Zimbabwe - Plea for Our Country
I am an ordinary Zimbabwean and I
feel compelled to write to my compatriots, not tomorrow nor the next day but now
!!
I came to this beautiful country in the late '70's from a farming family in
Australia to find a land of real hope, one that was happy and
prosperous despite the conditions that prevailed at the time. It was everything
I had dreamed of and it wasn't long before I made a life long commitment.
That commitment is reinforced by events today.
What really impressed me, after I had arrived with a pack on my back,
walking over Beit Bridge, was the quality of it's people of all races, their
spirit, enterprise, work ethic, moral values and respect for their fellow
countrymen and the rule of law. It's beauty startled me, it's sporting courage
and proud tradition amazed me and I fell in love with the country I now proudly
call my home. The red ball sunsets, the cry of a fish eagle, vistas of kopje,
msasa in spring, the mopani veld all evoke emotion every time I experience them.
I am overwhelmed by what has been built in little over a hundred years . I swell
with pride when we, almost incredibly, perform at the highest level on the world
stage, be it the Chelsea Flower Show, Cricket, Ballroom Dancing, Athletics,
Tennis, Tobacco, Football, Engineering, Textiles...I could go on
forever.
I know and believe that Zimbabwe will prosper and re-establish it's
rightful position as the jewel of Africa, if not the world. It is up to us
to determine when that will happen. That is, all of us. Remember, it is not our
country that is to blame but simply the situation that we have all allowed, in
one way or another, to develop to the point where we find ourselves today. Don't
judge Zimbabwe unfairly ! Judge it as it should be and will be when it is
healed and back to good health (As you would your friend) providing everything
that you would ever want in terms of quality of life and expectation. Zimbabwe
has served us all so well and it is simply a Rolls Royce being driven by a bunch
of irresponsible, unlicensed thugs.
It is up to us to be winners and not losers and strive for what is ours. We
will overcome our problems and realize the true extent to which our country will
benefit us all. The prize it too great to give up. We are at the edge now and
must keep pushing and the monument to evil will topple into the abyss below
where it belongs crushed never to arise again. To stop now would mean giving
away everything that we hold dear, giving up an exciting future to be built on
solid values where hard work, honesty and fighting spirit is rewarded. To stop
now would be tantamount to stripping the honour from those before who fought for
this country in so many different ways. It would dishonour those that have died
recently in the quest to secure a future filled with aspirations that we all
share - a future that will penalize those that do wrong and protect those who
uphold the system. We must accept the challenge to succeed in what we feel so
deeply about.
Don't give up on your country now! Don't make hasty judgements at a time
of absolute abnormality. It is not
the time to make a decision about one's
future when thought is clouded by emotion and negative thinking. Don't make a
mistake that you will regret. There will be a resolution. Bring it forward by
making a stand for
yourself and those less able than you are - the elderly,
the uneducated and exploited, the poor, those brutalized by lawlessness, the
children who are our future. Don't abandon your responsibilities. We can and
WILL win !!
Zimbabwe has a rich and proud heritage. We are renowned for our fighting
spirit. Don't forsake it ! We must respect those that have built our land, some
of whom remain as senior citizens dependent on the commitment of subsequent
generations. What is needed now are people of courage and determination, people
who uphold real principles for which they are prepared to fight. This is not an
endless vision but one that is clearly set ahead of us in
the not too distant
future. We must dig deep and be resolute in our determination to win and gladly
accept the prize that awaits us. The prize that is each one of us secure in the
knowledge that the country we love will be expressing openly the values, ideals
and standards we uphold in every aspect of life. There is light at the end of
the tunnel and it is up to each and every one of us to choose whether that light
will beam strongly. We have a choice to determine if that light is there or not
and we have to believe it is if we are to win this struggle, the most critical
episode in our country's history.
Neither I, nor my family, are going anywhere. I belong and, like others,
must solve the problems that we all helped create, largely through apathy and
lack of principle when it came to standing up for what is right and condemning
what was wrong. That's history. It is the future that counts now and it is up to
us, not "the others" to do our bit. Don't relent, don't concede, don't wilt
under pressure. We will win this battle, a battle of wills, together.
Simon Spooner
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.07.11/news13.html
Out
of Africa: Zimbabwean Jewry Faces Extinction
Political Crisis Hits Home as
Hunger Spreads
By DAVID SAKS
FORWARD CORRESPONDENT
JOHANNESBURG,
South Africa — Political turmoil in neighboring Zimbabwe
is threatening
southern Africa's second-largest Jewish community with
extinction.
Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa, has
rapidly
become a basket case in recent years, as the regime of President
Robert
Mugabe has resorted to ever more extreme measures to remain in power.
Political repression is rampant, the economy is in tatters and hunger
is
widespread.
The Jewish community, once a thriving presence in Zimbabwe, is
under
threat as the country's political crisis hits closer to home. The
republic had a Jewish population estimated at 8,000 in the 1960s;
thanks
to mass emigration during Mugabe's reign, only about 650 remain.
While still
relatively better off than the majority of the population,
the Jewish
community is likewise struggling to maintain itself and
faces a bleak and
uncertain future.
The past five years in Zimbabwe have seen the forcible
seizure of white-
owned farmland for redistribution to government loyalists,
regular
beatings and arrests of opposition supporters and, most recently,
the
imprisonment of parliamentary opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. In
the process, the tentative democratic fabric that originally
underpinned
the legal and political culture of the country has been all
but
destroyed.
Zimbabwe, previously a food exporter, now faces mass starvation.
Even
those with money are affected by shortages, particularly of gasoline,
milk and bread, and by the hyperinflation that is playing havoc with
the
local currency. Five years ago, for example, a loaf of bread cost
70 cents
in local currency; today, the going rate is around 700
Zimbabwe dollars —
1,000 times higher.
According to Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, who pays regular
pastoral visits
to Zimbabwe in his capacity as spiritual leader to the
African Jewish
Congress, even among the wealthy, bread and milk are now
regarded as
luxuries. To illustrate this, he observed that when people went
to
friends' houses for meals, they would take as a gift a loaf of bread
and a bottle of milk rather than the usual bottle of wine or box of
chocolates.
The surreal impact of the currency collapse was neatly
summed up by
former Zimbabwean Joey Hasson in the South African Jewish
Report in
June: "Going to the supermarket is quite unreal. Where one used to
go
with money in your wallet and groceries in your trolley, now your money
is in the trolley and the groceries in your wallet."
In addition to
enduring the general hardships and uncertainties of
living in a society in
crisis, Zimbabwe Jews are also exposed to
periodic bouts of overtly
antisemitic propaganda as the embattled
regime seeks to identify scapegoats
for the country's economic ills. In
September 2001, for example, Mugabe
declared in a public address: "Jews
in South Africa, working in cahoots with
their colleagues here, want
our textile and clothing factories to close
down. They want Zimbabwe...
to remain with warehouses to create business for
South African firms."
Later that year, the Bulawayo Chronicle, a
pro-government daily,
published a 3000-word "exposé" that accused "prominent
members of the
Jewish community" of being behind the closure of most
industrial
companies in Bulawayo — the nation's second-largest city — with
the aim
of crippling the Zimbabwean economy and forcing the government out.
While focusing mainly on the alleged dealings of one particular Jewish
family, the article clearly intimated that "the racketeers" were part
of
a wider Jewish conspiracy.
In general, while anti-Jewish conspiracy theories
surface occasionally,
Great Britain, the much-hated colonial power that
seized control of the
country in the 1890s, is a more frequent target of
such vitriol.
However, even here Jews are sometimes brought into the
equation.
Another pro-government paper wrote that Cecil John Rhodes, the
financial magnate responsible for the colonization of Zimbabwe — then
called Rhodesia — had not been a Briton of Anglo-Saxon extraction but a
Jew whose surname was derived from the island of Rhodes in the Aegean
Sea. The writer added, "Like other Jews in Israel, America, South
Africa
and even Zimbabwe itself, Rhodes also became a shameless
oppressor in his
search for wealth and absolute power."
Leaders of the community, fearful
that their phones are tapped, are
reluctant to discuss the situation openly.
Despite the escalating problems, the Jewish community — focused in
Harare (345 Jews) and Bulawayo (225) — has thus far been able to keep
most of its institutions running. There are two synagogues in Harare
and
one in Bulawayo, all of them Orthodox, which maintain daily
services. One of
the two Harare synagogues is Sephardic, the legacy of
a large influx of
Sephardi Jews from Rhodes that took place during the
1930s, which
supplemented the then-predominantly Ashkenazic community.
Communal and
welfare bodies such as the Board of Deputies, Central
African Zionist
Organization and Union of Jewish Women continue to
function. The community
has also defied the odds by keeping Jewish day
schools open in both Harare
and Bulawayo for the few dozen remaining
Jewish children, some from
mixed-marriage homes. Although Jewish pupils
are by now a small minority at
both schools, kashrut is maintained,
Hebrew is compulsory and all the Jewish
holidays are observed.
But while the community continues to function, its
future looks bleak.
The average age is over 70, with only four weddings
having taken place
in the last decade. Peter Sternberg, president of the
Zimbabwe Jewish
Board of Deputies, acknowledged that while many within the
dwindling
community were preparing to leave, selling their homes and
businesses,
others were sitting tight in the hope that things would improve
—
particularly the elderly, who would lose their pension funds if they
left.
After visiting Zimbabwe in late 2002, Leon Reich, vice chairman of
the
South African Zionist Federation, bluntly described the remnant of
Zimbabwe Jewry as a community in denial. "It used to be paradise there,
and they're hanging on to what was," he said. "They can't get their
minds 'round to leaving that paradise and are not facing up to the fact
that it's not going to be any better next year, or the year after
that."
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE PR COMMUNIQUE - July 11, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
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"AGRIZIM"
THE WAY FORWARD.
The Change:
The change in the Agricultural sector
that Zimbabwe has experienced over
the past three years has resulted in a
huge economic burden on the country.
