Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
FACED with the prospect of a devastating fuel crisis that
could
cripple the whole country, the government has backed off from a
controversial plan to ban fuel coupons, The Standard confirmed
yesterday.
The government had given coupon holders two weeks in
which to redeem
them, creating a wave of panic among oil companies, fuel
dealers and garages
who rushed to redeem their coupons.
There
were chaotic scenes on the streets, as thousands of commuters
sought
transport to work. Many workers walked long distances after failing
to
secure transport on Thursday and Friday.
Sources said the crisis at
most garages prompted the government to
reconsider its decision on the
coupons, now rated by industry and commerce
as the most convenient way of
accessing fuel for 77% of motorists.
Quizzed by business people at
the Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce (ZNCC) breakfast meeting in
Bulawayo, Industry and International
Trade minister, Obert Mpofu alleged his
statement had been misinterpreted.
The government was not scrapping
the system altogether. He said,
instead, the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) would be solely
responsible for the retailing of fuel and
would continue to service those
who failed to redeem coupons within two
weeks.
"We are streamlining the usage of coupons through NOCZIM,"
he said.
"All the fuel should be accessed through NOCZIM because we want to
make it
easier and user-friendly for everyone who has genuinely brought fuel
into
the country."
Mpofu said anyone with problems redeeming
the coupons should contact
his ministry, NOCZIM or the Ministry of Energy
and Power Development.
He said the government wanted to monitor the
importation of fuel, as
the deregulation of the sector had resulted in the
emergence of a number of
unscrupulous dealers.
Business leaders
said yesterday they believed the government was
reconsidering its position
on the matter after holding meetings with the
taskforce.
Callisto Jokonya, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries,
said there was no need for the private sector to panic.
"We know
the repercussions and have made representations to the
taskforce and we
appraised them of both the pros and cons of the problem.
"We can
comfortably say the issue is under consideration and business
must not
resort to keeping fuel in their houses as this might result in a
national
disaster".
Charles Chiponda, vice-president of the Matabeleland
chapter of the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said: "We had a meeting
with Minister
Mpofu yesterday and he promised to look into the
issue.
"He said he was aware that some large companies have many
coupons and
he assured us they would be given time to relinquish them
provided they
provide proof that they are genuine and need their case to be
genuinely
looked into.
"He said the two weeks is just a
guideline."
It emerged later the government had not only backed off
on the coupons
ban, but had also reversed its planned ban on the importation
of basic
commodities.
This followed an uproar by people who now
rely on cross-border trade,
for their livelihood.
According to
statutory instruments 137 and 138 of 2007, the
importation of beef, butter,
cooking oil, milk, cheese, sugar, tea, wheat
flour, ice cream, fertilizer,
cotton lint and hides and skins without a
permit would have become illegal
on I August.
Individuals and companies wanting to import them would
have to be
first cleared by Mpofu's ministry.
But Mpofu said he
had "recalled" the statutory instrument because it
had caused "a lot of
confusion'".
"I have recalled it," he said, "so that I can study it
and see how it
affects our people. We will consult before it is implemented.
It is actually
an old instrument, which was discussed a long time ago and
was only brought
back this month.
But Mpofu said the government
would continue its price blitz. He
singled out Matabeleland businesspeople,
threatening they would bear the
brunt of the blitz because the region was
the "hotbed" of the regime change
agenda.
According to Mpofu,
Bulawayo leads the list of businesspeople picked
up during the blitz - 115
(awaiting verification), followed by Matabeleland
North, 288, and Harare,
201.
"It is very painful to state this fact," Mpofu said. "We had a
lot of
visits to Bulawayo by people like (former United States ambassador to
Zimbabwe) Christopher Dell who were spending a lot of time
here.
"Their agenda was to remove the government through other
means which
were not legal."
A number of businesspeople
challenged Mpofu, saying most of them had
been arrested for petty offences
such as keeping expired soft drinks without
price tags.
They
said in Harare goods worth billions of dollars were recovered
from
residences and at factories, yet there were fewer arrests.
Zim Standard
ESTIMATES are
that in the first
three months of 2008 - an election year - 4.1 million
people, a third of the
population, will require food aid. Most of it will be
provided by the United
Nations, but so far, the government is said to be in
a state of "denial",
refusing to make the obligatory appeal to the
UN.
From Bulawayo, The Standard's Bureau Chief, KHOLWANI NYATHI,
chronicles the story of a disaster waiting to happen.
BULAWAYO - Sixty-year-old Dorothy Ndlovu sits on the dusty pavement
outside
a tuck-shop in the sprawling suburb of Cowdray Park, looking at
hordes of
people jostling for maize meal.
She is among the first to join the
queue at 5AM after concerned
neighbours tipped her that the shop - one of
the few serving the suburb of
more than 10 000 - would receive supplies of
the now rare commodity.
"I am too old for that," says Ndlovu, who
looks after seven orphaned
children. "Besides, I haven't had a decent meal
in the last two days and
where will I get the energy?"
She says
she doesn't remember when the family last had three square
meals a day. She
is afraid the last 5kg bag of sorghum meal she bought from
a World Vision
Zimbabwe (WVZ) shop would run out soon.
It is the same story in
almost every household in her neighbourhood.
Evicted by the government
during the notorious Operation Murambatsvina -
which the United Nations says
left nearly one million people countrywide
homeless and millions others
without a source of livelihood - hundreds of
destitutes have found shelter
in this new suburb.
Some faith-based organisations have been
providing food handouts to
the victims of the so-called clean-up operation
but even they say donor
fatigue might soon force them to wind up
operations.
"There is no light at the end of the tunnel," said
Pastor Ray Motsi of
Churches in Bulawayo (CIB). "It's becoming more
difficult for us to source
food for our people as the numbers are increasing
and I personally believe
there is someone out there who is trying to make
sure that we don't succeed.
"That's the tragedy of the whole
situation." CIB has been looking
after victims of the clean-up operation for
the past two years.
The council warns that mass starvation is
looming among urban dwellers
unless aid agencies scale up their intervention
programmes.
"We feed children under the age of five and those
enrolled under our
Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) programmes but the numbers
keep increasing
every day," said a council official at one of the feeding
centers. "Very
soon we will fail to cope."
Shortages of the
staple maize meal are no longer uncommon in Bulawayo
and the southern
region, in particular, in the aftermath of a 95% crop
failure during the
2006/7 season.
The country's second city of about 1.5 million
people has gone without
regular maize meal supplies for nearly a
month.
In the last three weeks, shops have stopped selling maize
meal
altogether in response to the government price blitz to force
businesses to
revert to prices obtaining on 18 June.
The
government has already declared 2007 a drought year but is yet to
send a
formal appeal to the United Nations to allow it to institute an
international appeal for assistance.
According to a Famine
Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), Zimbabwe
is facing its worst food
shortages, yet with this harvest having only met
just above 30% of national
requirements.
FEWSNET is a United States Agency for International
Development
(USAID) network which monitors hunger, food availability and
shortages
across the globe.
In its latest food outlook report
on Zimbabwe covering the period from
March to July, the network said
widespread crop failure caused by poor
rainfall and a long-running economic
crisis had combined to drastically
slash food production in
Zimbabwe.
The UN World Food Programme (UNFP) says because of crop
failures in
the southern provinces and escalating poverty in both rural and
urban areas,
around 2.1 million people will face serious food shortages by
the third
quarter of this year.
It says the number of people at
risk will peak at 4.1 million in the
first three months of 2008 - more than
a third of Zimbabwe's estimated
population of 12 million
people.
The world body also notes in its report that an estimated
352 000
tonnes of cereals and 90 000 tonnes of food assistance will be
required to
meet their basic food needs.
