http://www.scmp.com
Simon Parry
Jan 25, 2009
The daughter
of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is studying in Hong Kong
under an
assumed name.
Bona Mugabe - whose father and fellow leaders are banned from
going to the
United States and the European Union - began studying under
another name at
the University of Hong Kong in the autumn, a senior
university source
confirmed.
Her presence in Hong Kong
emerged after her 43-year-old mother, Grace,
allegedly assaulted freelance
photographer Richard Jones as he took pictures
of her shopping in Tsim Sha
Tsui 10 days ago.
Mr Mugabe and members of his regime are subject to
widespread international
sanctions. Australia last year deported eight
students whose parents are
senior members of the Mugabe regime, saying it
wanted to prevent those
involved in human rights abuses giving their
children education denied to
ordinary Zimbabweans. The southern African
country is in the grip of a
spiralling economic crisis, political turmoil
and a deadly cholera epidemic.
Asked about Ms Mugabe's admission, a
university spokeswoman said: "We
believe that education should be above
politics and young people should not
be denied the rights to education
because of their family background or what
their parents have done." She
denied there had been any negative reaction
from fellow students to the
presence of Ms Mugabe, who is around 20.
The senior university source
acknowledged that many students were unaware of
the presence of Ms Mugabe -
who is understood to be on holiday in Zimbabwe.
When she returned, the
university would "keep a watchful eye", the source
said. "It is an issue of
protecting an individual's rights ... What if
someone says they do not want
to do the course with her?"
Legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing called for a
debate over the admission of
students such as Ms Mugabe. "Anybody can come
to study in Hong Kong. Nobody
has ever raised this issue," she
said.
However, Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor, said: "A
child who
has not done anything wrong should not be asked to take the burden
of the
wrongs of their parents.
"I don't think because ... their
parents have these kinds of issues,
corruption or so on, there should be an
embargo extended to deny a child a
chance to study abroad."
Asked
about Bona Mugabe and visits by her parents to Hong Kong, a government
spokeswoman replied: "Every entry application is determined on its own
merits."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
January
25, 2009
Michael Sheridan in Hong
Kong
POLICE are expected to interview a fresh witness who has come forward to
help their investigation into the assault on a Sunday Times photographer by
the wife of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.
Richard Jones
said in a statement to police that Grace Mugabe flew into a
rage when she
was approached and punched him repeatedly in the face while
one of her
bodyguards held him. He was treated for cuts, abrasions and
bruises to his
face and head. Police have taken statements from other
witnesses and have
viewed video recordings from security cameras around the
scene.
In
Hong Kong a decision to prosecute is taken by the secretary for justice,
who
considers whether there is sufficient evidence and whether a prosecution
is
in the public interest.
Lawyers said Mugabe, who left Hong Kong after the
attack, may not enjoy
diplomatic immunity and could be questioned by police
if she returns.
The Mugabe government is regarded as a friend of China.
However, Chinese
officials in Hong Kong have indicated privately that
decisions will be left
to the local authorities.
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Charles Molele
Published:Jan 25,
2009
Some of South Africa's most prominent religious figures have
criticised the
handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe, breaking ranks with the
government and
regional leaders for the first time in
years.
In a scathing attack following their consultative meeting
in Stellenbosch in
the Western Cape this week, Bishop Ivan Abrahams of the
Methodist Church,
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of the Catholic Church, Archbishop
Thabo Makgoba of
the Anglican Church, Pastor Ray McCauley of Rhema and Eddie
Makue of the SA
Council of Churches, among others, accused both the Southern
African
Development Community and the SA government of failing the people of
Zimbabwe with their "so-called" quiet diplomacy.
They also called for
the removal of former president Thabo Mbeki, appointed
by SADC as mediator,
because he was "compromised and no longer suitable for
the mediation
process".
They called on the 12th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the
African Union
Heads of State and Government, which is meeting next week in
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, to urgently intervene and appoint a new
mediator.
The MDC and Zanu-PF are scheduled to slug it out tomorrow at an
extraordinary SADC summit in Pretoria to discuss the stalled Zimbabwean
Global Political Agreement, signed last year, between Zanu-PF and the
MDC.
The criticism of the religious leaders follows an
equally stinging attack
from Elders member Graça Machel, who accused
Southern African leaders of
having the blood of hundreds of thousands of
Zimbabweans on their hands for
failing to solve the crisis in that
country.
The church leaders said they believed Robert Mugabe was
holding on to power
illegitimately, and called upon him to
resign.
"As church leaders in Southern Africa, we are deeply concerned
and pained by
the loss of life and the continued deterioration of the
social, political
and economic situation in Zimbabwe," they said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
January
25, 2009
Sophie Shaw in
Harare
PUPILS as young as five years old were being turned away from school
gates
by President Robert Mugabe's army last week as Zimbabwe's education
system,
once one of the finest in Africa, became the latest victim of his
ruinous
corruption and economic mismanagement.
A week after the
scheduled beginning of the academic year, all state schools
remain closed.
They are not expected to reopen until at least the end of
February. As far
as the state is concerned, if its own schools are shut,
then the private
ones have no right to be open.
Jocelyn, whose 10-year-old son Tafadzwa
attends the private St George's
primary school in Harare, described what
happened when she arrived for the
start of term last
Monday.
"Soldiers were at the gates telling the pupils to go away. They
said that
other children couldn't go to school, so St George's children
should stay
away until the government decided when term should
begin."
Jocelyn works for an international agency and is paid in American
dollars.
By making substantial sacrifices, she can afford to educate her
children
privately at schools offering a sound education and a stable
teaching staff:
because they charge fees in US dollars, they can pay their
teachers in hard
currency.
But the fees at St George's are US$600 (£440)
a term, far beyond the means
of soldiers earning less than $10 (£7.35) a
month and indeed of the large
majority of Zimbabweans.
Army units
have grown increasingly mutinous in recent weeks, infuriated by
low wages
and prone to run wild in Harare, stealing from street vendors and
money
changers. Their harassment of private pupils appeared to reflect their
anger
that their own children are being denied education.
Zimbabwe's state
education system, in which all schools charge small fees,
is collapsing as
many of the country's 100,000 teachers move abroad. South
African schools
offering salaries in rand routinely recruit Zimbabwean state
teachers
earning worthless local currency. The Progressive Teachers' Union
of
Zimbabwe estimates that more than half its members have fled.
The tragedy
for ordinary Zimbabweans is that the collapse of education is
ending their
proud tradition of being the best-educated people in Africa.
Loveness is
a domestic worker who commutes every week to Harare. She can
read and write
in English as well as Shona and has O-levels in maths,
English and history.
But she is concerned that her children will not be
allowed to match her
achievements at a state school. "There have been so
many school closures and
lack of teachers. And the fees keep going up. Now
they want US$20 per term.
If I can't pay, they send my children home. If my
son doesn't read and
write, what will he do?"
http://www.thetimes.co.za/
Mondli Makhanya Published:Jan 25, 2009
There
is a story I have told in this space before, so I will beg
indulgence.
I repeat it because it is pertinent at the
moment as the leaders of
the Southern African Development Community gather
in Johannesburg for a
summit on Zimbabwe.
The events took place
in 2000, in the early days of the Zimbabwean
meltdown. Zimbabwe's war
veterans and associated Zanu-PF ruffians had
launched their violent invasion
of commercial farms. There had been rape and
pillaging in the countryside.
The newly formed Movement for Democratic
Change had shocked Zanu-PF by
scoring a referendum victory that threw out
constitutional reforms proposed
by President Robert Mugabe. That
development, just months ahead of the June
parliamentary elections, sent
shock vibrations through Zanu-PF, which now
feared an electoral loss.
Mugabe's security forces and Zanu-PF
militias had responded to this
shock by unleashing more violence on the MDC,
trade unionists and civil
society organisations.
The economy
was going into free fall. Infrastructure was falling
apart.
Worried, regional leaders organised a summit at Victoria Falls.
Present were
Namibia's Sam Nujoma, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and South
Africa's Thabo
Mbeki.
For long hours they sat in a room, trying to get Mugabe to
change
direction. When they emerged from their marathon meeting, they told
the
journalists gathered that Mugabe had agreed to several measures that
would
restore order to the country. He would ensure, among other things,
that
within 30 days the war veterans would be off the farms, violence would
cease
and a climate conducive to free political activity would be
created.
Mugabe was not permitted to speak at the press conference
and the
difficult questions were fielded by the three
presidents.
When asked why they believed Mugabe would stick to his
part of the
deal, they reacted angrily. How dare you question the validity
of an
undertaking that a head of state makes to other heads of state, they
shot
back. They got more irritated as the question was posed in different
ways.
We all left Victoria Falls wondering whether maybe, just
maybe, they
were onto something.
The following week, Mugabe was
on the hustings, spewing his rhetoric.
At every rally, he
repudiated the Easter weekend agreement. He vowed
that he would never set
comrade against comrade by getting the security
forces to remove the war
veterans from the farms they occupied. He told his
followers that he would
never allow the country to return to British rule,
meaning that he would
under no circumstances give the MDC the ability to win
a democratic
election.
He pledged that the land seizures would continue until
all the land
belonged to real Zimbabweans.
It was as if he was
intent on rubbing his brother leaders' noses
really roughly in sea
sand.
And the state of the country today shows how serious he was
about
wrecking Zimbabwe.
Since then, there have been many more
summits where the leaders of the
region have extracted promises from Mugabe.
He has nodded vigorously, only
to show them the middle finger once he got
back to Munhumutapa House.
I have always cast my mind back to that
Easter weekend each time the
SADC leaders have proclaimed an imminent deal
and an end in sight to the
Zimbabwean crisis.
Have they not
been played enough by this man to realise he is a
conceited liar, who is
only interested in retaining power and feeding the
greed of those who keep
him in power?
If they do not care about the plight of Zimbabweans,
then what about
the damage that is being done to their own countries by the
meltdown?
Tomorrow, the leaders of the region will gather in
Johannesburg to try
once more to resolve the crisis. Mugabe will arrive at
the summit with only
one thing on his mind: how to trick them into helping
him to control real
power. He will hoodwink them again and manoeuvre his way
around the deal
signed last year.
I do believe that there will
be some movement tomorrow, but only
because the MDC has been beaten into
such a pulp that it will be prepared to
make some really stupid
compromises.
The MDC is in a truly lonely place in this process
because the major
power brokers in the region, led by South Africa, are
openly on the side of
Zanu-PF.
