The Telegraph
By
Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwaridzo in Harare, Sunday
Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:06am BST 10/06/2007
Robert Mugabe has been told by his own intelligence chiefs that he
will lose
if he sticks to his insistence on standing again in Zimbabwe's
presidential
elections next year.
The 83-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980,
was given the warning last month. He is said to have
been livid.
Happyton Bonyongwe, Mugabe's intelligence chief, told
the president
that voters were so disenchanted with his government that he
faced "grave
embarrassment".
"President Mugabe was told
blatantly that an election defeat was
looming if he runs for office next
year," one person who attended the
meeting told The Sunday
Telegraph.
"Bonyongwe presented a report compiled by the
intelligence services
warning Mugabe to find an alternative candidate to
represent the ruling
Zanu-PF party, as he would be defeated and gravely
embarrass himself because
of levels of social discontent that have reached
boiling point."
The report was presented to a meeting of the joint
operations command,
its chairman is Mugabe, which brings together senior
representatives of the
police, army, prison service and the Central
Intelligence Organisation.
It said support for the president was at
rock bottom because of severe
economic crisis, with ordinary Zimbabweans
struggling to survive in the face
of inflation of more than 3,700 per cent,
unemployment at 80 per cent and
shortages of basic foodstuffs and
fuel.
Mugabe is said to have sat through the presentation with a
"frowning,
cold face". Yet he seems to be stepping up measures to secure
victory for
his party.
Last week, he ordered its youth militia,
the "green bombers", to turn
villages into no-go areas for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party.
"Mugabe said he was
not giving up on next year's polls as this would
be a victory to our
colonisers [Britain], who want to rule us using their
puppets in the MDC,"
said one of those who attended the meeting.
The question of
Mugabe's candidacy has divided his party, with a
powerful faction led by
Vice-President Joyce Mujuru and her husband,
Solomon, a retired army
general, pushing for his retirement at the end of
his term.
Mr
and Mrs Mujuru are each seen as contenders to take over from Mugabe
if
Zanu-PF can arrange a smooth transfer of power.
WPN
|
June 18, 2007 issue - Last Maingehama was on his way to a memorial service when he was kidnapped. A little after 2 p.m. on March 20, in the middle of an upscale Harare neighborhood, government thugs dragged Last out of his car, tied a blindfold around his eyes and drove him into the Zimbabwean savanna. For the next five hours they beat the 33-year-old businessman and opposition activist relentlessly with hard wooden "battlesticks." They pounded the soles of his feet, he says, in an account verified by two independent human-rights researchers. They broke his left leg just below the kneecap. And then, when he was bruised and bloody and unconscious, the men left Last for dead and disappeared into the night. When Last finally crawled back to the road, half naked and petrified, he flagged down a passing tractor. But it is a sign of how pervasive the climate of fear has grown in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe that even to his rescuer, Last lied about what had happened in the bush that night. "I told [him] I was robbed," Last recalled recently. "I was afraid even of that farmer."
Inside his country, however, Mugabe's rule is increasingly taking on the outlines of the worst dictatorships—another Burma, or even North Korea. On a rare journey into Zimbabwe, NEWSWEEK found a nation dominated by fear and the ever-present secret police, where a suspicious population is gradually turning on itself. Since early March, when police violently dispersed an MDC rally and arrested the party's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, some 500 opposition foot soldiers have been abducted, beaten and dumped miles from their homes. Neighbors are enlisted to spy on neighbors. Speaking out, even on the most mundane issue, is often met with a harsh response. If he cannot rig the March election, Mugabe seems intent on making sure no one will dare support his challengers. Tsvangirai, who suffered severe head wounds while in detention, says: "We're under siege."
WPN
Sleep Tight: The country’s already crowded urban slums are
swelling in size
|
Mugabe came to power in 1980 as a hero, having led a brutal war of liberation against the white-rule government of Ian Smith. For more than a decade he was feted as a reformer who educated his countrymen. Among other African leaders, that reputation silenced any criticism of his brutal treatment of rivals, just as it has in the past few years as his forces set about intimidating opposition leaders, beating prominent activists and cracking down on the press.
But such tactics have drawn fierce and unwelcome attention abroad; a British Foreign Office minister recently warned that Mugabe was opening himself up to war-crimes charges. So now Mugabe is going after the "nuts and bolts" of the opposition, says Roy Bennett, a former parliamentarian who fled Zimbabwe last year. Authorities are focusing on drivers, accountants, secretaries—the anonymous workers who keep the movement afloat. "What [the government] has done is move away from the high-profile people," says Dell. "Now they're hollowing out the opposition at the grass-roots level."
In Harare, NEWSWEEK spoke to one of the new targets—a woman who holds a midlevel administrative position in the MDC. A week earlier, Harare police hauled her into the central police station's notorious "law and order" section. There officers from the Central Intelligence Division—one of several different spy departments—forced her to drink several liters of water until she vomited repeatedly and urinated on herself. She was kept for two days and then released without explanation. Since then, the cops have called her several times a day to check in. "Why aren't you at your desk?" they taunt when she leaves work. "We can see you now." They called again just before she met a NEWSWEEK reporter. "I'm scared all the time," says the woman, who asked that her real name not be used for the sake of her family's security. "I don't know how much longer I can go on like this."
WPN
Victim: This man on the outskirts of Harare says he has been
tortured by the police
|
Mugabe's goons see enemies everywhere, not just in the opposition ranks. The slums that ring Harare have been devastated by 80 percent unemployment and crippling fuel and electricity shortages. There, government spies and young militiamen—indoctrinated and trained in special camps—lurk in the muddy lanes. When NEWSWEEK visited 53-year-old "Patience" K. in a modest shack with a corrugated-tin roof and bare concrete floors, an older woman posted herself by the window, pulling aside a frayed yellow curtain to watch for unfamiliar faces.
Patience, a mother of six and member of a local women's organization, was arrested on April 24 along with 55 other women and children when they staged a sit-in to call attention to the massive power outages that strike Harare daily. She says the protesters, including five children under the age of 4, were held for two days in a single room where enraged police beat and trampled on them repeatedly, threatening at one point to "feed them to the crocodiles." The cops broke Patience's wrist. A 3-month-old boy, whose mother was caught in the flurry of blows, suffered a broken leg. "But what they did to us—it worked," says Patience. "We haven't done anything since then."
Most insidious is the impact all this is having on ordinary Zimbabweans, many of whom now eye each other with deep suspicion. Cell-phone conversations are kept brief. Fake names are used with strangers. A persistent rumor in Harare has it that the Chinese recently built Mugabe a sophisticated listening post outside the capital from which to monitor e-mail and phone calls. "No one trusts anyone else anymore," says Moses Mzila, an opposition parliamentarian from the southern town of Plumtree. In his district, traditional chiefs have been pressured to name which of their followers sympathize with the opposition; MDC supporters are then denied food aid. Two weeks ago the government began requiring that school principals supply detailed personal information about teachers to state investigators.
The opposition has itself been riven by paranoia and personality clashes. A bitter policy dispute caused the movement to split in October 2005, and the two sides spend as much time sniping at each other now as at Mugabe. "Their strategy is to keep on dividing us until there is no opposition left," says Arthur Mutambara, a rival to Tsvangirai who is also participating in the South Africa talks. Still, Mugabe is taking no chances. He recently gerrymandered Zimbabwe's districts to add more than 84 seats to his parliamentary majority. He's also "reactivated" the war veterans he used to usurp white-owned farms. "What are they doing that for except as in preparation for violence?" warns Mzila.
In his 27 years in power, this isn't the first time Mugabe has struck out hard. He brought treason charges against Tsvangirai in 2005 and then jailed him, only to release him later when the case proved baseless. Prominent MDC activists and agitators have been murdered in the past several years. Even as far back as the early 1980s, when Mugabe was being hailed as a cold-war hero in the West, he cracked down on rivals in Matabeleland, in the south of Zimbabwe, leaving an estimated 30,000 dead and no obstacles to one-party rule.
The question now is whether his death grip on power will break Zimbabwe. At current production levels, the country will face a million-ton shortage of maize this year. Hyperinflation continues to increase, and may soon require the nation to switch to the more stable South African rand. Mugabe has acknowledged to some how serious the problems in his country are. "He knows there is a crisis," Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told NEWSWEEK last week. So far, a massive uprising doesn't seem imminent. But there isn't much holding back outright confrontation, either. At this point, Mugabe might, in fact, welcome one.
With Karen MacGregor in Durban
Santa Barbara News Press
ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press
Writer
June 9, 2007 6:47 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -
Zimbabwe's government has proposed constitutional
amendments on electoral
policy and the creation of a human rights
commission, steps critics say are
designed to mask abuses and strengthen
President Robert Mugabe's hold on
power.
The proposed rights commission would have 16 members drawn from
names
compiled by Mugabe and the ruling party-dominated parliament,
according to
an official notice available on Saturday.
Human rights
groups and Mugabe critics have called the proposed commission a
likely smoke
screen for his democratic and human rights abuses. However the
government
says it was designed following U.N. recommendations.
Mugabe's government
has been clamping down on the opposition, fearing a
worsening economic
crisis could spark an uprising. Annual inflation is
running at 3,714 percent
- the highest in the world - and there are acute
shortages of hard currency,
gasoline, food and most other basic goods.
The amendments bill also has
provisions for holding parliamentary and
presidential elections at the same
time in March, and for increasing the
number of seats in the House of
Assembly from 150 to 210 and in the Senate
from 66 to 84.
To hold the
elections simultaneously, the bill proposes shortening the terms
of the
president and parliament from six years to five.
Mugabe has said holding
legislative and presidential elections together
would minimize ballot costs.
Critics have called it a tactic to entrench the
ruling party's hold over the
legislature by shortening the existing
assembly's term by two
years.
The current House of Assembly, in which the opposition holds
40 seats, was
elected amid allegations of violence, intimidation and vote
rigging.
The bill, scheduled to be debated by parliament next month, also
proposes
carving up several constituencies to form new voting
districts.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has accused the
government of
changing district boundaries to undermine opposition
strongholds. The
government insists constituencies are too large for
incumbent lawmakers to
manage their affairs.
The amendments also
would reduce the number of lawmakers appointed by Mugabe
to the enlarged
lower house from 30 to 10. But it increases the number of
senators he would
name from 16 to 34.
If Mugabe defeats the fractured opposition in
presidential elections next
year, he would hold on to power until 2013 when
he will be nearly 90. The
83-year-old has been Zimbabwe's only ruler since
independence from Britain
in 1980.