The results are clearly felt throughout
society and unless the issues and
challenges are identified and addressed the
people of Zimbabwe will
continue to suffer.
The Land:
The land
issue has been front-page news for so long and yet no meaningful
and lasting
solutions have been reached.
The Benefits:
While we all agree that
there is need to address the land issue, it has
become equally clear that the
current situation is not sustainable and has
benefited only a small group of
individuals.
The Challenge:
It is important for the future of this
nation that the Agricultural Sector
is resuscitated and that all the benefits
from land are shared and enjoyed
by the whole nation.
In order to
resolve the problems and implement a solution that will benefit
all people in
the shortest period of time this country needs a new Agro
based structure to
face the challenges.
AGRIZIM:
The concept of AGRIZIM was first mooted
by a group of influential leaders in
the agricultural, financial and
political arenas who were concerned that
the Agro industry will not be able
to take on the challenge of feeding and
empowering this nation. For
Zimbabweans to be truly independent and able to
chart their own destiny they
have to be able to feed themselves and be
economically
independent.
AGRIZIM has been formed as a TRUST that has received input
and
participation from various leaders in the Agricultural and
Financial
sectors. The principles are based on the FREEDOM CHARTER from the
Crisis
Coalition and the Vision for Agriculture document.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE
COMPENSATION/RESTITUTION COMMUNIQUE - July 11,
2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw;
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOSS
DOCUMENT FACILITATORS COURSE
The next training course will be held on the
30th July 2003 and will be
condensed into a single day.
The
facilitators will be trained to assist farmers to fill in the
Comprehensive
JAG Loss Claim Document that covers all the aspects of losses
that farmers
may have incurred.
This will ensure that all farmers are in a position to
claim what they are
legally due and will assist in any negotiations and /or
legal initiatives
taken on behalf of farmers.
Due to the increased
pressure on this Government to bring about peaceful
change, and the
possibility of political events overtaking us, farmers are
urged to ensure
that the Compensation/Restitution process is as far
advanced as possible by
the end of this year.
All farmers must complete these documents whether
they are still farming,
have stopped farming or have left the
country.
Prospective facilitators must have the support and confidence of
their
community, must have a working knowledge of computers and have access
to
Microsoft Office 2000, a scanner, a CD burner and e-mail.
All those
interested must contact the JAG office at 04 799410 or 011 207
860 or e-mail
justice@telco.co.zw
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1:
Thanks for your response to my cancellation message. Now that my
farmer
guests have left here, there is no further purpose in a couple of
townies
receiving the service. I do know that my ex-Karoi farmer daughter
and
son-in-law were well pleased with JAG, in particular its tone of
efficiency
and optimism. Your skilled efforts, your positive approach and the
detail
of your service were very much appreciated in this household. But my
"kids"
now have their own house in Zimbabwe and get your service there.
The
children are still at Rydings, despite travel hassles and breakfast in
the
dark. My son-in-law is flying for an international airline at the
moment
but they hope to return to their farm asap.
The farm is being
worked, as part of a group of four, growing seed wheat
and tobacco at great
risk. The day before yesterday their black manager,
who has been outstanding
in loyalty and bravery these last few years, was
served with a Section 8, but
it was unstamped, it carried an April date and
the signature was unclear. It
was probably a fake. He sent the messenger
packing. Will this dangerous
pantomime ever end? When the Roberto Benito
Mussogabe Day comes, some heroic
deeds will become known as well as the
mountain of brutality and cowardice.
This situation has at least revealed
the fantastic qualities of certain
Zimbabweans and the inherently savage
nature of others, extremes to be found
nowhere else in the world. It will
all take many years to heal, so you'll be
needed for longer than you might
think.
Thanks again and best
regards,
WJK
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All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
SABC
Powell: US will not stop pressure on Mugabe
government
July 11, 2003, 18:00
Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, has reiterated that the US
will not back
down against pressurising the Zimbabwean government from
resolving the
political impasse in the country. Powell says they will
continue pressign all
parties in Zimbabwe to find a lasting solution to
return to
democracy.
Powell has blamed the dire situation in Zimbabwe
on President
Robert Mugabe's failure to bring about democracy. However, he
says the US
accepts President Thabo Mbeki's assurances about ongoing talks in
Zimbabwe
between Mugabe's ruling party and the opposition MDC to bring about
peace in
that country.
Powell said: "What we would like to
see is serious, open, full
discussions between the government and opposition
and not suppressing the
opposition and or detaining the opposition
leader...that's not the way one
finds political solution."
Reacting to reports of soured relations between Nelson Mandela,
the former
president, and George W. Bush, Powell says the US respects
Mandela's position
on the Iraqi war and America's part in it. "We have the
utmost respect for
Mandela. He is more than just a great leader in my mind.
He is a friend of
mine. I was here for the inauguration. He will always be a
hero in the minds
of all Americans. On this issue we had disagreement. As I
would expect Madiba
to do he spoke out strongly when he has disagreement
with someone," he
said.
Powell said the US felt at the time it was necessary to
take
action against Saddam Hussein for the sake of the US and world
security.
nasdaq
Zimbabwe Braces For Massive Price Hikes On Staple
Food
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)--Zimbabwe braced for at least a 500%
increase in the
price of corn meal as the government appeared Friday to have
given up
enforcing its price freeze on key foods in the beleaguered
economy.
Corn meal was set to rise from about 100 Zimbabwe dollars
($1=ZWD814.720) a
kilogram - the fixed government price - to ZWD630 a
kilogram, milling
company and food store executives said.
Tiny
increases in the past have led to food riots, which pushed the
government to
impose price controls buttressed by state subsidies.
The state-run Grain
Marketing Board, which has a monopoly on grain sales,
announced earlier this
month massive increases in the price of cereals.
The price of corn rose
from ZWD9,600 a metric ton to ZWD211,756 on July 3.
Similar increases in
wheat prices led to a fourfold increase in the price of
a loaf of bread this
week.
Zimbabwe is suffering acute grain shortages as part of its worst
economic
crisis since independence in 1980.
Official inflation has
soared to more than 300%, unemployment is estimated
at 70% and a black market
in food and fuel, where inflation is as high as
600%, is thriving.
The
U.N. World Food Program estimates food shortages will leave 5.5 million
out
of about 12 million Zimbabweans in need of emergency food aid this
year.
The corn price increase is expected to be felt next week when
deliveries of
the more expensive corn meal, used to make a traditional
porridge, begin to
reach stores, industry executives said.
In a rare
departure from the government's price control policy, the state
Herald
newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said Friday the Grain Marketing
Board had
no alternative but to massively hike corn prices even though the
effects on
ordinary people would be "negative."
"It would be impossible to keep the
retail prices of maize meal, flour and
bread at prices affordable by the
majority of ordinary people despite the
fact the prices of these products are
controlled," it said in an editorial.
Past price fixing of goods led to
shortages on the shelves and intense black
market trading in the scarce
foods, it said.
The higher grain prices forced stores to charge consumers
more and "it might
be difficult for the government to intervene and keep a
lid on soaring
prices," The Herald said.
A 25% increase in corn meal
prices in 1998 led to food riots.
Bakers this week increased the price of
a regular loaf of bread to ZWD1,000,
defying a government price freeze at
ZWD225 a loaf.
The government took no action against the
bakers.
John Makumbe, a political scientist at the main Zimbabwe
University in
Harare, said much of the country's formal economic activity was
now replaced
by black market trading.
Price controls, meant to cushion
the 80% of Zimbabweans living in poverty,
threatened the viability of many
businesses, risking closure and job losses.
"The black market has been
allowed to expand because the government has
literally run out of ideas" to
do anything else but let market forces of
supply and demand determine prices,
he said.
Black market gasoline and corn already fetch as much as five
times fixed
prices. Most regular gas stations have been dry for the past
month. Main
stores have not received corn meal deliveries for several
weeks.
Part of the economic crisis is blamed on a state program that
seized
thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to
black
settlers.
Hard currency earnings from tobacco, tourism and
mining have collapsed.
Investment and foreign aid has largely ended in
protest of human rights
abuses and disputed presidential elections last year
that gave President
Robert Mugabe another six-year term in office.
Two
national strikes called by the opposition have further dented the
economy
this year. Last month, opposition-led street protests were crushed
before
they started by a massive show of force.
Dow Jones Newswires
07-11-031218ET
BBC
Harare mayor fights eviction
|
Mr Mudzuri fears for his safety as his bodyguards are
removed |
The opposition mayor of the Zimbabwe's capital, Harare is resisting his
eviction from his official residence by the government of President Mugabe.
Elias Mudzuri told the BBC's Network Africa programme on Friday that he had
been told to leave his residence by Thursday and had also had his other benefits
withdrawn.
The mayor was suspended
from office, without pay, in April for alleged misconduct and was arrested twice
this week.
He was released without charge on both occasions and his party, the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), claimed the arrests were part of ongoing state
harassment, accusing the government of using "political muscle" to interfere
with Mr Mudzuri's work.
Mr Mudzuri was the first opposition figure to become mayor of Harare since
President Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980.
Harassment
Mr Mudzuri, who said he was in a police cell when he received the letter,
said the local government minister did not give any explanation for his
eviction.
The MDC says Mr Mugabe's government is harassing the
opposition | "The order did
not come directly to me. I was given a copy of the letter which was written
through my deputy who is acting mayor to effect my eviction within 48 hours," he
said.
"He (the minister) has simply written a letter of withdrawal of all benefits.
So there is no more benefit for me. He has given no real reason. It only shows
the vindictive nature of the minister... It also shows that his purported
suspension is not rational," he said.
The MDC say that President Mugabe's administration is not allocating the town
council with enough fuel and foreign currency to carry out essential services.
The MDC mayor was elected overwhelmingly by Harare residents last year in
polls that coincided with those that returned Mr Mugabe to office for another
six years.