The most affected
provinces include Masvingo, Midlands and
Matabeleland North and South. Three
districts in Matabeleland South last
week said the response by donors for
urgent food assistance had been
disappointing, sparking fears of a major
crisis.
Angeline Masuku, the Matabeleland South governor, who early
this year
appealed to the government to declare her province a disaster area
to help
mobilise urgent food aid refused to comment on the worsening
situation,
referring questions to the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB).
The government is yet to declare the province a disaster
area making
it difficult for potential donors to mobilise international
support.
But GMB, acting chief executive officer, Samuel Muvuti,
contends that
the parastatal has enough maize stocks to feed the whole
nation and
attributes shortages to transport problems.
He said
the parastatal is moving grain from the northern parts of the
country
because in the south, crops were almost a write-off. "There is a lot
of
maize in the country," Muvuti said.
In Matabeleland South, the San
community who still survive as hunter
gatherers, are reportedly the most
affected by the crisis. Acting Tsholotsho
District Administrator, Lydia
Ndethi-Banda, warned recently that the San
would die of hunger if donors did
not intervene urgently.
"They now survive on wild fruit and some of
it may be poisonous,"
warned Moses Dlamini, a villager at Mgodimasili, west
of Tsholotsho business
centre.
Meanwhile the government scoffed
at food aid pledges by the United
States and Canada last week, saying it was
meant for opposition parties.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the Minister of
Information and Publicity, told the
state media that the two countries were
"trying to turn the people against
the government" by making the
pledges.
Canada donated US$3.3 million to the WFP, which will help
the agency
scale up its operations in response to the food crisis. On
Tuesday, the US
also announced that it would provide 47 000 tonnes of food
assistance to the
country.
"WFP is extremely grateful to the
Canadian government for this very
timely contribution to our Immediate
Response Account, which will allow us
to buy maize now so that we are ready
to begin distributing it in September
when tens of thousands of Zimbabwean
families will start to run out of
food," said Thomas Yanga, Deputy Regional
Director for Southern Africa in a
statement.
Announcing the
release of the aid, the US State Department said the
government's ongoing
price blitz, forcing businesses to roll back prices,
had worsened the food
crisis.
"The regime's reckless attempts to address self-imposed
hyperinflation
have resulted in the arrest of at least 2 000 businesspeople,
widespread
hoarding and profiteering by police and government officials, and
shortage
of basic staples," the department said in a statement.
"Its irresponsible economic policies will only worsen inflation,
unemployment, growing food shortages, and poverty."
The
Minister of Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo, said the government was
still
carrying out an assessment of the food situation before making a
formal
appeal to the UN, but the world body warned last week that time was
running
out to send out appeals.
Zimbabwe requires about two million tonnes
of maize for annual
consumption but estimates show that this year Zimbabwe
harvested a mere 400
000 tonnes of maize, the country's main staple.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE "sex scandal" involving Catholic Archbishop Pius
Ncube was
"well-crafted to divert the people's attention from the real
crisis facing
Zimbabwe", human rights organisations said
yesterday.
They castigated the way the state media handled the
story, saying they
violated Ncube's right to privacy and a fair
trial.
Ncube, a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe's
government, is
being sued for $20 billion for alleged adultery with a
married woman,
Rosemary Sibanda.
Her husband, Onesimus Sibanda,
is suing Ncube for $20 billion.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR) said it believes the
drama was a "diversionary
tactic".
It said it was aware of the "underhand tactics" used
worldwide to
silence human rights defenders.
These included
character assassination and the use of hate speech or
propaganda to
de-legitimize the work of those who exposed human rights
violations.
"The recent attempts to draw the public's attention
away from the
problems bedeviling our society must be exposed for what they
are," the ZLHR
statement said.
It said Ncube was being
victimized for his fierce criticism of
misgovernance, corruption and
state-instigated human rights violations.
The Archbishop has been
outspoken against the Gukurahundi massacres,
Operation Murambatsvina and the
continued socio-economic and political
crisis, blamed on Mugabe's
administration.
The Solidarity Peace Trust (SPT) of South Africa
said in statement it
believed the alleged scandal was an attempt by Mugabe's
regime to "smear"
the good character of the Archbishop.
"The
actions of the Mugabe regime and its Central Intelligence
Organisation are
reminiscent of the Apartheid Security Police during the
dying days of
apartheid in its efforts to cling to power," said the trust.
In
Harare, ZimRights castigated Mugabe for finding Ncube guilty before
he had
appeared in court.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
MASVINGO - A provincial governor last week virtually
begged the
British embassy to provide funding for the revival of Zimbabwe's
tottering
education system.
Relations between the two countries
hit a new low this month with
President Robert Mugabe accusing the British
of playing a role in the
alleged attempted coup by military officers against
his government.
But the Masvingo governor, Willard Chiwewe last
Wednesday seemed
unmoved by this accusation as he begged for help from the
embassy.
In a speech read on his behalf by Masvingo district
administrator,
James Mazvidza, at Victoria Primary School, Chiwewe said the
education
sector had not been spared by the harsh economic environment in
the country.
He said the shortage of textbooks, especially in the
rural areas, was
contributing to the decline in education standards as
examination results
have been in "a free fall" over the past few
years.
"We appreciated the gesture made by the British embassy of
investing
in the educational sector of Zimbabwe," Chiwewe said. "The quality
of
education has gone down and we appeal for more support, especially to the
needy schools in the rural areas where shortages of educational materials
are a cause for concern."
The British embassy donated 7 500
textbooks to five rural schools in
Masvingo worth $500 million to curb the
shortage of the highly needed
material in the schools.
Chiwewe
said the shortage of materials, especially textbooks, was a
major
contributor to the declining standards of education.
He said in the
rural areas an average of eight students was sharing
one
textbook.
"The donation of these textbooks is essential in our
efforts to revive
the once prosperous sector. Schools in the rural areas are
experiencing
serious shortages of textbooks to the extent that eight pupils
share a
single textbook," he said.
Speaking at the same
function on behalf of the embassy, the director
of the British Council,
Rajiv Bendre, said his country would continue to
support the needy people of
Zimbabwe, especially in the educational sector.
"Our objective is
to offer support to the needy in Zimbabwe and we
will continue to help
improve the quality of education through the
British-Zimbabwe Community
Partnership Programme which has set aside over 40
million pounds for the
whole country," he said.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - The family of an army officer buried at
Heroes' Acre last
month now says he died a "mysterious death", reinforcing
speculation the
former commander of the Presidential Guard was "liquidated"
for his role in
a botched coup attempt.
There have been
persistent allegations that the 1 Brigade commander,
Brigadier General Paul
Armstrong Gunda, was among military officers involved
in a failed plot to
topple President Robert Mugabe.
Officially, his death was announced
as the result of an accident
involving his car and a goods train near
Marondera.
He was declared a national hero, but the results of a
postmortem on
his body have not been made public.
Gunda's wife,
Rangarirai Tatenda, on Friday hinted the family did not
believe the official
explanation that her husband died in an "accident".
In an
advertisement in the Bulawayo State newspaper, The Chronicle
last Friday,
marking the 29th day of his death, she said: "It's now 29 days,
honie, since
you left me and the kids alone. Your mysterious train accident
left me with
no words.
"Give me strength to carry on. I loved you: I still love
you and will
forever love you till we meet again."
Efforts to
get her to elaborate her claims yesterday were futile as
the family was said
to be holding a two-day "vigil", which began on Friday
and ends this morning
in Victoria Falls in the late general's memory.
Seven civilians and
serving army officers were arrested last month for
allegedly plotting a coup
against Mugabe. They are all still in custody.
