Daily
News
Another Zanu PF stalwart
grabs farm
1/17/2003 10:43:11 AM
(GMT +2)
By Takaitei Bote Farming
Editor
ZANU PF stalwart Chester Nhamo
Mhende has allegedly chased away Joe
Whaley, owner of a Norton farm, and is
using the equipment on the farm
without having paid for
it.
The government last week admitted that
the land reform programme was
chaotic resulting in haphazard allocations. Top
Zanu PF and government
officials have helped themselves to prime farms in the
process.
Mhende participated in the Zanu
PF primary elections for the 2000
parliamentary election for the Harare North
Constituency and lost to Nyasha
Chikwinya, who was subsequently defeated by
Trudy Stevenson of the MDC.
Whaley said in
an interview: "My farm is 119 hectares and does not
fall in the government
criteria of acquisition. It is my only farm. It has
been my only home since
1980."
According to the government's
maximum size criteria for compulsory
land acquisition, a farm measuring less
than 400 ha should not be acquired.
Whaley, who is now living in Harare,
alleged that Mhende had paid him
nothing, but he was using his equipment,
living in his farmhouse as well as
harvesting his
crops.
Whaley said he was allegedly
threatened with death by war veterans
hired by Mhende when he tried to
retrieve his movable property on the farm.
Whaley was issued with an eviction order which expired in October
last
year.
He is challenging the eviction
in the courts. Whaley said: "No
inventory was done on my property and I have
no offers for compensation. I
left 20ha of tobacco, 30ha of burley and 70
head of cattle,but have received
nothing from
Mhende.
"Mhende claims he has paid me, but
that is a complete fabrication. He
has pulled out my flowers worth US$125 000
(Z$6,875 million) and I have lost
production capacity of 900 000 broiler
chickens."
He is claiming $400 million
from Mhende for his immovable property
only. Mhende said he had applied for
the land and the government offered him
Whaley's Crebilly
Farm.
He said in a telephone interview: "I
paid US$100 000 to Whaley for the
roses and the farm implements. I do not
understand why he continues to
harass
me."
He said in a Magistrates' Court
affidavit where he claimed to have
paid Whaley: "In mid-October I paid US$100
000 to the Governor for
Mashonaland West Province, Mr Peter Chanetsa, in the
presence of the
Respondent (Whaley).
"The amount represented the purchase of the farm, farm implements
and
vehicles and payment was made on a walk-in walk-out basis." Chanetsa
refused
to comment on the grounds that the issue was now subject to
court
proceedings.
When this reporter
insisted on having a comment, Chanetsa said: "The
Ministry of Lands,
Agriculture and Rural Resettlement is the authority which
gives land. The
land issue is a sensitive issue. Call my secretary and make
an appointment to
see me." When contacted on Tuesday, Chanetsa's secretary
was not in the
office.
Mhende said he has been requesting
to meet Whaley to discuss
outstanding issues especially on payment for the
tobacco crop and chickens,
but Whaley had refused to talk to
him.
Whaley said he now preferred speaking
to Mhende only through his
lawyers
Daily
News
MDC Manicaland chairman warns
police
1/17/2003 10:44:57 AM (GMT
+2)
From Our Correspondent in
Mutare
TIMOTHY Mubhawu, the MDC's chairman
in Manicaland, yesterday warned
the police of unspecified action if they
continued to arrest MDC leaders on
what he said were "trumped-up
charges".
Mubhawu said: "I warn the police
and the youths from the Border Gezi
training programme to refrain from
interfering with our leaders and members,
otherwise the repercussions will be
terrible.
"Their actions will be met with
equal strength. "The police and Zanu
PF youths should not underestimate the
strength of the people at this point
in
time.
"Methods of actions may take different
forms . . . " His warning
follows the arrest last Saturday of Elias Mudzuri,
the Executive Mayor of
Harare, and 20 others during a consultative meeting
with residents of
Mabvuku suburb.
Justice
Benjamin Paradza of the High Court ordered the immediate
release of those
arrested, saying the police had abused their
powers.
Four days later, Job Sikhala, the
MP (MDC) for St Mary's, was arrested
by the police in Chitungwiza on
allegations of being part of a gang that set
on fire a Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company bus in the Willowvale industrial
sites, together with other
MDC members.
Earlier, the police arrested
yet another MP from the opposition party,
Paul Madzore (Glen View), for
allegedly assaulting two policemen in
his
constituency.
Madzore was taken to
court where he was remanded out of custody to 14
February on $20 000
bail.
Throughout Manicaland, over 1 000
MDC members, including Roy Bennet,
the MP for Chimanimani, and other senior
officials in the province, have
been arrested and charged with various
alleged politically motivated crimes
since the bloody campaigns for the June
2000 parliamentary election.
Most of those
arrested were released without being charged, while
others who appeared
before the courts were acquitted for lack of
sufficient
evidence.
Daily
News
Cases of politicised food aid
growing, says MDC
1/17/2003
10:36:53 AM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Masvingo
The MDC says
cases of suspected opposition members being denied food
aid and agricultural
inputs are on the increase, as hunger and starvation
take their toll on
Zimbabwe.
Despite claims by the government
that food aid was being distributed
to all the starving people irrespective
of their political affiliation,
thousands of villagers in the Chief Shumba
and Murinye areas of Masvingo
said they were being denied food because they
supported the opposition.
Silas Mangono,
the MDC Member of Parliament for Masvingo Central,
yesterday said cases of
people being denied food aid on political grounds
were on the
increase.
Said Mangono: "I have received
reports from people in Murinye and
Muchakata areas complaining that they are
not benefiting from relief aid
sourced by both the government and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
"It
is true that food aid is being politicised and the situation seems
to be
getting out of hand. "It is a sad situation as some families are going
for
days without food. We are surprised because what we know is that
the
government should not discriminate against people on political
grounds."
Mangono said he would soon meet
representatives of NGOs and Zanu PF
officials in Masvingo over the
issue.
He said well-known politicians were
allegedly taking advantage of
their positions to acquire maize grain from the
Grain Marketing Board for
resale at high prices to starving
people.
Nicholas Muchetu, a spokesperson
for the villagers said thousands of
suspected MDC supporters could starve to
death if Zanu PF activists
continued to deny them food
aid.
Muchetu said: "If you go and register
for food you are asked which
party you belong
to.
"In most cases they demand a Zanu PF
card. We have been denied food
aid and agricultural inputs. We have also been
excluded from the public
works programme and we are surviving on wild fruits
and edible insects."
Daily
News
Water woes to dog Harare for next
four years: Mudzuri
1/17/2003 10:42:26 AM
(GMT +2)
Municipal
Reporter
HARARE'S water supply problems
are expected to continue for the next
four years, Elias Mudzuri, the
Executive Mayor, has warned.
Mudzuri,
addressing journalists at the mayoral mansion's guest house
on Tuesday, said
the water problems would continue because demand now
out-stripped
supply.
In fact, he said, it was
determined in 1997 that the demand for water
would outstrip supply by
2002.
Mudzuri said there was need for the
government to facilitate the
speedy construction of an alternative water
source.
The mayor said the proposed Kunzwi
Dam in Chikwaka to augment the
capital's water supplies, had been on the
cards since 1998 when the
government took over the
project.
Mudzuri said: "Without a new
water source there will be no water
in
Harare.
"But even if a dam is to be
constructed by the end of this year, the
city will still experience supply
problems for the next four years. "There
is also need to construct a water
treatment plant and wait for the dam to
fill up with
water."
The government, he said, took over
the Kunzwi Dam project and floated
tenders.
Mudzuri said Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Public
Works
and National Housing, told him the Government Tender Board had
rejected bids
for the dam's construction.
The ministry
has not yet responded to questions faxed last week on
what was delaying
construction of the dam.
