Cape Times
Service providers resist Mugabe's move to censor
internet and e-mail
June 1, 2004
By Basildon
Peta
All internet service providers in Zimbabwe are soon to be
obliged to
block or divulge the source of e-mail messages deemed politically
sensitive,
objectionable, unauthorised or obscene, reports have
said.
The measure is part of efforts by President Robert Mugabe's
government
to gag internet and e-mail communication after it successfully
implemented a
law that shut down most of the private media.
Under the new regulations, all internet service providers will have to
sign a
contract requiring them to co-operate with the government in tracing
the
sources of e-mails deemed offensive. It also forbids the use of
service
providers "for anti-national activities" construed to be an
offence
punishable under Zimbabwean law.
The internet service
providers are resisting the government's
censorship drive.
An employee of one service provider said most had resolved to refuse
to sign
the controversial contract as it not only infringed on the freedom
of
expression, but could drive them out of business.
"We are saying
'No' because it is illegal," a senior service provider
employee told the
Standard.
An information technology expert was quoted as saying it
was possible
for the government to eavesdrop on e-mail messages as most were
routed
through TelOne, the state-owned telecommunications
company.
In the past few weeks, internet users have complained
about blocked
e-mail messages, mostly those that carried political
information. One was
from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's
information department
to several subscribers.
VOA
Experts: Only Fraction of Zimbabwean Wheat
Planted
Peta Thornycroft
Harare
01 Jun 2004, 17:45
UTC
Zimbabwe's
wheat-planting season has ended, but because of delays in the processing of
loans for seed and fertilizer by the government's land bank, experts say only a
fraction of the acreage has been planted.
Crop forecasters say they have no idea how much wheat
has been planted this year, but express doubt whether it will be more than last
winter or a quarter of the country's needs.
About 90-percent of Zimbabwe's wheat crop, which
needs irrigation in the country's dry winter months, was traditionally grown by
white commercial farmers. Following the eviction of most of them over the last
four years, the land is now in the hands of the so-called new farmers.
The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union, which largely
represents new farmers, says many of its members did not get loans from the
government's Agribank in time for planting winter wheat. The organization says
the land bank has failed to process applications for loans in time.
Agribank was one of about half a dozen Zimbabwe banks
that were unable to honor checks earlier this year. However, the bank says it
has restructured and the government has injected enough money for it to finance
production of most cereal crops in future.
Statistics published in state-controlled media report
Zimbabwe harvested 220,000 tons of wheat last winter, but grain traders and
importers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say the actual figure is less
than half of that.
President Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabwe harvested
enough wheat last winter to feed itself and will not need to depend on food
donations or imports for the foreseeable future.
During the past two years, international food
donations fed as many as 5.5 million people in Zimbabwe or nearly one-half of
the country's population. |
From The Times (UK), 1 June
Zimbabwe's once-proud schools face
ruin
Jan Raath in Chegutu
There are no books, no chalk and
little hope as children are forced out of
class
Deep in the
Zimbabwean bush, 65 miles west of Harare, four teachers start
each day by
washing goat droppings from their primary school's concrete
floor. They have
no textbooks, no stationery and no chalk; marks on a
blackboard show where a
teacher has tried to write with charcoal. There are
benches and tables for
only ten children: the rest are told to bring sacks
for seating. In the
winter, a cold wind sweeps through the broken windows.
Three quarters of the
176 pupils have been sent home until their parents can
pay the 50p term fees.
"The school has no money. Without the fees, we can do
nothing," said the
headmaster, who asked not to be named. A teacher added:
"We ask the children
to give us their chewing gum so we can stick pictures
on the wall." This
school serves the children of peasants who have settled
on white-owned farms
seized during President Mugabe's chaotic land reform
programme, but there are
schools in an equally parlous state all over a
country that once boasted the
best education system in Africa.
Five years of economic collapse,
political oppression and rampant
lawlessness, compounded by the scourge of
Aids, are threatening to deprive
an entire generation of Zimbabwean children
of any meaningful schooling. In
1979 there were 893,000 schoolchildren in
white-ruled Rhodesia. At
independence a year later Mr Mugabe, himself a
former teacher, launched a
remarkable expansion drive that saw three million
children attending school
by 1987. As recently as 2000, primary school
enrolment was 93 per cent, the
highest in Africa. But the figure had slumped
to 65 per cent by last year,
according to Unicef. Literacy among
schoolchildren, once 86 per cent, is
plummeting and drop-out rates are
soaring. In addition, the land seizures
have forced 121,000 children of
commercial farm workers out of school. "If
the current situation continues,
we will lose a whole generation," Cecile
Baldeh, Unicef's project officer in
Zimbabwe, said. Mr Mugabe has just
awarded himself a 2,500 per cent pay
increase and offered tribal chiefs £2.7
million and free cars in return for
their loyalty in parliamentary elections
next March. Yet the Government can
barely pay its 109,000 teachers and has
abandoned the maintenance and
development of urban state schools, let alone
those in the
bush.
Cranborne High School, in a middle-class area of Harare, was
built in the
1960s as a model British comprehensive school, with a large
assembly hall,
fully equipped gymnasium, competition-standard swimming pool
and an art and
design centre. Today it is a desolate place, reeking of urine.
The pool is a
yard deep in algae, the rugby posts are buckled and all the gym
equipment
has been stolen. In the woodwork rooms, only the vices remain,
bolted to the
tables. The hall is coated in dust and grime. Classroom windows
have been
smashed and doors torn off their hinges. "It only started getting
like this
five years ago," a senior teacher said. Most ordinary Zimbabweans
can no
longer afford to educate all their children. Faced with a 500 per
cent
inflation rate, many parents have withdrawn their daughters from school
and
are skipping meals to pay for their sons. Ephrage Ndzinga, 49, has put
three
children through their O levels by hawking vegetables in suburban
Harare,
but has four more to go. "One of them is doing O levels this year, so
I have
to make sure his fees are paid up, otherwise he cannot write
the
examination," he said. "The younger ones are not paid, so they were
chased
from school. It is the same for my four brothers and their
children."
The impact of the Aids epidemic is increasingly felt in
the classroom.
Unicef says that 25 per cent of teachers are HIV-positive and
in six years'
time 38,000 will have died. At Mhuriimwe school in Seke, a
seething
dormitory township just south of Harare, almost 100 of the 600
children are
Aids orphans, and most of the rest have only one parent, said a
teacher, who
asked not to be named. A £380,000 state programme to keep
800,000 Aids
orphans and other disadvantaged children in school for the rest
of the year
ran out in March. Teachers have been blamed for infecting 11 and
12-year-old
pupils with HIV and heavy drinking and serial absenteeism have
become
widespread in the profession. Political repression makes the job
even
harder. "Teachers are conceived of as the opposition," Macdonald
Mangauzani,
treasurer of the Progressive Teacher's Union, said. Shortly
before the
presidential elections in 2002, 30 schools around the country were
closed by
supporters of the ruling party. Stan Mudenge, the Foreign Minister,
told a
teachers' meeting: "You can even be killed for supporting the
Opposition."
Hundreds of teachers fled as their colleagues were abducted and
tortured.
Raymond Majongwe, the union's leader, led a strike for higher pay
in October
2002. He was arrested, detained illegally for a week, assaulted
and
tortured. He says that secret police are deployed in disguise as teachers
in
most high schools. "You have to be careful what you say in the
staffroom,"
he said. Even Zimbabwe's 80 private schools are under threat.
Last month
Aeneas Chigwedere, the Education Minister, closed them all, even
though most
have an 80 per cent black enrolment. He had a dozen head teachers
arrested
on the grounds that they were "racist" and were trying to exclude
black
pupils by charging high fees. Most reopened after dropping their fees
to
unsustainable levels. "The impact [of Zimbabwe's economic collapse] is
worse
on children than it is in any other sector of society," Mrs Baldeh
said.
"For the child to be bearing the brunt of it all is shameful."
1 June 2004
PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI'S TUESDAY MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF
ZIMBABWE
An international consensus has emerged in the past decade on
the definition and conduct of legitimate elections. Foreigners have the same
rights as the citizens in ensuring the observance of certain standards in the
way ordinary people choose their representatives.
Both local and
international observation of elections today carry equal weight and complement
each other in assessing the legitimacy of any poll. A flawed election creates a
regime without the faith and trust of the majority while foreigners are wary of
ballot thieves because of their effect on peace and security.
Since 2000,
Zimbabwean elections have sparked immense political controversy and divided the
SADC region, Africa and the international community. The divisions are clearly
visible between political parties, civil society and governments. The guilty are
quick to raise wild accusations of external interference. They whip up emotions
in an attempt to revive selective memories of racism, colonialism and
victimisation.
Disputed winners only want to hear praises and congratulations
from fellow African rulers, ignoring the full story whose effects could be as
far reaching as to drive entire nations into civil strife.
Zimbabwe is due
for another election next year. While we are doing as much as we can to campaign
for review of our electoral standards, it is important for international
observers to help us to achieve our goals in this national assignment. Our
electoral standards are still very backward. They are a source of
instability.
I was particularly impressed with the recent Indian elections
when the losers became the first ones to inform the nation that they respected
the people's verdict. Such a situation obtains when all political players have
confidence in the electoral process. That is what the MDC desires and what
Zimbabweans deserve.
We are disturbed by the conduct of official observers from the
SADC region who are quick to find adjectives to puff up public explanations in
an attempt to justify what could clearly be a fraud. They choose to blame
administrative bottlenecks, which they conveniently assume to be natural,
instead of condemning openly questionable electoral practices in their own
backyards. When confronted privately, the same official observers admit their
mistakes, but raise spurious arguments about stability, solidarity, the
liberation struggle and the fact that it is normal for elections to present
difficult challenges in Africa.
You will recall that election observers from
South Africa, Nigeria and SADC governments generally legitimised the 2000
Parliamentary election and the 2002 Presidential election. Local independent
observers disagreed with them - justifiably because we lost close to 300 lives
and billions of dollars in destroyed property, assets and time to Zanu PF
thuggery and lawlessness during the ill-fated exercise. Other African observers,
the European Union and those from the Commonwealth, led by a Nigerian, condemned
the election.
