."
With
Hitchsmann's request turned down, Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana
immediately re-launched a bid -- earlier blocked by the court -- to impeach
the gun dealer who the AG says has become hostile to the prosecution by
disowning a 2006 statement that he willingly gave to the police.
In
the statement upon which the state's case rests, Hitschmann is alleged to
have said that firearms found at his house in Mutare city were bought with
funds provided by Bennett and that the weapons were to be used to murder
Mugabe.
The matter continues today with the prosecution expected to
present video
evidence to prove that Hitschmann freely made the statement
incriminating
Bennett.
Tomana first attempted to impeach Hitschmann
or have him declared a hostile
witness when the trial of Bennett that began
last year resumed on Tuesday.
Justice Bhunu did not immediately decide on
the impeachment application that
he, however, dismissed when court resumed
on Wednesday saying Tomana had
failed to follow proper procedures.
If
Tomana succeeds in his latest bid to have Hitschmann declared a hostile
witness this would pave way for the prosecution to cross-examine the arms
dealer on the key statement that he has disowned in court.
The state
accuses Bennett - treasurer in Tsvangirai's MDC-T party - of
plotting to
overthrow Mugabe and that he deposited money into the Mozambican
bank
account of Hitschmann to buy weapons to be used to assassinate the
veteran
leader.
Bennett faces a possible death sentence if found guilty in a case
that has
heightened tensions in Zimbabwe's fragile coalition government. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Thursday 14
January 2010
HARARE - A culture of fear gripping a population that
has endured years of
political violence and intimidation could hamper free
debate during Zimbabwe's
constitutional reform exercise, a top official said
Wednesday.
Gross human rights abuses and political violence have
accompanied every
major election in Zimbabwe since 2000 with the country
experiencing its
worst ever electoral violence in 2008 which the then
opposition MDC party
says killed at least 200 of its supporters and
displaced thousands of
others.
Douglas Mwonzora, one of the three
chairmen of the Constitutional
Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) driving the
reforms, said sections of the
population were still traumatised by the
violence and many could find it
difficult to express their views and ideas
they want included in the
proposed new constitution for fear of
victimisation.
Mwonzora, who was speaking to ZimOnline on the sidelines
of a training
workshop for COPAC members set to be deployed across the
country to gather
the views of Zimbabweans on the new charter, said: "It is
an imperial fact
that some sectors of the Zimbabwean society were
traumatised in 2008 by a
government whose manpower is still in
place.
"Their apparatus and machinery (of violence) still exist. That
will present
a headache to us, but I hope we will be
triumphant."
Members of the security forces, war veterans and militant
supporters of
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF who have been accused of
committing
violence and murder against perceived opponents of the veteran
leader have
never faced justice.
Human rights groups accuse Mugabe of
shielding the violent mobs from
prosecution, a charge the veteran leader and
his party deny. They also deny
that their supporters have committed violence
against members of the two MDC
formations led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara.
Mwonzora, a
senior member of the Tsvangirai-led MDC formation, said COPAC
was working
with the police to ensure security for all participants during
the reform
exercise particularly in rural areas prone to political violence.
He
revealed that the constitutional committee had wanted the three leaders
of
the coalition government - Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara - to launch
the
public consultation exercise and for them to publicly denounce violence
as a
way to reassure ordinary citizens that Zimbabweans that they would not
be
victimised for expressing their views.
"We will assure the people that
the police will protect them . . . we
actually wanted the principals to come
and launch the outreach programme,
but they are not in the country. We
wanted them to denounce violence and
preach tolerance so that people can
have a sense of security," said
Mwonzora.
The proposed new
constitution is part of the requirements of a September
2008 power-sharing
deal between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara that gave
birth to the Harare
coalition government last February.
The new governance charter will pave
way for free elections although there
is no legal requirement for the unity
government to call new polls
immediately after a new governance charter is
in place.
Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will guarantee human
rights, strengthen
the role of Parliament and curtail the president's
powers, as well as
guaranteeing civil, political and media
freedoms.
The new constitution will replace the current Lancaster House
Constitution
written in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter
has been
amended 19 times since independence in 1980. Critics say the
majority of the
amendments have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU
PF's hold on
power. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Thursday 14
January 2010
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday left for
the Mozambican
capital Maputo to attend an extraordinary summit of the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) organ on defence and security
which will among
other things discuss a power-sharing dispute threatening
the Harare
coalition administration.
The summit of the SADC organ,
also known as Troika, comes a week after South
Africa, the mediator to the
Zimbabwean crisis briefed regional foreign
ministers meeting in Maputo on
the progress of on the dialogue between
Mugabe's ZANU PF party and the
former opposition MDC formations led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
his deputy Arthur Mutambara.
South Africa brokered a 2008 power-sharing
deal that gave birth to Zimbabwe's
coalition government last February and
was last November asked by regional
leaders to step in to help resolve a
host of disagreements between the
Zimbabwean parties and save the unity
administration from collapse.
A team of facilitators appointed by
President Jacob Zuma to mediate in the
Zimbabwean dialogue last week said
that the pace of negotiations has been
slow but said it was however happy
with the progress achieved so far.
Negotiators have to date reached
agreement on 16 of the 27 issues tabled for
discussion. None of the issues
at the core of the power-sharing dispute have
yet been resolved.
The
11-month old government has done well to stabilise Zimbabwe's economy
and
end inflation that was estimated at more than a trillion percent at the
height of the country's economic meltdown in 2008.
As a result living
conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans have greatly improved
compared to 12
months ago when the country battled shortages of cash, fuel
and every basic
survival commodity.
But unending bickering between ZANU PF and MDC as
well as the coalition
government's inability to secure direct financial
support from rich Western
nations have held back the administration's
efforts to rebuild the economy.
The MDC accuses Mugabe of flouting the
power-sharing agreement after the
veteran leader refused to rescind his
unilateral appointment of two of his
allies to the key posts of central bank
governor and attorney general.
Mugabe has also refused to swear in
Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy
agriculture minister and to appoint
members of the MDC as provincial
governors.
