Zim Online
Tuesday 23 January
2007
HARARE - Growing official corruption, reckless
fiscal practice such as
uncontrolled printing of money and downright
mismanagement by President
Robert Mugabe are the chief causes of the
dramatic collapse of Zimbabwe's
economy, the United States (US) has
said.
The US embassy in Harare said several major American corporations
had scaled
down operations in Zimbabwe while some had closed shop altogether
over the
past five years, as foreign investors lost confidence in the Harare
administration.
"Numerous major American companies in the
agro-processing, manufacturing and
services sectors have sharply downsized
their operations in Zimbabwe in the
past five years. A handful of American
companies have left Zimbabwe
entirely," said the US embassy in a statement
issued at the weekend but made
available to ZimOnline on
Monday.
Foreign direct investment as well as domestic investment had also
fallen
dramatically since economic turmoil began eight years ago, a
development the
embassy said was not a surprise given Harare's "attitude
towards private
property" - an obvious reference to Mugabe's seizure of
white-owned private
farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
"The
cause of this collapse is the government's mismanagement of the economy
including growing official corruption, mismanagement of exchange rates, and
reckless fiscal practices, including the uncontrolled printing of money,"
the US said.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was not immediately
available for comment
while Industry and International Trade Minister Obert
Mpofu said economic
problems Zimbabwe was facing were caused by sanctions
imposed on the country
by America and other Western nations.
"Despite
the sanctions they have imposed on us, we won't allow companies to
close
down," said Mpofu.
The US and the European Union have imposed targeted
sanctions against Mugabe
and his top officials as punishment for allegedly
violating human rights,
stealing elections and failure to uphold democracy
and the rule of law.
Zimbabwe, which was once a model African economy, is
in the grip of an
unprecedented economic meltdown that is shown in the
world's highest
inflation of 1281.1 percent, shortages of food, rising
unemployment and
poverty.
Critics blame Mugabe, who has ruled the
southern African nation since
independence from Britain in 1980, for ruining
the economy through
repression and wrong policies such as his farm seizures
that have led to
food shortages mainly due to failure by new black farmers
to maintain
production on former white farms.
Poor performance in the
mainstay agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as
hundreds of thousands have lost jobs while the
manufacturing sector, starved
of inputs from the farming sector, is
operating below 30 percent
capacity.
Mugabe, who is pushing to change Zimbabwe's Constitution to
allow him to
rule for two more years after the expiry of his term in 2008,
denies ruining
the economy and instead says his country's problems are
because of sanctions
and sabotage by Britain, the US and other Western
powers opposed to his land
reforms.
But the US embassy, which has
been outspoken in its criticism of Harare,
said Zimbabwe's problems were
self-inflicted. The US urged Harare to
implement policy measures recommended
by the International Monetary Fund,
adding that the solution to Zimbabwe's
deepening crisis lay in the hands of
the government.
"The solution to
Zimbabwe 's problems is in its own hands; not ours, nor
those of the UK, nor
for that matter any other external partner. Reversal of
the current dire
situation requires a change in government policies in line
with the
recommendations of the IMF," it said. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 23 January
2007
HARARE - Zimbabwe has lost out on a
US$500 million stake in neighbouring
Mozambique's Hidroelectrica de Cahora
Bassa (HCB) electricity firm after
failing to raise cash to finance a deal
experts had said could go a long way
to ending the country's perennial
energy shortages.
Maputo had struck a preliminary agreement with Harare
last year for the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to take up 25
percent stake in
(HCB).
Last year, ZESA said the government was
mobilising funds to pay for the HCB
stake through its partnerships with
strategic investors in Asia.
But well-placed sources said Harare, which
is battling its worst ever
economic crisis and is desperate for foreign
currency to import food, fuel
and essential medicines among other basic
commodities, later developed cold
feet on the deal because it could not
raise the hard cash to pay.
"It is our understanding that the Government
of Mozambique has already
finalised and re-allocated the new shares to new
partners following the
non-receipt of Government of Zimbabwe letter of
interest," a senior ZESA
manager told ZimOnline.
The identity of the
new partner taken up by the Mozambicans - and believed
to be South African -
could not be immediately established.
Energy Minister Mike Nyambuya could
not be reached for comment on the matter
last night.
A stake in HCB
would have allowed Zimbabwe - which imports more than 30
percent of its
electricity requirements - easier access to excess power
generated by the
Mozambican energy firm.
Zimbabwe already imports about 100 megawatts a
month from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, 200 megawatts from HCB, 450
megawatts from South
Africa and 300 megawatts from Zambia.
But
frequent breakdowns at ZESA's ageing power stations have meant routine
blackouts for Zimbabweans who in some cases have spent several days on end
without electricity.
The shortage of power is however just one on a
long list of problems
bedevilling Zimbabwe in its eighth year of an economic
meltdown described by
the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a war
zone.
The southern African country also has the world's highest inflation
rate of
more than 1 000 percent, skyrocketing unemployment, shortages of
foreign
currency, food, fuel, essential medicines and increasing poverty
levels. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 23 January 2007
BULAWAYO - Heavily
armed police on Monday mounted several roadblocks in
Zimbabwe's major cities
amid growing fears of protests by civic groups over
worsening economic
hardships in the country.
Sources within the police said there were fears
by state security agents
that civic groups and the opposition were planning
to stage demonstrations
in major cities this week.
But the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party professed
ignorance
over any such plans when contacted for comment yesterday.
Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena, refused to comment directly on the
increased
police presence only saying: "Police are there to maintain law and
order and
whenever we feel there is likely to be a breach, we certainly act
to
preserve law and order."
The heavy police presence on the streets comes
as the Save Zimbabwe Campaign
said yesterday it will launch a fresh
disobedience campaign against plans by
President Robert Mugabe to postpone
presidential elections to 2010.
The campaign, whose theme is, "We will
vote in 2008 under a new
constitution," will be the second that the civic
group has organised over
the past year.
A spokesperson for the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign, Jonah Gokova, said the group
planned to bang pots and
blow horns and whistles to protest against the
government's plans to
reschedule the presidential election.
"The main aim of the campaign is to
put the people in the mood to vote. We
are saying Zimbabweans are ready to
vote in 2008 and not in 2010.
"This campaign is meant to mobilise
Zimbabweans and make it clear to
government and those in power that
elections should be in 2008," Gokova
said.
Last December, the ruling
ZANU PF party said it wanted the presidential
election postponed to
2010.
Human rights groups and the both factions of the MDC have all
condemned the
plan saying it was a ploy by ZANU PF to create a
life-presidency for Mugabe,
in power since the country's independence in
1980. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
22 January
2007
Traders on Zimbabwe's foreign exchange black market have
hammered the
currency sharply lower in anticipation of a devaluation by the
Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe, which has held the official rate at Z$250 since it
overhauled
the currency in July 2006.
Economist Eddie Cross
circulated an e-mail report Monday saying traders in
Bulawayo reported the
U.S. dollar surging to Z$4,200 as the South African
rand fetched Z$560 and
Botswana's pula traded at Z$600. Cross, an opposition
activist, predicted
the currency's sharp fall augured "a further round of
general price
increases."
RBZ governor Gideon Gono was expected to schedule a monetary
policy update
soon and observers looked for him to adjust the bank rate to
US$1,000. But
businesses are urging a more significant devaluation to
Z$1,750 per
greenback that would increase local currency revenues from
export sales and
bolster enterprise viability.
Economist and
University of Zimbabwe Professor Tony Hawkins told reporter
Blessing Zulu of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that black market currency
traders are refusing
to sell hard currency until Gono tips his hand, sending
U.S. dollar rates
higher.
Zimbabwe is in its seventh year of recession and annual inflation
surged to
1,205% in December, another record high for the country and the
highest in
the world.
Critics of President Robert Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU-PF party blame the
country's steep economic decline on the
government's economic policies,
particularly the land reform program it
launched in 2000, as well as
official corruption. But Mr. Mugabe says
Western sanctions have brought the
country to its present pass.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
22
January 2007
University students in Bulawayo and other cities
in Zimbabwe were back in
class this week having suspended a boycott in
protest of massive increases
in tuition fees.
Student leaders were
set to meet on Tuesday with Higher Education Minister
Stan Mudenge to
discuss the fees and national education policy in general.
Zimbabwe
National Students Union President Promise Mkwananzi said his
members were
awaiting the outcome of the meeting with Mudenge, and that they
were ready
to resume the boycott if the ministry refused to partially roll
back the fee
increases. Some university and technical college fees increased
as much as
2,000% recently.
Mkwananzi, arrested last week with nine other activists,
told reporter
Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that students
will keep
protesting if they are ignored.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Gideon Gono
THE STANDARD NEWSPAPER RETRACTS
ITS DAMAGING STORY OF 7TH JANUARY, 2007
ABOUT GOVERNOR G. GONO'S PURCHASE OF
CAR: G. GONO'S COMMENTS
1. I have seen the page one and two Apology and
Retraction respectively by
the Standard newspaper of 21 January 2007 and my
REACTION is simple: "Give
me a man or woman who has never made a mistake in
his or her life and I will
give you the world." I have come face to face
with numerous mistakes made by
myself as well as various people in my
forty-seven years of existence and
almost thirty years working
life.
2. Some of those mistakes that I have witnessed have been fatal or
near-fatal, while others were not so serious. This one by the Standard
newspaper was near fatal.
3. In both categories of mistakes, I have
come to appreciate that it is not
so much the mistake which matters, but
what one does after realizing that he
or she has made a mistake.
4.
Few own-up to their mistakes while many will always refuse to take
responsibility and instead, blame others. These two postures draw different
reactions in my book and I suppose also, in the court of public
opinion.
