http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
22 January
2010
A Rusape farmer who has endured more than a week of intimidation and
threats
by land invaders was arrested on Friday, for refusing to leave his
farm.
Koos Smit and his family have for the past week remained locked
inside their
home, after a mob of youths invaded the property last week
Tuesday. The
group, said to be hired by a ZANU PF official know only as Mr
Mukomo,
assaulted several of the Smits' farm workers and the twin Smit sons
in an
effort to force the family to flee the property. The youths then cut
off all
electricity and water supplies to the farm to try flush the family
out of
their home, where they remained locked inside until Thursday. The
invaders
also stopped the family feeding and watering their
livestock.
The gang of invaders packed up their makeshift camp around the
family's home
on Thursday, ending a week-long tense standoff. The Commercial
Farmers Union
(CFU) president Deon Theron said that the youths had left,
because they
weren't paid the promised fee for the invasion.
But the
good news was short lived, when Koos Smit was arrested on Friday
morning.
Theron told SW Radio Africa that while Smit and his family were
holed up
inside their home, Smit had been subpoenaed by the Rusape
magistrates court
to face charges for refusing to leave his farm. But
because Smit was all but
trapped inside his property, which was surrounded
by land invaders, since
last week, he was unable to attend the court
hearing. His arrest on Friday
is now in connection with contempt charges for
missing his court date. Smit
has since been released on bail.
Theron said the situation on the Smit
property again demonstrates the
lawlessness across the country, where land
thugs are getting away with
violence, while land owners are constantly being
hauled before the courts.
The CFU head argued such lawlessness is
"completely contrary to the Global
Political agreement that the political
parties in the unity government are
supposed to respect." The CFU on
Thursday lashed out at the government for
refusing to intervene in the
ongoing land invasions, urging the coalition to
act to halt the farm
attacks.
At least five other Rusape farming families have come under
threat by land
invaders since December last year, with most of the families
being forcibly
evicted from their homes. All the families that have been
evicted are South
African citizens, meant to be protected by a bilateral
investment pact
between the two countries. That pact, which was only signed
late last year,
is yet to be ratified in parliament, which both governments
have used as an
excuse not to intervene. Three South African farmers who
have all lost land
in the past year are now set to sue the government for
the ongoing land
attacks continuing under the guise of land
reform.
The South African farmers last year approached a civil rights
group in their
home country to take the Zimbabwe government to court over
the land
invasions. The group, AfriForum, last week won a High Court bid
allowing
them to sue Zimbabwe, in an effort to enforce a 2008 regional
ruling
declaring Robert Mugabe's land 'reform' exercise unlawful. The ruling
was
passed down by the rights court of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), which ordered the government to protect farmers and their
rights to their land.
The ruling has been completely ignored and the
government has even stated it
no longer recognises the SADC Tribunal's
orders. AfriForum is now trying to
have the ruling enforced from within
South Africa. AfriForum's lawyer,
Willie Spies, said in a statement on
Friday that the papers had been served
by AfriForum's legal representatives
in Harare. Spies said that the
Zimbabwean government had until next Thursday
to give notice of whether it
intended opposing the application, which is set
to be hear in court in
February.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za
Eyewitness News | 3 Hours Ago
A legal
watchdog in Zimbabwe said on Friday the Movement for Democratic
Change
finally lost its majority in the Lower House of Assembly.
The MDC had a
one-seat majority in Parliament after parliamentary elections
in
2008.
After the March 2008 elections, the MDC moved from 100 seats to 99
for
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
It was the first time since
1980 that ZANU-PF had lost its majority but four
MPs from Morgan
Tsvangirai's party have since been convicted of crimes the
party said were
deliberately trumped up to whittle down that majority.
Two more MDC MPs
died last year.
Now, because of those changes, the MDC is left with 95
seats, one less than
Zanu-PF's total of 96.
That means Tsvangirai's
party will not be able to block Zanu-PF when it
comes to voting in new
legislation.
A splinter MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara still holds
eight seats but
bitter quarrels mean Tsvangirai's party cannot always count
on their
support.
http://www.iol.co.za/
January 22 2010 at 03:20PM
Harare -
The joint head of the body meant to draft a new democratic
constitution for
Zimbabwe has been charged with insulting President Robert
Mugabe by calling
him a goblin.
Douglas Mwonzora, a parliamentarian for Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the co-chairman
of the key
parliamentary constitutional commission, is alleged to have made
the remark
at an MDC rally nearly a year ago but was only summonsed on
Monday this
week.
The politician faces a maximum penalty of one year
in jail if found guilty.
In Zimbabwean traditional mythology, goblins are
feared, hideous creatures
with evil powers.
MDC officials said the
charges against Mwonzora were deliberate harassment
by the 85-year-old
Mugabe's security agents.
Lawyer Lewis Uriri said Mwonzora was alleged to
have made the remarks at a
rally before the presidential and parliamentary
elections.
The MDC won the elections but were then forced into a second
round of the
presidential ballot, which was preceded by a wave of state-run
violence that
saw at least 100 MDC supporters murdered and thousands
tortured and made
homeless.
Mugabe was declared the winner after
Tsvangirai withdrew because of the
violence, and the poll was universally
denounced as a fraud.
Shortly afterwards, southern African nations
intervened to set up the
inauguration of an unequal power-sharing government
between Tsvangirai and
Mugabe, in which the autocratic Mugabe controls the
security forces.
Hundreds of people have been arrested and fined or
jailed under Zimbabwean
laws that make it an offence to make derisory
comments about Mugabe, the
world's oldest head of state who has been in
power for nearly 30 years.
On Tuesday, an MDC provincial chairman in
southern Zimbabwe was arrested for
telling a party rally that the people
must not allow Mugabe to cheat them in
elections again.
The
constitutional commission was set up under the coalition agreement, but
progress has been bogged down by continual blockading by members of Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party who, analysts say, fear they will be swamped in a democratic
election held under a constitution guaranteeing human rights and the rule of
law. - Sapa-DPA
By Violet Gonda
22 January 2010
Harare publishing consultant Roger Stringer has sent a protest letter to Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of Parliament, asking for an explanation of the process used to select nominees for appointment to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC). The ZMC, which is still to be constituted, replaced the Tafataona Mahoso led Media and Information Commission, following amendments to the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act in January 2008.