If there is to be a genuine
lasting solution to the Zimbabwean crisis,
the search for solutions must be
broadened beyond the SADC region. The
involvement of the African Union,
which has leaders who are less beholden to
Mugabe, is necessary. And so is
the involvement of the United Nations, whose
humanitarian organs have a much
a greater understanding of the situation on
the ground than our regional
leaders.
For, even if a government of national unity is formed, it
will be one
in which Mugabe and Zanu-PF will wield disproportionate power.
We all know
they will abuse that power. And I have my doubts whether SADC
will have the
courage to prevent this abuse. They cannot be trusted to do it
alone. They
have failed dismally - and they must have the humility to admit
as much.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/
Bobby Jordan
Published:Jan 25,
2009
Wildlife experts suspect cartels take advantage of ineffective law
enforcement
South Africa's rhino population is under attack, with an
estimated 100
gunned down for their horns over the past year - a staggering
1000% increase
compared with 2007.
Government officials and
private landowners this week confirmed a massive
increase in rhino poaching
over the past year, raising fears of a wildlife
killing spree similar to
those decimating reserves in neighbouring countries
such as Zimbabwe and
Mozambique.
It is the first time in more than 15 years that the situation
has spiralled
out of control.
And it is not just protected rhino in
the firing line: several other
wildlife species are now being targeted
because of a rampant trade in bush
meat. Authorities are battling a growing
army of armed poachers, whose ranks
are swelling because of rural
poverty.
This week the Sunday Times established that:
.. The
number of rhinos poached within SA National Parks' land increased by
nearly
300% in 2008 (36 rhinos) compared with 2007 (10 rhinos);
..An estimated
50 rhinos were poached on private game reserves in 2008 ; and
.. Thirteen
rhinos were shot dead on Christmas Day last year, including six
on a private
reserve in North West.
The situation has prompted a crackdown on poachers
that involves the SA
National Parks, a Gauteng provincial task team and
organised police crime
units in Mpumalanga, North West and
Limpopo.
Although the exact reason for the increase remains unclear,
wildlife experts
suspect sophisticated poaching cartels are taking advantage
of ineffective
law enforcement.
There is also speculation that a
recent tightening of restrictions on legal
rhino hunting has prevented
trophy horns from ending up as contraband.
The government issues about
200 rhino hunting licences a year, but has moved
to tighten control of the
horns - placing a moratorium on their sale or
trade - after it emerged that
buyers were posing as hunters to get hold of
the horns.
The
spiralling cost of private hunts has also prompted buyers to turn to
poachers for an alternative horn supply, despite massive
penalties.
The problem is fuelled by a significant increase in available
animals in the
country's estimated 9500 private game reserves. Previously,
poaching was
mostly restricted to government parks.
Wildlife
authorities this week confirmed the poaching crisis, but said they
were
puzzled by the sudden increase. Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism deputy director Sonja Meintjies conceded the problem may be
indirectly related to rhino hunting because of soaring prices in the animal
trade.
"We don't have a handle on it (the reasons for
poaching)," said Jeff
Gaisford, spokesman for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, who
confirmed a huge increase
in poached rhinos in the province's
parks.
"It could be because of the economic downturn or because some guy
in Taiwan
wants to make a lot of money."
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
19:45
THE government on Friday failed to commit itself to
paying civil
servants in foreign currency, ending hopes that striking
teachers would
return to work.
Government announced that
schools will open on Tuesday.
The APEX Council made up of the Zimbabwe
Teachers' Association (Zimta)
and the Public Service Association,
representing the rest of the civil
service said the government failed to
offer their members anything concrete
at the crucial meeting of the National
Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC).
Teachers who have been on
strike since last year demanding better pay
immediately vowed not to return
to work until their demands were met.
They now want to be paid
in foreign currency with a minimum salary
pegged at US$2
300.
The government has already been forced to delay the start
of the new
term by two weeks because of mounting problems in the education
sector.
"Regrettably, the conditions that have incapacitated
the workers from
delivering service as expected continue to affect our
members," Zimta
president Tendai Chikowore told journalists after the
meeting.
"The workers have neither the financial resources to
travel to work
nor to sustain themselves."
Chikowore, who
also chairs the APEX council, said they would "continue
to fail to report
for duty due to circumstances emanating from
incapacitation".
Educationists said despite the
government's insistence that schools
and colleges would open this week,
developments on the ground pointed to a
chaotic situation in the
sector.
They warned schools were not ready for the new term,
and going ahead
would only disadvantage learners.
The
challenges that forced schools to close prematurely last year have
worsened
this year. In addition, Grade VII results have not yet been
published, which
makes it impossible for all secondary schools to enrol Form
Is this
year.
The country's biggest teachers' unions - the Progressive
Teachers'
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and Zimta - were unanimous that schools
could not
open under the current circumstances.
Delays by
government in approving proposals by schools to charge fees
in foreign
currency have also worsened the situation, with parents still
unsure how
much their children would be required to pay two days before the
proposed
start of the term.
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou said teachers
would not go back to work
until they were paid in foreign
currency.
This month they were paid between Z$20 trillion and
$50 trillion,
depending on experience and qualifications.
"Unless our demands are met," he said, "teachers will not go back to
work
and parents should not waste their hard-earned money paying fees for
the
first term.
"If they pay, they should pay knowing very well
that we are not going
to teach."
Zhou said 70 000 out of
Zimbabwe's 150 000 teachers had not
communicated their resignation by
mid-last year.
He said 40% of those who remained were
unqualified temporary teachers
or youth militias, recruited to fill the
gap.
Oswald Madziva, the PTUZ spokesperson, said the government
lacked
public support on the opening of schools and could only proceed on
the
strength of its "traits of arrogance, lack of consultation and
accountability".
PTUZ also accused the government of
failing "to give enough
information to the donor community so that it could
make adequate
interventions".
Meanwhile, tertiary
institutions that were expected to open tomorrow
are set to face the same
disruptions, with students vowing to resist paying
fees in foreign
currency.
"We express our deep anger and disappointment to the
government on the
collapse of our country's education system," said Blessing
Vava,
spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National Students Union.
"Schools and colleges are opening at a time when there is a proposal
to
force students to pay astronomical fees in foreign currency which is out
of
reach of many.
"We urge students to remain resilient and
boycott paying fees in
foreign currency and we demand that we pay in local
currency because our
parents are not earning in foreign
currency."
On Wednesday last week, students at the country's
premier education
institution, the University of Zimbabwe, went on a rampage
protesting
against the proposed foreign currency fees.
BY
VUSUMUZI SIFILE, RUTENDO MAWERE AND EDGAR GWESHE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
19:37
THE current looting of shops and people's
properties and other acts of
indiscipline by restive soldiers battling to
make ends meet due to poor
salaries sets a fertile platform for
mutiny.
Political analysts warned last week that the situation
should not go
unchecked.
Smarting from the effective
dollarisation of the economy, soldiers -
like other workers - are now
demanding salaries in foreign currency.
They say they cannot
transact any business from their earnings in
local currency, as everything
is now priced either in US dollars or South
African rands.
Soldiers were this month paid $30 trillion (US$3 on the black market).
Food
rations for those staying in barracks were greatly reduced, leaving
their
families on the verge of starvation.
On Tuesday, a group of
15-armed soldiers ran riot at Mabika Shopping
Centre in Chivi,
Masvingo.
They looted a shop belonging to MDC legislator for
Mkoba, Amos
Chibaya. They claimed they were hungry.
The
soldiers, according to Chibaya, arrived at the shop around 10am,
jumped over
the counter and looted various goods valued at R4 500.
They
loaded their loot into a waiting white Mitsubishi truck and sped
off,
without paying.
"They told my shop attendant that they were
hungry because they are
not being paid enough money," Chibaya said, "but
what's surprising is that
they only targeted my shop."
There are six other shops at the rural shopping centre.
Analysts said such incidents could soon spiral into chaos as anger
boils
over at the deteriorating economic situation in the country.
They said the indiscipline creeping into the lower ranks of the army
was an
indication of general disgruntlement in the uniformed forces.
President Robert Mugabe's administration, said analysts, now hinges on
senior army officials who are benefiting from his continued stay in
power.
The cronies have vast tracks of land plundered from
commercial
farmers, posh homes and drive luxury vehicles, they
said.
Political analyst Gorden Moyo said the behaviour of
soldiers was
"systematic and demonstrative" of a failed
state.
Such conduct, he said, had been experienced in countries
such as
Somalia, Sudan and Liberia during the time of civil
strife.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer
Eldred Masunungure
agreed with Moyo saying the actions by soldiers could
lead to anarchy.
"It's pointing to an anarchical situation," he
said.
"This kind of situation is not discriminatory, so those
in the
corridors of power should be petrified."
A fortnight ago,
unidentified soldiers raided Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono's farm in
Norton and forcibly took 175 chickens valued at
US$800.
Chinhoyi police records show six armed soldiers who were driving a
Chinese
white half tonne truck arrived at New Donnington farm and asked the
manager,
Philip Musvuuri to load all the chickens at gunpoint.
The
soldiers are said to have told the manager they would not pay for
the
chickens because Gono owed them money.
According to the record,
the soldiers said that they had failed to get
their salaries from their
banks following a directive by Gono that limited
cash
withdrawals.
They left without paying.
The
incident echoed last month's events where soldiers ran amok in
Harare and
Chinhoyi, looting shops and cash from illegal foreign currency
dealers.
Rioting only stopped after the army and police
launched joint
operations in the city to rein in the rogue
soldiers.
In November armed soldiers searching for diamonds
illegally mined in
Chiadzwa in Marange looted several shops at Birchenough
Bridge.
Shop owners and villagers in areas around Marange in
Manicaland said
the looting and raids by soldiers were continuing although
illegal diamond
dealings had stopped.
"Whenever they are
hungry, they come and take whatever they want from
here," said a businessman
at Nyanyadzi Shopping Centre in Chimanimani.
In December The
Standard reported that hungry soldiers at Pomona
Barracks in Harare had
resorted to stealing potatoes from nearby Teviotdale
Farm to complement
their meagre rations.
There are reports of widespread
disgruntlement in the army ranks over
low remuneration, dwindling rations
and poor living conditions tin the
barracks.
The army has
been the bedrock of Mugabe's repressive administration,
always ready to use
brutal tactics to keep public discontent in check in the
face of an
unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis.
Army
spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Simon Tsatsi said he had not
received
reports of looting by soldiers in Chivi.
He referred questions
to Lieutenant Godfrey Gweje in Harare and a
Staff Sergeant Chivave in
Masvingo who could not be reached for comment.
