Reuters
Mon 21 Jan 2008, 16:57
GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police have
banned an opposition protest march
planned for Wednesday, but the Movement
for Democratic Change said it would
press ahead with the demonstration
against President Robert Mugabe's
government.
The MDC, the country's
main opposition party, said last week it would
demonstrate against the
crumbling economy and call for a new constitution
which it said would
guarantee that elections due in March would be free and
fair.
"We
are proceeding with the march ... we're marching because our people are
suffering ... there's no water, no electricity. The government is totally
bereft and bankrupt of any capacity to govern this country. This government
has failed," Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC faction that is led
by Morgan Tsvangirai, told reporters on Monday.
The police, who had
initially allowed the march, said in a letter that they
had banned the
protest because the MDC had broken an agreement reached at a
meeting last
week.
Zimbabweans have tended to shy away from demonstrations, mainly
from fear of
a heavy-handed response by Mugabe's security
forces.
Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told state
television the
march had been banned over fears it would degenerate into
violence and
looting, and warned the MDC against any acts of
defiance.
"We are not going to allow this march and we are going to use
all the powers
entrusted in the police to stop it," he
said.
Tsvangirai, who was arrested and beaten with dozens of opposition
members
while trying to hold an anti-government rally last year, said
earlier this
month the party might boycott the elections unless the
government
implemented the new constitution.
The MDC said it had
called the march to test the commitment to political
reforms of Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF party. The MDC is in talks with ZANU-PF,
mediated by South
African President Thabo Mbeki, that are aimed at ending
Zimbabwe's political
crisis
Asked if the MDC would pull out of the talks over the police ban,
Biti said:
"We've got full confidence in President Mbeki. We will remain on
the
negotiating table."
Political analyst and Mugabe critic John
Makumbe said the march ban was
predictable.
"This is a government
which fears street protests, and they have a record of
never taking chances.
With what is going on in Kenya, I did not expect they
were going to allow
that to go ahead even for good marks on their political
record," he
said.
(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Monsters and Critics
Jan 21,
2008, 15:43 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) is
gearing for a march through the streets of Harare
this week, but state media
accuses it of 'spoiling for a fight.'
The
main Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction of the MDC took out full- page
adverts in
the private press over the weekend advertising what the party has
called a
Freedom March.
The march is set for midday Wednesday.
The
organisers say it is to call for food, jobs and a new constitution
before
free and fair elections that President Robert Mugabe insists will be
held in
March.
The MDC says it has held three meetings with police to agree on
the route
for the march. A slight easing of security laws means it is in
theory easier
for the opposition to stage marches and rallies.
But
the political editor of state-controlled daily the Herald last week said
the
proposed march proved the MDC was spoiling for a fight.
'MDC leaders have
not found it in themselves to condemn the illegal
sanctions, which they
grovelled for in the first place, yet the sanctions
are largely to blame for
the problems bedevilling the ordinary man they
claim to be planning to march
in sympathy with,' said Caesar Zvayi.
Memories are still fresh of a
prayer rally held by opposition parties and
civil rights groups in March
last year, which was brutally broken up by
police.
Opposition
supporters, including Tsvangirai, were beaten and regional
African leaders
were forced to intervene in an attempt to defuse rising
tensions.
©
2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Reuters
Mon 21 Jan
2008, 16:30 GMT
HARARE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank on
Monday blamed banks
for the country's cash shortages which have persisted
despite the injection
of new, higher denomination bank notes last
week.
The shortage of bank notes, reflecting a severe economic crisis
blamed on
President Robert Mugabe's policies, has prompted the central bank
to issue
higher denomination bills to keep up with galloping inflation.
Zimbabwe has
the highest inflation rate in the world at nearly 8,000
percent.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono told reporters that 98
trillion Zimbabwe
dollars ($3.3 billion at the official exchange rate, $23.3
million at black
market rates) in new notes had been put into circulation
since mid-December.
Gono said Zimbabwe had Z$170 trillion in circulation,
which would rise to
Z$800 trillion by the end of the week.
On Monday
Gono took the unprecedented step of opening the central bank's
vaults to a
group of journalists, bankers and business leaders to display
huge piles of
cash, which he said banks were failing to withdraw.
"Notwithstanding the
high levels of cash stocks sitting at the Reserve Bank
ready for dispatch
into the market, some banking institutions have been
engaging in imprudent
and unethical practices which are creating artificial
queues for cash," Gono
said.
"Analysis of banks' asset-liability profiles has shown
non-collection of
cash from the Reserve Bank due to inability to pay for
such cash on
collection as they tied up depositors' funds in illiquid
speculative
investments."
QUEUES
Last week the central
bank issued Z$10 million, Z$5 million and Z$1 million
notes after another
set of Z$750,000, Z$500,000 and Z$250,000 printed in
December failed to
resolve the cash shortages.
The new measures have so far failed to end
long queues at banks, which Gono
accuses of being unable to collect
sufficient bank notes from the central
bank as they had tied up depositors'
funds in risky and speculative
non-banking activities.
Apart from the
bank note shortages, Zimbabweans have to grapple with
shortages of food,
foreign currency, fuel and electricity, reflecting an
economic crisis blamed
on Mugabe's seizure of white-held farms to resettle
landless
blacks.
Mugabe, 83 and in power since independence from Britain in 1980,
denies
running down one of the continent's most promising economies and says
it has
been undermined by western nations opposed to his land reforms.
SABC
January 21,
2008, 15:30
The Department of Foreign Affairs says President Thabo Mbeki
has not been
asked to brief his African Union (AU) peers on the progress
regarding his
mediation efforts in Zimbabwe.
Mbeki is expected to
attend next week's AU Heads of State and Government
meeting in Ethiopia.
Zimbabwe's political situation is, however, not
expected to feature on the
summit's agenda.
Last year, Southern African Development Community
leaders appointed Mbeki to
lead the negotiations between the ruling Zanu-PF
and the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change. Mbeki is therefore
accountable to the region's
leaders and not the AU as a whole.
Mbeki
was in Harare last week for talks with both parties, after which he
expressed satisfaction with progress in the lead up to the March
elections.
Kenya high on agenda
The turmoil in Kenya is expected to
feature high on the agenda in Ethiopia
next week. AU Chairperson and
Ghanaian President, John Kufuor, is expected
to brief his peers on his
recent visit to Kenya and the outcome of his
meeting with the various
stakeholders.
This has been revealed by Deputy Director-General for
Africa Multilateral,
Ambassador Jessie Duarte. She briefed the media in
Pretoria this morning on
the upcoming AU meeting.
She says Kufuor's
report will be among the agenda items of the AU's Peace
and Security
Council.
Close to 700 people have died in fighting across the country
since late last
month, when Kibaki was re-elected in a presidential poll
that opposition
leader, Raila Odinga, says was rigged.