Mudzuri said
while the quality of tap water in the city was still
good, this could change
if the Harare City Council did not acquire enough
water purification
chemicals by the end of this month.
Samples of Harare's water were being regularly tested at the city,
the
government and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe's
laboratories.
He said: "But the issue of water
treatment chemicals is an issue of
foreign currency shortages, not of me
abusing council funds, because I do
not get hold of the money. The Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe pays money directly
to the
suppliers."
The mayor said there was also
need to upgrade equipment at the city's
water treatment plant to ensure the
efficient use of water supplies. This
also required foreign currency, he
said.
Mudzuri said: "I cannot tell whether
or not the Reserve Bank has
sufficient foreign currency
reserves.
"But I think priority must be
given to water and then food. No matter
how much maize you import, without
water you cannot cook it."
Daily News - The
Mole
This is a
harass-and-embarrass campaign
1/17/2003 9:41:43 AM (GMT +2)
In
its insidious, thoroughly unpatriotic and selfish agenda of wanting
to
destroy the MDC by any means and at any cost, the government appears to
have
totally taken leave of its senses, and is doing things so
shamefully
diabolical even Satan would be ashamed to do them in the dead of
night.
Its obsession with the attainment
of that single, apparently
all-important goal has rendered the government
oblivious to public opinion
and absolutely devoid of
shame.
In its determination to completely
obliterate the MDC from the face of
Zimbabwe, both in Parliament and outside
the House, the government has, on
behalf of Zanu PF of course, embarked on
what The Mole can only describe as
a relentless harass-and-embarrass
campaign.
I have absolutely nothing
against Zanu PF as a political party, but I
have everything against its
anti-people and anti-democracy culture of
violence which is unashamedly
employed for the sole purpose of denying
people their freedom and right to
put in power leaders of their choice.
Here
are some of the things the government has done, in just one week,
which even
the most apolitical observer will see for what it is: a sustained
campaign to
harass and embarrass prominent MDC figures with the forlorn hope
that they
might abandon the opposition party. These are actions clearly
illustrate the
government's appalling abuse of power that even the most
repressive regimes
elsewhere in the world would be ashamed
of.
* Last Friday but one, Nkayi MP
Abednico Bhebhe (MDC), together with
another MDC activist, Ferdinand Dropper,
was arrested for something as
mundane and innocent as putting up, in
Bulawayo, posters that read: "Hoot,
enough is enough". Of course, the arrest
would have been fully justified if
his posters had read something like: "Take
up arms! Enough is enough!"
Bhebhe and
Dropper were only freed the following Monday after senior
prosecutor Mary
Zimba-Dube refused to place them on remand as the two
obviously had no case
to answer. And, unless, of course, they were
imbeciles, even the police
officers who arrested them knew perfectly well
they had not committed any
crime. But they, no doubt, had a political brief
and had to see to it the two
spent the entire weekend in the cooler.
*
Then, last Saturday, the Executive Mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri,
who has a
duty and an obligation to go around Harare to meet and listen to
whatever the
city's residents have to tell him, was arrested together with
20 of his aides
for carrying out exactly that duty.
And
the stupid excuse given for the arrest: The mayor had addressed
the residents
without seeking permission from the police in terms of the
obnoxious Public
Order and Security Act! Good heavens! And, as if that was
not bad enough, in
spite of a court order to that effect, the police
arrogantly refused to
release Mudzuri and his colleagues until Monday. They
were obviously on a
mission to humiliate him.
Where on earth
have you ever heard of mayors needing police clearance
to meet their
residents? On Mars, perhaps, but certainly not on this planet.
And just who
do the police think they are, anyway? Some kind of demi-gods,
perhaps? Their
wings will certainly have to be ruthlessly clipped as soon as
possible after
sanity is restored in this now God-forsaken
land.
* The following day, Sunday, the MP
for Glen View, Paul Madzore (MDC)
whose arrest, like that of his fellow party
MP, Job Sikhala, seems to give
the police a special thrill judging by the
frequency with which they have
arrested him was arrested, allegedly for
beating up "two policemen" in his
constituency. Anyone who believes this kind
of cock-and-bull story will
believe
anything!
But if it is true that two cops,
who are supposed to be fit, tough and
strong, were beaten up by an MP who,
unlike President Mugabe, has no known
reputation for being a fitness fanatic,
then those two chaps have no
business at all being in the police force and
should be discharged
forthwith. They are clearly an embarrassment to the
Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP). But then, of course, an excuse, no matter how
implausible, simply had
to be found for arresting and tormenting a prominent
MDC member.
Following his arrest, Madzore
was taken to Glen View Police Station
before being moved to Hatfield Police
Station that same day and then to
Harare Central on Monday where he was being
kept until he was granted bail
by magistrate Caroline-Ann Chigumira on
Wednesday.
* Then came the icing on the
cake, if you will excuse my making light
such a serious matter of mostly
innocent citizens being systematically
arrested, harassed and arbitrarily
deprived of their liberty, albeit
temporarily, for no other reason than that
they belong to the opposition
MDC
party.
On Wednesday, the MP for St
Mary's, Job Sikhala, whom the police seem
to take a special delight in
arresting, was arrested. The day before, it had
been reported in the Press
that the intrepid and highly resourceful MP, who
is also much loved by his
constituents, had gone into hiding following a
raid on his home by 12 armed
policemen in riot gear.
And, as has come
to be expected each time the police arrest MDC
members in their overzealous
desire to be seen to be enthusiastically
executing the government's
harass-embarrasshumiliate MDC leaders campaign,
the grounds for Sikhala's
latest arrest are not only flimsy, but are also so
ridiculously far-fetched
no self-respecting policeman would have dared move
to apprehend
him.
But then, of course, self-respect is
one quality the automatons in the
ZRP never seem to give the slightest regard
to when they are out on a
mission to please Zanu PF. They would rather gladly
make braying asses of
themselves in the course of doing their duty to the
party, to use an
Orwellian expression. Because, being of limited brain power,
they sincerely
believe Big Brother is always watching them! So they had to
accuse Sikhala
of something to justify arresting him: the burning of the
Zupco bus.
How anyone, let alone trained
police officers, could connect Sikhala
to the burning of the Zupco bus in
Willowvale when, at the time of its
torching, he was 30 kilometres away in St
Mary's, scratching his hair thin
trying to figure out how he might secure the
release of his arrested father
and relatives, defies all logic. He would need
to be ubiquitous, a power
which no known human being apart from Christ after
He had risen from the
dead has ever been known to
possess.
What this whole campaign is
saying loud and clear is that Zimbabwe has
become a police state. The Mole
would like to challenge the President to
demonstrate that he still has a
conscience by ordering an end to this
silly
campaign.
Daily
News - Leader Page
For how long
can we stomach Zanu PF tyranny?
1/17/2003 10:10:21 AM (GMT +2)
By
Marko Phiri
The guiding principles in
African politics have never been known to
include respect for people's
sensibilities, though there are some isolated
examples that seek to dispel
that notion. As Zimbabweans rack their brains
in search of relief for the
misery forced on them by the ruling party, a
stern test has been presented on
how the people will deal with the arrogance
epitomised by Zanu
PF.
While everybody else here and
elsewhere is in agreement that the
country would do better with a new
political dispensation, the ruling party
has not yet shown any signs of
fatigue as far as insulting people's common
sense and intelligence is
concerned. But the question that is most pressing
right now is this: how far
will the people of this country take the punches
lying
down?
After all, the very fact that
Zimbabweans have never before, as least
post-1980, shown any signs that they
will not take any nonsense from any
government, it has meant that the ruling
party goes about its dictatorial
proclivities knowing that no one will stand
up to its bullying. Are
Zimbabweans then a bunch of stoics or mere suckers
for punishment that they
will complain privately only in the streets, but not
effectively make known
to government their sentiments? What is it that is
needed as proof that
things have gone to far thus the need to
act?