On its part ZANU PF
insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing
deal and instead
accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for
lifting of Western
sanctions on Mugabe and his top allies. - ZimOnline.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Thursday 14 January
2010
JOHANNESBURG - Somalia's central bank chief warned on Wednesday
that the
anarchic Horn of Africa state could descend into another Zimbabwe
if plans
to print money went ahead and rebels continued their money
laundering
activities to fund their operations stoking hyperinflation and
further
impoverishing the people.
Bashir Isse Ali told international
media in Kenya that Somalia planned to
print money in Sudan, while al
Shabaab rebels fighting the country's
Western-backed administration, sends
and receives funds via informal money
transfer firms.
"This move will
increase the inflation rate to incredible figures . . . The
country will be
another Zimbabwe," he said, referring to the southern
African country's
world record inflation that various sources estimated at
between 500 billion
and one trillion percent at the height of economic
crisis in
2008.
"Al Shabaab sends and receives money through this system using
individuals,
not as an organisation," Ali said, urging more transparency to
combat money
laundering.
However, while it may have never recorded
Zimbabwe-type inflation, Somalia
has had no central government since the
1991 overthrow of strongman Mohammed
Siad Barre sent the country into a
conflict whirlpool at the mercy of rival
warlords who still control much of
the country today. -- ZimOnline.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Thursday,
January 14, 2010
By Michael
Chideme
Water supplies for Harare and surrounding satellite towns could
be cut by 15
percent following the imminent temporary shutdown of Prince
Edward Water
Treatment Plant until Manyame River starts
flowing.
Harare City Council might be forced to close Prince Edward Water
Treatment
Plant after preliminary assessments showed the two dams - Harava
and Seke -
that supply the plant have 40 days of water supply
left.
The two small dams are there to tide the city through a few months
of the
driest seasons.
The plant relies mainly on continued flow in
the Manyame River, normally a
perennial river.
Run-off in the upper
Manyame catchment has been delayed in recent decades
because of the very
large number of farm dams on the river's tributaries.
The plant's daily
output of 66 megalitres is normally earmarked for
Chitungwiza, Mabvuku,
Tafara, Manressa, Harare International Airport, Msasa
and parts of Hatfield,
among other southern and eastern suburbs, since it is
at a higher altitude
than Lake Chivero and is closer to these areas which
makes pumping
easier.
The city can pump water from the far larger Morton Jaffray plant
to these
higher eastern areas via the pipeline linking Letombo reservoirs to
the
western pump stations but will have to cut back supplies in western and
central areas to do so.
Zinwa's state of the major dams' report
released on Monday confirmed the
city's fears.
Seke Dam is 34,1
percent full while Harava Dam is 38,2 percent full.
However, other dams
that supply Harare water - Chivero and Manyame - are
99,6 and 84,2 percent
full respectively.
These two dams are not only far larger than the two
upstream dams but with
Morton Jaffray Waterworks are part of a system that
uses the annual
floodwaters in the Manyame to supply the city throughout the
year.
The two large dams also receive the processed effluent from the
modern
sewage treatment works, in effect allowing considerable
recycling.
While the two little dams contain only three months supply,
even at the far
smaller Prince Edward works, the two large dams can keep
Morton Jaffray
going for at least two years without inflows.
None of
the city dams is spilling yet as a result of the low rainfall
recorded to
date.
A Harare water official confirmed yesterday that the two small dams
had 40
days supply of water remaining between them.
Should the plant
be closed, it means the city's water supply would have been
reduced by about
15 percent, which implies tighter rationing for consumers.
Already,
residents of eastern and northern suburbs are short of municipal
water
because the city does not rotate water cuts and cannot meet
demand.
Harare prefers to give a continuous water supply to two-thirds of
the city
and leave the other third perpetually dry, rather than follow the
example of
other cities, especially Bulawayo, which rotates
cuts.
Many residents of the low-density suburbs in the dry zone are
paying 333
times more for their water because council has failed to provide
them with
water for the past three years.
The city charges 30c a
cubic metre while private companies are charging as
much as US$10 for the
same quantity. Borehole owners are cashing in on
shortages as well and
charge varying amounts a cubic metre.
City spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi
blamed the bulk of the water shortage on
power cuts at water works and pump
stations.
"We are meeting with the Zesa guys tomorrow (today) to discuss
the best ways
we can avoid shortchanging residents," he said.
Mr
Gwindi said it was sad that private water suppliers were asking residents
to
pay huge amounts of money.
He said council was working to rectify the
anomaly.
Nearly all households in the northern suburbs have mounted water
storage
tanks at their properties, which they periodically fill up with
water from
private companies.
http://www.witness.co.za
14 Jan 2010
Media24
JOHANNESBURG — While the campaign
to drive white farmers from their farms is
being strengthened, the
Zimbabwean government is giving 100 000 hectares of
land to the
controversial South African businessman Billy Rautenbach for the
production
of biofuel.
“It’s an absolute scandal, while we’re driven off our farms
like dogs —
farms which produce food for Zimbabwe,” Charles Taffs, deputy
chair of the
Zimbabwean Farmers’ Association, told Beeld
yesterday.
The Nuanetsi estate in the Masvingo province belongs to the
Joshua Nkomo
trust, and is not one of the farms that have been taken from
white farmers
since 2002.
“It’s a matter of principle, and not
because Rautenbach is white or about
white farmers. He’s big buddies with
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. It’s all about money.
Besides the loss of land for
urgently needed agricultural production, over
10 000 people will be driven
off the estate,” said Taffs.
Rautenbach will apparently invest over
$1 billion in the project through his
company, Zimbabwe Bio-Energy.
President Robert Mugabe and Defence Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa allegedly
own shares in Rautenbach’s company.
A South African court has recently
acquitted him of a string of criminal
charges, in return for his testimony
in the trial of former police
commissioner Jackie Selebi.
The
decision to make the land available to Rautenbach, to grow sugar cane to
process into bio-fuel, has the support of Zimbabwe’s one deputy president,
John Nkomo, who’s also one of the trustees.
However, it doesn’t carry
the approval of all Zanu-PF supporters in
Masvingo. The transfer of highly
fertile land is being opposed by the
provincial leadership of
Zanu-PF.