Concern
Mr Mudzuri has expressed his concern over his security because his bodyguards
and aide were removed on Thursday.
"I think they (the government) want to create a scenario where I am probably
harmed," he told the BBC.
But the defiant MDC Harare mayor, said he was staying put as he had nowhere
else to go.
"If I vacate where will I go? I cannot just vacate and start walking in the
street."
The Zimbabwean Government recently announced that it was seeking to introduce
a bill in parliament which will allow the administration to withhold six months
pay of all opposition MPs who boycott President Mugabe's speeches in the
chamber. |
Business Day
Mugabe's
lackey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
President
George Bush has been well and truly duped. He flies in,
threatening to get
tough with President Thabo Mbeki over his inept handling
of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans all over await the expected clash with eagerness. Half
an hour
later, the world's most powerful leader emerges praising Mbeki's
"quiet
diplomacy", describing him as an "honest broker".
Honest
broker, my foot. Mbeki is bad news. To Zimbabweans, he is a conniver.
If it
were not for his steadfast support of his sister-party Zanu (PF),
Mugabe
would have been long gone.
Mbeki convinces Bush that talks are going on
in Zimbabwe. If this were the
case, surely Morgan Tsvangarai would know about
them.
Tsvangarai stops short of publicly calling Mbeki a liar. In
private, you can
be sure the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership
are seething.
There are many Zimbabweans who view Mbeki as nothing more
than Robert
Mugabe's lackey. Bush and his advisers need to meet with the MDC
as a matter
of urgency. Only then will they see that the only solution to the
Zimbabwean
crisis is the removal of the great comrade.
If Mbeki has
nothing positive to contribute to the Zimbabwean saga, he
should keep his
mouth shut.
R Carr
Norwood
Business Day
Bush-Mbeki: pragmatism triumphs over
ideology
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
US
president's visit points to increasing diplomatic and political
collaboration
on regional and global issues
PRESIDENT George Bush's visit to SA and his
meeting with President Thabo
Mbeki were important to them and their
countries. It marked a turning point
in the relations between the US and
SA.
In significant ways pragmatism triumphed over ideology. It was more
about
substance than form, more than a photo opportunity, as some in SA and
the US
had justifiably feared. It marked the elevation of Africa, and SA
in
particular, to the level of strategic partners in US foreign
policy.
A US national security report last year identified SA, Nigeria,
Ethiopia and
Kenya as "pivotal" regional states crucial to US policy on
Africa.
Mbeki's championing of the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (Nepad)
read good governance, law and order, sound economic
policies, investor
friendliness in Africa, democracy, human capital
development etc sets him
apart as a statesman, "honest broker" and "great
leader" with a vision for a
better Africa and better world for all.
It
is significant that the world's only superpower recognised Mbeki in
this
regard, despite past differences on crucial issues such as the war on
Iraq,
the role of the United Nations (UN), pharmaceutical and steel
sectors,
Zimbabwe, and adherence to multilateralism in dealing with global
issues
such as the International Criminal Court, the World Conference on
Racism,
the Kyoto Protocol and the World Summit on Sustainable
Development.
What does this improvement in relations between Washington
and Pretoria tell
us? First, that both countries and presidents take each
other seriously.
They see each other as crucial to the pursuit of their
national interests.
SA needs US companies to invest to grow the SA
economy, create jobs and
transfer skills. Trade and Industry Minister Alec
Erwin recently visited
Detroit to drum up more investment for SA's thriving
auto sector. The US
needs markets for its products. It also needs SA's raw
materials. Business
and commercial links between the two countries have been
intensifying with
more SA companies having secondary listings on Wall
Street.
Second, the visit indicated that Bush trusts Mbeki and would
defer to him on
regional issues, including the potentially explosive Zimbabwe
issue, and
continental issues such as Nepad and the African Union. This is in
line with
Pretoria's role as a "pivotal" regional state in
Africa.
Endorsement of Mbeki's efforts and initiatives to resolve the
Zimbabwean
debacle surprised many advocates of "regime change" who were
bolstered by US
Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent call on Pretoria to
put more
pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
The
discussion on conflict resolution and peacekeeping in Africa signalled
the
emergence of a division of labour, where the US supplies the dollars
and
expertise and Africa supplies troops. Washington's experience in Somalia
has
made it reticent to send its troops to Africa. This explains
Bush's
reticence to commit troops to Liberia. With US presidential
elections
looming, any miscalculated move that costs American lives may
have
disastrous consequences for his presidential ambitions.
However,
African lives are important. The urgency of peace-keeping missions
in Liberia
and the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be overemphasised.
Failure to act
is inexcusable and unacceptable.
Bush's endorsement of Nepad and Mbeki's
role in it was also very
significant. Nepad's success would bode well for
stability in Africa. So
Nepad is as much a socioeconomic as a security issue.
The US needs to
provide the money. At least 10% of US gross domestic product
was spent on
the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after by the Second World
War, says
Fortune magazine.
Africa needs tangible assistance to halve
poverty, achieve literacy for all
and alleviate HIV/AIDS by 2015. The UN
Development Programme has warned that
if things continue as they are, it may
take at least 150 years for these
goals to be attained.
Too much has
been said too soon about Bush's $15bn HIV/AIDS package, which
raises more
questions than answers. Unfortunately the focus on this package
was at the
expense of the need to focus on trade.
Africa needs more trade than aid.
Free trade alone would help Africa solve
its debt burden, health and
education challenges and poverty. More attention
should have been given to
what Bush is doing, or willing to do, to make the
next trade round Africa-
friendly.
Third, the Bush visit also tells us that increasing diplomatic
and political
collaboration on regional and global issues will be a key
feature going
forward. Pretoria needs the ear of Washington to be effective
as a de facto
leader of the developing world. Mbeki is in the forefront of
calls for the
reform of the global architecture of political and financial
governance.
The UN needs to be democratised. It is ironic that it is a
champion of
democratic values, and yet its governance structures are as
undemocratic as
they are unrepresentative of our 21st century
world.
SA and Africa need to be adequately represented on the UN Security
Council.
Bush can be a good "point man" for Mbeki by ensuring that SA gets
a
permanent seat on the security council. The same applies to the
distribution
of votes on the councils of the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund
and the next round of trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, in
September.
The relationship forged in Pretoria can and must be leveraged
to maximise
Africa's gains in these and other issues.
Fourth, from a
geopolitical perspective, the US and SA have similar profiles
in their
respective regions namely the North American Free Trade Area
(Nafta) and the
Southern African Development Community (SADC). Both are
regional economic
powerhouses.
Above all they are militarily and politically strong, and
thus well
positioned to play meaningful and decisive roles in the politics of
their
regions and elsewhere in the world.
For Bush to regain
credibility which was severely dented by his war against
Iraq without UN
approval and based on questionable intelligence in world
affairs, he needs a
globally respectable leader like Mbeki.
Mbeki needs the likes of Bush,
Britain's Tony Blair, Germany's Gerhard
Schröder and other G8 nation leaders
to deliver his vision for a better
Africa. Bush's visit was a good step in
the right direction.
Dlamini is a research associate with the SA
Institute of International
Affairs and is also attached to Templeton College,
Oxford.
News24
Tsvangirai 'wants talks'
11/07/2003 08:47 - (SA)
Willem
Jordaan and Jan-Jan Joubert
Pretoria - Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai has asked South
African President Thabo Mbeki to get
negotiations with President Robert
Mugabe's government on track "within
days".
Pressure is mounting on Mbeki, in the meantime, about when, how
and where
alleged talks between the Movement for Democratic Change and
Zanu-PF took
place.
Tsvangirai was referring to talks Mbeki had held
with President George W
Bush on Wednesday when the South African apparently
said there had been
talks between Zimbabwe's two main
parties.
Tsvangirai earlier doubted Mbeki's integrity and accused him of
giving Bush
the wrong impression.
He said Mbeki was telling lies about
the opposition MDC and Zanu-PF party
when he said they had already had
negotiations.
Father Fidelis Mukonori, a clergyman who has negotiated on
Mugabe's behalf
in the past, went to Tsvangirai a few hours before the
Mbeki-Bush talks to
find out what conditions would be for talks between the
MDC and Zanu-PF to
resume, reports Sapa.
Tsvangirai said there had
been regular attempts to mediate, but the talks
just couldn't get off the
ground.
Bush, who earlier gave his support to the way Mbeki was handling
the
Zimbabwean situation, was asked in Botswana about the allegations that
Mbeki
had misled him.
Bush evaded the question and said his government
was still critical about
the Zimbabwe situation and that "straightfoward
talks" had taken place
between himself and Mbeki.
Insisting on
democracy in Zimbabwe
Bush said: "It's a disgrace that the Zimbabwean
economy has deteriorated to
such an extent.
"It can be laid at the
government's door. That's why we will keep on
insisting on democracy in
Zimbabwe."
Bush described Mbeki as the "man on the scene" and left him to
sort out the
Zimbabwean situation after expressing his confidence in the way
the South
African was handling the matter.
South African government
officials say South Africa and the United States
both want to see democracy
established in Zimbabwe, but there are still
differences of opinion about how
this can be achieved.
Americans say Bush is giving Mbeki room to put his
strategies in place, but
that they are waiting to see results.
After
Mbeki's and Tsvangirai's conflicting statements, questions have arisen
about
what exactly the South African government means by talks taking place.
A
highly-placed South African source says moderate MDC and Zanu-PF members
are
having secret talks and trying to find a solution.
There's a different
story being told in MDC circles, however.
Sources say informal talks are
taking place now and again between MDC
members and Zanu-PF
officials.
He referred to an informal lunch between a Zimbabwean minister
and a
well-known MDC official about three weeks ago.
"Shortly
afterwards, the South Africans said we were having talks, but
such
discussions normally don't achieve anything.
"I do my best not to
be seen with a Zanu-PF official, because then the South
Africans say we are
negotiating."