There has never been any official statement by parliament to explain the controversial process of selecting the nominees to the ZMC - a process that was marred by delays and political bickering over the composition of candidates.
Stringer had been one of the independent candidates who reportedly passed the first selection process, but then had his name removed to pave way for pro-ZANU PF individuals who had failed to make it into the first 12.
The publishing consultant, who was also the only white Zimbabwean interviewed, said some insiders confirmed press reports stating he had come sixth out of the 27 candidates interviewed, but that the list was changed as a result of 'political horse-trading'.
He told SW Radio Africa on Friday that ZANU PF's Chris Mutsvangwa, who had reportedly come 19th, and L. Hikwa, who had come 22nd, ended up appearing in the final list appointed by the President recently. The Parliamentary Standing Rules and Orders Committee had submitted a list of 12 names to Robert Mugabe, who then appointed 9 commissioners from that list.
Stringer said he is challenging the parliament to explain the verification process that led to the short-listing of nominees.
Part of Stringer's letter reads: "The private media ran stories with headlines like "Independent candidates removed from media commission list" (SW Radio Africa), "Critics See Political Horse-Trading in Zimbabwe Media Commission Short List" (VOA News), "Mutsvangwa now on ZMC shortlist" (Zimbabwe Times), "Commissions delay breeds confusion" (Financial Gazette), and "Zanu PF Hijacks Selection of Media Commissioners" (the Standard).
All these reports suggested that during the period between the supposed finalization of the results on 4th August and the clerk of parliament's press conference on 18th August, political pressure had been exerted. The Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, was quoted as saying the nomination of candidates had been suspended and that the three parties to the GPA might now have to forward nominees for the appointments, that would be done on proportional representation.
"Although it had initially been promoted as an objective, independent process, it appears to have ended up being politically driven. As a participant in that process, who had no party-political affiliation and trusted that it would be conducted in a professional manner, I believe that not only I but the Zimbabwean public as a whole are owed an explanation of what took place," Stringer wrote in his protest letter.
He said that although it seems there is no legal basis on which he can challenge this, he is concerned that despite inviting qualified candidates to apply, the process was not independent, objective nor based on merit.
See table with the different list of nominees
http://www.iol.co.za
January 22 2010 at 04:19PM
South African
civil rights movement AfriForum has served papers on the
Zimbabwean
government over its land-seizure programme.
AfriForum's lawyer, Willie
Spies, said in a statement on Friday that the
papers had been served by
AfriForum's legal representatives in Harare.
The High Court in Pretoria
issued an order last week granting three farmers
leave to add the Zimbabwean
government to an application to register in
South Africa a ruling by a
Southern African Development Community tribunal
against the
seizures.
The SADC tribunal, in Windhoek, ruled that Zimbabwe was
violating
international law with its 2005 constitutional amendment allowing
the
seizure of white-owned farms without compensation.
The Zimbabwean
government did not recognise the decision or the order that
it compensate
evicted farmers and protect the property rights of those still
on their
farms.
Spies said that if the farmers, Louis Fick, Michael Campbell and
Richard
Etheredge, were successful in their high court action, they would be
able,
in the short term, to take steps in South African courts to recover
some of
their costs incurred to date from the Zimbabwean
government.
Spies has said previously that this could include attaching
the Zimbabwean
government's assets in South Africa.
Spies said on
Friday that the Zimbabwean government had until Thursday to
give notice of
whether it intended opposing the application.
The application was on the
court roll to be heard the week of February 23,
he said. - Sapa
http://www.politicsweb.co.za
Sapa
22 January 2010
Paul
Verryn is charged with transgressing the Laws and Disciplines of the
Church
The Methodist Church of Southern Africa would like to confirm
that the
former Bishop of the Central District, Paul Verryn, has been
suspended.
He has been charged with transgressing the Laws and Discipline
(L&D) of the
Church - essentially the constitution of the Methodist
Church of Southern
Africa.
The hearing will be held on the 1st of
February, 2010, in Johannesburg,
facilitated by the District Disciplinary
Committee, which is appointed in
terms of the L&D.
In terms of
the L&D, the committee is to meet within a period of 21 days
after
receiving the charge.
This committee has the power and duties to impose a
sanction it deems fit.
The Central Methodist Church will continue to run
under the new Bishop,
Peter Witbooi, who is responsible for the
administration of the District.
http://www.news24.com
2010-01-22 10:09
Johannesburg - Suspended
Johannesburg Central Methodist Church bishop Paul
Verryn should be
recognised for his humanity, the DA said on Friday.
"The suspension of
Bishop Paul Verryn is a new twist in the long-running
saga of refugees who
crowd the Central Methodist Church in central
Johannesburg," said Gauteng
Democratic Alliance spokesman Jack Bloom.
"I hope that it assists the
resolution of this thorny problem in which
Verryn was increasingly seen as a
stumbling block."
The Methodist Church announced on Thursday that Verryn
had been suspended,
without disclosing any reasons for the
decision.
"He has been suspended and charged in an internal process,"
said attorney
Bongani Khoza, who works for a firm that acts on behalf of the
Methodist
Church.
The Central Methodist Church has given refuge to a
number of Zimbabwean
immigrants and has been at the centre of controversy
involving the situation
of woman and children at the church in central
Johannesburg.
Bloom said: "The fact remains, however, that the church is
involved only
because of the failure of local, provincial and national
government to
adequately cater for these refugees.
"Whatever his
faults, Verryn's humanity should be recognised."
The Star newspaper,
without citing any sources, reported on Friday that the
National
Intelligence Agency and the National Prosecuting Authority had been
investigating activities at the church.
- SAPA
http://www.ipsnews.net/
By Busani
Bafana
BULAWAYO, Jan 22, 2010 (IPS) - A project in Zimbabwe's second
city,
Bulawayo, is creatively using "marginal water" to ease water scarcity
while
helping residents provide food and earn a living.
Water
scarcity has led urban farmers to turn to treated waste water to grow
food
within the city limits.
Bulawayo's water woes stem from both periodic
droughts in the Matabeleland
region and from the collapse of the aged,
poorly-maintained municipality
infrastructure serving this city of more than
one million.
But the shortage of water has not deterred urban farmers
like Agnes Maziya.
Maziya is one of the growing number of urban farmers
growing vegetables and
crops for residents.
"Using waste water has
helped me to grow vegetables for sale," Maziya told
IPS. "I have used money
from the sale of these vegetables to put my children
through school. The
project has made a difference for my family and I.