Equally, loud voices of criticism came from Africa's civil
society. Sadly, nobody listened to those voices of reason. Now, what has
happened to Zimbabwe in the past two years? The country was allowed to collapse
although at the time Africa and the world knew and accepted that the dispute was
caused by the country's murky electoral standards.
What Zimbabweans and
Africa assumed to be elections here during the past the past five years were
happenings that merely bolstered the general perceptions and negative
stereotypes about Africans. The failure and inability of African leaders to stop
the rot has serious consequences for our people.
Presidents Bakili Muluzi,
Joachim Chissano, Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki visited Zimbabwe in an
attempt to find a solution to what they clearly saw as a crisis from Robert
Mugabe's self-proclaimed victory. Still nothing significant happened to assist
Zimbabweans, or better still to push the Mugabe regime to change the nation's
electoral standards. The regime has even tightened the democratic space,
promulgated repressive laws, pushed the political environment to a stage of
heightened internal tension, and closed off all avenues for principled political
dialogue.
Our behaviour as African leaders, our failure to restrain each
other or merely to acknowledge evil intentions against the people, makes it
possible for dictators to burgeon their way into office using sham elections.
The collective embarrassment, the self-humiliation we bless and entrench in
Africa affects the world's potential support for continental initiatives like
NEPAD.
Zimbabweans took note of the latest report of the African Union
criticising the election in Malawi. The report signalled a radical departure
from the norm. That must be encouraged by all political parties, winners and
losers.
Bingu wa Mutharika was declared the winner and sworn in immediately
in the presence of his new SADC colleagues who included Mugabe. The SADC
official observation team saw nothing improper with the election. The aggrieved
opposition has posted a legal challenge to the result. This could lead to
nothing because Bingu wa Mutharika is recognised by SADC governments.
We
eagerly await the AU's next move. William Shija of neighbouring Tanzania led the
AU's observer mission. The AU was not alone in making such an observation.
Strident voices of condemnation emerged from the Commonwealth delegation, headed
by Justice Joseph Warioba, the former Prime Minister of Tanzania, the European
Union and several local monitoring groups.
Manipulation of state power institutions undermines electoral
processes and systems. Among the concerns of the AU and those of other groups
were the abuse of the state machinery, especially the media and the voters roll
in the Malawi election. Justice Warioba said: "Because of the problems with the
(voters) register, the bias of the state media and the abuse of incumbency, the
process prior to Election Day was unfair."
The official SADC observer team
chose to ignore glaring infringements, declaring the election "free and fair and
credible" apart from "some minor, isolated administrative incidents, which were
promptly handled". I think the time has come for civil society and the people of
SADC to act.
The SADC parliamentary forum, meeting in Windhoek, Namibia in
2001 developed specific benchmarks and standards for all elections in the
region. The SADC governments later ratified these election standards and
accepted the system as the sole method of conferring legitimacy to
elections.
There is a negative belief among Africans, especially
nationalists, when they refer to their own elections. They speak of African
notions of democracy, which in reality are nothing other than autocratic and
tyrannical inclinations to cling onto power. We must apply universal values for
elections, or at least, we must make every effort to achieve the barest minimum
levels, such as the SADC norms and standards.
The fact that voting is
peaceful and orderly on the balloting days cannot be the only measure for a free
and fair election. We believe international observers need to move into the
country early enough to watch through the process right up to the counting of
ballots. We recommend a period of at least 90 days before the Election Day.
Observers and monitors, as stakeholders, must put pressure on Mugabe and his
regime to open up political activity to all interested parties and individuals
in Zimbabwe. They must impress upon the regime that for a democracy to be seen
to be effective everybody, or at least the majority, must recognise an election,
and an election result.
In 2002, our partisan Electoral
Supervisory Commission accredited, at the last minute, only 400 local
independent observers to cover the whole country. This was a joke as it severely
curtailed the ability of Zimbabwe Election Support Network to observe the
election. We must work hard to avoid such setbacks.
Those
wishing to monitor and observe the 2005 Parliamentary election must debate the
electoral standards here if their observations are to assume a measure of
relevance to the Zimbabwean people. We need a single voice when we decide
whether to participate in the election or not. If Zanu PF and Mugabe refuses to
accede to local and international challenges to our electoral standards, how do
we proceed? Voters, monitors and observers must adopt a common position on this
crucial matter.
Zimbabwe's pariah status has deepened. We need to pull the
country out of that image. Mugabe and the regime are showing signs of fatigue.
The pressure has been so overwhelming that the instruments of power have begun
to slide away. There is chaos everywhere: in government ministries, on the
former commercial farms, in the mines, in the manufacturing sector, in commerce
and industry and in Zanu PF.
The patronage system is crumbling fast, as
beneficiaries scurry for cover, many have gone underground and a few have since
tasted the effects of a subverted criminal justice system. The patronage system
has backfired, consuming those who enjoyed the spoils over the years.
We are
continuing with our efforts to mobilise people for change. Our programme for
electoral standards is gaining momentum. Free and fair elections, without
killings, violence, intimidation and open rigging are possible in Zimbabwe. We
are getting there. Zanu PF is now so weak that it can do nothing to assuage the
anxieties of a nation believing itself to be on the brink of
change.
Together, we shall win.
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President
Independent (UK)
Letters from Zimbabwe: Dear family and friends... we
can't even afford to
die now
One year ago, we published extracts of weekly
e-mails from Zimbabwe by Cathy
Buckle. She started sending them after her
farm was seized and her marriage
fell apart. This update - as President
Mugabe acts against internet firms to
block such e-mails - reveals how the
struggle to survive has become harder,
the tensions worse, the repression
harsher
02 June 2004
Saturday 31 May 2003
The person at the
supermarket till in front of me had 47,000 Zimbabwean
dollars worth of
groceries and was paying the bill with huge blocks of $50
and $20 notes. The
teller could barely cope. He told me he needed a new box
for every third
customer and the manager's office looked a lot like
a
warehouse.
Amazingly though, there is an incredible feeling in the
air this week. A
mixture of excitement, anticipation and relief is palpable
in the country as
we all know that at last the time has come for action. The
opposition, trade
unions and civic society have united and called for a week
of well-organised
and peaceful protests, street marches and demonstrations
calling for the
resignation of President Mugabe.
Saturday 7 June
2003
The week began and ended with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
being
arrested. Hundreds of people were beaten by nervous police, army and
state
agents, at least two were killed and we have felt much like a country
at war
this week. After 40 months of mayhem, the events this week have again
shown
the world that land and race are not the issues, but the survival of
a
political party and its leader.
Saturday 12 July
2003
President George Bush said the situation in Zimbabwe was "sad", and
then
left [South Africa]. This week President Mugabe awarded himself a 600
per
cent pay rise and now earns $2m a month. That's pretty sad when a
Labour
official told me this week that the minimum wage for a house worker is
still
just $3,457 a month [less than 5p a day].
Yes, Mr Bush and Mr
Mbeki, what's happening here in our little country,
which has no oil or
weapons of mass destruction, is pretty sad.
Saturday 19 July
2003
It was my son's annual school play this week and he handed me the
slip that
asked parents to contribute to the half-time refreshments. I didn't
know
whether to laugh or cry. If I made a cake, it would mean using my
precious
reserve of flour, replaceable only on the black market. I would also
have to
use the outrageously expensive block of South African margarine I'd
had to
buy last week and black market sugar.
I turned my thoughts to
the sandwiches option. Sliced bread is now $1,500 a
loaf if you can get it;
again I'd have to use the precious margarine and
then I'd have to find
something affordable to use as a filling. With
inflation having hit 365 per
cent this week and a single egg now costing
more than $130, I soon scrapped
that option too. Oh God, I thought, how can
something so simple as a plate of
snacks become such a nightmare.
Saturday 16 August 2003
Maybe we
are a nation of cowards. Maybe we are paralysed by fear. Maybe we
are waiting
for someone to come riding in on a white horse to save us. Or,
maybe it's
because we just don't want another war. We all keep hanging on,
turning the
other cheek, trying to help others in worse positions than
ourselves and, if
we can, making a stand. We are the moral victors and the
one thing this
government can never take from us is our pride and dignity.
Saturday 30
August 2003
There are 11 wards in Marondera; five had been won by default
by the ruling
Zanu-PF before today's voting even got under way. This was
because
candidates for the opposition had been harassed, threatened, beaten,
forced
to leave the town and been physically prevented from submitting their
names
with the nomination courts. There have been no public meetings, no
posters
or fliers, no maps showing people which ward they are in and
basically a
massive information shut down about this election in Marondera.
So I set off
to find out if I had the opportunity to vote. My first stop was
the local
junior school where I usually vote. It was deserted. The next stop
was a
senior school down the road where I talked to a security guard manning
the
school gates. The man looked at me as if were an alien from another
planet.
I phoned a friend who told me what I already feared: the ward I lived
in had
already been won unopposed by Zanu-PF.
Saturday 6 September
2003
Sitting outside one of the main banks this week was a man who used
to be a
worker on a farm just outside Marondera until it was taken over by
war
veterans. The man had a doctor's prescription. He said the script was for
a
cream. Behind his knee and on his calf were about 15 big blister
encrusted
sores, seeping and oozing. He said he didn't have enough money for
the
medication. It was going to cost $3,500. He showed me the two $500 notes
he
had managed to earn towards the cost. I pulled out my wallet and gave
him
the balance and the man's eyes filled with tears.
Saturday 13
September 2003
On a dusty siding near the main Marondera railway station,
eight children
were playing soccer. All were wearing tattered clothing and
none was wearing
shoes. The football was not a ball at all but plastic bags
wrapped around
each other. The children danced and waved at me as I watched,
showing off
like crazy and I waved back and smiled at their dirty, thin
little faces,
wishing they were sitting in classrooms.
Saturday 4
October 2003
Recently a friend's mother died. Burying his mother was a
nightmare.
