Jun 2, 11:28 AM EDT
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe
(AP) -- Regional leaders mediating in Zimbabwe said they
want to see
democratic and constitutional reforms before fresh elections can
be held
next year.
The Southern African Development Community called on
Zimbabwe's coalition
government to work on a new constitution and put it to
a referendum to
adhere to the terms of the power sharing deal brokered by
the group in 2009,
according to a statement released by the group
Saturday.
Chief mediator, South African President Jacob Zuma, will help
set a time
frame for elections, the group said after a Friday summit in the
Angolan
capital of Luanda. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai were at the summit.
Mugabe has called for
elections this year to end the troubled coalition
government.
"It
appears the new push would be for elections in March, 2013," said Dewa
Mavihinga, coordinator for an alliance of Zimbabwe democracy groups. He said
that Mugabe's ZANU-PF party conceded that the push for polls in 2012 wasn't
possible.
Mugabe, however, still insisted polls can be held this
year, the state
Herald newspaper reported Saturday.
"We discussed the
situation in our country and we all made contributions. We
should go and
finish the business to see when we can have elections within
the time left
for us. We want elections to be held this year," Mugabe said,
The Herald
reported.
The newspaper, controlled by Mugabe loyalists, also quoted
regional leaders
saying elections should be held within the next 12
months.
The rewriting of the constitution is behind schedule and has been
plagued by
bickering between members of a parliamentary panel in charge of
it.
A panel of Zimbabwe lawmakers has proposed a referendum by September
at the
earliest. The finance ministry, controlled by Tsvangirai's party,
says there
isn't enough money to hold two quickly successive
votes.
Independent election monitoring groups also say voter lists are
still in
disarray and need a full overhaul to remove voters who have died
and
electors who appear to be listed to vote in more than one
district.
On a trip to Zimbabwe last week, U.N. Human Rights Commission
Navi Pillay
warned that early elections without reforms were likely to cause
a repeat of
widespread violence and killings during the last disputed
elections in 2008
that led to the formation of the coalition.
Only
free and fair democratic elections would be recognized internationally
and
by the region, she said.
http://www.voanews.com
01 June
2012
Tatenda
Gumbo | Washington
A United States lawmaker is calling on his
government to repeal economic
sanctions against Zimbabwe saying this is the
only solution to bring full
economic recovery and democratic transition to
the nation.
Senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican and a leading Africa
advocate, previously
introduced a bill in Congress citing the formation of
the government of
national unity as an improvement in the country’s
situation.
His case was bolstered by recent comments by the United
Nations Rights Chief
Navi Pillay calling on the West to temporarily lift the
so-called targeted
measures, and now he is wants his bill passed.
The
bill, known as Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act 2011 was first introduced
in
2010 but was not voted on by Senate. Under this legislation, economic
sanctions would be lifted to restore the Zimbabwean economy, and in his
words, assist reformers need to transition to democracy.
"I fully
support UN Commissioner Navi Phillay’s belief that economic
sanctions are
only hurting – not helping – the Zimbabwean people, over the
last four
years, Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government has improved the
economy and the
general well-being of its people," said Inhofe in a
statement.
"However, with the continuing inability to receive
international loans or
credits, Zimbabwe’s economy is held back from
achieving total fiscal
prosperity, repealing these U.S. sanctions will
provide Prime Minister
Tsvangirai and his reformers the tools they need to
return Zimbabwe to being
called the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’ and engineer the
transition to democracy
that we all seek.”
But independent political
analyst Trevor Maisiri argued it’s not yet time
for the West to lift
sanctions saying this would play into President Robert
Mugabe’s
hands.
He told VOA reporter Tatenda Gumbo the international community
needs to
reflect, firstly, on why the sanctions were put in
place.
"If the US is to remove these sanctions, I think it not be on the
premise of
the need to push the agenda of Tsvangirai's intention to bring
reform to
Zimbabwe but it must be for the broader perspective of
Zimbabwe"
Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity policy analyst Marion
Tupy said
simply put, sanctions have not hurt the economy as much of the
issues in
Zimbabwe were self inflicted by government policy.
"I am
cautiously in favor of easing sanctions for political not economic
reasons,"
said Tupy, "from a political perspective it is certainly the case
that
ZANU-PF is using the sanctions in order not to fulfill its obligations
on
the global power-sharing agreement."
It remains unclear when, or if the
Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act 2011 bill
will be taken up for a vote by the
U.S Senate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com
Ottawa — The Canadian
Press
Published Friday, Jun. 01 2012, 1:59 AM EDT
Canada is
withdrawing from the United Nations World Tourism Office, a move
it said was
formalized this week over the agency’s recognition of Zimbabwean
leader
Robert Mugabe.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the Commons
Thursday the
appointment of Mr. Mugabe as an international tourism
ambassador was what
led to the withdrawal.
The UN body, however,
dismissed that reasoning, pointing out that it doesn’t
actually have an
ambassadorial program.
The UNWTO said it gave an Open Letter on Travel
and Tourism to the
presidents of Zimbabwe and Zambia on May 29, in
recognition of a tripartite
agreement with both countries on the hosting of
the 20th Session of the UN
General Assembly in Victoria Falls, which
straddles the borders of both
countries.
The agency added that the
same letter had been given to leaders of other
countries around the
world.