5. Despite the undeniable hurt, ridicule and public condemnation
that I and
my family suffered within and outside our borders, we take
comfort from the
realization that the reporter Mr. Caiphas Chimhete, the
acting editor Mr.
Bill Saidi and Group CEO Mr. Raphael M. Khumalo displayed
professional
courage to investigate further the truth and upon establishing
it, have
apologised and admitted that the initial story was false.
6.
It was clear that they had been taken for a ride and misled by people who
had their own agenda. Most importantly also was the fact that in publishing
the story, the team at Standard harboured no malice against me, as they
sincerely believed that the story was genuine.
7. The paper and
myself further witnessed during the week, attempts by
certain people who
wanted to again mislead both the paper and publishers
with new inventions
and/or variations about the same car in an apparent
mission to tarnish the
Governor by creating a new angle to explain their
failure to substantiate
the first story.
8. Fortunately for me, I had revealed all the paperwork
to do with the car
and even invited the Group CEO, the Acting Editor and the
Reporter himself
to ride in the car concerned, with me behind the
wheel.
9. Against this background, I have not found it difficult to
forgive the
team at the Standard newspaper and life must just go on. No
sweat.
Furthermore, there will be no legal action to be taken to clear my
name as
the matter has been dealt with satisfactorily and
amicably.
10. There are more pressing issues of national significance to
do with the
state of our economy that must surely take precedence of
occupation than to
pursue a mission to settle scores against one
another.
11. It was His Excellency the President, Cde. R. G. Mugabe who
in one of his
State of the Nation addresses observed that: "We are all
witnesses to the
futility of trying to turn around our economy in an
environment of pointless
conflict."
12. Indeed what Zimbabwe needs
more at this stage than at any other in its
development and turnaround is
"Healing." Healing between and among
individuals and families alike, healing
and tolerance between and among
politicians and political parties, between
and among different economic,
labour and government players, the media,
civil society, churches and their
leaders, and healing between Zimbabwe and
some sections of the international
community, including multilateral
financial institutions.
13. Only through unity of purpose, forgiveness of
one another and the desire
and discipline to stand by the truth can we truly
move forward.
14. At the personal level, I welcome the existence of
multi-media platforms
of expression and scrutiny of public officials and
their public conduct as
this improves accountability and entrenches
transparency of that conduct. I
am on record, way back, as publicly stating
that the media is an
indispensable partner in the turnaround of our economy
and indeed in the
arena of social progress.
15. I welcome criticism
of my monetary and economic policies, as well as my
public conduct as long
as this is done genuinely and in fairness, respecting
obviously, my right,
as indeed the right of others, to own privacy.
16. Let me take this
opportunity also to state that, as with any public
official, it is not
possible or even desirable that I respond to each and
every story written
about me, whether in newspapers or on the internet,
respond to every rumour
or bar talk in the market or speculation directed at
me. I take all these in
my stride as occupational hazards which come with
territory.
17. My
silence or non-response to some of these does not however always make
these
stories gospel truth as some in the market players have been prone to
think.
The office of the Governor is a very busy one, particularly this
Governor.
Taking care of an economy with the highest inflation in the world
cannot be
a walk in the park or an 8 to 5 job.
18. Regarding the Bank's position on
the Standard story, I have spoken to
the Board Chairman for Human Resources
Mr. Lovemore Chihota and persuaded
the Bank's Board of Directors to consider
withdrawing their intention to sue
the paper and rather, let the matter lie
to rest. The Board has agreed to
put the matter to experience, for both the
team at the Standard and myself.
19. The same cannot however be said of
UK-based, The Zimbabwean newspaper
which went beyond the bounds of the
initial false story to manufacture their
own trinkets to make the story seem
authentic and joined previous lies about
the fertilizer story into this one.
Our lawyers will be getting in touch
with them unless they take the
honourable route that would protect their
integrity and standing in the
news-world and do like the team at Standard
has done. We await their next
Issue to establish their position.
20. I thank all the stakeholders who
"saw-through" the offending publication
and declared the report "prima-facie
false" from the word go because of
their confidence in me and the office of
the Governor.
21. Indeed if the car-issue was true, I would have been the
first one to
make a public admission of the fact and would have requested
for public
forgiveness, but as we all are aware now, it wasn't true, neither
had the
thought ever crossed my mind about the need to acquire such an
expensive
car. I didn't even know that such a car existed in the world. The
speed and
cost factors would have made it inappropriate for me, let alone
Zimbabwe in
the first place.
22. The car that I drive today, an S600
is both personal and within my
contractual entitlements and duly approved by
the Board.
23. In the same vein, let me add that I have been working for
the last 29
years and during that period, I have managed to acquire a number
of personal
assets in the farming, real estate, stock/financial and other
sectors of the
economy, all of which were declared to my Principals upon my
assumption of
Governorship of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as required by
the appropriate
Statutes.
24. Some stakeholders think that I only
started working at RBZ in 2003 and
not being privy to my asset and
liabilities statement then, and now being
driven by ulterior motives, have
seen it fit to portray a false picture of
misuse of public funds on what are
purely legitimate private and personal
acquisitions and investments, some of
which are beginning to mature now
after a long period of
gestation.
25. We must as Zimbabweans, stop pre-judging others probably
by our own
"way-ward" ways!
DR. G. GONO
GOVERNOR
[This report does
not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 22
Jan 2007 (IRIN) - Commercial farmers and agricultural experts
have warned of
a serious shortage of farm workers, which could further
cripple agricultural
production in Zimbabwe.
Wilson Nyabonde, president of the Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)
told IRIN that a deadlock over an increase in
monthly wages and worsening
conditions of service on farms had hastened the
exodus of workers, who want
salaries raised from about US$120 (at the
official exchange rate) to at
least US$500. This would still be well below
the US$1,406 a month needed for
a family of six to survive in Zimbabwe,
where annual inflation is hovering
around 1,200 percent.
The CFU said
it was difficult to establish how many workers were still on
farms.
According to a report by the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe, a
nongovernmental organisation assisting farm workers, before the fast-track
land reform process began in 2000, an estimated 320,000 to 350,000
agricultural workers were employed on commercial farms owned by about 4,500
white farmers. Their dependents numbered around 2 million - over 20 percent
of the population.
By the beginning of 2003, the CFU estimated that
only about 100,000 workers
were still employed on farms.
"The
situation on the farms is really bad at the moment. Farm workers are in
such
short supply that farmers have to share workers in some cases.
Employees can
leave at any time because they are in demand everywhere, and
that has
destabilised the sector in many ways," Nyabonde said. "Tobacco
faming, which
relies heavily on consistent and skilled labour, is the most
heavily
affected, and we fear that this will have the effect of lowering
production
... come harvesting time."
Agricultural production in Zimbabwe, once
known as southern Africa's
breadbasket, has slumped since 2000, when
veterans of the war against
colonialism led thousands of landless blacks
onto commercial farms and
forcefully removed the white
farmers.
Commercial farm managers and workers on estates near Zimbabwe's
second city,
Bulawayo, told IRIN that the labour crisis was deepening each
day.
"In November, there were 25 farm workers permanently employed here.
Since
the beginning of the farming season they have been leaving after it
became
clear that the farmers will not be able to effect salary increases
demanded
by the workers, because we are facing a serious financial crisis,"
said
Wilton Cadder, who manages an estate on the outskirts of
Bulawayo.
Most farm workers had turned to informal mining and dealing in
scarce
commodities on the parallel market because these activities offered a
better
return than working on a farm.
"They do not go too far, they
just leave the compound and head for the
nearest gold panning camps. Most of
them return to the farms to entice their
former colleagues to join them. We
wish we can offer better salaries, but
the conditions do not allow it
because of the expensive nature of commercial
farming in this country,"
Cadder told IRIN.
Battling the world's highest annual rate of inflation -
now around 1,200
percent - as well as foreign exchange shortages and a fuel
price that shot
up to US$15 a litre this week, agriculture, like all other
sectors of the
country's economy, has been limping along under the
prohibitive costs of
importing spare parts for farming equipment and inputs
like fertilisers and
seeds.
Farm workers told IRIN they would rather
be gold panners and informal market
dealers than work for US$120 a month.
"The farmers offer poor salaries, poor
accommodation and there is nothing to
call a pension. We all have children
who need to go to school, get enough
food and clothing. No one can make ends
meet with that, so we are forced to
choose between loyalty to our
longstanding employers and the demands of
survival," said farm worker
Kholwani Sibanda, 40.
Incentives were
being offered in a bid to hold on to skilled workers. "Some
[tobacco]
farmers are now paying performance-related bonuses to ensure that
they do
not lose specialised workers; others are now offering food and
better
accommodation in a bid to attract and retain employees," Nyabonde
said.
Edward Mkhosi, shadow minister of agriculture in the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change, called for government intervention to help
the
financially stricken farmers support their workers.
"My
assessment of the situation on the farms shows that there is a great
need
for the improvement of salaries and working conditions, but the reality
is
that no farmer can do that at the moment: inputs are not only expensive,
they are also scarce," Mkhosi told IRIN.
"All these expenses take a
toll on the farmer, who may find it impossible to
remain viable by
increasing salaries at a time when every other cost is
rising. The farmers
need government support so that they in turn can improve
the working
conditions of the workers. The problem lies with the lack of
government
support for the sector, despite all the rhetoric we hear," he
said.
Agriculture minister Joseph Made was noncommittal during an
interview with
IRIN, but maintained that "government has no business in
telling the farmers
how to retain their workers - they need to negotiate
with them and offer
incentives. We are aware that there is a labour crisis
on the farms, but it
is not so big that we can expect reduced harvests. We
have always produced,
while the workers shifted from employer to
employer."
The government has consistently denied the existence of food
shortages. In
late 2006 the Grain Marketing Board said Zimbabwe was
expecting a surplus
above its annual cereal requirement of about 1.9 million
metric tonnes.