That the ruling party knows it is no
longer the people's favourite is
a fact well known in its corridors, but what
it has yet to occur is for them
to feel the heat, then they will know the
people here have had it. Pity
parents right now who have to explain to their
children why they cannot have
bread for their
breakfast.
Now, schools have just opened
for the new year and new term, so how do
parents explain to their grade one
child that they cannot carry a lunch box
to school much like their other
siblings a few years ago? Would the
unknowing child not imagine the parents
are playing a game of favourites,
after having seen their brothers and
sisters getting packed lunch but not
them? So much for the innocence of the
children not aware of the genesis of
these woes they have
inherited.
But for the elders, the
parents, it would not be a big surprise
knowing that some of them close their
bedroom doors and shed a few tears
wondering what they will give to the
little ones. And for the first time
ever in the history of this country, we
have been told by some
non-governmental organisations that feeding schemes
traditionally associated
with the impoverished rural areas have been taken to
urban centres where
young children have also fainted from
hunger.
Then amid all this, we also get
reports about a government minister
going on a binge just across our borders
while his government is busy
telling anybody who will listen that his
government is busy feeding the
nation. So why does he not get himself fed in
his own country like everybody
else here? But then he had the misfortune of
being exposed, or caught in the
act, for it is obvious for many here that
this is the life led by all in the
ruling party with political clout that
makes them above the law such that
they are not to be told to behave
themselves by mere security guards.
The
question crops up again: for how long are parents with no idea
with what or
how they will feed their children take such insults from the
ruling party?
And at a time when everybody else would be happy to see the
man who stole the
Presidency take a well-deserved rest, we get assurances
that he will be here
for a long time to come, after all we voted for
him!
An interesting development about
African politics is that new
governments are somewhat ever willing to look
the other side when founding
fathers make their exit, usually through the
ballot. Many will recall how
Kenneth Kaunda was called all sorts of names for
presiding over the ruin of
the Zambian economy, but he lost an election to
Frederick Chiluba when he
was convinced he was still relevant to Zambian
political space. The very
idea that he, unlike Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, did
not cede power voluntarily
could well have placed him somewhere between
Kamuzu Banda and any other
despot one can think of who wanted to rule till
the Second Coming. But was
he not honoured recently by the Zambian government
for his contribution in
the country's fight for self-rule? Is he not today
referred as a revered
African
statesman?
Last year, Malawian president
Bakili Muluzi was busy giving kudos to
the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda as one
who every Malawian owed their freedom
today. Never mind the tyranny that
underlined his rule. Hypocrisy? Perhaps,
but the idea here is that our dear
leader still has it within himself to go
down in the annals of the history of
this country as a fellow who admitted
he had committed many wrongs and gave
the baton to somebody else.
Thus, one has
to imagine the respect Robert Mugabe would be accorded
considering the
applause Kaunda gets wherever he shows his face, or does he
want somebody
else, much like Muluzi, to be accused of being economic with
the truth when
they speak about him many years after his crossover to the
other life?
Perhaps Mugabe is aware that he cannot undo the damage he has
already done,
not only to the nation as some would argue for many would like
to believe we
can indeed rise from the Zanu PF ashes but to his very person,
thus, the
obstinacy to continue. It is now some perverse ego trip, but at a
very costly
expense to the people of this nation. Yet, as the woes here
continue to
gallop, this government persists in that very bad reverie that
it is the best
thing that ever happened to the people of
Zimbabwe.
With the attitude of people like
the Information Minister, it is great
wonder really how the people here have
not braved in their millions the
tear-gas and the batons of the riot police
and marched to State House for
regime change as has been seen in other
countries. For us, it is small
consolation that the politics that have an
option of bullets over the
capital after the ballot has failed have been
confined to the 1970s. But
with developments here in the past three years,
one gets to understand the
psychology of Africa's rebel groups, what
motivates them, what
justifications they have for fighting those brutal
wars.
The worst that will bring this
government down is the gnawing hunger,
which somewhat fortunately, knows no
political hue as some staunch
supporters of the ruling party have painfully
found out. These men have
already authored their own fate. After all, they
tempted it a long time ago.
Daily
News
Dual monetary policy
fails to stir money market
1/17/2003 10:56:44 AM (GMT +2)
By
Colleen Gwari Business Reporter
THE
much-talked-about dual monetary policy adopted late last year by
the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe has failed to woo investors back onto the money
market
despite high expectations.
A survey by The
Daily News showed that interest rates on the money
market were starting to
rise gradually.
However, most investors
were shunning the money market, pointing out
that interest rates were far
below the inflation levels.
Investors
have, therefore, remained hooked on the properties market
and the stock
exchange whose returns are much higher in view of the
galloping inflation now
officially pegged at 175 percent.
The
majority of banks and building societies had with effect from this
month
revised lending rates by an average of 1 percent.Kingdom Bank Limited
now
charges 39,6 percent interest, up from 38,6 percent last year, while
the
Central African Building Society (CABS)'s mortgage loan interest rates
now
vary between 25 and 45 percent.
Economic analysts said as long as inflation continued to rise,
investors
would shun the money market. The stock exchange, which soon after
the
announcement of the 2003 National Budget went on a downward trend, was
on the
rise, surpassing the 100 000 point.
Stockbrokers and dealers on the local bourse said share prices of
most
companies were not reflective of the performance of the same.
Sentiments
were awash that most counters were overvalued, a move likely to
mislead
potential investors.
While
Herbert Murerwa, the Finance and Economic Development Minister,
forecast the
decline of inflation to 96 percent, the projection was
dismissed as the
shortage of basic commodities and foreign currency
remained
critical.
The dual monetary policy
was aimed at keeping interest rates on
productive and export borrowing low,
ranging between 5 and 15 percent, while
consumption borrowing attracted
market-determined rates.
The government
justified the policy change saying it was aimed at
boosting production and
revive the export sector.
However, the
shortage of foreign currency has adversely affected
manufacturing companies
as they are failing to import spare parts and
critical raw
materials.
Owing to the uncertainties
associated with the money market and stock
exchange, the properties market
has remained the safest destination for
investors seeking better
returns.
One economic commentator said:
"Obviously, those seeking a hedge
against inflation would stick to the
properties market. After all, it
remains the safest investment
destination."
However, the properties
market started the year on a low note as
buyers adopted a wait-and-see
attitude. Most Zimbabweans abroad are
reportedly finding it increasingly
difficult to send foreign currency back
home due to the stringent exchange
control regulations and closure of
bureaux de
change.
Daily
News - Leader Page
Why State
should stop meddling in
parastatals
1/17/2003 10:09:24 AM
(GMT +2)
The belated decision by
the Secretary for Transport and
Communications, Christian Katsande, to order
the State-run Air Zimbabwe to
reinstate the 140 engineers, though
commendable, is not the panacea to the
parastatal's age-old
woes.
The engineers were on strike for
four months, after being suspended
for demanding hefty salary
increases.
The decision this week to
reinstate them came after the engineers had
appealed to Parliament to
intervene .
The engineers, whose salaries
ranged from $61 000 to $97 000 a month,
were demanding at least $200 000 a
month, which management said the airline
could not
afford.
Management at Air Zimbabwe failed
to appreciate the vital role that
engineers play in aircraft maintenance.
After all, an engineer is not just
another skilled worker. He is a
specialised worker whose work is critical in
any airline. It takes years to
train an engineer. It is imperative that
their work be sufficiently rewarded
and their welfare well taken care of.
The
suspension and subsequent dismissal of so many of them at one go
was a rash,
imprudent management decision. It was understandable when the
Zimbabwe
Aircraft Maintenance Engineers' Association threw their weight
behind the
engineers and blamed the chaos on Air Zimbabwe's poor
management
style.