"Check with
those guys but I will also try to find out from this
side," Tsatsi
said.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
19:33
SOUTHERN African Development Community (Sadc) leaders Monday face
their sternest test so far when they meet in South Africa for an
extraordinary summit.
The summit will either save or mark the
end of the stalled
power-sharing deal on Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF and
the MDC formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai go into the
meeting with parallel
hard-line stances that, barring a miracle, could all
but confirm the
collapse of the envisaged all-inclusive government.
Tomorrow's
meeting also comes amid reports President Robert Mugabe and
Tsvangirai held
a secret inconclusive meeting on Thursday to resolve their
differences.
But MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said he
was not aware of the
meeting.
Tsvangirai, whose party has
insisted on an equitable distribution of
key cabinet posts before the
September 15 deal is consummated told civil
society organisations at a
meeting in Harare the dialogue could not go on
for ever.
He
said tomorrow's meeting would be the last under Sadc mediation.
This was after the civic groups, who are among the MDC-T's key
backers, told
Tsvangirai to come out openly on "whether there is an
all-inclusive
government or not".
His silence, the MDC leader was told, had
crippled a number of
activities.
Prospects of the deal's
collapse heightened last week when a Sadc team
led by President Kgalema
Motlanthe of South Africa failed to break the
impasse between the two
parties, hence tomorrow's summit.
Since then the parties have
been firing accusations at each other over
the collapse of the
deal.
Both Zanu PF and the MDC are understood to have over the
last week
prepared dossiers to be presented at the summit.
Mugabe would seek to convince Sadc to endorse his decision to
unilaterally
form a government without the MDC, while the MDC would also
insist on its
five demands tabled at last week's meeting.
The MDC position
paper proposes that Mugabe, among the 10 key
ministries, retains control of
Defence, National Security, Justice, Foreign
Affairs and
Land.
Tsvangirai's party is also demanding equitable sharing of
the 10
provincial governors, as well as the release of political
detainees.
Chamisa yesterday confirmed the party's position,
saying they were
confident Sadc would address their
concerns.
"It would be tragic if Sadc leaders were to continue
to endorse the
arrogance and rigidity of Zanu PF," Chamisa
said.
"We hope they will have an objective eye, a receptive ear
and an open
mind to address and understand the extent, scope and nature of
the crisis in
Zimbabwe."
Chamisa said Zanu PF had "a casino
mentality, where they are just
concerned about who wins most and who loses
most", ignoring the plight of
the people of Zimbabwe.
Addressing journalists, Zanu PF chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa
said his
party was "not going to agree to a reopening of the subject on
allocation of
ministers" and the appointment of provincial governors.
He said
abducted and currently detained political activists would also
not be
released.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairperson,
Dr Lovemore
Madhuku yesterday said Sadc was unlikely to give in to all the
MDC's
demands, but would "want to be seen to have met the MDC
halfway".
Meanwhile, in a move that could cloud the Sadc
extraordinary summit in
Pretoria tomorrow, police yesterday banned an MDC
rally that was scheduled
for Huruyadzo Shopping Centre in St Mary's,
Chitungwiza today saying there
was too much anxiety on the fate of
tommorow's talks.
Although police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena
was not immediately
available, MDC officials confirmed police had stopped
them from holding the
rally.
MDC spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa said in their communication, the
police said the rally had not been
banned, but "postponed".
"They said there is currently a lot of
anxiety because of the
inter-party talks," Chamisa said.
The rally was meant to update supporters on the state of the stalled
inter-party talks.
The MDC leadership was also expected to
use the rally to get an
appreciation from supporters on the current cholera
outbreak, which has
claimed close to 3 000 lives.
BY VUSUMUZI
SIFILE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
18:44
ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights last week officially complained
to
the Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, over the recent increase in
foreign
currency-denominated passport fees.
This they argued
was an unreasonable violation of citizens' rights and
freedoms.
Last month, the RG's office released a schedule containing new foreign
currency-denominated fees for travel documents.
Under the
new charges, an adult passport costs US$670 while a child
will have to pay
US$607 for a passport.
To renew a passport, one has to part
with US$400. The new charges are
many times more than the standard fee
charged in most major economies.
In a letter to Mudede on
Thursday, litigation lawyer Range
Nyamurundira said passports were "basic
national documents to which any
citizen of Zimbabwe is
entitled".
They challenged the RG to review the charges to the
same levels as in
neighbouring countries, failure of which would result in
legal action
against Mudede.
"A passport serves not only
as a means of identification but for many
individuals is a symbol of
belonging and national pride" Nyamurundira said.
"More
importantly not only is a passport a means of identification
but it is also
the means through which certain basic human rights can be
exercised by
Zimbabwean citizens.
"One such right whose enjoyment is
exercised only by means of
possession and use of a passport is the right to
freedom of movement."
He quoted Section 22 of the Constitution
of Zimbabwe which provides
that: "No person shall be deprived of his freedom
of movement, that is to
say, the right to move freely throughout Zimbabwe,
the right to reside in
any part of Zimbabwe, the right to enter and to leave
Zimbabwe and immunity
from expulsion from Zimbabwe."
Nyamurundira said the new fees were "not reasonably justifiable" and
far
beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans who have no access to foreign
currency.
Giving an example of civil servants who were
recently promised monthly
salaries of US$50, Nyamurundira said it would take
almost a year to raise
enough money to acquire a passport, foregoing all
other needs in one's life.
He said cross-border traders would
also be hardest hit, as the new
fees "deny them the very passport that
allows their livelihood by imposing
exorbitant and unreasonable passport
charges." It was a severe limitation
and violation of their rights and
freedoms," he said.
It could not be immediately established if
Mudede received the letter,
also copied to the parent Ministry of Home
Affairs.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January
2009 18:40
PRISON officials last week blocked incarcerated rights
activist
Jestina Mukoko from receiving urgent treatment after they removed
her from a
private Harare hospital before doctors could finish treating
her.
Her lawyers immediately slammed the move as "absolute
contempt" for
the Supreme Court order instructing the authorities to ensure
she received
medical attention after she was tortured while in
detention.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku on January 12 ordered
that Mukoko be
taken to hospital for proper medical attention as recommended
by a private
doctor who examined her at Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
She has been detained there since December.
On Tuesday she was
taken to the Avenues Clinic where doctors examined
her and recommended that
she should be admitted at the institution for
further
treatment.
But officials from the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS)
reportedly took
her away before she could receive vital
treatment.
Her lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, confirmed Mukoko had
been taken to
hospital where she was examined, but failed to get
treatment.
"She was taken to the Avenues Clinic and examined by
doctors who
admitted her so she could get treatment," Mtetwa
said.
"Prison officials however took her away before she
received
treatment."
Mtetwa said the prison officials'
actions had violated the court order
and questioned the wisdom of allowing
someone to be examined only to deny
them treatment.
"This
shows absolute contempt with which the authorities treat human
life," she
said.
"What is the point of getting examined when you cannot be
allowed to
get treatment?"
In his ruling, Chief Justice
Chidyausiku said the Deputy
Attorney-General, Prince Machaya, was to ensure
the state's compliance with
the order by facilitating efforts to get proper
medical attention for the
former ZBC newscaster.
Machaya
said he had played his part through advising the prison
officials to take
Mukoko to the Avenues.
"I wrote to prison authorities advising them to
take her to hospital,"
he said.
"I just received a letter
from the lawyers referring to her failure to
get treatment and I am yet to
establish with prisons what the problem was."
ZPS spokesperson
Dranisia Musango, who said she was on leave, referred
questions to a Mr
Kahondo. Kahondo demanded questions in writing but had not
responded by the
time of going to print.
Mukoko's case is before the courts and
the state is accusing her of
recruiting bandits and insurgents allegedly to
oust the Zanu PF government.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24
January 2009 18:35
ANGRY relatives of a Mutare businessman, Maxwell
Mabota, who died
recently in South Africa from injuries he sustained after
he was assaulted
by soldiers want justice.
Mabota was accused
of dealing in diamonds and was tortured.
His relatives, who
requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, said
they were seeking legal
advice to have the soldiers who beat Mabota to death
tried in a court of
law.
"We want those responsible for his death to face justice,"
said one of
the relatives. "They cannot kill with impunity because they are
soldiers."
The relatives said the 32-year-old businessman was
abducted by
soldiers on Christmas Eve at Nyanyadzi Business Centre in
Chimanimani
district and taken to the diamond fields of Chiadzwa in Marange
district,
about 40km away.
When he was abducted, the
relatives said, Mabota had US$11 000 and two
mobile phones in his car which
they seized.
He had gone to Nyanyadzi to buy meat for
Christmas, they claimed.
The cash and phones have not been
recovered.
"We are told they took turns beating him with iron
bars until he
collapsed," said another relative. "One officer recognised him
and that is
when they stopped the torture. But the damage had already been
done.
"His kidneys failed and he had perforated
lungs."
Mabota was admitted at a private surgery in Mutare but
because he
needed specialised treatment relatives took him to South Africa,
where he
reportedly died shortly after admission.
Mabota
was buried last week but relatives remain bitter.
"They killed
him because they wanted to steal his money and phones.
Before his death he
managed to name his killers," said the relative.
Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena was not immediately available for
comment.
Late last year, army and police units launched
Operation Hakudzokwi,
ostensibly designed to flush out illegal diamond
miners from the area, but
they ended up killings scores of
people.
During the campaign several businesspeople who were
suspected of
dealing in diamonds were beaten up and taken to the diamond
fields to fill
gullies created by illegal miners.
They were
forced to use bare hands to fill the gullies.
As a result,
several businesspeople who were fingered for involvement
in illegal deals
involving the precious stones fled the eastern border town
and surrounding
areas to neighbouring countries, fearing for their lives.
Scores of vehicles allegedly bought from proceeds of diamond dealings
have
been confiscated by government.
Human rights groups estimate
that soldiers have killed 106 people
during the campaign to clear Chiadzwa
of illegal diamond miners and buyers.
However, other sources
estimate that more than 200 people could have
been killed during the
operation.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
18:28
PRETORIA - Only the leaders of Zimbabwe and not the Southern
African
Development Community (Sadc) can solve the political impasse in the
country.
South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma said
this on Friday.
Speaking at a media briefing
in the capital, following talks with her
Danish counterpart, Dlamini-Zuma
said the solution to the power-sharing
deadlock in the country lay squarely
in the hands of its leaders: Robert
Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara.
"Sadc wants a solution but unfortunately the
position is not in Sadc's
hands. . .if it was we would be having a solution
(by now). "It is in their
hands. . .they are the only three people (who can
find a solution)."