“The receiving of the Open Letter implies no legal commitment or
official
title attribution to the country or the recipient,” the agency said
in a
statement.
But the mere recognition of Mr. Mugabe at a UN event
was enough for Mr.
Baird, who called it the “last straw” for Canada’s
participation in the
UNWTO, the minister’s spokesman said.
“After
(minister Baird) heard that (Mugabe) was honoured at an event, after
he was
invited to join this global leaders group, he signed the Order in
Council
almost immediately,” said Joseph Lavoie.
Canada had already signalled a
year ago, by giving formal notice, that it
intended to withdraw from the
UNWTO. But an Order in Council is required to
formalize any such notice
period.
“They were legitimizing him by enlisting Mugabe to promote
tourism,” Mr.
Lavoie said.
“In our view that makes him a small ‘a’
ambassador.”
Mr. Mugabe is currently under a United States and European
Union travel ban
because of human rights abuses in his own
country.
He has been in power for more than three decades and has been
blamed for his
country’s economic ruin, resulting in food and fuel
shortages, rampant
inflation, high poverty and unemployment.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 21:21
FINGAZ
Tabitha Mutenga, Staff Reporter
SELF-EXILED Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Senator,
Roy Bennett will be returning home to campaign for his party’s leader, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the next elections expected to be held either this
year or in 2013, damn the consequences.
In 2010, Bennett escaped to South Africa following his
acquittal on charges of possession of weaponry for insurgency and banditry, to
close a decade of perceived political persecution at the hands of
ZANU-PF.
Despite the establishment of a Government of National Unity
in February 2009 to ease political tensions, ZANU-PF refused to accept him, a
development that saw President Robert Mugabe declining to swear him as the
deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation
Development.
The Attorney-General’s Office has since indicated that the
MDC-T official, if located, faces arrest for contempt of court after failing to
appear in court after having been slapped with a US$1 million defamation suit by
High Court judge, Chinembiri Bhunu.
The defamation suit was precipitated by an interview the
politician gave to Britain’s Guardian newspaper in which he alleged that the
judge was biased.
This week, Bennett told The Financial Gazette that he would
be returning to Zimbabwe to campaign for the MDC-T leader and hinted at the
possibility of running for the Chimanimani seat which he lost in 2004 after
being jailed for an effective year for contempt of Parliament following a
scuffle with Justice and Legal Affairs Minister, Patrick
Chinamasa.
But critics of President Mugabe’s administration doubt
whether hard-line militarists in ZANU-PF would allow the MDC-T treasurer general
to step into the country with expected funds to bankroll PM Tsvangirai’s third
presidential bid.
“I will return to Zimbabwe to campaign for my president’s
re-election. The party structure will decide what, if any, role they wish me to
play. The MDC is a Zimbabwean people’s driven movement. It is not for me to
decide, but for our supporters who have been so courageous in our struggle to
choose a leadership capable of re-building our country,” Bennett
said.
He alleged that he had left the country for a multi-faceted
mission to mobilise resources — human, financial, political — and it was now
mission accomplished.
“The party deployed me internationally on a specific mission,
which as a loyal member of the MDC, I have now to the best of my ability largely
completed,” Bennett said.
At law, Bennett remains a Senator as ZANU-PF has put in
abeyance plans to move a Parliamentary motion that would have resulted in him
losing his Senate immunity after missing 21 consecutive sessions of the
legislative assembly.
Although Parliamentary rules say non-attendance of Parliament
for 21 consecutive sittings would result in members losing their seats, the
ejection needs to be confirmed by more than half of the votes in the member’s
respective house, a procedure ZANU-PF threatened to undertake, but never carried
through.
Bennett said he would donate allowances that Parliament owes
him running into thousands of greenbacks to Chimanimani constituency when the
funds are finally released to Members of Parliament.
Although Bennett failed to contest for the seat in March 2005
as he was still incarcerated, his wife Heather, stood on an MDC-T ticket. She
was, however, defeated by ZANU-PF’s Munacho Mutezo, but the latter was outpolled
in the 2008 general elections by the MDC-T’s Lynette Karenyi.
Popularly known as Pachedu (between ourselves), Bennett has
blamed his troubles on harassment, intimidation and outright persecution at the
hands of ZANU-PF, which also saw him losing his Charleswood Farm in 2001 under
the controversial land reform programme. The once successful coffee enterprise
is lying idle and recently diamonds were discovered at the farm.
Bennett said conditions prevailing in the country at the
moment do not favour the holding of elections this year as is being agitated for
by ZANU-PF.
He added that Global Political Agreement (GPA) reforms must
be instituted before fresh polls.
“Zimbabwe can only enter an election once each and every
condition in the GPA has been adhered to. Most importantly, the military junta
leaders must publicly declare to the Southern African Development Community and
the Zimbabwean people that they will respect the decision of the electorate,”
said Bennett.
Last year, the Prime Minister replaced Bennett with Seiso
Moyo as the deputy Agriculture Minister, without having first notified the
latter, raising speculation on the two’s relationship.
The speculation came against the backdrop of WikiLeaks
exposures that said the MDC-T official was critical of the premier and at one
stage said: “Tsvangirai does what the last person tells him to
do.”
But this week, Bennett said the MDC-T was not a party of yes
men, adding that his relationship with the Prime Minister was
cordial.