“We have to ask ourselves: where is black empowerment if we’re
going to
allow one white man to take over such a large piece of land?” said
Lovemore
Matuke, provincial chair of Zanu-PF, according to the Zimbabwe
Times.
He is supported by the governor of Masvingo, Titus
Maluleke.
According to the government mouthpiece, the Herald, Nkomo said
in reaction
to the criticism that those who are opposed to Rautenbach’s role
are
“witches who oppose the development of Masvingo. Billy [Rautenbach] is
our
friend and those who want to drive him off the farm, are MDC
supporters.”
The MDC is also opposed to the Rautenbach project.
A
spokesman for the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said such a project “should only be
considered after a comprehensive land audit has been completed in Zimbabwe”.
http://www1.voanews.com
The Center for Research and Development in the Manicaland
capital of Mutare
said soldiers and youth militia in the pay of Mbada
Diamonds and Canadiles
Investments have been beating and torturing people
indiscriminately and
raping women
Patience Rusere | Washington 13
January 2010
Human rights violations and illegal exports of diamonds
from the Marange
field in eastern Zimbabwe continue despite government
assertions that Harare
has moved to comply with Kimberly Process
recommendations to demilitarize
and reform operations there, a think tank
near the zone said Wednesday.
The Center for Research and Development in
the Manicaland capital of Mutare
said soldiers and youth militia in the pay
of Mbada Diamonds and Canadiles
Investments have been beating and torturing
people indiscriminately and
raping women in the tightly controlled alluvial
diamond field.
A report by the think tank said employees of these
companies, which it says
were formed by senior government and army officials
to exploit diamond
deposits in Marange district, are mistreating and
underpaying workers.
The office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
recently stepped in to halt
an unauthorized auction of diamonds organized by
Mbada Diamonds, whose
chairman is former air marshal Robert
Mhlanga.
Center for Research and Development Executive Director Farai
Maguwu told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that illegal mining in
Marange, also
referred to as Chiadzwa, is costing the Zimbabwean state
millions.
http://www1.voanews.com
Negotiations
deadlocked this week following a government offer of pay
increases from US$7
to U$21 a month, for a top salary of US$236 a month and
entry-level
compensation of US$150
Sithandekile Mhlanga & Blessing Zulu |
Washington 13 January 2010
Zimbabwe's restive civil servants have
given the three top figures in the
unity government in Harare 14 days to
increase public employee salaries or
risk the enforcement of pay demands
through labor actions.
Economists warned that a strike could shake the
cash-strapped government to
its roots. President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara are on
leave until February.
Negotiations deadlocked this week after the public
service commission
offered increases ranging from US$7 to U$21 a month. The
highest-paid civil
servant would earn US$236 a month, entry-level workers
just US$150.
State employees have demanded a total entry-level wage of
US$630 a month -
US$460 plus housing and transportation
allowances.
The Public Service Association, the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association and the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe in a news
conference Wednesday called
the state offer "ridiculous and out of sync with
the cost of living."
A statement said the government "should be warned
that civil servants may
deliver half-baked services that may ultimately
compromise the government
process. The representative organizations added:
"We are giving the
leadership of this country 14 days to decisively
intervene on this issue as
a matter of urgency before it blossoms into
conflict."
Teachers Association Chief Executive Sifiso Ndlovu told VOA
Studio 7
reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga that a meeting Wednesday with Public
Service
Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro ended in a deadlock.
But
Mukonoweshuro told reporter Blessing Zulu that no ultimatum has been
set,
describing the 14-day period as a time for consultations.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 14,
2010 - Zimbabwe will experience a solar eclipse on
Friday morning as several
towns will be partially obscured just after sun
rise, an agency that studies
the planet has said.
The southern African country once experience
a full solar eclipse in 2001
when most parts of the country were covered in
darkness and in 2003 the
country also experienced a partial solar
eclipse.
According to the Johannesburg Planetarium, an organization that
studies the
planet solar eclipse will be experienced in the capital Harare
(32%),
Bulawayo (23%) , Mutare (29%), Victoria Falls (27%) and Beitbridge
(19%).
The eclipse is expected to be experienced between 6:30 am and 8:45
am in the
morning of Friday the 15th of January, 2010.
A solar
eclipse is a situation when the moon will be between the sun and the
earth,
this will result in the moon obscuring sun's rays towards the earth
resulting in darkness.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26502
January 14, 2010
By
Owen Chikari
MASVINGO - Tourism and Hospitality Minister Walter Mzembi
has scored a minor
victory over detractors in Masvingo Province who have
launched a campaign
against his Cabinet appointment.
The Zanu-PF
Masvingo provincial executive has abandoned its bid to recall
Mzembi from
the Cabinet of President Robert Mugabe as intended, arguing that
such a move
was tantamount to challenging the President.
Some war veterans and
Zanu-PF supporters with the backing of the party's
provincial executive here
had resolved to recall Mzembi, saying there were
more senior Zanu-PF
officials in the province to replace him.
Mzembi is the only Zanu-PF
cabinet minister who was left out of the party's
central committee during
the party Congress held in Harare in December after
the Masvingo provincial
executive dropped him in pique. They accused him of
allegedly supporting
the candidature of Mugabe's choice, Vice President
Joice Mujuru, while the
entire provincial executive supported former
Manicaland governor Oppah
Muchinguri. However unpopular Mzembi maybe in the
eyes of the provincial
executive the Zanu-PF leadership does not take kind
to the party's president
being challenged by low-ranking officials.
"We have discovered that the
prerogative to appoint a minister lies with the
President," party provincial
chairman, Lovemore Matuke, said on Wednesday.
"Hence if we recall Mzembi we
will be challenging President Robert Mugabe.
"We no longer have any
intention to recall him and those who are still
pursuing the issue are now
our enemies."
It is common practice among Zanu-PF officials to publicly
and instantly
declare people as enemies merely because they hold or express
different
views.
Sources within the party said that senior party
officials at national level
had exerted pressure on the provincial executive
to abandon its bid for the
recall of Mzembi, who is the legislator for
Masvingo South constituency.