There have
been 48 deaths in violence in Nairobi's slums over the past six
days.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
21 January
2008
Following the apparent failure of his personal
intervention in Zimbabwe's
political crisis last week, South African
President Thabo Mbeki is expected
to refer the deadlock between Harare's
ruling party and the opposition to a
"troika" of regional leaders assigned
oversight by the Southern African
Development Community
Sources in
the ruling ZANU-PF party said that with the troika now chaired by
Angolan
President Eduardo dos Santos, close to Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe,
the SADC troika is unlikely to pressure Harare for a compromise in
the
crisis talks. The other members of the SADC troika are Swaziland and
Tanzania.
Mr. Mbeki flew to Harare last Thursday in an effort to save
the crisis talks
he has been mediating from collapse. But Mr. Mugabe would
not budge on key
points including the date of the next elections and the
adoption of a new
constitution before balloting.
Founding President
Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change
told a rally in
Harare on Sunday that Mr. Mbeki should refer the matter to
SADC, and
threatened to boycott the elections if opposition demands are not
met.
Researcher Chris Maroleng of South Africa’s Institute for
Security Studies
told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that it is
appropriate for President Mbeki to refer the talks deadlock to
the SADC
troika on Zimbabwe.
But political analyst Tapera Kapuya, a
fellow at the National Endowment for
Democracy in Washington, D.C., said not
much can be expected from a troika
whose Angolan chair and Swazi vice chair
have weak democratic credentials.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 01/21/2008 21:05:57
ZIMBABWEANS will have to wait
much longer to get a low-down on the country’s
corrupt elite after a
promised expose by the country’s central bank was
thwarted, apparently by
the ruling Zanu PF party.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon
Gono was due to testify
before a parliamentary committee, revealing names of
corrupt cronies in
President Robert Mugabe’s government accused of hoarding
cash and trading on
the illicit parallel market thereby causing nationwide
cash shortages.
Gono told an extra-ordinary congress of the ruling Zanu
PF party last
December that some of the corrupt officials were high ranking
government
officers. He said he would name the officials but only before the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic
Development.
The committee initially frustrated Gono’s request, its
chairman David Butau
insisting that they were “not in a hurry” to summon the
governor. Days
later, Butau fled Zimbabwe for the UK after police said they
were
investigating corruption charges against him.
But the way
appeared to have been cleared for Gono to make his testimony
when the
committee met early last week and officially invited him to appear
at
1430hrs on Monday, January 21.
Late Friday, Clerk of Parliament Austin
Zvoma’s office confirmed it had been
communicating with RBZ officials over
the committee’s invitation, but had
failed to get confirmation that the
governor would attend.
Then on Monday morning, an RBZ spokesman confirmed
Gono would not be
appearing before the committee. He refused to discuss the
reasons, referring
all questions to the parliamentary committee.
The
committee’s acting chairman Daniel Mackenzie Ncube, who is also Zanu PF’s
legislator for Zhombe, insisted he was not aware of the new
developments.
New Zimbabwe.com understands the meeting was called off as
fears grew in
Zanu PF that embarrassing revelations by the governor could
thwart the party’s
electoral prospects in joint presidential and
parliamentary elections due in
March.
“That meeting will never be
held. The committee has been told to leave Gono
alone. The committee was,
however, willing to engage the governor,” a Zanu
PF legislator said,
refusing to say where the order came from to exclude
Gono.
The
developments mean that the meeting might never be held as Parliament
will be
dissolved shortly, before reconvening after the elections on April
8. The
committee’s current members, if they retain their seats, will change
in the
next parliament as a matter of procedure.
The Nation
(Nairobi)
COLUMN
21 January 2008
Posted to the web 21 January
2008
Chege Mbitiru
Nairobi
South African President Thabo Mbeki
visited the continent's land of poorest
millionaires, Zimbabwe last
week.
The reason Zimbabweans are millionaires is because a loaf of bread
costs a
million Zimbabwe dollars.
Zimbabweans derisively call
them "Mugabe dollars" after President Robert
Mugabe.
Mr Mbeki went to
advance a mandate the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) gave him
last March to broker a peace deal between Mr
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) of Mr Morgan
Tsvangirai. That might some day make Zimbabwe's
millionaires slightly
richer.
Apparently, Mr Mugabe cut short his vacation in Malaysia by three
days.
Shortly after SADC mandated Mr Mbeki to mediate in Zimbabwe the New
York-based Human Rights Watch said, "The government of Zimbabwe has
permitted security forces to commit serious abuses with impunity against
opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans alike."
That's Mr
Mugabe's reply to woes his policies have brought to Zimbabweans:
widespread
shortages of food, fuel, electricity and water, to say nothing of
declining
education standards. Inflation stands at 15,000 per cent, which
World Bank
says is abnormal for a country not at war.
After talks with both parties
- four hours with Mr Mugabe who can say a
great deal in a minute - Mr Mbeki
was optimistic.
"I don't doubt the commitment of the Zimbabwe leadership
to ensuring that
all the country's problems are solved," he told reporters.
"It's really work
in progress and very good progress."
Mr Mbeki
dampened reports the talks were deadlocked while time is running
out. The
Inter Press Service reported negotiators have met 20 times.
That must be
held
At issue are elections that must be held before the end of March.
SADC wants
them free and fair. Incidentally, Mr Mugabe seeks another
term.
The ruling ZANU-PF prefers the elections under the current
constitution. The
winning party will then spearhead the process of a new
constitution.
The MDC wants a transitional constitution. That means a
constitutional
amendment and postponement of presidential
elections.
Mr Mbeki has precious little to show for his labour since
March: revisions
to security and media laws. As the Acts stood, those police
deny permission
to organise public meetings could only appeal to the
minister for Home
Affairs. Under the amended law, police have to give a
reason and a
magistrate can overrule it.
Members of the commission
that regulates media are to be named from a list
submitted by a bi-partisan
parliamentary committee. They must have media
experience. Journalists
union's representation is necessary.
Foreigners can own media outlets,
but permanent foreign correspondents
remain banned. Mr Tsvangirai calls all
this cosmetic. He insists on a
transitional constitution.
Mr Mbeki
needs a magic wand. If he can wave one, to ensure that elections
are free
and fair in Zimbabwe, even if they were held next month, he would
at least
win international kudos.
Doubts that South Africa had leverage over Mr
Mugabe never existed. It must
be remembered that when South Africa told the
late Prime Minister Ian Smith
his time was up, he went out and Mr Mugabe
entered way back in 1980. Mr
Mbeki always promised he was engaged in quiet
diplomacy with Mr Mugabe and
Mr Tsvangirai. Yet Mr Mugabe continued his
wayward ways.
Mr Mbeki though has another reason for his current and open
diplomatic
frenzy. He needs a flag to wave and salvage his image. At home,
his image is
in tatters. In mid-December, Mr Mbeki lost his bid to continue
as head of
the African National Congress. Earlier, Mr Andrew Feinstein, a
former ANC
legislator, delivered a most scathing attack on Mr Mbeki. He said
he has
"prided over a serious moral decline" in the ANC. What he didn't say
is that
Mugabe too diverted ZANU-PF from its core. That's why Mr Mbeki needs
to
achieve a little mellowing in Comrade Bob.
