Santa Barbara Press News
ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press
Writer
January 23, 2008 6:52 AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -
Zimbabwe police fired tear gas and charged toward
several hundred protesters
making their way to a rally Wednesday, following
the brief detention of the
leader of the country's political opposition.
Police had earlier banned a
march planned by supporters of Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change. The party appealed the ban, but
a high court upheld it, although it
said a planned rally could go ahead,
according to Nelson Chamisa, the
opposition party's spokesman.
Tsvangirai was briefly detained, in what
appeared to be an attempt to
prevent the protests from going
forward.
The demonstration was to be the first test of new security laws
adopted
earlier this month that were meant to ease restrictions on protests
in the
leadup to elections set for March. The reforms also relaxed rules for
journalists to obtain licenses, and set up a new licensing
authority.
After the court ruling, several hundred oppositions supporters
chanting and
waving placards started walking from party headquarters in
downtown Harare,
where they has gathered to await the court's ruling, toward
the rally site,
a stadium about a 20-minute walk away.
After about
four blocks, police fired tear gas and charged the group, which
they said
was breaking the court ruling by marching. The group then
dispersed.
Opposition lawyer Alec Muchadehama said there were some
injuries and ''quite
a lot'' of demonstrators were
arrested.
''Police behavior was unlawful,'' he added.
Police
could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the aftermath, streets
were littered with opposition posters, flyers and
several shoes lost as
people fled the tear gas. Riot police with dogs were
stationed at the closed
gates of the stadium.
Tsvangirai later addressed a few hundred people
outside of the stadium. He
said his party would intensify protests
throughout Zimbabwe, South Africa's
SABC radio news
reported.
Tsvangirai had been expected to speak at the rally. Chamisa
said police had
seized Tsvangirai at around 4 a.m. from his home in northern
Harare and
released him five hours later.
Chamisa said the arrest and
the ban on the march were a deliberate snub to
South African efforts to find
a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis. South African
President Thabo Mbeki had
mediated talks between the two sides after the
opposition claimed security
and media laws were hindering election
campaigning.
''It's a mockery
of President Mbeki's efforts. It's a mockery of African
solutions to African
problems. It's a mockery to humankind,'' he said.
State radio had said
Tuesday that police believed there were ''sinister
motives'' behind the
''Freedom Walk'' and that it would not be peaceful.
The opposition has
demanded more constitutional and electoral reforms before
the election, and
said polling should be delayed until June to allow for its
demands to be
met. President Robert Mugabe has insisted elections take place
as
scheduled.
Mail and Guardian
Godfrey Marawanyika | Harare, Zimbabwe
23 January 2008
03:30
Zimbabwe's main opposition party was given permission
on
Wednesday to stage a protest rally against President Robert Mugabe after
its
leader Morgan Tsvangirai was briefly detained by
police.
Police had slapped a blanket prohibition on the
protest called
by the Movement for Democratic (MDC) as a show of strength
ahead of joint
parliamentary and presidential elections due in
March.
But a court in Harare ruled that while a ban on
marching through
the capital's central business district could remain in
place, the MDC
should be allowed to gather in a football stadium where the
rally was
intended to culminate with an address by
Tsvangirai.
"The respondents [police] are not to interfere
with the
gathering at Glamis Stadium until [3.15pm local time]," added
Priscilla
Chigumba, the presiding justice at a hearing before magistrates in
Harare.
The MDC said they had received initial approval from
the police
to stage the protest only to be slapped with the ban on
Monday.
As government and opposition lawyers argued in court,
a heavy
police presence prevented MDC supporters from entering the downtown
area.
Tsvangirai and several of his top lieutenants were
badly beaten
up by members of Mugabe's security services last March as they
tried to
stage another protest rally in Harare.
But in an
apparent warning shot across his bows, Tsvangirai was
picked up by police at
his home in the early hours of the morning and
questioned for about four
hours.
"He was picked up by the police at about 4am [local
time] on
Wednesday but he has since been released," his lawye, Alec
Muchadehama,
said.
National police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena confirmed that
Tsvangirai had been briefly
detained.
"We invited Morgan Tsvangirai, Ian Makone [the
MDC's director
for elections] and Denis Murira [another top MDC official]
here," he said.
"They held discussions with the officer
commanding law and order
and then they went home. We wanted to establish
what they intended to do
following recent utterances."
During the court hearing, Muchadehama said that the police
action went
against the grain of recent amendments to laws on the holding of
protests,
which had been agreed between the opposition and government.
"The position the police have taken is not in the spirit of what
was agreed
in on the constitutional amendments," said Muchadehama.
"When
we agreed to the [amended] law we did not know it could be
used against
us."
Fatima Maxwell, a law officer in the Attorney General's
office,
said while the authorities were prepared to negotiate with the
opposition,
the police had good reason to worry about the impact of the
rally in the
city centre.
The former British colony, led
by the 83-year-old Mugabe since
independence in 1980, is in economic
meltdown. The official annual rate of
inflation is put at 8 000%, but
economists believe it to be nearer 50 000%.