"We are tired of these pressures from our
top officials because they are the
ones who have forced us to drop all the
efforts to recall him", said a
source within the party's provincial
executive.
"To be honest there are several members of the party here who
feel Mzembi
should relinquish his post in Cabinet."
Mzembi is
considered by many in and out of Zanu-PF as one of the younger and
more
progressive politicians to emerge from within the ranks of a party
controlled by a geriatric leadership. He has, however, run on a collision
course with Zanu-PF's cantankerous war veteran community.
At a
Zanu-PF meeting held here on December 29 last year some war veterans
and
Zanu-PF activists adopted a resolution to recall Mzembi from Cabinet.
"We
are going to recall him back because we feel he is too junior to be in
cabinet", said Ezra Muchiya a war veteran.
"There are several senior
party cadres who deserve to be in Cabinet more
than Mzembi. If as a party
here have we decided to put other people in the
central committee ahead of
him it shows that he is too junior."
The meeting which was called
hurriedly by party activists opposed to Mzembi
also resolved to whip into
line all legislators who did not support the
Lovemore Matuke led provincial
executive.
"All party MPs from this province should know that they are
from Masvingo
hence they should respect the resolutions of the provincial
executive,"
reads part of the resolution.
The Masvingo Zanu-PF
provincial executive clashed head on with Mzembi after
the legislator
opposed the candidature of Muchinguri during the nomination
of people to be
appointed into the Mugabe presidium.
The Masvingo party provincial
executive later rescinded its earlier decision
to endorse Muchinguri and
thus endorsed Mujuru following pressure from party
big wigs. It was a small
victory for Mzembi against his detractors in the
province.
Mzembi's
political woes in Zimbabwe's most populous province seem to be
rooted in the
fact that he irked several party hawks when he accompanied
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai on his trip to Europe and the United States
in June this
year.
Mzembi was labelled as a sellout and a supporter of the MDC led by
Tsvangirai.
Contacted for comment Mzembi said, "I have not heard that
there are people
who want to recall me except from what I read on the
Internet. No one has
talked to me on that.
"I now have a good working
relationship with the provincial executive and
those still spreading that
rumour are our enemies."
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Morgen Kulare
Tuesday, 12
January 2010 14:45
The signing of the September 15, 2008 global political
agreement (GPA) which
gave birth to the formation of the inclusive
government in February last
year was expected to usher in a new era in the
country's tiers of
governance.
However the continued bickering
surrounding the implementation of this
agreement between the two main
political parties, MDC and Zanu (PF) has left
the former ruling Zanu (PF)
party in control of low key but crucial state
organs which impact directly
on Zimbabweans everyday life.
The endless negotiations between Zanu (PF) and
the two MDC formations over
outstanding issues has diverted the nation's
attention to the GPA and power
sharing at national level while Zanu (PF)
galvanizes its support base in its
former strongholds.
Although the
country witnessed the swearing in of Morgan Tsvangirai as the
Prime Minister
and the formation of an inclusive government on February 13,
2008, Zanu (PF)
has continued to distribute inputs and grain to its
supporters using the
drought relief committee. The drought relief committee
is a state appointed
committee found in all the country's 59 districts and
is chaired by the
District Administrator (DA).
Other members of the committee are RDC chairman,
RDC chief executive offer,
Zanu (PF) DDC chairman, war veterans' chairman
and representatives of NGO'S
and other government departments.
By virtue
of the nature of its composition, this committee has been
dominated by the
Zanu (PF) DCC chairman and war veteran's voices and in most
cases its
decisions are in favour of Zanu (PF) supporters. A case in point
is the
recent distribution of state subsidized agricultural inputs which saw
a bag
of fertilizer selling at US$7.00 which only benefited Zanu (PF)
supporters.
District councils run badly
The same situation
prevails in the running of the affairs of both urban and
Rural District
Councils (RDC'S). Facing imminent defeat in the 2008
elections, Zanu (PF)
abused its then parliamentary majority by amending both
the urban councils
act and the Rural District Councils Act to abolish the
post of executive
mayor in urban councils and introduce appointed
councillors in both urban
and rural councils. Zanu (PF)'s ulterior motive in
abolishing the post of
executive mayor is clear in that it wanted to reduce
the influence of MDC in
the day to day running of the city and town councils
and the decision to
appoint special interest councillors is a ploy to at
least keep the dying
Zanu (PF) voice alive in all urban or Rural District
Councils regardless of
whether they control that council.
Reservations have been expressed as to why
only Zanu (PF) loyalists have
been appointed special councillors in Harare
an MDC dominated city council.
MDC supporters have also had to contend with
discrimination at state
occasions such as Independence Day Celebrations and
Heroes commemorations,
despite the advent of the inclusive government.
On
April 18 2008 Independence celebrations held at Sarahuru School in
Mwenezi,
only Zanu (PF) supporters and officials were invited to attend the
occasion.
MDC supporters had to contend with their party celebrations 100
meters away
at Sarahuru business centre hosted by Charles Muzenda, an MDC-T
provincial
executive member based in Mwenezi district. This is regardless of
the fact
that the inclusive government had poured in funds for the occasion
through
the ministry of local government meant to unite all the three main
political
parties after a decade of animosity and hostilities.
Partisan land
decisions
Mugabe's former chief media hangman, Tafataona Mahoso's, recent
invasion of
Welverdien farm is a clear testimony of the partisan decision of
Mutare
District Land Committee. Although the invasion was illegal and
attracted
widespread domestic and international condemnation, Zanu (PF) has
hidden
behind the fact that Mahoso had an offer letter which originated from
Mutare
district land committee. In fact it is not Mahoso only but a host of
other
sympathizers of the disintegrating Zanu (PF) party who continue to be
rewarded from this patronage based land redistribution system.
The
situation has been compounded by the fact that MDC failed to secure the
lands ministry at GPA negotiations. Furthermore, Mugabe is refusing to give
MDC its fair share of provincial governors, a key office is dismantling the
current looting of national resources by the outgoing Zanu (PF) regime. Over
and above these two offices, Zimbabweans need not be reminded that all offer
letters originate from the district lands committee whose deputy chairperson
is the Zanu (PF) DCC chairman. War veterans and chiefs continue to sit in
this committee thereby directing that all land allocations be made to known
Zanu (PF) supporters.