The strike was just
one of the many problems that have dogged Air
Zimbabwe since
1980.
Apart from having a high turnover of
senior executives, including the
government-appointed chief executive
officer, the airline's operations have
been plagued by interference from the
government.
Many a time President Mugabe
has taken an aircraft on his many foreign
trips, at times leaving paying
passengers stranded or greatly
inconvenienced. Despite increasing its air
fares by more than 530 percent
during the last 10 months, the airline has
failed to make a profit.
The strike nearly
paralysed the operations of Air Zimbabwe, forcing
management to hire 31
engineers from South Africa at a very high cost of
US$55 (Z$3 025) an
hour.
In addition, the airline paid for
the engineers' expensive
accommodation at a Harare hotel. By mid-December,
Air Zimbabwe had spent $14
million on this accommodation and another $9,1
million on their labour.
This raised the
question: If Air Zimbabwe could spend so much on
foreign engineers, why
couldn't it put its house in order and pay the
striking engineers reasonable
salaries ?
And to make things worse, the
hired South African engineers failed to
deliver, leaving the Air Zimbabwe
management poorer and with egg all over
their
face.
During the four-month strike, the
national airline's operations were
adversely affected as some of the aircraft
did not receive the prerequisite
technical attention before and after every
flight.
This situation put at risk the
lives of the many passengers. Yet
nobody seemed to
care.
In November, scores of passengers
were stranded in London, when a
Harare-bound Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767 aircraft
developed a serious mechanical
fault. A month later another Air Zimbabwe
aircraft, a Boeing 737, was
grounded and delayed in Mauritius after it had
developed a technical fault.
Other key
parastatals that have failed to perform because of
mismanagement or
government interference include Ziscosteel in Kwekwe, the
steel giant which,
until a few years ago, was the biggest employer in
industry. Today, it has
been reduced to a mismanaged co-operative at best,
and at worst, a Boy Scout
jamboree.
The other such parastatal is the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe,
which has paralysed not only industry and
commerce, but even the civil
service itself. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation, the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority and the Zimbabwe
United Passenger Company are
other parastatals which have failed to offer an
efficient service because of
government
bungling.
Clearly, the government has to
lay its hands off critical parastatals
such as the national airline because
it has failed to put in place efficient
management systems to enable the
parastatals to operate profitably.
It is
time the privatisation programme embraced these sick,
money-guzzling
parastatals.
Yahoo
News
Zimbabwe MP accuses police of torture
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean opposition politician
says he was tortured
by police after his arrest this week in possession of
what state media
called "subversive documents", a newspaper has
reported.
A police spokesman declined to comment on the torture
allegations made in a
Harare court on Thursday by Job Sikhala, a member of
parliament for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Sikhala was arrested on Wednesday after he was allegedly found
with
documents linked to the burning earlier this week of a bus owned by
a
state-owned transport company.
Police have accused the MDC of
planning to cause civil unrest ahead of World
Cup Cricket matches scheduled
to be played in Zimbabwe next month in order
to force a change of
venue.
The MDC, which poses the strongest challenge to President
Robert Mugabe's
rule since he led the country to independence from Britain in
1980, has
dismissed the charge.
The privately-owned Daily News
said Sikhala told Harare's Magistrate Court
that while in police custody he
was clubbed under his feet and tortured on
his genitals by electric
wires.
He said he was also forced to sign a document saying the MDC
was planning an
uprising against the government.
"I cried and
asked why God had forsaken me," said Sikhala, who was released
on bail on
Thursday. Sikhala and his lawyer were not immediately available
for comment
on Friday.
The England and Wales Cricket Board said on Tuesday the
England team would
play its February 13 match against Zimbabwe, rejecting
government pressure
to boycott the match in protest at Mugabe's policies and
Zimbabwe's human
rights record.
The MDC sharply criticised the
decision.
"It's a shame that there are people that believe Zimbabwe is a
safe country
in which to play World Cup cricket," the MDC said in a statement
condemning
Sikhala's incarceration.
"The World Cup authorities must
know that they bear the responsibility for
the current terrorisation of
Zimbabweans by the Mugabe regime in a
last-ditch effort to silence its
critics before the start of the World Cup,"
it said.
GOVERNMENT
CRACKDOWN
Sikhala told the court that he passed out because the torture
was so severe.
"When I regained consciousness one of the officers urinated on
me and I also
urinated," he recalled.
"Then I was ordered to roll on
the urine until it dried up".
Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena told Reuters: "We are not
commenting on the matter because it's
still in the court and the court has
not said anything on these
allegations."
The MDC says Sikhala's arrest, which the state Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation said was in connection with his possession of
subversive
documents, is part of an ongoing government crackdown on its
opponents.
Mugabe defeated MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in March
elections condemned as
fraudulent by several Western nations.
Mugabe
dismisses the MDC as a puppet of the West, led by Britain, which he
accuses
of seeking to oust him for seizing white-owned farms for
redistribution to
landless blacks.
Mail and
Guardian
Zimbabwe's new farmers not getting their hands
dirty
Harare
17 January 2003 12:24
Less
than half the land the Zimbabwe government has seized from white
farmers to
redistribute to landless blacks has been taken up by its new
owners in at
least one prime farming region, reports said on Friday.
"Vast tracks of
land acquired by government for the fast-track resettlement
programme and
allocated to new farmers under the commercial farming model
... in
Mashonaland West (province) are lying idle," the privately-owned
Daily Mirror
newspaper said.
Beneficiaries of the land reform programme were given
until August last year
to take up their land, but a commercial farming scheme
in the province had a
low uptake rate of between 35% and 50% of allocated
land.
But all the land allocated to small-scale communal farmers under
the
programme has been taken up, the paper said. The government has
threatened
to repossess all unoccupied land allocated to black farmers under
the
commercial farm resettlement scheme.
The government-run Herald
newspaper cited Lands Minister Joseph Made as
saying the state will repossess
all land not taken up and use it for food
production.
Two-thirds of
Zimbabwe's population is currently threatened by famine. The
main reason
given for prospective farmers failing to take up their land was
that most of
it was undeveloped and required lots of work.
"Some were expecting to be
given plots on good soils, others didn't want to
clear the land and expected
already cleared ones," Mashonaland West
Provincial Governor Peter Chanetsa
said in a report to a parliamentary
committee probing the land uptake
throughout the country.
Zimbabwe embarked on a controversial and
sometimes violent land reform
programme in early 2000. The exercise saw white
landowners being
dispossessed of their land to make way for landless blacks.
To date, the
government claims to have re-settled 374 000 small-scale black
farmers on
14-million hectares of formerly white-owned land. Aid agencies say
land
reform is partly responsible for the hunger threatening close to
eight
million Zimbabweans, along with a drought that has hit five other
southern
African countries. - Sapa-AFP
thisisBrightonandHove
Artist flees Zimbabwe terror for
life of peace
by Nigel Freedman
An artist who fled torture
and killings in her native Zimbabwe has started a
new life in
Sussex.
Phati Siphatisiwe's friends were murdered by followers of
president Robert
Mugabe.
They and her family belong to the Matabele
tribe which has been persecuted
for its opposition to his despotic
regime.
The Zanu PF party was also behind the killings of white farmers
as so-called
war veterans loyal to Mr Mugabe drove them from their land
during last
year's elections.
Phati, 31, feared her paintings, which
reflect the troubles in Zimbabwe,
would lead to her being
persecuted.
She decided to make a new life for her family but was forced
to leave her
children behind with her mother in Bulawayo while she
established herself
here.
Phati set up home in the Poets Corner area
of Hove after the troubles in
Zimbabwe began five years ago.
Her
children Gavin, 12, and Victoria, ten, followed a year later and are
now
happily settled into local schools and are part of the growing community
of
Zimbabwean refugees.