Dlamini-Zuma was speaking ahead of
tomorrow's Sadc extraordinary
summit - convened primarily to discuss and
help find a solution to Zimbabwe's
political and humanitarian
situation.
While Dlamini-Zuma said it was hoped a solution
would be found, Danish
Foreign Affairs Minister Per Stig Moller reiterated
that the solution should
respect last year's election which saw Movement for
Democratic Change leader
Tsvangirai trump Zanu PF's leader Mugabe in the
polls.
Moller said he understood it was an African problem
which required an
African solution and therefore hoped Sadc could use its
influence to guide
the country's leaders.
"I hope Sadc
countries will use their influence in Zimbabwe to create
a solution to the
benefit of the poor people of Zimbabwe," said Moller.
He said
Denmark was also "very concerned" about the cholera situation
in Zimbabwe
and the spread of the water-borne disease into South Africa.
"I
think it is very dangerous to have a black hole today in the
continent. .
.where troubles spread," he said.
Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa was
trying to manage the cholera
situation "very delicately".
This involved aid to the country as well as awareness campaigns in
South
Africa about the spread of the disease, but moreover it involved
managing
the "tensions" between the country's borders and disease control.
"If we take a fortress mentality and say we are closing [our borders]
people
will still find ways of coming in but it would mean you would not be
able to
monitor and you would not be able to send them to health
services."
The agenda for SA-Denmark bilateral talks also
included discussions on
the global financial crisis, climate change and
renewable energy, and the
new United States administration headed by
President Barack Obama.
"We wish him [Obama] well, but also
hope that all of us will be able
to weather the storm of the global
financial crisis and its consequences,"
said Dlamini-Zuma.
"For all of us it is a historical change... [Obama] is hopefully
looking for
change and hope," she said.
Moller noted he was also hoping for
positive change from the new US
administration, and said he felt buoyed that
Obama, last year, had said the
financial crisis could not be solved without
finding solutions to the energy
crisis.
"That has always
been Denmark's stance," he said. - SAPA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
17:51
MOVEMENT for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai last week
said
Zimbabweans who have succumbed to the cholera epidemic sweeping across
the
country were victims of President Robert Mugabe's misrule.]
Speaking after a tour of Budiriro Polyclinic cholera treatment centre
in
Harare on Thursday, Tsvangirai said, "this suffering must end".
"The deteriorating health condition of the people is quite evident
with the
cholera outbreak," he said choking with emotion. "I have just had a
visit
and I think you can see the pain of the people.
"But above all
I think we have witnessed the suffering of the people
and I can say that
this suffering must end for the good of the nation."
The
cholera epidemic, which had claimed at least 2 755 lives by
Thursday, has
been blamed on the collapse of the country's water
reticulation system and
the grounded health sector.
Tsvangirai, who returned home last
Saturday after almost three months
in self-imposed exile in Botswana, was
shown various sections of the clinic
where many people were battling for
their lives.
The centre caters for residents of Budiriro and
Glen View, who have
borne the brunt of the epidemic that has spread to all
corners of the
country.
During the visit Tsvangirai spoke
to patients, wishing them a speedy
recovery.
Those too weak
and sick to speak simply nodded, acknowledging the
visit by the MDC
leader.
But there were some who greeted Tsvangirai with
excitement as they
temporarily forgot about their pain.
As
the nurses took the MDC leader around the centre they catalogued
the
multiple problems facing the institution.
These included low
staffing levels and overcrowding at the treatment
camp.
But
they also acknowledged the assistance aid agencies have given in
the fight
against cholera.
The government, which is struggling to lure
back health workers who
downed tools last year has admitted that it was
overwhelmed by the epidemic
that has also left 48 623 infected.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
17:48
PUBLIC transport operators and motorists have expressed concern
about
the increasing number of roadblocks on major roads throughout the
country
manned by police officers who openly demand bribes.
Matters came to a head a fortnight ago when public transporters in
Bulawayo
called for an urgent meeting with the police to discuss the issue
of
mounting roadblocks and worsening corruption.
Strike Ndlovu of the
Bulawayo Public Transporters' Association (BUPTA)
said operators feared they
would be pushed out of business soon if the
problems were not
addressed.
"Sometimes we come across four roadblocks on one
road and officers at
each one of them will stop our cars," Ndlovu said, "and
at the end of the
day, they serve nothing but to disrupt our
operations."
He alleged police officers often threatened crews
when demanding
bribes.
"If they fail to give them money,
they are threatened with all sorts
of actions which include taking them to
the Vehicle Inspection Department
(VID)," he said.
"The
boys then have no other option but to give them the money because
nowadays,
it is difficult to properly maintain vehicles."
Ndlovu said
officers usually demanded between 20 or 40 South African
rand per trip,
depriving operators of a significant amount in takings.
"They
are ripping us off," he said. "We only make R90 per trip and
after giving
them their demands, we are left with nothing and it becomes
difficult for us
to procure fuel and spare parts which are all sold in
foreign
currency."
Numerous police roadblocks have sprouted across the
country, with
others found along the highways linking major
cities.
In some cases, army and prison officers are also found
at some
roadblocks together with the police.
In Southerton,
the police allegedly demand US$5 per commuter bus that
passes through the
roadblock every morning.
"Sometimes they come very early before
you have taken any fares and if
you tell them you don't have money, they
detain you and transfer the
passengers to crews that have the money to pay
them," a driver claimed.
"They force you to park your vehicle
on the side of the road until
after the peak hour when most workers have
gone to work."
Travellers in Bulawayo and Harare said they were
worried that the
police seemed more concerned about collecting bribes than
ensuring the
public's safety on the roads.
"Whenever you
arrive at a roadblock, the crew is worried about nothing
else besides paying
the bribe," Tsitsi Mawire from Warren Park said.
"The conductor
prepares the money while the driver parks a little
distance away from the
officers and to prove they are only there for the
takings, the officers
never even bother to examine the vehicle," Mawire
said.
But
police spokesman, Andrew Phiri defended the number of roadblocks
saying it
was evidence that police were discharging their duties
effectively.
He said the roadblocks were set up after
police discovered that there
was too much damage on the roads during the
festive season, which he said
could be attributed to lack of "monitors" on
the roads.
"Motorists should report those who demand bribes
from them because if
they comply, they will also be guilty and we will
arrest them together with
the officers involved," he said. "We know that
some kombi operators actually
offer bribes to our officers because their
vehicles are not roadworthy and
they turn around and lie that money was
demanded from them."
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January
2009 17:46
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) councillors
in the
Gutu district of Masvingo claim they have not received their sitting
allowances since their inauguration in August last year.
This
comes amid revelations that Zanu PF officials and the district
administrators' office instructed council workers not to pay
them.
Disgruntled councillors said the continued interference by
losing Zanu
PF councillors and the DA's office was making their work
difficult.
They alleged Zanu PF was still using its
councillors, defeated during
last year's harmonised elections, to distribute
maize-meal in their wards.
The government sources the
maize-meal for drought relief and
councillors are tasked to distribute the
aid to starving villagers in their
respective wards.
But
the councillors say the DA, Makepiece Muzenda, whom they accuse of
being a
Zanu PF sympathiser, had done everything possible to frustrate
them.
"We are still to be paid since we started working soon
after our
swearing in last August," said Cllr Wykliff Matindike of Ward 34,
which
covers Mpandawana Growth Point.
"The reason for not
paying us is not that the council has no money but
it was instructed not to
do so by rejected members of the ruling party that
we beat in the last
elections."
Matindike said Zanu PF officials and Muzenda
ordered the salary freeze
out of frustration.
Emmanuel
Toperesu, the councillor for Ward eight said the DA appeared
to be
determined to sideline MDC councillors.
"The DA is a ruling
party loyalist," he charged. "You can see this
from the way she treats
us.
"She even prefers to work with the former Zanu PF
councillors who lost
in the last elections. Right now she insists that the
council has no money
when we know that it's making huge profits," Toperesu
said.
Muzenda refuted the allegations saying they were "pure
lies".
"Those are pure lies, we are paying them their
allowances but the
problems is that when they got into office for the first
time their
expectations were high," she said.
"They thought
they'd got jobs and therefore would get high salaries,"she
said.
But the councillors insisted that some of their
meetings had been
affected by the non-payment of allowances, as those who
stay away from the
growth-point were failing to raise bus
fares.
"We had a lot of meetings postponed after our colleagues
who travel
from distant wards failed to attend due to the high transport
costs," said
Last Mafuratidze of Ward 23. "They can't afford the bus fares
because
council is not paying them transport allowances."
Gutu RDC acting chief executive officer, Edward Mukaratirwa confirmed
that
the councillors had not been paid since last year but blamed the delays
on
bureaucracy.
He said the Ministry of Local Government should
approve the allowances
but several proposals were overtaken by inflation
before council was given
the go ahead to pay the councillors.
BY GODFREY MUTIMBA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
13:42
Maternal and child mortality rates continue to rise globally,
posing a
major challenge to development efforts, an annual report recently
launched
by the United Nations Children's Fund has revealed.
According to the report: "The State of the World's Children 2009"
launched
on January 15 in South Africa, having a child remains one of the
biggest
health risks for women worldwide.
And in Zimbabwe, child and
mortality rates would continue to rise if
problems bedevilling the health
sector were not addressed urgently, said
Unicef executive director, Anne
Veneman.
"One of the things that we know is that maternal
mortality globally
has not come down significantly," Veneman said during her
recent visit to
Zimbabwe.
"Part of the problem is lack of
access to a skilled health care
professional in delivery.
"I specifically during that press conference (to launch the report)
was
asked a question what about countries like Zimbabwe?
"I said as
the health system deteriorates, women would have less
access thereby putting
their own lives and that of their new born babies at
risk.
"These are the kind of concerns that we should have."
Since
October, health workers at government referral hospitals have
been on strike
protesting against the deteriorating standards at the
institutions and poor
pay.
The strike has left thousands of patients including women
and children
in need of urgent treatment stranded.
Meanwhile, the Unicef report says at least 1 500 women worldwide die
every
day while giving birth each year.
More than half a million die
from causes related to pregnancy and
childbirth while millions more suffer
from disability, disease, infection
and injury.
On child
mortality, the report notes that at least four million
newborns die within
28 days of birth, creating a major challenge for
agencies working in that
area.
The report also notes that the pregnancy risk between
women in
developing countries and their peers in the industrialised world
has become
"the greatest health divide in the world".
"A
woman in Niger has a one in seven chance of dying during the course
of her
lifetime from complications during pregnancy or delivery," the report
says.
"That's in stark contrast to the risk for mothers in
America, where it's
one in 4 800 or in Ireland, where it's just one in 48
000."