AP-WS-06-09-07 2138EDT
By Violet Gonda
9 June
2007-06-09
Woza rights campaigners Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu
who had been
arrested early this week have been released today on $100 000
bail each and
remanded to the 18th of June. They were arrested after they
handed
themselves in at Bulawayo Central Police station, in solidarity with
their
colleagues who had also been arrested while demonstrating for their
inclusion in the SADDC initiative peace talks between government and
opposition parties.
Five of their fellow activists released on Friday
were beaten during their
detention since Wednesday. Rosemary Siziba and
Angeline Karuru received
particularly vicious attacks. Annie Sibanda, WOZA
spokesperson told SWRA
that, Alice Banda, one of the activists who was also
assaulted by the police
but had not been arrested, was hospitalized after
being kicked in the
abdomen, and was due for emergency exploratory surgery
on Saturday.
The US State Department condemned the violent suppression of
WOZA
demonstrations and had called for the immediate release of the
activists.
Jenni Williams is a recipient of Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's 2007
International Women of Courage Award for Africa.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
OhmyNews
Most towns and
cities face power cuts
Nelson G. Katsande
Published 2007-06-10 10:58 (KST)
Most towns in Zimbabwe now
resemble ghost towns as a result of the
regular power cuts introduced by the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA). Many industries have ceased
operations owing to the continual power
cuts, with thousands of workers
likely to lose jobs. The Zimbabwe
government, which used to finance the cash
strapped authority, has failed to
help resulting in most towns and cities
going for days without electricity.
Retailers last week reported
massive losses as frozen foodstuffs
defrosted. A Midlands province-based
retailer specializing in the supply of
poultry and other perishable
foodstuffs reported losses running into
millions of dollars. The proprietor,
who refused to be named for fear of
reprisals, blamed the government for its
failure in running the economy.
ZESA, which earlier this month
warned consumers to brace for more
prolonged power cuts, is at the verge of
collapse. It is reported to owe its
creditors billions of dollars. A ZESA
Engineer based in Zvimba, Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's home area,
said the situation is pathetic: "If
Mugabe's home area has been without
electricity for days, do you think other
areas will have supplies restored
anytime soon?"
With most industries operating below capacity, the
inflation rate is
likely to shoot up, as are the prices of basic
commodities. The monthly cost
of renting a room in Chitungwiza is now
equivalent to the monthly salary of
most civil servants. Taking a warm bath
is now a luxury. Power supplies are
normally cut as early as 3 a.m. and
restored at nine in the evening.
Most households have been severely
hit by the power cuts, which go on
for 2 days before being temporarily
restored. Schoolchildren have to go to
school without breakfast due to the
power cuts. Angry residents in Harare
were last Friday reported to be
planning a march in protest of the power
cuts. But their cause has been
dealt a hard blow by ruling party supporters
who accused them of
sympathizing with the opposition.
In Zimbabwe today, those who
demonstrate against the government are
labeled opposition supporters and are
dealt with by the militia and security
forces.
Nomsa Chimbango,
a ZESA technician, told OhmyNews she was
contemplating leaving in search of
greener pastures in neighboring South
Africa. She said, "ZESA is now as
hopeless as ZANU-PF [the ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic
Front]. Both have let the people down and
must be replaced."
Despite reports of beatings by the police, most disgruntled consumers
openly
voiced their concerns and said the 2008 general elections will prove
difficult for the ruling party. The majority of suffering people now want
Mugabe out of power. But until then, it remains to be seen how Mugabe will
run the economy.
©2007 OhmyNews
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE cash-strapped Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa) has
unofficially introduced up to 20-hour daily power cuts,
virtually turning
cities into villages.
Zesa last month
announced the blackouts for households across the
country to allow supplies
to be shifted to the winter wheat crop in order to
beat the current food
shortages.
The parastatal was quick to make a u-turn after protests
from
consumers.
But over the past week, there has been clear
evidence that the almost
insolvent national power utility has been switching
off electricity in most
parts of the country as early 4AM, restoring it only
around 9PM.
At times, power supplies were disconnected for more
than 24 hours.
Angry urban dwellers said the long, unannounced
power cuts had
severely affected their lives.
The
vice-president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC)
for
Matabeleland region, Charles Chiponda, said industry was in a "state of
dilemma" because of the power cuts.
He said they had approached
Zesa to see if the parastatal could
guarantee electricity to companies in
Matabeleland during the night, when
national power consumption would be
low.
"We asked Zesa if they can also guarantee us electricity as
they did
with the wheat farmers, but they said it's not possible," said
Chiponda. "So
we are in a dilemma."
He estimated industry to be
operating at between 20% and 30% capacity
because of the power
crisis.
"Unless something is done urgently, industry will continue
to suffer
and people will continue to lose their jobs," he
said.
But the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president
Callisto
Jokonya said the power cuts had only affected manufacturing
industries in
the smaller towns.
Jokonya said the most affected
towns were Chegutu, Kadoma and Kwekwe.
Reports say other towns such
as Zvishavane, Chinhoyi, Marondera and
Nyanga have been equally hard
hit.
"Manufacturing industries in major towns such as Harare and
Bulawayo
have not been affected by the recent technical problems at Hwange,"
said
Jokonya. "Zesa has not been switching us off that much but industries
in
smaller towns have been seriously affected."
Hardest hit are
urban dwellers.
They said they could no longer buy perishable goods
in bulk because of
load-shedding. Children often go to school without
breakfast.
"It's as if we live in the rural areas," said Mrs
Delight Rukweza of
Highfield.
Primrose Kusena of Mufakose said
Zesa had turned all urban centres
into villages.
"We would be
better off living at a growth point than here because one
is assured of
getting cheaper firewood. Here, we don't have electricity and
firewood is
expensive," she said.
Small-scale businesses in residential areas
such as shops, butcheries
and hammer mills have been seriously crippled by
the power cuts.
But some enterprising residents have developed
survival strategies.
Most millers in residential areas are now milling at
night when power has
been restored.
"We close for the whole day
and starting grinding around 9 PM when is
power is restored," said Sekuru
Samutoko of Kambuzuma in Harare.
The power cuts have seriously hit
mines and factories, leading to a
serious decline in
production.
Zesa Holdings chairman, Professor Christopher
Chetsanga, denied they
had introduced the 20-hour load-shedding scheme it
announced last month.
He attributed the current blackouts to a
technical problem at Hwange
power station last weekend.
"Because of that," he said, "Zesa has not been operating at its usual
capacity."
Chetsanga said Zesa was working on rectifying the
problem.
In January, he said regional power firms that had
previously
contributed 35% of Zimbabwe's total consumption had only
guaranteed 150
megawatts of power to Zesa.
He said they were
negotiating for more supplies.
MDC anti-senate faction spokesperson
Nelson Chamisa said the blackouts
were a mockery of the government's efforts
to turn around the economy.
He said many householders were losing
their electrical gadgets due to
power cuts, while industrial production was
at a stand-still in some areas.
"There is no better evidence of the
failure of a government than the
inability to provide basic services. This
situation makes a mockery of talks
about turning around the economy,"
Chamisa said.
Zesa has failed to refurbish aging power stations,
most of them
crumbling due to under-funding, non-existent planning and
downright neglect
as the country grapples a severe economic meltdown,
triggered by the 2000
farm invasions.
Smaller thermal power
stations at Munyati, Hwange and Bulawayo have
not been working for some time
now.
"We had a meeting with Zesa officials here last week and they
told us
that it's not going to be better," said Chiponda from Bulawayo. "He
said
Munyati and Harare stations were down while the Bulawayo station was
generating a little bit."
Last week, Zesa hiked tariffs by 50%
in an effort to raise enough
revenue to import power.
It is
estimated that up to US$2-billion is required to install new
equipment and
expand production at Hwange and Kariba power stations to meet
increased
industrial and domestic demand.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
A visitor might think it's a farm garage.
There is a broken down tractor, old, rusty stoves. An ancient deep
freezer
lies nearby.
A closer look would compel the visitor to think
twice.
There are piles and piles of decrepit school furniture -
chairs,desks
and drawers.
You don't expect to find broken-down
chairs at a farm where
productivity is in full swing.
Forget
the guesswork.Welcome to Cranborne Boys High in Harare.
Years ago,
the school was the pride of both administrators and
students.
Now it's a microcosm of the decay and disaster that has befallen our
education.
One teacher said: "Cranborne is in an advanced state
of decay."
The classroom walls are dirty, the desks and chairs
broken, the floor
tiles have peeled off.
Most worrying, all
locks, bulbs and sockets in the classrooms in the
secondary block are
missing - stolen?
There was once a giant swimming pool, full of
clean, sparkling water.
Now, it's half-filled with dirty water. Only frogs
and mosquitoes find
pleasure here.
The Standard has established
it's not just this former group A school
that is collapsing.
From classrooms, sporting facilities and grounds, there is evidence
most
public schools in Harare are at various stages of decay as the economy
continues its free fall. It's the fate of most government institutions
today.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive
Teachers' Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), taught History and Commerce at Cranborne
High in
1997-98.
Last week, he said "It was a wonderful school,
with top-of-the-range
facilities. Now the infrastructure is run
down."
Majongwe said the problem was not confined to his former
school, but
to public schools all over the country.
"Our
members all over the country tell us how schools are collapsing.
The level
of vandalism is shocking. It's happening and nobody seems to
care," said
Majongwe.
"When the ministry was functioning properly you never
expected people
who vandalised school property to get away with it. Now,
it's different."
Most headmasters said their "hearts bleed" as they
continue to preside
over collapsing schools, once the envy of the
region.
They said the rot started around 2001 when President Robert
Mugabe's
government cut back the schools' budgets after the farm invasions
and a
crisis spawned by the violent 2000 elections.
In a
populist move, the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture,
Aeneas
Chigwedere, imposed such low fees most schools could not raise enough
money
to operate as in the past.
Primary schools still charge $1 500 a
term for a child, not enough to
buy a marker. Schools are forced to rely on
levies.
Headmasters say the levies have been politicised by a
government
determined to make education affordable to people suffering under
the worst
economic crisis since independence.
Parents now
decide the fees they can afford. Their proposals are
forwarded to the
ministry for approval.
"This is not different from a customer
deciding the price of something
they want to buy," said a member of the
Queensdale, Harare, SDA. "A few
vociferous parents with limited incomes can
push for a $20 000 levy for a
term. Parents know it cannot buy anything, but
might be forced to approve
it. That money is enough to buy one exercise
book."
Until last week, Cranborne charged $30 000 - enough to buy
two loaves
of bread. After a recent parents' meeting, the ministry set the
levy at $200
000, still far short of what is needed.
A Harare
headmaster said approving these unrealistic levies was not
easy. "It can be
termed a Chigwedere circus," he said. "The ministry needs
to know the
parents at the meetings, the minutes, their signatures and how
many voted
for and against. Then he would determine whether or not to
approve it. The
process can even take over a month."