They allegedly
wanted to replace the aging veteran leader with Rural
Housing and Social
Amenities minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Several senior army
officials, including Gunda, were implicated in the
plot, but the government
has not made a public statement about their alleged
house
arrests.
Mugabe last week said his detractors in the West had
failed to
convince the military to topple him.
He was speaking
at the burial of yet another top army general,
Brigadier General Fakazi
Muleya at the Heroes' Acre.
Muleya was the third general to be
buried at the shrine inside a month
after Gunda and Brigadier General Gideon
Lifa.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the Minister of Information and Publicity
was not
immediately available to comment on the Gunda family's
message.
The widow of another national hero buried at the Heroes'
Acre, Pamela
Tungamirai, once hinted in a similar advertisement that she
thought her
husband had been poisoned.
Josiah Tungamirai died
after what was described as a long struggle
with a kidney ailment.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THERE is a popular vernacular saying among young
urbanites that goes:
"Handiende kumusha nekuti hakuna magetsi; kumusha
kwacho kuchatouya kuno."
Loosely translated it's: "I will not go to
the village because there
is no electricity. The village will have to come
here."
For Harare's Hatfield and Highfield high-density suburbs,
that cryptic
"putdown" of the village has become stark reality.
For the past three weeks, residents of Western Triangle and
Engineering, the
poorer sections of Highfield, have been without
electricity.
It
has been two months for Hatfield residents. They have been told
they are one
of the 135 areas on the waiting list for new transformers.
Residents say the tardy response shows the power utility is not taking
the
crisis seriously and this has spawned corruption.
Most residents in
Highfield now use firewood for cooking and lighting.
Apart from
that, they also have to contend with with water shortages.
To
relieve themselves, they now resort to the open spaces nearby.
Others use
the bucket system, dumping the contents in the bush, because
their toilets
cannot flush without water.
The "village" has finally come to the
city.
Mbuya Khuzwayo, a Highfield resident since the early 1960s,
said this
was the first time such lengthy power cuts have hit one of
Harare's oldest
suburbs.
Now in her late 70s, Mbuya Khuzwayo,
said the current water and power
crisis reminded her of the old days,
growing up in the rural areas - no
electricity, no running water - you
fetched it from the wells, and your
lavatory was definitely the bush, any
bush.
"They (the auth-orities) have forced us back to that era,
although we
are supposed to be in the city," she said as she tended her sick
husband.
They are both now unemployed and physically infirm. They
cannot afford
firewood or paraffin every day. A bundle of wood costs $50
000. For the
whole week, they would need $350 000.
But if they
were using electricity, they would need only $100 000 for
the whole
month.
"It's a fortune to us. We cannot afford it," she
said.
Sharmine Zengeni of Western Triangle said she had to throw
away all
the perishables in her refrigerator after they went bad because of
the power
cuts.
"Initially, I thought it would only last for a
day or two; so I kept
my meat in the fridge. I realised the power would not
be restored when it
was already too late," said Zengeni, as she prepared
lunch on a fire outside
her house.
The wood she used had not
dried completely and it was difficult to
make her out through the cloud of
smoke.
When she did turn to look at us, we noticed red, swollen
eyes and the
tears streaming down her cheeks: a portrait of the anguish the
young woman
was enduring as she prepared food with firewood that had not
dried up.
"We go through this every day," she said through the
tears. "It's
worse in the morning when there is dew and the kids need to
rush to school."
She forced a smile behind the cloud of the choking smoke,
probably at the
mention of her children.
At times, the children
go to school without bathing and breakfast
because of the power
cuts.
Macleod Zengeni, a cross- border trader, said he had brought
five
litres of paraffin from South Africa.
"I knew back home
there was a problem, so I brought paraffin. I had to
hide it in my luggage
to avoid detection at the border," she said.
Residents tell of how,
one day, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa) technicians visited
the area and promised to come back and rectify
the problem within
hours.
They never did.
Zesa spokesperson Fullard
Gwasira recently attributed prolonged power
cuts to vandalism by residents,
who he alleged stole the vital oil from the
transformers.
"We
have a major problem with transformer oil theft. The public is
advised to
help, as vandalism is costing us heavily," Gwasira said.
As if the
absence of power was not enough as a problem to the
attainment of good,
healthy city life, running water is also very erratic.
Then there is the
refuse, which piles up every day. It too is a huge health
hazard.
The toilets are blocked, spilling raw sewage into the
littered
streets, where children spend most of their time playing
"house".
Other residents shun their own toilets.
"We
use our friend's lavatory across the road in Glen Norah," said
Clifford
Munjoma of Zororo area. "But at night we use buckets."
What is
happening in Highfield is a microcosm of many residential
suburbs in Harare.
The absence of electricity, running water and piling
garbage has turned
Harare, once described as the "Sunshine City", into a
huge, stinking
village, sitting on a disease outbreak time bomb.
Combined Harare
Residents' Association (Chra) spokesperson Precious
Shumba has, on several
occasions, called on residents to stop paying rent or
refuse fees until
service provision has improved.
It appears the situation is getting
worse.
It's now richly ironic for the young urbanites to quip "the
village
will have to come to the city".
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Zanu PF supporters and war veterans in
Matabeleland North
have allegedly embarked on a campaign to intimidate
village heads and
teachers suspected of being Movement for Democratic Change
activists ahead
of next year's elections.
One school in Nkayi
District is reportedly facing closure after the
ruling party activists
forced the entire staff to seek transfers to other
schools, accusing them of
being MDC supporters.
Teachers and general staff at Ngwalade
primary school in Nkayi were
forced to seek transfers after they failed to
attend a recent rally
addressed by Sithembiso Nyoni, the Minister of Small
and Medium Enterprises
Development.
Since 2000, Zanu PF has
lost consecutive parliamentary elections and
the 2005 Senate polls in the
area to the MDC.
Nyoni who has lost a series of parliamentary and
Senate elections in
different Bulawayo constituencies is reportedly eyeing
the seat.
Abedinico Bhebhe of the MDC is the MP for the
impoverished
constituency.
Sources said the dreaded Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) had
deployed its agents to spy on teachers
suspected of having opposition links.
The Standard established that
in Nkayi the ruling party had barred the
commissioning of two classroom
blocks by the British Embassy at two schools
in Matabeleland North, claiming
it would "damage the party's reputation".
The local parliamentary
Constituency Information Centre had invited
the British to help fund the
construction of classroom blocks at Gababi and
Sembewule primary schools in
Nkayi.
The district education officer for Nkayi Jabulani Mpofu and
the
district administrator, Nosizi Dube, confirmed the teachers were seeking
transfers from Ngwalade primary school, citing intimidation.
Commenting on the hand over of classroom blocks, Dube said the
government
had blocked the commissioning because they were not "properly
notified".
"The education office does not know about the
classroom blocks, as the
proper channels were not followed," she
said.
Bhebhe said the political atmosphere was now "charged", with
Zanu PF
officials targeting opposition activists.
"There is
heightened intimidation of MDC sympathizers in the area,"
said Bhebhe,
deputy spokesperson for the Mutambara faction.
"We cannot tolerate
a situation where our schools are left with no
teachers by overzealous Zanu
PF supporters who have also barred the
commissioning of the classroom
blocks
"At the same, chiefs in the area are threatening to kick out
village
heads accused of MDC links," Bhebhe said.
Zim Standard
By Bertha
Shoko
A German company has developed a new CD4 count test
machine which
could drop the price of the test from about US$40 to
US$2.
The effect could be to make the treatment of HIV and Aids
more
accessible to the poor. The invention is already being used in more
than 420
laboratories in the developing world, most of them in remote
areas.
There are already 19 machines being used in
Zimbabwe.
Accessing HIV treatment continues to be a major challenge
for many
resource-strained countries such as Zimbabwe.