Unicef said addressing the gap was "a multidisciplinary
challenge,
requiring an emphasis on education, human resources, community
involvement
and social equality."
"At a minimum, women must
be guaranteed antenatal care, skilled birth
attendants and emergency
obstetrics, and postpartum care.
"These essential interventions
will only be guaranteed within the
context of improved education and the
abolition of discrimination."
The death of women at childbirth
was also coming at a heavy cost for
the world because of misplaced
priorities by governments, Unicef added.
"Every year, the world
loses $15 billion in productivity because women
die in
childbirth.
"It would cost only $6 billion, or less than a
day-and-a-half of
military spending, to provide the health services needed
to save women's
lives.
"The Millennium Development Goals
were designed to put our world on a
more secure and sustainable path and it
is hard to envision a safe future
without safe motherhood."
Reacting to the findings, the United Nations Population Fund said
there was
need for more action to achieve universal access to reproductive
health by
2015.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the UNFPA executive director said
the agency
would continue to work with Unicef and other partners to improve
maternal
health.
She said for this to be possible health
systems had to be strengthened
to provide family planning, skilled
attendance at birth and emergency
obstetric care.
"No woman
should die giving life," Obaid said.
Unicef last week gave a
grant of US$5 million to the Zimbabwean
government to help it lure back the
striking health workers.
Veneman said getting the workers back
to work was a "matter of life
and death".
Last year UNFPA
also sponsored the reopening of maternity wings in
Zimbabwe by offering
incentives to nurses and doctors to return to work.
The agency
also donated about US$200 000 worth of medical supplies and
equipment to be
used in maternity hospitals.
But the continued failure by
government to resolve the work boycott by
health workers has still left
other sections of the hospitals closed.
Government recently
offered to pay nurses and doctors US$60 and US$150
respectively but they
rejected this offer saying it was too little.
Their
representatives say they will not go back to work until
government pays
nurses at least US$1 000 and the least paid doctor $1 500.
BY
BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
14:06
ASSET management firms have pleaded with the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ) to be allowed to manage foreign currency investments and save
the
sector from imminent collapse.
The Association of
Investment Managers of Zimbabwe (AIMZ), a body
representing the 17 asset
managers, in a letter dated January 14, told the
central bank their industry
was heading for collapse due to the prevailing
economic environment and
dollarisation.
Last September RBZ licenced some shops to sell in
foreign currency but
has not licenced firms in the financial services
sector.
In the letter addressed to Norman Mataruka, RBZ senior
division chief
Bank Licencing, Supervision & Surveillance, Tafadzwa
Chinamo, the AIMZ
chairman said the central bank should allow firms to
manage foreign currency
investments for them to sustain their
operations.
The money raised will be loaned to forex-licenced
traders, Chinamo
said.
"We propose that asset managers be
granted approval to mobilise and
manage funds from locals with foreign
currency and from foreigners wishing
to invest through local asset
managers," Chinamo said.
He said that the central bank should
set limits on the portion that
can be invested off-shore citing the Botswana
and Kenyan threshold where up
to 30% can be invested offshore and the
balance locally.
Said Chinamo: "The asset management companies
would thus help in
mobilising otherwise idle hard currency and channel it
into investments such
as property, the local money market (for instance to
be used to on-lend to
local retailers with FOLIWARS licences) and the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (if
approval is obtained for shares to be traded in
foreign currency) and can
also be used to purchase foreign currency bonds
issued by the RBZ."
He said the country could benefit from
forex inflows, as asset
managers will mobilise offshore investments from
foreigners or Zimbabweans
living in the Diaspora.
Over
three million Zimbabweans are estimated to be living in the
Diaspora.
Chinamo said licencing asset managers to mobilise
off-shore funds
would ensure the retention of foreign currency within the
country.
"For instance," he added, "most insurance companies
entities who
obtained approval to take premiums in foreign currency are
probably passing
on the entire premiums to outside re-insurers due to lack
of expertise in
off-shore investments and granting such approval to local
asset managers
will help bridge this gap."
The asset
managers added their weight to calls to dollarise trade on
the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange (ZSE) saying such a move would allow asset firms
to mobilise
the foreign currency, as the money will be invested directly on
the stock
market.
Chinamo said if trade on ZSE was dollarised, RBZ would
be able to
float US dollar-denominated bonds on the local
bourse.
He said asset managers were on the verge of collapse
and if they were
allowed to go under, "the negative impact transcends beyond
the financial
sector but can affect the whole economy".
"As
major players in the financial sector, the collapse of the asset
management
industry could also result in the instability of the sector in
view of the
intermediation role played by asset managers."
Previously
registered with the Ministry of Finance the asset managers
are now under the
supervision of the RBZ.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
13:54
BULAWAYO - A two-week strike by National Railways of Zimbabwe
workers
has forced companies that rely on the country's biggest rail
tranporter for
coal deliveries to suspend their operations.
The
strike that has disrupted the NRZ's train services started when
companies
were preparing to re-open after an unusually lengthy festive break
due to
the country's mounting economic problems.
Workers including engine
drivers have vowed not to return to work
until they are paid in foreign
currency.
In a desperate attempt to end the strike, NRZ management gave
the
workers a minimum of $84 billion in allowances.
This
was followed up by another $12 trillion last week, which was also
dismissed
by the workers.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC)
vice-president, Alfred
Dube said they were in the process of engaging NRZ
and Hwange Colliery
Company (HCC) management to address the
problem.
He said Hwange also seemed to be facing capacity
problems. "We are in
the process of engaging the stakeholders, which are
Hwange Colliery and the
National Railways to discuss the matter," Dube
said.
"It has come to our attention that members who depend on
coal for
production have scaled down operations because of the problems
between the
two companies.
"We want to find out the problem
and find out ways of addressing
them."
But spokesperson
for both NRZ and HCC said their companies were not
responsible for the coal
shortages crippling industry.
NRZ public relations manager, Fanuel
Masikati said the strike had not
affected their passenger and freight
services, as it was "minimal."
"The job action by the workers
is not one that spreads throughout the
parastatals," he
said.
"It's only a few workers who decided to down tools and
that number is
so minimal to disrupt train services. At the moment, we have
services that
are available.
"For one to claim the strike
is the cause of the failure by the
companies to open is simply to use the
NRZ as a scapegoat.
"Those companies have their own viability
problems not associated with
the strike at the railways."
Burzil
Dube, HCC public relations officer said the company had its own
challenges
but had not stopped producing coal.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
13:46
THE bubble has finally burst for Zimbabwe's financial services
sector
following the dollarisation of the economy, analysts said last
week.
Executives running banks, insurance and asset management
firms as well
as stockbrokers who were hitherto bragging of super profits as
their
businesses prospered are singing a different tune.
The
few remaining executives fortunate to be still in business are
struggling to
patch things up to ensure that their institutions survive
another
day.
The insurance sector is on its knees as it struggles to
get new
policies while the banking sector has virtually ceased to perform
its
traditional functions.
Brokers are counting the costs
after Zimbabwe's Stock Exchange (ZSE),
the best performer in the world until
late last year, stopped trading two
months ago.
Analysts
say the financial services sector, the engine for economic
growth for any
functional economy, has been knocked down by the low
confidence in the local
currency.
Following the introduction of forex shops last year,
the use of the
local currency as legal tender has diminished by the
day.
The formal and informal sectors are now charging in
foreign currency.
"People no longer bank their money and the
few that get their salaries
from banks take out all their money as quickly
as possible because saving
money is no longer an attractive proposition," a
banking executive said.
"Lending to clients has fallen away
because honestly who would want to
take a loan in Zimbabwean
dollars."
Revenue streams are in local currency but operating
costs, minus
salaries, are in foreign currency, he said.
In
addition, minimum capital requirements were pegged in foreign
currency with
US$12.5 million for commercial banks.
Working capital for
companies and equipment expenses are also now in
forex, pushing banks out of
the equation, as they do not have the hard
currency.
And
when banks' roles are diminished, analysts say, the economy will
not have a
vibrant commerce, as the financial institutions are the catalyst
for
growth.
"The financial services sector is the face of the
economy," said
Witness Chinyama, head of research at Kingdom Financial
Holdings Limited.
He said the financial services sector had
collapsed just like any
other business getting its revenue in local
currency.
Chinyama said the dollarisation of the whole economy
was the only
solution in the short term while a successful resolution of the
country's
political crisis was being worked out.
He said
the local currency must buy local products but because the
market had been
flooded with imports, the Zimbabwean dollar had lost
relevance.
The ZSE, the only remaining investment
alternative in the wake of
record-breaking hyperinflation has not been
trading since November last
year.
But executives are hoping
trade will resume as soon as their proposal
that trade on the bourse be
fully "dollarised,"is taken on board.
ZSE chief executive
officer, Emmanuel Munyukwi, said he was optimistic
trade would resume soon
"as the bourse is an investment vehicle."
Pension funds and
insurance companies are also bleeding. At least 40%
of insurance companies'
investment portfolio is held in equities, 50% in
properties and the balance
in money markets and government bonds.
"It does not look good
for insurance companies. We are not signing any
new business," an executive
in the insurance sector said.
Asset managers are also on the
verge of collapse and they have since
pleaded with the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) to intervene and save them
from extinction, recent
correspondence has revealed.
RBZ took over the licencing and
registration of asset managers in 2004
after central bank chief Gideon Gono
accused them of being "briefcase
businesses" and an "accident in
waiting".
Previously the ministry of Finance licenced asset
managers.
In their letter to RBZ, the Association of Investment
Managers of
Zimbabwe (AIMZ), the body representing the country's 17 asset
managers, said
the US$2.5 million capital requirements set by the central
bank was not only
too high but affecting their businesses as they were
transacting in local
currency.
"Hyperinflation experience
has shown us that once injected, growing or
at least conserving the US$
capital is not possible for as long as the
industry is operating in local
currency," read the letter dated 14 January.
"As a result
shareholders would continually be required to
recapitalise the businesses in
order to meet the set minimum capital
requirements."
The
body proposed minimum capital equivalent of US$200 000 plus enough
working
capital to cover three months.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January
2009 15:22
TEN years ago, I was a young lawyer, barely two years out of
law
school and therefore, very green indeed.
Naturally, I was
buoyed by the exuberance of youth and a deep desire
to serve the law, which
to my inexperienced mind was equivalent to the
pursuit of justice.
I got involved in a matter, details and circumstances of which will
probably
haunt me for the rest of my career. It will soon become apparent
why I have
to recount this story.
The facts of the matter were deceptively
simple: My client had bought
a house in Harare and legal title had passed
without incident, all
formalities having been satisfied.