Collecting her body from the hospital and moving it to his rural
home cost
$20,000, the coffin cost $80,000 and then there was the question of
feeding
all the mourners. He had no choice but to slaughter one of his two
ploughing
oxen and borrow from friends. Now he has a debt equivalent to more
than a
year's wage and can no longer plough his land and grow food for his
family
this year.
Saturday 15 November 2003
I am white and was
born here long before Zimbabwe's independence. I did not
approve of the
repressive rule of Ian Smith and his Rhodesian Front and I do
not approve of
the repressive rule of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF. In 1990
when we legally
bought a farm with government approval in Marondera it was
because we wanted
to live in the countryside and try to make a living
from
farming.
Having the farm seized by drunken government supporters
in 2000 and living
side by side for seven months with what became a war
veterans' headquarters
and later a torture camp, was any mother's worst
nightmare.Zimbabweans,
regardless of their sex or colour, are again preparing
to try to make our
government hear our desperate calls. A weekend of national
prayer and
fasting is in progress and on Tuesday the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions,
has called for a national protest. Black skin or white, brown
or beige, we
are proud and determined Zimbabweans looking to the
future.
Saturday 29 November 2003
This week, a young black woman
came to my car window carrying a large enamel
basin filled with wild
mahobohobo fruits. The woman smiled at me. "I am
Chipo's sister," she said.
"Chipo died." I nodded and said how sorry I was.
I asked about Chipo's baby
son. The last time I had seen the boy he had been
a fat, gorgeous baby who
smiled and dribbled in my arms and his mother had
clapped with cupped hands
when I gave her all my own son's baby clothes. The
woman said quietly: "I am
sorry, Chipo's baby also died."
Aids is ravaging Zimbabwe. Official
estimates are that 3,000 people are
dying from Aids here every week. In
almost every shop you see young men and
women as thin as skeletons, with
sunken eyes, grey hair, swollen feet and
sores on their faces and
necks.
Since October 2000 when government supporters chased my family off
our farm,
three of our seven employees have died of Aids. Two others are HIV
positive.
The daily assistance I used to be able to give to those employees
with milk,
fruit and vegetables from the farm, stopped in 2000. The free
condoms I used
to give out every month stopped too.
Saturday 27
December 2003
In the days leading up to Christmas we began stretching and
sharing the
bounty, making a little go a very long way and the simplest of
things gave
such joy. One woman who we gave toothpaste to, clapped her hands
with
delight, saying she could not remember when she had last been able to
afford
to clean her teeth. To someone else a tennis ball was the first real
toy his
3 year old son had ever received. This youngster was born just
after
Zimbabwe's political madness began, and struggle and strife is all he
has
ever known. To another man, who writes the most amazing personal
diaries
about his struggle to survive in Zimbabwe's hell, two simple exercise
books
and a ball point pen were treasured gifts.
On Christmas Day the
son of a neighbour arrived with a small enamel pot
containing four home-made
scones and four muffins. With much thanks and
laughter the pot was returned
to the boy's parents with six eggs and four
little chocolates inside
it.
Saturday 17 January 2004
I watched a child and knew for sure
that she would soon be dead. Standing
barefoot and in a filthy and torn
dress, a wild-eyed and desperate girl of
perhaps 11 stood in the middle of
four lanes of traffic. Her hair was matted
and had the characteristic orange
colour that indicates malnutrition. On her
back, wrapped in a towel, was a
baby. It was perhaps her brother or sister.
The girl just stood, counting
filthy $20 notes in the middle of the road as
luxury cars streamed past her.
Perhaps she was trying to work out that she
would need 100 of those dirty
bills to buy the baby one litre of milk, or
125 of the notes to buy herself
one loaf of bread. For an 11-year-old girl
begging on the highway, a loaf of
bread or litre of milk would represent a
miracle.
The $30m that Hear
the Word Ministries (formerly Rhema Church) gave to
President Mugabe could
have bought 12,000 loaves of bread or 15,000 litres
of milk and saved the
lives of hundreds of little begging girls.
Saturday 7 February
2004
Shortly after returning from watching football in Tunisia, the
Minister of
Education announced that headmasters from 35 schools across the
country were
to be suspended and prosecuted for raising school fees without
government
permission. In Marondera, my rates have gone up by 1,615 per cent.
Water has
gone up by 1,650 per cent and refuse removal by 1,150 per
cent.
Saturday 14 February 2004
This week I visited a new
supermarket. In the aisle where female sanitary
products are displayed a
group of six men stood in a bunch. As I and other
women looked at the prices
of sanitary towels, the men passed crude
comments, made jokes and laughed
loudly.
Women who grit their teeth, ignore the taunts and count their
dollars to see
if they can afford to keep themselves clean this month. There
were neither
tampons nor cotton wool to buy and a pack of 10 sanitary towels
was $17,000.
This is the equivalent of almost seven loaves of bread, so for a
woman with
hungry children at home, the decision about what to buy is
non-existent. The
same applies to even soap.
Standing next to me in
the supermarket was a pretty young woman who picked
up the small packet of
sanitary towels, looked at the price, sighed, shook
her head and then put
them back and left.
Saturday 28 February 2004
The end of February
marks the end of Zimbabwe's fourth year of chaos, and it
is a month which
will always be remembered as the time when the madness
began. Shortly after
the referendum in 2000 in which the people voted
against constitutional
changes, I described the invasion of our Marondera
farm. "The war veterans
had come. 'Hondo, Hondo, Hondo' (war), the war
veterans shouted, again and
again. Then they started whistling and singing.
The dogs were going mad,
barking and howling and scratching at the doors to
get out. I closed all the
curtains and locked myself in my study, sat down
on the floor and put my
hands over my head, sobbing and shaking."
In February 2001, journalists
protested against the bombing of the printing
presses of The Daily News.
While this was happening, I was witnessing the ag
onising death from Aids of
my ex-farm employee, Emmanuel. Neither he nor I
could afford anti- retroviral
drugs and Emmanuel's quality of life had
collapsed since we had been forced
to leave our farm. Saying goodbye to
Emmanuel is not a day I want to
remember. As I embraced him, I could feel
every rib and hear his gasping
struggle for breath. I knew I would never see
him again. 'Go well Manuel,' I
said, as his father and I lifted him into the
car. 'Stay well, Mrs Cathy,' he
whispered in response. Although he died
shortly afterwards, his memory will
always be a part of me.
In February 2002, two weeks before the
presidential elections, political
violence engulfed the country. One night my
neighbour's house was petrol
bombed because he was an opposition activist,
and I wrote: "I ran out of my
back door to see a huge fire consuming the
house three doors away. A massive
orange glow lit the sky and there were
continuing explosions for the next
hour as windows and other items heated and
exploded. I ran inside to call
the police and the fire brigade, but they
would not come."
In February 2003, the shops were empty of staple food
and the petrol
stations were dry. Queuing was a part of everyday life, as
were attempted
protests, riot police and tear gas. World cup cricket matches
began in
Harare and I wrote about the death of 29-year- old Edison Mukwasi
who was an
opposition supporter and had been beaten and tortured while in
police
custody.
That takes me to February 2004. Life expectancy in
Zimbabwe is now 37. Well
over half of the population needs food aid,
inflation is over 620 per cent,
the daily free press has gone and every month
judges resign from the bench.
President Mugabe has just turned 80 and when
asked how close talks were with
the opposition he said: "The devil is the
devil, we have no idea of supping
with the devil." Looking back, I can hardly
believe Zimbabwe has survived.
Saturday 4 April 2004
The most
depressing thing about the elections now is the tired resignation
with which
people accept the results and the almost non-existent outrage.
Saturday
10 April
In January 2003, Gabriel was a human rights lawyer. He was
called to defend
an opposition member of parliament who was in trouble.
Whilst consulting
with his client, Gabriel was seized by armed police. He was
held in a prison
cell but then he was removed, shoved into a yellow vehicle,
had his head
covered with a black hood and was taken away to an unknown
place. Gabriel
was taken down three flights of stairs, stripped naked, had
his hands and
feet shackled and was abused, assaulted and interrogated for
many hours.
He was forced to drink his own urine and lick his own vomit
off the floor.
He was hung upside down and beaten on the soles of his feet,
he had wires
attached to his toes and genitals and was repeatedly tortured
with electric
shocks. Gabriel was forced to write and sign documents
implicating himself
and other senior members of the opposition. Three days
later the High Court
ordered that Gabriel be released. Charges of trying to
destabilise the
government were thrown out of court, but then came the death
threats that
finally made Gabriel flee for his life to South Africa. Gabriel
knows of at
least 13,000 Zimbabwean asylum-seekers and torture victims in
Johannesburg
alone that need urgent humanitarian assistance. Asylum seekers
arrive hugely
traumatised, have no relations, money, accommodation or jobs.
The South
African government admits it has given asylum to only 11 people and
that
thousands have been rejected on the grounds that "there is no civil war
in
Zimbabwe".
Saturday 24 April 2004
I must admit to finding it
increasingly difficult to find or see any hope in
Zimbabwe's situation. This
week I could write about the farmer who was
"roughed up" in my home town or
about thousands of farm workers living in
the bush after being violently
evicted from Kondozi farm in Odzi. I could
also write about the violent
assault that took place at the University of
Zimbabwe, but there are just no
words left to describe these horrors.
Instead I sit here on a Saturday
morning listening to music and my eyes are
filled with tears.
Saturday
29 May 2004
There has been a blatant whipping up of rhetoric and
anti-white sentiment in
the media. "Racist, racist, racist" are the screams.
In a country of 11
million people, generous estimates put the number of white
people still here
at about 70,000 - it is a minuscule proportion of the
population but for
four years and three months people with white skins have
been blamed for
everything that has gone wrong. We have become the easy
targets, the
incessant and obvious scapegoats.
The opposition offices
in Harare have been attacked, windows smashed and
property destroyed. A
35-year-old white farmer has been abducted, tortured
and beaten black and
blue on his back, legs, arms and buttocks. Another
white farmer lies in
hospital with two broken arms, stab wounds and a charge
of murder hanging
over him. A white woman has had her house stoned and been
paraded through the
streets, publicly humiliated and traumatised.