But
numerous developments on researches into the fight against the
pandemic have
become a major source of hope for many people.
According to the
most recent "AIDS epidemic update" (UNAIDS, December
2006), 39.5 million
people in the world are living with HIV, 24.7 million in
Africa and 8.6
million in Asia.
In 2006, 2.8 million adults and children were
newly infected with HIV
while 2.9 million died due to AIDS-related
illnesses. In Zimbabwe, at least
1.8 million people are living with HIV and
Aids while 5 000 people die each
week of Aids-related causes. Initial
diagnosis of HIV infection - using HIV
rapid tests - is available in most
areas at affordable cost. For monitoring
of disease progression, two
different diagnostic tools are used, namely the
CD4 count and viral
load
analysis.
HIV preferentially targets CD4 cells,
resulting in a reduction in the
number of these cells in the peripheral
blood. Most treatment guidelines use
a threshold of 200 CD4 as an indication
for starting antiretroviral therapy
(ART). Once treatment has been
initiated, it is recommended that the CD4
count be monitored, at least four
times a year, for the lifetime of the
patient. In Zimbabwe and in many other
developing countries, the standard
measurement of CD4 count has been a
method developed by the Americans, the
flow cytometry. A few years ago, the
World Health Organisation estimated
that the cost of one such CD4 count in
Africa was on average about US$40,
but a German company, Partec, has
developed machines that are cheaper but
"are still able to do the
job".
Last week, at the recent Aids Expo at Harare Gardens, a stand
belonging to Partec became a major attraction as members of the
public and many People Living With Aids (PLWAs) rushed to hear about
this
latest development.
Partec's spokesperson Roland Gohde told
Standardhealth that since the
early 1990s there has only been one flow
cytometry system available for CD4
counting in the developing world, the
Becton Dickinson's FACSCount. Gohde
said this was mostly placed in capitals
and major cities.
"The rcently developed CyFlow system is the first
competitive
alternative and could dramatically reduce the CD4 test cost to
only US$2,"
he said. "In numerous scientific evaluations, clinical
validations, and
independent comparative studies, it has been shown that the
quality of the
diagnostic data from the far more affordable test is at least
as good as the
conventional method. "Because of the availability of this
low-cost CD4 test,
the average cost of all CD4 counts on the market
decreased from $40 in 2002
to approximately $10-15 in 2006."
According to a clinical study conducted by the University of Zimbabwe
recently, the cost of CD4 count is as high as US$65 because one system has
dominated the field for years without any competition.The new machines by
Partec can also test CD4 count cell in HIV infected children whereas the old
system could not.
Zim Standard
By
Bertha Shoko
"TIRED of constant power cuts, eating cold food
and spending money on
paraffin or firewood every other day to get that just
one hot meal? Then,
look no further, 'cause the solution to all these
problems has arrived with
the latest and newest invention called the hay
baskets!"
This line has not been borrowed from the popular South
African
out-surance or insurance advertisements on Digital Satellite
Television but
were the words that greeted many of us as we arrived at the
display stand
put up by one organisation at an Aids Expo which ended last
week at the
Harare Gardens.
Organised by one Roger Jeffrey from
Tibatane/Sibambane consultancy
firm with the support of the National Aids
Council (NAC) the Aids Expo was
the first of its kind in Zimbabwe. The
exhibition saw more than 30
organisations involved in HIV and Aids work
gathering to show the public the
various interventions with which they are
involved to help mitigate the
effects of the pandemic.
The
exhibition was also desi-gned to get these organisations to be in
touch with
each other so that they could network and see how they could
complement
rather than duplicate their work. It was at this exhibition that
Standardhealth came across this "hay basket", an invention of the Aids
Counselling Trust (ACT).
According to Patricia Mudzimuirema
from ACT, the hay basket was
developed for use mostly by people living with
HIV and Aids (PLWAs). She
said for anyone wishing to beat the electricity
cuts, the hay basket was a
welcome development.
"What the hay
basket does is that in the absence of electricity PLWAs
are still able to
have that hot meal or cup of tea before they can take
their medication or
Antiretroviral drugs.
"When you cook food with the hay basket the
advantage is that it doesn't
lose its nutrients because it is not subjected
to the high temperatures on
the stove or the fire or paraffin
stove.
"We want everyone to have this, but we recommend it for
those living
with HIV because of the importance of good nutrition and warm
food to take
with medication for these people who have vulnerable immune
systems and are
prone to disease," she said.
The organiser of
the Aids Expo, Roger Jeffrey told Standardhealth he
was happy with the
various networking opportunities available to the small
organisations at the
exhibition.
He said: "There are some very small organisations that
are making
outstanding contributions in the HIV and Aids fight but are
limited by lack
of funding because they lack exposure. We hope this expo
gives
them the much-needed contacts."
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
BEATRICE Mtetwa, president of the Law Society of
Zimbabwe is suing the
police for the savage beatings she endured in May at
the hands of
gun-totting and truncheon-wielding officers.
She
has yet to quantify the damages she suffered when beaten up in
broad
daylight at an open area in Harare's Eastlea suburb.
Mtetwa was
picked up, along with other lawyers, Chris Mhike, Colin
Kahuni and Terence
Fitzpatrick after they attempted to present a petition to
Patrick Chinamasa,
the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
The
petition registered their concerns over the arrest of human rights
lawyers
Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni.
Mtetwa's lawyer, Harrison Nkomo
of Mtetwa and Nyambirai, last week
wrote to Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri notifying him of the
impending legal action.
"We are,
by copy of this letter advising of our client's intention to
sue in terms of
the provisions of Section 6 of the State Liabilities Act
Chapter 8;14 as
read with Section 70 of the Police Act. Please treat this
letter as the
requisite notice," wrote Nkomo.
"We are in the process of
quantifying our damages and in the meantime,
we will be grateful if you
advise us of your attitude towards liability."
The letter was
copied to the Minister of Home Affairs and the Civil
Division of the
Attorney-General's office.
Speaking earlier about her ordeal,
Mtetwa said she and the other
lawyers were picked up at the Government
Complex along Samora Machel Avenue
and bundled into a police truck. They
were taken to an open area opposite
Eastview Flats in Eastlea.
"We were dragged out and told to lie down on our stomachs. The whole
thing
appeared unreal . . . and batons started raining down on us."
Mtetwa said she was beaten up by a bearded woman she could easily
identify.
"She told me takarwa hondo isu. She is the one who did the damage.
I could
only cover my head as she beat me up on my back, my stomach, my
arms, my
buttocks."
Zim Standard
BY LUNGILE ZULU AND
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe faces a cement shortage
following a cement
manufacturing giant's decision to stop production for the
local market in
protest against the government order to roll back the
prices.
Authoritative sources said last week Portland Holdings
Limited (PHL)
had ceased production after incurring huge losses when they
sold the cement
at pre-June 18 levels, as ordered by the
government.
The largest cement producer is part of South Africa's
Pretoria
Portland Cement (PPC).
Production was reported to have
been hampered by high input costs and
unrealistic prices which led to a
temporary shutdown of operations at one of
their subsidiaries, Colleen
Bawn.
Colleen Bawn has stopped supplying clinker, an important
component
used in the manufacture of cement to its cement plant, Portland
Holdings
Limited (PHL) in Bulawayo.
This has led to the loss of
jobs for contract workers at the
manufacturing plant at PHL as operations at
the plant have ground to a halt
in the absence of clinker.
There are now fears more workers could lose their jobs.
Sources
indicated Colleen Bawn was now supplying clinker to its South
African-based
arm, Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) for the manufacture of
cement. Zambia is
also being supplied with the product.