Else, Mr Mbeki's
stature as one of the persons who made a mark in the
evolution of Southern
Africa from the shackles of racist and totalitarian
rulers will have
lessened.
A massive and very busy Vigil.
We estimate that at least 500 were there,
filling the entire piazza outside
Ziimbabwe House. Among them were MDC
members who had marched from Trafalgar
Square behind a huge banner
"Zimbabweans want free and fair elections 2008".
The banner was donated to
us and it will be a centrepiece of our Vigils in
the weeks leading up to the
elections. There was a huge queue to sign the
register and it will be some
days before it is fully processed. Gugu
Ndlovu-Tutani, one of our register
monitors, had to remonstrate with one
lady who wanted to sign in for others.
As Gugu explained, we are in the UK
now and this sort of fixing is not
acceptable.
The big turn-out was a
wonderful publicity opportunity but unfortunately
there were no press with
us because of a lack of consultation between our
visitors and the Vigil.
What a waste! We could have promoted this to our
extensive media list. It
was by far the biggest demonstration that we know
of held outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy and made an important statement at this
crucial time in
Zimbabwe. Despite mischievous reports on some Zimbabwean
websites it was a
very harmonious Vigil, everyone giving a fair hearing to
others. For us all
it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and embrace other
Zimbabweans, to
sing and dance together in the traditional Zimbabwean way...
with a minimum
of speechifying.
Story of the day: one lady asked the Vigil to write a
letter to help her
renew her Zimbabwean passport. We are touched that she
had such faith in us
but explained it was likely to be a disadvantage on
this matter!
Highlight of the day: at the end of the Vigil the entire
piazza was taken
over by people holding hands to sing the national anthem in
love of our
country and our people.
Among us was a Zimbabwean who had
spent 7 months in Yarlswood Detention
Centre and had been released on bail
reporting to the police twice a week.
The Vigil supports any campaign to
allow asylum seekers to work and
contribute to the British economy and we
are glad that this question is
rising up the political agenda in this
country.
Great to have Dr Brighton Chireka with us today. Brighton has
been a
committed activist and has launched a medical scheme to help the sick
in
Zimbabwe. He promises to join us again on a regular basis and we welcome
him back. We also noticed among our supporters Peter Tatchell. We are
always glad when this committed activist joins us.
Grateful thanks to
the courteous policemen who helped tactfully to manage
the
throng.
After the Vigil we were briefed from Zimbabwe by Sten of our
partner
organization Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe. He said there
was a
blackout in the whole of Harare (we know see that it was the whole
country
according to SW RADio Africa) and the currency situation is
worsening, with
people sleeping by bank machines. Roads have huge potholes
and people are
lucky to get two meals a day. He himself had gone to bed
hungry because he
couldn't build a fire in the pouring rain to cook his
sadza.
We were glad to see a profile of Vigil Co-ordinator Dumi Tutani in
the
important London Observer newspaper. In a review of protests, the
newspaper
describes us as the largest regular demonstration in London
(http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2243558,00.html).
We reprint
the interview here:
Dumi Tutani, 38 - The singer
In
2001 Tutani co-founded the Zimbabwe Vigil which meets weekly outside
Zimbabwe House at 429 Strand, and has become the largest regular
demonstration in London.
He's an easy man to find. Head to the Strand
on a Saturday afternoon
(2-6pm), come rain or shine, and look for the man
leading a crowd in song.
The Zimbabwe vigils started six years ago with
five people, and now attract
around 100 a week.
'We thought if we
tell the people in the street that their tax money is
going to prop up
dictators, they will demand change,' says the soft-spoken
musician. Singing,
drumming and stomping toyi-toyi dancing were a natural
accompaniment. 'Back
home wherever a few people gather, be it a funeral, a
wedding or just
working in the fields, then we sing.'
Tutani fled the persecution
suffered by members of Zimbabwe's leading
opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change, and arrived in London
in 2001. He lives in West Norwood,
south London, with his wife and
one-year-old son, Zizi, and got his
immigration papers last month.
It's impossible to protest in Zimbabwe.
The Public Order and Security Act
means a handful of civilians standing
together is a public order offence.
Demonstrators are regularly beaten by
baton-wielding policemen, and
sometimes even shot.
'The Zimbabwe
Embassy is the closest we can get to Robert Mugabe,' says
Tutani. 'The
situation is getting consistently worse. People don't have
access to
medicine, clean water, basic food or education: people are dying
every day.
We have to raise awareness until there are free elections.'
The vigil is
portable, too, flying to Lisbon for the EU-Africa heads of
state summit last
month, where, amid a throng of protesters, the
all-singing, all-dancing
Zimbabweans gained widespread attention. Mugabe was
furious to be upstaged,
and his mouthpiece, the Herald newspaper, bitterly
denounced the protesters
as puppets of the UK government.
Elections are scheduled for March but
they are unlikely to be free or fair
or monitored by the international
community.
'They're a sham. People in the diaspora are not allowed to vote,
opposition
parties are not allowed to campaign, there are no international
observers on
the ground,' says Tutani. 'We're not going
anywhere.
For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Thanks to Doubt Chimonyo and Jaison Matewu for extra pictures.
The
Central London Zimbabwe Forum meets as usual at 7.30 pm on Monday, 21st
January. This week's venue is the Strand Continental Hotel, 143 The Strand,
WC2R 15A. Directions: The Strand is the same road as the Vigil. From the
Vigil its about a 10 minute walk, in the direction away from Trafalgar
Square. The Strand Continental is situated between Somerset House and the
turn off onto Waterloo Bridge. The entrance is a doorway onto the street,
with a big sign high above indicating it is the Hotel Strand Continental and
a sign for its famous Indian restaurant at street level. It's next to a
newsagent.
Vigil Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00
to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
By Tichaona Sibanda
21
January 2008
See pictures
On Saturday a large cross section of
Zimbabweans from all walks of life in
the United Kingdom gathered outside
Zimbabwe House in central London for
nearly four hours, to protest about
Robert Mugabe’s tyrannical regime.
The demonstration was organized by the
MDC-UK and has been described as the
biggest public protest ever held by
Zimbabweans in the UK. It was
characterised by the typical London weather,
which was grey and damp.
Jameson Mashakada from Southend who is the
MDC-UK youth leader said: ‘We
have all come together to try and make
Zimbabwe a better place, but without
Mugabe obviously. It’s horrible that
some people suffer just because they
happen to live in a broken country torn
to pieces by one man.’
‘Zimbabweans want free and fair elections in
2008,’ proclaimed one huge
banner among the many other placards calling for
an end to the regime’s
madness. MDC activist Henry Maurayi of Kettering said
the huge crowd was
very encouraging and urged the party to organise more
protests to keep the
‘Zimbabwe issue’ on the world agenda.