However, independent estimates suggested that only 800,000mt
of maize was
produced, or less than half the country's annual
requirement.
[This report
does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
BULAWAYO, 22 Jan 2007 (IRIN) - The residents of Zimbabwe's
second city,
Bulawayo, have joined the local authority in opposing the
takeover of its
water distribution network by the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA),
fearing that the cash-strapped parastatal will create
more problems than it
will solve in trying to meet the city's water
demands.
Bulawayo, in the drought-prone southwestern region of Zimbabwe,
receives
bulk water supplies from the national authority, but the city
authority is
responsible for distribution to the city's
residents.
ZINWA's track record of water distribution in the capital,
Harare, and other
regions has been chaotic, but last week the Cabinet
granted it the right to
assume control of the Bulawayo's water supply
network. The local council
said this would reduce the city's revenue base by
nearly half.
Winos Dube, chair of the Bulawayo Residents Association
(BURA), told IRIN
the government had erred in handing control of water
distribution to the
national water authority when the city was facing
serious water shortages
after two of its five supply dams had been
decommissioned because of
drought.
"We are against the idea of a
ZINWA takeover in the light of its record of
erratic service delivery to its
bulk water customers across the country. I
think ZINWA should stick to its
core business, which is to supply bulk
water. They should leave the
distribution to the city council, which has
managed to maintain supplies
through a number of crises," Dube said.
"ZINWA has failed in Chitungwiza
[a large town near the capital], Harare and
[other areas designated as
economic] growth points, so we do not need that
confusion here, because we
are already in a crisis they cannot manage."
Stringent water restrictions
have been imposed in the city since 2005, and
last week the council said it
would begin drawing water from boreholes it
had sunk to complement water
distribution via its ten designated water
collection points around the
city.
Instead of imposing ZINWA on Bulawayo, Dube said the government
should
assist the city by funding the construction of more dams and so avert
a
major water shortage crisis.
"ZINWA has not fulfilled any of its
previous promises, which include the
construction of a pipeline to connect
the city to idle dams around the
province. This issue needs to be
re-examined, because we can see ourselves
sinking deeper into crisis if
ZINWA is not stopped. It is a risk residents
are not willing to
take."
The residents' organisation was planning protests against the
Cabinet's
decision to allow ZINWA to assume control of water distribution,
in the hope
that the decision would be rescinded.
Bulawayo's
executive mayor, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, told IRIN that although
the council
was yet to receive formal notification of the takeover, ZINWA
officials had
already written to the council demanding that they hand over
the city's
consumer database, billing systems, the water and sewage
reticulation
network, and information on the staff working in the city's
water supply
section.
The mayor said there was no doubt that the takeover would result
in "total
distribution chaos", besides putting the environmental and public
health of
the city at risk.
"I hope this [taking over local water
distribution] is not true. If it is,
then we are heading for a major
catastrophe, not only in water supply but in
all service delivery. We stand
to lose more than 40 percent in revenue,
which comes from water
distribution. That will render us incapable of
sustaining other services
areas and we may have to cut down," Ndabeni-Ncube
told IRIN.
"The
ZINWA take over is also bad for the city because, by looking at their
record
in Harare, the authority cannot supply adequate water. They have
failed to
deliver water of good quality - a situation that may lead to
outbreaks of
waterborne diseases. ZINWA is a national disaster."
Despite attempts to
contact them, ZINWA officials were unavailable for
comment.
A recent
report by the auditor-general's office was damning about the
national water
authority's ability to provide adequate, high-quality water
and said ZINWA
had failed to provide water to small towns and the growth
points of Harare
and Chitungwiza, where it was already responsible for water
distribution.
Apart from poor service delivery, the authority was
also condemned for its
failure to run Harare's sewage reticulation networks,
which had led to raw
sewage being released into city's streams and
watercourses. The report had
disclosed that the parastatal required more
than US$80 million for urgent
maintenance work on the Harare and Chitungwiza
water and sewage reticulation
networks.
Zimbabwe is currently
suffering an acute shortage of foreign currency. The
country's economic
meltdown in the past eight years has been characterised
by a slew of other
shortages, including food, clean water, fuel and energy,
with unemployment
levels touching 80 percent and inflation reaching 1,281
percent - the
highest in the world.
Ignatius Chombo, Minister of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban
Development, confirmed that the Cabinet had approved
ZINWA's takeover of
Bulawayo's water distribution system, but refused to
comment on the concerns
raised by the city's authorities and
residents.
By
Violet Gonda
22 January 2007
At least 42 radios are reported to have
been confiscated by state security
agents in rural areas, allegedly to stop
people listening to independent
radio broadcasts. Several teachers are said
to have fled some schools while
others have been sent on forced leave as a
result of intimidation and
harassment in the Midlands and Mashonaland East
areas. The radios were
distributed to several groups, especially teachers,
to form organised radio
listening clubs in remote areas to allow people to
listen to independent
news broadcasts from outside Zimbabwe.
Raymond
Majongwe, the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said: "I know for a fact that government agents are visiting
schools and basically looking for the radios as well as getting specific
information about those people who belong to the PTUZ."
Majongwe said
so-called state agents are illegally forcing the teachers to
provide their
family histories to intimidate them. He said radios are being
confiscated
and unspecified action is threatened to those teachers who don't
hand them
over. Most of this is happening in the Midlands area, especially
Mberengwa
and Gokwe.
It's also reported that several teachers have also fled
Mashonaland East.
The Governor of Mashonaland East Ray Kaukonde, was seen on
national
television threatening people who had received radios. Majongwe
confirmed
seeing the governor saying the people should be given food and not
radios.
We were not able to get a comment from Kaukonde but Majongwe said:
"The
issue is not about food it's about access to information."
Just
last month we reported how two lawyers from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human
Rights were also subjected to harassment and intimidation by state
agents in
Gokwe when they were trying to serve them with a court order. The
police and
the state agents were ordered by the court to return several
radios that had
been confiscated but Gokwe police refused to serve the court
papers.
Majongwe told us that the court case will be heard at the
magistrates' court
in Gokwe on Tuesday.
There are no independent
broadcasts from Zimbabwe. A sustained assault on
press freedoms has resulted
in nearly all Zimbabwe's free media now
operating outside the country. The
government has been embarking on a
systematic and relentless campaign to
block stations like SW Radio Africa
and Studio 7 from being heard by jamming
broadcast frequencies.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
22 January 2007
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa has taken
time off from work at the
height of a crippling strike by doctors and nurses
in the country.
President of the Hospitals Doctors Association,
Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa, told
us that in his absence Defence Minister Sydney
Sekeramayi (a doctor by
profession) has taken over the role of negotiating
with the striking
doctors.
Nyamutukwa said contrary to reports
carried in the government media last
week, the authorities had fired no
doctors or nurses. But it is the timing
of Parirenyatwa's decision to take
his annual leave that has caused a stir,
both in government and among the
doctors.
A source said Parirenyatwa has allegedly lost the confidence of
his cabinet
colleagues to deal with the issue, fuelling reports that Robert
Mugabe could
have elbowed him off the case following a series of misleading
statements
from Health authorities.
The strike by at least 145 junior
doctors from the country's major hospitals
is now in its fifth week,
crippling the health delivery system. The doctors
want a near-hundred fold
pay increase. They currently earn Z$56,000 (US$224
at the official exchange
rate, less than US$20 at the parallel rate). They
are demanding a salary of
Z$5 million.
Calls by the government for the doctors to return to work
have fallen on
deaf ears as they have vowed to continue with the industrial
action.
Nyamutukwa said their position has always been clear that they will
not
budge until their demands are met.
'The sad thing is that
government is not serious. How else can you explain
Parirenyatwa going on
leave at this moment in time? Most doctors have lost
faith in him. Last time
the government ended up sending the army commander
to threaten the doctors
to go back to work. This time they have asked the
Defence Minister to take
over, it shows government does not trust the health
minister to come up with
a solution,' Nyamutukwa said.
He added that as far as he was concerned no
contact has been made yet by
Sekeramayi but that doctors were willing to
hear what he has to offer.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Monday January 22,
2007
The Guardian
It is not certain whether the sanctions against
the president of Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe, will be renewed when the EU
announces its decision on
February 20. It is a decision that will be made by
foreign ministers from
member states in a behind-closed-doors council
meeting tomorrow to be held
in Brussels. According to British parliament
sources, the French and
Portuguese government representatives will not
guarantee their support for
the sanctions against Mugabe being
reinforced.
The excesses of the Mugabe regime are getting worse: the
brutal treatment of
trade union leaders when they tried to hold a peaceful
protest last
September, the relaunch of Operation Murambatsvina, which
destroyed the
homes and livelihoods of the urban poor, and more recently the
vicious
suppression of a peaceful march by women last November. Other
problems
plaguing the country include: inflation around 2,000%; low life
expectancy -
34 for women, 37 for men; the highest number of orphans per
capita; a death
rate of 3,500 per week, exceeding Darfur, Iraq and
Afghanistan; 80%
unemployment; 80% below poverty line; more than 15,000
cases of organised
torture and violence documented since
2001.
Furthermore, the French government may be inviting Mugabe to the
France/Africa Summit in Cannes on February 14-16, which will cause uproar
among politicians and human rights activists.
A French government
invitation to Mugabe (in contravention of EU targeted
sanctions) will dismay
Zimbabweans worldwide. At a time when we are told
that people are dying in
their thousands from Aids, lack of medicine and
lack of food, this sends a
message that the French government is prepared to
overlook gross human
rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
If Mugabe's visit goes ahead, it will lend him
legitimacy and send the wrong
signals to would-be dictators in Africa and
elsewhere. The visit will also
present Mugabe with an opportunity to once
more claim on a world stage that
he is not to blame for what is happening in
Zimbabwe - France will be
complicit in this deception.