"My wish now is to
improve the variety of vegetables I grow here to include
carrots, spinach,
tomatoes cabbage and onions which will increase my
income."
Maziya is
one of about a thousand farmers who are part of a project to grow
leaf
vegetables such as rape, sugar beans and maize using treated waste
water.
The 350-hectare Gum Tree Plantation Allotment project is a
joint venture of
the city of Bulawayo and the Municipal Development
Partnership Eastern and
Southern Africa (MDPESA) to use waste water to boost
food security in the
city.
The project is situated in Hyde Park, in
the western part of the city. The
land has been divided into individual
plots of 5,000 square metres and a
cooperative section where farmers have
been grouped together. Treated water
is provided for free by council, with
each group allocated between 4,500 and
5,000 litres of water on a weekly
basis.
The water, according to MDPESA urban agriculture programme
coordinator
Takawira Mubvami, is treated using the radiation and
conventional biological
methods at the treatment works. Due to breakdowns,
the level of treatment
does not consistently meet World Health Organisation
standards.
The treated water supplied to the Gum Tree farmers comes from
the Luveve and
Cowdry Park treatment plants which are better in terms of
performance,
meeting WHO standards for waste water for irrigation 80 percent
of the time.
This does mean elevated health risks. Mubvami told IPS that
his organisation
trained farmers regarding these risks, but found most were
already aware of
the necessary precautions to be taken with treated waste
water regarding
what crops to grow and taking measures against skin
diseases.
"The major challenge has been getting the right protective
clothing for
farmers," Mubvami said. "Funds were not available. At the
moment farmers use
buckets to get water from the irrigation
canal.
"This is not the ideal irrigation method. They should be using
suction hoses
for flood irrigation which will reduce the frequency of them
coming into
contact with the water. Plans are under way to introduce
this."
Only vegetables that have to be cooked - destroying any pathogens
present in
the water - before they can be eaten are grown. Crops like
lettuce, tomatoes
or carrots are not permitted.
A flood irrigation
technique is used to channel water from the reservoir to
the field using
lined canals which reduce water lost to seepage and
evaporation. The lining
of the canal was the first phase funded by the
MDPESA to improve the
irrigation system at the plantation. It will be
completed with the
introduction of feeder suction hoses which will bring the
water to the
gardens from the canals.
"The project enables our farmers to grow crops
throughout the year because
there is reliable water supply from waste
water," Job Ndebele, city director
for engineering services, explained to
IPS.
The use of marginal water is not very common in Zimbabwe. It is used
to some
degree in the capital Harare, but limited to watering cattle
pastures .
"Bulawayo has pioneered the use of the water for crops. They
have actually
reticulated the water to the gardens. This has been seen as
being expensive
by most local authorities in the country," said
Mubvami.
Used correctly, treated waste water is building food security
despite
persistent water scarcity.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
January 23, 2010
GREAT DAY
FOR ST JOHN: PROVIDERS OF FIRST AID TO ZIMBABWE
St John Ambulance, well
known throughout Zimbabwe for providing first aid
and training at minimal
cost, holds a triple celebration starting at 0900 on
Saturday, January 23 at
its Harare headquarters, 102 Baines Avenue.
Morgan Tsvangirai, prime
minister, will open a new first aid training centre
funded by the Beit Trust
and equipped by the German embassy. This will
enable the charity to increase
the number of first aid and home-based care
courses it offers.
This
will be followed by a donation of three, fully equipped ambulances from
St
John in Western Australia. They will be handed over by Lekisha Duncan who
will also train people on how to use the ambulances while she is in
Zimbabwe.
Bishop Chad Gandiya will bless the new building and lead
the St John
procession, accompanied by the Zimbabwe Republic Police band,
from its
headquarters to St Patrick's Cathedral, kindly loaned by the Roman
Catholics
as the bishop and his congregation is locked out of his own
cathedral.
Here, in a splendid ceremony redolent of 900 years of
pageantry, the Lord
Prior himself, Prof. Anthony Mellows, will conduct the
investiture of 19
people as members of the Order of St John. Nine of them
are being recognised
for their voluntary work during the 2008/9 cholera
outbreak when teams from
St John restored the overwhelmed Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases Hospital
to the proper levels of hygiene, working with
the Red Cross and Medecins
Sans Frontiers. Volunteers also helped man the
cholera clinic in the badly
affected area of Budiriro and they too will be
invested.
Others are being recognised for setting up first aid training
courses in
schools and a further group for developing home based care
courses that
1,200 children have attended. Out of this has developed the
popular child
headed household first aid and care course to help orphans.
These have now
been run in Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo.
Additional
volunteers are being recognised for their work in running and
fund raising
for St John in Bulawayo. They will also be made members of the
Order with
the exception of Dr Bill Moore, chairman of St John Ambulance
Council who
will be dubbed a Knight of the Order. The ceremonies will use
the special
Priory Sword that is only unsheathed to perform investitures.
At 1430 the
Lord Prior will present certificates to orphans who have
completed the
child-headed home-based care programme, funded by Johanniter,
which is the
German branch of the Order, at New St Peter's Church in Mbare.
Other St
John dignitaries visiting Zimbabwe for this special occasion are
Major Ian
Crowther, Prior of South Africa and his chief executive office,
Craig
Troeberg.
St John began when Abbot Probus founded a hostel for pilgrims
in Jerusalem
around 600 A. D. and enlarged by the French emperor
Charlemagne. It came to
prominence during the first crusade in 1099 when the
monks took on the
double role of being knights as well, in order to protect
the pilgrims
against attacks by robbers.
The Order's motto is Pro
Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum (For the Faith, For the
Service of Humanity. It
sums up the order's twin objectives: encouraging all
that makes for the
spiritual and moral strengthening of humankind and
encouraging and promoting
works of humanity and charity for the relief of
those who are sick,
distressed, suffering or in danger.
The Knights Hospitallers, as members
of the Order became known, started to
train ordinary people how to treat
injured people on the spot, particularly
important in times of war and at
the start of industrialisation when
work-place accidents were common. Much
of their work in many countries is
done by the associations that form part
of the order.
St John Ambulance's history in Zimbabwe goes back to 1920
when two employees
of the then Rhodesia Railways started to teach first aid
with the help of
the English first aid manuals of St John
Ambulance.