The Standard was told
ministerial approval could be secured when the
cost of whatever was needed
had quadrupled or when the commodities were no
longer
available.
"In that case, how are you expected to run a school?"
asked a
headmaster. "Our hands are tied. We are bystanders as schools
collapse."
Rural schools are the worst affected, as most parents
have no incomes
to fund the day-to-day expenses of their
schools.
"At our school, chalk is now rationed," said a Gutu
teacher. "One
teacher, one chalk, for days. When supplies run out, we
teachers have to
improvise: write with our fingers in the ground, the sad
reality these
days."
At new schools set up in former commercial
farms, ballpoint pens, pins
and "sticky stuff" for sticking charts to the
walls, and exercise books are
scarce.
Underpaid teachers spend
most of their time scrounging for money to
survive. District education
officers are bogged down by transport problems,
compounded by the fuel
crisis. They long ceased their regular rounds.
Is there any
hope?
School administrators predict the decline will continue. They
allege
they are "saddled" with a minister who concentrates on peripheral,
rather
than fundamental matters.
Chigwedere is a historian. He
has in the past stirred controversy over
a national dress and one uniform
for all schools.
Stephen Mahere, Chigwedere's permanent secretary,
said they could not
be blamed for everything.
"Public
buildings, their maintenance and so on, are the responsibility
of the
Ministry of Local Government. As a ministry, we are there for the
development of education and uplifting standards,"
There is not
much evidence of that!
Zim Standard
By
Vusumuzi Sifile
THE Canadian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Roxanne
Dube, says there is much
Western capital ready to fund Zimbabwean projects,
but the money could not
be released unless there "are some changes
domestically", on the political
and economic front.
Among other
conditions, the new policies should provide for
transparency in
implementation of projects to assist vulnerable groups.
According
to Dube, most Western countries, including Canada, have
funds that could be
handy for community development initiatives,
particularly for rural
communities.
But the countries are holding on to their money
because of the current
economic and political uncertainty.
Dube
said the West was eagerly waiting for the outcome of the ongoing
Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) mediation by South African
President
Thabo Mbeki to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis, now a threat to the
entire
SADC.
Dube was speaking after launching Munemo rural health centre
and
another project aimed at eradicating gender-based violence in Nyanga
North,
Manicaland.
Both projects are valued at CN$145 000,
about Z$37 million at the
official exchange rate and over Z$8 billion at the
parallel rate.
Funding for both projects, and another donation of
Z$220m to Mazarura
Secondary School, were sourced by the Nyanga North
Natural Resources and
Development Watch Board, which comprises a number of
executives from the
area.
Munemo health services centre is set
to benefit close to 30 000
families in the area, as well as clients from
neighbouring Mozambican
communities.
"If there is a change of
policies, we will respond even more. There is
a lot of Western capital ready
for Zimbabwe, but it cannot be released
because of uncertainty over the
current economic policies and the ongoing
repression, political violence,
rampant corruption and inflation," Dube
said.
She said her
government, and other Western countries fully supported
the Mbeki
initiative, and its outcome would have a strong bearing on the
availability
of funds for Zimbabwean projects.
"There is need for some changes
domestically that will create room for
a conducive environment for the
implementation of policies that will benefit
all Zimbabweans. Canada is
determined to support programmes that help
improve communities in Zimbabwe,
particularly the conditions of vulnerable
groups.
"At the
moment it is difficult to think how effective the funds would
be used
because of the problems I mentioned."
Dube spoke a few days after
the publication of an interview President
Mugabe gave to Baffour Ankomah,
editor of The New African.
Asked if his party had not found a
successor now that he was seeking
another term of office, Mugabe was quoted
as saying:
"Well, for as long as I can go on and for as long as the
party wishes
me to go. That's the combination. And if the party says stand,
it means the
party has not found a successor. We will find a successor in
due course."
Western donors were the major contributors towards the
completion of
community projects in the early years of independence. But a
major fallout
with the government in 2000 resulted in many western countries
reducing
their support.
Zim Standard
By
Vusumuzi Sifile
ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Nyanga, Paul
Kadzima, on Thursday
called for "divine mercy" to help him deliver his Zanu
PF campaign message,
as his constituents seemed to reject it.
Kadzima took advantage of two functions organised by the Canadian
embassy in
his constituency to campaign for President Robert Mugabe.
At Munemo
rural health centre, and later at a church near Elim
Mission, Kadzima
struggled to excite the villagers with his political
message: some said
openly they felt this was not the right place or time for
politicking.
At Munemo, Kadzima was assigned to present a
speech on behalf of
Manicaland governor, Tinaye Chigudu, who could not
attend the function.
After reading the speech in English, Kadzima
then switched to Shona
and told the villagers that "he had a few things to
say".
Then he reminded the villagers there were crucial elections
next year,
and that Zanu PF had endorsed Mugabe as the sole candidate. He
said he did
not expect anyone to question this decision.
He
told them those who did not register as voters would not receive
food aid.
The area had a poor harvest in the last season.
Many attempts to
get the villagers to ululate, as they often do at
political rallies, failed.
Then Kadzima said in Shona: "I know there are
people who are not happy with
my message. I beg you in the name of Jesus,
let us set aside our
differences, so we can all be happy. Only Jesus can
make this message
acceptable to all; as humans we cannot say things that
will make everybody
happy . . . I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ . . ."
But the
villagers appeared unmoved. Only two, introduced as members of
the Zanu PF
district co-ordinating committee, responded with a loud "Amen!"
Kadzima was not pleased, and then threatened that the villagers could
find
themselves in neighbouring Mutoko constituency after the forthcoming
delimitation exercise.
The MP did the same at a church near
Elim Mission, where the Canadians
were launching a project against gender
abuse, but the response from the
crowd of mostly women and schoolgirls was
worse.
Kadzima had been asked to give a vote of thanks, but started
to talk
Zanu PF politics.
Earlier, during introductions at
Munemo, a number of traditional
leaders appeared uncomfortable with the
"Pamberi neZanu PF!" slogan. It was
so serious that one village head chanted
"Pamberi nesimbe!" Like a number of
others, he did not clench his
fist.
The Standard later established that Kadzima was not a regular
visitor
to that part of Nyanga North. He also admitted to the Canadian
Ambassador,
Roxanne Dube, that he had never mobilised such a large crowd in
Ruangwe. He
told Dube to "tell your (Canadian) government that the community
of Nyanga
North is in dire need of your assistance".
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE
MAPONGA
SEVEN Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials
and activists
suspected of petrol bombing public places around the country,
were freed
last week after spending 62 days in remand prison.
But five others remained in custody, facing charges relating to
training
insurgents, terrorists and saboteurs in South Africa
The case is to
be heard tomorrow at the Harare Magistrates' Courts.
The case was
removed from further remand after lawyers representing
the MDC activists
challenged the slow pace of police investigations into the
matter.
Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa ordered the release
of the 12
activists after the State conceded all the accused could be
removed from
further remand.
The matter will now proceed by way
of summons.
Another MDC activist Piniel Denga, facing charges of
illegally
possessing explosives was again granted a $50 million bail with
stringent
reporting conditions at the Harare central police's law and order
section.
Among those set free on Thursday were journalist Luke
Tamborinyoka and
other employees of the MDC arrested on 28 March after a
police raid at
Harvest House, the party's headquarters in
Harare.
The defence team led by Charles Kwaramba of Mbidzo,
Muchadehama and
Makoni, had argued the police had failed to come up with
enough evidence to
link the accused to the alleged petrol
bombings.
"The evidence before this court clearly shows that police
are not yet
ready to put this matter on trial," he said. "Previously, the
applicants
have been denied bail on the basis that the police needed enough
time to
investigate. Sufficient time has elapsed and nothing seems to be
happening."
Kwaramba said the police were asking for more time to
investigate the
case since the arrests on March 28 at the expense of the
defendants'
liberty. He challenged affidavits by one Peter Chindodana, which
formed the
basis of the State case. Kwaramba argued that Chindodana's
signature on the
affidavit in one case differed from the other two
affidavits used in two
similar cases.
"Therefore, the said
Peter Chindodana does not exist and is a
fictional character. The character
has been created to find a basis for
remanding the accused persons. Even if
he existed his averment in the
affidavit still does not link the accused
person to the offences. We had
hoped that the case would go beyond this
Chindodana."
State prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare tried to have an
investigating
officer testify on the progress of the investigation but the
magistrate
insisted he should make the submissions on behalf of the
police.
After consulting with the investigating officer, Zvekare
conceded that
the accused could be removed from further remand and the State
would only
proceed by way of summons.
MDC spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa yesterday said the release was a
confirmation that the opposition
party had nothing to do with the petrol
bombings. "All those who have been
arrested are political victims and they
have served 62 days in custody for
no crime. It's not by accident that all
those arrested are key members in
the structures of the party. It was
designed to cripple all our activities,"
Chamisa said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - There is a flight of prosecutors from the
judiciary
service, and the job is now being left to ill-trained police
officers, The
Standard's in-depth investigations have
established.
Sources in the Attorney-General's office said
prosecutors were leaving
because of poor pay and working conditions. Before
the government reviewed
all civil servants' salaries, prosecutors and
magistrates were paid between
$650 000 and $1.4 million a
month.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Patrick
Chinamasa
and Attorney General Sobusa Gula Ndebele could not be reached for
comment
yesterday.
But insiders said the AG's office had been
heavily compromised
following the departure of experienced
prosecutors.
Prosecutors are supposed to undergo a two-year
training course at the
Judiciary College, or four years and five years at
the University of
Zimbabwe and the Midlands State University (MSU)
respectively.
But due to the shortages, The Standard was told,
police officers were
being recruited to fill the void.
"They
train at the Staff College, yet prosecutors should go through
the two-year
course for solid grounding," said a Bulawayo magistrate.
"This is
why some of the state cases always collapse, while others are
not handled
properly by some of the police officers."
Judicial sources said
what was exacerbating the crisis was the
shortage of stationery and related
materials needed for the smooth flow of
the justice system.
At
the Bulawayo magistrates' courts, for example, all the photocopying
machines
were broken down, forcing the staff to sometimes use their own
money for
photocopying.
In Tsholotsho, the photocopying machine has never
been repaired after
it broke down in 2003.
The rural court has
no computer or typewriter, which delays the
dispatch of records to Bulawayo
for review and appeal.
"This is one reason for the low morale among
prosecutors," said a
prosecutor based in Bulawayo. "Records have to be sent
within seven days,
but how do you do that when you don't have
stationery?"
At the official opening of the 2007 High Court
Judicial year, Judge
President Justice Rita Makarau lamented that the
justice delivery system was
in shambles and needed urgent funding to bring
it back on track.