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 10 July
Mugabe makes overtures to
the opposition
Harare/Gabarone - Emissaries from Zimbabwe's ruling
party, and South Africa,
have approached the opposition in recent days about
restarting talks to end
the nation's political and economic crisis, the
opposition said on Thursday.
In the latest overture, a Roman Catholic priest
linked to the ruling party
visited Movement for Democratic Change leader
Morgan Tsvangirai on
Wednesday, just hours before US President George Bush
and South African
President Thabo Mbeki discussed the crisis, opposition
officials said.
Father Fidelis Mukonori, used as a Mugabe emissary in the
past, wanted to
know the opposition's terms for restarting talks and whether
any progress
could be made to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.
He met with
Tsvangirai just two hours before Mbeki told Bush the two Zimbabwe
parties
had begun talks to end the nation's crisis. Tsvangirai said that
claim was
"patently false and mischievous".
Responding to Mbeki's
claim, Tsvangirai said emissaries from churches, civic
groups and the South
African government were shuttling between the parties,
but no talks were
under way. "So far, none of these efforts has succeeded,"
Tsvangirai said.
Previous talks broke down because of the dispute over
Mugabe's narrow victory
in last year's disputed elections and demands that
the opposition drop a
court challenge to the poll. Addressing supporters in
recent weeks, Mugabe
has again insisted the opposition recognise his
election and drop the case
before he would meet with them. The opposition
has refused and demanded
unconditional talks. Tsvangirai said he was
encouraged Bush and Mbeki
mentioned the urgent need to address the political
crisis in Zimbabwe.
"Significantly, we note that President Bush said that
they share the same
objective to restore democracy, peace, and peoples'
freedoms to Zimbabwe," he
said.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece,
said on
Thursday Bush "snubbed" the Zimbabwe opposition by saying he was "of
one
mind" with Mbeki on Zimbabwe. The opposition has described Mbeki as
a
"dishonest broker" who failed to use the leverage of Zimbabwe's
most
powerful neighbour to pressure Mugabe to negotiate democratic
reform.
Meanwhile, the Information Ministry described Bush's statement on
Zimbabwe
after his meeting with Mbeki as "a loud climb down" after both Bush
and US
Secretary of State Colin Powell had called for regime change here. In
a
statement, the ministry said Bush had been misled on conditions in
Zimbabwe
and "now leaves the region better enlightened on the issues at
stake". Bush
retaliated later on Thursday, slamming Zimbabwe's "bad
governance". Bush
said, after meeting Botswana's President Festus Mogae, that
he would
continue to speak out for democracy in Zimbabwe. "e expect there to
be
democracy in Zimbabwe, in order for the people of that country to
advance,"
Bush said in the capital of Botswana, a country viewed by
Washington as a
rare African example of good governance. It's a shame that
the (Zimbabwean)
economy has gotten so weak and soft. It is a shame for
Botswana, it's a
shame for southern Africa, and that the weakness in the
economy is directly
attributable to bad governance. Therefore we will
continue to speak out for
democracy in Zimbabwe," Bush added, on the third
leg of a five-nation
African tour.
The opposition blames Mugabe
for plunging the economy into its worst crisis,
with 70% unemployment and
acute shortages of food, gasoline and medicine.
Official inflation has soared
to more than 300%, but a thriving black market
in food and fuel has led to
inflation estimates of about 600%. The official
currency exchange rate is
Z$824 to the $1, but the black market exchange is
as much as Z$2 700-$1. A
state programme to seize thousands of white-owned
farms for redistribution to
black farmers has crippled the agriculture-based
economy in the past three
years. Investment and foreign aid has dried up in
protest of human rights
abuses and last year's tainted presidential
elections.
Daily News 11 July 2003
ZANU PF factions court MDC
THREE factions within the ruling ZANU PF party have made
secret
representations to the opposition Movement Democratic Change (MDC) in
a bid
to strike a deal that would break the political impasse between
Zimbabwe’s
main political parties.
Sources close to the
discussions said factions within ZANU PF backing
different candidates to
succeed President Robert Mugabe had sent emissaries
to the MDC, selling
different proposals that they hoped would break the ice
and lead to a
power-sharing agreement.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday
told the Daily News that he was
fully aware of the overtures made by
emissaries of senior ZANU PF officials
to the top leadership of his party,
proposing scenarios to end the political
impasse.
“The top
leadership in my party has received emissaries of senior ZANU
PF officials
who have put forward various proposals,” he said.
Tsvangirai
added: “The MDC leadership is fully aware of these
unofficial initiatives. We
have no official position from ZANU PF, all we
have had are factional
positions. It is up to them to get organised, the MDC
has its position
already.
“But talks about talks are not talks. We have been
flooded with
emissaries from ZANU PF leaders representing various interests.
The clergy
and businessmen with links to ZANU PF have also come up with
their
proposals. But all these are not the official ZANU PF
position.
“Until and unless there is resumption of the official
initiative led
by (South Africa’s ruling African National Congress) ANC
secretary-general
Kgalema Monthlante and Professor Adebayo Adedeji (on behalf
of Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo), which had an official agenda, then
there are
no talks to talk about.”
Sources said approaches
from the ZANU PF camp had intensified in the
past month, especially when
Tsvangirai was detained in June on charges of
calling for the overthrow of
Mugabe.
MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube is said to have
kept Tsvangirai
fully briefed about the overtures while he was in remand
prison.
Tsvangirai’s disclosures come after South African
President Thabo
Mbeki told American President George Bush on Wednesday that
ZANU PF and the
MDC had resumed dialogue, which both parties have
denied.
However, MDC officials yesterday said three ZANU PF
factions had
brought their proposals to the opposition party, one proposal
being for the
formation of a ZANU PF-MDC government of national
unity.
Another faction proposed a transitional government
headed by a ZANU PF
leader with a long grace period within which to prepare
for fresh elections.
The third group had proposed the amendment
of Zimbabwe’s Constitution.
The amended Constitution would include sections
from a draft document
rejected by Zimbabweans in a referendum in 2000 and
from a draft produced by
the National Constitutional
Assembly.
This would lead to the country being headed by a
ceremonial president
and an executive prime minister after fresh elections
were held, the sources
said.
Moves to break the political
impasse in Zimbabwe come after talks
brokered by South Africa and Nigeria
collapsed last year when the ruling
party demanded that the MDC withdraw a
court case challenging Mugabe’s
re-election in March 2002.
Repeated efforts to rekindle the talks have since failed.
Efforts by local inter-denominational church groups to help
kick-start
dialogue between the two parties have also not yielded any
results.
By Sydney Masamvu
Assistant
Editor
Daily News 11 July 2003
High Court bars Mudzuri
THE High Court yesterday granted an interim order barring suspended
Harare
Executive Mayor Elias Mudzuri from performing his duties, as
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
urged city
councillors to ignore government directives against the mayor
unless they
were endorsed by the full council.
Justice Susan Mavangira said
Mudzuri should desist from violating
Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo’s suspension, but should show
cause why the High Court should not make
a final order in the matter.
Justice Mavangira said: “The first
respondent (Mudzuri) is hereby
interdicted from carrying out any mayoral
functions whilst on suspension,
including reporting for duty at Town House or
any other public gathering or
function as a mayor.
“Mudzuri
is hereby interdicted from interfering with any
investigations into his
allegations of misconduct.’’
Mudzuri was suspended in April for
alleged incompetence. He was
arrested twice this week when he attempted to
return to work.
Justice Mavangira said Mudzuri did not make any
attempt to legally
challenge and have the suspension order of 29 April 2003
set aside. She said
the suspension order stood and Mudzuri must abide by it
until or unless it
was set aside.
Chombo this week also
instructed the Harare City Council, which was
elected on an opposition MDC
ticket, to remove the mayor from his residence
and withdraw his
perks.
Acting mayor Sekesayi Makwavarara on Tuesday met Chombo
with other
council officials and agreed to implement Chombo’s directive,
which
commentators said appeared to backtrack on the MDC’s position not
to
recognise Mudzuri’s suspension.
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai yesterday told the Daily News that he
summoned Harare city
councillors to the party’s headquarters in Harare
because there was confusion
about the directives being issued by Chombo.
He said there
should be no further resolutions against Mudzuri’s
benefits “because
suspension is not dismissal”.
Mudzuri and Makwavarara attended
yesterday’s meeting.
Tsvangirai said an MDC council could not
be expected to advance the
interests of the ruling ZANU PF and advised the
councillors that Chombo’s
directives should not be implemented unilaterally
unless the full council
made a resolution and explained why certain
directives were being
implemented.
“We implored councillors
to work as a team. No one should work as a
conveyor belt for Chombo unless
council takes a resolution,” Tsvangirai
said.
“Suspension is
not dismissal and therefore one cannot withdraw the
benefits of the mayor and
then attempt to evict him. Chombo has no power to
fire the mayor,” Tsvangirai
said.
A councillor who attended the meeting but spoke on
condition he was
not named said as far as he was concerned, Chombo’s
directive was
non-existent and should not be implemented until the full
council debated on
it and took a position.
The councillor
said the council was expected to meet soon and look
into the latest directive
by Chombo.
Tsvangirai said he told the councillors to work for
the people of
Harare and warned that errant individuals who attempted to
cause confusion
in council business would be decisively dealt
with.
He said it was agreed that Mudzuri should take legal
action against
Chombo’s decision to suspend him.
Meanwhile,
sources who attended the meeting said that a group of MDC
youths mobbed
Makwavarara as she left the meeting and attempted to assault
her, accusing
her of implementing a ZANU PF decision to humiliate Mudzuri by
agreeing to
his eviction.
The source said the youths only cooled down after
Tsvangirai told them
to behave, assuring them that the situation was under
control.