There is
considerable pressure on the French government from leaders of the
southern
African region to invite Mugabe. However, it would be interesting
to see
whether the African leaders would boycott this summit on the French
Riviera
if Mugabe were to be excluded.
Simon Chase
Action for Southern Africa
(Actsa)
The Raw Story
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Monday January 22,
2007
Harare- Pressure was growing Monday for Zimbabwe's
ruling
party to suspend a key veteran nationalist who has just published
a
book highly critical of President Robert Mugabe.
The Youth League of
Mugabe's ZANU-PF called for the suspension,
pending dismissal, of former
party secretary-general Edgar Tekere,
saying he was guilty of gross
indiscipline, the state-controlled
Herald newspaper said in a front page
story.
Tekere, nicknamed Two Boy, this month released a
highly
controversial autobiography titled A Lifetime of Struggle, in
which
he claimed former colleague Mugabe was now a liability to
Zimbabwe.
There has since been bitter criticism of Tekere in the
state-
controlled press, where he is been accused of lying, especially
over
claims he was instrumental in elevating Mugabe to party
leader.
At a weekend meeting of the ZANU-PF youth league, a resolution
was
passed to write to the national chairman of the party John Nkomo
to
lodge a complaint about Tekere, the Herald said.
The league
particularly objected to Tekere's portrayal of the late
vice-president Joshua
Nkomo, once a rival to Mugabe but brought into
Mugabe's government in 1987,
according to the report.
"Edgar Tekere claims to own the party, a party
that belongs to the
people of Zimbabwe. No individual can ever claim
ownership of the
party. The party belongs to the people," said a
statement.
"Such an act is an act of gross indiscipline and negates the
very
principle of democracy that several gallant sons and daughters of
the
soil lost their lives for," it added.
The league said Tekere who
has been increasingly critical of
Mugabe in the last few years should not
have been readmitted to the
party last year when party members knew he was
writing a book in
which Mugabe featured. Tekere had been expelled in
1988.
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
People's Daily
An
eight-member delegation from China's Gansu Province paid a four-day visit
to
Zimbabwe and left for South Africa on Monday.
During the visit, the
delegation-led by Gansu Province Vice- Governor Feng
Jianshe met the
Governor and Resident Minister of Mashonaland West Province
of Zimbabwe,
Nelson Samkange, and toured the Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital
and the
Chinhoyi University of Technology Hotel built by companies from
Gansu
Province.
Feng said the tour was aimed at strengthening existing
relations in order to
explore areas of cooperation for mutual
benefit.
He said he would invite more companies from the province to
invest in
Mashonaland West. The visit follows a similar visit to the Chinese
province
by a delegation led by Samkange in 2005.
Gansu, like
Mashonaland West, is an agricultural hub and the two provinces
would benefit
from sharing experiences and ideas.
"We hope this visit results in more
opportunities for all of us. We hold
fairs this time of the year and I would
like to invite businesspeople from
this province and the country at large to
participate so that they can
explore business opportunities," he
said.
The delegation also toured the scenic but mysterious Chinhoyi Caves
and the
new Chinhoyi Magistrates' Courts still under construction and
expected to be
completed later this year.
Samkange said there was
more land in Mashonaland West Province to establish
joint venture farming
initiatives.
He said agriculture in China is highly mechanized and
Zimbabwe would like to
partner with China in transforming its agriculture
through delivery of
machinery such as tractors. There is also room to
establish partnerships and
joint ventures.
In that regard, he said
Chinese companies should set up assembly plants for
tractors and other
machinery in the province as this will not only help in
the mechanization of
agriculture but will also create employment.
Chinhoyi Mayor Ray Kapesa
said that the town offered incentives for
investors through concessionary
rates and favorable terms.
Source: Xinhua
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
MUTARE - The
diamond-rich eastern border of Marange boiled over as police
fired teargas
to disperse waves of angry villagers who marched to the
diamond ownership of
fields now guarded by security agents. The incident
happened over the
weekend in Marange, Manicaland province.
The area has become restive,
with constant clashes between local villagers
and security agents. The
villagers claim that the diamond fields belong to
them as stated by a high
profile government delegation of cabinet ministers
in October last
year.
According to eye witnesses, villagers grouped themselves and
confronted the
security agents whom they accused of corruption. The
villagers, the
witnesses said, were stung by the rampant mining and illicit
dealing of
diamonds by security agents.
The security agents, who
include government trained youth militia, have
barred the villagers from
accessing the diamond fields with the government
saying it wants to embark
on organized mining.
"Police had to fire teargas, and still that was not
enough. We only
retreated after they threatened to use live ammunition. We
armed ourselves
with sticks and shovels and we just wanted to mine the
diamonds. But the
police became confrontational and managed to push them for
a distance of
about 50 meters. They retreated but came back later in a
larger number. I
think they had reinforced," said an eye witness who said
the incident
happened on Sunday.
Villagers were talking about the
incident yesterday when a Zimbabwe
Journalists.com crew arrived in the
area.
"We are restrategising and we will pounce on them again. We mean to
make
their stay here as uncomfortable as possible until they move. They will
have
to kill us because we are going to continuer fighting to be allowed to
enjoy
the resources given to us by our ancestors," said John Masibhera, a
local
villager.
The officer commanding police Manicaland province,
Obert Benge said he was
unaware of the incident.
"I have not yet
received those reports. But we are talking to the local
leadership for them
to understand that we want to restore order in the area.
In the long run
they will be the beneficiaries but some of them don't seem
to understand
that," said Benge.
At the centre of conflict are diamond rich fields
which transformed some of
the villagers' lives from poor peasants to instant
cash rich high spenders
through illegal mining and trading of the
diamonds.
The villagers are spurred on by statements made by some of
President Robert
Mugabe's ministers last year, encouraging the villagers to
mine the precious
stones. One of the ministers, Didymus Mutasa , who as
minister in charge of
state security and land reform is one of Mugabe's most
senior and trusted
allies, told the villagers that the diamonds were a gift
from the ancestors
meant for the villagers. Mutasa and he fellow ministers
made such statements
in late October as they solicited for votes from
villagers for rural
district council elections.
But as the government
moves to restore order in the area, the villagers
cannot understand how they
have suddenly become unwanted persons in the
diamond fields.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 22 January
Godwin Gandu
Senior Zimbabwe government officials,
including the police, have been sucked
into a diamond smuggling scandal,
which is believed to have cost the country
about US$30-million in lost
revenue in the past eight months. In April last
year, thousands of villagers
descended on Marange, a district in the eastern
Manicaland province, to pan
for diamonds with the permission of the
political leadership in the
province. Police officers probing the diamond
racket told the Mail &
Guardian the country had lost millions of dollars
because the "whole mining
of the diamonds wasn't properly controlled, hence
everyone joined in,
including police officers in the province". What is
worrying Harare is the
US$50-million in annual trade revenue the country
stands to lose if the
European Union decides to slap a blanket ban on local
diamonds.
The EU's concern follows reports that diamonds were
being smuggled into
South Africa, bypassing the certification process. The
EU also fears that
uncertified diamonds from the Democratic Republic of
Congo have been mixed
into the illegally exported Zimbabwean diamonds. The
Minerals Marketing
Corporation of Zimbabwe is the sole body that can certify
Zimbabwean
diamonds for export. The prospect of a ban has sent shivers down
the spines
of central bank officials, as the export of minerals is
Zimbabwe's greatest
source of foreign exchange. "It's been messy," says John
Robertson, an
economic consultant. "Top officials have been sending wrong
information and
marketing the diamonds out of the country. They kept all the
information
under wraps. Now that has been discovered, they are all
embarrassed." The
ban would also mean huge job losses, as three big diamond
mines would be
closed.
At least three ministers in Manicaland
mobilised villagers to pan for
diamonds after international prospecting
rights to the area expired. The
diamonds were subsequently sold on the black
market, bypassing the Minerals
Marketing Corporation. At Zanu PF's
conference in December, Mugabe expressed
concern about government officials'
stampede for diamonds in Manicaland.
"The same chaos that characterised land
reform," he said, "is currently
obtaining in [sic] diamonds." Mugabe said
his government needed to take
action because it was "shameful", insisting
"everything had to be
organised". But inside sources said he was aware some
of his officials had
joined the rush for the gems. Recent events have
prompted Parliament to
launch an investigation into the looting of diamonds.
"The probe will
certainly open a can of worms," said Innocent Gonese,
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change legislator for Mutare. Gonese, who
comes from
Manicaland, said: "Senior government officials encouraged
villagers to pan
for diamonds. It was a free-for-all and it's difficult to
rule out that they
[ministers in the province] benefited given the haphazard
manner in which
the mineral was mined."
But police spokesperson
Oliver Mandipaka said "everything has now been
brought under control". He
could not confirm that senior government
officials were being investigated.
This week Joel Kabuza, the chairman of
Parliament's portfolio committee on
mines and energy, said senior government
officials were involved in "shady
diamonds deals", adding that his committee
would deal with all the
offenders. It is not clear when the parliamentary
investigation will be
completed. The US-based World Diamond Council last
week added its voice to
the controversy, probing allegations that diamonds
were being smuggled into
South Africa and blended with smuggled diamonds
from the DRC. Both the EU
probe and the parliamentary investigation are
bound to zero in on retired
General Solomon Mujuru, husband of
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, whose
company, River Ranch Mine, is involved in
diamond mining in Beitbridge, in
southern Zimbabwe. It is alleged that River
Ranch mixed local diamonds with
illicit diamonds from the DRC. River Ranch
refuted the allegations.
IBNlive
Solana
Pyne
CNN-IBN
Posted Monday , January 22, 2007 at 14:33
AGAINST
THE ODDS: With unemployment hovering around 80 per cent,
prostitution is the
only work most girls can find.