Fair interviews for nurses
Late last year
there was anxiety and consternation at Masvingo General
Hospital when Prime
Minister Tsvangirai during his visit to the hospital
directed that all
prospective State Registered Nurse (RGN) trainees for 2010
who had been
recruited on the strength of the nation youth service (NYS)
certificate be
de-registered and fair interviews be conducted.
The premise of his argument
was that the previous NYS training was biased
and open only to Zanu (PF)
supporters hence its continued requirement at
national training institutions
in the inclusive government was unjustified.
Revelations after this incident
that the Border Gezi trained militias were
reserved a staggering 60 per cent
quota at this and other institutions of
higher learning are greatly
disturbing especially at a time Zimbabwe is
nurturing a fragile coalition
government and trying to come to terms with a
decade old political
discrimination and intolerance.
Zimbabweans need not forget that although
political power is achieved
through control of the national institutions at
national level, resources
are allocated by these government committees at
district level and Zanu (PF)
is positively touching the lives of its
supporters by pilfering state
resources.
Whilst the nation patiently
focuses its eyes on the resolution of the 11
outstanding GPA issues, Zanu
(PF) is busy manipulating state organs and
institutions to plunder national
resources.
Morgen Kulare is the National Research and Advocacy Officer for
Youth of
Zimbabwe for Transparency and Progress (YZTP). He can be contacted
by email:
kularemg@gmail.com
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Zimbabwe Mail
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
08:03
HARARE - Former information minister, Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo
(Pictured), is struggling to refute claims that he organised a secret
meeting in Gweru at Christmas to strategise a breakaway from Zanu
(PF).
Dubbed Tsholotsho Part II, the breakaway plot would see a new political
party formed under the leadership of defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
who was outflanked by a rival faction in the battle to succeed Robert Mugabe
as party leader at the recent congress. In a statement loaded with abusive
language and his usual bile, the Zanu (PF) come-back-kid failed dismally to
dispel the big story currently doing the rounds across the country in pubs,
churches and commuter buses that he is leading an Emmerson Mnangagwa plot to
form a new breakaway party from the ashes of the beleaguered former ruling
party, Zanu (PF).
The unemployed, former University of Zimbabwe political
science lecturer
denied the front page story in The Zimbabwean on Sunday on
January 10
headlined: “Mnangagwa plots fight-back: talk of a new splinter
group”. Moyo
described the story as "fiction", merely by virtue of his
creative defensive
work in creating an alibi. But, this week a new source
said Moyo had
actually revealed another secret meeting that has taken place
on a boat. As
the jostling gets hot, secret meetings and plots have been
organised every
day in buildings' basements, backyard gardens and in
roadside car parks ever
since last December's Zanu (PF) Congress. Moyo is
also well known for taking
his family to secret political meetings to cover
his back.
On the receiving end of Moyo's fury, is the editor and founder of
The
Zimbabwean, Wilf Mbanga, whose paper published a story by The Zimbabwe
Mail,
a rising online publication. In his aggressive statement send to his
mouth-piece (NewZimbabwe.com) Moyo said, "the desperately false claim that I
attended a political meeting of any kind in Gweru on December 25, 2009 or
that I was anywhere in or near Gweru on Christmas day to mastermind a
so-called Tsholotsho Part II strategy with some unnamed people who allegedly
included Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa, July Moyo, Flora Buka, Fred Kanzama and
Mike Madiro is a terribly fictitious and astonishingly idiotic tale told by
wretched MDC T idiots who are now running scared of the oblivion facing
their treacherous party on the back of Zanu (PF)’s apparent
resurgence."
The vitriolic statement continued: "If these idiots and their
equally
idiotic British handlers cared to check facts and build their
propaganda on
some truth, something they are apparently incapable of doing
because of
their breathtaking incompetence, they would have known that from
December 24
to December 27 last year I was actually in beautiful Kariba
enjoying true
Zimbabwean hospitality at Christmas with my family at Caribbea
Bay. "This is
a fact known to staff at that hotel and by many other
families, some of them
well known personalities, who also were guests at the
hotel," said Moyo in a
desperate attempt to make up an alibi after learning
that he would soon be
called to explain himself in front of the
Presidium.
The last time Moyo organised the failed Tsholotsho coup in 2004,
he had also
chartered a private jet to fly political heavyweights, including
six
provincial party chairmen, justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, and the
likes
of Joseph Chinotimba to Bulawayo, with plans to drive them in SUVs to
a
Tsholotsho village school, where they were to experience reorientation
programme to dislodge Joyce Mujuru. Everything was arranged for those
involved to be "in different places at the same time". This time, Moyo had
all the facilities to be "in different places at the same time", all
provided free, thanks to Thornhill Airbase which provided a helicopter and
clearance from the defence minister himself.
"Just because some MDC T
idiots could not have Christmas with their families
because of their
sell-out commitments does not mean we are all that
depraved," said "Cde"
Moyo raising the bar on hot air. The Zimbabwe Mail is
a Zimbabwean website
for Zimbabweans and it has no link to the British or
American intelligence
as Moyo claimed in his statement. We will soon be
writing to him to explain
his statement. We have journalists on the ground
embedded right inside the
goings-on in both Zanu (PF) factions. What Moyo is
not aware of is that our
reporter in Harare is now in possession of a 200
page document which
contains detailed plans for a breakaway Zanu (PF) party,
whose first
Congress is scheduled for September 2010.