After the horrific events
in Rwanda, the United Nations and the world said
that never again would they
sit back and watch genocide and ethnic
cleansing. My message to them now is:
"Are you sitting comfortably, ladies
and gentlemen?"
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM 1st June 2004
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAG
OLF
272
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways,
thoroughly used and totally worn out, proclaiming....''Hell's
teeth, what a
trip!''
Author
Unknown.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPEN
LETTER FORUM
Letter 1. Subject Open Letter Forum
Has anyone
thought of writing to the papers in South Africa, Europe and UK
to point out
that buying produce from organisations such as Kondozi amounts
to receiving
stolen property? Or even writing to the buyers direct (I have
heard
Sainsbury's mentioned)?
The supermarket chains are very sensitive to
public perception of
themselves as "good guys", and will shy away from any
and all negative
publicity.
Probably the best approach would be an
official letter from JAG pointing
out that all produce bought from businesses
on the following list is stolen
property.
This I think would be far
more effective than trying to take legal action
in Zimbabwe, which is pretty
well pointless
C.
Frizell
UK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2. Subject Immoral Big Boys
Dear Editor,
It appears that the
Government is now turning on "its own" - possibly those
they now view as
"Immoral Big Boys." Mr. Mutumwa Mawere, who appears to
control a number of
large Zimbabwean companies, is reported to have been
arrested in South
Africa.
Of significance to farmers is the fact that Mr. Mawere was
apparently
commander-in-chief of FSI Agricom - the company that managed to
lease over
630 farms that had in many cases been illegally seized from
commercial
farmers. But it seems that Mr. Mawere is no longer the flavour of
the
moment - and with speculation as to what the reasons are. When the
farms
were leased by FSI, Mr. Mawere obviously had Government's blessing at
the
time.
The probable answers are not difficult to summise - power or
money, or
both. Is it just possible that the Nazi script is being strictly
adhered
to?
Pro
Justice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3. Subject Watch Your Gate Parts
COINCIDENCE??!!??
How did they
gain access to the property, considering we have electric
fencing? The gate
is slightly lifted off the rail, which disengages the
drive cog from the
drive rail. The gate is then pushed open. They then
enter the property.
They work under the light that I diligently installed
at the gate, to
compensate for the lack of street lights!! They managed to
break open the
cage. The FULOY lock was left behind. They managed to
unscrew all
components, and leave without dogs even barking. Inside
assisted job??
Expertly done?? By who??
BE AWARE - A FLIER LIKE THIS MAY COST YOU YOUR
GATE MOTOR.
TWO THOUSAND GATE SERVICES (PVT) LTD
*Automated/manual
gates
*Garage doors -tip ups
*Electric fence/razor wire
*Automation for
existing gates
*Upgrading system
*Window frames, door frames
EX
TPK. MANAGERS
Minimum labour $30 000
Transport $30 000
Contact No
04
771703
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
JAG CLASSIFIED: Updated 1st June 2004
Please send any classified adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Job Opportunities <justice@telco.co.zw>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Advert Received 25th April 2004
Holiday accommodation available on the
south coast, Kwazulunatal between
Margate and Port Edward...
gorgeous
beaches, the weather in Winter is glorious...temp. early
twenties...low
humidity.
Two, two bedroomed self-contained flatlets...fully equipped with
linen,
crockery cutlery, t.v., microwave
....just bring your own beach
towels. Property has own beach path...5
minutes walk and sea views.
Discounted rates
for Zimbabweans. Contact lynch@saol.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
Advert Received 27th May 2004
Are you stressed, lacking energy, over
weight, not feeling up to the
pressures of life. We can put some spring in
your step and make you look
and feel much better, phone Liz
091-913-460
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Advert Received 29th May 2004
BMW R850R motorcycle for sale.
1997
Model
Contact Wendy for further details
091 236
317
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Advert Received 31st May 2004
FOR SALE
1991 Peugeot 405 Sedan
Automatic White in colour. One owner imported
direct from France. 152000kms
in excellent condition with new tyres. $25
million negotiable.
1981
Brockhouse 6 tonne Dropside Trailer Blue in colour in good condition.
$20
million negotiable.
Sony 27" Trinitron Colour TV in good condition. $2.5
million.
Oak veneered TV Cabinet. $1 million.
Display cabinet. $1.5
million.
Lounge Suite 2 x 2 seater couches plus 2 x singles in navy, maroon,
emerald
green & beige imported upholstery in excellent condition. $3
million
negotiable.
Fantasy Diana single base and mattress in excellent
condition x 4. $400
thousand each
Brand New Echo Roof top tent with
adjustable rack too fit twin cab Rand
5500.00
Contact Stella Ferreira on
Cell: 011 408213 or Tel/Fax: 490007
email:ferreira@ecoweb.co.zw for any of
the above.
ALL NEW for Sale
Numerous Filters
Various Bearings
UV
Joint 4.41 x 4
UV Joint GU1100 x 2
UV Joint GU1000 x 4
UV Joint KY1100
x 3
Oil Pressure Gauge Mech. CH2430 x 1
Water Pressure Gauge Mech. CH2431
x 1
Redmile plates x 8
2' 11" Fire Ends x 24
Vee Belts A48 x 2, A58 x
4, A59 x 4, A67 x 4, B51 x 3, B63 x1, B68 x8
Tobacco Planting Hose 38mm x
48mtrs
Tobacco Barn Thermostats x 18
Kurt tieing machines x 23
Kurt
tieing machine wheels x 3
Plough Discs 24" 5 hole x 2
Plough Bolts &
nuts x 10
Irrigation 5" AC Joint Rubbers x 6
Irrigation 3" Bands x
20
90mm x 1" Saddle clamps x 18
90mm Class 6 PVC Pipes (6mtr lengths) x
7
Seals 2312 x 2,100881 x 11, 106355 x 10, 106038 x 10, 108979 x 5 &
109432 x
6
Pick Heads x 6
Axe Heads x 9
Various quantities &
sizes V Bolts, Pop rivets, Self tapping & Wood screws,
Wire nails, Hex
Bolts & nuts, Flat washers
Cattle Metal Ear tags 100's x 2
boxes
Cattle Ear tag applicator
Cattle top tags asst. colours 25's x 13
pkts
Various Dulux 1ltr varnishes
Various Dulux PVA Tinters
200lts
Stable 60 x 4
Contact Stella Ferreira on Cell: 011 408213 or Tel/Fax 490007
email
ferreira@ecoweb.co.zw re any
of the above
A Rhapsody portable AM/FM Stereo Radio Cassette recorder and
CD player in
excellent condition $800'000.00
Hoover washing machine
front loader new motor in good condition
$1'000'000.00
3 x grey metal
Laziman single garage doors $800'000.00 each.
2 x pairs as new Courtney
Boots Style 415 Size 4 & 5 $600'000.00 each.
1 x single brass &
white bed with mattress, sidebed table, chest of draws
and mirror in good
condition $2'000'000.00
For any of the above please contact Stella
Ferreira on 011 408213 or 490007
Email: ferreira@ecoweb.co.zw
1 x Sony
PS1 Play station chipped with 12 copied games plus memory card in
good
condition $1'500'000.00 please contact Stella Ferreira on 011 408213
or
490007 Email: ferreira@ecoweb.co.zw
---------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
JAG Hotlines:
(011) 612 595 If you are in trouble or need
advice,
(011) 205 374
(011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
-
(011) 431 068
we're here to help!
263
4 799 410 Office Lines
The Herald
Agribank's delays in disbursing loans rile wheat
farmers
MEMBERS of the cereal industry are up in arms against the
Agriculture
Develop-ment Bank of Zimbabwe (Agribank) over delays in
disbursing loans
under the $50 billion winter wheat production loan
facility.
Members in the industry yesterday said that bank was yet to
process the loan
applications despite the fact that the season is already in
full swing.
There are fears that the delays in disbursing the loans in
time would result
in fewer hectares being put under wheat, translating to a
lower harvest.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers, Union director for marketing
Mr Andrew Jiri
said farmers were concerned over the delays in loan
disbursement.
"This is a setback to the winter wheat programme which
needs to be urgently
redressed by the responsible authorities as more farmers
are keen to venture
into wheat production," said Mr Jiri.
He said the
organisation had long given the financial institution a list of
farmers who
needed assistance.
Cereal production continues to drop due to lack of
financing.
Mr Jiri said the crop was cost-intensive and scarcity of funds
would result
in the continued fall of output.
Statistics show that
production has fallen from 420 000 tonnes in 1999 to
220 000 tonnes last
year, resulting in Government introducing the $50
billion facility in April
this year.
The facility is aimed at assisting newly-resettled farmers
with various
inputs, but farmers say Agribank has adopted stringent lending
conditions
after farmers failed to pay back most of the $60 billion from last
year.
It is understood that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has instructed
the
institution to recover the money from beneficiaries.
Unscrupulous
individuals, some masquerading as newly-resettled farmers,
prejudiced the
bank of large sums of money.
However, Agribank managing director Mr Sam
Malaba last week said the
financial institution would speed up loan
disbursements to the cereal
industry. He said the bank was moving towards
accountability on loans.
Experts say the successful restructuring of
Agribank depended on a
transparent loan provision system.
Meanwhile,
the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority says the
distribution of
inputs has started with more than 500 out of the 1 700
hectares earmarked for
this season's winter cropping having already been
planted in Matabeleland
North.
Arda agronomist Mr Vusa Moyo told Business Chronicle that the
targeted area
for this year's winter wheat in Matabeleland will cover 1 795,2
hectares.
"If the target area of 1 795,2 hectares is achieved, we expect
7 181 tonnes
of wheat," he said. "The planting has started, with 535 hectares
planted so
far, mostly at Arda's Balu Estate and around the Nyamandlovu
Aquifer area,"
said Mr Moyo.
Arda has previously indicated that a
number of irrigation schemes can be
urgently rehabilitated to enable more
land to be put under irrigation for
wheat production.