Phati, a nursing assistant at a hospital in
the city, said: "I have lost
friends who were murdered by Zanu PF. Even here
I have to be careful what I
say.
"I would describe myself as an artist
for peace in Zimbabwe and there is a
message in my paintings about
that.
"If I had remained there I feel that I would have been persecuted
as my work
became better known."
Phati believes the England cricket
team is wrong to play against Zimbabwe in
the world cup next
month.
She also thinks Mr Mugabe's offer to step down as president in
exchange for
immunity from prosecution for his crimes will make little
difference.
She said: "I hope if he goes it will be the start of a change
for the better
in Zimbabwe but I don't think it will be.
"The regime
there is so corrupt that it would need all his followers to go
as well before
there was any real difference.
"If he does go, I think it will only be to
pay lip service to world opinion.
"If the England cricket team refused to
play in the world cup it would send
a message to the whole world.
"The
fact that they will refuse to shake his hand in public will make
no
difference at all as their presence in Zimbabwe will be seen as approval
by
Mugabe and his supporters."
Phati said that many of the white
farmers whose ranches were seized were
born in Zimbabwe and the land had been
theirs for generations.
She said many black Zimbabwean farmers had also
had their land taken.
She splits her time between her family, her job and
her painting. Her work
is exhibited at the QEH Theatre in Bristol.
One
striking painting consists entirely of black, white, yellow and red
palm
prints which Phati created as a statement that all races and creeds
can
exist in harmony.
A paint and acrylic canvas of a group sitting in
quiet contemplation
symbolises her belief in hope and unity.
Phati is
trying to find a gallery in Brighton and Hove where she can show
her work
when the exhibition in Bristol ends next month.
The Australian
Church split over
links to Mugabe
By Jan Raath, The Times, and agencies
January 18,
2003
SENIOR members of one of Zimbabwe's biggest
Catholic dioceses delivered a
scathing attack against the church hierarchy
yesterday for appeasing
President Robert Mugabe, and demanded it confront his
"evil regime".
The move came as a judge stripped two MPs from the ruling
Zanu-PF party of
their seats, ruling their victories in 2000 had been won
through
"intimidation and violence", and as the country's army chief
acknowledged
there was a need to tackle the country's deepening economic
crisis.
The country's High Court nullified results for Zanu-PF's Eleck
Mkandla and
Jaison Machaya as members of parliament for Gokwe North and Gokwe
South,
respectively, saying violence prevented a free and fair
poll.
Six Zanu-PF victories have been nullified out of 41 being
challenged by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
General
Vitalis Zvinavashe, Zimbabwe's influential army chief, denied any
involvement
in the alleged exit plan for Mr Mugabe but acknowledged: "First
we must admit
there is a crisis. Everyone can see that . . . so we must do
something about
it," he said in a rare interview published in the privately
owned Business
Tribune newspaper.
"In my view it is not right to keep quiet and let
nature take its course."
Meanwhile the 260 priests, deacons, sisters and
brothers of the archdiocese
of Bulawayo said: "There is no place for
neutrality in the face of the evil
which is destroying our nation. Time has
run out for compromise with an evil
regime. Attempts to use personal
influence and persuasion have only allowed
a corrupt system to consolidate
its power."
The western Matabeleland provinces have probably suffered far
more brutality
at Mr Mugabe's hands than any other part of the
country.
Dissent among the Ndebele-speaking people could provoke an even
greater
threat of schism in the country.
The clergy demanded the
Catholic Bishops Conference, the church's executive
body, "come out publicly
with a clear and honest voice, on behalf of the
voiceless, as their
predecessors did during the liberation struggle (against
the former white
minority Rhodesian government)".
This is the first time the general
clergy of Zimbabwe's most powerful church
has spoken out against the silence
of their bishops over the past three
years of repression and lawlessness
under Mr Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe has successfully courted the leadership of
most churches in
Zimbabwe and counts the heads of both the Catholic and
Anglican churches as
personal allies. The exception has been Archbishop Pius
Ncube of Bulawayo,
who has condemned Mr Mugabe and helped focus international
attention on
Zanu-PF's strategy of denying food aid to starving opposition
supporters. He
is kept under permanent state surveillance.
Meanwhile,
Nqobile Nyathi, the editor of the independent Financial Gazette,
said
yesterday she had been detained by police for allegedly publishing
false
information about Mr Mugabe.
VOA
Speculation Continues Over
Future of Zimbabwe's ZANU PF
Peta Thornycroft
Harare
17 Jan
2003, 16:35 UTC
Speculation about the future of Zimbabwe's
ruling ZANU PF party increased
Friday, with publication in a local newspaper
of an interview with the head
of the security forces, who acknowledged
Zimbabwe is in an economic crisis.
General Vitalis Zvinavashe is quoted
in a local, usually pro-government,
weekly newspaper as saying Zimbabwe's
crisis needs urgent attention. He says
a task force needs to be established
directly under the president's control,
as a first step toward bringing some
resolution to the deepening crisis. He
says the task force should be free of
any interference from members of the
cabinet.
Political analysts say
the general, head of Zimbabwe's armed forces, is a
key member of the
political elite and has influence with President
Robert
Mugabe.
His statement comes during a wave of leaks
from ruling party sources
indicating there is of a growing feeling that the
country will sink even
further, unless Mr. Mugabe makes way, either for a
successor, or for a
transitional authority leading to new presidential
elections.
Reports early this week of a plan by senior ruling party
members to remove
Mr. Mugabe have been denied. But the reports have unleashed
a wave of
comments from ruling party officials indicating that they might
actually be
interested in such a plan.
Meanwhile, repression of the
government's opponents is alleged to be
continuing.
Opposition Member
of Parliament Job Sikhala wept in court Thursday when he
told how he had been
tortured while in police custody earlier in the week.
Mr. Sikhala said he was
subjected to electric shock torture, with wires
attached to his feet and
genitalia. He said guards also clubbed his feet,
urinated on him and forced
him to sign a false confession. He was accused of
involvement in torching a
new public bus last week. The police declined to
comment on his allegations
of mistreatment.
Another member of parliament and several opposition
activists were also
arrested during the past week.
In addition, about
a dozen top tobacco farmers received eviction notices
this week. The
government's land reform program has already evicted most
white commercial
farmers from their land, destroying, at least for this
year, Zimbabwe's once
flourishing commercial agriculture industry.
Commercially grown tobacco was
Zimbawe's top foreign currency earner. This
year's crop has not yet been
processed.
The land reform has reduced overall crop size by two-thirds,
and now experts
say all of that is not likely to be
harvested.
World Cup Fever Grips Nation
The Daily News
(Harare)
January 17, 2003
Posted to the web January 17,
2003
Ntungamili Nkomo in Bulawayo
THE Cricket World Cup fever
has gripped Zimbabwe.
Tickets for the controversy-ridden match between
Zimbabwe and Australia at
Queens Sports Club were sold out by midday in
Bulawayo yesterday.
The same situation was witnessed in Harare on
Wednesday when tickets for
Zimbabwe's fixtures against England and India were
snapped up within hours
of hitting the market.
Zimbabwe co-hosts the
games with Kenya and South Africa.
Holland, Pakistan and Australia are
scheduled to play in Bulawayo while
England, Namibia and India will be based
in the capital. Many cricket fans
in the City of Kings yesterday said they
went to the tickets venue as early
as 5am in anticipation of long
queues.
Sure enough, there were many people waiting to purchase the $1
000 tickets,
with the favourite game being the Zimbabwe versus world
champions Australia.
Australia and England had been threatening not to fulfil
the fixture,
claiming that Zimbabwe was not a safe destination.
Robert
Whilley, who was in charge, said only 100 tickets for the Pakistan
game had
remained by the end of the day while 1 000 tickets for Holland were
still
available.
Whilley said the total number of tickets for the Bulawayo
games were 7 200.