The mood
was festive, with cheerleaders belting out anti-Mugabe slogans
while members
of the Zimbabwe Vigil kept the passionate crowd on its feet by
singing and
drum beating.
A spokesperson for the MDC, Jaison Matewu, said that they
organised the
event to show the public the true state of affairs in Zimbabwe
under the
Zanu-PF government.
‘We came here to tell the world of the
crisis in Zimbabwe. We are saying we
need free and fair elections in the
country because another disputed
election will take us further down the
drain,’ he said.
.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Zim Online
by Simplicious Chirinda Monday 21 January
2008
HARARE – Dispossessed white farmers say they are mulling
a joint legal
challenge to President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land
reforms,
emboldened by a regional tribunal’s encouraging handling of a
Zimbabwean
farmer’s appeal against seizure of his land.
The Southern
African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal last December
barred Mugabe’s
government from evicting William Michael Campbell from his
farm pending a
ruling on an application by the white farmer challenging the
legality of
Harare’s programme to seize white land for redistribution to
landless
blacks.
Campbell first appealed against seizure of his property at
Zimbabwe’s
Supreme Court last March but resorted to the Tribunal after what
his lawyers
said was “unreasonable delay” by the country’s highest court in
dealing with
his case.
The Namibia-based Tribunal is expected to
deliver its final ruling on the
matter this month.
Justice for
Agriculture (JAG), a pressure group for white farmers, said a
joint
application by dispossessed farmers would help bring to finality all
land
disputes between farmers and Mugabe’s government.
“We are looking at
different ways in which we can have these cases brought
to finality and one
of them is to mount a joint application,” said JAG
leader, John
Worswick.
“We want to see how the recent ruling by the SADC Tribunal in
favour of
Michael Campbell can be spread to other farmers,” he
added.
The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), the main representative body
for white
Zimbabwean farmers, said its members met in Harare last week to
look at the
possibility of mounting a joint application to the Supreme Court
which could
also be taken up to the regional Tribunal.
"We met as a
think-tank and we are putting before our members these
suggestions so that
they can consider if they want to take that route,” CFU
president Trevor
Gifford.
Mugabe’s controversial farm seizures have resulted in the
majority of the
about 4 000 white farmers being forcibly ejected from their
properties
without being paid compensation for the land, which the
government has
refused to pay for saying it was stolen from blacks in the
first place.
The government has compensated some farmers for developments
on the land
such as dams and farm buildings and say it is committed to
compensating all
farmers for such improvements.
Land redistribution,
that Mugabe says was necessary to correct a colonial
land ownership system
that reserved the best land for whites and banished
blacks to poor soils, is
blamed for plunging Zimbabwe into food shortages
after Harare failed to
support black villagers resettled on former white
farms with inputs to
maintain production.
In his application before the Tribunal, Campbell
wants the regional body to
find Harare in breach of its obligations as a
member of SADC after it signed
into law Constitution of Amendment No. 17 two
years ago.
The constitutional amendment allows the Harare government to
seize farmland
without compensation and bars courts from hearing appeals
from dispossessed
white farmers.
The white farmer also said in papers
filed with the regional body that
Mugabe’s land reforms were racist and
illegal under the SADC treaty adding
that Article 6 of the SADC treaty bars
member states from discriminating
against any person on the grounds of
gender, religion, race, ethnic origin
and culture.
Zimbabwe is a
signatory to the SADC treaty. – ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Mutumwa Mawere Monday 21 January
2008
JOHANNESBURG - Political power in any democratic and
constitutional order is
held by the holders of sovereignty.
It is
true that without following a principle of containing and balancing
legislative, executive, and judiciary powers, there can be no freedom and no
protection against the abuse of power.
The separation of power
principle between the three branches of the state is
so fundamental to the
protection of any constitutional order.
It is generally agreed that any
atmosphere where any of the branches of the
state can operate with excessive
limitation from others and one branch can
rule out the decisions of the
other branches necessarily undermines the
principle of sovereignty and the
rule of law.
Africa is a challenged continent in so far as locating
political power in
the context of the wishes and aspirations of
citizens.
In post-colonial Africa, sovereignty has been alienated from
citizens and
the holders of political power have generally assumed a
separate and
distinct existence notwithstanding the fact that occasionally
they submit
themselves to elections where outcomes are generally
predetermined and
manipulated.
To a large extent the institutions of
government in post-colonial Africa
were inherited from the colonial state.
In the colonial state, citizens had
no say in how they were governed and the
destiny of the colonial state was
shaped by the settlers with no input from
the governed majority.
What is ironic is that even the worst dictators in
Africa believe that their
actions are in the national
interest.
Citizens of Africa were alienated from political power in the
colonial era
and have largely surrendered their sovereignty in the
post-colonial state to
their elected representatives often with no checks
and balances.
The foundation of any democratic and constitutional order
must be the
location of the address of power in the hands of citizens and
the ability of
citizens to ensure that their governments are accountable and
operate
transparently.
Regrettably, the experiences of many
post-colonial African states confirm
that political power has been hijacked
by manipulative and power hungry
elites to the extent that citizens are no
longer able to assert their rights
freely.
The case of Zimbabwe is an
interesting one and provides a useful case study
for many emerging
nations.
Even Raila Odinga has come to the conclusion that President
Mugabe has set a
bad example for Africa on how state power can perpetuate
itself using
seemingly democratic instruments like elections.
The
context in which President Kibaki has been re-elected has many parallels
in
Africa and it is not unusual in Africa that after elections the only hope
for citizens asserting their political rights is through external mediation
efforts and it is extremely difficult and dangerous for citizens to attempt
to bring to book, criminal politicians who derive their legitimacy from
stolen elections.
Ordinarily, criminals have no locus standi to
negotiate their future let
alone to participate in processes while they are
enjoying the fruits of
their criminal conduct.
However, in Africa it
has become acceptable that power can be stolen from
the people and the
beneficiaries of such practices can impose their will on
innocent citizens
who have no internal capacity to reclaim their power.
Mugabe has rightly
or wrongly maintained the position that at all material
time, the
sovereignty of Zimbabwe has belonged to the citizens and that any
regime
change agenda that has not been informed by the wishes or aspirations
of the
people of Zimbabwe was bound to fail.
It is true that Mugabe has presided
over a fast decaying economy but has
never missed an election suggesting
that the people of Zimbabwe must be
supportive of policies that have led to
the increase of the frontiers of
poverty.
If there is no serious
domestic opposition to bad governance and citizens of
Zimbabwe have for the
last 28 years failed to come up with a mechanism of
making their government
accountable, can one safely conclude that it is a
demonstration of the
support Mugabe enjoys from the people?
After 28 years of independence,
can one conclude that the actions of the
executive, legislature and
judiciary of Zimbabwe are consistent with the
expectations of the
citizens?
Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans have complained about the
centralisation of
power in the hands of the President to the extent that the
constitutional
order that is expected in a democratic Zimbabwe has been
undermined.