"Reduced profit due to price
cuts and unrealistically low retail
prices has forced the manufacturing
company to limit its production of
clinker for export to countries such as
South Africa and Zambia," said an
official at the company.
"More than 100 contract workers were laid off last week as the
manufacturing
company suspended production of clinker to Portland Holdings
Ltd in
Bulawayo."
Officials at Colleen Bawn referred inquiries to John
Lawne, the head
of Bulawayo's Portland Holdings Limited, but he refused to
comment on the
impact of the recent price slashes, referring questions to
the managing
director in South Africa.
The MD, Trevor Barnard
confirmed from South Africa where he was
meeting with Pretoria Portland
Cement (PPC) officials, the price cuts had
"heavily affected" their
operations.
But he said operations at Colleen Bawn "have been
halted due to a
breakdown of equipment". He refused to take more
questions.
Meanwhile, the government has been forced to withdraw
charges against
businesses it had dragged to court for defying its order to
roll back prices
after it emerged that they were charged before the prices
became law.
Companies which were first brought to court at the
inception of the
blitz, charged under the Statutory Instrument 142 of 2007,
had charges
against them withdrawn on Tuesday after plea after it emerged
that they were
charged prior to date when the instrument became
law.
This came out at the appearance before Bulawayo Magistrate
Loveness
Chipateni of companies and directors dragged to court on charges of
failing
to comply with a government directive on price cuts.
According to Chipateni, the taskforce pounced on the companies and
their
directors after the Minister of Industry and International Trade,
Obert
Mpofu, announced the slashing of the prices, but before it had become
law on
6 July.
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
AHEAD of the second EU-Africa summit in December, the
European
Commission has adopted a proposal presenting key flagship
initiatives
embodying a new approach to relations to be deliberated at the
indaba.
The policy initiatives will be put forward by the future
Joint
EU-Africa Strategy to be deliberated by both the EU and Africa at the
summit
in Lisbon, Portugal.
In a news release the European
Commission said: "The Joint Strategy,
to be adopted during the second
EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in December, will
outline a long term shared
vision of the future of EU-Africa relations in a
globalised
world."
The European Commission policy initiatives embody
partnership in
energy; climate change; migration, mobility and employment;
democratic
governance; and political and institutional
architecture.
The Joint Strategy aims to strengthen the EU-Africa
political dialogue
so as to bring the EU-Africa partnership beyond
development co-operation by
opening up the EU-Africa dialogue to issues of
joint political concern and
interest. It envisages to bring partnership
beyond Africa by moving away
from a focus on Africa matters only and openly
address European and issues
of global concern and to act accordingly in the
relevant fora to make
globalisation work for all.
The joint
strategy sees partnership beyond fragmentation in supporting
Africa's
aspirations to find regional and continental responses to some of
the most
important challenges. It also looks at partnership beyond
institutions in
ensuring a better participation of African and European
citizens, as part of
an overall strengthening of civil society in the two
continents.
EU and African countries are locked in negotiations
for the reciprocal
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). African,
Carribbean and Pacific
(ACP) countries used to enjoy unilateral trade
preferences with the EU for
almost three decades under the Lomé Conventions.
The Fourth Lomé Convention
was replaced by the Cotonou Agreement in 2000,
which extends these
unilateral trade preferences up to the end of
2007.
Negotiated World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatible
reciprocal trade
agreements, EPAs, will replace the current non-reciprocal
preferential trade
regime. These EPAs have to be concluded by no later than
the beginning of
2008.
EU and China are tussling over the
control of African market following
heavy investments by Beijing into the
continent.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
STANDARD Bank Group, a South African financial giant, has
poured cold
water over the ambitious proposal for Zimbabwe to get rid of its
worthless
currency and be brought into Southern Africa's rand monetary
union.
The group said in a comminique that political reform was a
prerequisite for Zimbabwe before any efforts to bail it out of its
seven-year economic meltdown could be considered.
The
communique to its subscribers said adopting Zimbabwe, despite the
ongoing
political crises, would be an ernomous expense to both the region
and South
Africa, given that the country's economic rot hinged on the
"ongoing
political decay".
"As the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe has
political roots, any
economic recovery plans that are proposed for the
country would have to
follow extensive political and economic reforms that
return the economy on
the path towards macro-economic
stability.
"For the adoption of a state that has the
characteristics of a
war-torn country would be an enormous financial cost to
the region and South
Africa in particular, as it would imply a draw down of
its foreign reserves
and impact on its current account
position."
The bank said any debate on bringing Zimbabwe into the
CMA would best
take place once there was some semblance of convergence
between the country's
financial indicators and those of the region, a
situation which would
require a resurrection of the real economy -which will
only occur once
property rights are restored.
The bank's call
comes amid the Harare government's plans to further
undermine property
rights through a planned forcible seizure of at least 51%
shareholding from
all foreign-owned companies.
In 2000, the government violated
property rights through its farm
invasions and is currently cracking down on
business under its price
monitoring campaign.
Earlier this
month, South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper
reported that the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) was working
on a plan to
include Zimbabwe into the rand Common Monetary Area (CMA),
currently
comprising South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Joining
the CMA would imply the pegging of the Zimbabwe dollar to the
rand.
For this to take effect, all Zimbabwe would have to do
would be to
effectively surrender control of its monetary policy and foreign
exchange
regulations to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).
This would imply the complete elimination of quasi-fiscal activities,
removal of price controls, exchange rate liberalisation and tightening of
fiscal policy.
It was also speculated that the plan would see
the central banks in
South Africa and Botswana injecting huge amounts of
funds into the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) thus solving, among other
economic problems, the
prevailing foreign currency crunch.
But
SADC has since distanced itself from the report, saying it was
still working
on a study on the Zimbabwe's economic situation hence had not
proposed any
support package yet.
SARB governor, Tito Mboweni, said Zimbabwe was
a long way from being
ready to join the rand monetary union.
South African media reports said Mboweni cited the need for a very
high
degree of macro-economic convergence which should include, among
others, a
massive reduction of the inflation rate.
All the CMA countries
managed to make it to the union with a monthly
inflation of less than 10%.
Zimbabwe's is more than 4 530%, although
independent analysts say it is much
higher.
But Standard Bank said there was great need for
economically
supporting Zimbabwe.
"The sheer proximity of the
sinking Zimbabwean economy and the fact
that the region is experiencing the
effects of a laggard neighbour supports
the argument to provide financial
assistance to Zimbabwe but only once
credible political reforms
occur.
"The coupling of South Africa's capital base and the skills
of the
Zimbabwe diaspora, which presumably returns following political and
economic
reforms, has the potential of stimulating a catch-up process in the
country
that would raise it and the region to economic prosperity over the
long
term".
Zim Standard
Comment
THE government is determined to punish
residents of Bulawayo for
rebuffing the ruling party during elections since
2000. That is why it is in
no hurry to address and deal decisively with the
water shortages in the
country's second largest city.
Last week
Bulawayo City Council said Lower Ncema had dried up and as a
result
residents could expect water to be rationed to three days a week,
meaning
the other remaining four days families and businesses would be
without water
supplies.
This can only aggravate an already bad situation.
Industries could
decide they have had enough and close down, throwing
thousands of workers
out of work. On the other hand, having four days
without water will increase
incidences of diseases, leading to unnecessary
loss of lives.
It is doubtful the government would have
demonstrated such a tardy
response had the crisis affected Harare. As if to
confirm this view, the
government said last week that it was considering
connecting private
boreholes to Harare's water system while the
crisis-ridden Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (Zinwa) plans drilling more
boreholes in a bid to address
persistent water shortages affecting some of
the suburbs in Harare.