In 1924 the two men opened the first St John Ambulance
Association Centre in
Bulawayo, which led to the opening of another centre
in Hwange. Between 1927
and 1930 other centres opened in Gweru, Mutare and
Harare, all operating on
a subsidised basis with the objective of promoting
the relief of distress
and suffering. Today it operates in Bulawayo, Harare
and Mutare.
http://www.zimtelegraph.com/?p=5579
By SARAH NCUBE
Published: January 22,
2010
HARARE - Workers at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) a
parastatal
Zanu PF put under control of retired army officers are
threatening to down
tools, as they have not been paid since November
2009.
Some of the workers are alleged to be taking NRZ to court over the
matter,
as there are allegations that the top management recently bought
top-of-the
range vehicles and have been given huge allowances, while the
workers do not
have money to send their children to school.
"We do
not even have money to pay school fees for our children, as schools
have
just opened. Even fess for US$10, we are failing to pay. We know that
the
management was given some allowances and they have bought new cars. We
want
to strike because it is our right," said a worker who declined to be
named
for fear of victimisation.
On Monday, management is said to have called a
meeting and addressed the
workers.
"We were called to a meeting where
the management was begging us not to down
tools and telling us that they
will soon pay us our salaries. When we asked
them about the vehicles they
bought and the allowances they received, they
just stammered and failed to
respond," said another worker.
It is alleged that management received
about US$20 000 in school fees
allowances as well as new vehicles, Navaras,
which cost about US$1 million.
The workers said when they wanted to strike,
the management called in armed
police and soldiers, who were supposed to
deal with anyone who threatened to
down tools. In a bid to address the
salaries issue, the management
circulated a notice explaining to the workers
the situation.Part of the
notice read:
"Management submitted that due
to the cash flow challenges facing the
organisation, they were still
concentrating all their efforts in clearing
the November 2009 salaries after
which they needed to look into the December
2009 salaries before proposing a
payment plan for arrears.Management,
however, undertook to develop a payment
plan which they would submit to the
Railway Employment Council (REC) for
negotiations in January 2010."
One of the Unions, representing a section
of the workers, the Trainmen
Worker's Union is allegedly taking the NRZ to
court for alleged
victimisation of workers.In September 2009, a government
audit revealed that
senior managers of some perennial loss making
parastatals were paying
themselves as much as US$10 000 per
month.
The NRZ has in the past been involved in a looting scandal where
bosses
acquired top-of-the-range vehicles, when workers were going for
months
without salaries. NRZ Public Relations Manager Fanuel Masikati,
however,
dismissed the allegations as false.
"There is no-one who is
threatening to down tools, all the workers report to
work and there is no
unrest, that is all I can say," said Masikati.
Harare, January 22, 2010: The U.S. Embassy today unveiled an essay contest for A level students in Zimbabwe aimed at commemorating Black History Month.
Entries are being invited from high schools and colleges throughout the country. Students will write a 500 word essay with the title: “What hope does Barack Obama embody for you as an African youth in the 21st century?”
Participating students stand a chance to win a cash prize and free membership to the U.S. Educational Advising Center while their respective schools receive a collection of reference books. The winners will be invited to a ceremony in Harare in February where U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray will honor them.
More details about the contest can be accessed at http://harare.usembassy.gov or through e-mail: bhmessaycompetition@gmail.com
Each February, Black History Month honors the struggles and triumphs of millions of American citizens over the most devastating obstacles - slavery, prejudice, poverty - as well as their contributions to the nation’s cultural and political life.
# # #
Issued by Tim
Gerhardson, Public Affairs Officer, on January 22, 2010
http://www.mg.co.za
SEAN CHRISTIE AND LISA KING - Jan 22 2010 13:04
For
centuries the Chimanimani passes have served as trade routes between
Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Recently Sean Christie and photographer Lisa King
joined the arduous trail in search of intrepid gold seekers
'The gold
panners call the place Musanditera," said Ben (surname withheld).
"It means
'don't follow me', and this was always the message of the panners
to their
families when departing for the mountain rivers, because, you see,
the
decision to go panning on the other side of Chimanimani Mountains, in
Mozambique so far away from home, is often the last decision a person
makes."
We found Ben in a collapsing A-frame structure on the grounds
of a
well-known lodge in the village of Chimanimani, in Zimbabwe's Eastern
Highlands.
A tour guide in better times, Ben had been allowed to stay on
after the flow
of tourists began dwindling earlier in the
decade.
Like almost all other major property owners in the village, the
proprietors
had mothballed the buildings and departed for Harare, then
Johannesburg and
finally Bahrain.
After some shouting back and forth
through the shaded windows, Ben opened
the door a little. When he realised
it was his meal ticket parked out on the
lawn he quickly packed a faded blue
rucksack, emptied a bucket of urine into
a moonflower bush and joined us in
the Jeep.
The wide-boy combination of short dreads and red eyes was
offset by a goofy
cap, biblical sandals and a thoughtful mien. He had no
calf muscles
whatsoever but accepted seven additional kilograms of our
equipment and bore
it for three days without seeming to tire.
"We
will climb up through the banana grove," he announced at the base camp
of
the Chimanimani National Park. "It is less steep than the other way, and
I
do not believe in taking a short route if it is steeper, especially at the
start."
This reassuring statement was followed by an hour of silence
as we climbed
clear of the woodland covering the Chimanimani
foothills.
Later, from a rocky outlook, Ben traced the perimeter of
Charleswood Estate,
the property the Zimbabwean government expropriated from
opposition
politician Roy Bennett in 2001.
"The people the government
settled there renamed the place Pachedu, which
means 'on our own'," Ben
said.
"There used to be coffee plantations, which brought a lot of money
to the
area but they ripped out [the bushes] and planted maize.
"Then
in 2004 diamonds were discovered on the other side of that hill near
the
Haroni River, and 2 000 people came and started digging. Just as
happened at
Chiadzwa, the government came after the miners with soldiers and
police.
"They beat people and even killed some, and now they have
given the land to
some Russian miners, who are putting up a
fence."
We headed for the narrow passes after which the Chimanimani are
named, and
which for centuries have served as trade routes between Zimbabwe
and
Mozambique. Except for the odd shoe sole and a few pairs of mouldering
shorts, we saw no sign of panners.
"There are not so many now on the
Zimbabwe side -- not since National Parks
[the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority] started employing
excellent runners to catch them,"
Ben explained.