Unemployment is
running at about 80% while basic foodstuffs such
as cooking oil and sugar
are now a scarce commodity in the one-time regional
breadbasket.
Mugabe came in for widespread international
criticism in March
last year after Tsvangirai and dozens of MDC supporters
were assaulted as
they tried to attend an anti-government rally in Harare.
The president
responded by telling his critics to "go
hang".
The prospect of the MDC looking to defy another banned
rally had
raised fears of a new bout of unrest, with the government warning
the
opposition not to resort to violence.
"The government
expects Tsvangirai and his party to keep their
pledge to a peaceful campaign
and lawful conduct, which they made to the
law-enforcement authorities only
this morning [Wednesday]," Information
Ministry George Charamba said. --
Reuters
HARARE, 23 January 2008 (IRIN) -
Scores of Zimbabwean opposition supporters
were teargassed and beaten up by
police during a protest march in the
capital, Harare, after a local
magistrate overruled a police order banning
the march on 23
January.
Lungile Ncube, of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), who
was beaten up, told IRIN she had been accosted by plainclothes
policemen who
asked her why she was dressed in the red and white colours of
the
opposition.
"When I did not respond, one of the men ordered his
colleagues to beat me up
until I died," she alleged. Ncube sustained deep
cuts on her head and face
as a result of the assault.
The MDC faction
led by Morgan Tsvangirai had announced the 'Freedom Walk'
protest march to
demand pro-democracy reforms and free and fair elections,
and to highlight
the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Tsvangirai was picked up from his
house by the police early on 23 January
and later released without being
charged. Two other MDC officials, Paul
Madzore, a member of parliament, and
Elias Mudzuri, the party's organising
secretary, were still in police
custody when the rally ended later in the
day.
The opposition
appealed against the ban at the Harare magistrate's court,
which ruled that
the rally could take place but should finish on the
afternoon of 23
January.
Riot police teargassed and beat up some of the more than 5,000
opposition
supporters making their way to the venue, an open field close to
the ruling
ZANU-PF party's headquarters in Harare.
Beatings, an
indictment
Addressing his supporters at the rally, Tsvangirai said the
arrests and
beatings were an indictment of the ongoing negotiations being
brokered by
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) between the
opposition and
the ZANU-PF.
"What happened today is a serious test of
the sincerity of President Robert
Mugabe, [South African] President Thabo
Mbeki and the entire SADC region on
whether this is the kind of Zimbabwe
which they want," he said.
The opposition leader announced that a series
of marches would be held in
the country's major urban centres as well as in
rural areas.
At the last rally, organised by opposition and pro-democracy
groups in March
2007, many activists were arrested and beaten up. After
international
condemnation of the government's actions, the SADC set up a
mediation
initiative, to be led by Mbeki.
Lovemore Madhuku, a
political commentator and chair of the National
Constitutional Assembly, a
pro-democracy non-governmental organisation, told
IRIN the attempt to
suppress the march should not have come as a surprise.
"All it does is
confirm what we as civic society and labour warned when we
told the MDC that
it should not go into negotiations with ZANU-PF, as it
would never take any
negotiations sincerely."
Mbeki visited Zimbabwe last week amid reports
that a deal between the
parties was imminent.
"If Mbeki claims that
he is close to securing a deal, and the opposition is
being bashed like
this, then it means that a deal is far from being
secured," said
Madhuku.
The MDC now faced the dilemma of explaining the "benefits of the
talks to
its supporters after they were beaten up and the leadership
arrested,
Madhuku said. "I don't think they have the kind of leadership with
the
stamina to lead Kenyan style
revolts."
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations]
Yahoo News
by
Godfrey Marawanyika
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai accused
President Robert Mugabe of running a dicatorship on
Wednesday after he was
briefly detained by police and needed court approval
to address supporters.
Ten months after being assaulted at another
anti-Mugabe rally, Tsvangirai
told supporters his detention in the early
hours by police who picked him up
while he was sleeping was a bad omen for
elections due in March.
While there were sporadic clashes between
followers of Tsvangirai's Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) and security
forces in the build-up to the rally
at a football pitch, Tsvangirai's
address passed off peacefully.
"Where in the world have you seen the
leader of a reputable national and
international brand like the MDC be
treated like a common criminal?," said
Tsvangirai who is trying to end
Mugabe's 28-year rule at the ballot box.
"If this is the reaction of this
dictatorship, then the elections are a
farce.
"I don't foresee a
situation where this very police can salute a change of
government. I don't
foresee a situation where this Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission can actually
announce the defeat of Mugabe."
Tsvangirai was only given clearance to
address around 1,000 supporters after
Harare magistrates overruled a blanket
ban on the protest but did order the
MDC to axe plans to march through the
city.
Presiding justice Priscilla Chigumba said the MDC must wrap up
their rally
by 3:15pm (1315 GMT), an order that was adhered
to.