Problems emerged when he tried to take occupation of his new home. The
existing occupants put up stiff resistance. As the story unravelled, it
became clear that the occupants were a decent family - a widow and her
children, who had lived in the house for as long as they could
remember.
Unknown to my client, the seller was the estranged
son of the widow.
His ownership of the property was a circumstance of
inheritance from his
late father.
Title had passed to him as
the eldest son, a cultural rule that causes
much angst among gender-rights
activists and rightly so for it has always
been unfair on the surviving
female spouse.
On the face of it, my client had acquired legal
title to the property,
all formalities having been satisfied.
My client had recently moved out of his rented accommodation in
anticipation
of moving into his new house and his goods were in the street
and he had to
find refuge for his family amongst relatives.
Naturally, he wanted
to enforce his rights. So following my client's
instructions, I pursued the
matter through the courts and obtained the
necessary eviction
orders.
I have to admit that, all the while, I wrestled with my
conscience -
it was a case whose circumstances caused me emotional turmoil;
a case where
you wish you were acting for the weaker party for whom the law
was clearly
performing a disservice.
When eviction was
attempted, the widow would not budge. She stood her
ground - mother hen
safeguarding her nest. The Deputy Sheriff and the police
tried but still the
woman would not relent.
She threatened to strip naked in front of
the men of law whom she felt
were harassing her - those who understand our
culture know that this is the
ultimate form of protest that a dignified
woman could ever stage. I must
admit that I held secret admiration at the
woman's courage and resilience in
the face of obvious
adversity.
The matter escalated and managed to find space in a
national
newspaper. Although young lawyers often look forward to their day
in the
national newspaper, this one was different, because I was on the side
of the
'bad guys'. The matter troubled me, but the detachment and coldness
that law
school somehow manages to instil in many of its products carried me
through.
Then one day I received a call at the office. My
secretary (yes, those
were privileged times, when I had a personal
secretary!) said there was a
lawyer who wanted to talk to me about the
'eviction case' - for that was the
name it had acquired.
The
lawyer was Rita Makarau. She was a lawyer who stood high up there
in my
estimation. She ran a law firm, Makarau & Gowora together with her
colleague, Anne-Marie Gowora. Rita Makarau is now a woman transformed in
status. She is now Judge President Makarau and Gowora is also a judge of the
High Court.
And as an officer of the court, I henceforth
address them as such,
with the respect that attends upon such
office.
But my connection with JP Makarau was closer. As
readers of this
column will recall from a previous article, she had been my
teacher in law
school at the University of Zimbabwe. I like to think we got
on very well;
that there was mutual fondness and respect between teacher and
student.
So when I realised that she had become involved in this
sensitive
matter which was increasingly causing me great emotional
discomfort, it put
me in a rather awkward position. I sympathised with the
widow who had been
placed in a difficult situation by her rogue son and for
whom the law had
failed to protect upon her husband's earthly departure. But
simultaneously I
could not compromise loyalty to my client.
JP
Makarau had read about the plight of the widow and had decided to
take up
the matter in order to help her, for no fee at all.
After
discussing the legalities, it was fairly clear that legally my
client had
done nothing wrong and the odds were staked against the
impecunious widow.
We discussed various options, for even my client and I
were sympathetic and
open to suggestions for an amicable settlement. Due to
JP Makarau's
intervention, the matter was deferred a little to look for
funds to buy out
my client in favour of the widow.
My attitude was shaped as much by
empathy for the poor woman and
respect for my more senior counterpart who
was standing for her.
However, in September 1999, before the
matter was brought to finality,
I was on my way to the UK, a grateful
recipient of a scholarship, to
commence the academic journey that has
brought me to my present station.
My brother and colleague who
inherited my office and practice,
Learnmore Jongwe, took over the matter. As
a budding politician, I suspect
it also caused him some
hardship.
It was election season and how could he, a budding
politician standing
for the poor and marginalised be seen to be fighting
against a poor widow?
It must have been hard. I do not know what happened
thereafter but secretly
I was pleased that I did not have to wait to see the
unkind end that was
almost certain. The matter had a profound effect on my
view of the law. It
taught me the one basic lesson that legal correctness
does not always
conform to common-sense rightness and
morality.
But it also raised my profound respect for JP
Makarau, which is why I
have recounted it today. She was aware that legally,
the odds were staked
against the widow but she recognised the injustice
caused by the nature of
the laws.
JP Makarau acknowledged the
legal position but took it upon herself to
help this poor woman who was not
getting justice; a woman who was facing
eviction because of man-made laws
that were so heavily tilted against women.
I have recounted this
story (and I hope my memory has served me right
and trust that she will
excuse any lapses) because it reminds me of a woman
of the law who stood up
for what was right; who fought hard to protect the
impoverished and
powerless of society; who did not hesitate to question the
authority of the
law or indeed those who made and interpreted it.
Last week, JP
Makarau, my old teacher, spoke of her displeasure
towards young lawyers whom
she said were disrespectful of the judiciary. She
was unhappy that they
criticise the judges when they lose and that they
often do so to the foreign
media.
The Herald columnist, Nathaniel Manheru went a step further
and
suggested what he described as 'direct regulation' of the legal
profession.
Others were more scathing, attacking the person of prominent
lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa.
I am not sure JP Makarau intended her
words to be employed for
purposes of designing a new architecture of
stricter legal regulation of the
profession of which she is a loyal and
dedicated member.
But of course politicians will always swoop
whenever they discover
words from a weighty source, which suit a
long-standing agenda. The
potential for such opportunism on the part of
politicians may have escaped
my teacher's radar when she made her comments
and I would not be surprised
if that gratuitous assault has also taken her
aback.
It is acknowledged that respect for the judiciary is
important but it
is also mutual. JP Makarau has practiced law and was not
always pleased with
the decisions and even the attitudes of the judges.
Indeed, there was a time
when lawyers issued a petition in the late 1990s
calling for greater respect
from the judiciary.
So, yes,
respect there must be, but it has to be shared. Ironically,
in the same week
that JP Makarau indicated her displeasure, whilst
dismissing the
constitutional application brought by Jestina Mukoko's
lawyers, the Chief
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku had some unkind words for the
lawyers whom he
accused of 'crass incompetence and ineptitude' - words that
must have hurt
and for a moment, one wondered whether they were designed to
demean and
humiliate.
That decision has significant implications for
litigation of
constitutional matters but a critique of its correctness is
best left to an
appropriate forum in the academic journals. It suffices to
say, however,
that when judges use harsh language, the likelihood is that
the injured
recipient may respond in kind. And that does not augur well for
the
development of a culture of mutual respect between the judiciary and
lawyers.
My old teacher may agree that for as long as the
judicial system in
Zimbabwe is open to the public, critical evaluation of
its decisions is
inevitable. And rightly so, especially when it comes from
professionals who
serve it for that can only help in the development of the
law.
There is no guarantee that the Learned Judges will always get
it
right. Indeed, critical analysis of judicial decisions is mutually
beneficial as the judges also get a chance to consider their
limitations.
She was part of a law school that encouraged critical
thought and
analysis and I am proud to report that it has served us well in
our careers.
To say or do otherwise would reverse a trend that can only be
good for
building a dynamic profession.
The concern that such
criticism has often been through the foreign
media is noted. But could it be
that the restricted media space in Zimbabwe
has caused members of the
public, including lawyers, to rely more on the
foreign media to exercise
their freedom of expression? Could it be that the
conduct of the lawyers is
a symptom of a larger problem?
Could it be that there is shared
frustration that even when they get
judgments they are not enforced? Perhaps
the judiciary could call upon the
executive to do more to enforce its
decisions? Respect is important but the
failure and sometimes blatant
refusals by the executive to abide by court
orders does far more harm to the
judiciary's position than criticism by
lawyers in the foreign
media.
I remember JP Makarau who stood for the weak and
downtrodden; those
for whom the law did not do justice. I was humbled by
her stance, ten years
ago because it taught me that whilst it is our job to
stick to the letter of
the law, sometimes it is far more important and
fulfilling to do the right
thing.
And that challenging those
laws and even decisions of the judges is
not a bad thing at all. And also
that where there is one who is powerful and
another who is weak, there is
greater pleasure in serving the weaker one.
I write this not out of
disrespect to my old teacher but out of a
strong desire to recall the
beautiful spirit of old. But should this be
considered an act of petulance,
I hope and pray that I will be forgiven.
After all, do they not say a child
that does not cry will die on its mother's
back?
Alex Magaisa
is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent and
can be contacted at
wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
15:08
ZIMBABWE is notorious for having a highly politicised and
partisan
security sector. Before the controversial 2002 elections, then
commander of
the Zimbabwe Defence Force General Vitalis Zvinavashe issued a
veiled threat
of a military coup if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were
to win the
elections.
"Let it be known that the highest
office in the land is a straitjacket
whose occupant is expected to observe
the objectives of the liberation
struggle.
We will,
therefore, not accept, let alone support or salute anyone,
with a different
agenda that threatens the very existence of our
sovereignty, our country and
our people," he declared. (Business Tribune,
January 16 2002).
Not to be outdone, Zvinavashe's successor, General Constantine
Chiwenga also
prophesied in March 2008: "Elections are coming and the army
will not
support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during
and after
the presidential elections ... We will not support anyone other
than
President (Robert) Mugabe, who has sacrificed a lot for this country"
(IRIN,
12 March 2008).
Hot on his heels, the prisons chief, retired Major
General Paradzai
Zimondi said to gathered prison officers: "I am giving you
an order to vote
for President Mugabe." (The Herald, February 29
2005).
Ominously, these unnerving, blatant threats of
unconstitutional
takeover of government seemingly did not raise the ire of
African
governments or the African Union.
Even the Sadc Organ
on Politics, Defence and Security, was not willing
to interfere in the
internal affairs of a sovereign state.
These statements, which have
been repeated in various forms and
choreographed at various forums by
elements of the security services,
resonate with Mugabe's (and Zanu PF's)
rhetoric that, as "the" party of
liberation, only Zanu PF can guarantee the
gains of the liberation struggle.
This rhetoric has been recycled
repeatedly, even in the face of compelling
evidence to the
contrary.
From the Gukurahundi massacres, "Zanufication" of the
state,
Murambatsvina-forced removals, the violence accompanying the June
2008
one-man presidential election, to abductions, systematic torture and
assassinations by "unknown" persons, through to the blatant contempt of the
courts with impunity, and everything foul in-between; Zanu PF is not and may
never have been what it claims to be.