"It's like a kind of a war. Two years ago there were many
people here, in
this valley and also at Skelton [sic] Pass, where there is a
lot of gold.
The parks guys used to let them in because they knew the
panners had no
other way of making money to buy food, but then the
government told parks to
stop them because they want to give Skelton Pass to
a Chinese company. Then
the parks guys started beating the panners and
stealing their clothes,
because they came to learn that the panners sew
their gold there. So now
everyone goes to Mozambique, to
Musanditera."
The border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe is a barrier of
rocky spears,
grassed up to a point and then grey-white like sharpened
pumice.
In a ravine the panners call "Razorwire" we were passed by two
youths
wearing green rip-off Crocs and clothes stained with earth. One
carried a
single-strap rucksack made from a plastic maize bag, which bulged
with
provisions.
"They are panners," said Ben. "They are not enjoying
their walk as we are.
They just want to get to the other side before the
rangers see them."
Soon after clearing the flinty ridge we collapsed on
waterlogged soil,
watched by a pair of klipspringer. Where the day had been
clear and blue
above the grassy plains of the Chimanimani National Park,
twisted valleys of
stone now tailed away to the horizon, under
cloud.
"Welcome to Mozambique," said Ben.
By collapsing next to
the path and removing my shoes, I effectively chose
our camp
site.
The hump of land on which I sprawled tipped into deep river chasms
to the
right and left. The rivers rushed down to join the larger Munahiwa,
where
Ben said we were sure to find panners the next day. He was worried
about our
proximity to the path and explained that the Zimbabwean panners
tended to
move at night to avoid being robbed by the authorities.
"I
am worried they will see us and think we are Mozambican National Parks,
who
they are fighting with because these men also beat them and steal their
gold.
"I am also worried that the mountain mtsikas (markets) have
closed since the
last visit by parks. These panners need the mtsikas for
their food, but if
the women who bring the food have been scared away, then
the panners will be
hungry -- they might try to steal ours."
We
scouted around for a more private site but found none as flat and
protected
as the first.
That evening, from atop the massive boulder shielding our
tent, we observed
men with pickaxes slung over their shoulders climbing the
walls of the
valley below.
"They live in caves," said Ben, and the
ridges were indeed beginning to
smoke and glint with evening
fires.
Around midnight a torch beam probed our tent. We rustled our
sleeping bags
in alarm, causing several pairs of feet to drum away at high
speed.
"Third time that's happened," murmured the photographer.
At
5am a delegation of panners carrying pickaxes came to meet us. Word of
our
presence had spread through the night and the panners were waiting for
further intelligence before descending to their works.
Explaining the
collective paranoia, the delegation leader, a man called
Kudakwashe, said:
"Mozambique Parks arrested some of us about two weeks ago.
It is a three-day
hike down to their small jails in Sussundenga and so we
escaped along the
way and came back. If they find us again they will kill
us."
We were
invited to meet the rest of Kudakwashe's syndicate, who were panning
a
dwindling tributary of the Muvumodzi.
"They will have to leave here
soon," said Ben, "because it is not possible
to pan without water. Actually,
it is the rains and not parks or the police
that control the numbers up
here. Later you will see very big mining areas
where there is nobody,
because the water has stopped flowing. When it starts
again they will come
in their thousands."
The syndicate's equipment was rudimentary-- 2kg
hammers for crushing rock,
koevoets (crowbars), pickaxes and shovels.
Demonstrating their techniques,
a man dumped several spade-loads of soil
into a zamba, or shallow wooden
bucket, which he filled with water from the
stream. He washed the ore,
picked out stones and poured the slurry on to a
strip of carpet that had
been placed on a chute of mud.
"It used to
be that we used a James Table to get the gold," said Kudakwashe,
producing a
sheet of perforated metal of approximately the same dimensions
as the
carpet.
The holes were not entirely punched out, creating scales of metal
for
trapping fragments of gold.
"A carpet catches more gold, though.
After we have done this we scrape what
is left into a bowl and when it is
dry from heating with fire, we blow the
soil and the gold stays behind
because it is heavier."
What is left behind is compounded and sold to
Mozambican or Zimbabwean
traders, who sell on to jewellers in Maputo, Harare
and even Johannesburg.
A 2006 study (which the Mozambican authorities have
ignored) found that
panners were liberating two to three grams of gold a
day, and sometimes as
much as 30g, which is a fair to outstanding
remuneration for a day's labour,
gruelling as it is.
Sadly for the
panners, either gold is becoming scarcer or the researchers
were
misinformed, for a gram a week for each miner seems to be the average
now.
"They find maybe one or two points a day (one point = 0,1 gram) if
they are
lucky," said Ben. The others nodded.
Bidding the syndicate
goodbye, Ben led us to a plain latticed with paths. If
there was a sign that
we were headed in the right direction, it was the
gradual build up of litter
alongside us: wrappings of vanilla biscuits
called Mobiscos, blue-and-red
777 battery wrappers and plastic half-jacks of
a pineapple-flavoured gin
called Zed Amanas.
"That stuff," said Ben, "is banned in Chimanimani. You
can only drink it in
Mozambique."
We were headed for a large koppie
in the middle of the plain, at the base of
which several men stood watching
our approach. "Well, well, well," cried
one, descending to meet us. "Ben, do
you remember what gold is looking
like?"
This salutation confirmed
what we had suspected for a while -- that Ben's
close knowledge of panning
was based on more than hearsay.
"Welcome to amaPotholes," said Ben's
dreadlocked friend, who introduced
himself as Champion. Music crackled from
an old radio. Several men sat
talking around a fire.
"AmaPotholes is
a big market for panners," Champion explained. "It is also
where we mine --
over the years a lot of gold has fallen into the potholes
of the river that
flows here."
On a shelf of rock, butterfly-cut bream were laid out next
to batteries and
bottles of Manica Lager.
"A bream costs three
points, or 180 meticais, and a beer costs four points.
This place is
actually like a bar after work, with music and dancing."
Champion had
been up in the mountains for four months and would be returning
to
Chimanimani village at the end of another month.
"The problem here is
some of these guys give all their points for beer when
they are drunk, and
then they must work another week, and then another, and
soon they have been
here for a year."
The mining at amaPotholes was different to the stream
works -- the potholes
themselves had been scoured, and the resident
syndicates were now digging
extensive galleries beneath the
koppie.