Harare’s first opposition mayor in 23 years, Mudzuri has
over the past
year accused the government of undermining his authority by
failing to
approve vital loans for municipal services. Staff Repo
Daily News 11 July 2003
Tsvangirai remanded to
October
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is facing a second treason charge for allegedly
advocating
the unconstitutional removal of President Robert Mugabe, was
yesterday
further remanded out of custody to 6 October.
Tsvangirai, who is out on $10 million High Court bail, appeared for
remand
before Harare magistrate Faith Msinga.
The state is charging
him with treason, or alternatively violating the
Public Order and Security
Act, or inciting public violence.
Tsvangirai was detained at
the end of a five-day mass action called by
the MDC to press Mugabe to come
to the negotiating table and resolve
Zimbabwe’s deepening political
crisis.
The opposition leader is already on $1.5 million bail,
which he was
ordered to pay last year in connection with another treason
case, in which
he is accused of allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe
ahead of the 2002
presidential election.
He is jointly
charged with MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube and
Renson Gasela, the MP
for Gweru Rural. The MDC officials deny the charge.
Innocent
Chagonda is representing Tsvangirai, while Mehluli
Tshuma
prosecuted.
Court Reporter
Daily News 11 July 2003
Mbeki has his job cut out
BY reassuring United States of America President George W Bush and
the whole
world that Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF and the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) parties are holding talks to find a solution to
the
country’s deepening crisis, South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki has
assumed
a huge responsibility.
Mbeki parried criticism by Bush of
tyranny and economic chaos in
Zimbabwe by claiming: “The two parties (ZANU PF
and MDC) are indeed in
discussions. The process is going on. They should move
forward and urgently
to find a resolution.”
Bush believed
Mbeki and told a joint Press conference with the South
African President that
Mbeki was the “point man” on the issue of resolving
the Zimbabwe
crisis.
We have no reason to doubt Mbeki’s sincerity in this
difficult task of
trying to find a solution to Zimbabwe’s
problems.
Neither do we have cause to believe what several
other Zimbabweans
have suggested, that Mbeki is a “dishonest broker” and that
he is in it
merely to try and buy more time for his liberation war ally
President Robert
Mugabe and his embattled government.
In
fact, we would be the first to acknowledge that Mbeki is too
intelligent a
man not to see the futility of trying to shield a dictatorship
in this Global
Village. And more so, it should be clear to all concerned,
Mbeki included,
that the problems of Zimbabwe cannot be postponed
any
further.
But claims by Mbeki that progress is being made
in Zimbabwe and that
the two main political parties are already in
negotiations to find an
amicable solution to the country’s problems raise
more questions than
answers.
Not least because both ZANU PF
and the MDC parties that Mbeki claims
he has coaxed into negotiating are
vehemently denying they are involved in
any such talks. So who is talking to
who, or rather, who is fooling who, we
ask Mbeki?
For the
sake of his own credibility and that of the negotiation
process itself – that
is if it is happening at all – Mbeki must persuade and
insist that both ZANU
PF and the MDC parties must put aside selfish
political gimmickry and openly
acknowledge the talks.
If Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai believe, as they should do,
that it is in the best interests of
Zimbabwe that their two political
parties talk, then they should have the
courage of their convictions and
admit it.
This, if only
because it will help reassure the many widows and
orphans whose loved ones
were killed in mindless political violence that
there is in an end in sight
to the political thuggery that has been allowed
in this country for far too
long.
And as Mbeki would probably agree, through an admission
that they are
negotiating, a measure of commitment and public responsibility
is placed
upon the politicians to ensure the talks are
successful.
But more importantly, the talks are so crucial to
all Zimbabweans
that, while they cannot take place in the Press, they cannot
be held under
the table either.
There are many Zimbabweans,
some of whom do not belong to either ZANU
PF or the MDC, but who have a
positive contribution to make to ensure the
talks are
successful.
After giving his word that progress was being made
on Zimbabwe, Mbeki
must know that from now on, Zimbabweans and the whole
world are scrutinising
every step he makes or statement he utters on the
crisis bedevilling this
country.
If a not inconsiderable
fraction of Zimbabwean society had concluded
that Mbeki was now part of the
problem, then now is the time for the South
African leader to redeem his
image by ensuring that the word becomes flesh.
This Mbeki can
easily do by brokering honest and robust dialogue
between ZANU PF and the MDC
to find a solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis.
Daily News 11 July 2003
Police turn to POSA to repress
journalists
SINCE the striking off of Section 80 of the Access to
Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) two months ago, the police
are
increasingly relying on the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) to
arrests
and charge journalists perceived to have written falsehoods or
denigrated
the President.
Under Section 80, which made it a
criminal offence to publish
falsehoods, more than 35 journalists were
arrested since March 2002. None of
the journalists have however been
convicted. On the contrary, in the case of
Andrew Meldrum in 2002, the
Magistrates’ Court dismissed the charges against
him.
His
co-accused, Lloyd Mudiwa and Geoff Nyarota, both formerly with The
Daily
News, later challenged the constitutionality of Section 80.
The
Supreme Court found in their favour and this piece of law was
struck
off.
It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that the
police have now
turned to POSA for alternative charges against journalists
and other media
persons. Section 15 of POSA makes it a criminal offence to
publish or
communicate false statements prejudicial to the
state.
A person may be fined or imprisoned for up to five years
for
publishing a false statement likely to promote public disorder or
undermine
public confidence in the police, armed forces or prison officers.
Clause 16
makes it an offence to make a public statement knowing there is a
risk of
“undermining the authority of or insulting” the President. This
includes
statements likely to engender feelings of hostility towards the
President,
cause “hatred, contempt or ridicule” of the President. It also
includes
making any “abusive, indecent, obscene or false statements” about
him
personally or his office.
Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe notes that Section
15 presents one of the greatest
dangers to the freedom of expression to be
found in any piece of legislation
in operation in Zimbabwe.
Not content with stemming the right
to receive and impart information
under the provisions of AIPPA, this
provision ensures that even where an
individual is unaffected under AIPPA,
the information she/he may produce is
policed by the authorities under
POSA.
Therefore, POSA can be applied not only to journalists,
editors and
broadcasters, but also to civil society organisations and any
person whose
function is to produce reports on various issues and recommend
steps to be
taken to address shortcomings. It also applies to businesses like
the
banking sector and anti-corruption bodies, where they produce information
on
how bad policies are affecting the sector and make recommendations on
how
this can be improved.
The provision is a re-enactment of
Section 50 of the Law and Order
Maintenance Act (LOMA), passed in the
pre-independence era. In the case of
the late Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto,
the Supreme Court ruled that Section
50 of LOMA was unconstitutional and a
contravention of the right to freedom
of expression.
The
first problem with Section 15 is that, although a publication is
defined, the
act of publishing is not. One wonders whether this is
restricted to producing
written documents, or does it include transmission
by sound or visuals? Is
electronic transmission also subject to this
provision? As the term is so
vague, every person who produces any type of
document read by even one other
person is potentially at risk.
The definition of the noun,
“publication” under Section 2 is overly
broad and vague and therefore open to
abuse. This allows for great
discretion at the hands of the prosecuting
authorities. For example, what
must be proven to show that the economic
interests of the country have been
affected?
The provision
is vague in that people are unsure as to whether their
work is subject to the
provision and what consequence could arise from it,
and they are therefore
unable to regulate their conduct accordingly.
Further, to
expand the offence to include persons publishing outside
Zimbabwe is simply
unenforceable. Will the authorities travel to the ends of
the world to
prosecute a perceived offender? One can assume a great deal
about authorities
who wish to police information being produced not only in
their own country
but believe that they may also dictate laws and impose
penalties on
individuals outside their area of jurisdiction.
It would also
be extremely difficult to say with certainty whether a
statement is false or
not. The provision does not make concessions for
stating an opinion that can
be interpreted in many ways, nor for aspects
such as sarcasm, irony or
metaphor, which may be superficially false but may
contain an element of
truth in them; nor is it taken into consideration that
words may hold
different meanings for different communities or persons, so
it is often
difficult to say with certainty that two groups will understand
a statement
in the same manner.
To the extent that these categories are not
specifically excluded, the
section falls foul of Section 20 (2) of the
Constitution.
A newspaper reporter or a research officer in a
non-governmental
organisation who publishes an article criticising the police
or the defence
forces or the prison services will, obviously, in most
instances be aware
that it may undermine public confidence in the particular
agency.
If the article is found to contain falsities, whether
or not they were
intended, the author is liable to be prosecuted. Further, as
conviction does
not depend on harm actually being done, the person is open to
prosecution
for a speculative offence that has harmed
nobody.
MISA-Zimbabwe notes that this is unacceptable, as there
would be no
complainant, and the section would be unenforceable. The effect
will be that
journalists and ordinary people will be hindered in publishing
their work,
as they will be fearful of falling foul of Section
15.
There will be self-censorship in order to escape censure
under the
Act. This prevents the free flow of information and therefore
contravenes
Section 20 (1) of the Constitution.
Sub-section (2)
of Section 15 of POSA prohibits the publication of a
statement by a person
who knows it to be false or does not have reasonable
grounds for believing it
to be true, if the statement actually gives rise to
one of the four listed
consequences. By going beyond defence, public safety,
public order and the
country’s economic interests, the sub-section exceeds
the permissible limits
set out under Section 20 (2) of the Constitution.
Section 16 is taken from
Section 46 of LOMA. It prohibits the making,
publicly and intentionally, of
any false statement (including an act or
gesture) about or concerning the
President or Acting President if the person
knows or realises that there is a
risk or possibility of engendering
feelings of hostility towards or causing
hatred, contempt or ridicule of
him, whether in his official or personal
capacity. It is also an offence to
make an abusive, indecent, obscene or
false statement about the President,
also in his official or personal
capacity. None of these terms are defined,
and this should be done if people
are to regulate their conduct accordingly.