“My relationship with president Tsvangirai is cordial,
transparent and constructive. However, the MDC is not about any individual. It
is an institution and must be structured to survive and prosper well into the
future. As an elder figure in the party, my history of support for the president
and loyalty within MDC is well known. We in the MDC leadership are not a party
of YES men like ZANU-PF, so there is always constructive debate ending in
consensus,” said Bennett.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, June 02, 2012 –
About 800 Rwandan refugees staying in Zimbabwe have
refused to go back to
their motherland despite spirited efforts by their
government to convince
them that all is now well in the tiny central African
country.
The
refugees, mainly from the majority Hutu ethnic group, accused of
carrying
out mass killings in 1994 which left close to a million Rwandans
from the
minority Tutsi ethnic group dead, maintain it is not safe to go
back to
Kigali.
The refugees claim that the Kigali regime is conducting witch
hunts on
returnees, throwing them in jail or killing
them.
Refugees from Rwanda are now required to go back home after the
United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) evoked the Cessation
Clause,
which declared the country safe and suitable for refugees to
return.
The cessation Clause deadline was December 2011 but only two
Rwandan
refugees who were staying in Zimbabwe offered themselves for
voluntary
repatriation.
The rest have stayed put accusing the
government of Paul Kagame of
attempting to snare them back into Rwanda and
them pounce on them.
The refusal by the refugees to be voluntarily
repatriated has put the
Zimbabwean government and the UNHCR in a quandary as
they are not permitted
under international law to forcibly repatriate the
refugees.
The UNHCR country representative Marcelline Hepie and the
Zimbabwe
government commissioner for Refugees, Isaac Mukaro were dispatched
to
Tongogara Refugee Camp, in Chipinge, in last minute attempts to try and
persuade the Rwandans to return home.
But they found the Rwandans
were not in the mood to negotiate, telling the
two men they were not
prepared at all to leave Zimbabwe for Rwanda.
“We have made it very
clear to them that this is a trap,” said one Rwandan
based at the camp.
“Kagame wants us to go back so that he can throw us in
jail or kill us. Many
refugees have retuned and they have been thrown into
jail while others have
disappeared.”
Others cited the ongoing case involving Rwandan
opposition leader Victoire
Ingabire who was arrested on accusations of
propagating ethnic hatred and
"genocide revisionism" - charges she says are
politically motivated.
She was arrested in April 2010 and barred from
standing in elections.
Ingabire is boycotting her terror trial, accusing the
judge of bias.
The Rwandan government says those who are reluctant to
go back home are
afraid to do so because they participated in the 1994
genocide.
http://www.radiovop.com
By Crisswel Chisango Chinhoyi, June
01, 2012 - Former Mashonaland West
governor and Zvimba West Member of
Parliament, Nelson Samkange, said on
Friday that there was need to work with
white farmers who had financial
capacity to revive the ailing agriculture
sector.
He told Radio VOP "What we want is production and if they
(whites) come, I
am prepared to work with them."
He is among top
government officials who are battling to utilise the land
that they grabbed
from white commercial farmers in 2000.
He is currently being sued by his
workers at his Rukoba farm in Banket for
non remittance of their
contributions to National Social Security Authority,
NSSA as well as
outstanding salaries since 2010.
Other top government officials dragged
to court over non remittance of
workers' contributions to Nssa include,
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana,
Local Government and Urban Development
minister Ignatius Chombo, former
adviser to reserve bank Governor Gideon
Gono, Munyaradzi Kereke.
Samkange said he failed to utilise his farm
following a botched up deal with
the Chinese late last year. "I had
earmarked 300 hectares for maize and soya
beans but the Chinese did not
honour up to their promise."
He was now selling his cattle to make ends
meet after he fired 50 of his 70
workers.
"I am appealing to you to
assist if I can get anyone with funding even
whites because I cannot afford
to use the whole farm or employ all workers"
he added.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
New president
increases popularity with ongoing rejection of predecessor
Bingu wa
Mutharika's lavish lifestyle and policies
David Smith in
Johannesburg
guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 June 2012 15.33
BST
Malawi's new president has made numerous breaks from her
autocratic
predecessor but few will be this popular: she has dumped his
presidential
jet and fleet of luxury cars.
Joyce Banda, who came to
power in April after the death of Bingu wa
Mutharika, has barely paused in
her drive to overturn his controversial
policies and lifestyle.
Her
decision to sell or lease the impoverished country's £8.4m presidential
jet
and fleet of 60 Mercedes government cars seems likely to cement domestic
goodwill – and confirm her as a darling of the west.
Britain,
Malawi's biggest aid donor, announced on Friday that Andrew
Mitchell, the
international development secretary, had raised the issue of
the Dassault
Falcon 900EX jet with Banda at a private meeting with the new
government.
Mitchell said: "At a time of austerity in both Britain and
Malawi, president
Banda's decision to sell or lease the presidential jet and
expensive fleet
of cars sends an enormously encouraging signal to British
taxpayers and the
international community about the seriousness President
Banda is applying to
overturn bad decisions taken under the previous
government.
"The
proceeds can be used to provide basic services to Malawi's poorest
people
who urgently need help following the vital devaluation of the
currency."