"We have had one guy die this year in a tunnel collapse," said
Champion,
pointing out residential caves and the tunnels in the ground in
which youths
on their knees worked at the reddish sandstone.
"We
buried him in a cave near here. There are a lot of people buried here,
especially after the cyclone in 2006.
"Many people died from drowning
and others died because they had no food --
150 in the end.
"Some of
their families came up to look for them but their bodies were
already
rotten, so they put them in caves and then put stones in front of
the cave
like a wall."
Several miners approached us with flakes of gold wrapped up
in worthless
Bank of Zimbabwe notes, hoping for a quick sale.
A
13-year-old proudly showed off his collection of black river stones and we
wondered what it was like for him, living among men in the
mountains.
If the human ecology of amaPotholes secured our sympathy, a
hectare of
excoriated earth on the other side of the hill reminded us of the
cost of
unregulated mining.
"The mountains are slowly changing," said
Ben. "Worse than the diggings are
the fires started every year by the
panners. They destroy everything:
animals, trees, grasses ."
Perhaps
wishing to change the subject, he pointed to a large lateral crack
in a
nearby cliff. "We call that 'the dormitory'."
The web of paths gradually
coalesced into an enormous swath called "The
Highway", which trailed through
the Valley of Wizards to another mtsika
called Matomat.
Ben pointed
out a third market deeper into Mozambique, called Mudzikwa, and
said that
mtsikas tended to be named after the people who founded them.
Just as new
panners' paths were overlaying the old ones, anglophile names
such as
Terry's Cave and Bridal Veil Falls were making way for Musanditera
vernacular.
After passing 54 men at work on a stretch of the Bundi
River, we entered the
Valley of the Apostle, which was wooded and abundant
in game because the
Zimbabwean park rangers, standing at the top of
Skeleton Pass, can cover
most of it with their SKS rifles.
"They
have made a camp on the other side," said Ben, who repeated the rumour
about
the Chinese concessionaires.
Assuming the worst about the Chinese is
something of a reflex among
Zimbabweans, who use the scathing term
zhing-zhong to describe anything
defective, be it a political agreement or a
cheaply made radio.
We felt we should put Ben's claims directly to the
rangers in the
camouflaged bunker built into a slope near the
river.
"We do not want this to happen," said one of the rangers, not
quite denying
the possibility that it might happen. "Parks will fight this
decision --
Chimanimani must remain a national park."
When asked
about their purported war with the panners, both rangers laughed
and said
that a stint in Chimanimani was almost like a holiday, given that
they spend
portions of the year in Zimbabwe's major game parks, where "the
poachers
shoot back with better guns than ours."
If one gives the Zimbabwean Parks
and Wildlife Management Authority the
benefit of the doubt in this matter of
the Chinese, one must also commend
them for doing what their Mozambican
counterparts have failed to do --
ending, with few resources, all
destructive mining practices in their
domain.
We returned to base
camp not having seen a single tourist in three days.
Back in the village we
paid Ben, who stated unashamedly that he was off to
drink in the Blue Moon
Tavern.
"There is nothing else to do. If people know how much money I
have they will
come begging for it. It is better to spend it quickly before
my family know
I am back."
A bleak statement if ever we heard one,
but not as depressing as his next.
"Here we are waiting for the 2010
football World Cup. We believe that the
tourists are going to come back
again, and when they do, the panners will
come down again and make other
business, you will see -- it is too hard for
them up there. They want to
come down."
The thought of football fans beating a path to Zimbabwe's
Eastern Highlands
caused a collective chuckle.
Ben
shrugged.
"You don't think so? Well, that is a shame."
Sean
Christie is a Cape Town-based freelance journalist who enjoys combining
work
with travel throughout Southern Africa.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26850
January 22, 2010
John
Robertson
DESPITE all its problems, Zimbabwe still looks robust and sound
on the
surface.
However, this fact has led to many errors of
judgement being made by
observers, analysts and others who pay fleeting
visits. They are often
people who spend time in many other African countries
and, in their
comments, they always point out how much better off
Zimbabweans are than the
citizens of wherever else they have
been.
Unfortunately, the superficial impressions are misleading, and even
more
unfortunately, some of the most misled people are Zimbabweans, not
visitors.
They also know that most of Zimbabwe's neighbours do not have the
extensive
industrial sites and cannot boast of anything like the extent of
Zimbabwe's
development in schools, hospitals, commercial properties,
up-market suburbs
and golf courses, but they also misjudge their current
status.
Assuming that its installed capacity is still in place, many of
these
analysts have decided that Zimbabwe's prospects of recovery are so
good that
only slight changes in direction and a couple of years would be
enough to
see the country regain its former ranking, second only to South
Africa's.
Zimbabwe's politicians of whichever stripe have
enthusiastically embraced
this belief, so much do they want it to be true.
Their conviction that it is
true has been vigorously fed into the short-term
and medium-term recovery
plans, which all hinge on forecast recoveries in
investment inflows,
employment, export revenues and tax
revenues.
What is missing from these beliefs is any evidence that the
foreign analysts
or the local planners have any understanding of how much
has been damaged by
the policy mix that the authorities forced into place in
recent years.
In their efforts to force obedience and compliance from the
business sector
as well as from ordinary citizens, government brought
productive sector
investment almost to a halt. This has been immensely
costly because, in a
competitive world, continuous investment is needed in
industrial plant, in
production methods, in staff training, in market
research, in design
engineering and in establishing sources of material
supplies as well as
sound destinations for finished goods. In Zimbabwe, all
this investment
dried up.
Government interference in the business
sector, through its adoption of
fixed exchange rates, price controls,
interest rate controls, import
controls and state-controlled buying
monopolies for fuel as well as staple
foods, brought an end to inflows of
new ideas that would have kept
Zimbabwean goods competitive.
They
even made the maintenance of existing production facilities impossible
to
fund, or even to justify. They also brought massive handicaps to bear on
those who became responsible for tens of thousands of industrial workers,
but who could be far too easily blamed for business failures for which they
were in no way responsible.
Now, Zimbabwe's manufacturing capacity
has fallen to a fraction of its
former size and the country has become more
dependent on imported finished
goods than at any time since it started
building its own industrial base.
Few companies can afford to offer
apprenticeships or training courses, and
very few are even planning for the
expansion of their workforce.