Justice Makarau said over the years the funds
allocated to the
judiciary had dwindled, against an increasing
workload.
Zim Standard
By Davison
Maruziva
AFRICA had its moment of
glory last week when for the first time it
hosted the World Association of
Newspapers (WAN) congress in Cape Town. But
it was also reminded of its duty
to Zimbabwe.
Gavin O'Reilly, WAN's president, seized on the
occasion to talk of the
tragedy in Zimbabwe.
"Though conscious
that it is a sovereign state," O'Reilly told
President Thabo Mbeki, "we hope
- Mr President - that you will bring your
considerable influence and abiding
sense of justice to do all in your power
to help rectify the flagrant abuses
of freedom that exist in that country.
"We readily recognise that
the Mugabe regime sees fit to discount any
legitimate commentary from the
international community, but we hope that a
fellow African nation like South
Africa can actively encourage real progress
and bring normalcy and true
liberty to that country."
Mbeki has already been mandated to
mediate in talks between President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and the
opposition MDC with a view to bring finality
to the seven-year-old Zimbabwe
crisis, sparked by the chaotic land invasions
that in part explains the
current food shortages in Zimbabwe.
Addressing more than 1 600
delegates at the opening of the 60th WAN
Congress and 14th WEF, O'Reilly
said the daily persecution and harassment of
the free press must cease and
that Press freedom ought to be much higher on
the agenda of African
development proposals.
"In the Declaration of Table Mountain,
approved in Cape Town by our
representative boards this weekend," O'Reilly
said, "we have called on all
African states to recognise the indivisibility
of Press freedom and to
respect their commitments to international and
African protocols upholding
this freedom and independence."
WAN
was particularly grieved that the African Union in instituting its
Peer
Review Mechanism under Nepad had excluded the fostering of a free and
independent press as a key requirement in the assessment of good governance
in the countries on the continent.
"We would very much hope, Mr
President, that you will take a
leadership role in trying to convince your
colleague Heads of State to put
this vital question back on the development
agenda," O'Reilly said.
The strong free press that has emerged in
South Africa since the end
of apartheid, O'Reilly said, can and should be an
inspiration.
"Perhaps the greatest durable scourge of Press freedom
in Africa is
the continued implementation of insult laws which outlaw
criticism of
politicians and those in authority, and criminal defamation
legislation,
both of which are used indiscriminately in the vast majority of
nations that
maintain them in order to silence a critical press. These,
O'Reilly said,
"should be abolished".
When it was his turn to
address the congress Mbeki said the omission
from the African Peer Review
Mechanism of a key component fostering a free
and independent press in the
assessment of good governance in African
countries was an "oversight". He
made an undertaking to raise the matter at
the African Union.
"I was surprised to hear that. It's not deliberate that it's not
there. It's
an oversight," Mbeki said to applause from the delegates.
"We
should all of us be sensitive to this problem and act on it and
not merely
make good speeches."
There were some countries where journalists
were in prison and this,
Mbeki said, was "worrying". African media workers
had complained about this,
as had the African Union Special Rapporteur for
Freedom of Expression in her
reports.
"There is particular
anger around what is seen as impunity enjoyed by
some governments in their
perceived or actual actions against journalists
and editors," Mbeki said. "I
am also aware of the feeling among African
editors that libel and similar
laws are used to deal with a media that is
seen as uncomplimentary to the
authorities.
"The problem of media freedom around the continent is
an important one
as the media's role in informing and thereby empowering the
people of Africa
cannot be disputed. We note with appreciation the efforts
underway between
the African Union and the African Editors' Forum to declare
a year of
African media freedom so as to mobilise public opinion around the
important
role media plays in development.
"There are also
plans for an annual day for media freedom as well as
opening lines of
communication between political leadership and editors.
This may culminate
in the first debate between five presidents and five
editors."
Mbeki said this kind of dialogue was new and holds out the hope for
breaking
new ground in extending freedoms and understanding between
political leaders
and leaders of the media community. "For our part here at
home, we are
meeting with our editors in two weeks' time to share ideas . .
."
On the eve of the congress, former president Nelson Mandela
welcomed
the delegates saying South Africa believed in expanding the
frontiers of
freedom for every human being. ". . . But as I have always
said, newspapers
allow us to hold a mirror up to ourselves, and we must be
brave enough to
look squarely at the reflection."
Zim Standard
By our
Staff
MOSCOW - The secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists,
Foster Dongozi, was elected to the executive committee of the
International
Federation of Journalists at its World Congress in Moscow,
Russia last
weekend.
Dongozi, the president of the Southern
Africa Journalists Association
(SAJA), was elected alongside two other
Africans to the executive committee.
Jim Boumelha of the National
Union of Journalists in the United
Kingdom was elected president of the IFJ
while Osvaldo Urriolabeitia from
Argentina was elected senior
vice-president.
Mjahed Younous (Morocco) and Khady Cissay (Senegal)
were elected as
the two vice-presidents while Uli Remel (Germany) was
elected treasurer.
Other members of the IFJ executive committee
include Naim Toubassi
(Palestine), Eva Stabell (Norway), Christopher Warren
(Australia), Linda
Foley (USA) and Sabina Inderjit (India).
Dongozi said he hoped to use his position to help improve the
operating
environment of journalists in Zimbabwe who are reeling from
hardships after
the government shut down four newspapers, rendering most of
them
unemployed.
"We lobbied for the setting up of a distress fund for
colleagues in
Africa with a special emphasis on Zimbabwe and now what we
need to do is to
organise distressed journalists to see what form of
assistance we can extend
to them," he said.
The IFJ which was
founded in 1926 is a global confederation of
journalists operating in 162
countries and representing more than one
million journalists.
Although it's headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, it has regional
offices on
all continents.
Meanwhile, last week's congress condemned the
continued crackdown
against Zimbabwean journalists by the
government.
Journalists have been experiencing state repression
since March when
former ZBC cameraman and producer, Edward Chikomba was
abducted and murdered
by suspected government hitmen.
He was
reportedly suspected of having leaked video footage of
opposition and civic
society leaders tortured while in police custody.
The IFJ congress
urged the Zimbabwean government to reopen the four
newspapers it shut down
since 2003.
In Cape Town, the World Association of Newspapers
meeting also
released a statement, calling on the government of President
Mugabe to stop
harassing journalists.
Zim Standard
By
Bertha Shoko
ZIMBABWE will this year not be applying for HIV
and Aids funding in
the Round 7 call for proposals by the Global Fund, but
will instead submit a
proposal for funding on malaria and tuberculosis
(TB).
The Global Fund to fight malaria, tuberculosis and HIV and
Aids was
established in 2002 to provide funding to the developing world in
an effort
to stamp out three killer diseases: malaria, TB and HIV and
Aids.
As the deadline for Round 7 proposals to the Global Fund
draws near,
Zimbabwe's Country Co-ordinating Mechanism (CCM) to the Global
Fund is
reportedly working "flat out" to finalise this proposal for TB and
malaria
only.
The CCM is made up of representatives from both
the public and private
sectors including governments, non-governmental
organisations, academic
institutions, private businesses and, where HIV and
Aids is concerned,
people living with the disease.
The CCM is
tasked with drawing up a proposal based on priority needs
at a national
level and after wide consultations with various relevant
stakeholders.
Standardhealth understands that almost one year
after the Global Fund
approved Zimbabwe's Round 5 application the
organisation has not yet
disbursed a single cent of the grant to the
National Aids Council, which is
listed as the principal recipient of the
money.
In this Round 5 application, Zimbabwe had requested funding
for HIV
and Aids, TB and malaria of about US$62 million but only US$32
million was
approved. This is the money the country is yet to receive to
start
implementing various interventions for these three
diseases.
In a telephone interview last Wednesday, the Minister of
Health and
Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, confirmed that Zimbabwe would
be applying
for funds in Round 7 for malaria and TB only. He said the CCM
will
"definitely" meet the July 4 deadline.
Parirenyatwa,
chairman of the CCM, explained that the country would
not be applying again
for HIV and Aids funds because the Global Fund still
owed Zimbabwe the Round
5 grant. "We have an outstanding Round 5 grant which
we have not even
started implementing although we have long signed for it.
This is why we are
not applying again for Aids funding. We are waiting for
our Round 5 grant
but we will submit for TB and malaria only this time," he
said.
In Round 5 Zimbabwe had proposed to introduce and scale up
Anti-Retroviral
Therapy (ART) in 22 districts and also applied for TB and
malaria
funding.
There is growing concern among Aids activists that the
delay in the
disbursement of this grant by the Global Fund could see many
people in
urgent need of ART missing out since the Zimbabwean government has
openly
admitted it has no resources to provide ART to everyone who needs
it.
There are more than 1.8 million people living with HIV and Aids
in the
country, according to the health ministry. Of this figure only 60 000
people
are accessing life-prolonging Anti Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) from
State-run
programmes and in the private sector, compared with the more than
600 000
who are in need of the drugs.
Global Fund
communications executive Jon Liden had not responded to
questions emailed to
him on Tuesday morning by the time of going to press.
Zim Standard
THE recent signing of three Social Contract protocols by
the three
parties to the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) was mostly a
"wish list",
economists said last week.
In separate interviews,
they dismissed the recent development as a
non-event, saying it had an
appeal only as a concept but could not yield the
envisaged
results.
"The signing of the papers is not a development at all,"
said John
Robertson, an independent economic consultant. "It is just a
statement of a
wish, a wish list of fibs that one day things might be
better,"
The three partners to the TNF - the government, business
and labour -
signed three protocols, including the Incomes and Pricing
Stabilisation
Protocol in what the state media described rather
sensationally as a
"landmark demonstration of unity of purpose in
stabilising the economy".
The largest labour grouping, Zimbabwe
Confederation of Trade Unions,
declined to sign the other two protocols - on
Restoration of Productivity
Viability and on Mobilisation, Pricing and
Management of Foreign Currency.
The ZCTU cited the need to consult
their constituency first, before
putting pen to paper on the other
protocols.
The protocols' anticipated results include reducing
inflation from its
current level of 3 713.9% to 25% by the end of the year,
and trimming
government expenditure to 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"With the
current state of affairs, we will need a miracle for inflation to
be brought
down to that figure," Robertson said.
"Among other
things, prices will have to fall by 80 percent and there
is no way we can
hope for that, unless by imagining that we have so much
competition in the
market and everybody has so much to sell and they all
want to get into the
market."
The economists said the partners' commitment to the
concept remained a
challenge.
"The social contract in itself is
a noble concept," Interfin
economist, Farai Dyirakumunda said.