Some irrigation
farmers were asking for a pre-planting wheat producer price
of $2,1 million
per tonne from the present $776 000 to cushion them against
high electricity
and water tariffs.
Mr Moyo, however, said his office had not yet been
informed of the new
producer price for wheat.
Agribank was supposed to
provide loans to individual farmers under the
productive sector facility to
kick-start the winter preparations.
Zimbabwe requires 400 000 tonnes
annually for consumption, but farmers have
been producing an estimated 300
000 tonnes a season resulting in a deficit,
which has been covered through
imports.
Nationally, this year's winter crop is expected to cover around
100 000
hectares with more than 420 000 tonnes expected to be
harvested.
Numerous irrigation water schemes, inputs and equipment have
been made
available under various Government programmes. - Bulawayo
Bureau.
Independent (UK)
Mbeki welcomes deposed Haitian leader to £30,000-a-month
stay in South
Africa
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent
01
June 2004
The deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide arrived
in South Africa to
a red-carpet welcome yesterday amid strong opposition
protests over how
President Thabo Mbeki has warmed to the former
dictator.
Mr Mbeki, who rarely greets heads of state at airports, and who
was not at
the airport when the President George Bush or the German
Chancellor Gerhard
Schröder visited his country, was at Johannesburg airport
to meet Mr
Aristide.
Most of his cabinet were also present as well as
diplomats, members of the
US Congressional Black Caucus, who have denounced
the US "coup" against Mr
Aristide, and Mozambique's foreign minister,
representing the African Union
(AU). Mr Mbeki said: "I want to say welcome to
President Aristide, Madame
Aristide and the children. Welcome to the African
continent and to South
Africa."
This has outraged the opposition
Democratic Alliance, which argues that Mr
Mbeki's warm relationships with
disgraced dictators including Mr Aristide
and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe are
costing South Africa its international
reputation.
Mr Mbeki was the
only world leader present at Haiti's bicentennial
celebrations, hosted by Mr
Aristide before he was ousted last year. His
government also tried to ship
arms to Mr Aristide while he was in power and
has backed a UN investigation
into allegations that America drove him from
power as part of its
"regime-change" philosophy. The Democratic Alliance
(DA) is particularly
incensed by the huge budget the South African
government will allocate for Mr
Aristide's upkeep. It has argued the money,
which it claims will be more than
£30, 000 a month, could be better used to
cater for the poor homeless in
South Africa. Douglas Gibson, a DA spokesman,
said in a statement: "Haiti is
far beyond our sphere of influence. Aristide
should go home." He added that
South Africa had no business to worry about
Mr Aristide.
While in
Jamaica, Mr Aristide was gagged from speaking to media, but the
government
has hinted that this will not be the case here as "South Africa
is a free
country".
Mr Aristide, who flew to South Africa accompanied by Kingsley
Mamabolo, Mr
Mbeki's envoy on African affairs, and representatives from
Jamaica, the
Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the US Congressional Black
Caucus, thanked
his hosts in English and Zulu. "How grateful we are for the
opportunity to
thank President Mbeki, the government and people of South
Africa," said Mr
Aristide, adding his family was happy to be on the "mother
continent of
Africa" until it becomes possible for them to return to
Haiti.
Mr Aristide, who insists that he remains his country's elected
president and
has accused Haiti's new government of harassing and killing his
supporters
on the Caribbean island, is in South Africa for an indefinite
period. He
will initially stay in an official guest mansion in Pretoria at
taxpayers'
expense.
Mr Aristide fled an armed revolt in Haiti on 29
February and was flown to
the Central African Republic on a flight arranged
by the US amid speculation
he hoped to settle in South Africa. He travelled
to Jamaica to be reunited
with his children and to arrange exile elsewhere.
South Africa approved his
asylum request two weeks ago after a request from
Caricom and following
talks with the African Union.
Mr Mbeki's
opponents say he has turned a blind eye to Mr Aristide's
deplorable human
rights record.
But Aziz Pahad, the South African Deputy Foreign Minister,
said Mr Mbeki had
agreed to host Mr Aristide temporarily "as a contribution
towards
stabilising the situation in Haiti". He added: "South Africa has
a
responsibility as an African country and as part of the
international
community to ensure that democracy and peace prevail in Haiti
and that the
people of Haiti are able to choose who their leaders should
be."
From SW Radio Africa, 31 May
Shooting survivor insists Manyika shot
friend
In March, MDC youth Francis Chinozvinya died, after he was
shot during the
Zengeza parliamentary by-election, allegedly by a
high-ranking government
official. In the same incident another man, Arthur
Gunzvenzve was shot and
injured. Although eyewitnesses say they saw Minister
Elliot Manyika firing
the shot that killed the MDC youth, Zanu PF has since
maintained that
Chinozvinya's death was neither their responsibility nor that
of Elliot
Manyika who is also the Zanu PF national political commissar.
Police have
since arrested a man they allege was behind the fatal shooting.
We spoke
with one of the shooting victims, Arthur Gunzvenzve, who was shot in
the leg
on that fateful day. He maintains that he saw Minister Elliot Manyika
fire
the shot that killed his friend. Arthur Gunzvenzve was shot in the
leg
whilst another MDC youth, Francis Chinozvinya died after he was shot in
the
chest. Arthur says he saw Minister Elliot Manyika fire a shot at the
youths
who were guarding the MDC candidate's home. Zanu PF supporters went to
the
house and started throwing stones. Some ruling party youths had come by
foot
while others came in three truckloads, resulting in clashes. Arthur says
he
saw Manyika get out of his car and fire a shot, killing Francis
Chinozvinya.
He says that he was shot by another Zanu PF official who was
with the gang.
He reported the matter to the police but says they have been
trying to make
him change his statements about seeing Minister Manyika shoot
Francis. He
says Zengeza is still tense and he has not been able to stay
there because
of victimisation and intimidation from state agents.
Health Ministry Moves to Bond All Professionals Beginning Next
Year
The Herald (Harare)
May 31, 2004
Posted to the web
June 1, 2004
Masvingo
BONDING, adopted by Government last year to
arrest the crippling exodus of
nurses, will from next year be extended to all
professionals in the health
sector, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare,
Dr David Parirenyatwa, has
said.
He said the move was part of efforts
being pursued by his ministry to
improve the country's health system, which
has been beset by a shortage of
skilled personnel, most of whom are leaving
for other countries.
The minister was speaking at the graduation of 99
nurses in Masvingo
recently.
The bonding of health professionals
trained by Government would see them
being obliged to work in the country for
a stipulated period before they are
free to resign.
Dr Parirenyatwa
said it was saddening to note that the country has become a
nursery of health
professionals for other countries.
"We have been bonding nurses only in
the past, but from next year all other
health professionals will be bonded
because we cannot continue to train
professionals for others. We will also
continue to review the working
conditions of health professionals as part of
our efforts to make sure that
they are not tempted to leave for other
countries," he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa exhorted nurses to stay in the
country, saying that it was
disturbing to note that some locally trained
nurses were relegating
themselves to doing menial jobs in countries like
Britain.
He added that Government had introduced the primary care nurse's
course as
an innovative measure to train nurses who were in high demand in
developed
countries as was the case with state registered nurses.
The
establishment of the Health Service Commission, Cde Parirenyatwa said,
was
going to usher in a new epoch for health professionals in the country
as
their problems would be expeditiously attended to.
The creation of
the Health Services Commission, which is still awaiting
Parliamentary
approval, will see health professionals being removed from the
Public Service
Commission under which all civil servants fall.
The country's health
delivery system has been teetering on the verge of
collapse for the past few
years arising from the massive exodus of skilled
manpower prompted by
concerns over working and living conditions.
Mystery Over Mawere's Citizenship
The Herald (Harare)
May
29, 2004
Posted to the web June 1, 2004
Fidelis
Munyoro
Harare
Mystery surrounds the status of businessman Mutumwa
Mawere's citizenship
after it emerged yesterday that while he holds a South
African passport, he
has a pending application at the South African embassy
in Harare for
permanent residence in that country.
Mawere was arrested
in South Africa this week on allegations of fraud
involving more than US$18
million allegedly committed in Zimbabwe.
He was granted R50 000 bail when
he appeared before a Randburg magistrate on
Thursday and remanded to June 29
when a hearing on whether he should be
extradited to Zimbabwe would be
held.
The head of the security department at the South African Embassy in
Harare
Mr Sean Mongale confirmed that Mawere holds dual
citizenship.
"It is true that Mawere is a citizen of South Africa but he
never applied
for the citizenship through here," said Mr Mongale in an
interview yesterday
morning. "We don't know the circumstances under which he
got it."
Mr Mongale said the embassy currently has an application by
Mawere seeking
permanent residence in South Africa, which is yet to be
approved.
However, later in the afternoon Mr Mongale, who had asked this
reporter to
phone him later for more details on Mawere's permanent
residence
application, sought to water down the information he had given
earlier.
He said Mawere's name did not appear in their records in Harare
and asked
this reporter to contact him on Monday, when he is expected to
have
contacted the responsible office in South Africa.
On Thursday,
Mawere told The Herald that he holds a South African passport
and is a
permanent resident in South Africa.
Police wish to question Mawere on
allegations the State may have been
prejudiced of more than $300 billion by
African Associated Mines, in which
the businessman has interests, through non
submission of foreign currency
declaration forms and externalisation of
foreign currency.
Mawere attacked Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono
for allegedly
"displaying venom".
But industry sources said it was
surprising that Mawere was shifting the
blame on the governor for his
misfortunes.
They queried why he was afraid of pointing the finger at the
Commissioner of
Police Cde Augustine Chihuri who is at the centre of the
anti-corruption
drive.
"Gideon Gono does not have any authority to
arrest anyone but the
Commissioner of Police has the power to do so," said an
industry source.
Yesterday, police spokesman Superintendent Oliver
Mandipaka confirmed the
Criminal Investigations Department Special
Investigations Unit was probing
Mawere.