Harare (Zimbabwe): One of a lucky Zimbabwean
teens who made it to
university, 18-year-old Tariro Manyamba studies
Accounting at the University
of Zimbabwe, but for her, the opportunity has a
hefty price tag.
She says her tuition, which has more than doubled in
recent semesters, costs
more than what an average government worker makes in
a year.
To pay for it, Tariro spends seven nights a week at night
clubs, and has sex
with as many as three men per night for about $ 5
each.
With unemployment hovering around 80 per cent, prostitution is
the only work
girls like Tariro can find.
"I was very afraid
because when my friends told me that you can do this, it
was my first time.
At first I said 'No, no, no', but because I was just
looking for the school
fees I started doing this," she says.
Tariro's plight has become
sadly common among Zimbabwean students,
struggling as their economy crumbles
around them.
The country, once known as the breadbasket of southern
Africa, now has the
highest inflation in the world, topping 1,000 per cent
earlier this year.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), life
expectancy for women here
is just 34 years.
But many still strive
for the middle-class life they used to take for
granted. "When I finish the
university, I will go get a nice job," says
Tariro.
MDC has taken the political lead in
2007 by unveiling novel and exciting activities that prepare us for change this
year in a comprehensive agenda. The President is on the road for his update on
the extent of the changing and deepening crisis. Each member of the National
Standing Committee is responsible for an area in the 2007 Change Agenda. The
Vice President’s ‘New Zimbabwe Series' rolled out at Crowne Plaza Hotel on
Tuesday last week to the delight of Hararians. The 2nd activity was last Friday
while the 3rd was held in Kuwadzana constituency today.
New
Zimbabwe Series – Launched At Crowne Plaza Hotel – Tuesday Last Week
The first Policy topic of many in the ‘New Zimbabwe Series’ attracted a
full house, with NGOs, academics, diplomats, activists and public, present.
Addressed by Economists John Robertson and Peter Robinson the meeting was
chaired by Professor Gordon Chavunduka. Presentations focussed on ongoing work
of both scholars. Robertson detailed the importance of ‘Property Rights’ if
Zimbabwe is to move forward whoever comes to power. He emphasised how impossible
without these guarantees it is to get support required for investment for the
reconstruction of our country. Robinson, a member of the team that gave us the
brilliant MDC 'Restart Programme' document is now part of the team working on
the framework for a post Mugabe reconstruction programme by the Zimbabwe
Institute. He outlined the team's inclusive complex strategy to get the country
off its knees onto its feet.
At question time Robinson stated that our
country’s history past and present is part of what Zimbabweans must confront
honestly, engage in as the whole society, for healing and reconstruction,
differing from his colleague. Questions showed that the audience followed the
speakers closely, as these were many and to the point.
I was asked to
give the Vote of Thanks. I focussed on getting the audience’s morale lifted, our
courage and faith in MDC reinforced, where many are demoralised. I took those
present on my personal journey during the Liberation war when we worked hard and
gave up hope of ever returning to a free Zimbabwe, when Lancaster House secured
the settlement which we heard on the BBC radio news to get most of us in the
diaspora packing and to Zimbabwe for reconstruction. 1/3rd of Zimbabweans have
emigrated, given up hope of returning home today, I believe like we did, most
will return when the change we are working so tirelessly to achieve does
eventuate.
The Mugabe regime abandoned the Chimurenga Agenda long ago,
hence the rise of MDC whose work for many is taking too long. The 2007 MDC
programme is part of the steps taking us to the Change. New books like Edgar
Tekere’s out now, Enos Nkala’s to be released after his death, Judith Garfield
Todd and others' soon to hit the market are part of the tools to fuel our
debates needed to build our new Zimbabwe through consensus among ourselves and
consensus building in our society. MDC has played its part in providing a
national leader Morgan Tsvangirai who has united Zimbabweans since 1963. The
‘New Zimbabwe Series’ is part of this support mechanism to prepare for his
Presidency in our new Zimbabwe.
All Night Prayer Meeting - Christian
Alliance Women
The second activity is in the Christian Alliance ‘Save
Zimbabwe Campaign’. At 10.p.m. last Friday the tireless Grace Kwinjeh achieved a
milestone when with the newly formed Christian Alliance Women in the ‘Save
Zimbabwe Campaign’ they organised the 2nd 'All Night Prayer' meeting at
Borrowdale Neighbourhood Church. A male support team of Rev Berejena and Jonah
Gokova came with a vibrant pastor who made our evening with his inspirational
sermon. The format of the prayer was an education for me. It was disciplined,
professionally handled, a building block in the DRC process and Change, with
grassroots women in the lead. Males took the service and left at midnight to
sleep I thought, as I was already tired. I was envious.
Grassroots women
took us through the night’s prayer programme to demonstrate faith at work. There
were enlightening procedures and pronouncements which forced me to reflect on
the just, tolerant, democratic and inclusive Zimbabwe we want. At 6 am the next
morning discussion took place on the type of food for the next meeting. Rev
Chibwape who took the night’s programme, sharing with us her life experiences,
leading us in song, led the response to the food discussion. She taught us that
the prayers were a sacrifice. To participate she fasted and worked all the day
before to give the best of herself. After a fast she advised that it is best for
the body to take light food as we did at 1a.m. I listened in awe and concluded
that I must seriously train to endure the rigorous 8 hours of the next Prayer
meeting in 2 weeks time!
Kuwadzana Rally - 2007
The 3rd
activity we held today. The Organising Department's 2007 programme following
the 2006 structures’ audit for Party preparedness for the DRC started with a
bang at Kuwadzana district in Harare today. Attending as National Executive
Committee (NEC) member supervising Harare Province I was part of the 25 000 plus
present. Harare Province with 14 seats in Parliament holds the largest number of
MDC Parliamentary seats. The Kuwadzana Rally this afternoon is one of the
party's most empowering, exciting, best-organised and largest constituency rally
so far. It is one of several activities to kick-start the DRC programme in the
Province. These activities will simultaneously take place around Zimbabwe to
inform members, supporters, sympathisers and others on the DRC project whose
theme is:
The Time to Act is Now!
The Kuwadzana activity
follows President Morgan Tsvangirai's press conference this week at Harvest
House where he presented the Party's analysis of 2006 and spelt out our 2007
Way-forward Plan. Rallies are part of the tools available to opposition parties
in this difficult environment to mobilise and inform Zimbabweans about what we
in 'Save Zimbabwe Campaign' a broad coalition led by Christian Alliance have
agreed to do.
Paul Madzore, Provincial Organising Secretary was Master
of Ceremonies at the rally, a role he carried out with excellence. He led in
song, slogan and humorous anecdotes, which kept the people gathered entertained.
Speakers were inspirational. MP Madzimure, first speaker on behalf of
Parliamentarians, stated that all Members of Parliament across the political
divide agree that harmonised elections must be held in 2008. The next to speak
was the Provincial Chairperson Morgan Femai whose sloganeering always excites
the crowd and press present. His message was brief and to the point about the
Harare Province 2007 programme and policy on 2008 harmonised elections. The
Youth speaker gave his song and message, followed by my representing of the
Women’s Assembly National Chairperson Amai Lucia Matibenga who is attending the
Nairobi World Social Forum where she is presenter in 2 panels. Her message to
the women and girls was to organise themselves to increase their numbers by
registering to vote now, participate in the Christian Alliance Women’s All Night
Prayer Meetings to Save Zimbabwe and to enlist a minimum of 10 people each who
will definitely vote for MDC in 2008.
The next speaker was the National
Organising Secretary Elias Mudzuri a popular figure in Harare as its elected
Mayor, even though dismissed by Chombo excited the crowd by just standing up to
speak. Mudzuri took the constituency through the disgusting conditions they live
in, of flowing raw sewerage, uncollected refuse, lack of water, electricity cuts
and numerous other Makwavarara imposed deprivations. His question to the rally
was ‘where on earth do people pay for nonexistent services as Zimbabweans do?’
He requested of the crowd that in 2007 we change our accommodating attitude in
the face of unprecedented abuse by the Mugabe regime. The DRC programme is a
concrete programme to bring change quickly.
The Secretary General
Tendai Biti rendered a brilliant speech in which he included statistics which
shocked the crowd as he spelt out the death toll under Ian Smith during the
entire armed struggle where the figure of dead is put at 20 000. Today Biti
stated we are burying 4 000 people a week which is 208 000 a year. These figures
tell us how our numbers are diminishing at an unprecedented pace. He spoke about
the new life expectancy age heavily reduced by Mugabe’s policies and analysed
Gono’s excesses on personal expenditures to match the national budget. Biti
asked the rally if Gono is now God. The crowds today were ecstatic with the
quality of speeches and showed their delight with their attentiveness and quick
responses to speakers.
Nelson Chamisa the Constituency Member of
Parliament was asked to give the Vote of Thanks only to render moving details of
his efforts to develop the constituency, which at every turn are rebuffed by the
authorities. He gave an example of his raising funds to build a constituency
library, which the Chombo bureaucracy has refused to allow to proceed to
completion, as they reject the donor of the facility. The residents responded to
Chamisa with support and assurances that they will re elect him to complete his
development projects under an MDC government in 2008!
Madzore led us in
the last song, the final repeat of today’s new slogans for 2007,
Call: We will Vote in
2007!
Response: Under A New
Constitution!
Call: Mugabe Must
Go!
Response: To Save Zimbabwe
A powerful
prayer ended the rally with us all regenerated. The rallies will roll throughout
the country to prepare everyone for the Change bearing event!
Sekai
Holland
Harare – 20 January 2007
The Herald
(Harare)
January 22, 2007
Posted to the web January 22,
2007
Harare
CHARGES of various clearance certificates have been
increased by between 100
and over 1 000 percent owing to the ever-increasing
cost of stationery.