Speaking to journalists after the ruling, MDC secretary general
Tendai Biti
praised the court's judgement.
"We want to commend the
magistrate for a very brave decision which allows us
to exercise our freedom
of association and the right to freedom of
assembly," said Biti.
As
MDC supporters who had gathered at the party headquarters in the city
centre
made their way to the football ground, several were targeted by riot
police
who fired teargas without causing major injury.
Around 1,000 supporters
finally made it to the venue where scores of police,
including undercover
officers, closely watched events. Several diplomats
from Western missions
could also be seen monitoring the rally.
The former British colony, led
by the 83-year-old Mugabe since independence
in 1980, is in economic
meltdown. The official annual rate of inflation is
put at 8,000 percent, but
economists believe it to be nearer 50,000 percent.
Unemployment is
running at around 80 percent while basic foodstuffs such as
cooking oil and
sugar are now a scarce commodity in the one-time regional
breadbasket.
The MDC is hoping that the crisis will lead voters to
dump Mugabe at joint
parliamentary and presidential polls next
month.
"We are crying against poverty, we are crying for food, we are
crying for
jobs and what's the response of the state?" asked
Tsvangirai.
"The child is crying to the father and the father takes a
stick and beats up
that child. What kind of a father is that?"
Mugabe
came in for widespread international criticism in March last year
after
Tsvangirai and dozens of MDC supporters were assaulted as they tried
to
attend an anti-government rally in Harare. The president responded by
telling his critics to "go hang".
The prospect of the MDC looking to
defy another banned rally had raised
fears of new unrest, with the
government warning the opposition not to
resort to
violence.
"Government expects Tsvangirai and his party to keep their
pledge to a
peaceful campaign and lawful conduct which they made to the
law-enforcement
authorities only this morning," information ministry
spokesman George
Charamba said.
By Tichaona
Sibanda
23 January 2008
The political crisis in Zimbabwe deepened on
Wednesday after opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai was prevented from
leading a protest march, calling
for a change to the country’s electoral
laws.
Tsvangirai, together with two of his closest aides, were taken by
police
from their homes at 4am but were released soon after 8am. The other
two who
were detained were Ian Makone, the party’s director for elections,
and
Dennis Murira, a top aide to Tsvangirai. They were all released without
charge.
The MDC leader told Newsreel from his home in Harare that the
police had
wanted to know what their plans were for the protest rally. ‘I
told the
police I had nothing to say to them because we had a court case
which was
going to hear our appeal against the police ban. They also
threatened to
come after me if our supporters defied the ban and went ahead
with the
protest march.’
At the urgent court hearing Harare
magistrate Priscilla Chigumba allowed the
MDC to proceed with their rally
but prevented them from marching in the
streets of the capital, giving
possible disruption of traffic as her reason
for ordering them to go
straight to their meeting point.
She told the hearing; ‘The MDC marchers
should withdraw peacefully and in a
non-riotous behaviour, and proceed to
the Glamis Stadium.’
The ruling was met with wild jubilations from MDC
activists gathered outside
the court. But before the activists could march,
heavily armed police in
riot gear began breaking up the groups of
supporters. Running battles broke
out between the police and the protestors
but Tendai Biti, the party’s
secretary-general, managed to lead the
supporters to the stadium. Tsvangirai
did manage to travel to the stadium
and address the crowd, which the MDC
claims was close to 20,000.
In
his address the MDC President said Wednesday’s protest march was only the
beginning and that nothing was ever going to stop him from leading the
protests from the front. He blamed Mugabe for what was happening in Zimbabwe
and said he had reneged on promises given at the talks to Thabo Mbeki, that
the elections would be free and fair.
Police in Harare had originally
given the MDC permission for the protest
march, but cancelled it on Monday
saying that new intelligence suggested the
protest would turn
violent.
Commenting on Tsvangirai’s arrest, Biti said it only goes to
show they are
dealing with a ‘fascist party and hooligans’ who are not yet
ready to
recognise that the people of Zimbabwe are
suffering.
‘Effectively we are dealing with reckless people, violent
people, bankrupt
people, people with no plans for Zimbabwe,’ Biti
said.
The outspoken MP for Harare East said even in the face of a court
order
allowing them to march to Glamis stadium, a few kilometres west of the
city,
the police still beat and tear gassed their supporters.
‘This
is typical behaviour you see in a dying horse. The days of
dictatorship are
numbered. We will live to fight another day,’ he said.
This was the first
time this year that a crowd had gathered to express its
opposition to the
regime and demand free and fair elections. Luke
Tamborinyoka, the MDC
director of information, said a number of their
activists were abducted and
taken to the Zanu-PF headquarters.
‘Police made it very difficult for our
people to proceed to the Glamis
stadium in compliance with the court ruling.
This merely confirms some of
the reasons why we are marching; we are merely
marching for equal access to
the media. The mere fact there is a media blitz
of misinformation also
confirms one of the reasons why we want equal space
in the media,’
Tamborinyoka said.