"Unfortunately, there is a challenge in
the actual implementation. Is there
a buy-in on the part of everyone who
signs? It is one thing to sign and
another to implement,"
He said conflicting interests would remain
the biggest challenge. "It
will be difficult to harmonise the divergent
requirements; for example,
labour wants salary hikes and incomes to be
aligned to the Poverty Datum
Line (PDL) while business has to cut costs,"
Dyirakumunda said.
Added Robertson: "I don't see the government
keeping its side of the
bargain because they need to spend so much money but
cannot hope to collect
all of it from taxes. The fact is they have to
continue printing money and
this in itself fuels the inflation they are
trying to prevent."
The economists said "the envisaged social
contract deliverables
remained a bit of a tall order", given the prevailing
inflationary pressures
driven by the thriving parallel market.
They advocated for more external funding and the boosting of activity
in the
productive sector. They also projected the inflation rate would hit
the 10
000% mark by the end of the year if the current trend continued.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, was the first to
propose the
social contract, in January this year.
The proposal was received
with mixed feelings and saw business
engaging in a spate of speculative
activities ahead of Gono's proposed
kick-off date three months
ago.
Among others, businesses hiked prices of goods and services in
anticipation of a price freeze in March - which did not materialise.
Zim Standard
HEILIGENDAMM,
Germany, -
World leaders agreed on Friday a US$60 billion pledge to fight
Aids and
other killer diseases ravaging Africa and restated broader promises
to
double development spending.
"We are aware of our
responsibilities and will fulfil our
obligations," German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, (pictured) hosting Group of
Eight leaders, told reporters on the
final day of the summit.
Campaigners complain that rich nations
have fallen behind on
commitments made to double development aid at a summit
in 2005 in
Gleneagles, Scotland. Many were unimpressed with the
deal.
Leaders agreed to earmark $60 billion to fight Aids, malaria
and
tuberculosis, global diseases that have devastated African peoples and
their
economies.
But the declaration set out no specific
timetable, saying the money
would flow "over the coming years". Neither did
it break down individual
countries' contributions.
Campaigners
for Africa say the pledge is made up largely of money
which has already been
announced, including US$30 billion from the United
States.
"While lives will be saved with more money for Aids, this represents a
cap
on ambition that will ultimately cost millions more lives," said Steve
Cockburn of the Stop Aids Campaign.
He said the pledge falls
short of UN targets which oblige G8 nations
to spend US$15 billion per year
to combat Aids alone through to 2010. In
comparison, the deal looks like
committing them to about $12 billion per
year for all three
diseases.
Leaders also reiterated an overall pledge made in 2005 to
raise annual
aid levels by $50 billion by 2010, $25 billion of which is for
Africa.
"The important thing is that we have recommitted ourselves
to all the
commitments we made a couple of years ago," said British Prime
Minister Tony
Blair who hosted the 2005 meeting.
Campaigners
were not convinced.
"Despite last minute face saving measures, the
G8 has failed its
credibility test on Africa," said Collins Magalasi,
ActionAids's country
director for South Africa.
Blair and
Merkel stressed they expect African leaders to fight
corruption and boost
transparency so donors can track aid as leaders of six
African nations
joined the G8 heads on Friday for their discussion on aid. -
Reuters.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections are
less than nine
months away, yet the electorate has still to be thoroughly
informed of the
state of the playing field.
There has been no
attempt to level the odds which have been staked
against all opposition
parties since independence.
There is still no word on whether or
not Zimbabweans in the Diaspora
will be allowed to vote. The government is
aware of the devastating impact
on its electoral chances if these
disaffected citizens were allowed to vote.
Most fled the economic
and political misery visited upon the country
by this government,
particularly since 2000. There are millions of them in
the United Kingdom,
the United States and South Africa, among other
countries.
Almost all would love to return to help shape the destiny of their
country
which is facing its worst-ever economic and political crisis. It
would be
unconscionable for Zanu PF to be so wrapped up in its selfish
desire to hang
on to power that it would again deny millions of citizens
this inalienable
democratic right.
There is not even any clear indication yet
whether the government will
amend the electoral laws to allow for a truly
independent electoral
commission. So far, Zanu PF is still not willing to
put its alleged superior
popularity to the ultimate test by allowing anyone
other than its president
to decide who should head the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission.
The elections should be supervised by a commission
beholden only to
Parliament and the people, and not a politician with a huge
stake in the
election.
In short, there is as yet no sign of the
government overhauling the
electoral laws so that the conduct of the polls
can satisfy the grievous
concerns of those Zimbabweans disadvantaged by the
present biased process.
Their general grievance concerns the
unfairness of the conduct of the
elections. There is a built-in mechanism,
Zimbabweans believe, which has
made it virtually impossible for any party
other than Zanu PF to win a
parliamentary or presidential
election.
Opposition parties have won urban and rural elections
since 2002, but
the ruling party has used parliamentary by-elections to
regain lost seats.
It has done this by drawing on State's resources unlike
the opposition and
by cordoning off constituencies, threatening or bribing
voters.
It would seem that Zanu PF is comfortable with electoral
losses in the
local government elections. When it comes to Parliament, the
ruling party
seems determined not to take any chances of the people actually
choosing
another party to run the country.
When will Zanu PF
ever accept that the goal of the liberation struggle
was to free the people
from a political and economic system that reduced
them to virtual serfs,
with no right to choose their own leaders, let alone
to enjoy the same
privileges as other people in the world living in a
democratic
system?
Most of the world is anguished by the denial of human
rights of the
people of Zimbabwe. Even in South Africa, where President
Thabo Mbeki seems
immobilised by his seeming awe of Mugabe's liberation war
exploits, there is
rising alarm that Zimbabwe could blow up, with some of
the pieces falling
straight into Mbeki's lap.
Instead of
engaging in political gimmicks, such as the Social Contract
and pretending
that British companies are falling all over themselves to
invest in
Zimbabwe, Zanu PF should heed the warnings of many leaders around
the world,
calling for unconditional dialogue with the opposition.
The
political posturing must end, the gimmicks abandoned and an
earnest effort
made to save the country from certain political and economic
disaster.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by Bill
Saidi
IN a column I wrote for a paper years ago, I noted, with
sadness, the
death of Peggy Lee, the American singer whose 1950s Mr
Wonderful had
completely bowled me over with its soft, warm voice and
lyrics.
I heard it many times on the old federal broadcasting
network.
A reader, touched by my tearful tribute, offered me an
album of Lee's
music, including Fever, The Folks Who Live On The Hill and,
of course, Mr
Wonderful.
To this day, I am not sure why I
didn't go for it. If I had, I would
have discovered that a line I always
thought was One more thing, this is
true, was actually, One more thing, then
I'm through . . . .
As it was, I didn't confront this truth until,
in 2004, I went to
Tower Records in New York and bought myself two Lee CDs
which included her
interpretations of a number of Latin songs, such as
Manana Is Soon Enough
For Me.
It humbled me to discover my
mistake, but perhaps not as humbled or
miffed as a South African woman once
head over heels with the velvet voice
of Nat King Cole.
Now, I knew the very pretty Miss Lee was white. But this woman, living
in
the racist vortex that was apartheid South Africa, didn't know Nat Cole
was
black.
What she did, upon this startling discovery, has been the
subject of
much speculation: did she burn all his albums, or did she break
them into
little pieces, before incinerating them in a bonfire outside her
upmarket
mansion as she danced around wildly, chanting with evil relish "Me
Your Mona
Lisa? Grow Up, Man, You (something or other) You!"?
The notes on the CD with Mr Wonderful had this detail: while it was a
big
hit with British women, it wasn't with the women of the United States,
Miss
Lee's sisters. I wondered about this, but realised that British women,
once
the pioneer suffragettes, had mellowed.
The destruction of
apartheid was a glorious victory for all black
people who had ever been
colonised by white people. Yet there are always
vignettes of exceptional
warmth in the midst of the dirty stories of how
white people loved to rub
black faces into the mud.
I have always told of how, during the
memorable show at the old
Showgrounds (Glamis Stadium) of Louis Satchmo
Armstrong, the white couple
sitting next to me lent me their binoculars, so
I too could take a closer
look at this African-American
legend.
Years later, in London, I was sitting in a West End
theatre for a live
performance of My Fair Lady; again, someone lent me their
binoculars.
All this to a man who had once been called to his face
"this monkey"
by a European woman in Salisbury (they were not always called
white). Yet to
my defence came the gruff voice of a white man with the rough
edges of a
Glaswegian.
Racism, rather than religious
fanaticism, may yet destroy Humankind,
if we refuse to accept that it is
music which levels all racist barriers,
not verbal or physical
bashing.
It was heart-warming to hear that the Spanish government
had recently
called for talks with the government of Senegal over the
problem of
Senegalese crossing into Spain from the Canary Islands, to escape
the
economic and political nightmare of their own country. Spain is a very
musical country, as is Senegal.
The French should be involved,
as the former colonisers of Senegal.
France itself has a large, mostly poor
immigrant population from Africa,
involved in a series of violent skirmishes
a few months ago, in which there
was death and destruction.
Yet
the French too are musical, as are the many Africans living
there.
Britain, with its sizable population of African
immigrants (including
Zimbabweans fleeing bashing by their own government),
may not now be sitting
on a powder keg, as they probably were when Enoch
Powell warned of "rivers
of blood" if immigration was not
curbed.
But the National Front and other extreme rightwing groups
may still
trigger a race conflict of frightening proportions. As for music,
the
British will always have The Beatles.
Climate change is a
danger to the survival of this Earth, yet perhaps
far more potent as a
threat is Humankind's own intolerance of Humankind,
which some people, even
those said to be tone deaf, believe can be tamed by
the sweet, soothing
sound of music, even the mysteriously named sungura.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by
Trevor Ncube
I wish to extend a proudly South African welcome to
all of you and
wish you engaging and fruitful deliberations over the next
three days.
For us at the Newspaper Association of South Africa
(NASA) the events
of the next few days are the product of two years of
planning and we are
delighted that things have turned out so well. I need
not remind you that
this is the first ever World Association of Newspapers
(WAN) and World
Editors' Forum (WEF) gathering to take place on our
continent. The response
from our newspaper colleagues has been phenomenal
and we are grateful for
your support.
We are proud and excited
that this 60th WAN gathering is the second
largest after Moscow last year.
And the World Editors Forum (WEF) is the
largest ever gathering of editors
since these meetings started 14 years ago.
There are 1 600 participants from
109 countries and a record number of
participants from African countries.
Thus we have achieved one of our goals
of giving this gathering a strong
African flavour. All in all this is the
biggest gathering of editors and
newspaper executives ever to take place on
the African soil.
This gathering of opinion makers in our country and continent is a
fitting
curtain raiser to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. South Africa and the
continent
are ready for the next World Cup. Preparations are well and truly
underway
and Africa awaits its moment of glory. We are aware of the
purveyors of doom
and gloom regarding the 2010 World Cup but I want to
assure you that South
Africa is ready to showcase the beautiful game on the
African
stage.