Each game was allocated 2 400 tickets.
He said the
Australian tickets sold out faster because Australia was "big
team and no one
would want to miss the encounter.
"Australians are the champions, and
that I think is the reason why the
tickets sold out so
early."
Australia will be the first to play Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on 24
February,
followed by Holland four days later and then Pakistan on 4 March.
Meanwhile,
some cricket enthusiasts said they were interested in the
Australia match
because of its controversy.
Traditionally, cricket is
not a favourite sport for many Zimbabweans most of
whom prefer
soccer.
Edward Williams, 34, said he wanted to watch all the three games
but was
most interested in the Aussies clash.
Williams said: "Bearing
in mind that there is a huff between Australia and
Zimbabwe, I find it
interesting to watch the game and see the attitude
between the
players."
Asked what was his position on Australia's earlier plans to
boycott their
match in Zimbabwe, Williams said he did not encourage the
boycott threat
though it was a "genuine" call.
He said: "Common sense
has it that the rule of law has become a scarce
component in the country and
no one can be chided for not coming to
Zimbabwe." Mandlenkosi Sibindi, who
claimed he was up as early as 4.30am to
make his way into the city, said he
was not a cricket fan but the Australian
game had generated interest in
him.
Another fan, Duduzile Dube, said: "I'm buying tickets for all the
games
because I'm a patriot who prides in seeing Zimbabwe
play."
Firms Tell International Debtors to Hold
Payments
Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 16,
2003
Posted to the web January 17, 2003
Staff
Reporter
Harare
SOME Zimbabwean exporters have instructed
international clients to
temporarily cease settling their accounts in
anticipation of a devaluation
of the Zimbabwe dollar, worsening the country's
already desperate foreign
currency situation.
Statistics from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe show that the country's hard
cash squeeze has become
so severe that forex inflows for the week ending
January 7 2003 amounted to a
mere US$1.6 million, against outflows of US$1.8
million.
This was
compared to inflows of US$1.7 million in the week ending December
31 2002 and
outflows of US$1.3 million.
Executives in the export sector said there
had been no improvement in
foreign exchange inflows in the past few weeks
because some exporters had
resolved to instruct their clients not to settle
accounts.
They said the exporters were anticipating that the government
would adjust
the exchange rate for 50 percent of the foreign earnings they
are required
to surrender to the central bank.
Exporters have to remit
50 percent of their proceedings to the Reserve Bank
for electricity and fuel
imports by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) and the National
Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM).
The remaining half also has to be
lodged with the central bank for use by
companies within 60
days.
Industrialists have submitted proposals to the government calling
for a
devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar that would result in exporters being
paid
for the 50 percent held on their behalf by the central bank at a rate
of
$800 against the United States greenback, compared to the $55 to US$1
they
receive now.
"Some companies are actually instructing their
international debtors not to
settle their accounts in anticipation of a
devaluation," an industry
executive told the Financial Gazette.
"They
are saying don't pay us, hold on to the money. They are afraid to lose
out
when the dollar is devalued because there is strong speculation
on
that."
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa ruled out devaluation of
the local currency
at the weekend, saying Zimbabwe had to concentrate on
generating enough
forex to meet its needs.
Analysts said if the
government did not allow the Zimbabwe dollar to
depreciate, the Finance
Ministry might introduce some incentives to protect
exporters, whose
viability is threatened by tough exchange control measures
introduced in
November.
Before the central bank introduced measures requiring exporters
to surrender
100 percent of their earnings, companies had to remit 40 percent
of proceeds
and could exchange the remainder at the more lucrative parallel
market.
An analyst with Kingdom Stockbrokers said: "Whilst we are not
anticipating
an official back down by the authorities, we do expect that a
blind eye will
be turned in order to allow exporters to realise real exchange
rate related
returns on the 50 percent proceeds not related to NOCZIM and
ZESA."
A Harare-based economist added: "We would not be surprised if a
significant
incentive is introduced to exporters in the form of yet another
specific
exchange rate."
Small Retailers Quietly Close Shop, More Head for
Disaster
Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 16,
2003
Posted to the web January 17, 2003
Macdonald Dzirutwe Business
News Editor
Harare
WITH the severe viability problems affecting
manufacturers taking centre
stage in Zimbabwe in the last few months, small
retailers are quietly
closing shop because of persistent commodity shortages
and a harsh operating
environment that could also bring large retail chains
to the verge of
collapse in 2003.
Retailers this week said several
small outlets had folded last year because
they were unable to cope with the
shortage of basic commodities, price
controls and an unstable economic
climate.
It was not possible to ascertain from the Retailers'
Association of Zimbabwe
how many companies had shut down in 2002, but
executives in the retail
sector said most of the closures were of smaller
outlets that did not belong
to retail chains or were located outside major
towns and cities.
They said retail outlets had been hard hit by the
problems affecting the
agriculture and manufacturing sectors, where
production output has fallen
significantly in the past year.
Drought
and controversial government agrarian reforms combined to slash
food
production by over 60 percent last year, resulting in food shortages
that
have left at least eight million Zimbabweans in need of emergency food
aid.
The food shortages have also taken a severe toll on retail outlets,
from
whose shelves basic commodities have slowly disappeared in the past
few
months.
Price controls introduced in October 2001 to protect
consumers from high
prices have led to serious viability problems in the
manufacturing sector,
forcing manufacturers to cut back on production,
worsening shortages.
Analysts said retailers relied on the manufacturing
sector for their
survival and the viability crisis faced by manufacturers
could have
disastrous consequences for the retail sector.
"Retailers
do not incur any production costs like manufacturers but in light
of the
shortages of basic commodities, it is going to be very difficult for
them to
survive this time," Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries chief
executive
Farai Zizhou told the Financial Gazette.
Analysts said with shortages
caused by declining output in agriculture and
manufacturing expected to
worsen this year, large independent retailers and
retail chains, which had
been able to implement survival strategies last
year, would now begin to feel
the pinch.
TM Supermarkets deputy managing director Dave Mills said:
"Price controls
affect most food products in our business and as a
consequence of this,
together with substantially reduced agriculture output,
we are increasingly
finding it difficult to source
merchandise."
Retail sector executives said groups like OK Zimbabwe, TM
Supermarket, SPAR,
Food Chain Group and Town and Country had last year
managed to minimise the
impact of commodity shortages by purchasing stocks
well in advance.
But they pointed out that as shortages worsened this
year, retail chains
would be unable to rely on stocking large quantities of
goods because the
products would not be available from
manufacturers.
They said even if there were supplies of basic commodities
on the market,
some retailers did not have sufficient warehouse space to
store enough goods
to prevent stock outs in the course of the
year.
Retailers with large stocks have also been accused of hoarding
basic
commodities and subjected to police raids, which commentators said
might
also discourage them from keeping stocks.
Retail executives said
their ability to plan for all eventualities had also
contributed to their
companies surviving 2002 with minimum damage. But with
manufacturers now
unable to guarantee supplies of certain products, they
said planning ahead
was almost impossible.
"The shortages are affecting the chain stores and
there are no longer any
long term plans because the supply chain is under
threat," said SPAR Eastern
Regions retail operations director Fred
Appel.
"How do you survive when you cannot get supplies?"
He said
some manufacturers had already notified retailers that they would
not be able
to continue supplying them because they were ceasing operations,
which would
further dent retailers' profit margins.
Retail sector executives said a
significant number of closures in the
manufacturing sector and further
declines in profits would force more
retailers to scale back their operations
or shut down completely.
"This will unfortunately see workers being laid
off, but we do not want to
come to that," Appel told the Financial
Gazette.
But analysts said with consumer spending also expected to
decline this year,
retailers might have no choice but to take painful
measures to ensure their
continued survival.