Earlier in the day, an aide to
Tsvangirai described the scene to Newsreel
when he drove around the streets
of the capital. He said he saw many
opposition activists being beaten and
many others being arrested.
Some of the peaceful protesters were waving white
handkerchiefs, to
emphasise their peaceful
intent.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Fikile
Mapala
Last updated: 01/23/2008 23:47:35
ZANU PF’S centre of power – the
politburo – was meeting in Harare on
Wednesday to deal with a series of
urgent issues affecting the ruling party
amid reports of a looming split
ahead of crucial presidential and
parliamentary elections in
March.
Prominent academic Ibbo Mandaza has been named as the coordinator
of a
movement within the ruling party determined to wrest power from
President
Robert Mugabe in order to replace him with long-serving Zanu PF
politburo
member, Dr Simba Makoni.
Fugitive Zanu PF MP David Butau
and independent MP for Tsholotsho Professor
Jonathan Moyo have also been
linked with the new movement.
Zanu PF sources say the politburo was
initially expected to meet on January
30 to discuss primary elections to
select candidates for the general
election, but the meeting was brought
forward because of rising turbulence
in the party.
Media reports say
Zanu PF is caught in a political storm accompanied by
threats by some of its
senior members to break away and form a splinter
party to challenge
President Robert Mugabe.
It is said that Makoni, a former finance
minister, is being supported by the
Zanu PF faction led by retired army
commander General Solomon Mujuru.
Former Zapu members led by former
intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa are
also said to have soft spot for
Makoni, seen by many as level headed with
appeal across Zimbabweans from
different walks of life.
Makoni has neither confirmed nor denied media
reports linking him to the
splinter faction of the ruling party, reinforcing
speculation that he may be
working towards wresting power from
Mugabe.
When contacted for by New Zimbabwe.com, Makoni refused to comment
saying he
had nothing to say.
He said: “I am sorry I cannot talk
about that at the moment. I will comment
at the appropriate time. At the
moment I have no comment.”
The politburo is expected to discuss the
party’s primary elections, SADC
initiated talks between Zanu PF and the MDC,
the March election date and the
widely speculated split.
Sources say
the splinter party, set to be launched soon, has been given the
thumbs up by
Zanu PF’s disgruntled leadership in Mashonaland East Province
who felt
cheated by Mugabe’s controversial endorsement by a Zanu PF
extraordinary
congress last December.
The party, which sources say is set to use the
name Patriotic Front, is an
alliance of disgruntled Zanu PF members across
the country’s provinces.
Sources say Mashonaland East Governor Ray Kaukonde,
an ally of Mujuru, has
been one of the leaders within the party at the
forefront of calling for a
new leader to take over from Mugabe.
A
leading opinion writer in the state-run Herald newspaper, Nathaniel
Manheru
-- thought to be presidential spokesman George Charamba -- recently
confirmed the political manoeuvres by Makoni and his cabal in his weekly
column, dismissing them as a British-sponsored “coalition of the
bitter”.
zimbabwejournalists.com
23rd Jan 2008 12:50 GMT
By a Correspondent
HARARE - The
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has joined the call
for the
postponement of elections saying it will be a ‘disaster’ if they are
held in
March, as there is a lot to be done to create an environment for a
credible,
undisputable and legitimate election.
Noel Kututwa the ZESN chairperson
told journalists on Tuesday in Harare at
the Quill Club that there was
little time between now and March for ZEC to
work on the voters-roll that is
in ‘shambles’ and for the public to analyse
the delimitation
report.
The report was presented to President Robert Mugabe and
Parliament last
week. Only one report was given to the Parliament and as of
today it is now
available in the Papers Office where anyone interested can
go, read and
leave it there.
”It is correct constitutionally that the
election must take place in March,
but that must be taken into context,”
said Kututwa. “Since 2000 all the
elections in Zimbabwe have had problems
and there has been talk of
postponing the elections and many stakeholders
have been in favour of
postponing the elections to create an atmosphere that
is conducive to make
sure that whatever result that comes out is acceptable
to everyone.”
George Chiweshe, the ZEC leader yesterday insisted that
election would not
be postponed. He said: “We are a democracy and anyone can
say anything. As
far as I know, delimitation exercise is over and for now,
the election is
set for March. We cannot make everyone happy. ZEC cannot
make copies of the
delimitation report for every citizen. That is not
financially feasible.”
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Sunday threatened to boycott the election
unless its demands
of a new constitution, an ‘independent’ ZEC and a
credible voters roll was
were met.
ZESN said Constitutional Amendment
18 Act allowed the election to be
postponed even to 2010.
“Probably
the ruling Zanu PF would make sure that the election is held in
March by
hook or crook if it means the printing press at the central bank
will go on
printing money for 24 hours to make sure that there is money for
the
election,” said Kututwa.
“But will that election be free and fair? …. We
are heading for a disaster
should we insist on having an election in
March.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira yesterday condemned ZESN
saying it
wanted to speak for the opposition.