Part of the dynamism of the next three days will be the
interaction of
the participants from outside this continent, and especially
the developed
countries, on the one hand, with those from the African
continent on the
other. We have much to share and learn from one
another.
It is safe to say that many of our delegates here today
are blessed by
being able to work in environments that enable you to be more
mindful about
economic rather than political viability. And for you, the
economic race is
well and truly on.
* fortunately this is
not the case with many publishers and newspaper
editors in the developing
countries particularly Africa. It is of course
logical that the
all-consuming issues facing newspapers in most developed
countries today are
related to a context of technological change and
competition levels that few
people ever anticipated. But I also would like
to ask those of you who do
hail from such environs, to spare a thought for
your colleagues whose
contexts are just as challenging - but in a different
way.
Here
I refer to those newspaper editors and owners in the developing
world, and
especially Africa. Many of us face not only economic
sustainability issues,
but sheer political survival. Of course, there are
developing countries
which are democracies and thus where political
pressures are not that
extreme. But especially in Africa, many editors and
publishers face very
severe constraints from political rulers whose hands
are much less-tied than
those of their counterparts who operate under
conditions of universal
franchise, respect for human rights and the rule of
law.
To
take one example, cited by the Commonwealth Journalists
Association, the
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who amongst other things
claims that he can
cure Aids, was recorded in October last year as saying:
"The whole world can
go to hell. If I want to ban any newspaper, I will,
with good reason." There
are Gambian editors here in Cape Town today, forced
into exile, who can
indeed attest to the hell they have been put through by
this despot who
rules their home country.
Totalitarian regimes are the worst, but
there is also a general
authoritarianism in many less despotic countries.
This ethos arises from a
mindset whereby media is not respected as an
autonomous institution and a
business sector in its own right. Instead, it
is seen as a social instrument
that can and should be wielded for particular
purposes. The thinking of too
many African governments is that media is a
tool to be deployed for
political or other objectives. And too many
governments mistakenly believe
that if they do not do so, someone else
will.
This kind of outlook denies newspapers any independence to
decide upon
their own objectives. It disrespects our professionalism, and
its default
position is to disbelieve us even when we show non-partisanship
as regards
political power interests. Sadly, some African newspapers have
indeed ended
up publishing puffery about politicians' words - as if
canonising speech in
print was sufficient to convert rhetoric into reality.
There are also
newspapers that play politics on behalf of one political
faction or another,
and where their partisanship is part of a power plot . .
. rather than a
product of an independent and cogent editorial
preference.
However, it is easy to stand aside and issue ethical
condemnations
about those editors who compromise with politicians or those
who work for
Africa's many state-owned newspapers. It is also easy to
moralise about
owners who have to tread cautiously because they depend on
adverts in an
environment of political patronage. To be in such shoes, and
to try and make
a difference, is the real challenge. It takes enormous
talents of
persuasion, reserves of fairness and integrity, and deep pools of
professional performance.
In the face of the odds, there are
those practitioners who have given
up any aspiration towards an identity of
journalistic self-respect. But
equally, we have heroes who have kept up the
good fight - even in some
cases, walking off the job rather than
kowtowing.
And let us also remember those who have paid, and those
who in future
will continue to pay, the ultimate price for their
independence.
Fortunately, between the defeatists and the dead, there are
those who
survive. These are the many press men and women around Africa, who
pick
their battles carefully, who strive to cultivate tolerance, and who
construct successful alliances for press freedom. Many of them are here in
Cape Town at this congress, and as they can testify, it is no small feat to
do this. Each person here can learn from their courage, tactical sense and
perseverance.
* an inadvertent Africanisation of an old
proverb, the International
Federation of Journalists recently criticised
agents of the state and
non-state actors who, it said, "have an ox to grind
with journalists". (IFJ
Africa NewsLetter, September-December
2006).
One may chuckle at the vision this conjures up, but the
sentiment is
spot on. And in challenging the many regimes who place the
African press in
a grinder, or who seek to castrate the creature at minimum,
we need to be
sure to hold African governments to the fine-sounding
commitments they make
but which are too often left to wither on the
vine.
We need to publicise stories such as when, on 30 January this
year,
the assembly of the African Union adopted a charter on Democracy,
Elections
and Governance. This document states: "In order to advance
political,
economic and social governance, State Parties shall commit
themselves to." -
and in the list of actions that follows is point 8.:
"(p)romoting freedom of
expression, in particular freedom of the press and
fostering a professional
media." Such fine-sounding sentiments should be
popularised, and the world's
press should regularly audit government
performance in relation to them.
As part of building momentum
against press repression, the global
newspaper community is a critical
component. The old trade union slogan of
"an injury to one is an injury to
all" applies in this regard. Unchecked
violations of press freedom in one
part of the world serve to chip away,
bit-by-bit, the same right that is too
often wrongly considered as
irreversible in a different location. Violations
and abuses embolden those
elements everywhere who hold our institution in
contempt - the people who
seek to control, manipulate and even suppress the
press.
Our challenges in Africa are not just political, but also
economic.
Our markets are small, our Diaspora is hard to monetise, and our
advertising
industry is handicapped by an absence of reliable media
consumption data.
Securing newsprint is often a problem.
Another exhibit of what African journalists encounter is recounted by
the
Commonwealth Journalists Association in their March newsletter. In
Swaziland, it is reported that one Pastor Justice Dlamini recently used a
church gathering to pray for the death of two Times of Swaziland journalists
in order "to teach the media a lesson". The cause of his wrath was an
article about a church squabble. A few years earlier, the same man had
prayed unsuccessfully for the deceased editor of the paper to be brought
back to life, so at least he's even-handed in a sense! But such
semi-light-hearted issues aside, the coverage of religion - such as around
the infamous Amina Lawal issue and the Danish cartoons - is a hot topic in a
continent with a sizeable Muslim population. Just ask some of the African
editors, not least our Nigerian colleagues, present. Promoting civil and
religious tolerance is a major task for African newspapers.
And
yet, despite (or perhaps because of) all these minefields -
political,
economic and religious - independent newspapers in Africa are
resilient. The
case studies are here alive and kicking amongst us, and I
urge you to tap
their rich and inspiring stories in this regard.
Worldwide, the
newspaper industry is in good shape. As WAN data show,
we are thriving
across many indicators. In Africa, too, newspapers are
growing. Therefore,
in this positive vein, and in the spirit of the African
press survivors, let
us engage with optimism as we debate the future of our
industry.
My appeal is that in so doing we should keep sight of
the issues
facing us as a whole: the economic, and the political, and also
not
forgetting the religious. Collectively, newspapers are an institution
which
has singularly helped propel human progress over the past few
centuries.
Collectively, therefore, there is no doubt that we can stand
together and
share our thoughts to ensure the continuation of our
contribution across the
globe.
For Africa to claim its rightful
place in the community of nation's
African politicians need to begin to
understand that vibrant newspapers are
partners and not enemies in the task
of creating democratic societies.
Vibrant newspapers free from political
control are a vital ingredient to
creating a market place of ideas to propel
Africa's growth and development.
Societies which live in perpetual fear of
their politicians can never be
creative and robust nations particularly in
the knowledge based times we
live in. Africa desperately needs to let loose
the creative energies of her
people by allowing them to think and express
themselves freely. Indeed, only
by setting her people free does Africa stand
a chance of catching up with
the rest of the world.
Zim Standard
sunday view by
Judith Todd
There were, of course, moments of
sadness and regret, remembering
those who deserved to be there but were
not.
When Josiah Tungamirai, the ZANLA High Command's political
commissar
saw me, he took me aside and walked me round the garden,
mournfully relating
details of Josiah Tongogara's death in Mozambique on the
night of 26
December 1979.
Tongogara, chief of defence in the
Zanla High Command, had introduced
me to Tungamirai during the Lancaster
House talks in London, where the two
of them shared a house with Dzingai
Mutumbuka and other Zanu PF delegates.
Tungamirai told me he had
been so shattered by the tragedy of
Tongogara's death that he believed his
sanity had been saved only by the
intervention of veteran Zanu PF leader
Simon Muzenda, who arranged for
Tungamirai's mother to come and stay with
her son while he grieved.
He told me that on the night of the
fatality, he and Tongogara had
been travelling with others in two vehicles
from Maputo to Chimoio.
Tungamirai said he was in the front vehicle. It was
dark and the roads were
bad. Tungamirai's car passed a military vehicle that
had been carelessly
abandoned, with no warning signs at the side of the
road. After that, he
could no longer see the headlights of the following car
in his rear view
mirror.
Eventually he turned back, and, as he
had feared, they found Tongogara's
car had struck the abandoned vehicle.
Tongogara was sitting in the front
passenger seat. Tungamirai told me that
he had struggled to lift Tongogara
out of the wrecked car. He said that as
he was doing so, Tongogara heaved a
huge sigh and died in his
arms.
I didn't mention to Tungamirai that many people believed
Tongogara had
been murdered.
April 1980 vanished fast, but
before the first May Day celebrated in
Zimbabwe, Finance Minister Enos Nkala
announced that the new government had
abolished sales tax on sugar, tea,
cooking oil and margarine, important
supplements to the diet of the poorest
citizens and that thousands of
prisoners were being released.
The police and the army kept a low profile, vastly different to their
provocative air before and during the election, and, at least on the
surface, the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe seemed to be going
reasonably smoothly. This was despite many Zanla guerrillas having remained
outside the APs (Assembly Points) and the continued easy access to arms
cached across the country, resulting in continuing crime and
banditry.
There were some social hiccups, such as the brief arrest
of Rex
Nhongo, Commander of the Zanla forces, at a Salisbury hotel. He was
accused
of creating a disturbance when told he couldn't eat in the
restaurant as he
wasn't wearing a jacket and tie. Nathan Shamuyarira,
Minister of Information
and Tourism, then announced that jackets and ties
would no longer be
required for entrance to hotel facilities.
This, in turn, led to further problems. John Callinicos and his wife,
Aelda,
aunt of my husband Richard Acton, were running the popular Park Lane
Hotel
and wondered just how they would cope with unhappy and sometimes
violent
malcontents if they could no longer seek refuge in a dress code.
Aelda said that while some young blacks were sometimes drunk and
scruffy,
they were seldom a problem, as they were generally happy and
friendly. Some
young whites could be a different matter, especially on
Friday nights at the
Park Lane, a favourite haunt of ex-troopies, where they
had been known to
threaten people and in some cases, had even taken to
exposing
themselves.