"Mawere is suspected to have
defrauded the Zimbabwe economy of substantial
amounts of foreign currency and
it is intended to prefer fraud charges and
alternatively contravening the
Exchange Control Act," said Supt Mandipaka.
"It is our understanding that
he was the non-executive chairman of Africa
Resources Limited, a
multinational corporation founded in Zimbabwe in 1996
and has subsidiaries -
SMM Holdings, Zimre Holdings, UKI Ltd and SUFH."
Supt Mandipaka said the
police would also investigate issues pertaining to
any unscrupulous dealings
the businessman was involved in.
Mawere is denying involvement in the day
to day operations of the companies
saying the charges defy logic.
As
part of his bail conditions, the businessman was ordered to surrender
his
travel documents and to reside at his Bryanstan home in
Johannesburg.
He was also ordered not to leave Johannesburg without
permission from
Interpol.
Royal Father Endorses Zimbabwean Farmers
This Day
(Lagos)
June 1, 2004
Posted to the web June 1, 2004
Tunde
Sanni
Ilorin
Emir of Gwanara, Alhaji Sabi Idris has endorsed the
partnership agreement
between the Kwara State government and farmers from
Zimbabwe.
The Emir who yesterday led a delegation of eminent indigenes of
Baruten
Local Government Area to government house Ilorin, described the
decision to
invite the commercial white farmers as a courageous and wise
decision.
He said "Nigeria must adopt a new agricultural policy to meet
the challenges
of the new order."
The Emir, advised the state to
continue to give impetus to agriculture so
that more people can go into large
scale mechanised farming.
He praised Governor Saraki's administration for
the revolutionary changes
introduced especially on prompt payment of salaries
and pensioners
allowances, erection of a new airport terminal building, a
motorcycle
assembly plant, Back-to-Farm and Clean and Green programmes which
have
provided employment to a large number of unemployed
youths.
Thanking the Waziri of Ilorin, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki for
providing able
leadership, he said for the first time, Baruten has produced a
Senator of
the Federal Republic and Speaker of the State House of
Assembly.
While expressing appreciation to the governor for the inclusion
of competent
indigenes of Baruten in his cabinet.
Dr Saraki assured
the people of Baruten Council that the
Chikanda-Ilesha-Benin Republic border
road will be completed during the life
span of his administration and sought
their continued prayers, support and
cooperation to facilitate the early
completion of the road
No Solution in Sight for Harare's Water Problems
The Herald
(Harare)
June 1, 2004
Posted to the web June 1, 2004
Nelson
Chenga
Harare
CASTING a weary gaze across the street, Amai Kabona
seems resigned to
destiny.
It is now exactly six hours since water
taps ran dry in this densely
populated township of Mabvuku, a sprawling
suburb 12 kilometres west of
Harare.
For the past five years or so,
the more than 200 000 residents of Mabvuku
and neighbouring Tafara have
probably borne the brunt of the worst water
supply problems to affect Harare,
currently struggling to meet its domestic
and industrial water
demands.
"There is a major water problem here and worrying about it is a
waste of
time," said Amai Kabona as she casually rearranged some tomatoes
into small
neat piles at her vending post by the roadside.
When taps
run dry for long periods, which often run into days, Amai Kabona
and other
residents descend on the vleis east and west of the suburb and
collect water
from shallow wells.
But that lifeline too is fast drying up due to
massive deforestation and
poor agricultural practices that are fast draining
the plains.
The disappearing trees, grass and reeds have considerably
reduced the
wetlands' water absorption capacity.
More ominous,
however, is the reality that the rapidly drying-up vleis are
slowly impacting
negatively on Harare's major water supply reservoirs of
Lake Chivero and Lake
Manyame.
Already suffocating under heavy sewer and industrial pollutants
from the two
cities of Harare and Chitungwiza, the reservoirs, especially
Lake Chivero,
are dying fast as fresh water supplies from these wetlands
continue to
dwindle.
Despite warnings by ecological researchers since
1980 that because Zimbabwe
was a drought-prone country with a very low water
resource replenishment
capacity, severe deforestation has continued unabated,
also effectively
exhausting underground water resources - another critical
alternate water
supply source for Harare.
The alternate water supply
line is, meanwhile, also being silently depleted
by thousands of residents
sinking boreholes and deep wells to escape the
inconvenience of the city's
erratic water supplies.
Plans to build other water supply sources like
the Kunzwi Dam, some 40km
east of the capital, to relieve pressure on current
dams and reduce
purification costs, have largely remained a pipe
dream.
Harare, one of Southern Africa's rapidly growing metropolises with
an
exploding population exceeding two million people and an aging
water
reticulation system, faces enormous water challenges as
environmental
degradation takes its toll on its 2 136 square-kilometre water
catchment
area bounded by the Upper Manyame Basin.
The catchment's
"self-purification capacity has been lost through various
stream-bank and
stream-bed degradation processes as well as land fills that
have obliterated
areas with extensive reed growths", says one research paper
in a book titled
Lake Chivero - A Polluted Lake, published in 1997.
Another article in the
same book says: "The argument is that, the capacity
of rivers to purify
themselves should be recognised and managed to allow
rivers to absorb the
pollution load before discharging into Lake Chivero."
The fast unfolding
crisis has firmly anchored Zimbabwe among the 48
countries whose 2,8 billion
people face water stress or scarcity conditions
by 2025.
"Many African
countries, with a population of nearly 200 million people, are
facing serious
water shortages. By the year 2025, it is estimated that
nearly 230 million
Africans will be facing water scarcity and 460 million
will live in
water-stressed countries," says the United Nations
Environment
Programme.
The Harare City Council, barely managing to
meet the 700 megalitres per day
requirement of water for domestic and
industrial use, is only able to
provide 575 megalitres a day of treated
water.
The council, which had budgeted $815 billion, about three-quarters
of its
2004 budget, for water reticulation, is using about $360 million daily
to
buy a cocktail of seven water purification chemicals to cleanse water
from
the city's heavily polluted Lake Chivero.
In the long run, with
millions of dollars already being required to
rehabilitate purification
waterworks at Morton Jaffray and Prince Edward
Dam, the effort is
unsustainable.
Environmentalists point out that as long as little
attention is given to
protecting wetlands as well as creating other wetlands
along the city's main
supply rivers of Manyame, Mukuvisi and Marimba, the
future of Harare's water
resources is precarious..
"We encourage
Harare, as the country's most complex city, to give more
serious thought to
the environment and put the environment at the centre of
planning," said Mr
Percy Toriro, the president of the Zimbabwe Institute of
Regional and Urban
Planners, (ZIRUP) in an interview.
Despite the gazetting of the country's
Environmental Management Act (Chapter
20:27) of 2002, the high demand for
accommodation across the country has
also resulted in many private housing
developments sprouting up in vleis
without any apparent environmental impact
assessments.
The Act, which seeks to, among other things, provide for the
sustainable
management of natural resources and protection of the
environment; the
prevention of pollution and environmental degradation,
demands that every
local authority should prepare an environmental action
plan for the area
under its jurisdiction.
"We realise that with the
enactment of that legislation there is now more
need for stricter assessment
of the impact of all developments on the
environment," said Mr Toriro. "As
forerunners in land development, planners
should be fully aware of the
environmental impacts of developments which are
capable of drying up vleis,"
he added.
"So we are encouraging all land developers and local
authorities to go back
and audit past developments for any negative impacts
and make
recommendations for environmentally friendly measures."
The
World Conservation Union (IUCN) notes: "A change in the amount of water
which
infiltrates into the soil will affect the amount of water that flows
into
streams and also affects the amount of water available to vegetation
and
groundwater."
The IUCN further observes that water in Southern Africa has
become such a
vulnerable resource as a result of increasing degradation of
water resources
due to unsustainable water and land use practices such as
over-pumping of
ground water, water pollution and loss of and encroachment on
wetlands.
Many of Harare's pristine savanna woodlands, including the
exotic trees that
flourished on its outskirts and along many of the city's
main roads, have
vanished, plundered by firewood merchants and residents
alike.
A recent study carried out by environmental watchdog, Environment
Africa,
revealed that one of the city's water catchment areas of Cleveland,
just
west of Mabvuku, has lost 90 percent of its trees since 1965 to
firewood
hunters.
Coupled with the unsustainable land use practices
such as ploughing on
slopes in the catchment area, the source of Mukuvisi
River is, fact, turning
into desert.
Although research has indicated
that well-managed cultivation can increase
infiltration, the Cleveland
wetland has, however, been severely drained and
the water table drastically
lowered through cultivation, effectively
disturbing the area's
ecosystem.
Other environmental researchers have found out that between
1955 and 1994
the percentage of spaces that had been opened up to cultivation
in Harare
increased from 1 percent to 36 percent. More than 67 percent of the
land is
in vleis.
Describing Cleveland as both a catchment and
wetland, Environment Africa
said: "Zimbabwe is not a wet enough country to
have many such areas.
"The Cleveland catchment area is bestowed with many
varied habitat types
such as the extensive grasslands, riverine and
lake-shore, woodlands, reed
beds and wetlands which in turn support a large
number of different species,
making it a special area of nature."
The
catchment's reeds and grasslands act as crucial sponges that naturally
purify
the water flowing into the Cleveland Dam and stream through
absorption,
oxidation and microbial degradation.
As Zimbabwe commemorates the June 5
United Nations World Environment Day at
the weekend under the theme "Wanted:
Seas and Oceans - Dead or Alive?", the
country has placed special focus on
the "Catchments and Rivers" as the
sources for life not only for the seas and
oceans, but also for the country.
Recognising that rivers, streams and
waterways are a "life-blood of an
ecosystem" which need to be kept healthy
and balanced, Environment Africa is
working hard with Mabvuku and Tafara
farmers to arrest soil erosion and
reclaim the Cleveland
catchment.
But meanwhile catchments and wetlands elsewhere around the
city continue to
be degraded as communities like Epworth, just close to
Mabvuku and Tafara,
have remained virtually unaware of the environmental
havoc they are causing.