Last month Banda was quoted in local media saying the
cabinet would discuss
the jet's future, explaining she had no problems
"offloading it as I can
well use private airliners; I am already used to
hitchhiking".
Mutharika bought the presidential jet in 2009, claiming it
was less
expensive than leasing a plane every time he travelled. But it came
to be
seen as a symbol of African kleptocracy and some observers compared
him with
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
Mutharika was also condemned for
purchasing a 58-room mansion in his home
district and granting a salary to
his wife. His regime lashed out at
allegations of corruption and cronyism at
a time when Malawi was suffering
severe shortages of foreign currency and
fuel.
The president's sudden death from a heart attack changed the course
of the
country's history. Having thwarted an attempt by his allies to block
her,
Banda assumed control and has since appointed a new cabinet, sacked his
police chief, announced the lifting of a ban on homosexuality and restored
the country's independence-era flag.
The turnaround has been welcomed
by western countries such as Britain, whose
high commissioner was expelled
by Mutharika for branding him "autocratic and
intolerant of
criticism".
During a four-day visit, Mitchell confirmed that the Bank of
England will
work directly with the Reserve Bank of Malawi to help it cope
with the
impact of slashing the value of the local currency, the kwacha, by
one third
earlier this month on the advice of the IMF.
The minister
said: "I am also delighted to be in Malawi to relaunch
Britain's development
partnership with the new president. Britain is leading
the international
community by providing urgent balance of payments support
and technical
assistance to Malawi through the Bank of England."
In May this year
Britain pledged £23m to help stabilise the Malawian economy
and £10m for the
country's health system.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, June 01,
2012 - A South African-based Zimbabwean is languishing in
prison after he
was arrested for allegedly possessing skeletal nude pictures
portraying
President Robert Mugabe.
This was after State prosecutors in Beitbridge
about a fortnight ago vetoed
a bail order, which had been granted to Benias
Gwenhamo Madhakasi, arrested
late last month and charged with insulting
Mugabe for allegedly possessing
the pictures.
Prosecutors charge that
Madhakasi, who is self-employed as a hawker in South
Africa, was found in
possession of nude images of Mugabe and one of them had
an inscription which
reads; “Happy 87th birthday (Operation Matibiri) Robert
Mugabe turning 87
years on 21 February 2011.”
The prosecutors said Madhakasi, who is
represented by Lizwe Jamela of ZLHR,
had no right to possess such
“derogatory” pictures.
Madhakasi was detained in remand prison after
prosecutors vetoed a bail
order, which had been granted in his favour by
Magistrate, Auxillary
Chiumbura, in the sum of $200 pending the filing of an
appeal by the State
within seven days from last Monday.
High Court
Judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha will on Friday hear an appeal
filed by State
prosecutor Angeline Munyeriwa challenging Madhakasi’s bail.
The State
also charged Madhakasi with contravening Section 4 (5) (a) of the
Protected
Places/Areas for allegedly surveying or making sketches or taking
photographs on protected premises. The vendor also faces an additional
charge of contravening Section 36 of the Immigration Act for unlawful
possession of or making use of a permit or travel document issued to another
person.
http://www.voanews.com
01 June
2012
Chris Gande | Washington
Zimbabwe enjoys the dubious
distinction of being one of the most corrupt
countries in Africa, according
to a recent Africa Fraud Barometer, trailing
only Nigeria and South
Africa.
Corruption has become a cancer eating away at the country's
fabric. Law
enforcement agents and government officials do it with impunity.
Ordinary
people too, consider it an important tool in their day-to-day
survival kit.
An anti-corruption commission put in place a few years ago
inspired hope,
arresting legislators accused of abusing a development fund.
But it quickly
betrayed the people's trust and confidence when it caved to
meddling by
politicians in the high echelons of power.
And now, a
savvy Harare man is taking matters into his own hands, hoping to
turn the
tide around. Tawanda Kembo has set up a whistle-blowing website
where
members of the public who have paid a bribe at some point, can come
forward
and tell all.
He says more than three thousand cases of bribery have been
reported on the
site, ipaidabribe.org.zw, in only two days.
“I’m not
afraid, it’s a good initiative. I think I will have more support
than
threats,” he said.
People reporting graft cases, which will be forwarded
to the relevant
authorities for possible action, remain anonymous. If they
have video and
pictures, these will be uploaded on the website.
The
anti-corruption campaigner told VOA he hopes the website will reduce, if
not
eliminate, cases of bribery and corruption at large.
“I found a similar
concept in Kenya which made it easier to report
corruption on-line, and I
got an idea to start a website specifically
targeting Zimbabwe,” Kembo
said.
Most bribery reports posted on the portal point indicting fingers
at traffic
police officers, the Vehicle Inspection Department and the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority, among others.
One whistle
blower wrote: “It was after three failed attempts of trying to
get a
driver's license when I was finally introduced to a VID examiner. On
the
first attempt I was convinced into paying the bribe fee of $100 through
my
driving school instructor, who turned to be a conman after failing to
hand
the money over VID examiners.
“The other two attempts I chose not to pay
anything, only to realize that I
was never going to get it. That is when I
was introduced to the VID examiner
who demanded $100. I paid the $100, and
it was so certain that I was going
to pass the test. It was the easiest and
fastest ever.”