”We know the opposition
is not yet ready for the election and I am not
surprised that the civic
organisations have started speaking for them,” said
Shamuyarira. “As Zanu PF
we are ready for an election even tomorrow.”
BBC
Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 11:21 GMT
Zambia has said it will no longer share power with Zimbabwe, as
electricity
problems spread across southern Africa.
Zambia made the move
to safeguard its supply after suffering severe power
disruptions over the
past few days.
It comes after South Africa reduced its energy exports to
its neighbours,
including Zambia.
South Africa has been suffering
from a lack of spare capacity after failing
to anticipate the growth of
domestic demand over the past decade.
More responsive
South Africa
has been experiencing daily power cuts over the past fortnight.
Its
reduction in exports may have played a role in two major nationwide
power
cuts in Zambia over the past few days.
Copper mining companies in Zambia
say the recent outages have cost them
millions of dollars.
Many
within the country are calling for the dismantling of Zambia's giant
power
company Zesco, to make it more responsive to emergencies.
Zimbabwe is
believed to import about 40% of its electricity and has had
trouble paying
its bills because of its lack of foreign currency.
The Herald
(Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
22 January
2008
Posted to the web 23 January 2008
Harare
ZIMBABWE was hit
by a second nationwide electricity blackout last night,
almost exactly 48
hours after the first on Saturday night.
Zesa Holdings was expecting to
restore power faster than the 18 hours taken
on Saturday and Sunday because
there was still some power available, which
would speed bringing Kariba
South back on the grid, and because the
procedures were almost identical to
those used after the Saturday blackout.
Last night's blackout hit
Zimbabwe and Zambia simultaneously, as did
Saturday's, but Zesa Holdings
chief executive Engineer Ben Rafemoyo did not
want to speculate on the cause
until there had been further investigations.
"We are currently at the
national control centre working on the recovery
plan. It is a bit early to
comment on other details such as what exactly
happened.
"My Zambian
counterpart has also just gone to his country's national control
centre to
ascertain the problems and see how best we can deal with the
problem. As
usual, it seems the problem is coming from the north in Zambia
and affecting
the south," he said.
Saturday's blackout -- which affected Zambia,
Zimbabwe and Botswana -- was
described as a systems disturbance, caused by
variation in power frequency
on the Zambian grid.
Zesa managed to
bring up the six generators at Kariba South on Sunday
afternoon along with
one of the Hwange Thermal generators, restoring power
to most of the
country.
A second Hwange generator was brought on stream yesterday and a
third was
being readied once there was enough diesel to start the
boilers.
But on Sunday, another fault on the circuit breakers, caused by
the
blackout, kept Harare's northern and eastern suburbs in darkness until
yesterday afternoon, a few hours before the second blackout
hit.
Authorities in Zambia yesterday ordered an inquiry to establish the
cause of
the blackout, which left hundreds of miners trapped
underground.
"We are still trying to establish what caused this major
disturbance," said
Rhodnie Sisala, managing director of the state-run Zambia
Electricity Supply
Company.
"The investigations will be thorough to
ensure that measures are taken to
prevent a power loss like that which
happened," Sisala added.
About 400 miners working underground in three
major copper mines in the
central Copperbelt province were trapped
underground after a power failure
on Saturday night. Oswell Munyenyembe,
secretary-general of the mine
workers' union, said the miners were only
evacuated on Sunday morning after
power was restored by tapping into energy
supplies from the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The Saturday power
blackout also affected Zinwa, which was already
struggling to supply eastern
and northern Harare where several suburbs have
been without water for 11
days.
Before last night's blackout, Zinwa said it would now take up to
five days
to normalise the water supply situation in Harare and this
schedule was
expected to suffer because of the second blackout, even though
Zinwa is
among the first group of consumers to be reconnected after a
fault.
The Minister of Water Resources and Infrastructural Development,
Engineer
Munacho Mutezo, yesterday toured the Warren Control Pump Station to
assess
Zinwa's response to the blackout.
He said Warren Control was
pumping at full capacity to Alex Park and Letombo
reservoirs but because by
mid-morning there was no power at Letombo, no
water was being pumped to
suburban reservoirs which feed into households.
He said Morton Jaffray
Water Treatment Plant was operating at near full
capacity.
Eng Mutezo
said Zinwa would work to fill the suburban reservoirs in the
north and
eastern parts of Harare before opening up valves to allow the
water to get
to households.
Western and southwestern suburbs were receiving water but
at reduced
pressure.
Eng Mutezo said high-density areas cannot be cut
out completely because of
health-related hazards that may arise.
The
weekend blackout threw into disarray the planned Zinwa scheduled water
demand management programme, which was supposed to begin today.
Under
the programme, residents in the northern and eastern suburbs would
receive
water just once in three days to allow for rotational distribution.
Ed (not his real name), 23, a bookkeeper, speaks to the BBC
News website via phone from his home in the capital, Harare, and describes how
ordinary Zimbabweans like him and his family are suffering. We don't have anything now - electricity, water, food, nothing.