This accounts for the Zimbabwean Diaspora.
Years ago, many of those who had
good jobs in Zimbabwe realised that their
career development paths had
either become indistinct, or they had
disappeared completely. For many of
their younger counterparts, the
prospects of even getting onto a career path
were evaporating as employers,
constrained by price controls, absurd
exchange rates and enormous
difficulties in acquiring foreign currency,
found it impossible to work to
business expansion plans. For many workers
and work seekers alike, their
best option was to leave the country.
As many of the same constraints
affected the state-run services, the skilled
technicians and administrators
who knew how to make railways, hospitals or
water purification plants work
properly, or knew how to maintain aircraft,
power stations, traffic lights
or roads, decided that their own careers
would progress faster somewhere
else. With their departures, the services
infrastructure has fallen into
disrepair.
The roads are crumbling, power supplies are erratic, water no
longer reaches
many suburbs and now it cannot even be relied upon to keep
flowing in
business areas. The railways and airways can cope with only a
fraction of
traffic handled ten years ago, the health services collapsed in
most parts
of the country and the quality of teaching has left most children
incapable
of passing school examinations.
One of the most telling of
the estimated national statistics is that the
number of people in formal
employment is now put at little more than 800 000
people, including the
civil service. It has fallen to that level from more
than 1 300 000 in 1997.
The last time a figure as low as 800 000 was
recorded in the country's
statistics was in 1970, forty years ago, but at
that time, Zimbabwe's
population was about half the size it is now.
Fleeting observers who note
the bustling business activity and all the
vehicles on the roads would not
easily see the underlying weakness of the
economy, partly because it is
disguised by the huge numbers now seeking some
kind of income from the
informal economy.
The informal economy includes the communal land
farmers, where this year
almost all of Zimbabwe's farming activities are
taking place. The land
confiscated from large-scale commercial farms lies
uncultivated almost
throughout the country. Subsidies are needed to replace
the loans the banks
used to offer when the farmers owned the land, but no
such funds are now
available.
So the quick recovery is not on its
way. And it will not be able to start
before a great deal of headway is made
in fixing the infrastructure,
updating the manufacturing plant, winning back
lost markets, overcoming
dependence on imports and rebuilding government'
tax base. Every step of the
way calls for people. But the people concerned
are not on their way either,
and won't be until the needed political changes
have restored their
confidence.
http://news.radiovop.com
21/01/2010 09:22:00
Nairobi - African leaders
have sent their people an alarming message by
siding with Sudanese President
Omar al-Beshir over his victims, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said in its annual
report on Wednesday.
The 600-page review of human rights in the world
criticised African
governments for blocking justice mechanisms and warned
that rights activists
were increasingly threatened.
The New York
based watchdog hailed the March 2009 International Criminal
Court (ICC)
arrest warrant against Beshir for war crimes and crimes against
humanity in
Sudan's strife-wracked Darfur region as "a major development".
But in an
introduction entitled "The Abusers' Reaction: Intensifying Attacks
on Human
Rights Defenders, Organisations, and Institutions", it also
deplored the
African Union's decision to stand by Beshir.
"One would have wanted
African leaders to applaud the move. After all, the
world had dithered for
more than five years as the people of Darfur faced
mass murder and forced
displacement," the report said.
"Unfortunately, some African leaders
seemed less troubled by the slaughter
of ordinary African people than by the
audacious prospect that a sitting
African leader might actually be brought
to justice for these horrendous
crimes," it said.
"The nadir came
during the African Union summit held in July 2009 in Sirte,
Libya," HRW
said. "The AU, led by some of the continent's worst autocrats,
began
accusing the court of unfairly targeting Africans. In reality, these
leaders
were cynically trying to protect one of their own."
Misuse of
justice
Human Rights Watch, which reviewed the status of human rights in
around 20
sub-Saharan countries, also highlighted government obstruction or
misuse of
justice mechanisms at national level.
The report, dedicated
to Alison Des Forges - a former HRW Africa senior
adviser and leading expert
on Rwanda's 1994 genocide, who died in a US plane
crash last year - took a
swipe at Rwanda over its local gacaca courts.
Rwanda has "employed its
informal gacaca courts - a form of popular justice
devoid of many fair trial
guarantees - to falsely accuse government critics
of complicity in the 1994
genocide," HRW said.
"Ironically, these steps, taken in the name of
national reconciliation, have
undermined the formation of independent civil
society groups that could
bridge ethnic divides and ease ethnic tensions,"
it added.
Human Rights Watch also slammed Kenya, a key Western ally in
Africa which
has failed to introduce reforms demanded by the international
community
following deadly post-election violence in 2008.
The report
said "incidents of extrajudicial killings and excessive use of
force by
police and military continued unchecked in 2009."
"There were also
renewed reports of systematic torture and mistreatment of
civilians during
disarmament operations," it added.
The report also singled out Ethiopia,
which it said was "on a deteriorating
human rights trajectory as
parliamentary elections approach in 2010."
Abuses by the military,
lengthy pre-charge detention and legal provisions
restricting political
freedom go unpunished and unnoticed by foreign donors
keen not to jeopardise
security co-operation, it said.
The watchdog deplored yet another year of
violence against civilians by all
belligerents in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and a situation in Somalia,
which it said was "so dangerous that open
human rights monitoring is
virtually impossible." AFP
Why is it in Zimbabwe, that if ever something
quite normal or sensible comes
up, ZANU PF decides that the only way to
oppose that event is to threaten
the country with war?
Probably
because their history is littered with the dead bodies of those
that have
stood in their way...
I note that ZANU PF call Mugabe the 'second son of
God" which, in my mind,
is sacrilegious, and the also call him "The
Solution". Mugabe is never going
to be the solution to Zimbabwe's problems -
indeed, who is going to liberate
Zimbabwe from the 'liberator'?
"A
ZANU PF activist has warned Finance Minister Tendai Biti of "war" if he
releases money for the land audit.
Interviewed by the state
broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
on Wednesday night,
Goodson Nguni said: "The Minister of Finance is
forwarding MDC's agenda in
the inclusive government. He is representing the
whites and by allocating
funds to the land audit he wants the whites to come
back. If he insists that
the land audit should carry on he is declaring a
war. Land audit represents
the MDC, which wants to sabotage the land
reform."
Not long ago, we
read about a number of families that had benefited from the
land grab and
they were about to be evicted to make way for the new owner.