Another said: “My sister failed her provisional test
because she did not pay
a bribe. She wrote it a few days later and it was a
different marker/people.
She now has paid $200 to guarantee passing her
driving test as long as she
does not hit the drums.”
Fraud cases in
Zimbabwe topped $1.2 billion in six months to December last
year, accounting
for 32 percent of the overall value of fraud cases in
Africa at $3,7
billion, the Africa Fraud Barometer found.
This week, I witnessed a milestone in the fight to end HIV/AIDS in children -- and it happened in Zimbabwe.
Much of the news from Zimbabwe over the past decade has been around political and economic challenges, overshadowing a resounding public health success story.
Zimbabwe is one of the key countries to watch in the drive to eliminate pediatric AIDS in Africa.
On Monday, I attended a ceremony at Harare Central Hospital to launch Zimbabwe's national strategy to prevent new pediatric HIV infections. I joined representatives from government, international partners, donors, health workers and people living with HIV.
It was a diverse group, but all dedicated to a common cause -- that no child should be born with HIV -- not in Zimbabwe, nor in any other country.
In June 2011 at the United Nations, a Global Plan was introduced to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015. Zimbabwe was among the first of many countries to answer the call, but its commitment on this issue was evident long before that.
As early as 2001, Zimbabwe started working with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation to introduce services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) at three pilot sites. This was at a time when PMTCT programs were just beginning to be implemented in sub-Saharan Africa.
Organizations like the Foundation and countries like Zimbabwe were taking a leap of faith. Many in the global community thought that large-scale HIV prevention and treatment programs couldn't be successfully implemented in the region.
But through the commitment of the government of Zimbabwe - and support from international partners like the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund - PMTCT programs were quickly and dramatically scaled up.
PMTCT has become a true HIV prevention success story in the country, averting thousands of new infections in children and helping identify those in need of urgent HIV treatment. From those three original sites, there are now 1,560 sites in Zimbabwe where pregnant women can go to protect their own health and their babies from HIV.
In the past three years, Zimbabwe has taken a great leap toward universal PMTCT coverage. In 2008, only 17% of HIV-positive pregnant women in the country received PMTCT services. In 2010, that number was 86%. That is truly staggering progress.
And despite economic challenges, Zimbabweans have demonstrated ownership of their AIDS response through innovative, home-grown financial investments. A 3% levy on income tax in Zimbabwe -- known as the "AIDS Levy" -- is estimated to have collected US $26 million in 2011 alone toward the country's fight against HIV/AIDS.
Through this kind of political and financial commitment, Zimbabwe has become a model for the other 21 high-prevalence countries that are partners in the Global Plan to end pediatric AIDS.
The Country Director for our Foundation in Zimbabwe -- Dr. Agnes Mahomva -- made clear the key element needed to reach that goal: "a strong and effective national PMTCT program that involves all stakeholders -- mothers, fathers, communities, and indeed funding and implementing partners."
I witnessed that involvement and commitment at Harare Central Hospital this week, and it was inspiring.
For too long, Zimbabwe and other countries at the heart of the AIDS pandemic have witnessed the tragedy of millions of children needlessly infected with HIV and dying of AIDS. It's a sad fact that without early treatment, 80% of children with HIV don't survive to see their fifth birthday.
Zimbabwe decided that this was unacceptable. By committing to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Zimbabwe has ensured that its children will not only survive, but have the opportunity to thrive.
Zimbabwe has set an example for other countries to follow in its footsteps and take the same great leap toward a generation born free of HIV.
That's a story that deserves to be heard.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/06/2012 00:00:00
by
Phyllis Mbanje
A NASTY spat between Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
and his former
adviser, Munyaradzi Kereke, exploded in a flurry of arrests
in and around
the Rotten Row Magistrates Court in Harare on
Friday.
Cops grabbed Kereke’s driver, his uncle and a nurse sacked by
Parirenyatwa
Hospital in February as a magistrate issued an arrest warrant
for a police
constable over a forged medical report which landed two RBZ
security guards
in court on assault charges.
Kereke has accused Gono
of a plot to harm him, claiming the central bank
chief is desperate to stop
him from exposing corruption at the apex bank.
Prosecutors charged RBZ
security guards Phillip Dendere, 47, and George
Nyahuye, 36, with assault
after Kereke claimed the two men tailed him, and
then brutally assaulted his
driver, Privilege Maturure, on March 12.
Kereke claimed the two men were
sent by Gono, but lawyers for the two
security details say they were under
instruction to locate and seize an RBZ
vehicle which the sacked adviser had
not surrendered.
A major piece of evidence against the two security
guards was a medical
report prepared for the trial, and signed by one Dr J.
Marisa at
Parirenyatwa Hospital.
The doctor certified that Maturure
suffered serious back and spinal cord
injuries – suggesting he would never
work again.
But the case was turned on its head last Friday after Nyahuye
and Dendere’s
lawyers subpoenaed the doctor who signed the medical report,
only for
prosecutor Liberty Gono to tell the court they were unable to
locate him.
But Dr Johannes Marisa – after reading media reports that he
could not be
found – came forward over the weekend to deny he had ever met
Maturure. He
dismissed the medical report as fraudulent.
Marisa was
called to the witness stand on Friday and his testimony sparked
the
arrests.