Writing in ANC Today
(Volume 8, No. 19 May 16 2008) in reply to an
article on Zimbabwe by Eddie
Maloka and Ben Magubane (City Press, Sunday May
4, 2008), ANC's Pallo Jordan
argues, quite rightly, that "perhaps the most
alarming suggestion of all is
that opposition to Zanu PF, irrespective of
its merits, is ipso facto
illegitimate and necessarily
counter-revolutionary, and therefore
pro-imperialist".
He goes further: "Offering it (Zanu PF)
uncritical support because it
is anti-imperialist will not help Zanu PF to
uncover the reasons for the
steep decline in the legitimacy it once
enjoyed.
That party would do well to return to its original vision
of a
democratic Zimbabwe, free of colonial domination and the instruments of
that
domination - such as arbitrary arrests, police repression of
opposition,
intimidation of political critics, etc".
And then,
the punch line: "Given the outcome of the recent elections,
Zanu PF should
surrender power to the party that has won . any attempt by
Zanu PF to cling
to power through overt or covert violence will only
compound its problems by
stripping it even further of the legitimacy it won
by leading the Zimbabwean
people in their struggle for independence, freedom
and democracy!' Wise
counsel indeed, but is anyone listening?
When Morgan
Tsvangirai signed the flawed, still-born,
strangely-titled Global Political
Agreement (GPA) on September 15, 2008, -
thereby signing away the people's
mandate, according to some - Mugabe
retained control of the security
services - less the police, which Sadc
rather outlandishly advised should be
co-managed with Tsvangirai.
Obviously, Mugabe would have
preferred that the police remain under
his exclusive control, to continue as
it has done for close to three
decades, to do the bidding not of the state,
but of Zanu PF.
The Central Intelligence Organisation on the other
hand, far from
being a state security agency, is an extension of Mugabe's
personal security
apparatus. Add to that the so-called war veterans and
state-sanctioned
militias running riot in support of Zanu
PF.
Over the past decade or so, state and quasi-state
institutions,
including the judiciary have been militarised. At the last
count, strategic
institutions such as the Grain Marketing Board, the
National Railways of
Zimbabwe, and even the Electoral Commission, among
others, were headed by
active (and not so retired) military
officers.
No one knows for sure how many spanners the Joint
Operations Command
(JOC) has thrown into the GPA. The JOC, comprising chiefs
of the army, air
force, police, intelligence and prisons advises government
on security
matters. It would seem however, that its functions have been
"re-defined" to
include ensuring that Mugabe and Zanu PF remain in power by
means other than
the ballot. Consequently, Zimbabwe has become a police
state, and the
security services an "occupying force".
The
myriad of political statements by men in uniform and their
partisan conduct
in a highly charged political environment, raise critical
questions about
the constitutional role of the security services in a
democracy. In the
event that the 19th constitutional amendment leads to a
successful, forced
marriage of convenience between Tsvangirai and Mugabe,
(with Mutambara, as
the elevated bridesmaid); one of the top priorities of
the transitional
government should be to urgently reform the security
sector.
The mandate of that government should be no more than about:
returning
the country to the rule of law; resuscitating the economy
and returning it
to productive capacity; restoring civil and political
liberties; getting a
new, people-centred constitution in place; and
organising democratic
elections at the earliest opportunity.
In that mix, security sector
reform and a comprehensive overhaul and
professionalisation of institutions
of the State should be high on the
agenda. As it is, the security sector, or
sections thereof, could be one of
the biggest obstacles to meaningful
democratic reform in that country. It
cannot be right that private citizens,
including elected MPs, scurry for
cover at the sight of those that are
supposed to protect them from harm. As
the legitimate arena of
people-centred governance, Parliament must, once and
for all, re-assert its
authority over all arms of the executive. The
security sector must be
apolitical and accountable to the public through the
legislature.
*Takawira Musavengana, is Senior Researcher,
Security Sector
Governance Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)
Sunday View with Takawira Musavengana
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 24 January 2009
14:58
THE failure of last Monday's Sadc meeting suggests that it would
be
premature to expect much from tomorrow's meeting of the regional
grouping.
One reason is that Sadc seems to have established a
pattern of
non-achievement when it comes to the Zimbabwean crisis.
It has watched as the crisis spilled into neighbouring countries with
devastating consequences and done little to respond.
The other
is that it will be the fourth time that the grouping has met
in order to
resolve the crisis, which has progressively worsened with the
failure of
each summit.
Another African regional Sadc summit on Zimbabwe's
political crisis
next week is unlikely to break the deadlock over a
power-sharing deal
between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition -
nearly two years since
the Thabo Mbeki-led mediation process
began.
While the talks have centred upon resolving the sticking
points to a
transitional process, there is a likelihood that Zanu PF is
preparing for
elections.
Last year President Mugabe asked his
party supporters to prepare
themselves for another poll. The Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission seems to be
preparing itself for elections. This would
fit in well with Zanu PF's
reluctance to share power.
It seems
to believe that another poll would settle the issue of who
wields power once
and for all, even though it is difficult to see how it can
achieve a result
in its favour unless it resorts to coercion.
Teachers and civil
servants who have formed the bulk of the election
officers in the past are
disgruntled and might not be willing to volunteer
again.
But there are critical indicators to the outcome of this week's
meeting:
Zanu PF has repeatedly breached the terms of the September 15
agreement that
committed the two parties to demonstrate respect for
democratic values and
human rights; Morgan Tsvangirai's pessimism over Sadc's
ability to break the
deadlock; and Mugabe's pathological dislike of
Tsvangirai.
These factors, combined with hardliners and election losers in Zanu
PF, will
conspire against this week's Sadc meeting succeeding.
The best
that will come out of the summit is that it will urge the
speedy formation
of an all-inclusive government and point to the
humanitarian crisis -
exemplified by the cholera scourge and food shortages.
The
meeting should also draw attention to the on-going violence and
collapse of
the economy as sufficient grounds for the parties to forget
their
differences and put Zimbabwe and its people first. But then the
parties have
been aware of this during the past seven to 10 months.
Sadly,
Sadc is unlikely to change its strategy or agree to refer the
matter to the
African Union because that would be an admission of failure -
something that
on the available evidence Sadc is not prepared to
countenance.
If Mugabe had his way, he would have proceeded
to appoint a completely
Zanu PF Cabinet. The only dilemma is that such a
move presents him with a
crisis of legitimacy. It is this quandary that has
prevented him from taking
this route all along.
Without a
political settlement, Zimbabwe is unlikely to get financial
aid crucial to
reviving the collapsed economy. It will also not succeed in
persuading the
international community to lift sanctions imposed on Mugabe
and his senior
government and ruling party officials.
What is also clear is
that the exclusion of civil society has
contributed to the stalled
negotiations. Politicians have demonstrated total
lack of sensitivity to the
massive suffering of Zimbabweans. There will be
no surprises tomorrow in
Pretoria.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Army Divided as Juniors break ranks with pampered generals
Saturday, 24
January 2009 12:33
SOLDIERS would like politicians to put national
interest before
partisan parochial interest.
After soldiers
went on the rampage in the streets of Harare
confiscating cash from foreign
currency dealers, army generals gathered and
addressed soldiers asking them
about their problems and warning them of the
consequences of being
arrested.
The generals told them that the cash shortages were a
result of
sanctions imposed by the west against the country especially the
German
company which used to supply the country paper
money.
They informed the soldiers that Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe, Governor
Gideon Gono had taken them (generals) on a tour of
Fidelity Printers and
showed them the almost obsolete 52-year-old money
printing machine which is
over stretched and is constantly breaking
down.
Gono reportedly told the generals that he had expected
civilians to
engage in cash riots with the army, which is the state's last
resort, being
called to help quell such an uprising and not for the soldiers
to lead the
cash riots.
But the soldiers were not amused.
They were puzzled how it was that
state could print for them bonuses of $365
million on their salaries if the
RBZ did not have such amounts in its
coffers.
They demanded an explanation about this from their
generals. They
insisted that a worker must be given all his salary over the
bank counter.
They dismissed the sanctions excuse as ngano
dzavana tsuro nagudo
(Children's baboon and hare fairy tales) as money was
readily available on
the streets.
They expressed dismay that
the RBZ still used an obsolete machine yet
if it had used the funds with
which it bought hundreds of vehicles for RBZ
managers to buy a new machine,
it would no be in that position.
Soldiers lambasted the RBZ for
extravagance, wrong prioritization and
general misallocation of national
resources. The RBZ was dismissed as
generally corrupt, inept and
inefficient.
In the raids soldiers claimed that $5 million and $10
million dollar
notes were already being traded in the streets long before
they were
released into official circulation.
They
questioned the wisdom of continuing with the policy of buying
money in the
streets when the RBZ has authorized shops to sell in foreign
currency.
Soldiers told their generals point blank that
Cuba has been under a
total USA blockade for over half a century but it had
not suffered Zimbabwe's
total economic breakdown of one trillion percent
inflation, and its health
and eduction systems even
improved.
Soldiers told their generals that Zimbabwe now had
two armies; the
first one consisting of senior officers from colonels and
above who are
insulated from the daily woes of life, drive around in Prados
and Isuzus,
are paid in foreign currency and the war
veterans.
Then, there is the army of the masses of soldiers
from the rank of
major downwards who are given $500 million and then are
expected to travel
to and from Norton where they need $5 million a trip, pay
rent in rands and
must buy all their groceries in foreign
currency.
Soldiers are deeply demoralized, frustrated and
discontented. They eat
sadza without relish, wear tattered clothes and
shoes. In such a situation
the country risks degenerating into a
Romanian-type revolt, which resulted
in the overthrow of the Ceausescu
regime.
Soldiers queried why the government turned down the
visit of eminent
elders which could have resulted in the exposure of the
suffering brought
about by the so-called illegal sanctions. And this would
have resulted in
the much-needed flow of international aid resurrecting the
health and
education systems.
The rank and file of the army
asked their commanders who included the
army commander, Lt General VP
Sibanda, his deputy Maj General Chendodo,
director of military police Col
Mhonda, Harare district commander Col
Gatsheni to use their influence to
pressurize Zanu PF politicians to
compromise on the issue of the Home
Affairs and other key ministries,
provincial governors, permanent
secretaries and ambassadors.
Soldiers sincerely believe that
politicians should learn to be
patriotic by putting national interests ahead
of partisan and individual
interests.
They openly
questioned Zanu PF's to commitment to equitable
power-sharing with the
opposition for the country to move forward.
A generational gap was
clearly visible between the senior army
officers who are war veterans of the
1970's liberation war and were born in
the 1950's and the low ranks of the
army who were born after independence
and support the MDC.