This provision creates a
speculative crime, which impinges on the
constitutional right to freedom of
expression and the corresponding articles
in international human rights
instruments. In addition, the offence is
committed even where the statement
made is true, and however much it may be
in the public interest to publicise
it. This goes far beyond the common law
crime of criminal defamation, in
which it is a defence to prove the
statement is true and in the public
interest. Further, Zimbabwe has an
Executive President and therefore it is
perfectly permissible for him to
come under public scrutiny and criticism as
a politician responsible for the
policies and practices of the government in
power. Any attempt to protect
him and repress such legitimate criticism
seriously undermines democracy and
free expression, therefore this section
should be challenged through the
courts. MISA-Zimbabwe notes that Sections 15
and 16 are an unacceptable
attempt to protect the government and public
officers from scrutiny and put
paid to any expectation that the people may
have of holding their officers
accountable and transparent. It also fails to
take into account that there
are other remedies under common law, which would
allow wronged parties to
take action against the publishers of the statement.
It should be kept in
mind that these sections are being enforced selectively
and with increasing
regularity by the authorities against editors and
journalists from the
private media, as well as civil society leaders who have
published reports
critical of the current government, and many others who are
perceived to be
supporters of the opposition. No case has been prosecuted to
finality, and
in most instances, the charges have been dropped following
legal advice from
the Attorney-General’s Office. POSA, like AIPPA, is
damaging what is left of
democracy in Zimbabwe and any democracy-conscious,
reasonable authority
would work towards its repeal. By Rashweat Mukundu
Rashweat Mukundu is a
research and information officer with the Media
Institute of Southern
Africa.
Daily News 11 July 2003
Staff exodus hits Air
Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE’S national airline, Air Zimbabwe, has lost at
least five
experienced pilots in the last three months, who sources at
the
government-controlled company said had left because of poor pay and
working
conditions.
“We have had five resignations in a
space of three months,” a source
at the parastatal told the Business Daily.
“The fellows cite poor
remuneration.”
Company insiders said
there were fears that the airline could lose
another four of its 39
pilots.
Sources said most of the former Air Zimbabwe pilots
were joining
Middle Eastern airlines, which are reportedly offering them more
lucrative
packages.
Some of the airlines are said to be
offering the Zimbabwean pilots
between US$5 000 and US$7 000 a
month.
US$7 000 would be the equivalent of $5.8 million at a
bank rate of
$840 and $17.5 million on the thriving black
market.
In Zimbabwe, the pilots earn less than $2
million.
However, Air Zimbabwe managing director Rambai
Chingwena said the
problem of loss of experienced staff was not peculiar to
his company, saying
the aviation sector was “a pretty volatile
industry”.
He said the parastatal, which is operating below
capacity because of
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, had pinned its hopes on its
training
programmes to ensure that it was adequately
staffed.
While admitting that the company had lost experienced
aviators,
Chingwena said Air Zimbabwe has the capacity to take the losses in
its
stride and move beyond them.
He told the Business Daily
that the company was this year training 12
pilots, 50 percent more than the
six who were groomed last year.
Pilots are only one of the
groups of skilled Air Zimbabwe employees
who have left the national airline
in the last few years because of what
they say are unattractive working
conditions.
Several engineers have left in the past few years
because of working
conditions.
Those remaining were at the
forefront of a wrangle over salaries in
September last year, which led to
salaries being hiked.
Without elaborating, Chingwena said
management at the parastatal was
doing everything in its power “to retain
staff” and ensure successor
programmes were as successful as
possible.
Apart from staff leaving because of working
conditions, Air Zimbabwe
has also been hit by severe foreign currency
shortages, as well as a decline
in foreign tourist arrivals and domestic
travel.
Hard cash shortages have affected the purchase of spare
parts and the
payment of staff allowances.
The company has
also struggled to raise forex to pay international
agencies such as the
International Air Transport Association.
Meanwhile, foreign
tourist arrivals are estimated to have fallen by at
least half in the past
three years because of Zimbabwe’s image as an
unsafe
destination.
This has worsened foreign currency
shortages and affected the airline’
s earnings.
By Chris Goko
Deputy Business Editor
Daily News 11 July 2003
Zimbabwe finds new beef markets in Angola,
DRC
ZIMBABWE is now concentrating its beef exports to Angola,
the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique after the suspension of
the
country’s beef imports by several markets because of foot-and-mouth
disease,
it was learnt yesterday.
Cattle Producers’
Association (CPA) chairman Dirk Odendaal told the
Business Daily that most of
Zimbabwe’s beef was going to these countries
after the suspension of imports
by markets in the European Union (EU) and
Southern Africa.
The EU, which was the major importer of Zimbabwean beef, suspended
imports
after the outbreak of foot-and mouth-disease in 2001.
Before
the ban, the 15-member economic bloc imported 9 100 tonnes of
beef from
Zimbabwe every year.
Odendaal said there were no beef exports
to Libya, which has expressed
an interest in meat from
Zimbabwe.
“There is not even a single kilogramme of beef going
to Libya. We are
exporting beef to these three countries,” he
said.
Recurring foot-and-mouth cases have affected attempts by
the cattle
producing industry to secure other markets for its exports. The
CPA chairman
said attempts to boost the country’s dwindling beef herd were
being hampered
by inadequate grazing land.
“Commercial
farmers now have very little pasture to feed their cattle
after these
so-called farm invasions,” he said.
The government has taken
over most white-owned farms under its land
reform programme, which analysts
say has severely destabilised Zimbabwe’s
agricultural
sector.
Cattle producers have also been hit hard by drought,
which has
resulted in the death of more than 10 000 cattle in the past few
months.
Business Reporter
Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Monday June 30th – Sunday July
6th 2003
Weekly update 2003-26
CONTENTS
1.
GENERAL COMMENT
2. MEDIA OVERWHELMED BY CRISIS
3. BUSH SAFARI ENRAGES GOVT MEDIA 1.
General comment
MMPZ notes with concern the manner in which
journalists controlling Zimbabwe’s media have apparently normalized the grinding
socio-economic hardships in the country to the extent that they no longer
consider these stories of great news value. As a result, investigative news
about the real effects of inflation on the public; transport problems; the
alarming collapse of the health delivery system; and rampant corruption in all
sectors of Zimbabwean society have either been given scant attention or ignored
altogether.
For
example, besides The Financial Gazette and The Daily News (3/7) no
other media reported that 43 people had died in Bulawayo between April and May
this year because of malnutrition. Even then, the two papers merely reported the
Bulawayo City Council’s health report revealing this disturbing piece of news
and to make matters worse treated it as a minor incident on their inside pages.
If this sort of thing is happening in Zimbabwe’s second city, what is happening
in the rest of the country – and even in the capital itself? Why have we not
heard about the hard facts of starvation nationwide? What is the real inflation
rate for the average family? And why has the media made no apparent effort to
seek, independently, these indices of decline and collapse? Where is the human
perspective of the crisis afflicting this country? In such a tragic economic and
social climate, it is extraordinary that the media wait for official statements
on such calamities as deaths from starvation; in this case mostly children. It
seems the details will not emerge regarding the scale of suffering by the
Zimbabwean nation unless it is delivered into the hands of the media – the
private Press included.
The
media’s preoccupation with political stories at the expense of investigative
reports on the socio-economic crisis during the week under review was well
illustrated by the placement by The Daily News of a speculative political
feature article, Is Mbeki buying time for Mugabe’s embattled
regime? on its prime news page, page
three, while the hard news story of starvation in Binga was buried on page
seven.
But if
the Press’ coverage of the socio-economic crises afflicting Zimbabweans was
questionable, ZBC’s reporting of these issues was deplorable. Its
coverage demonstrated a woeful failure to fulfill its duty of providing news,
giving incisive commentary and analysis of the extent in the decline of the
living standards of the public. For example, amidst fuel, cash and commodity
shortages in an environment characterized by hyperinflation officially pegged at
over 300 percent, ZTV preferred allocating one hour 34 minutes and 50 seconds or
44 percent of the total time (excluding business, weather and sport segments)
allocated to its 8pm main news bulletins to the national soccer team’s campaign
for a slot in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament scheduled for Tunisia next
year. In addition, ZTV’s 30-minute long Behind the Camera and its
one-hour long Face the nation programmes were devoted to soccer. A song
composed by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo for the team was also allocated
time within ZTV’s 8pm bulletins before and a day after the match. In fact, the
song, Go Warriors, was incessantly played on all ZBC stations, and even
eclipsed the saturation airing of the government’s land reform programme jingle,
Rambai Makashinga.
While
some newspapers described this as putting politics aside to follow something the
public could cheer about, MMPZ would say this government-led campaign for the
national football team was more a case of politicians interfering in the sports
arena in order to distract the public from the hardships inflicted by a
government bereft of ideas about restoring the economic prosperity of the
country. 2. Crisis overwhelms media
THE
media’s obsession with political rivalry between ZANU-PF and the MDC appears to
have resulted in other fundamental issues, such as the country’s deteriorating
socio-economic crisis receiving superficial attention. Nowhere was this more
evident than in coverage of the current transport problems and cash shortages.
The private media were the main culprits. For example, they lacked clear
information on how the recently introduced fuel coupon system for commuter
transport, ostensibly to stop leakages of fuel to the black market, would be
implemented. Neither did they discuss the practicability of such a move by
government.
Although
the government-controlled media faired better, with regard to information on
where to access the coupons and the necessary documents required for one to get
coupons (The Herald and ZTV 2/7, 7am), they generally reported the
socio-economic problems in isolation of the country’s general economic collapse,
and indeed, how Zimbabweans are coping with it. For
example, ZTV (1/07, 7am) merely announced that the Rural Passenger Transport
Organization had hiked its fares for “rural and long distance”
journeys “by at least 33% with effect from today” due to viability
problems. ZTV provided no analysis of the effects of the fare increases on the
public nor explain whether such a move would help alleviate transport shortages.