We don't even have power now. They cut us off between 0400 and
2100 local time (0600 and 1900 GMT). We are struggling. I stay with my father, my mother and my brother and my sister.
My whole family depend on me. This morning we didn't have food for breakfast. We just ate
bananas. I pay two million Zimbabwean dollars (about $0.80 as per the
black market) for my bus to work. That's just one way. My salary each month is just 45m Zimbabwean dollars ($90). It is
nothing.
And when I do get paid I have to wait for about one, two, three,
four, five, six... sometimes even seven hours at the bank just to get my cash
out. I pay the rent for the roof over my family's head which is 30m
Zimbabwean dollars. I don't make ends meet. I have to take out loans from work. Or I borrow from my other
brother to get by. But I can't pay anything back - this is exactly my problem.
I have other jobs on the side at the weekend such as selling
onions and vegetables that I have grown myself. Now, can you imagine how we are struggling? It is too harsh.
My sister is still at school - she's in her last year of primary
school but I don't know how much longer she can stay because school fees have
just been hiked to 40m Zimbabwean dollars this term compared to 500,000
Zimbabwean dollars last term... I am yet to pay the fees. And then to top everything, you are not allowed to complain or
say anything about [President] Mugabe. Even now I think people are listening.
But to think of better times, today was my day to have my
once-a-month treat: I had some take-away rice and chicken for lunch. It was so good. I hope that next month I'll still be able to treat myself.
Wednesday, 23
January 2008, 10:53 GMT
Author: |
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These days, a bus ride from Francistown, near the Botswana-Zimbabwe border, to Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, includes a surprise encounter with the Botswana police. At a checkpoint one hour into the ride, the busload disembarks and police inspect passports, in search of Zimbabwean border jumpers. The economic crisis in Zimbabwe, marked by spiraling inflation rates and empty grocery shelves, is propelling its residents across the border. They don’t always find a welcome mat next door. Some sixty thousand Zimbabweans were deported from Botswana in 2006, and over 23,000 were deported between April and November 2007. South Africa deported over 150,000 Zimbabweans in the first nine months of 2007, according to Refugees International. Though the influx strains both countries, policy changes appear unlikely.
Botswana and South Africa staunchly uphold Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and official government statements are careful not to criticize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. “There is very little we can do,” says Mompati Sebogodi Merafhe, Botswana’s minister of foreign affairs, in an interview with CFR.org. “The solution to the Zimbabwe crisis must come from the Zimbabweans themselves.” Yet government officials concede the flaws in current policy. “These repatriations are more or less a vicious cycle,” says Moses M. Gaealafswe, Botswana’s chief immigration officer told CFR.org. “You arrest them today, you repatriate them tomorrow, next week they are here.” South Africa’s minister of home affairs has told the United Nations how difficult it is to regulate Zimbabwean immigration and expressed the need to develop new approaches (VOA). A few civil society groups pressure the South African government for policy changes, says Patrick Duplat of Refugees International, but in Botswana “civil society is practically nonexistent.”
In the absence of an overt, coordinated response to Zimbabwean migration, government bodies face many questions. What do immigration officers do when their border posts are overflowing with people? Should hospitals treat sick Zimbabweans without legal papers, or call the police in to arrest them? In South Africa, government employees who lack understanding of the country’s laws on refugees often fail to inform Zimbabweans of their right to apply for refugee status, instead sending them back across the border (PDF), researchers from Johannesburg’s Forced Migration Study Programme found. Those who do apply, however, face a backlog of applications thousands deep (NYT).
Ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections in 2008, border flows may grow. Given the reluctance of regional governments to develop a pragmatic approach to Zimbabwean immigration, any policy change may take international prodding. The African Union opened an investigation (Zimbabwe Standard) into alleged abuse of Zimbabweans in South Africa and Botswana in November 2007. Several nongovernmental organizations have suggested that both governments issue temporary residence permits, but critics say this does not address the primary reason Zimbabweans leave their country: the need for money.
A massive and sudden exodus of Zimbabweans, as undesirable as it would be, would certainly force new action. Botswana’s Gaealafswe says the government is developing a contingency plan in the event of a huge influx of people during the elections. Refugees International recommends that the Botswana and South Africa governments work together now to develop a legal framework for Zimbabwean immigrants, but in late November 2007, Gaealafswe said he knew of no plans for such a discussion.
Stephanie Hanson reported this story from Botswana.
New Zimbabwe
By Norah Spie
Last updated:
01/23/2008 19:36:33
LIKE most of you reading this, I had not been home in
over FIVE years. I had
last set foot in my homeland in September 2002 and
yet not a day went by
without me thinking of Zimbabwe.
I had been
trying over the years to go home at least for a short holiday but
there was
always something stopping me and before you know it, years have
passed.
Anyway, it is early November in Birmingham, England, and the
whole Christmas
thing has started to be over-blown by the continuous adverts
on British
television. That thought of having another cold, wet Christmas
makes me want
to get up and go…to Zimbabwe.