Any head of a starving household cannot claim to be a good
provider. The
state of the Zimbabwean economy has been well documented but
it is clearly
evident that Mugabe’s supporters are not convinced that he
bears any
responsibility for the collapse of the economy.
Is it the
case that citizens have accepted that they have no power to change
their own
circumstances or they are afraid of the people who have stolen
their
birthright?
Mugabe would not agree that he is a thief and any suggestion
that his
administration is now polluted by a gang of thieves would easily be
dismissed.
Many have seen George Charamba, the chief government
propagandist on Al
Jazeera, making allegations that Zimbabwe continues to be
a victim of
imperialism.
Mr Supa Mandiwanzira, the correspondent for
Al Jazeera in Zimbabwe, would
like the world to believe that the problems of
Zimbabwe are externally
generated and the people of Zimbabwe are
fools.
The perception that Zimbabweans have gotten a government they
deserve is
well founded for how can any rational person explain why it has
been
impossible for Zimbabweans to identify correctly their problem and deal
with
it.
The manner in which infantile disorder underpinned by
childish propaganda
has taken root in Zimbabwe confirms that there is
something fundamentally
wrong in the psyche of Zimbabweans.
Charamba
and Gideon Gono have emerged as the two critical defenders of what
has been
generally described as a failed state. Although Charamba takes the
position
that people of Zimbabwe are inherently incapable of thinking and
acting
independently with obviously with the exception of Mugabe and his
loyal
troops, Gono poses a more significant threat to the constitutional
order
through the opaque quasi-fiscal activities.
Gono is the Governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and in any
democratic order such a bank would
be an organ of state and not a threat to
democracy. The RBZ should
ordinarily operate as a citizens’ bank and a
repository of their trust and
confidence in the integrity of the financial
system.
Citizens elected
their representatives to look after their interests and yet
one cannot say
that the Parliament of Zimbabwe operates as a house of
assembly.
It
is evident that the house of assembly has been transformed into the house
of
MDC and ZANU-PF and the sovereignty of the people has been sufficiently
undermined to the extent that national interests no longer occupy the minds
of parliamentarians.
If the legislative agenda was informed by
national interests, Gono would by
now be in prison. What Mugabe has
skilfully done is to make Gono the
ultimate custodian of the nation through
the systematic castration of
parliament.
The parliament of Zimbabwe
is now an agent of the executive and there may be
no merit in having
parliamentary elections if Gono remains a Governor of the
RBZ.
Since
Gono’s appointment as Governor of the RBZ, Zimbabweans have seen the
erosion
of the role of the Parliament and Cabinet. What Gono thinks
prevails and
sadly the people of Zimbabwe are the ultimate losers.
There is no better
example of demonstrating how helpless Zimbabweans have
been reduced to than
the current cash crisis and the never ending foreign
currency
problems.
At the ZANU-PF congress, Gono threatened to expose the
so-called cash barons
instead of telling the nation that he was the
mastermind of the destruction
of the formal economy.
He invited
himself to the Budget and Finance committee that was chaired by
Butau who
like James Makamba and others have been externalised by Gono.
It has now
been reported that Gono will appear before the parliamentary
committee today
and it is generally expected that he will provide a list of
the so-called
cash barons.
However, Gono finds himself under siege after being exposed
in a court of
law as the real cash baron who has regrettably manipulated the
whole nation
into believing that the enemy is from without and not from
within.
What will Gono say? Will he or will he not reveal the names?
What is the
role of the RBZ destroying a functioning economic system? Is
Mugabe part of
the plot? These are some of the questions that must surely be
in people’s
minds.
However, if I was a member of the parliamentary
committee what kind of
questions would I pose for Gono? The following would
surely be on the top of
my list:
1. Mr Gono: Are you aware that
the only mechanism for allocating state
resources is the budget under the
oversight of parliament? If so, how do you
explain the role of the RBZ in
allocating resources through quasi-fiscal
activities in a democratic
order?
2. Please can you provide a detailed list of all the
transactions that
have been funded by the RBZ on behalf of the government?
How were such
transactions approved? What was the role of the cabinet in
approving such
transactions? How are the transactions monitored? How are
they reflected in
the budget? What is the parliament’s role in approving and
monitoring such
transaction?
3. Do you agree that the role of the
RBZ has the effect of undermining
the role of parliament?
4. You
have justified your role in placing legitimate government
expenditures under
the control of the RBZ on the basis that there is a
sanctions regime. If
this is the case, do you believe that democracy should
be suspended until
the sanctions are lifted? What should be the role of the
parliament?
5. Allegations have been made that shelf companies
like Flatwater,
Smoothnest, AMG Global Nominees, and others have been used
by the RBZ as
fronts in various transactions that are patently illegal.
Please provide
details of who approved such transactions? What, if any, was
the role of the
government?
6. We now know that about 102 tractors
were to be procured by Flatwater
as an agent of the RBZ. To the extent that
the tractors were to be owned by
the government, do you agree that the role
of the RBZ by taking over the
role of the relevant government agency
undermines the constitutional order?
Who approved the purchase of the
tractors without coming to parliament for
resources to be allocated in the
budget? What was the exchange rate implied
in the transactions? Is it true
that Z$7 trillion was deposited into the
account of Flatwater without any
due diligence about Flatwater’s financial
status? If it is true that the
tractors were to be imported, can we say that
the RBZ knew that the Z$7
trillion was to be converted into foreign currency
at the black market
rate? If not why did the RBZ not deposit the equivalent
at the official
exchange rate into the account of Flatwater?
I am sure that there are
many questions that will arise but what is
important is that the
parliamentarians realise that the hopes of Zimbabweans
lie with them in
exposing how the state is now operating and why change of
direction has to
be the litmus test in the March 2008 elections.
Any outcome that will
leave Gono in charge and his political masters
ultimately in control will
contribute to the destruction of what remains
functioning in Zimbabwe.
Yesterday it was Makamba, today it is Butau and
tomorrow it could be anyone
of us.
The stakes are high and naturally it is fair to expect that the
Budget and
Finance committee members will rise to the occasion. If Gono is
exposed, it
is evident that his political masters will take note that the
people of
Zimbabwe have finally taken ownership of their power.
*
Mutumwa Mawere is a Zimbabwean-born South African businessman based in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
From The Cape Times (SA), 21 January
Peter
Fabricius
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appeared until recently
to be negotiating
in reasonably good faith with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) for a new political dispensation. He made some
important concessions,
including the scrapping of the 30 appointed Members
of Parliament and
reforms to the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) and
the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which had
given the
government undemocratic powers to control political activity and
the media
respectively. Then he dug in his heels on other demands from the
MDC that
are more crucial still - including a new constitution, to be
implemented
before this year's elections, and a postponement of those
elections beyond
March to allow all the reforms to take effect. President
Thabo Mbeki, who
had been mandated by the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) last
March to mediate the political negotiations, had
largely left the job to his
aides. But on Thursday he took personal charge
and flew to Harare to meet
Mugabe and the MDC leaders to try to break the
deadlock. Mbeki emerged from
a five-hour meeting with Mugabe and told
reporters; "It's work in progress
and very good progress." But Mbeki was
apparently obfuscating, referring to
past progress rather than the
outstanding issues he had come to Harare to
try to resolve. Because he then
apparently went to meet the MDC leaders and
told them Mugabe had agreed to
none of their demands on the outstanding
issues. It appears Mbeki himself is
sympathetic to the MDC demands. That
would make sense.