The doctor testified: “I left Parirenyatwa in 2008 and I’m now
running a
surgery in Kuwadzana so there is no way I could have written that
affidavit.
"I can only assume somebody created this fictitious document under
my name.”
The trial heard Jacob Chiweshe, a former nurse at Parirenyatwa
who was
sacked in February, a month before the alleged assault, was the
originator
or the fraudulent document.
Asked if he knew Chiweshe, Dr
Marisa said he knew him as his brother-in-law,
and as a nurse at
Parirenyatwa.
He denied he had anything to do with the fraudulent
document, insisting that
he last set foot at Parirenyatwa four years ago,
before opening his own
medical practice in Kuwadzana
suburb.
Prosecutor Liberty Gono – no relation to the RBZ governor – then
applied for
a trial within a trial, asking magistrate Jarabini to put a
pause to
proceedings while police investigated the medical report
forgery.
Gono wanted Maturure recalled to the stand to point out who had
attended to
him, as well as the commissioner of oaths who signed the medical
report. He
also hoped to put Chiweshe on the witness stand.
But
defence lawyer Advocate Linos Mazonde argued that delaying the assault
trial
over faulty prosecution evidence would “unnecessarily prejudice” the
two
men.
The magistrate rejected the prosecutor’s pitch, insisting that the
trial
must continue. He adjourned the court to an afternoon session when a
Constable Mavhene, who inserted the dodgy medical report into evidence, was
expected to testify.
When the police officer failed to take the stand,
the magistrate ordered him
arrested and brought to court.
Detectives
also moved to arrest Chiweshe, Maturure and his uncle, Brian
Matonsi, who
has also been implicated in the forgery.
Prosecutors say Kereke was being
driven by Maturure in the company of his
brother, Cleotas, on March 12 when
they noticed they were being tailed by
another car.
Kereke ordered his
driver to steer the vehicle back to his private clinic on
Norfolk Road in
Harare.
Dendere and Nyahuye, it is alleged, parked in the front of the
building,
blocking ambulances. Prosecutors say they disembarked from their
car and
began assaulting Maturure.
Later, an affidavit was purportedly
signed by Dr Marisa at Parirenyatwa,
describing Maturure's injuries as
severe.
The two security guards deny assault, and will tell the court
that they only
tailed Kaseke because they were under instruction to recover
an RBZ vehicle
which he had failed to surrender, according to their
lawyers.
The outcome of the case could have serious implications for both
men. Kereke
is seeking to bolster his claims of harassment by Gono, while
the RBZ
governor – who denies targeting his former aide – hopes an acquittal
will
show Kaseke as unbalanced and unreliable.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Tinashe Madava 22 hours 2 minutes
ago
ZANU-PF and South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC)
are headed for a
clash over revelations President Robert Mugabe’s party has
pledged to fund a
round-robin trip to the United Kingdom by expelled ANC
Youth League leader
Julius Malema to attend a conference of African
liberation movements in
Birmingham this weekend.
Malema, an outspoken
and controversial figure in South Africa, is a darling
of ZANU-PF because of
his black empowerment ideologies that resonate with
ZANU-PF’s.
When
he visited Harare in 2010, the controversial ANC infant terrible
showered
praises and waxed lyrical about ZANU-PF and its leader President
Mugabe,
much to the chagrin of the formations of the Movement for Democratic
Change,
peeved by what they considered as the ANC’s interference in Zimbabwe’s
internal affairs by openly supporting their rivals.
Sources within
ZANU-PF say some bigwigs in the party had pledged to take
Malema to the UK
where he is scheduled to address a gathering there on
Saturday.
Other
speakers at the event include pan Africanists: the historian Cecil
Gutzmore,
Sarudzayi Barnes, Anna Magowa, Makola Libango, lawyer and
community
organiser, Afryea Adofo.
The meeting, whose theme and motivation is: “An
occasion when African people
worldwide focus on the fight for total
liberation and self determination”,
was earlier scheduled to mark Africa Day
on May 25.
Organisers of the meeting told an online publication that
Media, Information
and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu had assured them
that he will see to it
that Malema gets the resources needed to fly to the
UK, indicating that he
would ensure that the South African youth leader
would be provided for by
ZANU-PF or individuals within the party.
One
of the senior organisers, Bini Butuakwa, of West Indian origin, was
quoted
at the weekend confirming the ZANU-PF’s recent show of support to
Malema.
webster shamu 01-06-12.png“The Information Minister in
Zimbabwe said that he
will get him to come over and if he has a problem with
paying he would cover
the fare . . ,” he said, adding that at present Malema
was still struggling
to obtain a travel visa.
Contacted for comment,
Shamu laughed off the allegations.
“This is the joke of the year. How can
I fund him when my Ministry is
struggling to fund trips to Muzarabani? Even
in my personnal capacity in my
constituency there are a lot of projects that
need funding,” said Shamu.
ZANU-PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo also
dismissed the reports saying his
party did not have any money to
waste.
“That is not true. It is absolute hogwash. We don’t have money to
fund such
things. Why would we fund a foreigner?” charged Gumbo, before
telling this
reporter to contact Shamu.
But confidential sources say
officials at Luthuli House, the headquarters of
the ANC, are seething with
anger at their fellow comrades north of the
Limpopo — ZANU-PF.