The incompetent handling of water pumping
and distribution has only
degenerated during the past two years. However,
the water problems in
Bulawayo date back to 1979 when the last dam was
constructed in order to
serve the interests of a population estimated at 250
000. Bulawayo's
residents now exceed more than 1.5 million.
There are two immediate steps the government could have undertaken if
it had
any will to address the water crisis that has an enormous adverse
impact on
industries and residents in and around the country's second
biggest
city.
There are nearly 80 boreholes drilled so that Bulawayo could
draw
water from the Nyamandlovu aquifer. However, less than half of these
are
operating. The boreholes were vandalised during the period of
government-sanctioned land invasions - some seven years ago.
If
there was any resolve on the part of the government and its
representatives
in Bulawayo to act in the interests of the people, the first
step would have
been to ensure that all the boreholes were fully
rehabilitated. If the
government lacks resources but cared for Bulawayo, it
could have appealed to
the international community. But as usual, the
government wants to wait
until the number of people succumbing as a result
of the water problems has
risen and there is international outcry at the
genocidal conspiracy. It will
then spring into action, wrapping itself in
the mantle of a
saviour!
The impression is created that the government would rather
diseases
reduced the level of opposition to its rule through deaths than to
act and
therefore continue to support an electorate that rejects the State's
policies towards the western region in general but Bulawayo in
particular.
The second and more immediate step the government could
implement if
it really cared about the population of Bulawayo would have
been to speed up
construction of the Gwayi/Shangani Dam. If the government
has no capacity to
undertake such a project the private sector has the
expertise and given the
urgency of the matter, would work around the clock
in order to avert an
imminent health and economic disaster.
Government's neglect of Bulawayo - once the country's industrial hub -
has
been responsible for the de-industrialisation of the city. To discuss
methods of combating Harare's water problems as if that is the priority
clearly sums up the government's general attitude to Bulawayo and
Matabeleland region.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Bill
Saidi
COMMUNISM may be dead in most parts of the world, but there
must be a
strong longing for it among many in the hierarchy of Zanu
PF.
At independence, the party's ideologues and apparatchiks were
sorely
disappointed at their failure to immediately implement the avowed
Marxist-Leninist policies espoused so enthusiastically during the
struggle.
The economy, saddled with sanctions, was tied hand and
foot to
apartheid South Africa.
Moreover, there was the land
issue, not to be touched until after ten
years of independence.
Even the one-party system, seen as a priority prelude to the creation
of a
truly communist regime was put on the back-burner, particularly as
PF-Zapu,
the coalition partner in the first government, showed little
enthusiasm for
it.
Zanu PF chafed at the bit and when the occasion presented
itself to
redistribute the land, the party grabbed it with undisguised
relish,
unleashing its own version of the "collectivization" farm programme
attempted - with disastrous consequences - by one of the two communist
giants which backed the struggle, the Soviet Union.
The
political fallout was enormous, resulting in the Near-Doomsday
scenario the
country faces today.
But then came what could be called a plan
of Mephistophelean genius,
with all the devilish hallmarks of a fanatical
believer in the "dictatorship
of the proletariat", with a dash of the
socialist credo of "the ownership of
the means of production by the
people".
First, the party would force Big Business to slash prices
by 50
percent. If they shut down, then the government, which is The Party by
any
other name, would take over their businesses.
Second . . .
the rest would be child's play. The economy would then be
controlled by The
Party, through its proxy, the government.
All the previous owners
of commerce and industry would be excluded on
some pretext or
other.
Zanu PF would control everything - the banks, mines, the
land,
industry and commerce. Nothing would happen without Zanu PF's
approval. Free
enterprise would be killed.
The Party's
dream of a Marxist-Leninist regime would be realised, free
of charge.
Everyone who disapproved - Zimbabwean, British, American,
Australian, New
Zealander, Ghanaian, South African, Nigerian, Icelandic,
Russian, or
Mongolian - would be told "to go hang".
Even the campaign against
Archbishop Pius Ncube is an integral part of
this grand Marxist plan:
churches would operate only if they pledged
allegiance to The Party, whose
own moral code is a dark, impregnable mosaic
of contradictions in human
depravity.
And this could come to pass, unless the few men and
women of innocence
left in The Party and The Opposition wield enough
influence over the lunatic
fringe to force it from the brink of
Apocalypse.
If they allow the Marxist-Leninists to achieve their
revenge on the
people of Zimbabwe, then posterity might include them in The
Final
Indictment on Judgement Day.
Zimbabwe is at a defining
moment in its young history. Since 2000, the
country has drifted into an
economic void, not to mention a political
nowhere-ness authored by a party
which swears by its roots in bloodshed.
Since 11 March this year, there has
been a shift from dialogue to death.
In the Zanu PF hierarchy,
the strength of the Marxist-Leninists has
grown proportionately with the
number of people killed in political
violence.
For all
Zimbabweans, the choice is crystal clear: a return to the Days
of Hope
before 2000 or a plunge down The Dark Hole of Skeletons - of the 40
000 who
died in the liberation struggle and the 20 000 who died during
Gukurahindi.
For the moment, forget the sudden low prices of
essential commodities.
The price to be paid for voting for Zanu PF on the
basis of this short-term
salvation from deprivation could be very high: the
handover of the country
to the Marxist-Leninists.
And the end
of hope.
nSaidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
sundayview by
Judith Todd
AUGUST 1985 began with a writers' reception at Harare's
Jameson Hotel.
Among those present was Dambudzo Marechera.
In
London, before Zimbabwe's independence, a mutual acquaintance,
Dewar, of the
Scotch family, had arranged an unforgettable Sunday lunch-time
rendezvous at
our local Elizabeth Street pub for me and Marechera to meet
for the first
time. It was a lovely sunny day, and we had a little table on
the
pavement.
Dambudzo arrived late and, as the pub was due to close in
about twenty
minutes at two o'clock, he ordered three pints of lager and
three double
Scotches, all for himself. Our table was laden. Luckily Dewar
was paying.
Marechera caused a real stir when he walked in. He was
wearing the
briefest possible white shorts and vest, all the better to show
off his
ebony arms and legs festooned with white bandages, tied like ribbons
in
jaunty bows.
Sometime during the past week, he explained, he
had been involved in
an altercation at the Africa Centre and, in a rage, he
lashed his body
against a plate-glass window. Now he was in a happy, funny
and affectionate
mood, and announced he was going home with me.
I told him he certainly wasn't, knowing how horrified Richard would be
if I
arrived with this particular famous writer in tow. But every time I
tried to
leave, Marechera followed. Eventually, Dewar literally kept him
pinioned
while I took off and quickly disappeared around many corners.
At
the Harare reception, Marechera was subdued, and Willie Musarurwa
was the
central figure. The previous evening, Musarurwa had been sacked as
editor of
our largest circulation newspaper, The Sunday Mail, and news of
his
dismissal was just starting to spread. I was late and hurried in past a
cluster of people. A hand reached out, took my arm, and I said, "Oh, hello,
Willie. Congratulations!"
"There you are," he said to the
funereal-looking people surrounding
him, among them George Kahari. "That's
the word you've all been searching
for: Congratulations!"
Justin Nyoka then walked in, and I said we'd heard a rumour that he
had been
offered Willie's job.
"Yes," Justin said, "but I told them I
couldn't possibly accept it."
As Permanent Secretary at the
Information Ministry, Justin was the
guest speaker, but we couldn't hear a
word. The microphone was faulty and he
didn't have a hope of raising his
voice above the roar of the cocktail crowd
in the packed room. But we did
hear quite a lot of yowling. Apparently a
group of women seated in front of
him, fresh from the Nairobi Conference on
Women, were reacting to some
remarks he had made which they deemed to be
sexist. He must have been
astonished.