When he
returned last March from the SADC meeting in Dar es Salaam where he
was
given his mediation mission, Mbeki made it clear that his mandate was to
help the Zimbabweans agree on "what should be done between now and those
elections to create a climate that will be truly free and fair, for an
outcome that will not be contested by anybody …" This was in an interview
with Britain's Financial Times, which his office later referred to as the
"official position on Zimbabwe". For Zimbabwe to be able to hold an election
that meets Mbeki's test of universal acceptability, a new constitution is
necessary. It would include a proper bill of rights and an independent media
commission; would take the vital voter registration process out of the hands
of officials answerable only to Mugabe and generally diminish the
extraordinary executive powers he has given himself, which would allow him
to control and possibly manipulate the elections. Postponing the election is
also critical so that all the necessary reforms can take effect. The MDC has
been asking for the elections to take place in June. It will take much
longer than that even to restore politics to something like normality. But
those extra three months would at least make a difference. Mugabe's refusal
to budge presents the MDC once again with the dilemma; whether to contest
elections on an uneven pitch or boycott them. This weekend, the two MDC
factions were meeting to consider their options. They were also trying to
reach an electoral pact to ensure they do not stand against each other and
thereby hand the election to Mugabe on a platter, if they do decide to
contest. And, if Mbeki has indeed accepted that Mugabe is the cause of the
breakdown, what will he do?
In the same Financial Times
interview, he said that if he judged that "this
particular player in
Zimbabwe is obstructing the possibility of finding a
political settlement …
we will go back to SADC to say we are not moving
because these ones are
obstructing process". "And, of course, the region
must then take a decision
what to do …" Will he do that? After being played
by Mugabe for so long,
will he finally point an accusing finger at him? It's
hard to imagine, but
what are his options?
VOA
By Chris Gande
Washington
21 January
2008
Residents of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare and
Bulawayo, the country's
second city, woke up Monday to find the streets
awash with pamphlets urging
them to vote for Vice President Joyce Mujuru as
president in the next
elections. Mujuru declined to comment on the incident
but a member of her
staff dismissed it as a prank.
President Robert
Mugabe is seeking re-election as candidate of his ruling
ZANU-PF party - but
relations between Mr. Mugabe and Mujuru are known to be
cool.
The
colorful pamphlets featuring a picture of the vice president and her
liberation war credentials were especially abundant in Bulawayo. The
pamphlet said Mujuru will hold all government members accountable if she is
elected. Some Zimbabweans who picked up the pamphlets said they believed
they were genuine.
Home Affairs Secretary Sam Sipepa Nkomo of the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change told reporter Chris Gande of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that the wide distribution of the pamphlets suggested
high-level
sponsorship.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
21 January 2008
Posted to the
web 21 January 2008
Harare
Two pylons carrying electricity cables
linking Mozambique and Zimbabwe near
Zimre Park collapsed last week after
thieves stole their supporting wires,
causing a break in transmission from
Hydro de Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.
The cables also connect Bindura
substation to Dema substation and feed power
to most of Harare's heavy
industrial areas. They carry power imports into
the country and to its
neighbours -- Botswana and South Africa. The link
provides Zimbabwe with 200
megawatts, South Africa 100 megawatts and
Botswana 35 megawatts from HCB of
Mozambique.
When the Herald visited the area on Thursday afternoon,
Zesa employees were
busy reconstructing one of the pylons so as to restore
power amid
revelations that work would soon be completed. Zesa spokesperson
Mr Fullard
Gwasira said that would mean the country would be starved of
power imports
from Mozambique and this would lead to increased load
shedding.
"Zesa is greatly disturbed by the level of vandalism of vital
power
infrastructure in the country. "What was stolen is the stay wire that
is
used to support the pylon upright leading to the collapse of these
structures. "Unfortunately, anyone who cut the supporting wires did not
recognise the magnitude of damage he was doing to the country and the region
as the cables also provide South Africa and Botswana with power. "The
recovery of the pylons is expected to be completed very soon. "The vandalism
to the pylons means loss of power to industry, mining and agriculture
resulting in huge losses to production time and revenue," Mr Gwasira
said.
He said vandalism to national infrastructure was costing the power
utility
billions of dollars. The power utility said it was prejudiced of
more than
$1 trillion last year as a result of vandalism and theft. The
thefts mainly
targeted transformer oil, electricity meters and load
limiters. The Zesa
spokesperson could not give the total cost of recovering
the two pylons
saying that would only be ascertained on completion. Mr
Gwasira welcomed the
passage of the Electricity Amendment Act saying it
would go a long way in
reducing cases of vandalism of substations and
stealing copper cables.
"Zesa is happy with the passage of the Act but
more needs to be done in
increasing fines and sentences so that they are
deterrent enough to would-be
offenders. "We have also increased education
programmes to inform people on
the effects of vandalism to the
economy."
Zesa says it is spending a fortune replacing vandalised
equipment across the
country, money that could be used to improve power
transmission.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
21
January 2008
Members of Zimbabwe's parliament say they have
not yet been provided with
copies of a critical redistricting report tabled
there last week and have
had to line up to read the single copy which is
available without being able
to make photocopies.
Opposition members
of parliament said they have been told government
printers have been unable
to make copies of the three-volume report of some
800 pages, though it has a
major bearing on ballots the government insists
must be held in
March.
The report explains the demarcation of 210 house districts - 60 of
them
new - and 60 senate constituencies.
Experts said interested
parties have seven days to examine the report before
the new constituency
boundaries are made final through a presidential
proclamation. But the
parliament is currently adjourned, making debate on
redistricting
impossible.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network Chairman Noel Kututwa told
reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that stakeholders
have been
prevented from raising concerns about redistricting, which is
“crucial” to
election fairness.
New Era (Windhoek)
21
January 2008
Posted to the web 21 January 2008
Petronella
Sibeene
Windhoek
National power utility, NamPower, has dismissed
claims that the US$40
million loan it advanced to the Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority (Zesa)
under the Power Purchase Agreement has been written
off.
NamPower's response comes in light of recent media reports saying
the power
utility has written off the multi-million-dollar loan it gave to
Zimbabwe
Electricity and Transmission Company (Zetco)'s holding company,
Zesa, for
the refurbishment of four units at the coal-powered Hwange Power
Station.
NamPower's Managing Director, Paulinus Shilamba, on Friday
explained: "At
the time of finalising the financial statements and in
accordance with
prudent financial reporting, the auditors insisted to impair
and not
write-off the loan amount that had been provided up to financial
year-end as
no energy had been delivered yet."