The excuse that
ZANU PF gave was that the families had not 'legalised' their
occupation of
the land.
My comment then was how many of the 'new' farmers had
'legalised' their
tenure on the land?
If there was an official
procedure to be followed, how come we didn't know
about it before - and
surely if procedure has been followed, the land audit
becomes a paper trail
only?
So why do ZANU PF say that in excess of US$30 million is required
for any
land audit - a procedure which they now threaten war
over?
"He also warned that the MDC wanted to use the constitution process
as a
platform for regime change.
He said the US$31 million allocated
to the land audit and the US$43 million
given to the constitution making
process should have been given to new black
farmers.
The ZBC also
interviewed Agriculture Minister Joseph Made who said that
non-productivity
on farms had been caused by the western sanctions."
(Made is the ZANU PF
minister who was able to do a crop survey from an
aircraft and told the
world the agricultural season would be "bumper" -
which didn't happen. In
fact he got only one letter wrong - the crop harvest
was a
"bummer".)
Why should this amount of money be given to the new 'farmers'?
Many of the
new land owners have never farmed in their lives and have
alternate jobs
elsewhere within the ZANU PF structures. The money for the
land audit should
be used for the land audit and that alone.
The new
farmers, if they are struggling financially, should be talking to
ZANU PF as
they were the people which egged on the invasions - which still
continue
today - and allocated the land in such a haphazard way that the
majority of
the seized land is now in the hands of the Mugabe administration
hierarchy.
ZANU PF was the driving force behind the land grab and
hence, it should be
their responsibility in assisting the new farmers - most
of which are ZANU
PF card carrying members. Why should the national purse
look after only
those that Mugabe chose? Are ZANU PF the only people in
Zimbabwe that count?
Threatening war, as far as I am concerned, is a
criminal offence...
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
http://mandebvhu.instablogs.com/entry/the-zanu-pf-solution-war/
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Dear Friends.
The 'Resource
Curse' or the 'Paradox of Plenty' is how economists attempt to
explain the
phenomenon of why countries in the developing world, blessed
with abundant
natural resources, still fail to match up to the developed
world in economic
prosperity for their populations as a whole. There are
several reasons for
this economists claim; past colonial history, skewed
world markets which
operate to the detriment of the developing world,
foreign exploitation and
local corruption.
I was reminded this week of the relevance of the
'Resource Curse' to
Zimbabwe when I read about the renewed anger of the
residents of Mutoko, a
place I know well having lived and worked there. For
years the local
residents have been complaining about the failure by the
companies mining
black granite in the area to benefit the local community
from the vast
profits made. Anyone who drives along the highway from
Nyamapanda on the
Mozambique border to Harare will be aware of the huge
lorries carrying
massive blocks of black granite to the capital for export.
Occasionally, a
block of granite will be dislodged and abandoned on the side
of the road as
a permanent reminder of the exploitation of natural resources
to the
detriment of the local people.
A visit to the area where
the granite is mined is even more instructive. I
used to visit one of the
mines - and there are several, all mined by
different foreign companies - on
a monthly basis and I saw for myself the
massive environmental damage. The
granite is blasted out of the rocks and
from my memory there was no attempt
to repair the damage done by the
blasting. The local community has received
few benefits from the black
granite gouged out of their land. There are no
newly-built schools, no
clinics, no piped water or any of the other benefits
you might expect to see
in an area so rich in natural resources. Apart from
the employment
opportunities for local people who undertake the incredibly
dangerous work,
there are few benefits to the local
community.
This situation is being replicated all over Zimbabwe, a
country rich in
natural resources from which local communities derive little
benefit. The
land itself cannot be excluded; it is a natural resource which
is
increasingly being exploited by corrupt politicians with little benefit
for
the impoverished masses. The reports this week by the CFU and GAPWAZ
both
speak of the huge suffering caused by the violent land invasions to
their
members, farm owners and farm workers. The environmental damage caused
by
these unregulated land seizures is yet another tragic consequence of the
'Resource Curse'. The wild animals too, which were once Zimbabwe's pride and
a major tourist attraction are being exterminated by poachers for profits
which benefit only corrupt ministers and foreign buyers. Elephants poached
for their tusks and this week the horrific report that so-called war
veterans are poisoning water holes where rhino drink so that they can cut
out the horns for sale to foreign buyers in the Far East, all yet more
evidence that Zimbabwe's superb natural resources are up for sale to the
highest bidder, regardless of ethical or environmental considerations or
thought for the country's future. Chiadzwa diamonds, other precious stones,
gold and numerous other metals are all part of Zimbabwe's natural heritage
which is steadily being exploited to benefit the few while the masses remain
in abject poverty and, as this year goes on, increasing
hunger.
And all this continues while the politicians on both sides
play their silly
power games. The total lack of urgency to settle the
problem only prolongs
the agony of uncertainty for Zimbabwe. When the Talks
finally resumed on
Wednesday evening to settle the remaining issues of the
GPA, the
participants met for just a couple of hours behind closed doors and
ended
with the bland announcement that they would resume in a couple of
weeks. The
Constitutional Outreach Programme too has been 'postponed
indefinitely' we
hear, because of disagreements among the parties about
funding. This,
despite the fact the fact that the Programme was given
sizeable donor
funding! The question is: Where has the money
gone?
Zimbabwe's own 'Resource Curse' can only be lifted I believe
when we have a
democratically elected government honest and efficient enough
to conduct
exhaustive land audits, not only of former commercial farmland
but of
communal areas and National Parks. Only then will we be able to see
the full
extent of the destruction of our natural resources that has gone on
unchecked for the past ten years and more of Zanu PF misrule. Zimbabwe
urgently needs a new people-driven constitution followed by internationally
monitored free and fair elections. Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF will do
anything in their power to delay that process, we all know that. What is not
so clear is why the MDC - supported by 75% of the population according to a
recent survey - cannot act more stridently to confront the intransigence of
Robert Mugabe and his failing party. While the country waits and waits for a
lasting political settlement, the exploitation of our natural resources for
the benefit of the few goes on unabated and Zimbabwe remains in the grip of
the 'Resource Curse.'
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH aka
Pauline Henson author of Case
Closed published in Zimbabwe by Mambo Press,
Going Home and Countdown,
political detective stories set in Zimbabwe and
available from Lulu.com