Firearm dealers, visitors in transit, Zimbabweans in
the Diaspora and people
wishing to be employed by the Government and various
other institutions need
to be vetted and cleared by the police through
various processes.
Old Price New Price
Firearms dealer
certificate $20 000 $150 000
Firearms certificate after import $10 000
$100 000
Renewal of firearms certificate $5 000 $25
000
Replacement of firearm certificate $5 000 $30 000
Import
permit $10 000 $100 000
Ammunition supply permit $5 000 $30
000
The Criminal Investigations Department Head Office, has been
overwhelmed by
people requiring various services but sometimes their
operations are
negatively affected due to inadequate resources. Despite the
time spent by
the law enforcement agents processing documents, services that
include
change of company representative were not paid for while just a $1
000 was
paid for a variation authority order.
As from yesterday,
people wishing to change company ownership were required
to fork out $30 000
for change of company representative and $50 000 to
enable one to have or
apply for a variation order.
Police spokesperson, Chief Inspector Andrew
Phiri yesterday said people from
the diaspora now needed to have their
various documents processed through
Zimbabwean embassies.
"To attain
any clearance certificate for various needs, they have to deposit
US$75 in
our Standard Chartered Bank account," Chief Insp Phiri said.
The firearms
business is an area were security experts said needed stringent
control to
rid all loopholes and any possibilities that might slowly see
armed nature
of crimes increase.
A major concern, the experts said, also lay in the
smuggling of small arms
like pistols within the region, hence the need to
see harmonisation of arms
related laws amongst countries and to introduce a
cumbersome process to be
able to identify serious and genuine firearm
dealers.
"A firearms dealer's licence is now $150 000 from $20 000 while
charges for
the renewal permit went up to $100 000 from $15 000," he
said.
Chief Insp Phiri said a firearm certificate after import is now
$100 000
from $10 000 while an ammunition supply permit which was $5 000 is
now $50
000.
"A firearm certificate for three days is now $50 000 up
from $10 000,
renewal of firearm certificate which was $5 000 is now $25 000
while $30 000
is now required to replace a firearm certificate," Chief Insp
Phiri said.
A fee for an import permit, which was $10 000 has been hiked
to $100 000
while a dealers import permit and temporary import permit are
all now pegged
at $100 000.
Transit and Auctioneers permits are all
pegged at $100 000.
"Other services we offer on a daily basis, which
include notification of
change of address and a 24-hour police certificate
now costs $10 000," chief
Insp Phiri said.
People's Daily
Preparations for the annual birthday celebration of President
Robert Mugabe
were officially launched in Harare on Saturday, local
newspapers reported on
Sunday.
In his address at the 12th ordinary
session of the ruling Zanu- PF party
national youth executive, the ruling
party's Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde
Absolom Sikhosana said the event,
which is held annually to mark Mugabe's
birthday, is an all-encompassing
occasion that recognizes the immense
contribution made by the President in
shaping the history of Zimbabwe.
Sikhosana was quoted by The Sunday Mail
as saying that all youths should put
political differences aside and take
part in the celebrations.
"The 21st February Movement has never been a
political event. It is not
about Zanu-PF but all the youths in this country.
We are going to ensure
that all youths, whether they be in sport, church, or
MDC, are included in
the celebrations because we are all Zimbabweans," said
Sikhosana.
He said youths should endeavor to emulate the life of
President Mugabe by
shunning corrupt tendencies and leading upright
lives.
This year's main commemorations will be held in the Midlands
capital of
Gweru and Sikhosana said the event will be bigger than last
year's function
which was held in Mutare.
About 150 million Zimbabwe
dollars (600,000 U.S. dollars) has been budgeted
for this year's event and a
fundraising committee has already started
sourcing for the funds from new as
well as traditional donors.
This year's 21st February Movement
celebrations will be held under the theme
"Youth Empowerment for a
Prosperous and Peaceful Zimbabwe", which encourages
productivity amongst the
youths as a means of achieving economic prosperity.
The 21st February
Movement is a youth oriented organ that was initiated in
1986 as a
registered welfare organization. It gives young people an
opportunity to
interact with the President and also aims to provide
opportunities for
youths to take part in social development and recreational
activities.
Born on February 21, 1924 at Kutama Mission in Zvimba,
Mugabe who turns 83
this year, is a revered African statesman well known for
advocating social
justice and the economic emancipation of his
people.
Source: Xinhua
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa
I am joining a chorus
that has been sung in the previous weeks by so many
people. All people today
engaged with the politics of our country: Morgan
Tsvangirai, Jonathan Moyo,
Arthur Mutambara, Gugulethu Moyo, Edgar Tekere,
Pius Ncube etc have all been
saying that this year will be a different year.
I have been very
sceptical as to me I thought those were people just being
excitable with no
reason to be so. Yet I again find myself almost saying the
same things.
There is no doubting that there are movements within ZANU PF
that save as a
pointer to a weakening party, slowly on its way to demise.
President Robert
Mugabe himself has said that he fears that if he leaves his
party will be
weaker and could surely face defeat at the polls.
This is admission in
its clearest terms and we can all read the facts from
him. Those who deny
are simply being very defeatist, the defeatism that has
now become
characteristic of ZANU PF. Yet what he and others in ZANU PF who
still want
him to extend his term are saying is that he and he alone is the
panacea. We
have heard this recycled dogma for the past twenty-seven years
from the time
we believed, to a time we doubted and to this day when we are
completely
seeing that as a fallacy.
At this moment in time there seems to be three
forces in Zimbabwe: forces
for mild change; forces for radical change and
those that are intending the
existence of the status quo. It all seems to me
that the forces for mild
change are also the forces for abrupt change:
wanting to see a quick fix and
boom, the engine is running! Understandable
because there has been so much
happening in Zimbabwe and honestly people
want to see some movement
including narrowing down the target of the
revolution to one person; Robert
Mugabe and if he goes then hallelujah, all
is done.
The forces of mild change are the ones who are clamouring for
Mugabe to go
soon; they are slightly different from those that are for no
change at all.
To me we find those who are intending mild and abrupt change
within the
ranks of ZANU PF itself. These are the Mujurus etc whose main
reason is that
Mugabe must go because he should give others the chance, fine
and fair in
their Party, ZANU PF can not do the campaigning for us.
Unfortunately not
only ZANU PF is in the mild change business; they are
joined with some
opposition-minded people who also want a new beginning and
want it now.
The mild change phenomenon was largely displayed recently by
the likes of
Gideon Gono with his now very infamous zero-drop monetary
policy which has
in reality not taken the country anywhere. They can also be
shown by the
abrupt policies that ZANU PF has introduced in Zimbabwe: ESAP
where we were
fooled by the World Bank that we could grow our economy to the
size of the
UK in 20-40 years (remember vision 2020?) and even the abrupt
nature of the
land reform and noble ideas such as indigenisation which were
clearly
wrongly and wrongfully implemented.
It is an obvious public
planning fiasco. Politically the mild change will be
the removal of Robert
Mugabe and the choosing of a new president from within
the ranks of ZANU PF.
It may be John Nkomo with the hope that people from
the Midlands and
Matabeleland will easily forget Gukurahundi. That is not a
remote
possibility: no sooner had John Nkomo announced his intention to
stand was
he assigned to attend the inauguration of Joseph Kabila in the DRC
where
most regional leaders were represented. Get me right there was a time
I
really thought John Nkomo could have easily replaced Robert Mugabe; thus
between 1997-2000 when he was actually a darling of most Zimbabweans across
the political divide.
He seemed to be a person keen on bringing order
to the country; fighting
corruption and firing incompetent mayors. As a
Minister of Home Affairs he
had also attempted to quell the situation on the
farms at the peak of the
farm invasions by instructing police to arrest
anyone on the farms but
remember how he was shot-down by Robert Mugabe who
soon after his return
from the many trips that he generously got from the
West then; condoned the
violent farm invasions as peaceful demonstrations
despite the deaths on the
farms. It is at this point that John Landa Nkomo
was cowed into submission
and so went his chance of ruling the
country.
To this group of ZANU PF leaders who are for mild and abrupt
change; the
country must all be honest enough to tell ZANU PF two things;
one that they
are a former revolutionary party and two; that the
responsibility to redeem
themselves lies solely with them. The honest truth
to ZANU PF is that it is
slowly becoming irrelevant as their years of
misrule compounded their
blatant lack of respect for the Zimbabwean
citizenry is now making it very
difficult to market even their most
treasured hegemony: the authorship of
the liberation struggle. So bad have
they sunk that it now seems legitimate
to say that there is new generation
of liberation fighters in Zimbabwe:
those that are fighting against the
black hermits and aristocrats in our
country!
Their quick fix, mild
change mentality is based on the need to perpetuate
the advantages ZANU PF
has gained politically and economically. They can
even afford to convince
the ready-to-conceive international community by
enticing elements of the
opposition into a "government of national unity";
something which I really
do not understand in a democracy. Politically the
country could be taken to
the 1987 situation where two major parties are
together, their leaders have
influential positions but nothing on the ground
is really
changing.
But this solution does not open the gates wide enough because
there are
certain things that won't be done. Such issues as Gukurahundi may
not be
addressed as again there will be talk of reconciliation. The gates
will be
closed to justice. There will be a golden handshake for people who
in
reality may have taken advantage of a very young officer then; Perence
Shiri, who was twenty-one and very easy to manipulate. Surely someone must
answer and tell the nation why such a young person could have been given
such an enormous task.