Instead,
the station (2/07, 6pm) trivialized the commuter transport problem and presented
it as if it was an issue confined to three Harare suburbs. It reported that
residents of Budiriro, Glen View and Mufakose had called on government “to
introduce a weekend commuter train service to ease transport problems being
experienced in the areas”. Although the report noted that the transport
situation had worsened “due to the continued fuel shortage” and
that some operators had been “forced to withdraw vehicles from the roads
after failing to secure foreign currency to import spare parts”, ZBC
failed to go beyond such simplistic statements to explain the gravity of the
situation in the country in general.
The
Herald
(2/7 & 3/7) however, gave a different explanation to the transport blues. It
pointed out that most commuter transport operators had pulled out because about
three-quarters of them did not have the requisite papers needed to acquire fuel
coupons.
The
Daily News (3/7)
put the figure at 60 percent but attributed the reduction in the number of
commuter transport vehicles to high operational costs and exorbitant fuel prices
on the black market. It further reported that the few operators who remained on
the road had taken advantage of the situation and had increased their fares by
150 percent in Harare and Bulawayo. The Herald (3/7) concurred saying
commuter fares had been increased to between $500 and $1000.
However,
both papers failed to translate their percentages of vehicles now out of
commission in actual figures. Nor has any section of the media attempted to
establish how commuter operators arrive at the fares they set and compare them
with an independent assessment of running costs.
The
Manica Post
(4/7) revealed that the problem was not only confined to the two major cities
but – not surprisingly – to Mutare as well.
It reported that a new
fuel
arrangement
where buses are required to queue for fuel at designated service stations during
peak hours had left commuters stranded in that city. Reportedly, the problem was
compounded by a blitz on the omnibuses by the Vehicle Inspection Department
(VID), which was impounding and penalizing “unroadworthy”
vehicles. The paper noted that 75 percent of public vehicles in Mutare do not
have certificates of fitness or route permits. Like the two dailies, the paper
did not explain what 75 percent represented in figures.
Despite
their tenacity in pin-pointing some of the causes of the transport crisis, the
government-controlled media in general, failed to question government’s stop-gap
measures to solve the fuel shortages and the resultant transport crisis. Rather,
The Herald (3/7) tried to blame the multinational oil companies for the
fuel shortage, saying they had yet to import fuel in response to government’s
deregulation of the fuel procurement sector. Also, the paper (2/7) attempted to
give Zimbabweans some false sense of hope saying fuel supplies would resume in
the “near
future following the reviving of a trade deal between Zimbabwe and
Libya,”
without clarifying when exactly supplies would arrive and how long they would
last. This sense of hope evaporated when The Daily News
(6/7) revealed that President Robert Mugabe had only managed to secure US$30
million worth of fuel from Libya, an amount that would last the country a mere
three weeks.
The
long fuel queues were by no means the only queues that dotted the country as
Zimbabwe’s fast dwindling workforce continued to struggle at the banks to
convert a portion of the salaries into cash. All
the media reported the issue and for once agreed that the Reserve Bank’s
decision to print $4billion dollars worth of bank notes was not the solution.
The Chronicle and The Herald
(1/7) observed that although the injection was welcome, they urged the
central bank to guarantee a steady money supply by printing more notes of higher
denominations. However, they remained blind to the underlying implications of
such a move on the country’s inflation.
Studio
7 (30/06) quoted economic analyst, Tony Hawkins, as saying more efforts were
needed to alleviate the shortages and “not just printing bank
notes” adding that the move, among other issues, would fuel inflation to
“500% by December”. Similarly,
The Financial Gazette (3/7) columnist, Witness Chinyama, pointed out that
Zimbabwe was already at the “stagflation”
stage and warned that the cash injections without other measures to resuscitate
the economy would only fan inflation.
The
Sunday News
(6/7) made similar observations and called on the central bank to “tackle
inflation first…to satisfy the demand for cash”. 3.
Bush safari enrages government media
Regional
and international efforts to resolve Zimbabwe’s worsening economic and political
crises assumed greater prominence in the media as the scheduled visit to Africa
by US President George Bush, particularly to South Africa, drew closer.
In a
typical replay of the previous week, the government-controlled media dismissed
the trip as insignificant and narrowly interpreted the US’s calls for the
restoration of democracy and the formation of a transitional government in
Zimbabwe to mean that Bush’s visit was a neo-colonial expedition to oust President
Mugabe from power.
The
private media was less emotional in their coverage. Although they welcomed and
apparently celebrated Bush’s stance on Zimbabwe, they also tried to analyze
whether he would be able to successfully sell his approach to his South African
counterpart Thabo Mbeki.
At the
beginning of the week, ZBC (1/07,8pm) reported that, “Some of Zimbabwe’s
neighbours have refused to be used as launch pads for the US and Britain’s plans
to effect regime change in Zimbabwe”. Zambia and Botswana were named as
the two neighbours that had refused to cooperate with the US but there was no
official comment from the two countries. In the
same report, the government-controlled broadcaster echoed Mugabe’s earlier
unsubstantiated allegations that the US and Britain had helped to fund the MDC
mass stayaways and that they were lobbying “Zimbabwe’s neighbours,
especially South Africa, SADC member states and the African continent … to
isolate Zimbabwe on the international scene and put pressure on the government
for the removal of President Robert Mugabe …”.
This
myopic view of Bush’s visit resulted in the government-controlled media
delivering vitriolic and racist attacks against the US leadership. The
Herald (1
& 2/7) is a case in point. The paper carried two opinion pieces attacking
the US State Secretary, Colin Powell, for his call to restore democracy in
Zimbabwe with fresh internationally supervised elections via a transitional
government. In its article on July 2nd, the paper castigated Powell
for allegedly having “chosen money and conservative political
thinking over his black history” and wanting Zimbabweans to do the same.
The paper’s relentless racial
slurs were also repeated in its article (5/7), Zimbabwe does not need a
transitional government. Not to
be outdone, The Sunday
Mail’s Munyaradzi Huni (6/7)
described Bush as a “Texan
gunslinger” who “stole” the American presidential election, and
accused him of “dangling the
carrot in billions of American dollars to buy out the African leaders so that
they can allow him to spread his stinking imperialistic wings”.
Huni then observed - without a shred of evidence - that Bush had
cancelled his trip early this year and rescheduled it so that it coincided with
the African Union summit in Mozambique in order “to whip them (African leaders) into
line using one stick.”
Besides
introducing a racist angle to Bush’s trip, the government-controlled media tried
to downplay the significance of his visit following Mugabe’s address during the
54th Session of the ZANU-PF Central Committee. ZBC (3/07, 8pm) quoted
him as saying, “When Bush visits here, it shouldn’t send tremors to your
spines [because] Africa is united with us in opposing them”. There was no effort to investigate why Mugabe
had to calm the nerves of his colleagues if Bush’s visit was indeed a non-event.
Neither did The Herald
or Chronicle (4/7)
explore this in their report of the same event. As
if taking a cue from Mugabe’s speech, The Sunday News (6/7), Bush’s
Africa tour bound to fail - analysts, quoted government-controlled media’s
favourite analysts dismissing Bush’s tour.
The
private media avoided personal attacks on either government or US authorities
and instead examined the US and South African approaches to the Zimbabwean
crisis. For example, while The Standard (6/7) comment, Bush visit:
What’s in it for Zimbabwe?,
agreed
with the Bush Administration that Zimbabwe needed a return to democracy but was
opposed to the US calls for ‘regime change’ wherever it desired. “Our
advice to the US is that acting in this high-handed manner can only alienate
people and needlessly lose the goodwill of its friends in Africa. Powell’s
dramatic language ran the risk of being interpreted as war-mongering and
parallels being drawn with the Iraq war,”
it
stated. The
Daily News (3/7)
pointed out that despite the US’s call to Thabo Mbeki to take a more proactive
role on Zimbabwe, the South African President was unlikely to change his
approach. It quoted Mbeki as saying, “It’s
incorrect really to be saying that we should stand outside the borders of
Zimbabwe and decide what the Zimbabweans should do about their own
country.”
In
fact, ZBC (3/07, 7am) conveniently used Mbeki’s statements to buttress the
impression that Mbeki and African leaders were behind Zimbabwe. However, while ZBC viewed Mbeki’s comments as a
positive development, The Daily News (4/7) did not. In its article, Is
Mbeki buying time for Mugabe’s embattled regime? the paper charged that
Mbeki had become an obstacle in efforts to force Mugabe to relinquish power. MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube also criticized South Africa’s stance on
Zimbabwe saying it reflected that country’s diplomatic immaturity, Sunday
Mirror (6/7).
While
the government-controlled media generally gave the impression that South Africa
would not relent in its apparently sympathetic stance on Zimbabwe, The Daily
News (1/7) and Studio 7 (2/7) revealed that it was willing to discuss with
the US and reach common ground on how to deal with Zimbabwe. They both quoted a
South African official, Aziz Pahad, as having said South Africa wanted more
clarity on American plans to bankroll the economic revival of Zimbabwe once
Mugabe stepped down.
Meanwhile,
Studio 7 (2/7), The Zimbabwe Independent (4/7), The Standard (6/7), The Daily News on Sunday (6/7)
and Sunday Mirror (6/7) reported that the MDC would send
delegations to South Africa and Mozambique to lobby Bush and African leaders
respectively, to pressure ZANU PF to engage the opposition in dialogue. The
government-controlled media ignored the news, although that did not stop the Sunday News
(6/7) maligning the MDC as “stooges” and “puppets of imperialism,” for wanting to meet
Bush.
Ends.
The MEDIA UPDATE was produced and
circulated by the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra
Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 703702, E-mail: monitors@mmpz.org.zw; monitors@mweb.co.zw
Feel free to
write to MMPZ. We may not able to respond to everything but we will look at each
message. For previous MMPZ reports, and more information about the Project,
please visit our website at http://www.mmpz.org.zw
Daily News 11 July 2003
Zimbabwe dialogue should top SA
priorities, says group
SOUTH Africa should engage with
determination to persuade the ruling
ZANU PF and the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to begin serious
negotiations before facilitating and mediating
talks for a transitional
government and new elections, the International
Crisis Group (ICG) said in a
briefing paper released this
week. The paper, titled Decision Time in Zimbabwe and published
this
Tuesday, sets out steps for a potential negotiation process in the
country.