On Sunday night, one of the senior
members of this desperate Zanu (PF)
faction tried to scare our reporter but
got the shock of his life when he
found out how strong the evidence we have
is and the massive support we have
received from the highest authorities in
Zanu (PF). Moyo will be surprised
when he attends a hearing in the next few
days or weeks in which he will be
called to explain "things" he thought only
he knew about. The embattled
former lecturer could not shy away from making
an attack on Finance Minister
Tendai Biti, whom he accused of abusing his
position to remove the
prohibitive duty on news publications. Wilf Mbanga, a
gentleman and
hardworking media man, was called by Moyo "a celebrated media
fraud
masquerading as a journalist"
http://www1.voanews.com
International Living rated Zimbabwe first among countries for
quality of
life where the climate is concerned, if not for the economy or
for freedom
of expression and other human rights
Gibbs Dube |
Washington 13 January 2010
For a change, Zimbabwe has achieved
recognition for something other than
posting the second highest rate of
hyperinflation in recorded history: it
has the best climate of any country
in the world, International Living says.
International Living compiles an
annual ranking of the world's best
countries to live in, and gave Zimbabwe
full marks for its temperate
climate. Climate scores are based on average
rainfall, temperature and
disaster risk.
Zimbabwe was the only
country to score a perfect 100 points in the rating
for climate - though it
performed dismally in economic and freedom ratings.
It scored zero for
economic opportunity and eight (8) for freedom. It ranked
in the middle of
the pack for leisure, culture, risk and safety, and
registered a surprising
77 on environmental factors. But it scored below
average where
infrastructure, health and living costs were concerned.
Zimbabwean
tourism expert Zifiso Masiye told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs
Dube that it
was not surprising to him that Zimbabwe stood out when it came
to a sunny,
temperate climate. Harare used to be known as "Sunshine City."
"Unlike
economic, social and human factors, climate has not been affected in
any way
in Zimbabwe during the past 10 years," Masiye said. "The country has
a
wonderful climate especially for tourists and visitors."
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Mutumwa Mawere Thursday 14 January
2010
OPINION: I cannot think of a better subject to write about than
soccer not
only because South Africa, my adopted home, will host for the
first time on
African soil, the biggest and most prestigious sport event in
the world, but
behind the game is a sophisticated business model that has to
be appreciated
and understood.
It has been argued that Africa was and
continues to be subjected to the
influence of foreign cultures because of
many factors including weak
institutional capacity. The soccer political
economy when properly
understood can help enlighten us on some of the key
ideological questions
that confront us as we try to advance the cause of
Africa.
Behind the game of soccer is a complex business model. The soccer
society is
self-governing and global in character and composition.
It
has its own government with its own global president. It has its own
business model that provides value to its stakeholders who include the
soccer loving public.
Its practitioners have to be rewarded like any
other service provider. The
allocation of seats is market driven. Have you
ever wondered what would
happen if the soccer economy was socialist in
orientation how the tickets
would be allocated?
We are comforted that
the allocation of tickets for the World Cup will not
involve state actors or
powerful people. Those who can afford and are
willing to abide by the
contract inherent in purchasing a ticket will get a
seat to see a live
game.
Those that cannot afford will not be left out as they can watch the
game far
from the fields where the games will be played. They say that the
closer you
want to be to the actual game the more you will have to
pay.
Without a market system, there would be chaos in terms of the actual
administration of the game. Even those who argue that Africa must be
governed under a socialist system would agree that such a system would not
produce optimum results in the soccer world.
We have heard of FIFA
and many of us do not understand what the acronym
stands for. It is the
equivalent of the United Nations in the soccer world
society.
However, its members are not states but football
associations. The soccer
government relies for its survival on member
support and sponsorships.
FIFA stands for the Fédération Internationale
de Football Association
(International Federation of Association Football).
It is the international
governing body or association football that is
headquartered in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Sepp Blatter is its current
president. It is responsible for the
organisation and governance of
football's major international tournaments,
most notably the FIFA World Cup
that has been held since 1930.
It has 208 member associations making it
larger than the UN with 16 fewer
members and the International Olympic
Committee with three fewer members and
smaller than the International
Association of Athletics Federations that has
five more
members.
Knowledge is power because it is not perishable like life or
wealth. What do
we know of FIFA? When was it established? What was its
purpose? Why was this
initiative not driven by nation states?
FIFA
was founded in Paris on May 21 1904 in response to a need for a single
body
to oversee the worldwide game that had a popular support base. The new
organisation presided over its first international competition in 1906, but
this met with little approval or success.
This was followed with
executive changes and the next football tournament
was hosted as part of the
Olympics in London in 1908.
This event was more successful than the
inaugural event but the players were
professional footballers contrary to
the founding principles of FIFA.
Membership of FIFA that started as a
European affair; expanded beyond the
continent with the application of South
Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile
in 1912, and Canada and the US in
1913.
At its core it is a federation of national soccer bodies. It is a
voluntary
association of soccer bodies.
Like any institution, it is
seized with the responsibility of crafting the
rules of the game. Without
the rule of law, there can be no World Cup.
The soccer economy is bigger
than many nation states and yet there has been
no call to nationalise the
economy in the name of efficiency gains or
protecting the soccer loving
public.
Yes, FIFA has its own institutional challenges but one cannot say
that the
soccer would benefit if the society were nationalised.
What
lessons do we draw from FIFA? As we count down to the great game, we
must
pause to reflect on the dynamics that are at play to administer this
popular
sport.
We learn that there is no substitute to working together. Any
supranational
body has to appreciate the politics of diversity.
FIFA
has one president and his replacement has not followed the pattern of
power
transfers in many of our nations.
Yes, there is corruption in the soccer
economy. We all know that human
beings are inherently corrupt and any human
institution can never be free
from this vice.
Notwithstanding, we are
confident that the World Cup will be successful not
because governments want
them to be but because underpinning the game is a
secure belief that free
people when given a choice will make things happen.
The spectators who
will converge on Africa will do so out of their own
choice. If the entrance
fee is not properly prized or marketed, there is no
doubt what will
happen.
What FIFA controls is the right of nations to host the game. Such
a right is
prized to give value to the sponsors.
If the arithmetic is
wrong the game will not attract the support that it has
enjoyed from the
private sector.
Nation states that host the game benefit both directly
and indirectly from
the human traffic without whose support the game would
represent just
another social enterprise with no commercial
impact.
The soccer economy is a mutual. It relies on the support of
members. It is
as strong as its weakest link.