The next day Sharlottie Msipa rang to say that her
husband Cephas had
been picked up that afternoon. Msipa, like his old
friends and
contemporaries Willie Musarurwa and George Kahari, had been PF
Zapu, but in
fact had joined Zanu PF, as required for survival, and he was
held for only
a few hours.
The following week, PF Zapu members
of parliament Sydney Malunga,
Welshman Mabhena and Stephen Nkomo were
arrested. The travel documents of
Joshua Nkomo and his wife were seized. At
the same time Report Phelekezela
Mphoko, deputy head of the Demobilisation
Directorate, was picked up. This
was kept very quiet, as was the news of
Msipa's brief spell with CIO. They
themselves almost certainly would have
wanted no publicity at all.
Report's detention was serious as he
was a senior civil servant
holding a delicate position. I began to thank our
lucky stars that the
Zimbabwe Project had started going through its troubles
as early as March
1983 or, these two years later, we might also have found
ourselves in the
sizzling fat.
I was leading a very odd life
after the elections. On the one hand,
friends were disappearing into the maw
of the state. On the other hand, I
was still associating with functionaries
as if life in Zimbabwe were normal.
At one small party attended that August,
the Minister of Education, Dzingai
Mutumbuka, was guest of
honour.
His deputy Joe Culverwell was also present. Dzingai always
referred to
Joe, behind his back, of course, as JC Superstar. The subject of
dissidents
came up, and I asked why they always assumed these so-called
dissidents were
PF Zapu. They could be agents provocateurs, maybe from South
Africa.
Dzingai asked how I could question that there were
dissidents when I
myself knew someone like Guduza. I said of course I knew
Guduza and would
welcome a chance to talk to Dzingai about him. But someone
changed the
subject at that point, though not before Joe had said I needed
re-education.
Since I had last seen Makhatini Guduza in March 1983,
when he was
hiding his family and about to flee Bulawayo, he had escaped to
Dukwe
refugee camp in Botswana, to which so many fled over the years, first
from
Smith and then Mugabe. Later I heard that he was approached at Dukwe by
Super Zapu, whoever they were, and asked to become their leader. He refused,
there was a fight, and he had to make a dash from Dukwe to
Francistown.
Earlier in 1985 I had received a letter from
Guduza. He gave an
address in Francistown and asked me for Z$6 000 to help
him start a small
business. I was too scared even to reply. Only a few
months previously I had
told Stephen Nkomo, Member of Parliament and brother
to Joshua, that I had
heard Guduza was feeling old, poor, lonely, rejected
and let down by Nkomo.
Stephen said they couldn't help him, as they
had heard "disturbing"
things about him. Now Stephen was locked up
somewhere. It was quite obvious
that the government of Zimbabwe had come to
regard everyone who was not a
card-carrying Zanu PF supporter of Robert
Mugabe as a dissident.
Shortly after the writers' reception, I had
lunch with Justin Nyoka
and Ignatius Chigwedere. I told them how glad I was
that my mother had
retired from the Mass Media Trust before Shamuyarira
sacked Musarurwa as
editor of The Sunday Mail, and Justin told us the story
of how he had been
offered Willie's job.
He had received a
letter from Shamuyarira saying that he and Prime
Minister Mugabe had decided
it was now time for a "true and trusted cadre"
to take over as editor of the
newspaper, and Justin was the obvious
candidate.
Justin wrote
back immediately, starting off by reaffirming his loyalty
to everything and
everyone possible - the party, the secretary-general, the
minister, reams of
titles - and then declining the offer on the grounds that
to move from his
position as Permanent Secretary for Information to a mere
editorship would
be a demotion he didn't think he deserved. He placed his
reply on
Shamuyarira's desk and delivered a copy for the prime minister.
Since then,
Justin and Shamuyarira had acted towards one another as if no
offer had been
made.
But, said Justin: "I want to come to the office each morning
thinking,
now how can I serve the nation today? Not, now how should I answer
that
bastard's letter?"
Ignatius and I laughed at the concept
of Justin ever starting any
morning by thinking "now how can I serve the
nation today?", and then the
three of us laughed together at a report the
Herald had carried from
parliament:
Pregnant schoolgirls are
expelled as a deterrent because schools
cannot be allowed to become
maternity wards, the Minister of Education Dr
Dzingai Mutumbuka told the
Assembly yesterday. "Boys who are found to have
been responsible for such
pregnancies are also expelled. Teachers are
charged with crimen injuria,
apart from losing their jobs." But, he said,
the Ministry had no control
over sugar daddies or businessmen..
On the whole there wasn't much
to laugh about. There was a batch of
ten hangings. The new Minister of Home
Affairs, Enos Nkala, promised that
the honourable members of parliament he
had locked up would have a long
rest. I heard that all of Joshua Nkomo's
children were safely out of the
country, but that he and his wife MaFuyana
were having an increasingly
miserable time. The symbol that PF Zapu had used
for the elections was a
bull, and a slogan now being chanted across the
country by Zanu PF was pasi
ne Buru rengozi - down with the bull of evil
spirits.
Minister Maurice Nyagumbo and others conducted mock
funerals of bulls
at which they were presented with coffins containing
effigies of Nkomo.
Moto magazine had a bold and vivid cover for its
latest issue, which
succinctly summed up the travails of Zimbabwe. Captioned
"Aftermath of the
Election," it showed a pair of hands shaking champagne
bottle, which was
exploding in blood all over everything. Even the Moto
title was splattered
with blood.
* Excerpt from Judith
Todd's latest book, Through the Darkness, A Life
in Zimbabwe, available from
www.zebrapress.co.za.
Zim Standard
ZIMBABWE'S political landscape is a minefield that has generated
acrimonious relations
between the two major political parties in Zimbabwe,
Zanu PF and the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Pre-election violence,
accusations and
counter-accusations of electoral fraud and litigations have
characterised
the elections in Zimbabwe since 2000. Such a political climate
calls for an
electoral process capable of healing the wounds resultant of
the political
tension obtaining in the country.
There is need
for an electoral process that can create joyous losers,
those that lose in
humility and rational enough to realise the election is
not all about
winning but creating a Zimbabwe that we want. May be the first
question
would be what is an electoral system?
An electoral system can
easily be understood as a way in which votes
are translated into seats.
There are hundreds of electoral systems currently
in use and many more
permutations on each form. However, there are three
broad families of
electoral systems: Majority-Plurality Systems (First Past
The Post/FPTP);
Semi-Proportional Systems; and Proportional representation
systems.
Zimbabwe's electoral system is a "first past the post"
system with
single member constituencies where the candidate with the most
votes wins a
seat in the House of Assembly/Senate.
While the
system ensures accountability to constituents for those
elected, FPTP has,
however, tended to create outright winners who care
little about building
bridges with contesting parties. Therefore, used on
its own, FPTP tends to
fail in the proposed task of healing political
wounds.
It is in
this vain that we propose proportional representation to be
merged to FPTP
to come up with the best electoral system for the
parliamentary vote and PR
proper for the senate. Therefore, the Mixed Member
Proportional
Representation (MPPR), as used in Lesotho, would entail that
FPTP would be
used for contested parliamentary seats while PR would come
into force for
compensatory seats which, in the current situation, are
occupied by
non-constituency MPs appointed by the Executive.
There is need to
contextualise this call by assessing the political
situation since 2000.
While the mood of bitterness in Zimbabwean politics
can be traced back to
the liberation struggle and the Matabeleland massacres
during the first few
years of the 1980s, after some form of thawing during
the 1990s, the
bitterness resurfaced in burgeoning proportions after the
militarisation of
Zimbabwean politics when the war veterans entered the
political fray after
the 2000 referendum. The general mood of bitterness
created political
polarisation, suspicion and intolerance that have made it
impossible even
for well-meaning religious groups and neighbouring countries
to negotiate a
compromise political solution.