Several workers are
expected to lose their jobs this year while wages will
lag behind escalating
inflation, forcing consumers to limit their spending
to the bare essentials
they need to survive.
Analysts said the absence of basic commodities
would also discourage
cash-rich consumers still able to afford products that
have become luxuries
for some Zimbabweans from visiting retail
outlets.
First Mutual Life fund manager Nyasha Chasakara said: "The
behaviour of the
consumers is that they buy on impulse. Consumers are drawn
to retail shops
by the basic stuff that they sell. For example, if one buys
bread, they then
need to buy margarine or jam to complement the bread and so
on.
"The problems they (retailers) face are proven by their interim
results,
which failed to match inflation. These guys are headed for tougher
times
even by their own admission."
Zim's Madonna, Gwanzura Fears for Her
Life
Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 16,
2003
Posted to the web January 17, 2003
Harare
THERE are few
clues to the former glory of Portia Gwanzura.
She struggles to make ends
meet in a gloomy Coronation Street-style terrace
on the outskirts of Wigan,
far from the mansion with servants she occupied
as head of a musical empire
in Zimbabwe.
Instead of cruising in her fleet of chauffeur-driven
Mercedes befitting
Zimbabwe's foremost female singer, she sits on an old
stained sofa and
cannot do much except watch the rain outside.
This
outspoken woman, dubbed the "Madonna of Zimbabwe" for being the most
powerful
businesswoman in her country's music industry, has abandoned her
life's work
to seek political asylum in Britain.
She inspired awe in imitators, alarm
in rivals, and named her band Hohodza
(or "woodpecker") because she relishes
the challenge of cracking the hardest
opposition. What could make a woman
like Portia Gwanzura so afraid?
"Before I say anything, I just want you
to know that if you hear I've died
in an accident, it wasn't an accident, it
was the Zimbabwean government,"
she says. "People who speak out in Zimbabwe
get silenced, one way or
another. The ones who leave are the only ones with a
chance to tell the
truth."
Gwanzura never meant to get her music mixed
up in politics. She was born 35
years ago in a rural mud hut, and would amuse
her friends with songs as they
walked several miles to school across the
plains.
As soon as she could, she moved to the capital, Harare, where she
realised
she would never make it in the male-dominated music industry without
some
serious financial clout.
So began years of setting up businesses,
from beauty salons to car
dealerships, also fitting in two children, before
she had the money to set
up Hohodza. She hand-picked the 12 band members by
auditioning young
school-leavers, believing them to be easier to train to her
vision of a
blend of traditional folk songs and modern pop.
"My aim
was to be one of the best groups in the world, but I knew I was
starting
something very new and difficult," she says. "If you are a female
musician in
Zimbabwe you are seen as a kind of loose woman. I just had to
stop caring
about that."
These were the golden years for her and Zimbabwe, and her
band, which draws
strongly on national pride, went from strength to strength.
They had 10 hit
albums in as many years.
Hohodza picked and mixed
different musical traditions from across Zimbabwe,
using the mbira - a thumb
piano - and xylophone as well as drums and
guitars. They toured Europe twice,
building up a respectable following, and
their latest album, Zvinoda Kushinga
(Strength is Needed), was edited in
London.
"We were free," says
Gwanzura. "Zimbabwe was one of the most visited
countries in the world, we
had lots of food, lots of hope."
It is a sign, she says, of how confident
people were then that when the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) -
President Mugabe's opposition - asked
her to play at their launch in
September 1999, she agreed.
"I didn't think twice. We were asked because
we were one of the biggest
bands, and I felt Mugabe was making a lot of
mistakes. I didn't think there
would be a problem."
As a household
figure she wasn't surprised to be approached by two men in
suits after a gig
the night before the MDC concert. "They said, 'Portia, are
you playing for
the MDC?' I said, 'Yes, I'm looking forward to it'." She
smiles at her own
naivety.
She says that they then showed her their passes from the
Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO), the feared government security
agency, and
warned that her life would be in danger if she went
ahead.
"The band was shocked. We sat down to talk about what to do, and
we could
only think about stories we had heard of people being made to
disappear by
the government. We thought we could be next."
They stayed
away from the launch, but it was the last time that she wanted
to be cowed by
Mugabe's regime. Guilty about letting the MDC down and
disturbed by her
unpleasant brush with the government, Gwanzura was
converted to the
opposition overnight.
Hohodza did everything they could to support the
MDC, wearing T-shirts on
stage, flashing MDC membership cards as they sang,
and ending concerts with
open-handed waves - the symbol of the MDC - and
chanting "chinga" or
"change".
As if Gwanzura could not be in more
trouble, she married a white Zimbabwean
mechanic called Sean, just as Mugabe
stepped up his campaign to blame whites
for the country's growing
problems.
After the government's failure to win a referendum in February
2000,
Gwanzura began to believe that the MDC could win in the elections in
June
that year.
She wrote a highly provocative song, Zvinhu Zvaoma,
which has an
irrepressible, danceable beat but means "things are tough". The
lyrics are
an angry indictment of the Zanu (PF) regime: "People cannot afford
to buy
food, they are walking miles to find work, children are fainting in
schools,
when is it going to end?"
The song was quickly removed from
the playlist at the government-run
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and a DJ
who played the song was sacked.
"People wanted to hear it, but if they played
it at home it had to be done
quietly, because you wouldn't know if your
neighbours were ZANU PF and would
get you beaten up," she said. "The only
safe place to put the song on was in
your car, with the windows rolled
up."
Even before the government won the election, Gwanzura felt isolated
and
doomed. Thomas Mapfumo, the country's best-known and most
politically
engaged musician, is now in virtual exile in the United
States.
While pro-government musicians such as Tambaoga thrived with
songs likening
Tony Blair to an outdoor toilet, ZANU PF supporters were
demanding to be
paid off in beer to avoid violence at Gwanzura's
concerts.
"Sometimes it was a relief to turn up at the venue and find
ZANU PF guys had
cleared everyone away. It meant no one would be hurt," she
says.
But soon the beer didn't work any more. Last year, one of her
singers was
ambushed after a concert and given a fatal beating. Gwanzura is
convinced
that the killing was political.
At a concert last March
thugs grabbed the microphone before she went on
stage and shouted, "Down with
Portia, don't let the white puppet live!" The
crowd erupted into violence and
Gwanzura fled, chased by cars full of ZANU
PF supporters.
"Enough is
enough, I thought I'd die," she says. She sold her businesses so
she could
fly to Britain with her husband, leaving her two children in
Harare with her
father as the couple sought asylum. Weeks later her
11-year-old daughter was
killed in a road accident.
"I will never forgive myself," Gwanzura says.
"I left Zimbabwe to save
myself and she got killed. I am
responsible."
She is not allowed to work in Britain while she waits for
news on her
application from the Home Office, and does not have the heart to
sing
anyway. She sits at home grieving for all she has lost.
Very
quietly, her husband plays her music in an upstairs room. Right now, it
is
the only hopeful thing about Gwanzura.
Zimbabwe Conservation Task
Force
Johnny Rodriques
13th January 2002
I've just had confirmation that 3 black rhino have
been shot and de-horned in Sinamatella Camp at Hwange Game Reserve. I will
forward photos as soon as I receive them.
I'm really worried because I also heard that the 40
black rhino on Gourlays Ranch, which are now at the mercy of the war vets
because the owner of the ranch, Richard Pascall was evicted from there in April
2002, are going to be moved to Hwange where it is presumed they will
be protected from poachers ! It seems that they will be taken out of the
frying pan and thrown into the fire !
Rainbow Alliance Emerges in Zanu PF
Financial
Gazette (Harare)
January 16, 2003
Posted to the web January 17,
2003
Sydney Masamvu
Harare
IT SEEMS a little bug affectionately
dubbed the "Kenya syndrome" has made
its way to Zimbabwe, where the ruling
ZANU PF, in true Kenya style, has
split itself into two camps humorously
referred to as the "Uhuru Kenyatta
faction" and the "Rainbow
Alliance".