Our knowledge of
institution building can assist in the transformation of
Africa. In the
political sphere we are less organised than in the other
human
endeavors.
Politicians need state power to remain relevant whereas
members of civic
organisations have to remain relevant through the active
support of members.
Africa can only be better if we choose to be better.
We have to understand
how to organise ourselves.
As a member of
Africa Heritage Society www.africa-heritage.com I have become
acutely conscious of the real and potent risk to advancement.
It is
not unnatural for people to want the organisation to do more than what
they
can do through the organisation.
Blatter, for example, can only be
important if all the constituents of the
soccer pyramid do what they are
supposed to do. He has 24 hours in a day and
can only see what his eyes
allow him to.
He can only be powerful if at the level of a soccer club
there is
consciousness on what is required to build a progressive and
successful
society.
In the case of soccer, the value lies in
organisation. Even the best player
would come to know that without a society
called FIFA, the talent would
definitely be wasted.
It is self
evident that institutions do give value to civilisation and it is
in
institution building that Africans in the majority are found wanting.
It
was South Africa that became the first African country to apply to be
member
of FIFA. We have to ask why South Africa. What made South Africa
different
from other African states of the day?
Even the racially conscious South
Africa understood the need to be part of a
community.
The real power
lies in being part of something bigger than you. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by John Makumbe
Tuesday, 12
January 2010 07:04
'The current much-amended constitution only benefits Zanu
(PF)' The training
of the constitutional outreach teams, or thematic
committees, is now
complete and the process of consulting the people of this
country on what
they would like included in the foundation law should start
shortly.
(Pictured: John Makumbe) Zimbabwe needs to write this new and
democratic
constitution as part of the transition to democracy. It is
interesting to
note the goodwill among the people involved in the process,
contrary to the
happenings at the First Stakeholders Conference, where a few
misguided
elements, allegedly from Zanu (PF), attempted to derail the
process by
marching like idiots right inside the Harare International
Conference Centre
to the amusement of international observers and
diplomats.
Fortunately, the organizers of the conference refused to be
intimidated and
the meetings resumed the following day without any further
disruptions.
It would be naivety on our part as patriotic Zimbabweans to
think that the
forthcoming outreach meetings will go ahead smoothly
throughout the country.
There are numerous groups of desperate elements that
are very unhappy about
the writing of the new and democratic constitution
for this country.
They are going to do their evil best to disrupt meetings
and intimidate the
people from attending and stating their views. These
elements must be
resisted vigorously. The police need to be out in full
force to ensure that
law and order is maintained. The local Members of
Parliament (MPs) and
councillors will have to work hard mobilize the people
to attend the
meetings and speak freely and without fear of intimidation and
victimization. Further, the meetings will need to be well publicized, well
in advance so that as many people in a given area as possible are able to
attend.
It is unfortunate that the sickly Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation radio
and television coverage is so weak and so poor that it
covers only 30% of
this country. The Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC)
will need to
seriously consider flighting some adverts on such popular
radios as VOP,
Studio Seven and SWRadio Africa.
It is common cause that
more people in Zimbabwe listen to these progressive
radios than the dubious
ZBC. It may also be necessary to place adverts on
BTV and all the South
African television channels. Few Zimbabweans still
bother to watch the
sickening ZTV any more.
I have, however, found all the ZBC channels useful
for listening and viewing
if you would like to be angry a little bit from
time to time. The lies and
falsehoods that are propagated on these channels
are astounding. The Herald
and Sunday Mail are equally deplorable in this
regard.
But back to the constitutional reform process. There are a few groups
in
civil society that are opposed to the GPA's Article 6 provisions on this
matter. My view is that it is these groups' democratic right to oppose the
process, and they should be allowed to do so.
It is equally the
democratic right of the groups that decided to participate
in the process in
spite of the numerous flaws therein. The reluctant groups
must realize that
if we do not participate in the current process, as a
nation, we will be
stuck with the Lancaster House Constitution, possibly for
the next 10 or
more years, and that is totally unacceptable.
It is my expectation that the
people's participation in the current process
will be high enough to ensure
that the resultant document will legitimately
qualify to be described as a
people-driven constitution. There is no
perfection in this world, however
badly we need it. We need to face the fact
that the current much-amended
constitution only benefits Zanu (PF) and that
cannot be allowed to continue.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Chris Anold Msipa
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
10:01
HARARE - Zimbabwe has been urged to restore its crumbling education
system
or just admit failure to save the sector. Interviewed rights
campaigners say
the situation is an ugly time bomb.
What has rung alarm
bells are reports of students at the country's higher
learning institutions
becoming newsmakers "for the wrong reasons." The
University of Zimbabwe, UZ,
tops the list. Close to 10 female and male
students sharing one room as
lodgers is bad enough. Yet there are more
harrowing tales. Some female
undergraduates are reportedly living-in with
gardeners in city suburbs close
to college. Some of the 'home caretakers'
reportedly work for absentee
bosses. Their families live in the rural areas
while they settle with
students in backyard cottages, usually single bed
outfits, in exchange for
sex. No one has so far admitted voluntarily to
being involved in such a
relationship.
Psychological researchers say promiscuity is a disease of the
mind that can
be corrected either clinically or socially. But the 'patient'
should be
willing. Unfortunately, the majority of the inflicted enjoy the
madness,
which threatens to destroy the mainstay of Zimbabwe's future.
Social
campaigners in the nation of about 15-million people paint an even
gloomier
picture. They say 83 percent of students involved in a recent
survey were
sexually active. And a "worrying" 85 percent of them did not use
condoms.
While the problem is prevalent among girls, it is also rife amongst
boys.
Male students fall prey to sugar mummies and others are sodomized by
money-flashing gays, the researchers claim.
Msasa Project, headquartered
in Harare, fights domestic violence against
women. But its director says the
scary developments in colleges have also
reached her group's
attention.
Netty Musanhu says the humanitarian group can no longer afford to
watch as
the "disgraceful ailment" continues: "And to make it worse, the rot
is
becoming accepted as normal."
There is need for non-governmental
groups to find out the number of affected
students, especially females, and
take action: "We should fight hard to
expose the problem."