I saw what they meant late one evening in the main
lounge at the plush
Meikles Hotel. Some young men in hats and skimpy clothes
started sauntering
around drinking beer from bottles and loudly hectoring
foreign guests. But
before long these displays of trauma disappeared. On the
whole whites had
been bowled over by Robert Mugabe's address to the nation
on the eve of
independence.
"Let us deepen our sense of
belonging and engender a common interest
that knows no race, colour or
creed," he'd said. "Let us truly become
Zimbabweans with a single loyalty.
Long live our freedom." Many heaved a
sigh of relief - Hasn't he changed? -
and stopped packing.
The most disaffected were leaving anyway, if
they could. One day my
father gave a lift to a couple of young whites who
didn't recognise him.
They told him candidly that they had been in one of
the undercover groups of
the Rhodesian Defence Force and were soon leaving
for South Africa with
their unit and equipment intact.
From
early on there were signs of a trend towards a one-party state.
The Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation started sedulously referring to "the
prime
minister, Comrade Robert Mugabe" and "the president, Comrade Canaan
Banana"
and statements broadcast by the Ministry of Information announced in
one
breath "the government and the party", although Mugabe had initially
formed
a post-war government of national unity.
Frederique Winter, mother
of film star Dana Wynter, cautiously
protested in one of the last of her
many letters to the main national
newspaper, the Herald: "The use of the
word Comrade by ZBC/TV is rather
confusing: this appellation was introduced
by the Russian communists after
the 1917 revolution.To call our respected
president or prime minister
Comrade is rather presumptuous."
One of the best things for me in the new Zimbabwe was being able to
meet
again many old friends, such as Justin Nyoka, now being groomed for a
post
in the Ministry of Information. In the early 1960s we were
contemporaries at
university, where Justin was on a scholarship from the
Rhodesia Printing and
Publishing Company.
This was an extension of South Africa's Argus
Group, which ran our
newspapers and was beginning to train blacks for the
future. The fact that
Justin had made it to university, let alone that he
also had a scholarship,
made people jealous.
Rumours were
spread that he was a spy for the Rhodesians, and play was
made on his
surname, which means snake in English. When Peter Niesewand was
deported
from Rhodesia in 1973, the BBC lost a valuable stringer, as well as
the
London Guardian losing their correspondent. George Bennett at the BBC
Africa
Service, where I had freelanced, asked if I had any ideas on whom
they could
now use in Rhodesia, and I suggested Justin.
He was an
assiduous reporter, which meant that he almost inevitably
made enemies.
Eventually he disappeared from his farm in Mashonaland and it
was rumoured
that he had been abducted by ZANLA.
www.zebrapress.co.za
Let's take a stand against racialism and injustice
IT has appeared to me
for
some time that the anti-white racialism from the government of Zimbabwe
needs to be exposed more than it is.
When we heard recently of
Obert Mpofu stating that he wants all
"white" farmers out of his
constituency we are hearing the words of neo-Nazi
apartheid. They are words
that are relentlessly being applied as government
policy throughout
Zimbabwe. What has happened in the last seven years on the
farms is quite
simply a policy of ethnic cleansing on racial lines.
There is
little difference between this phenomenon now and this
phenomenon under
Adolf Hitler or Hendrick Verwoerd. The most tragic part of
Zimbabwe's
racialist policies though, is not what has happened to the
whites. The most
tragic part is the effect that it has had on the poor and
the weak of all
races. When I see the old white people fighting back the
tears in the
supermarket as they try to buy food; or the young black
children walking to
school shoeless and in rags, then I see the consequences
of the governments
racial policy on the land.
Sadly, other African leaders admire and
applaud Zimbabwe's racialism.
Zimbabwe stands out for them as the champion
of the black nationalist
movement. "Pan-African" jingoism has based its
misguided psyche on the
racial championing of the world's black people over
the world's white
people. A white man cannot be an African in the world of
black African
brotherhood leaders.
A fortnight ago Africa put
Zimbabwe forward to chair the UN Commission
on Sustainable Development.
Zimbabwe, since it began its racialist land
policy seven years ago, has had
the fastest regressing economy in the world.
When President Thabo
Mbeki stood up in defence of Zimbabwe (and its
anti-white policies) at the
latest SADC meeting he said: "The fight against
Zimbabwe is a fight against
us all. Today it is Zimbabwe; tomorrow it will
be South Africa, it will be
Mozambique, it will be Angola, it will be any
other African country. And any
government that is perceived to be strong and
to be resistant to the
imperialists would be made a target and would be
undermined. So let us not
allow any point of weakness in the solidarity of
SADC, because that weakness
will also be transferred to the rest of Africa."
And that is the
sickness. The sickness is encapsulated in the lie that
"I am not the one. I
am not responsible for my own actions. I cannot be
blamed for the corruption
and mismanagement and hunger and suffering in my
nation; in my constituency;
in my sphere of influence . . . The blame is all
on the white imperialists .
. ."
The sickness brews in the stubborn resistance of Africa to
shoulder
the moral responsibilities that come with freedoms. God, in giving
us
choice, also gave us laws. When we step outside the bounds of these laws
we
are sowing the wind; and in most of Africa the whirlwind continues to be
reaped.
The woes of Africa rest with our lack of moral courage
to take our
responsibilities seriously and make the right choices to do what
is morally
right in God's sight.
The whites have mostly
vanished like the wind, out of Africa, sadly,
but with minimum fuss. In
Zimbabwe it has been no different. The Commercial
Farmers' Union has
dialogued its members into obscurity until Zimbabwe has
taken its place
beside the rest of the African nations that cannot feed
themselves.
The CFU continues, like the band on the Titanic, to
play their sad,
sick "dialogue with dictators tune" while their ship slips
silently beneath
the waves. Its leaders, all whites, lack the moral courage
to stand up
against the injustice that unfolds so predictably; and so
injustice, and all
the baggage that goes with injustice, takes its
place.
If, collectively as blacks and whites, we do not take a
stand against
the injustice of racialism and everything with it on the
farms, we shall
only have ourselves to blame for the moral wasteland that
continues to roll
out across the land in the future. The continued
injustices that Zimbabweans
of all races have to endure will be our
fault.
Ben Freeth
Freeth@bsatt.com
------------------------
Teachers must stop being used by other
civil servants
THE civil
service represents all government workers. But when
it comes to industrial
action, it is only the teaching profession that
participates while the rest
of all the other civil servants continue to go
to work.
Who do these civil servants that do not participate
in any
industrial action expect to fight for them? Let us remember that when
salary
increments are given, it is not only teachers who benefit but all
civil
servants. But when staff action is taken against the striking
teachers, it
is only the teachers who suffer.
So please,
teachers, as long as all other civil servants do not
participate in any
industrial action together with the teachers, you should
stop being used on
behalf of the rest of the cowards in the civil service.
After all, it is not
only the teachers who are poorly paid in the civil
service.
Those teachers with ears to hear let then hear
and stop
forthwith taking part in any future industrial action that leaves
out other
civil servants.
PJ
Madondo
Mutare
---------------------------
Errant rulers face the wrath of
God
ANY student of rulers in
history will know that power corrupts and
breeds folly, and often causes
inability to think and act
rationally.
It is the responsibility of those in power
to govern as
reasonably as possible, in the interests of all their citizens,
not only
those that support them.
It is their duty
to be well-informed to heed information
and criticism, and to keep an open
mind. Intelligent and wise leaders resist
the foolishness of believing that
only their view is always right.
Wise rulers recognize
when a policy is not serving their
nation's best interests, and if they are
brave enough, will change it.
Common sense and courage
should over-rule the mindless
pursuit of obviously failed
policies.
Misgovernment and abuse of power may
strengthen a regime
temporarily, but it is foolish and stupid when
persistence in policy
continually worsens corruption, shortages and
inflation to the world record
degree we see in
Zimbabwe.
Infatuation with power and money robs men of
reason,
making them incapable of rational choices. Even worse, it makes them
blind
to distinctions between morality and
expediency.
No regime is permanent. Those who cling to
power while
ruining their country and the lives of the majority of their
citizens, must
eventually answer to God.
The fires
of hell will be their ultimate end, unless they
repent and correct things
while they still have the power to do so.
EP
Whyte
Harare
--------------------
Scrap ties rule for impoverished
teachers
I am a senior
teacher with 16 years of experience under my belt.
Recently I visited a
Clicks shop along Angwa Street in Harare where I
intended to buy a neck tie.
When I got there, I
got the shock of my life. The
tie was going for $469 000. My take home
salary is $489 000. It's not as if
I have that many deductions going towards
paying debts, not at all. My
deductions are the necessary ones going towards
Medical Aid for seven
people, Professional Union, Aids Levy, Pension and a
mere $20 000 towards my
Housing Co-operative.
I was astounded and left the shop filled with shame.
Surely I could not
stomach a situation where my salary is equivalent to the
cost of a tie. But
then the dress code of my job decrees that I put on a
neck tie from Monday
to Friday. What about a suit? Will a teacher ever buy a
suit? Why should the
authorities insist on a dress code which is now
ridiculous for a teacher. Do
they still have a human face?
My feeling is that
our parent ministry should now
scrap this "archaic" policy. Where on earth
do I get the money to buy a
decent jacket, shoes and
shirt?
Let's be real comrades. We are human
beings like
you. Can I teach with devotion when the collar of my shirt has
been turned
for mending four times? The toes protruding from my socks? It's
pathetic.
And then we are told, we are the custodians of the human
resource!
Teacher
Chitungwiza
-------------------------
Nhema wrong man for
the job
I am a beneficiary of
the Land Reform Programme and I make no
apologies about that. I have every
right to own a piece of land in my
country. I love the countryside. It
brings me very close to nature. You
enjoy the sounds of birds from all
directions, you tread with caution in
bushy areas that are laden with a
variety of reptile species. Wild fruits
are in abundance, the air you
breathe feels
good.
It's indescribable really, especially
if you
love natural vegetation. Coming from an area that has been decimated
of its
natural fauna, I just enjoy being on my A1 piece of
land.
However, each time I travel from my
bus stop
towards my village my heart bleeds. It hurts to see the once
densely
forested areas gradually being deforested. It's painful. It leaves
you with
a lump in your throat. You ask yourself. "Can't we do something to
protect
our land, vegetation and roads?" I feel sad. I have harsh words for
the
Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis
Nhema.
I feel he is not suitable for the
environment
portfolio of his ministry. He is eloquent on tourism issues and
very
effective on that but the man is not up to scratch about the
environment. To
me, he doesn't sound like an environmentalist. Why sit and
oversee the
destruction of our heritage? Growing under colonialism we used
to fear the
Police when felling trees - not now. Cart-loads are ferried
every day in
Chakari full of firewood. Nobody gives a hoot! The President
should remove
the environment portfolio from
Nhema.