This pertains of course to the ZANU PF succession issue, which
has raised
its head yet again, with the local and international media
reporting at the
weekend that South Africa and Britain are cobbling up an
exit plan for
President Robert Mugabe.
The plan is said to involve a
ZANU PF-Movement for Democratic Change
government that would rule the country
for a two-year transition period to
be followed by legislative and
presidential elections.
Some media reports even suggest that South Africa
and Britain are
negotiating with Malaysia for a retirement home for Mugabe
and that the
United Kingdom has pledged 500 million pounds for Zimbabwe's
economic
recovery if the plan is successfully implemented.
The ruling
party of course denies everything.
However, at the weekend I enjoyed an
hour's conversation with two veteran
ZANU PF politburo members that left me
with the impression that there is no
smoke without fire.
Contrary to
what most ZANU PF mafikizolos seem to believe, I enjoy good
relations with
seasoned ruling party politicians who see the Zimbabwean
reality for what it
is, even though they seem to have no idea what to do
about it.
Or to
put it differently, they know what needs to be done but do not have
the guts
to publicly participate in the national debate.
Anyway, the two gentlemen
I met at the weekend were willing to discuss
nearly every contentious issue
relating to Zimbabwean politics, including
patriotism, the liberation
struggle, land invasions, opposition parties and
Zimbabwe's presidential
elections.
They also talked freely about the issue of attacking the
person of the
president, so-called falsehoods in the independent Press, food
shortages,
fuel and last but not least, the elections in Kenya.
I also
deliberately introduced the issue of Mugabe's succession, which is
topical,
especially in ZANU PF structures.
Our discussion gave me some insight
into the goings-on in the corridors of
ZANU PF.
Contrary to what
Zimbabweans are made to believe, there are deep-seated
divisions within ZANU
PF about how to handle the succession issue.
For starters, I was told
that Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, widely
believed to be Mugabe's
favoured choice for successor, has been christened
"Uhuru Kenyatta" in ZANU
PF circles.
ZANU PF politicians are convinced the groundwork is being
laid for
Mnangagwa's takeover, just as preparations were made for the
takeover by
Uhuru Kenyatta of the leadership of Kenya's ruling KANU party and
the
country's presidency.
Just as the Rainbow Alliance emerged to
oppose Kenyatta's leadership in
Kenya before the presidential elections last
year, so an alliance of ZANU PF
stalwarts is said to be working to block
Mnangagwa's elevation.
This group of ruling party politicians is said to
favour a transparent
election and not the appointment of a
successor.
The alliance includes politicians from Masvingo, Mashonaland
East,
Matabeleland and Manicaland provinces and some who are said to be "in
the
political wilderness".
This group is calling itself the "ZANU PF
Rainbow Alliance" and is eagerly
waiting to thwart the imposition of Mugabe's
successor.
During my conversation with the two politburo members, an
interesting
scenario was painted for me.
The two politicians pointed
out that Mnangagwa, for all his political clout,
had in the past three years
not won any contested position within ZANU PF.
They said he had been
appointed by Mugabe to the highest positions he had
assumed in the party and
the government.
The question they posed to me was: will he be able to win
a national
election for ZANU PF?
The two members of the so-called ZANU
PF Rainbow Alliance further suggested
that Zimbabwe had not seen the last of
former Finance Minister Simba Makoni,
who they said might feature in the
succession race in future.
The ZANU PF Rainbow Alliance apparently
believes that with Makoni at its
head, the group will cream any opposition
party in a fair poll.
ZANU PF has always enjoyed strong support in the
rural areas and the
alliance believes Makoni's perceived popularity with
middle and upper class
urban professionals would make the ruling party
unbeatable.
In addition, the alliance believes Makoni would win over more
liberal MDC
elements.
If the worst comes to the worst, retired army
general Solomon Mujuru is
being suggested as a possible rival to an imposed
successor. Mujuru is
widely respected in ZANU PF and is viewed as being
decisive and principled.
How ever the succession issue will eventually
play out is anyone's guess,
but watch this space for more
developments!
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 17
January
Mugabe's bungling leaves only prayers for
Zimbabweans
At the Catholic mission where Robert Mugabe once
prayed, the congregation is
gaunt and weary through lack of food. At Mass a
torpor hangs over the
worshippers created by more than just the summer heat.
It is born of the
relentless hunger that has dragged on for months, gnawing
the vigour from
singers' voices and priests' prayers. Even the usually
uplifting African
beat from the church's drummers seems a little muffled and
the pious
exhortations of Father Thomas Makuleke Tshabalala weakened. "I
don't know
how they carry on out there at Empandeni," Pius Ncube, Archbishop
of
Bulawayo, said from his city centre office 60 miles away. "They have run
out
of money for rice, potatoes are unthinkably expensive and the supply
of
mealie meal has disappeared completely." Shaking his head as
if
contemplating a miracle, the archbishop kept repeating the words: "I
don't
know how they are surviving."
The food crisis now stalking
Zimbabwe is not typical of Africa. There are no
dramatic television pictures
of stick-legged mothers carrying infants with
bloated stomachs or scenes of
drought-stricken vastnesses. Instead the
country looks pretty normal. Poor
rains have made it a little parched in
places but few of the reservoirs are
empty and the scrubby bush remains as
green and leafy as ever. But, while
Zimbabweans are not dying of starvation
by the legion, they are suffering
from food shortages that are almost
entirely man-made, created by President
Mugabe's bungling of a once-vibrant
agricultural economy, and his limiting of
food supplies to his political
supporters. Empandeni, a long and dusty
journey west of Bulawayo, is where
Mr Mugabe once studied and then taught. It
is next to a reservoir filled
with water from the source that first drew
Jesuit missionaries to the area
more than 100 years ago. The congregation of
St Francis Xavier church all
have a story to tell of sapping hunger. "It's
not just that we do not have
any food in our homes or in our fields,"
Loveness Mangete, a teenager
attending Mass, said. "But even if we have money
we cannot buy any food
because the shops do not have anything, so what can we
do? Perhaps the only
thing is to pray." Another worshipper added: "Things are
bad round here now,
there is suffering man, plenty of suffering," A trickle
of food is getting
through, largely provided by donor nations and aid groups
but supporters of
Mr Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu PF, are quick to claim
credit whenever it is
delivered.
Mr Mugabe was baptised a Catholic
and taught and studied at Empandeni
mission school at the end of the Second
World War but there is little
evidence of his showing any warmth towards his
alma mater. A Catholic human
rights groups has blamed Mr Mugabe for thousands
of political killings
during his 23-year rule of Zimbabwe. In the eyes of
Archbishop Ncube, the
Zimbabwean president has long since lost any right to
call himself Catholic.
"Love your neighbour as yourself is one of the
fundamental tenets but I do
not see Mr Mugabe practising that principle as he
inflicts suffering on an
entire nation," the archbishop said. "He claims to
be a Catholic but what he
has done to this country shows his Catholicity is
meaningless, quite bogus."
Aid groups are trying to ship in food aid to
places such as Empandeni but
its remoteness does not make it easy and
so-called war veterans, the bully
boys responsible for Mr Mugabe's political
dirty work, have been active in
the area dumping villagers on to former
white-owned commercial farms and
ordering them on pain of death to stay to
enjoy the "fruits of Mr Mugabe's
land-reform process." The doors of the
primary and secondary schools at
Empandeni were due to be opened this week to
more than 800 pupils but the
teachers do not know how many children will be
able to attend this year,
with their families facing such acute shortages of
food and money. Founded
by the Jesuits in 1887 and nurtured by British
colonialists, Empandeni
mission is in danger of being done away with by Mr
Mugabe's mismanagement.