“The
belief at Luthuli House is that some ZANU-PF officials are indirectly
sponsoring the militant Malema, materially and ideologically, to topple ANC
president, Jacob Zuma at the party’s elective congress to be held at
Mangaung in December with a view to disengage him from the seat of power,”
said a source.
ZANU-PF which used to have its way during Thabo
Mbeki’s administration has
been having it tough under Zuma who has become a
stumbling block to the
party’s survival strategies. Zuma has stood his
ground on the need for a new
constitution in Zimbabwe and other accompanying
political reforms before
fresh elections could be held.
He has
departed from his predecessor’s quiet diplomacy, spectacularly
ridiculing
President Mugabe and his team in his damning report presented at
a Southern
African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Livingstone,
Zambia in
March last year.
ZANU-PF, which is vehemently opposed to political
reforms for fear of losing
power, views anyone opposed to its policies and
line of thinking as either
an enemy or agent of the imperialist west. The
revolutionary party is
therefore fed up with Zuma and has intimated that he
must cease to be SADC’s
facilitator in the Zimbabwe
dialogue.
Intelligence and diplomatic sources say certain ZANU-PF
officials have been
backing Malema in his fight to push Zuma out of power
but they have not been
smart enough to avoid a diplomatic
furore.
ZANU-PF youths have openly supported Malema who is baying for
Zuma and Gwede
Mantashe’s head at the elective Mangaung in December.
Mantashe is ANC’s
secretary general.
Organisations such as Chama cha
Mapinduzi youth of the ruling party of
Tanzania, Cuban and youths from
Botswana National Front — Gaborone’s main
opposition — have also pledged
their support to Malema after he was expelled
from the ANC pending his
appeal. His appeal has since been dismissed.
While Malema was pivotal to
Zuma’s ascendancy, they fell out last year
because of Malema’s high levels
of indiscipline, which was undermining Zuma’s
leadership. Malema has openly
attacked ANC’s policies, demeaned the party’s
leadership, threatening
nationalisation of mines and driving a wedge between
governments
particularly between Pretoria and Gaborone. He has also caused
racial
tensions in South Africa to escalate.
After the fall-out, Malema is now
backing any other leader to replace Zuma,
with deputy president Kgalema
Motlanthe tipped to give the incumbent a good
run for his
money.
Malema’s strategy has not only found takers among a clique in ANC
but in
ZANU-PF as well which requires a pliant leader in Pretoria to shield
itself
from international criticism.
But observers say while ZANU-PF
is a strong advocate of non-interference in
the internal affairs of any
sovereign state, the Malema debacle might strain
relations between the two
liberation war movements.
Should Zuma win in December, relations between
the two parties would be
significantly strained yet if Malema prevails,
South Africa could be dragged
into adopting policies similar to those that
brought economic turmoil in
Zimbabwe over the past decade. A recession down
south could spell doom for
Zimbabwe which has over two million migrants
there. - Fingaz
http://mg.co.za/
31 May 2012 07:38 - Jason Moyo
Uncertainty has become
a way of life for businesses eyeing Zimbabwe's
consumer boom. Jason Moyo
reports.
For foreign investors willing to take a risk on Zimbabwe, it is
always a
question of which news to trust. Just as foreign investors at a
conference
in Harare last week were being plied with the good news – a
growth forecast
of 9.4% and a property and consumer boom – an order given by
the central
bank ordering the country’s biggest investor to close all its
foreign bank
accounts brought reality home.
But Zimbabwe looks
attractive to some investors, despite the
unpredictability.
Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono has ordered local banks to cease dealing
with
Zimplats, the 78%-owned Implats unit and the country’s largest foreign
investor, to force the company to close its foreign accounts and repatriate
all its funds to Zimbabwe.
The government hopes that, by ordering
mines to close all their offshore
accounts, the repatriated funds will ease
the liquidity shortage that has
slowed growth.
Zimplats was
deliberately targeted to force others into line. “If it defies,
everyone
else will defy,” Gono said.
Looking for reassurance
Such controversies
have a habit of popping up when investors are in Harare,
sniffing around for
opportunities and looking for reassurance about the
safety of their
interests.
The news came as about 100 investors from around the world,
including South
Africa, were gathered at a conference arranged by Imara, one
of Zimbabwe’s
biggest fund managers. Tino Kambasha, head of sales at Imara,
said: “Some
are jetting in from the eurozone, which just reported zero
first-quarter
growth. They arrive at a time [when] Zimbabwe is predicting
2012 growth of
9.4%.”
Much of the growth will be driven by mining,
which is set to grow by 15%
despite worries about empowerment, and
agriculture, which will grow by 11%
as increased funding begins to undo the
damage land reform caused.
John Legat, head of asset management at Imara,
said many investors were
taking the leap.
“What is encouraging is the
seriousness of the investors who are already
here,” he said.
The
country is experiencing a consumer boom. Its two largest firms, telecoms
firm Econet and brewer Delta, are used by analysts as a barometer to gauge
the state of the consumer market. Their most recent financial results were
above expectation, with Delta reporting that beer sales had beaten the
previous record set in 1998.
Consumer boom
The president of the
Retailers’ Association of Zimbabwe, Themba Ndebele, who
heads Truworths
Zimbabwe, said, although capital inflows remained slow, they
would pick up
over the medium term.