The Belgian-based think-tank said getting Zimbabwe’s
main political
parties to the negotiating table should be the top priority
for South
Africa.
The ICG added that although the majority
of Zimbabweans were ready for
change, President Robert Mugabe’s exit plan
remained the biggest obstacle to
the successful resolution of the country’s
problems.
“The future of the country depends more on how he
leaves office than
when he leaves.”
The organisation accused
South African President Thabo Mbeki of
hypocrisy for not challenging Mugabe’s
insistence that the MDC recognise his
legitimacy before dialogue can resume
between Zimbabwe’s main political
parties.
The ICG said
South Africa’s governing party, the African National
Congress (ANC), had
itself refused to recognise the apartheid regime’s
legitimacy as a condition
for talks.
“The MDC should not be pressed to drop its case
against the legitimacy
of the 2002 elections as a condition for those talks,”
the group said.
“It is surprising that South Africa appears not
to contest this Mugabe
demand, given that during the ANC’s struggle for
change, it refused to
accept the legitimacy of the South African apartheid
government as a
condition for negotiations,” the ICG added.
Mbeki and other African leaders involved in the mediation process
have
encouraged the MDC to recognise Mugabe for dialogue that broke down
last
year to resume, a condition the opposition has refused to
accept.
But the ICG said South Africa remained the only country
with the
influence to force Mugabe to agree to unconditional dialogue with
the MDC,
although the ANC could be worried that political success by the MDC
would
have negative long-term effects on the ANC’s future.
The group said: “South Africa must be the primary foreign actor that
sits
down with the two sides. On the other hand, South African policy
continues to
be constrained by the wariness with which its ruling party, the
ANC, regards
the MDC. The Zimbabwean opposition party is considered an
indirect, long-term
political threat because it is a labour-based movement
with a social agenda.
The last thing ANC leaders want now is a model for
that kind of political
success on display in Zimbabwe.”
Staff Reporter
Daily News 11 July 2003
CFU appeals to Utete
THE
Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) has appealed to Presidential
Land Review
Committee chairman Charles Utete to convince the government to
cease evicting
the country’s remaining white farmers from their properties,
it was learnt
yesterday.
The CFU is reported to have told Utete that the
continuing evictions
would effectively kill commercial farming in
Zimbabwe.
CFU president Colin Cloete told the Daily News that
his organisation
had “recently” made representations to Utete following a
fresh spate of
evictions by the government.
“We told Utete
that we needed law and order to prevail and that a
predictable and stable
environment was necessary for the remaining farmers
to continue with
operations,” he said.
“The government has not been sticking to
criteria and policy and
people are still being evicted up to today. We told
him that we needed a
meaningful end to the fast-track programme that would
benefit everyone in
the farming sector.”
It was not possible
to obtain comment yesterday from Utete, whose
committee was appointed in May
to examine anomalies in the government’s
controversial land reform
programme.
Under the programme, the government has seized most
white-owned farms
to resettle black peasants and aspiring commercial
farmers.
The CFU says at least 25 other farmers have been
issued with eviction
notices in the past fortnight, even though the
government claims the
redistribution exercise was concluded last
year.
John Worsley-Worswick, vice-chairman of another farmers’
group,
Justice for Agriculture, yesterday told the Daily News that about
400
farmers have been evicted since January in Mashonaland
West.
However, Peter Chanetsa, the provincial governor, denied
that there
had been fresh evictions in Mashonaland West.
“We
do things legally and remove people according to the laws of the
country,
passed by Parliament,” he said. “There are no new farm invasions
taking
place. I will take action against anyone doing things outside the
law. People
should not blame me for things I don’t know.”
Cloete said his
organisation had asked Utete to use the influence of
his committee to
convince the government to allow the remaining commercial
farmers to continue
their operations without further harassment.
“We are are
hopeful. I think the government will listen to Utete,
otherwise we don’t see
any reason why the President set up the committee,”
said
Cloete.
The land reform programme is blamed, along with
drought, for food
shortages that United Nations agencies say have left 5.5
million Zimbabweans
in need of emergency food aid.
According
to a report produced by the UN’s Food and Agricultural
Organisation and World
Food Programme last month, commercial agriculture has
declined by 90 percent
since 2000, when the fast-track land reform programme
began.
Staff Reporters
Daily News 11 July 2003
Youth service recruit dies as others flee
camp
MASVINGO – A recruit of Zimbabwe’s controversial national
youth
service programme died at a Masvingo camp under mysterious
circumstances,
while several others are reported to have fled the training
centre because
of severe food shortages, it was learnt this
week.
State Security Minister Nicholas Goche referred to the
death at a
graduation ceremony at Mushagashe National Youth Service Training
Centre,
located about 25 kilometres north of Masvingo city.
Goche, who was guest of honour at the ceremony on Wednesday, told
guests that
the national service recruit, Ellena Musarurwa, died soon after
enrolling
under the controversial programme.
He however did not elaborate
on the circumstances surrounding the
recruit’s death.
“I
understand that one of your recruits died soon after enrolling here
and I am
very sorry for that,” he said before the graduation ceremony.
According to officials at the training centre, where 625 recruits
graduated
on Wednesday, Musarurwa collapsed and died soon after enrolling at
the
training camp in April this year. The officials said her death could
have
been partly the result of the rigorous training programme undergone
by
recruits and the unfavourable conditions prevailing at the training
camp.
The officials said among the hardships, recruits were
facing serious
food shortages, which are also affecting more than five
million Zimbabweans
who are said to be in need of emergency food
aid.
Sources within the Youth Development Ministry, under which
the
national service programme falls, said at least 10 other recruits
deserted
the Masvingo camp because of the conditions at the
centre.
Camp authorities are said to be searching for one of
the recruits
(name supplied) who is alleged to have led the
deserters.
Youth Development Minister Elliot Manyika and his
deputy Shuvai Mahofa
could not be reached for comment on the matter
yesterday.
But a source at the camp told The Daily News: “Some
of our recruits
ran away but you know the minister (Goche) could not say
that. One recruit
died and circumstances surrounding her death are not known
yet.”
“The college is hunting for (one recruit) and others who
ran away from
the camp,” the official added.
Zimbabwe’s
national youth service programme has come under fire from
critics, who say
the government is using it to train pro-ruling ZANU PF
militia who have been
accused of serious human rights abuses in the past
year.
Graduates of the programme, derisively referred to by members of the
public
as “green bombers”, are accused of violence against supporters of
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change and members of the
public.
Opposition party officials and non-governmental
organisations say the
graduates have been used by ZANU PF to intimidate
voters in the run up to
elections.
There have also been
reports of male recruits and trainers sexually
assaulting members of the
public and female recruits.
The government has however denied
the allegations.
Goche this week told guests at the Mushagashe
training camp graduation
ceremony that graduates of the centre should be
co-opted into the civil
service and armed services.
He said:
“We would want to see these youths being absorbed into the
civil service
including the army, police, the Central Intelligence
Organisation and the
prison service. These youths are our future
war
veterans.”
From Energy Bara Bureau Chief
VOA
Zimbabwe Earns Low Ranking on Human Development Index
Tendai
Maphosa
Harare
11 Jul 2003, 15:04 UTC
Zimbabwe faired poorly
this year in the annual United Nations Development
Program's Human
Development Report.
Zimbabwe is now ranked 145th out of 175 countries on
the Human Development
Index. The index covers average levels of a nation's
human development by
reflecting achievements in longevity, knowledge as
measured by adult
literacy, and a decent standard of living as measured by
Gross Domestic
Product per capita. Zimbabwe was ranked 128th last year, and
117th the year
before.
The report says life expectancy in Zimbabwe
dropped sharply during the last
year, and is now estimated at 35 and a half
years, compared to nearly 43
years in the last report. In the early 1980s,
life expectancy in Zimbabwe
was more than 60 years.
Life expectancy
has also fallen in other Southern African countries due to
the AIDS pandemic.
Although other countries such as Botswana have higher HIV
infection rates
than Zimbabwe, increased poverty levels in Zimbabwe have
resulted in people
infected with the virus developing full blown AIDS and
dying
sooner.
The country's Human Development Index has been decreasing since
1985, and
the U.N. report says Zimbabwe is one of the worst performers
among
developing countries. Zimbabwe was ranked 90th out of 94
developing
countries in the annual report's Human Poverty Index.
It's
not all doom and gloom for Zimbabwe however, as the country has managed
to
maintain the highest adult literacy rate in Africa.
ZBC
President Mugabe elected AU vice chairman
12 July 2003
The
president Cde Robert Mugabe who is attending the African Union summit
in
Maputo has been elected vice chairman of the AU Southern African
Bureau.
His election follows the election of Mozambican president Joachim
Chissano
as chairman of African Union, taking over from president Thabo Mbeki
of
South Africa.
Observers say the election of president mugabe is an
endorsement of his
popularity among africans, dispelling notions that
Zimbabwe is not in favour
of other African states.
Cde Mugabe on
Thursday chaired the session on the New Partnership for Africa
’s Development
Nepad, which reviewed the progress made on the implementation
of the
programme.
A progress report presented by out going chairman president
Mbeki noted that
the war on terrorism has over shadowed the focus on the
fight against
poverty, hunger and development in Africa.
The report
also highlighted the weak state of the world’s economy and
uncertainity in
global markets as posing serious challenges for
African
economies.
President Mugabe also met with the Director General
of the Arab Bank for
Economic Development in Africa Mr Medhatt
Lofty.
The bank has financed several economic developmental activities in
Zimbabwe,
which include agriculture, road construction and fuel procurement
to the
tune of US$90 million.
It only shows the vindictive nature of the minister 