Of course I have my
reservations with all the talk about the supermarket
shelves being empty and
no fuel, no this and that…’no everything’ as
Mzekezeke would say! But hadn’t
I spent the last five festive seasons with
too much food and drink and yet
with no satisfaction?
To cut the chase, I landed at Harare International
Airport on the morning of
December 2, 2007. My whole Zimbabwean experience
had started when I booked
my ticket with our very own Air Zimbabwe. I have
flown to many destinations
but never been with Air Zimbabwe.
This was
exciting for me; I felt I was supporting my national airline. My
smile was
quickly wiped off when I could not get the promised e-ticket. I
had to phone
a friend who had a friend who worked for Air Zimbabwe who knew
the London
office manager! You would think I had not actually paid for the
ticket. I
needed to plead for a favour to get a ticket that I had long paid
for. I was
still in London and having to do things that way?
The flight was going
via Malawi, which is fine, but why were we not told at
the time of booking?
Maybe I did not want to go to Lilongwe? As it turned
out, it was not a
straight forward pick and drop. There was a security
scare.
Some not
so wise person who had bought a London-Harare ticket decided to get
off in
Lilongwe instead. The person did so without informing anyone and to
make
matters worse, they left their luggage on board and immediately that
became
a security issue. Believe it or not, they made us all get off the
aircraft
in Lilongwe and we had to stand next to our luggage so they could
pinpoint
the bags left by this mysterious person.
The large aircraft was the only
one at the very small airport. The hot air
hit me as I stepped onto the
Malawian runway. Right there, I witnessed
Zimbabwean enterprising at its
best. While others like me were busy
stressing about the heat, the delays
and generally complaining about
everything, some were busy purchasing bags
of rice from the locals who
worked on the runway.
Right then, I had
to change my attitude. I realised that to survive in
Africa, one had to be
forth-coming, alert, enterprising and had to stop
complaining.
I gave
a huge sigh a relief when we finally landed at Harare International
Airport.
I was home and it felt good. I did not know what to expect. The
drive to my
hotel in the city centre felt like I had never left. Harare is
truly
welcoming in that sense. Like a fool in love, I fell in love with
Harare all
over again. The jacarandas were still blooming and the streets
seemed
cleaner and wider.
Something in the city centre had changed. The type of
people that filled the
streets were a different kind than you would have
seen in Eastgate or 1st
Street eight or so years ago. A new type of street
dealers has been born.
They move in groups, both men and women, all crowded
and busy with something
but I wondered what?
They were the people
that controlled the city. They could get you anything
and everything and yet
they seemed like they had nothing. It was the same at
Westgate. However,
Avondale did not let me down because it was still as
vibrant as I remembered
it. Looking at the car parks and the revelers
drinking in the bars, one
would wonder if they were still in Zimbabwe. It
gets worse in places like
Arundel Park, Greystone Park Shopping Centre.
Just like the new breed of
people in the city centre, these affluent areas
had a new breed of
cash-loaded teenagers. They made me feel my teenage days
were deprived. They
were all dressed to kill and it looked like a scene from
Laguna Beach. Who
were they? How did they escape the economic hardships that
people as far as
UK are feeling?
They were simply and fabulously black teenagers living
large in a country
that is hard hit by poverty. They were the kids of a few
people that ran
Harare. The kids of the top businessmen, the government
ministers and so on.
But there were so many of them. Was something else
going on here? Or maybe I
just did not want to accept that someone ten years
my junior is living
large, while I didn’t? What made it worse was they
didn’t have to leave
Zimbabwe to have it all. Lucky for some I
thought!
Downtown Harare was most impressive to me. The part of town that
you would
have thought could collapse given the harsh economic climate. But
interestingly enough, Chinhoyi street, the whole of Kopje area, Mbuya
Nehanda, etc, these streets were vibrant. They are full of new stores that
are run by indigenous business people. Then there are rows of none-ending
stores that sell vehicle ‘spare parts’. The word on the street is that most
of them are run by Nigerians. Then of course you have the ‘cheap’ Chinese
stores. That fusion has made downtown Harare the most promising and most
improved business hub.
It is very difficult for me to explain simply
what I think of Zimbabwe now.
It was confusing, exciting, crazy,
frustrating, heart-breaking, impressive
all rolled in one. Homes go for days
without water and or electricity. You
get excited about seeing bread in a
supermarket! And a Coca-Cola has never
tasted so good, especially if you
have moved mountains to find it!
The most amazing thing is how fast one
can adjust to all this madness. Life
has to go on. People from the northern
suburbs now go for food shopping in
Mbare. People from Mufakose, Highfields,
etc are the ones who run Westgate,
Eastgate, 4th Street bus stop, Road Port,
etc. People from Hatcliffe have
taken over Borrowdale and Pomona
shops.
What I found most unbearable is the unavailability of basic
commodities like
bread, drinks, meat, (especially beef) fuel and of course
cash. It was so
frustrating having money in the bank and yet not being able
to get it out.