To take advantage of the new money driving the
consumer boom, South African
companies are raising their investment in
Zimbabwe. Pick n Pay has increased
its share of TM Supermarkets, one of
Zimbabwe’s big three retailers, and
plans to open several Pick n Pay
stores.
A proposed $100-million mall development in Harare’s upmarket
Borrowdale
suburb, to be built by a consortium including South African
investors, has
already had half its space taken up by South African
retailers.
Some investors are looking past the uncertainty and stepping
up their game.
Harpal Randhawa, whose private equity group, Global Emerging
Markets,
recently bought 25% of miner RioZim, is bidding to buy the diamond
assets
Rio Tinto is selling in Zimbabwe.
“We’re now in discussion
with Rio Tinto to acquire the 78% of Murowa
[diamond mine] that it wants to
offload,” Randhawa said.
Mass exodus
The threat of nationalisation has
not caused the mass exodus that many
predicted and many have learned to
accept the uncertainty.
Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has shown
two faces in his crusade:
the belligerent hardliner when speaking to
Zimbabwean audiences and the
conciliatory technocrat when meeting with
investors. Speaking to investors
in Harare, he addressed what he called “the
elephant in the room” – the
indigenisation law – but stressed it was not
nationalisation.
“Let us [have a] dialogue and not confront each other
over the matter. Let
us have dialogue, let us find each other. Companies
should not run away from
us,” he said.
But the trouble large
investors such as Zimplats have faced has kept
Zimbabwe from realising the
major investment deals it had hoped for when the
unity government was
formed.
Essar Africa had hoped to invest $4-billion in Zimbabwe over four
years
after it was allowed to buy the country’s biggest steel-maker, but the
deal
remains bogged down by a row over access to ore reserves.
Dear Family and Friends,
With overnight temperatures starting to drop below 5
degrees Celsius
and frost peeping over the hedges, winter is upon us but it’s
not
just the temperatures that have left us chilled and shivering in
the
last few days.
Hardly had the UN Human Rights commissioner Navi
Pillay left Zimbabwe
after her five day visit to the country than there was
blood on the
dusty ground of Mashonaland East. During her visit Ms Pillay
had
commended President Mugabe on his recent calls for no more
political
violence but as soon as she was out of sight, news came of murder
and
mayhem in Mudzi.
Sixty seven year old Cephas Magura died after
being hit with stones
while seven other MDC members were seriously injured
and rushed to
hospital in Harare. The MDC had police clearance for their
rally but
said that when their members came under attack from Zanu PF youths
the
police: “did not act.” Eye witnesses also said they saw the Zanu
PF
Member of Parliament for the area a few metres from the site of the
attack.
The MDC reported that an autopsy on Mr Magura showed there had
been multiple
blows with blunt objects to his body and head. On
release from hospital
another of the MDC victims not only named his
attackers but also described
how his desperate calls for help from
Police were ignored. “ When I ran to
the police officers seeking
protection they locked their doors and drove off
at high speed leaving
us at the mercy of Zanu PF thugs,” the man said. A few
days later
the US Embassy In Harare issued a strongly worded statement on
the
violent encounter and clearly pointed a finger at both
the
perpetrators and the police. They embassy said : “The United
States
condemns the ZANU-PF thugs responsible for committing these
attacks
and the members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who failed to
fulfil
their official duty to serve and protect their fellow
Zimbabweans.”
Next came the news that a BBC Radio 3 classical music
presenter,
Petroc Trelawny had been arrested while he was attending a
music
festival in Bulawayo. Mr Trelawny had come to the country
representing
a charitable organization called The British Friends of the
Zimbabwe
Academy of Music and was acting as a compere at the Festival. One
of
the music festival’s committee members said Mr Trelawny was:
“telling
stories to about 500 children when they arrived to take him
away." Mr
Trelawny was charged with failing to apply for a Temporary
Work Permit.
Things got worse when Mr Trelawny slipped whilst in
police detention and
dislocated his shoulder and while he was in
hospital the wrangling went on.
First a judge ruled that Mr Trelwany
should not be prosecuted but immigration
challenged the decision
saying Mr Trelawny had lied on his visa. Finally, a
week later a
Bulawayo magistrate ruled there was no law prohibiting tourists
from
taking part in music events and said Mr Trelawny was free to
leave
Zimbabwe.
In the midst of murder and bloodshed, classical music
and arrest, came
the amazing news that President Mugabe had been jointly
chosen with
Zambia’s President to be a tourism ambassador. The pair are
to
co-host the United Nations World Tourism Organization's
general
assembly in August 2013. Almost as soon as the announcement had
been
made, the UN came in for strong international criticism and
quickly
back-pedalled. The UN said that the two weren’t actually
tourism
ambassadors or even tourism leaders but in fact had just received
an
open letter calling on African leaders to promote tourism That
wasn’t
how Zimbabwe saw it and the government controlled Herald
newspaper had
headlines boasting: “President appointed UN Tourism
Ambassador.”
It’s
hard to see how tourists could be attracted to a country where
you can be
stoned to death for going to a political meeting or you can
be arrested and
detained for a week for being a voluntary compere at a
music concert.
Zimbabwe will remember Cephas Magura and we send our
condolences to his
family and friends. Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy 2nd June
2012. Copyright � Cathy Buckle.
www.cathybuckle.com