Demoralized Corporal
Inkomo, Harare.
-------------
Seriously Thinking of Quitting Zimbabwe
Saturday, 24 January 2009
12:27
I am enveloped in a suffocating melancholy. For almost a week now
I
have been battling to quash this nagging idea out of my mind but with
little
success.
It never crossed my mind that one day I would
consider leaving
Zimbabwe as a result of Robert Mugabe's failures. I saw
myself among the
thick-skinned freedom fighters.
Today I feel
ashamed that the idea of leaving has consumed me. I don't
even know where I
want to go but I feel helpless. It's like I am losing
everything so dear to
me.
Sometime in May 2008 I wrote a piece you published in your
paper
vowing never to leave Zimbabwe for greener pastures. The economic
meltdown
has now taken its toll.
I have become a prisoner of my
conscience. Family responsibilities are
weighing heavily down on me. I feel
drained physically. Emotionally its
deflating. A sense of betrayal engulfs
me.
It feels like I am betraying those who have kept up the good
fight to
keep Mugabe's regime in the spotlight, like yourself.
It is just like during the liberation struggle when, people simply
opted out
of Rhodesia in disgust over Ian Smith's policies. It's the same
now. The
urge to leave is compelling.
I am a family man. I love my family to
the core. Failure to provide
basics for them is driving me
nuts.
Food now demands foreign currency (forex). Rental bills
demand forex.
Transport is steadily inching towards total forex. Ironically,
after
relentless denials, RBZ chief, Gideon Gono has dollarised the
economy.
While he shamelessly boasts of his ingenuity, Gono and his
principal,
President Mugabe, have done nothing to cushion the general
population from
the vagaries of their failed policies.
We are
surviving on less than US$20 a month which Gono assures Mugabe
it will see
civil servants to the next payday. One is made to appear
irresponsible to
his/her dependants. We can't afford to provide mere basics
like maize and
bread.
The rural folks look up to us in the towns for help, which
we must
provide. Orphans in the extended family feel neglected. They also
have
dreams just like Bona Mugabe or Gono's twins.
The hunger
stalking rural homes is horrifying. Our experience during
Smith regime and
the war subsequently, was nowhere near this.
It's very sad that I
am now considering leaving my small family
behind. One is nine, the other
four. They still need my warmth and security.
It's all that I live
for.
It's also because of them that I have decided to leave. It
pains me
that they see these dubious characters in the neigbourhood living
luxurious
lifestyles which I cannot provide them.
Being
innocent and ignorant souls as expected of their age, they also
demand
ice-cream of all other luxuries from poor me. It's not like I am a
loafer,
no. I was once respected as an educated and organised person. Mugabe
and now
Gono have thrown me into this bottomless pit.
They can only fool
the rural peasant that Morgan Tsvangirai called for
sanctions which are
causing our suffering. Tsvangirai and his MDC are only
products and
manifestations of Mugabe's misrule.
Those politically sophisticated
never embraced Tsvangirai initially,
but given him and Mugabe for choice
today, no one trusts Mugabe anymore. All
he wants is power at any
cost.
He fully knows he is hated. What sort of beast enjoys
inflicting pain
even to defenceless women like Jestina
Mukoko?
It pains me to leave behind the unresolved Zimbabwe
crises to others
to continue the struggle.
Odrix Moyo
Harare.
---------------
MPs Renege on Mandate
Saturday, 24 January 2009 12:18
ALLOW me to pose a question to all
elected members of Parliament of
MDC-T, MDC, Zanu PF and independent
candidate Professor Jonathan Moyo.
"MP's where are you, when the
people are made to pay bills in foreign
currency? For instance TelOne,
Econet, Telecel, council municipality
services, education, passports and
hospital fees are now in foreign
currency, when it is common knowledge that
salaries which are difficult to
withdraw from the banks, are still in the
Zimbabwe dollar?
Members of parliament are elected to office to add
value to their
constituencies, but it seems as if our own MPs have abandoned
their
constituency mandate and don't care about our expectations. We expect
them
to debate policy issues that affect the country but it seems as if they
are
spending a lot of time quarrelling, walking out of Parliament and booing
each other.
It's high time MPs started adding value to the
lives of people who
elected them because the public is watching. Imagine an
ordinary passport
now costing US$670; where do you think an ordinary
Zimbabwean can get that
kind of money? Do they want all of us to become
thieves?
In any case, who is authorizing these institutions to
charge in forex?
If it is Ministry of Finance or the RBZ Governor, Gideon
Gono? If it is the
governor, as we understand, what stops the MPs from
summoning him to
Parliament so that he can explain himself?
Silver Bhebhe
slybhebhe@yahoo.com
--
SMS The Standard
Saturday, 24 January 2009
13:27
Sadc toothless
THE collapse of the talks on
Monday last week that were supposed
to lead to the formation of an
all-inclusive government proves that the
crisis in Zimbabwe is beyond Sadc
and that sadly, there is very little
difference between President Kgalema
Motlanthe and his predecessor, Thabo
Mbeki, the Sadc appointed facilitator
on the crisis.
The MDC has every right to take its case to
the African Union
and further. Robert Mugabe and his party have been in
power for nearly three
decades, what kind of a leader is he, who can't
appreciate that his time has
come? What is his legacy? If he and his party
had any bright ideas about
reversing the misfortunes they have brought upon
this once great nation, why
are they not implementing them? Could it be that
they have none and are
therefore waiting for Morgan Tsvangirai? Then why
don't they let him have a
go, surely he can't be worse? This week's Sadc
summit, whether in South
Africa or Botswana, will be like the ones before it
- just another talk
shop. And Mugabe does not see that the suffering of the
people during the
past seven to 10 months has worsened? - I Dauti,
Juru.
Too much of Mugabe
IT is becoming
increasingly difficult for the people of Zimbabwe
to forgive and forget
Robert Mugabe's excesses. The people of this country
deserve better, but for
a whole nation to be held to ransom by a few selfish
people who call
themselves "leaders" is a bitter pill for me to swallow. - E
Ketiwa,
Mutare.
******
I was so incensed to hear
Absolom Sikhosana, Zanu PF's secretary
for youth talking about this year's
21st February Movement celebration,
scheduled for Chinhoyi in Mashonaland
West. In the midst of all these
hardships and the uncertainties, someone
seriously believes we have
something to celebrate! These guys are living in
a fantasy world. No wonder
our situation continues to deteriorate. There is
no one among our rulers who
understands what exactly is going on. Are they
also paying themselves in
foreign currency not to see what the rest of the
country has to endure? -
Unhinged, Kadoma.
Zinwa:
chop them all
WHEN will the government or the ministry
responsible act against
non-performers? Munacho Mutezo was relieved of his
duties because he lost
during the parliamentary elections but also because
his ministry of Water
Resources and Infrastructural Development
spectacularly failed because it
was clueless about how to go about tackling
the problems facing that
ministry. However, his departure has actually seen
things turn for the
worse. Can anyone tell me one good reason why the whole
lot at the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority should not be sacked and the
useless parastatal
disbanded? Causing the death of more than 2 700 innocent
Zimbabweans and
affecting 46 000 others would seem to me to be sufficient
grounds for
putting someone before a firing squad. -Survivor,
Chitungwiza.
Paucity of leadership
WE have
surrendered our health services to United Nations
organisations such as
Unicef, the World Health Organisation, the
International Organisation for
Migration and United Nations Population Fund
in the fight against cholera,
with the result that more lives have been
saved than if they had not come
in. Now why don't we take everything to its
logical end and allow Unesco to
run our education, the UN to run law
enforcement agencies and the
international non-governmental organisations to
run our service provision?
We would have a semblance of a working state and
the University of Zimbabwe
would have its halls of residence renovated,
bringing relief to students
from out of Harare, whose plight even the
Ministry of Higher Education and
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe pretend not to
notice. The bungling over
marking of the June and end of year examinations
and the fiasco over school
fees for the first term just goes to prove the
extent of the paucity of
leadership in this country. - Pro-UN, Gwabalanda,
Bulawayo.
Petty squabbling
I am amused
by the on-going feud between Caps United and the
former Caps FC over who
should have the right to use the name. That we can
have people with their
full faculties spending nearly two years wrangling
over such a petty matter
shows how far we have sunk and lack of creativity.
For these brain-dead but
highly-paid people here is something to help them
along: In English soccer
there is Manchester City and Manchester United.
There is also Sheffield
Wednesday and Sheffield United. In Italy there is AC
Milan and Inter Milan.
In Spain you have Real Madrid and Real Betis, with a
host of teams sharing
the name Atletico this and that. My question is: Why
then can't we have Caps
United and Caps FC? - Real petty, Harare.
******
I have always wondered why people who live in areas which
are
prone to water-logging or who live in regions that receive extremely
high
rainfall continue to grow maize when there are numerous varieties of
indigenous rice that would perform much better. Look at Malawi, which is
well-known for its rice. -
******
WE
are to blame for every action Robert Mugabe takes. We shouldn't
cry foul
because we allowed him to do as he pleases. Although we boast that
we are a
nation of learned people, we need more people with guts and not
just brains.
- Very angry, Gutu.
It's a rip-off
I fail to
understand why Zimbabwean cross-border traders allow
themselves to be ripped
off by foreign shop owners operating in this
country. The cross-border
traders import electrical gadgets such as
televisions, home theatre systems,
computers, laptops, microwave ovens,
stoves and fridges, which they supply
to the foreign owned shops, who only
pay them after two weeks. In reality
these cross-borders traders are
financing these foreign shop owners as all
they have to do is pay rent, and
then put a higher mark-up on the
commodities in their shops to recoup their
expences. It would be wiser for
the traders to put an advertisement in
newspapers and sell their products
from home. - Ripped off, Harare.
******
THIS
is a country on the brink of total collapse. As I write,
there is no
electricity, no water and our money cannot buy anything. It is
almost
impossible to make a call. I am dumb-founded. - Tapiwa N,
Harare.
I am sick and tired of hearing people passing the
buck on the
issue of price increases and charging of goods and services in
foreign
currency. Ninety percent of the products in shops now are imported.
Nearly
95% of a transporter's operating costs are in foreign currency for
fuel.
Industry is grinding to a halt because of lack of foreign currency to
purchase spares. Foreign currency is only found on the streets - the
parallel market and all the above sectors are caught up in a vicious cycle
of having to depend on the parallel market for their foreign currency
requirements. Instead of pointing fingers in the wrong direction and causing
pointless petty arguments, we should be focusing on foreign
currency-generating projects. - I M Real, Harare.