Odrix
Mhiji
Chitungwiza
--------------------
Jonathan Moyo's
perfect clone clone
READING in The Herald, George Charamba's virulent
reaction to the World Association
of Newspapers report on media repression
in Zimbabwe, one can see what a
perfect clone of the former Minister of
Information and Publicity, Jonathan
Moyo, he has turned out to be. It is
exactly this sort of acerbic language
Moyo became infamous
for.
And of course, we expected no less a
reaction from a regime that is violently opposed to any form of criticism,
constructive or otherwise.
DK
Harare
SABC
June 09, 2007,
18:15
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, says calls by some European
Union (EU)
members to ban Zimbabwe from a planned summit of the European and
African
unions is not helpful in building relations between the two blocs.
Merkel
held talks with President Thabo Mbeki on the sidelines of the G8
summit,
which ended in Germany yesterday.
With little achieved within
the G8 summit itself, the numerous side
bi-laterals seemed to have offered
more. Here, one of the issues discussed
was the upcoming EU/AU summit, which
was postponed several times due to
disagreements over Zimbabwe's
attendance.
Mbeki says: "She (Merkel) told me that. the relationship
between the EU and
Africa is very important and ought not to be blocked by a
view about a
particular country, and I think that's quite correct.
Hopefully, that summit
will take place without any obstacles being
created."
As for the G8's handling of Africa this time around, activists
called it a
farce. Africa says very little progress was made. Mbeki says:
"We said to
them that we haven't asked for additional assistance, we've come
to say
'let's implement what was agreed.' There's no point saying there's
additional support, and it's just words. So essentially, what were are
saying is that not enough progress is being made with regard to honoring the
undertakings that were made."
Renewed efforts to deliver on promises
to Africa
A joint team will be re-established to follow up on promises made.
Tony
Blair, the outgoing British prime minister - credited with having
pushed the
African agenda under his G8 chairmanship - left Germany trying to
convince
the media about the success of this summit. But he leaves office in
three
weeks with his Commission for Africa now left to Gordon Brown, his
successor.
G8 2007 has come and gone, but for many will be remembered
for the power
struggles within the G8 itself - Russia versus the West, over
what is now
being called the new arms race; the US versus the rest over
climate change,
and a free for all over the future of Kosovo.
Reuters
Sat Jun
9, 2007 8:04 PM IST
CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - The International Cricket
Council (ICC) will
provide help to revive Zimbabwe cricket, its acting
president Ray Mali said
on Saturday.
"We all know there is lot of
talent in Zimbabwe cricket," he told a news
conference. "It needs to be
nurtured.
"The ICC will have to assist the players by exposing them to
quality
cricket."
The Zimbabwe team has been weakened by the
departure of many senior players
due to disputes with the cricket board. The
government withdrew the team
from test cricket last year although they still
take part in one-day
internationals.
Last month, the Australian
government ordered the world champions to cancel
a planned tour of Zimbabwe
in protest against the policies of President
Robert Mugabe.
The ICC
cricket committee recommended last week that Zimbabwe should not
return to
the test arena until it showed it could perform at the required
standard.
"It is Zimbabwe which opted out of test cricket," Mali
said. "They will come
back in November and say whether they are ready for
test cricket."
The ICC chief executives' committee will meet later this
month in London to
consider the cricket panel's recommendation on Zimbabwe
as well as on other
issues.
Mali took over as acting chief of the ICC
this week to complete the term of
his South African counterpart Percy Sonn,
who died last month.
He urged players to back the Twenty20 format,
demanding aggressive batting,
after Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene
expressed concern it would bring
extra pressure on bowlers.
South
Africa are due to stage the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in September.
Steven Price in London
June
9, 2007
There is growing confusion inside Zimbabwe over reports that
Robert Mugabe
has been removed as the official patron of the country's
cricket board.
Mugabe has been patron for a number of years, and
while he plays no active
role in Zimbabwe Cricket, his association with the
board has been used by
opponents as an indication of his government's
influence over the game.
Last month, Brigadier Gibson Mashingaidze,
who is the head of the Sports &
Recreation Commission (SRC), the body
that intervened to break up the
in-fighting inside Zimbabwe cricket in
January 2006, told a group of
journalists in Kwekwe that Mugabe was no
longer patron.
In the course of some stinging criticism of Peter
Chingoka, the ZC chairman,
Mashingaidze said: "We battled [against the
sports ministry] to remove his
excellency from the patronancy of Zimbabwe
Cricket." He said much the same
thing about Mugabe's wife, Grace, who is/was
a patron of the country's
tennis association, where Chingoka's brother Paul
has also been the subject
of much controversy and in 2005 was suspended from
all tennis-related
activities. The parallels do not end there. In 2006 he
was cleared after an
independent audit requested by the SRC.
One
source close to Mashingaidze said that the reason for Mugabe's
withdrawal
was that he feared that his image was being tarnished by the rows
blighting
the game. He added: "Mashingaidze is known to be a bit sensational
and on
the loose cannon side, and his statement cannot be taken as
official."
The board refuses to have any dealings with Cricinfo,
so it is unwilling to
clear the issue up. Stakeholders reacted with
suspicion and doubt when told,
with one senior administrator saying: "It's
interesting as I am sure nobody
would be brave or stupid enough to carry out
such an act."
Steven Price is a freelance journalist based in
Harare
© Cricinfo
IOL
June
09 2007 at 12:53PM
By Raymond Whitaker and Raymond
Joseph
It's the tale of two men who once were friends and
neighbours - but
now their friendship is over and each faces differing
fortunes at opposite
ends of the world.
One man is battling to
prevent his deportation to one of the most
notorious prisons in Africa,
where he faces the prospect of ending his days
in chains in a tiny prison
cell.
The other spends his time flitting between tax-efficient,
British-ruled Gibraltar, and enjoying games on the golf links of the nearby
Spanish costas, and London - with the odd visit to South Africa, all the
while trying to hang on to as much of his estimated R850-million fortune as
possible.
Simon Mann and Sir Mark Thatcher have
a lot in common: Both are 54,
both had mansions in Cape Town, where they
were friends, and both have been
convicted for their parts in what is
alleged to have been a botched 2004
plot to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
But their fates since have been
very different. Mann, an Old Etonian
and SAS veteran accused of drawing up
the coup plans, has spent more than
three years in prison in Zimbabwe. He
was arrested with a plane-full of men
recruited in South Africa when they
landed at Harare airport in March 2004
to load a shipment of
arms.
In May, he failed to prevent a court in Harare from granting
Equatorial Guinea's request for his extradition. He has appealed, but
Equatorial Guinea has promised President Robert Mugabe foreign exchange and
oil supplies. So Mann is expected to be sent to Obiang's Black Beach jail
without delay.
There, he will join Nick du Toit, a former South
African special
forces soldier sentenced in 2004 to 34 years' imprisonment.
Du Toit's
confession that he was in charge of an advance guard in the coup
plot is
said to have been extracted by torture.
Equatorial
Guinea has promised that it will not execute Mann, but his
eventual sentence
could hardly be shorter than Du Toit's.
If evidence at Du Toit's
trial is any guide, Mann can expect to be
shackled day and night in a prison
that is said to flood at high tide; he
will be kept on a near-starvation
diet, and de-prived of medical treatment.
Thatcher, by contrast,
has not spent a day in jail, despite investing
in a helicopter the plotters
are alleged to have intended to use in the coup
attempt.
In
January 2005, he pleaded guilty to breaking South Africa's laws on
mercenaries, was fined R3m and given an 18-month sentence, suspended for
four years.
His mother, former British Prime Minister Baroness
Margaret Thatcher,
was said to have paid his fine.
Remarkably,
his permanent residency - granted to Thatcher and his
family soon after they
moved to Cape Town in 1995 - was never revoked.
At the time of his
arrival in the Cape, a year into South Africa's new
democracy, it was
suggested that his mother had used her influence to help
smooth the way for
Thatcher to get residency. And, over the years, the
former prime minister
and her late husband, Denis, spent every Christmas
with her son and his
family in Cape Town.
During his time in South Africa, Thatcher
emerged unscathed from
several scandals, including two that were
investigated by the SA police.
The first investigation came soon
after he settled in Cape Town, when
he set up a private security business
using off-duty policemen, dressed in
full uniform and armed with their
official weapons, to guard his home and
those of his neighbours (who paid
him handsomely for the service).
The second investigation followed
revelations that he was operating as
a loan shark, lending money - and
charging exorbitant interest rates - to
police, government officials and
members of the SA Defence Force.
This week, a well-placed official
source in Cape Town confirmed that
there were no restrictions on Thatcher
visiting or, if he chooses, settling
in South Africa again. He is, however,
barred from entering the United
States where his former wife and two
children now live, because of his
criminal record.
As a British
citizen he is not barred from Gibraltar, al-though
Switzerland, Monaco and
France reportedly made it clear he was not welcome
after he made inquiries
about the possibility of setting up house.
Soon after Thatcher
pleaded guilty in the Cape High Court in
connection with the failed coup,
Thatcher's American wife - a deeply
religious Baptist - left South Africa
and returned to Texas in the US with
their two children. She initiated
divorce proceedings soon afterwards.
But Thatcher stayed on to sell
off his various South African
properties, including his mansion in
Constantia and a luxury home on the
nearby upmarket Steenberg golf
estate.
Thatcher spends most of his time in the British colony or
with his
mother, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, in her central London
home.
He is reported to have two South African bodyguards
accompanying him
wherever he goes, apparently for fear of his fellow coup
plotters trying to
harm him.
But, as recently as Christmas last
year Thatcher flew to Cape Town
amidst reports that he had spent two weeks
in the city, catching up with
friends.
According to the London
Daily Mail he also went house- hunting with a
view to buying a new home in
Cape Town, although he apparently does not plan
to settle
permanently.
Lord Bell, a close friend of Lady Thatcher, recently
told the Daily
Mail that the idea that Mark is persona non grata in South
Africa was a
misconception. "Why shouldn't Mark go to Cape Town?" he
said.
"There is nothing stopping him. He can go back whenever he
likes."
Meanwhile, while it is not known how far he has been able
to resume
his international deal-making, mainly in oil and fuels, he remains
a very
rich man.
As for Mann, a friend says his plight is
because of a failed gamble:
he refused an offer to return to South Africa
after his conviction in
Zimbabwe as he feared he would be jailed for a long
time and be financially
ruined, the source said.
Earlier this
year, Mann gave up his South African citizenship, hoping
he could complete
his term in Zimbabwe and be allowed to leave for Britain.
"Instead," said his friend, "he is stuck between two of Africa's worst
tyrants, and hasn't got a hope in hell."
This article was
originally published on page 14 of Cape Argus on June
09, 2007