Epworth, a former squatter camp without formal
planning, electricity or
tapped water supplies, has been one of the biggest
silent killers of not
only the Cleveland catchment area, but also much of the
Upper Manyame Basin
as residents of the area seek wood fuel.
The fuel
crisis that started around 2000, which affected Zimbabwe's paraffin
supplies,
a major domestic fuel, saw thousands of people chopping down trees
as a ready
domestic fuel substitute.
A countrywide electricity energy crisis, which
resulted in load shedding,
also affected Zimbabwe's forest reserves along
watersheds where many of the
country's urban settlements are
located.
As the chronic shortage of paraffin persists and a winter
forecast to be
exceptionally cold approaches, time is indeed ticking away not
only for the
environment in Zimbabwe, but also for the nation as a whole.
Rhodies Snub Reconciliation
The Herald
(Harare)
OPINION
May 31, 2004
Posted to the web June 1,
2004
Caesar Zvayi
Harare
"I WISH to assure you that there can
never be any return to the state of
armed conflict which existed before our
commitment to peace and the
democratic process of election under the
Lancaster House Agreement. Surely
this is now time to beat our swords into
ploughshares so we can attend to
the problems of developing our economy and
our society . . . I urge you,
whether you are black or white, to join me in a
new pledge to forget our
grim past, forgive others and together, as
Zimbabweans, trample upon
racialism, tribalism and regionalism, and work hard
to reconstruct and
rehabilitate our society as we reinvigorate our economic
machinery."
This is part of the address to the nation by the then Prime
Minister-elect,
Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, on March 4, 1980 as he proclaimed
the policy of
reconciliation.
This was also the theme of his
inauguration address, after he was sworn in
on April 18, 1980 at Rufaro
Stadium.
Tears were shed.
On the part of the hitherto repressed
black majority, the tears were washing
away decades of sorrow as the bright
green, red and yellow bands on the
national flag formed rainbows on
tear-stained cheeks.
They wept tears of joy as they welcomed the nation
and looked to the future
with hope.
The Rhodesians, including Ian
Douglas Smith, the former Prime Minister of
rebel Rhodesia, openly wept as
the Union Jack was lowered, folded and handed
over to the former Governor of
Rhodesia, Lord Soames, and the Zimbabwean
flag rose in its place.
The
folding of the flag symbolised the folding of Rhodesia and all it
stood
for.
Rhodies' tears were tears of anger at the "sacrilege" of a
black government,
and Smith, in particular, was choking on his "not in a
thousand years"
declaration about prospects of black majority
rule.
Even the powerful message of reconciliation in Cde Mugabe's address
sounded
like a death sentence, for Godfrey Huggins, another former Rhodie
Prime
Minister, had earlier on laid the parameters of Rhodesia's race
relations
when he said that the relationship was that of a horse and a rider
- the
white man being the rider and the black man the horse.
It is
unheard of that a rider can get off his horse and shake its grimy
hoof! This
explains the Rhodies' refusal to accept the policy
of
reconciliation.
Among the weeping Rhodies at independence was the
then 21-year-old Peter
Spero-Landos, whose frustration culminated in the
alleged gruesome murder of
a newly-resettled farmer, Cde Mike Mufambi, at
Riverside Farm in Odzi on May
24.
Spero-Landos allegedly shot and
killed Cde Mufambi and injured another black
farmer, Cde Tichaona
Mafuruse.
Both these farmers were resettled on Riverside, and had hoped
to co-exist
with Spero-Landos in the spirit of co-existence that was stressed
by
President Mugabe way back in 1980, and which spirit he has always called
for
at various fora to date.
Reports from Riverside Farm indicate that
Spero-Landos had all along
expressed his displeasure at sharing "his" farm
with the three
newly-resettled farmers, and had at every opportunity reminded
them that
Riverside was Rhodesia and he was going to kill them if they did
not leave.
This brings in the chilling element of premeditation to the
killing of Cde
Mufambi.
It is important to note that Spero-Landos had
not been left landless, but he
wished the three black farmers to remain
landless in the land of their
forefathers, while he - a descendant of
economic refugees - underutilised a
vast estate!
It is the same racist
greed that led Roy Bennett, the neo-Nazi MDC
legislator for Chimanimani, to
assault two Cabinet ministers on the May 18
after he had been categorically
reminded that Charleswood Estate was gone
for good as it has been earmarked
for the resettlement of landless black
farmers.
It is also important
to note that Bennett has also not been left landless as
his Ruwa farm has not
been acquired.
So why do these foreigners wish to keep our country to
themselves and only
accept us as sources of cheap labour?
The answer
can be found in Cecil John Rhodes' statement quoted in John
Flint's 1976
book, Cecil Rhodes, where he, Rhodes, said: "I contend that we
are the finest
race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit, the
better it is for
the human race."
"Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by
the most despicable
specimens of human beings, what an alteration there would
be, if they were
brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look at the extra
employment a new
country added to our dominions gives . . .
"Africa is
still lying for us, it is our duty to take it. It is our duty to
seize every
opportunity of acquiring more territory - more territory simply
means more of
the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most honourable
race the world
possesses."
The whole issue, thus, is about racist contempt for the
"despicable" black
race, and acquiring more territory for the white
race.
The same contempt that made another white farmer in Manicaland,
Phillip
Bezuidenhout, run over another new farmer, Febian Mapenzauswa, in
July 2001,
killing him instantly.
The cases cited above are by no
means the only incidents of the racist abuse
and murder of black people by
Rhodie farmers.
These are mere tips of the iceberg.
Readers will
remember how the Zimbabwean flag was flown without the central
black band at
Lilfordia Farm two years ago.
This was an expression of the racist
farmer's perception of the
"irrelevance" of black people in the economic
affairs of Zimbabwe.
This explains why the hand of reconciliation which
has been extended for the
past 24 years is still to be shaken, if it will
ever be taken, yet we always
continue hoping that one day the Rhodies will
accept us as human beings.
The launch of the MDC in September 1999 was
the most explicit statement of
the rejection of the policy of
reconciliation.
Through this party, the Rhodies hoped to preserve the
status quo under the
guise of a black political party.
The MDC was
formed primarily to safeguard white sectarian interests, the
same way Bishop
Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council was used
during the
short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia quisling regime.
When one really looks at
it, it is the whites who are supposed to be
pressing for reconciliation for
they are the ones who wronged us through the
ages.
The statements by
the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe (CAZ) MPs, including
the unrepentant
Smith, throughout the 10 years the Lancaster House
Constitution provided for
their representation in Parliament were clearly
contemptuous of the black
man's wish to co-exist with the "most honourable
race the world
possesses."
The role of the CAZ has since been taken over by the
MDC.
It is high time we as black people stopped offering the other
cheek.
Racists who are not prepared to accept the privilege of sharing
our
resources must pack and go back to their tiny countries were they will
be
nothing but mere commoners.
Their presence has not benefited us in
any way.
To this end Bennett and Spero-Landos' remaining farms must be
acquired, as
they have shown their utter contempt for our wish for peaceful
co-existence.
There are a lot of black farmers who still need
land.
The Rhodies have to realise who is in control, with that
realisation they
will know how to behave.
As long as they feel we need
them more than they need us, they will always
hold us in contempt.
We
have since beaten our swords into ploughshares but they have kept
theirs
razor sharp, and are repeatedly stabbing us in the back with
fatal
consequences.
How else can we deal with people who never listen
till they are shaken with
blows?
Clip Wings of Mischievous Land Officers
The Herald
(Harare)
EDITORIAL
May 31, 2004
Posted to the web June 1,
2004
Harare
WEEKEND reports suggest that the future of some
newly-resettled farmers is
in jeopardy following the emergence of letters
seeking to return the land on
which they were settled to white former
commercial farmers.
Fingers are being pointed at a group of civil
servants and some unnamed
politicians as the protagonists in this despicable
scandal whose objective
can only be to reverse land reform in
Zimbabwe.
Some of the affected new farmers have vowed that they will not
take this
affront lying down and have hinted rather darkly that they might
eventually
turn to the courts for recourse if the Government does not move to
protect
them from these turncoats.
They say they have invested heavily
on the land with assistance from
Government institutions.
Others are
up to the ears in debt.
Now some officials in the Ministry of Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement
have penned letters which seek to have them kicked
off the land and some
white ex-farmers reinstated, they say.
Cde John
Nkomo, who is in charge of that ministry, has said he has no
knowledge of the
existence of such letters.
We cannot put it past these corrupt officials
to be operating behind the
minister's back.
Whatever the case, the
point is that there is a problem and it has to be
resolved before it develops
into an elephant in the room.
We propose that an investigation be
launched and that those caught trying to
perpetuate unequal access to land be
dealt with firmly and decisively.
As we have said before in this and
other columns, land is an emotive issue
over which there has been some
bloodletting throughout the world since time
out of mind.
It was
primarily for land that thousands of Zimbabweans waged an armed
struggle
leading to independence in 1980.
But that independence was only political
as land was still in the hands of a
minority.
Land and activities done
on it form the backbone of the economies of most
African states.
Now,
thanks to the vision of President Mugabe and the determination of
millions of
Zimbabweans, land is now in the hands of the majority.
Zimbabweans can
now walk tall as proud sons and daughters of a truly
independent and
sovereign nation.
Yet somewhere somehow some unscrupulous officials and
civil servants are
frantically trying to reverse this historic
process.
They must not be allowed to succeed.
Steps must be taken
to reassure the new farmers and to stop these
mischievous officials in their
tracks if peace is to prevail on the farms.
The letters that they are
alleged to be issuing can cause friction between
the new farmers and the
white former landholders.
Theft, Vandalism Cost Zesa $1bn
The Herald (Harare)
May
31, 2004
Posted to the web June 1, 2004
Harare
ZIMBABWE
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) Holdings has lost more than $1
billion
through theft and vandalism of its equipment over the last three
months, the
company's public relations officer Mr Shepherd Mandizvidza said
last
week.
Mr Mandizvidza told The Herald that the power utility had from
February this
year lost property, including conductors, cables and
transformers.