The first 40 megawatts
started flowing from Zimbabwe on January 3, as per
agreement signed during
President Robert Mugabe's state visit in February
last year.According to
Shilamba, "The loan conditions are legally
enforceable and binding. NamPower
distances itself from the notion that the
loan has been written off."He
added, "There is nothing sinister about this
general accounting practice
even though it can cast doubt in the minds of
those doing the interpretation
of the report within the framework of the
prevailing macro-economic
situation in Zimbabwe."
Shilamba maintained that the redemption of the
loan with energy is the only
option that was agreed upon and will remain as
such for the remainder of the
loan period.Since the signing of the agreement
last year, some sectors
expressed doubt in the venture and viewed it as
politically motivated.
The NamPower MD reite-rated that the loan
agreement between the two power
utilities is not politically motivated but
rather a commercial deal. He
added that the deal is based on a long-standing
relationship between the two
parties, both being members of the Southern
African Power Pool (SAPP) and
trading partners.With one unit already
operational, Shilamba said, the
remaining three units at Hwange are expected
to be commissioned in May, July
and September. The four units are capable of
generating a total of 480
megawatts.
Once all the four units are
commissioned, Namibia will receive 150 megawatts
for a minimum of five years
as per agreement.Initial costs to expand and
renovate Hwange Power Station
were underestimated and the two parties are
negotiating additional funding.
An additional US$10 million to the initial
US$40 million loan agreement will
mean that Namibia gets a further 30
megawatts to make a total of 180
megawatts.
"We are confident that Zesa will honour these commitments,"
Shilamba said.
He added that the deal between NamPower and Zesa is clear
testimony that
inter-utility cooperation can have mutual benefits.The
rehabilitation of the
Hwange Power Station would have major benefits for not
only Namibia and
Zimbabwe, but also the rest of the Southern African
region.Already, Namibia,
Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe met in Victoria Falls
at the end of last year
to sign an agreement that will see the four
utilities embarking on a project
to construct a power line that will connect
the four countries to Hwange.
The project, named ZIZABONA, will see the
construction of a transmission
link between Hwange and Katima Mulilo through
Zambia and Botswana. Each
utility will be responsible for the financing of
the portion of the line in
its territory.Further, Namibia is in the process
of developing an
Intergovernmental Memorandum of Agreement with South Africa
in order to
embark on the Orange River Mini-Hydro Power Plant
project.
"Talks are ongoing with private developers, Eskom and energy
ministries in
both countries," Shilamba said. Meanwhile, the power shortage
situation in
the region remains critical. Different countries have initiated
different
ways to generate and save power. In the case of Namibia, NamPower
has among
other major projects made progress in the installation of a fourth
unit at
the Ruacana Hydro Power Station. With costs estimated at N$350
million, the
fourth unit will bring the generation capacity of this hydro
plant to 320
megawatts with each unit generating 80
megawatts.
Shilamba said NamPower will soon undertake detailed
Environmental Impact
Assessment studies at Walvis Bay for the development of
a 400 megawatts base
load coal power station.
Once completed, the
power utility will avail information to the four
companies that have
approached NamPower to undertake the project. That will
also include those
short-listed by the Electricity Control Board (ECB).
From The Namibian, 21 January
Brigitte Weidlich
A multi-million dollar loan
to Zimbabwe's electricity utility nearly a year
ago, which was noted as
"impaired" by auditors in NamPower's recent annual
report, was not written
off, says NamPower Managing Director Paulinus
Shilamba. Zimbabwe would not
repay the loan with money, but with electricity
supply from its Hwange power
station in western Zimbabwe to Namibia,
Shilamba told a media briefing in
Windhoek on Friday. "The Zimbabwean
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) will
pay the loan back with electricity,
there is no money involved," Shilamba
said. However, NamPower will still pay
for that electricity. "The redemption
of the loan with energy is the only
option that we agreed upon," Shilamba
said. This detail was however not
conveyed to the media at the loan signing
ceremony at State House in 2007,
or in the joint communiqué issued
afterwards. He also revealed on Friday
that NamPower had concluded a second
agreement with Zesa last year, under
which NamPower would buy the
electricity generated at the Hwange power
station "as loan repayment". The
US$40 million loan (about N$270 million),
which came from NamPower's cash
reserves of N$2 billion, was granted during
a state visit by Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to Namibia in February
2007 and sparked a lot of
debate and criticism. Mozambique last week stopped
its power supply to
Zimbabwe because it failed to pay arrears running into
millions of US
dollars. South Africa also stopped exporting electricity to
Zimbabwe
recently, but said it was because of a severe power shortage at
home.
Hwange has four turbines, which will be overhauled with the
N$270 million
loan. The first one was refurbished at the end of last year
and started
generating 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity on January 3 this
year. Once all
four turbines at Hwange on the Zambezi River are overhauled
by September
2008, it should generate 330 MW of electricity and Namibia will
receive 150
MW of that for five years "at a competitive price". As the N$3
billion
interconnector power line to connect the Caprivi Region to the rest
of
Namibia's power grid and also to Zambia and Zimbabwe will only be
completed
in 2009, the electricity now coming from Hwange must flow through
Botswana
and South Africa to Namibia until then. NamPower will also
therefore pay for
the transmission of the electricity coming from Hwange,
"at a tariff",
Shilamba said. The long distance the electricity has to
travel comes with
what experts call a transmission loss, meaning that not
all of it will reach
the other end. Asked what the transmission loss from
Hwange would be, Reiner
Jagau, General Manager for power system development
at NamPower, said it was
"higher than 10 per cent". On the issue of the loan
impairment, which is
done when it is probable that the creditor will be
unable to collect all the
money due according to the contractual terms of
the loan agreement, the
NamPower MD said this was not the same as writing
off a loan. "NamPower's
financial year ended June 30 2007 and by then there
was no electricity
coming from Hwange in Zimbabwe yet as repayment. Our
auditors insisted as a
result that the US$40 million loan should be recorded
as impaired," Shilamba
said.
According to NamPower's annual
report, which was published earlier this
month, its profits decreased by 18
per cent and stood at N$119,3 million at
June 30 2007 compared to N$146,3
million the year before, despite a 17 per
cent increase in electricity
sales, which amounted to N$1,1 billion.
"Included in the cost is the
impairment of the loan that was made to the
Zimbabwe Electricity and
Transmission Company (Zetco) for the refurbishment
of the Hwange coal-fired
power station," the annual report stated. "The
impairment was occasioned by
the volatile economic and political climate
experienced in Zimbabwe. The
amount advanced as at (financial) year end was
N$27 million (of the total
loan)," according to the report.
The Herald (Harare) Published
by the government of Zimbabwe
21 January 2008
Posted to the web 21
January 2008
Harare
Most rural bus operators have grounded their
fleet owing to shortages of
diesel, resulting in some travellers spending
nights on buses.