But Gukurahundi of course is not the only
injustice in our country; there is
still the likes of Ian Smith and Peter
Walls who have to answer for Chimoyo,
Mulungushi, Nyadzonia, Murogoro,
Mboroma, Tembwe etc. and also the deaths of
Tonderai Machiridza, Tichaona
Chiminya, Talent Mabika, Martin Olds etc who
ZANU PF also butchered. The
mild change brigade will deny us that. Thus
politically we would be
repeating something similar to 1987.
Economically the mild change would
want to be attractive to the World Bank,
get a line of credit and possibly
get the "economy going". This is all too
easy as it then takes us to the
1990s period when we entered a phase of
borrowed success that we naturally
surrendered the moment we realised that
the Brenton Woods is not a hospital
for ailing economies but just an
advisory centre. This will not help
us.
The mild change and quick fix that we are slowly adapting to is not
going to
work. The problem in Zimbabwe is not Robert Mugabe but it is a
whole system
that demands a complete overhaul. The problem in Zimbabwe is
present in
abundance in the ruling party but it is also there in the
opposition
circles. It is a very Zimbabwean problem. Our problem politically
has been
that of a political monoculture that has reflected in all walks of
life.
The economy has caught fire because naturally it is the barometer
by which
political health is measured. The USA tends to think that countries
where
human rights are respected and where there is democracy tend to grow
their
economies easily; for once I think they are correct although China is
a very
reflective exception. Alex Magaisa sometime wrote that people get the
leaders they deserve, I can not agree more.
If our culture does not
change we continue to nurture the same leaders that
we currently have; the
same ZANU PF that we are so desperate to replace. We
need a protracted
struggle that shall bring in radical change. We have to
change our mindsets.
We seem to be having that realisation where there is a
movement that seems
to try addressing the problem of Zimbabwe not within a
context of ZANU PF's
rule or misrule but within a context of the challenges
that all history has
bestowed upon us.
By history I am also looking at an holistic approach; I
am looking at the
phases right from things that we can be proud of: the
lasting architecture
at Great Zimbabwe and other madzimbahwes, the invention
of the mbira, the
invention of the clay pot, the famed iron-smiths of our
iron age, the defeat
of the Portuguese invaders by Changamire Dombo, the
invention by the same
person of the mulomo akhumba fighting method (cow-horn
formation made famous
by Tshaka), the attempt by the Rozvi to explore the
moon, the breeding of
seeds by Dlembeu, the rebellion from Tshaka by
Mzilikazi and Soshangane, the
building of a composite nation by Lobengula,
the Anglo-Ndebele War, the
First and Second Chimurenga etc.
Yet by
history we also mean our shortcomings; the colonisation of Zimbabwe
in 1890,
the declaration of UDI; the bombings at Nyadzonia, Tembwe, Chimoyo,
Mboroma,
Mulungushi, Murogoro etc, the atrocities in Matabeleland and the
deaths of
opposition supporters since 1999. Such understanding of our very
wealthy and
yet also very challenging past will enable us the new beginning
we intend.
For this to happen I think we have to realise Robert Mugabe is
not the only
problem, he is just part of it. Even if a new government
comprising of all
the current voices in the opposition is to be in power
tomorrow our problems
do not go away as fast. We will still be knocking the
doors of the World
Bank again as beggars yet we are endowed with resources.
A protracted
struggle that takes into account all the concerns and
aspirations of every
Zimbabwean; allowing for example people of Matabeleland
and the Midlands and
every other region that feels so an honest debate among
themselves on issues
such as a federation, will go a long way. A protracted
struggle will seek
justice for the Second Chimurenga atrocities and the
Gukurahundi genocide.
At the end we will have to redefine ourselves by
setting ourselves free from
guilty consciences from an undesirable past and
try and build from the
strengths of the desirable part of our past. A
prognosis that seeks to cure
by just looking at the good and sweeping the
bad under the carpet will not
take us anywhere. It will be as moribund as
the culture that we are seeing
today.
It's only when we have honestly redefined ourselves that we can
now go on
and confidently position ourselves for global leadership. Yes, the
dream
that the lullabies of the World Bank put us through, sweet as it was;
that
we can be better than the UK, is something that I believe is
realisable. But
only when we stop the quick fix that we want. History has
placed us where we
are and it took long. We have to relive that past but
having rectified our
mistakes.
If we go to the Ndebele site called
Inkhundla for example we see people
really hurt with the treatment they have
got from their countrymen. Surely
we can not collectively continue to
dismiss them as tribalists. Points that
are raised there have been
necessitated by a bad patch in history that so
far has not been rectified.
The gown that Zimbabwe is can be sartorially
impeccable only if we sew it
with the cloth that we all want. If people from
Matabeleland would prefer to
be in a federation I do not honestly think it's
for people in Mashonaland to
decide. A simple referendum in that part of our
country should show us their
preference.
Coming to "national unity" and "re-unification" I am really
disturbed what
that means and the intentions behind that. I do not believe
Zimbabweans are
too naďve not to realise that we are interested in
democracy. this whole
point of creating parties that are clearly different
and then later on you
want to make an amalgam of some sought is clearly for
purposes of
expedience. In last year's elections in the USA the elections
were won by
the Democrats but clearly they were very close. Now do we intend
to see the
Republicans and the Democrats forming a government of national
unity?
Of course, no! In so far as I want people to be united I am not a
person
wanting to see the creation of a democracy that breaks itself apart
and
amalgamate parties for expedience sake. I believe our focus in Zimbabwe
should remain one that seeks wider avenues for democracy; where the minority
is listened to, where the majority is listened and both are living together
in harmony. We want a Zimbabwe where the opposition is in parliament as a
result of free and fair elections where obviously there was a winner and a
loser.
I believe in a true democracy where the opposition has a right
to be
consulted on matters of national interest and their role to oppose is
not
interfered with by unjust laws and use of force. I believe in a
democracy
where everyone is an informed participant; the judiciary is
functioning and
everyone exercises their right to choose freely without
prejudice. I believe
if we want to achieve this in our country journey's end
does not come with
the departure of Robert Mugabe. Zimbabweans must realise
that the departure
of Robert Mugabe will not be the achievement of democracy
and success; but
it may just be the start of a longer journey to redeem our
pride as a
country that can stand up among the best not in Africa but in the
World!
JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA
Contact: dhewah@hotmail.com or mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk
00447984254830
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Chenjerai Chitsaru
TWO events with ethnical
connotations occurred last week: the first was the
assassination of Hrant
Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, gunned
down on Friday,
presumably by another Turk, but this one of Turkish origin.
Dink
published a newspaper in Istanbul and wrote articles, reminding the
Turkish
people of the massacre by Turkish troops of Armenians in 1915, the
final
days of the Ottoman Empire, a year after the beginning of the First
World
War.
On Saturday, in Bulawayo, the second city of Zimbabwe, a memorial
service
was held in a Catholic church for the victims of the 1980s massacre
of a
reported 20 000 people by Zimbabwean soldiers trained in North Korea,
and
known as the 5 brigade.
There was no such memorial service in
Harare, the capital - at least, not
one the media were informed of, or one
which received wide publicity.
In any case, by its very distinct nature, the
memorial service had to be
held in Bulawayo, where the ethnic group - the
Ndebele - constituted the
majority of the people massacred, during what was
variously called, by the
government, the "bandit" or the "dissident"
war.
It is to be presumed, controversially, it would seem, that the
soldiers who
killed the Ndebele were Shona or Shona-speaking.
In fact,
the massacre, eventually accepted by the president of the republic,
Robert
Mugabe, as a "madness", was alleged to have targeted the Ndebele
because
they constituted the majority of the members of the political party,
Zapu,
which the government alleged plotted the overthrow of the
Zanu-dominated
government.
Zanu, at the time, was dominated by the majority Shona -
these facts have to
be highlighted for a clearer understanding of the ethnic
element in the
conflict.
Hence, the similarity between that memorial
service and the murder of the
journalist of Armenian origin in
Istanbul.
If many Zimbabweans find this juxtaposition vexatious, this
will be
understandable. Our population is dominated by young people, most of
them
with only a hazy memory of the origins of
Gukurahundi.
Incidentally, the man who killed Dink was reported on Sunday
to have
confessed, having been identified by his father, after the police
flashed
his photograph on TV.
Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe, no such
positive developments have characterized
the search for the perpetrators of
Gukurahundi.
At the memorial service, someone called for Mugabe to be
hauled before the
international courts concerned with the trials of people
for crimes against
humanity or genocide, such as Charles Taylor of Liberia
and Slobadan
Milosevic of Yugoslavia, who died before he was
sentenced.
It is probably undeniable that the surviving victims of
Gukurahundi and
their sympathisers are blinded by emotion when they speak on
the massacres.
Yet this should not detract from the fact that, unless the
government or,
particularly Mugabe, come up with an open, frank and sincere
apology - at
the very least - Gukurahundi could be the permanent albatross
to every
effort by people of goodwill, on both sides of the ethnic or
political
divide, to bury the dark past.
It has been argued that the
5 Brigade was not specifically assigned the job
of eliminating the
dissidents because they were Ndebele.
To counter this, survivors have told of
soldiers boarding buses deep in
rural Matabeleland and interrogating
passengers in Shona. If this was not to
emphasise the point that the Ndebele
were the targets, then we might as well
dismiss Gukurahundi as the figment
of someone's fevered imagination.
Gukurahundi, unfortunately, was real.
When Mugabe himself finally admitted
that it was a "madness" he had decided
it could not, by any stretch of the
imagination, be anything remotely
related to the liberation struggle, which
had been his litany in the early
years after the massacre.
He and Joshua Nkomo, at the height of the
conflict, exchanged invective
difficult to imagine after they resolved,
later, to sign the Unity Accord.
From his exile in London, Nkomo said
publicly Mugabe had sent people to kill
him. Mugabe himself spoke of Nkomo
being the leader of the dissidents.