"Since February this year, we have lost more than a billion
dollars to theft
and vandalism of our equipment. It's pure sabotage and not
only domestic
users are affected, but also the productive industry,
telecommunications,
emergencies such as ambulances and so on," Mr Mandizvidza
said.
He said the power cuts that were hitting some areas were not
because of
load-shedding but due to theft and vandalism of Zesa
property.
"The thieves mainly target conductors made of aluminium or
copper cables.
They also drain oil from transformers and sell it to motorists
on the black
market," Mr Mandizvidza said.
He said the thieves also
stole MCBs and overhead and underground cables,
which they sell to legal and
illegal scrap metal and copper dealers who
export the copper to other
countries illegally.
Meanwhile, two Harare men have been convicted for
stealing a Zesa
transformer worth $40 million by a regional magistrates'
court.
The two - Tapiwa Moyo (30) and Prince Goko (22) - were convicted
on their
own plea of guilty by regional magistrate Mrs Sandra
Nhau.
They were remanded to next week when they will be
sentenced.
Prosecutor Ms Phillipa Muchemwa said on May 9 this year, the
two went to a
bushy area near Kambuzuma's Section 6 where there is a Zesa
transformer.
They cut off the transformer and removed copper
cables.
Moyo and Goko sold the cables worth $328 000 to one Silas Tsuna
of Rugare
industries in Harare who later made indications to police that led
to the
recovery of the cables.
Zesa, which lost property valued at
more than $670 million last year, has so
far put in place measures to guard
against acts of vandalism and theft.
The power utility has joined hands
with the National Railways of Zimbabwe,
TelOne, Harare Municipality, Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority and the police to
form an anti-vandalism and anti-theft
taskforce to reduce the losses.
The joint security operation, code named
Public Utilities Anti-Vandalism
(Pavu), has managed to recover materials and
equipment worth more than $45
billion from various scrap merchants, leading
to 59 arrests.
Most of the property was recovered in
Mbare.
Members of the public have been urged to support the operation and
provide
leads to the taskforce by reporting any miscreants seen tampering
with the
infrastructure of public utilities.
The Herald
Explosion rocks Zesa substation
By Jonathan
Mbiriyamveka
A HUGE blast blew up a Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
substation near
Southerton Police Station early yesterday morning, rocking
parts of
Highfield, Southerton, Lochinvar and surrounding areas.
An
electrical fault caused the explosion, which resulted in power cuts in
most
western suburbs.
Residents said after the blast, they saw a huge ball of
fire rising up in
the sky.
The fire could be seen from as far as
Machipisa Shopping Centre in
Highfield - about three kilometres
away.
"A technical fault occurred in a substation in Highfield which
resulted in
the interruption of electricity services," said Zesa public
relations
officer Mr Shepherd Mandizvidza.
The Fire Brigade was called
in and quickly put out the fire.
Some power cables and equipment worth
millions of dollars were destroyed.
Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution
Company engineering manager Mr Milton
Munodawafa said technicians were still
to decide whether or not to overhaul
the equipment.
The explosion
occurred at around 6am and affected 90 percent of the
industries in
Willowvale, according to Mr Mandizvidza.
Other suburbs that were affected
are Highfield, Lochinvar, Ardbennie and
Southerton as well as their
surrounding areas.
Also affected were traffic lights along Willowvale
Road that went out of
order after the explosion.
When The Herald
visited the substation, a technical team from the power
utility was on site
to establish the extent of the electrical fault as well
as repairing the
system to restore service.
Power was restored in all the affected areas
around 10am.
Mr Mandizvidza, however, said the affected areas should
expect power
interruptions during peak hours.
"The Zimbabwe
Electricity Distribu-tion Company is making back-feed
arrangements while
repair works continue," he said.
A similar explosion occurred in 2003
near Highlands Shopping Centre after
vagrants using the substation as their
home started a fire.
The Herald
Chombo suspends Harare councillors
By Michael
Padera
GOVERNMENT yesterday suspended 13 Harare city councillors without
benefits
for interfering with the management of council affairs.
The
suspension comes after the councillors defied a Government directive
staying
the holding of elections to choose a new deputy mayor and
standing
committees.
The Minister of Local Government, Public Works
and National Housing, Cde
Ignatius Chombo, yesterday told The Herald the
suspended councillors faced
possible dismissal.
Last year, six
councillors were fired for conduct inconsistent with the
governance of the
city.
The suspended councillors are Christopher Mushonga, Peter
Chikwati,
Shingirayi Kondo, Last Maengahama, Betty Suka, Peter
Karimakwenda,
Tapfumaneyi Bangajena, Wendy Dehwa, Tichanzii Gandanga, Elijah
Manjeya,
Wellington Madzivanyika, Linus Paul Mushonga and Oswell
Badza.
"It has come to my attention that certain activities on your part
continue
to interfere with the management of council affairs, thus hindering
the
efficient operation of council and subsequently the delivery of services
to
the people of Harare," read the letter of suspension written by Cde
Chombo.
Cde Chombo said the suspension was with immediate effect and was
done in
terms of Section 114 (1) of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter
29:13.
He said the councillors were not allowed to conduct any council
business
within or outside council premises during the period of
suspension.
He said a thorough investigation would be conducted within 45
days.
Cde Chombo said a committee to investigate the councillors' conduct
would be
appointed soon.
Clr Mushonga had yesterday defied a
Government directive setting aside the
elections that made him deputy mayor
by reporting for duty at Town House.
However, he was forced to leave Town
House at around 1430 hours when he
found the office locked after returning
from lunch.
"I found the office locked when I returned from lunch," he
said.
He said police officers told him that there was a directive that he
should
vacate the office.
Clr Mushonga said council was seeking a
court interdict barring the police
from interfering. He was elected deputy
mayor, which effectively made him
acting mayor, at a full council meeting on
Monday.
The move was immediately rejected by the Government, which said
Clr
Makwavarara remains the deputy mayor and acting mayor.
Clr
Makwavarara did not report for duty yesterday, saying she could not do
so as
there was a new deputy mayor in place.
"I am not at work. I am not going
there. (Town House) There is another
deputy mayor," she said.
Harare
has no substantive mayor following the dismissal of Engineer Elias
Mudzuri on
allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
Cde Chombo said any
councillor who acted contrary to directives deferring
elections would be
deemed to have resigned from council.
Clr Makwavarara has been deputy
mayor since 2002 when the opposition MDC-led
council assumed
office.
Clr Mushonga arrived at Town House driving his Pajero
four-wheel-drive
vehicle around nine in the morning and spent the greater
part of the day
conducting business in the deputy mayor's office and
receiving fellow
councillors who were congratulating him.
He parked
his vehicle in Clr Makwavarara's parking bay.
During his brief stay in
office, Clr Mushonga said he would engage
Government within the parameters of
the Urban Councils Act only.
"We follow the Urban Councils Act which says
that the minister can give
policy directives and not administrative
directives.
"As long as we both stay within the law, there will not be
any collision,"
he said.
Clr Mushonga said council would not accept
working with committees set up by
the Government, which were not provided for
in the Urban Councils Act.
He said whoever wanted any committee to assist
the city should lobby for the
amendment of the Act to include such
committees.
"We are lawful (as a council) and we want to keep the rule of
law. Anything
outside, we do not do. If anyone is aggrieved that person
should go to
Parliament and amend the Act and we will comply," he
said.
He said he was looking into ways of how best he could divide his
time
between council business and his medical profession.
Clr Mushonga
is a medical doctor at Parirenyatwa Hospital and is also into
private
practice.
"I will discuss with my employers --- council and the
hospital," he said.
Asked what he would do if Clr Makwavarara came to
work, Clr Mushonga said
there was no way he could co-exist with
her.
"She is the former deputy mayor and that is it," he said.
He
said his immediate task was to improve the administration of council and
to
resuscitate dialogue with residents.
Pressed to comment on allegations
that his refusal to stay in a
council-rented house, drive a council vehicle
and move with security
personnel was like back-stabbing Clr Makwavarara, Clr
Mushonga said he
proposed the benefits on her behalf knowing she needed
them.
"But I do not need those benefits. Council has no money," he
said.
The Herald
Support Unit relaunches service charter
Herald
Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS have a right to express themselves freely but not at the
expense
of other people's rights, a Government official has
said.
Speaking at the relaunch of the Police Support Unit service charter
in
Harare yesterday, the Secretary for Home Affairs Mr Melusi Matshiya said
the
use of minimum force in policing of public disorders was a legal
requirement
in the country.
"Throughout the world, the maintenance of
public order ensures peace and
tranquility, which are prerequisites for
economic development to take
place," he said.
He said the Support Unit
would not hesitate to use minimum force to restore
order where disorder seems
to prevail.
Mr Matshiya said they would use that amount of force
sufficient enough to
overcome resistance by the rioters.
"I have
gathered that the greatest controversy arises out of public
disorder
management where you have received a barrage of accusations of
brutality and
of being inconsiderate of human rights when you use force in
your endeavours
to restore sanity during disorders," he said.
He said
the Support Unit had also been portrayed in some media circles as a
force of
Government to be unleashed on the citizens exercising their
democratic rights
through peaceful and authorised demonstrations.
The role of police
Support Unit was clearly demonstrated and duly
appreciated during the initial
stages of the land reform programme when they
restored law and order in the
farms.
"We get very worried when some learned citizens of our country
decide to
tell blatant untruths through the pen about alleged absence of the
rule of
law in Zimbabwe," Mr Matshiya said.
He assured that the
Support Unit would not let anyone, no matter their
social status, incite
public violence, saying nobody was above the law.
Officer Commanding
Police Support Unit in Harare Senior Assistant
Commissioner Garikayi Barara
said it had always been their belief that it
was the people's constitutional
rights to enjoy their hard won liberty
without the slightest
hindrance.
"We have stood by your side, through thick and thin and have
managed to
maintain public order, an essential ingredient of the social and
economic
development of our country, Zimbabwe," he said.
Snr Asst Comm
Barara said the Support Unit would discharge its
constitutional obligations
without fear or favour.