The operators get diesel allocations from the National
Oil Company of
Zimbabwe, which they sell at $75 000 a litre while on the
black market it is
being sold for much more than that. On Saturday the three
main fuel stations
servicing rural transport operators in Sunningdale,
Houghton Park and
Waterfalls did not have the commodity. Sources said the
Sunningdale station
had gone for two weeks without the
commodity.
"Some bus operators are buying the fuel from the black
market and then
asking passengers to top up," said one vendor who was
selling his wares at
the station. He said a trip to Buhera was being charged
$20 million up from
the usual $5 million. At the Houghton Park service
station an attendant said
they last received deliveries on Tuesday to enable
school children to travel
back to schools. "On Tuesday we received 40 000
litres which lasted us for
two days and we are expecting some more
deliveries on Tuesday," he said.
He said after the festive holiday,
supplies deteriorated compared to when
the rural bus fuel facility was
introduced in August last year. The
attendant confirmed that some bus
operators were asking passengers to top
up. "Yes, they enter into an
agreement with passengers to top up
particularly those who would be rushing
to attend funerals or other
activities and have no choice but to travel," he
said.
At one of the designated service stations in Waterfalls one
attendant said
they received 13 500 litres of fuel last Thursday while on
Friday they
received an additional 7 890 litres. "On Friday we worked until
late to
ensure that all buses had cleared as they had to ferry children back
to
schools," he said.
A mechanic at one of the bus operator's garages
revealed that passengers had
spent two days in buses destined for Chiredzi
and Mhondoro which were
waiting to get fuel.
By Lance Guma
21 January
2008
Former finance minister Simba Makoni is thought to have resigned his
position within the ruling Zanu PF party. The former head of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) is a member of the influential
Politburo in the party. Press reports, which are mostly speculative, suggest
his resignation is a pre-curser to the formation of a new political party.
The theory is that this new party will draw support from disgruntled Zanu PF
members who are eager to see Mugabe step down.
Former army general
Solomon Mujuru is said to be backing the new party with
suggestions that
several Zanu PF provincial structures are also rooting for
Makoni. Other
reports suggest Makoni is unhappy at being barred from
contesting for a
parliamentary seat in his home area of Manicaland and
offered to resign in
protest. Mugabe is said to have refused to accept the
resignation, pledging
to discuss Makoni’s grievances at a politburo meeting
on
Wednesday.
Makoni has refused to speak to the media so far, sparking
allegations he is
trying to ‘make wine from the political grapevine’ and
test his popularity
before making any final decisions. The private media has
been awash with
speculation over his next move. For ordinary citizens the
debates have been
mixed. Some hold the view that he is a Zanu PF decoy being
used to split the
opposition vote in the coming elections, while others say
he could help
dilute Mugabe’s stranglehold within Zanu PF by taking key
allies with him
into any new party.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Taffy Nyawanza
Last updated: 01/21/2008 06:27:23
ON
DECEMBER 5, 2007, the UK Court of Appeal passed down an important and
generous decision that may give rise to viable fresh claims, apart from
assisting with live claims. The decision is the case of SC (Zimbabwe) v
Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 1278.
In
this case, the appellant, known as SC, approached the Court of Appeal
after
an unsuccessful re-consideration appeal.
Some of the pertinent facts
about the appellant were that she had arrived in
the UK as a visitor
initially, then switched to a student visa until 2002,
after which her visa
ran out and she overstayed for two years before
claiming asylum. She was
also HIV+ and it had been accepted that without
medication, her life
expectancy would be 6 months. More importantly for the
hearing, she had been
a teacher in Zimbabwe.
In the first appeal, the Tribunal had accepted
that the appellant was a
teacher and concluded that she would therefore be
at risk. The Tribunal
reached this decision because it accepted that “the
background material
indicates clearly that teachers are readily identified
as members of the MDC
and are frequently mistreated as such.” This was
in-spite of the fact that
the appellant was herself not a member of the
MDC.
The Home office appealed this generous finding. On re-consideration,
the
Tribunal found for the Home Office and said that the first Tribunal had
made
an error in law because it had reached its conclusion on the premise
that it
is unsafe to return any teacher to Zimbabwe.
SC approached
the Court of Appeal which differed with the Re-consideration
Tribunal and
stated that it was clear that the appeal had been allowed by
the first
judge, not because SC was a teacher, but because she might be
perceived to
be an MDC supporter because she was a teacher.
The Court of Appeal also
accepted that the background material clearly
indicates that teachers are
readily identified as members of the MDC and are
frequently mistreated as
such.
The Court of Appeal made a specific finding that SC would probably
be
identified as a teacher from the endorsement in her passport and once the
authorities at the airport in Harare identified her as a teacher, it would
be obvious or readily ascertainable that she was not a Zanu PF-supporting
teacher.
What are the implications of this decision?
SC is not
a country guidance case and does not purport to supersede the case
of SM
[2005] UK IAT 100, which is the operative Country Guidance case which
identifies the risk categories as confirmed and expanded in the latest
Country Guidance case of HS.
However, SC is a decision of the Court
of Appeal and therefore has the
authority and impact of a higher court
decision.
It is important to read the case as being specific to the
peculiar facts of
the appellant that came before the Court of Appeal but
with wider applicable
findings emerging from it.
The main finding in
SC is that where a returnee might be recognised as
being, or having been a
teacher in Zimbabwe, then there would necessarily be
a perception that they
are an MDC supporter. Indeed, although this is a much
more generous finding,
it is not an entirely revolutionary finding because
of what SM says about
teachers, i.e that there does continue to be a risk
for teachers with an
actual or perceived political profile of support for
the MDC.
Taken
together, therefore, it seems to me that this case might be useful
particularly where a documented returnee might have a passport with an
endorsement that they are teachers.
It is important to note that in
the SM case, there is confirmation of the
two-stage interrogation process
for all involuntary returnees carried out by
the CIO at Harare airport. It
could, therefore, be argued that even an
undocumented returnee whose past as
a teacher would not be immediately
apparent could be at risk because of this
interrogation process which might
conceivably reveal a teaching
past.
Indeed in SM, the Tribunal specifically stated that returnees from
the UK to
Zimbabwe are regarded with contempt and suspicion on return and do
face a
very hostile atmosphere and that whilst all returnees may not be at
real
risk of persecution, they are liable to have their background and
circumstances carefully scrutinised by the authorities.
At its
highest, the SC case therefore seems to suggest that it is sufficient
to be
demonstratably a teacher in order to establish risk on return, which
seems
to be wider than what was contemplated by the SM case. At the very
least, SC
is very useful arsenal in related claims.
Taffy Nyawanza works for Bake
& Co Solicitors of Birmingham. He can be
contacted on info@bakesolicitors.co.uk, ph. 0121
616 5025 or visit Bake & Co
Solicitors’ website at www.bakesolicitors.co.uk.
Disclaimer:
This article only provides general information and guidance on
immigration
law. It is not intended to replace the advice or services of a
solicitor.
The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome
different
than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any
liability
for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this
information.