It is our submission that, given the
mood of bitterness that has
engulfed our political climate, there is need
for an electoral system that
is capable of healing the political
polarisation that we find in our society
today.
Among all the
systems available, Majority - Plurality Systems (MPS),
Proportional
Representation (PR) and Semi - Proportional Systems (SPS), it
is PR that can
perform the task of healing political wounds with resounding
success. We
tried it in 1980 and it worked. With a bit of dexterity amassed
from
experience, the PR system can be merged with the current electoral
system to
come up with a system that can harness the advantages of both
while
systematically diminishing the disadvantages associated with the two
electoral systems.
Since political tension is high and bitter
political rivalry abounds,
it is time we went back to where the rain started
and map out a survival
strategy that would take us out of the political and
economic quagmire that
we find ourselves immersed in. It is not a bad idea
to re-think systems that
have worked for us before and if it means going
back to 1980 and modify the
electoral system a bit, so be it.
Train youth into useful citizens not political cannon fodder
IT is an
open secret that during elections the youth are used for
political
expedience in Zimbabwe.
The youth are used for campaigning, which
includes intimidation,
torture and political murders. What is sad about the
whole affair is that
the majority of the youths are not even registered as
voters.
Political parties are to blame for this state of affairs
because their
youth policies are limited to political thuggery.
It was fascinating listening to a recent Zambian talk show on the role
of
that country's youth. Lack of funds for the development of youths was
given
as a main handicap faced by political parties and governments. I
totally
disagree with this train of thought because when the need arises,
millions
of dollars are always made available whenever there is a political
need.
The government in Zimbabwe is the main culprit as it
splashes millions
of dollars on youths during campaigning. New vehicles are
made available to
the youths, who in turn use them to travel all over the
country threatening,
torturing and slaughtering members of opposition
parties. It is unfortunate
that opposition political parties are adopting
the same tactics employed by
the government, albeit on a smaller scale
because of their limited
resources.
Zanu PF and the government
should take the lead and put up facilities
for the development of youth. I
do not mean facilities where the youths are
indoctrinated into supporting a
particular party but the facilities should
involve the participation of all
the youths regardless of political
affiliations. In my previous discussions,
I have suggested a college for
politically minded students, where they learn
how to run public offices.
Unfortunately, no one took up this
discussion but I will still stand
by it. The Zambian talk show unwittingly
supported my previous argument
about the college of politics. Such an
institution would eliminate
accusations that youths are not involved in
politics.
The biggest joke today is observing what is considered to
be the youth
brigade - the man who is in charge of the youth brigade is
someone who is
already a grandfather, while brigade members are all elderly
people with a
sprinkling of dubious youths. Youthful members are found among
the Green
Bombers, but these are political pawns, who are not taught how to
run
government offices.
Youth brigades are given attractive
budgets every year but this budget
always fizzles out before any meaningful
training in good governance. On the
contrary, the youths who graduate are
let loose on innocent Zimbabweans. Is
it not an irony that public money has
been used to train a bunch of
ill-mannered youths who attack the very source
of money which made their
training possible?
Let us not just
look at our youth without listening to them - a very
backward tradition of
most Zimbabweans. We are very good at window-dressing
where we create junior
parliamentarians but where do the junior
parliamentarians end up?
Nowhere!
Will we ever get a president, army commander, police
commissioner from
the Green Bombers? No chance! Why not? Because we do not
respect our youth.
We do not give them the chance to show us what they are
made of and we are
not serious in the so-called youth development centres.
The youths
themselves are hooked up on cheap beer and drugs supplied to them
whenever
they are about to be used.
I would like the youths to
challenge this letter if they have the guts
to do so.
Chance for youths
Masvingo
---------------
They
shall be distinguished by their works
CONSTITUTIONAL Amendment No 18 is
around the corner and it is that
time in our lives when politicians run
around the country selling us their
manifestos and decampaigning each
other.
It is painful indeed but true that many shall be fooled to
join the
lot that is seen ululating after being fed lies.
If we
seriously want to move towards a new Zimbabwe, we should by now
be in a
position to know the principles that either unite or separate us and
forget
about or stop concentrating on who the principal is.
For example, I
say shame unto those who are in the two factions of the
MDC because it is
the principles not the principals of an organisation that
we should give our
allegiance to.
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC is one organisation
without principles
but with a big principal. This lack of principles leads
them to operate just
like Zanu PF. Nelson Chamisa, its spokesperson had the
audacity to say 40
000 people attended their rally at Jahunda Hall. The
truth of the matter is
that Gwanda has a population estimated at 55 000 and
Jahunda Hall can only
fill much less than a thousand people
standing.
There is no way anyone can gather 20 000 people in
Gwanda, not even
through force of the military.
The biggest
problem for the anti-Senate MDC is that its think tank is
not a constituent
of its structures. The think tank of this faction is
manifest in certain
newsrooms and boardrooms of donor organisations. This is
why they are
masters of cyber activism.
We shall see the principled people being
elected on the basis of their
work. No to violence. No to propaganda. No to
dictatorship. Refrain from
verbal terrorism.
D Collins
Bajila
Jahunda
Gwanda
--------------
Crazy dream of the Zimbabwe that once was
OUR relative has been admitted to
a private clinic in the capital with a
condition medical doctors are still
trying to diagnose.
She
says that she keeps having this dream: She is returning to the
country and
the first thing she discovers at the Harare International
Airport is that it
is chock-a-block. Air France, Swiss Air, Alitalia,
Qantas, Lufthansa,
British Airways, and many other foreign airlines are
parked either boarding
or disembarking. She says she is aware that this is
not true.
But she also says that when she leaves the airport and travels into
the city
she finds a fleet of Zupco buses all over taking passengers to and
from
their various destinations - just like the old days of the Peter
Hornblow's
Harare United Omnibus Company - and not a single commuter bus.
She also says
she knows this can't be true of the current Zimbabwe.
As she moves
into the city centre, she says she finds shops full of
all manner of goods -
local and exotic merchandise, with sugar, milk, bread,
soap, meat and other
essential commodities in abundant supply and not a
queue in
sight.
She can drive up to a service station and she is asked what
she wants
to fill up her car with -Blend, Diesel or unleaded petrol - and as
much as
she can afford and this is sold in cents per litre. She says she
freaks out
at this because she knows in today's Zimbabwe fuel costs hundreds
of
thousands of dollars per litre!
When she visits Parirenyatwa
Hospital, she says, she finds the
referral centre spick and span, a hive of
activity, with ambulances coming
and going and the medical staff not on
strike. The patients are being
treated as if they are in a four-star
hotel!
Schools, she says, charge a known term fee and parents can
budget what
their child's school needs are. Yet, she says she is aware that
the Zimbabwe
in which she lives today does not resemble what she experiences
in her
dreams.
At home, she says the telephone works perfectly
and one can get
through at the first attempt with no disruptions. The water
supply is
reliable so is the power supply. Yet she says the Zimbabwe she
knows is the
opposite of this.
She says she attends a political
rally a few hundred metres away from
one being held by the ruling party and
is surprised that at the end of the
meetings supporters from the opposing
sides could engage in robust
discussions without fear of unintended
consequences. She gets hysterical
because she says in the Zimbabwe she knows
people are herded to political
meetings.
She says in her dreams
the Zimbabwe she experiences is one without
unemployment. There is no crisis
of homeless people and its agricultural
sector is the most productive in the
region. Yet, she says she is aware this
is not the Zimbabwe she
knows.
Dumisani Mpofu
Waverley
Kadoma