Or having a fuel coupon and having to queue for hours to get
fuel.
And yet on the other hand, people are getting stronger and wiser.
There is
no sense of panic. I also visited Mutare, Chinhoyi, Marondera,
Norton,
Masvingo and they are still intact. Zimbabwe is in so many ways
still
beautiful, full of fun, welcoming, friendly, safe but not as
comfortable as
it should be.
Believe it or not, all the holiday spots
were fully booked over the
Christmas period. I had planned to go to Victoria
Falls but could not get a
flight from Harare and all the hotels and lodges
were fully booked. It gets
better; these holiday resorts were mostly
occupied by locals.
It was good to see that more and more Zimbabweans are
starting to take time
to enjoy Zimbabwe’s wonderful resorts. With the fuel
on low, driving to
Victoria Falls was not an option. We decided to go east
but Nyanga, Vumba
and Mutare were also fully booked. We ended up in
Mozambique!
The Herald (Harare) Published
by the government of Zimbabwe
22 January 2008
Posted to the web 23
January 2008
Perry Kaande
Harare
A CHINESE investor is set to
take up a significant stake in the
Infrastructure Development Bank of
Zimbabwe, Herald Business has learnt.
The size of the stake was not clear
at Press time yesterday.
IDBZ chief executive Mr Charles Chikaura
confirmed the negotiations, saying
steps had already been taken to
facilitate the transaction.
"I can, indeed, confirm that, consistent with
Government's 'Look East
Policy', the Infrastructure Development Bank of
Zimbabwe is in discussions
with a major Chinese bank interested in acquiring
a significant shareholding
in the bank.
"The necessary shareholder
approvals for the investment have been sought and
granted by the bank's
existing shareholders," he said.
He added that the potential Chinese
investor was currently exercising due
diligence processes.
Although
Mr Chikaura chose to be prudent over the portion at stake and the
identity
of the potential investor, Herald Business is informed that the
China
Development Bank (CBD) may be the suitor of IBDZ.
The Chinese financial
institution is currently the biggest development bank
in the world by
portfolio, surpassing the World Bank and Asia Development
Bank.
CDB
has been a major player in long-term financing for key projects and
supportive construction in infrastructure, and basic pillar
industries.
It is one of the three policy banks of Chinese investment
vehicle PRC,
primarily responsible for raising funding for large
infrastructure projects,
including most of the funding for the Three Gorges
Dam and Shanghai Pudong
International Airport.
"Our expectation is
that negotiations will be completed in the first half of
this year, at which
point an appropriate announcement will be made," said Mr
Chikaura.
"In the meantime, confidential undertakings made by the
bank to the Chinese
investor preclude me from providing further information
about the
transaction."
IDBZ was launched by the Government of
Zimbabwe in 2005 as a vehicle for the
mobilisation of infrastructure
development finance from both domestic and
international sources.
The
bank's mandate is to mobilise financial and technical resources of
appropriate duration and cost, for public and private institutions involved
in infrastructure development and to facilitate investment in
infrastructure.
Long-term products include equity, bonds and
guarantees, long-term loan and
project finance. Short-term products include
trade finance, lease finance,
working capital, personal loans and treasury
services.
IDBZ also actively promotes the participation of the private
sector in
infrastructure finance and development, through public-private
partnership
models, including joint venture, build-operate transfer (BOT)
and other
similar arrangements.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 01/23/2008
19:20:33
ZIMBABWE’S Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications
has alleged corruption in the tender procedures for the
construction of an
airport in the resort town of Victoria Falls, a report
seen Tuesday reveals.
The parliamentary committee also said it doubts the
“credit worthiness” of
information given to it by the bosses of Air Zimbabwe
and the Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) Peter Chikumba and David
Chaota respectively on
various issues, and suggested they were covering up
for Transport Minister
Chris Mushowe.
“The committee observed that
the tender process on the Victoria Falls
Airport was flawed. It was apparent
to the committee that the authority
(Civil Aviation) was acting from
instructions elsewhere,” the report said.
The legislative body, chaired
by Zanu PF Makonde MP, Leo Mugabe, said the
tender was first given to
Costain Zimbabwe and Zumlantec, but later
cancelled and awarded to another
company that had not submitted a bid in the
original tender.
The
airport’s upgrading was said to be at a standstill, as the new company
has
no funds in contrast with Constain which had secured full financial
backing
from Nedbank.
The committee said Air Zimbabwe was reeling from lack of
foreign currency
and recommended that the airline charge regional and
international
passengers in hard cash.
MPs said Transport Minister
Christopher Mushohwe should keep his distance
from the day to day running of
Air Zimbabwe and CAAZ, restricting himself
only to providing policy
guidelines.
They added that because of the interference, “the committee
was not
satisfied with the credit worthiness of the evidence given by the
CEOs of
both Air Zimbabwe and CAAZ. The committee identified gaps of truth
and
wondered whether thus compromised the autonomy of the decision making of
these managers.”