Enos Nkala, now a champion of
Mugabe's removal from power, spoke of the need
to cut off "the head of the
snake" if the dissidents were to be subdued.
The Unity Accord itself, it must
be remembered, was signed in 1987 - six
years after the conflict started,
with the loss of 20 000 people, some of
them women and
children.
Nkomo, it has been said, was horrified by the prospect of
leading a Jonas
Savimbi-like guerrilla war against the government, and the
deaths that would
follow.
Nkomo may have died in 1999 believing that he
had saved his country from a
terrible civil war in which hundreds might have
died.
It is doubtful, however, if he imagined that, in 2007, a group of
his former
supporters would gather in a church in Bulawayo and demand that
his fellow
signatory to the Unity Accord be given the Milosevic or Taylor
treatment at
The Hague.
Obviously, there are people in Zanu PF today
who have no stomach for
confronting the realities of the political
consequences of Gukurahundi. Like
Nathan Shamuyarira, they are quite ready
to rub into the dirt the deep,
unhealed wounds of the Gukurahundi
survivors.
To openly tell them that all the 20 000 people killed by the 5
brigade
richly deserved their fate is so insulting, insensitive and,
ultimately
infuriating even Shona-speaking people are outraged.
The
Armenians of Turkey are now calling on the European Union to forget
admitting Turkey. The country has faced other problems in its drive to join
the EU, but the campaign by the Turkish Armenians could be the most
formidable argument to be picked on by the EU to deny membership.
The
Zimbabwe government must face this reality too: denying the gravity of
Gukurahundi to the success of Zimbabwe as a nation would be absolutely
injurious both economically and politically.
Turkey, let us not
forget, has a problem convincing EU critics that its
attitude towards the
unity of Cyprus is positive. That island is still
divided and it is the
opinion of many EU members that it is not Greece, but
Turkey, which is the
major obstacle.
There have been more serious ethnic conflicts in Africa:
both Rwanda and
Burundi have still not settled completely the ethnic
tensions between the
Hutus and the Tutsis. Yet both countries recognized
that the rest of the
world would not co-operate with them unless they forged
real unity between
the two groups.
South Africa, at one time, reeled
from the conflict between the Xhosa and
the Zulu, particularly during the
pugnacious period of the Inkatha Freedom
Party. The leaders of the two
groups decided it was not worth it to divider
the country over what they
must have seen as a profitless argument over
which tribe was
superior.
Zambia, fortunately, has overcome the myth, forged by UNIP at
the beginning
of independence in 1964, that only the Bemba could rule the
country.
Michael Sata's defeat in last year's elections, demonstrated
amply that
other ethnic groups, particularly the Bantu Botatwe, led by the
majority
Tonga, had come into their own.
In Malawi, the period of
Chewa domination promoted by Hastings Kamuzu Banda
gave way, during Bakhili
Muluzi's time, to the domination of the Yao of the
southern region; Bingu
waMutarika may have ushered in a period during which
no one ethnic group can
claim supremacy over all others.
What Mugabe needs to do is, not only to
confront the ghost of Gukurahundi
boldly, by doing what is demanded of him
as the leader of all the people of
Zimbabwe - apologise to the Ndebele - but
to indicate in loud and clear
language that his party or any other party
must be prepared to accept a
Ndebele - or any other person from the minority
groups - as leader of the
country.
At the moment, Zanu PF is confused
by Mugabe's insistence that only he can
lead the country. He must appreciate
that this stubborn stance could lead to
more divisions in the country, not
to mention the loss of goodwill among
many countries waiting to come to
Zimbabwe's aid once they are assured that
the Mugabe Period of Darkness is
about to end.
There have been serious mistakes under Mugabe, the evidence
of which is
abundant, including the recent death from mushroom poisoning of
five members
of the same family in Epworth outside Harare.
If neither
Mugabe nor Zanu PF feel responsibility for this tragedy, then
there is
little hope - short of Divine Intervention, with a little help from
the
people - that Zimbabwe can be saved.
After I had sent out the outlook for the
economy in early January, someone
wrote to me and said that a political
outlook would be very interesting.
Much more difficult of course and probably
less reliable as there are so
many variables.
The driving force will
be the economy. Already the reality of the conditions
forecast by analysts is
impacting on the consciousness of the majority of
Zimbabweans. Inflation has
begun to accelerate in earnest. Workers are
unable to afford transport and
are walking to and from work, doctors in the
State sector are on strike and
wildcat strikes are taking place in many
other sectors.
The State is
just making things worse - we have seen certain state
controlled institutions
buying foreign exchange on the open market and
driving down the value of the
local currency. The attack on the mining
industry has frozen all development
and expansion and totally disrupted the
informal sector, displacing hundred
of thousands of people who were making a
living from gold and diamonds. The
threat to change the currency over 24
hours (a ridiculous action designed to
completely dislocate the smooth
change over that is required) will also cause
much distress. The
announcement that the State social security agency (NSSA)
is going to raise
compulsory contributions to 16 per cent of gross salaries
(an enormous new
tax) to pay for State run hospitals is also pending. We are
already the most
highly taxed community in the region and this will push the
situation into
the realm of the impossible in terms of tolerance and
capacity. Take home
pay for many will be reduced to a fraction of their pay
by this measure with
no significant benefit.
The question is, will
this situation push people over the edge? I think it
will and it is the
deteriorating economy that will be the most significant
factor in the
political realm this year. This will be made even more
significant by the
fact that we are in the throes of a very poor
agricultural season from every
perspective. It is difficult to know what
will push people over the edge, but
food prices and shortages might well be
the trigger, as they were in the late
90's.
I also see growing signs that at last the patience and tolerance
of the
Mugabe regime is running thin in the SADC region. Its about time and
these
leaders remain the most effective means of bringing pressure to bear on
the
present government to put their house in order. I think
international
pressure will be unrelenting. The targeted sanctions against
the leadership
of this regime will be renewed in February and the same States
that are
leading this campaign will increase their pressure on African
leaders to "do
something" about Mugabe and the errant leadership of Zanu
PF.
But change may also come from another unexpected quarter. Last week a
senior
Police Officer spoke to a colleague in the MDC and said that if ever
the
country needed the MDC leadership on the streets, it was now. He is in
the
Law and order section in Bulawayo (the political unit) so these remarks
from
someone who spends his days trying to keep the lid on the protests
is
significant. We are also getting reports from all the other sections of
the
security forces including the CIO. People are unhappy and the patronage
that
has served Zanu PF so well in the past decade is disintegrating as the
State
runs out of money and capacity to maintain the system.
The day
that the Police stand by or even join in a protest over living
standards, is
the day that Zanu PF is finished. They no longer have any
significant support
among the general populace. That day could be closer
than we think and the
sole remaining pillars of support for this oligarchy
are the police, the army
and the CIO.
What of the opposition? I read the reports of commentators
and the media
every day and the consensus is pretty solid. The "MDC is
divided and
weakened and is no longer the threat it once was to the regime".
The truth
of the matter is that we were never a real threat to the regime
while we
maintained the twin pillars of non-violence and democracy for our
campaign
to wrest power from Zanu PF. They controlled the means of coercion
across
the country and also voting rights and the way votes were cast and
counted
in the elections. The only real threat to Zanu PF over the past
decade has
been diplomatic and the protection afforded to the regime by the
SADC and
other African leaders has guaranteed that that threat never
materialized.
However I dispute the view that the opposition is divided
and ineffective.
In fact it has never been so coordinated and unified -
through the Broad
Alliance. This now incorporates all civil society
organisations and all
opposition Parties. It also includes, for the first
time, 1500 Churches from
every denomination. Slowly this coalition of
opposition forces is getting
its act together and raising the funding for
effective action. Last year
fund raising was virtually impossible. The local
business community is
totally cowed, the international community tired and
discouraged and the
rest of us broke! Great environment to raise money for
political purposes!
The question is can this alliance get its act
together and perhaps spark the
popular revolt that will force the SADC to
take action rather than just talk
and also force Zanu PF to compromise and
allow the process of change to get
underway? They know that any changes in
the electoral realm towards a free
and fair election under regional or
international supervision will mark the
end of the era of Zanu PF dominance,
if not even their existence. So that
process will not be easy, but it could
happen.
The consensus among the people I know and respect in the
political realm all
say that Zanu will not achieve its goal of shifting the
elections to 2010.
The political and economic situation simply will not allow
that to happen. I
have seen scenarios that predict that his own people might
even force Mr.
Mugabe out of office - stranger things have happened in
politics. I doubt
that scenario and feel it would not even be that helpful.
When we do finally
throw off the yoke imposed on us by Zanu PF we will have
to get rid of the
whole caboodle - root and branch!
My friends pretty
much universally predict elections in March 2008. They
differ as to under
what conditions but I think they may well be right and
what we have to
concentrate on are the conditions under which such an event
might take place.
If Zanu is allowed to conduct elections as they did in
2000, 2002 and 2005,
then we can expect things just to get worse, and that
remains a real
possibility.
My great fear has always been that without significant
external influence
and pressure (possible only from the SADC States) that
weary, battered
Zimbabweans would be subjected to a chaotic and violent
transition - the
outcome of which would be anyone's guess, instead of the
kind of orderly,
negotiated transition to a constitutional democracy such as
was achieved in
South Africa, largely under the influence and guidance of the
British and
the Americans.
The world has moved on since then and this
sort of neo-colonial action is no
longer possible. So it is really up to us.
Like mariners approaching the
beach through the waves, we know the beach is
close - we can hear the surf
breaking. What we do not know is what rocks lie
under the surf and how much
of a soft landing we will get when we get there.
A business colleague asked
me about my expectations and I said - I have my
life jacket on and am ready
for whatever this year throws at me. I am sure we
will get wet, but I am
also sure we do not have that long to wait any
longer.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 21st January 2007