Education
for boys
She says the plight of the children is not as exposed as much as
cholera is;
"Every home is aware of cholera. Kids refuse to eat anything
before washing
hands because they want to avoid the disease." The media have
to give the
crisis equally wide coverage. Musanhu says students could in the
past raise
enough money from industrial attachments to buy clothes and cover
academic
expenses. The university also gave pay-outs. Families sighed with
relief
once their kids landed places at college; but not
anymore.
Numerous families have revived the old philosophy that boys'
education is
more vital than the girl child's. Girls are married of or
forced to join the
streets to trade their bodies for a living.
Meanwhile,
politicians continue "lip servicing" gender imbalance in the face
of a
shattered economy struggling to recoup. Media reports quote the Deputy
Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development as saying her
government is committed to ensuring gender equality in the country. Evelyn
Masaiti says Zimbabwe signed the Southern African Development Community,
SADC, Protocol on Gender and Development, enough evidence to show the
state's
commitment to the goals.She was speaking recently in the western
town of
Kadoma where she addressed the Annual Stakeholders' Workshop of the
Zimbabwe
Women's Resource Centre and Network.
Lack of
accommodation
A snap survey on the plight of students has revealed a lot of
mess. Lack of
accommodation comes out tops of the list including high fees,
against poor
service delivery. Yet the problem differs from college to
college, mostly
influenced by the life style in the host city or town. One
Computer Science
student at the National University of Science and
Technology, NUST, in the
commercial capital, Bulawayo, says it is cheaper to
be a "non-resident."
Abigail Ngwenya says she rents one room for US$45 per
month in one of the
city suburbs, compared to more than $110 paid on
campus.
Meanwhile, the common dilemma among undergraduates is money for text
books,
handouts, Internet cafés and assignment printing. NUST, she says, has
one or
two text books for every course. On the other hand, Third Years have
to go
on industrial attachment for one year, but this is an uphill struggle
in the
current national economic quagmire: "About 50 percent of us still
have no
jobs." And some of the employed are unpaid as the firms they joined
are also
struggling.
No work
House owners take advantage of
Bulawayo having limited accommodation
accessible to NUST. Suitable suburbs
include Khumalo, Killarny,
Matshemhlope, Riverside and Selborne.
The
student says the authorities should provide college accommodation
urgently
and create job: "The government should get us work, if they want to
retain
us after university anyway."
Two other students from the Midlands State
University, MSU, in the Central
Zimbabwean seat of Gweru, Anna and Rose (not
their real names); speak of
their college as the worst in the whole country.
Unlike Miss Ngwenya, the
two would rather be on campus if they had a
choice.
"Four to five of us share one room, each one paying $30 per month,"
says
Rose, "And landlords take advantage, making life difficult for us most
of
the time." Like Bulawayo, Gweru City has few suburbs close to MSU. They
are
mainly Dalesford, Nehosho and Senga. Dalesford, three to four kilometers
from the college, is the furthest. One girl is said to have been attacked
and injured badly last semester by muggers. The incident occurred in the
evening in the bushy area between Dalesford and Nehosho. Rose says it is
hard to be on campus at MSU because mainly 'those with connections in the
Students Affairs Department' get the accommodation."Moreover, you aren't
even notified of the situation when you secure a place at the universities.
You go there expecting to find everything in place, thinking yours will just
be to learn. But that is not the case." And Anna agrees.
Rose also claims
some lecturers, mostly in the departments of English and
History, worsen the
quandary female undergraduates face, "They demand sexual
favours for you to
pass their assignments. If you refuse you fail. "One such
lecturer made
advances and when I resisted him I failed his assignment. I
guessed what he
had done after he smiled mockingly at me when we met one
day. I applied for
remarking and passed," says the young woman. The
government claims it is on
top of the situation, human rights groups
describe it as a time bomb and
students call it a rot. Zimbabwe's education
system shows no signs of coming
out of "intensive care."
This story was compiled with the assistance of
the Humanitarian Information
Facilitation Centre.
For further information
please contact HIFC at 250638/251749/707959.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Editor
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
14:14
We are delighted to be carrying a story this week quoting Judge
President
Rita Makarau stating that: "There can be no rule of law without
an
independent judiciary." Can it be that she has at last seen the light and
has determined that she will no longer preside over a bench so lamentably
stuffed with Zanu (PF) functionaries? If so, there is indeed hope for
Zimbabwe in 2010.
The restoration of the rule of law is the one thing we
need above all. Once
this fundamental has been put into place, everything
else will follow. It
was the suspension of the rule of law by the Zanu (PF)
government under
Robert Mugabe in 2000 that marked the descent of our
precious nation into
the ugly pit from which it now endeavours to
crawl.
Makarau mentions the separation of powers. It must be pointed out that
this
is not something to be bestowed by Mugabe, or indeed any other
politician.
The bench should simply insist upon it. It is a fundamental
tenet of our
legal system.
The judges should not continue to abrogate
their responsibilities, as they
have done for the past 10 years. And neither
should they now be begging the
politicians to give them what is rightfully
theirs - the judiciary is
separate from the executive and the
administration. All those on the bench
should simply uphold the law and
refuse to tolerate interference by
politicians.
The trouble is that most
members of the present bench have allowed
themselves to be utterly
compromised by Zanu (PF) through having their
snouts well and truly embedded
in the feeding trough.
This does not inspire confidence or respect. Our
judges should lead by
example.
We sympathise with what Makarau calls "the
appalling conditions of service
for judges". However, may we remind the
honourable Judge President and her
colleagues that these appalling
conditions have been the norm for most
Zimbabweans since the collapse of the
rule of law in 2000.
If the want to be taken seriously now, the judges need
to take themselves
seriously.
They need to show Zimbabweans, and the GNU,
that they are beyond reproach.
Those who have compromised themselves by
accepting gifts of farms, plasma
tvs and luxury vehicles from Gideon Gono
and Mugabe, must return their
ill-gotten gains and demonstrate that they
have turned over a new leaf.
As long as they continue to invade farms
themselves and then sit in
judgement over a land dispute, they cannot think
we will respect them.