Zimbabwe Drums
The drums are calling old man, and they're louder by the
day,
They are calling you to judgement and now's the time to pay,
For the
wrongs you've done your country and the trust you have betrayed,
So hear
those drumbeats swelling, hear well and be afraid.
You came to power on
waves of hope that you would make your mark,
In a land that shone in Africa
like diamonds in the dark.
In simple faith the people put their trust within
your care,
And were repaid by the Fifth Brigade and the CIO and
fear.
Twenty years of motorcades and lavish trips abroad,
A
nation's heritage is lost through patronage and fraud.
The chefs grow fat
while people starve and famine stalks our homes,
On idle farms the weeds grow
rank and cover cattle bones.
The youth are taught your slogans but even
as they sing
The drums of change are beating for the truth is seeping
in.
The demagogue has feet of clay and lies will not sustain
The shattered
land that once seemed free and will be so again.
Too late to blame the
drought, the Brits, the whites or the MDC
For all know where the finger
points with cold finality.
So hear the drums, old man, and listen to them
well,
They foretell of your end days and they have much to tell.
For he
who sews the seeds of hate will reap the grapes of wrath,
So tremble in your
bed at night, at the end of your sorry path.
~Anon
Zim Standard
Military clampdown gobbles $2 billion
By
Caiphas Chimhete
THE panic-stricken Zanu PF government could have
gobbled up to $2
billion in the past six days financing the biggest ever
internal military
operation since independence, aimed at putting down the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)-organised mass protests, military
experts have said.
Mugabe, facing the biggest threat to his job
since 1980, last week
mobilised the largest internal military campaign that
comprised the army,
police, war veterans and youth militia chewing up about
$2 billion of the
taxpayers' money.
Military experts said if the
joint-operations had used weapons such as
live bullets and tear gas
extensively, the cost could have ballooned
further.
"If they had
used military weapons such as live bullets and tear gas
the costs could have
been much more. However, in this campaign most of the
costs are only for
flying helicopters, food, transport and paying the war
veterans," said one
expert.
As if the presence of heavily armed soldiers and police in
the streets
of almost all major towns was not enough, war veterans and
Border
Gezi-trained militia, dubbed the Green Bombers, were also deployed at
every
street corner in most urban centres across the country.
Military helicopters were also hovering above guzzling up scarce Jet A
1 and
Af-gas fuel, which sources at Noczim said have not been pumped into
Zimbabwe
for the past two months because of the fuel crisis that has gripped
the
country.
Experts said a military helicopter would require about 200
litres of
Jet A1 to fly for about an hour. So, a helicopter could have used 3
600
litres of Jet A1 at a cost of about $720 216, for the six-day
military
campaign. A litre of Jet A 1 costs about $200,06.
At
least three helicopters were flying two or three times a day - in
the
morning, afternoon and evening - closely monitoring the situation and as
a
show of military might. Some of the helicopters use what is called
Af-gas,
refined petrol that is more expensive than both Jet A 1 and ordinary
petrol.
"When the costs are added it will definitely amount to a
lot of money
although I can't give you a figure," said one of the
sources.
The joint security operation, comprising the army armed
with guns and
armoured vehicles, police with anti-riot tankers, the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO), former freedom fighters and Zanu PF
militias, virtually
plunged the country into "a state of war".
At least six armoured cars were stationed at Southerton police
stationin
Harare and would patrol the high density suburbs at night to
thwart any
suspected mass protests against Mugabe's regime, accused of
rigging the 2002
Presidential poll and ruining the country's economy.
Official
sources said the department of information printed about 5
000 T-shirts for
party youths and women supporters who were camped at Zanu
PF headquarters in
Harare.
Zim Standard
Military might keeps Mugabe at State House
By
Henry Makiwa
THE massive show of force by security forces
determined to crush any
kind of protest on every street corner during the
past week has confirmed
fears that President Robert Mugabe is determined to
cling onto power at
whatever cost.
All week, military helicopter
gun ships hovered overhead in most of
Zimbabwe's urban centres, while tanks -
armoured vehicles fitted with guns
and water cannons - patrolled Harare on
the lookout for any gatherings of up
to three people.
Not
content with entrusting its security in the hands of a brutal army
and a
partisan police force, the Zanu PF regime also bussed in thousands of
youths
from Mashonaland provinces who patrolled the streets day and night,
meting
instant justice on any one who criticised the ruling party.
This
joint military operation laid a heavy siege on all the urban
centres,
unleashing an orgy of unmitigated violence and brutality on unarmed
people
who were eager to show their disgruntlement over Zanu PF's policies
that they
say have impoverished them.
Wanton assaults and arbitrary arrests
were the order of the day all
week as thousands of police and army details
deployed on the streets in
towns and high-density suburbs hunted down
suspected MDC activists.
Tear smoke and live ammunition, as was the
case in Highfield, were
used to disperse any suspected protest gatherings.
Two people died while
hundreds others were injured countrywide. Human rights
groups fear the
figure of those injured throughout the country could run into
thousands.
The Avenues Clinic in Harare alone was reportedly
flooded by victims
of the combined assaults of the army, police and the
ruling party's youth
vigilante units, bussed in from farming and communal
areas around Harare.
An estimated 150 cases of politically
motivated beatings, torture and
harassment were brought to the clinic between
Wednesday night and Thursday
morning alone, most of them youths and
middle-aged citizens.
Even people who had nothing to do with the
protests were not spared
the dehumanising treatment at the hands of Mugabe's
security agents.
At a roadblock along the capital's Chiremba Road,
The Standard
witnessed an incident in which a man, caught by soldiers without
any
identification, was forced to write his national identification number
on
the ground before he was ordered to shove the soil on which he had
written
into his pockets. He would use it to identify himself at roadblocks
in
future, the soldiers told him.
There were many reports of
people being dragged out of their beds
naked at night and assaulted for
allegedly sympathising with the MDC.
In spite of such show of force
thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans still
put a major dent in Zanu PF's armour
when they either stayed away from work
or attempted to march at the beginning
of the week-long protest action,
aimed at pushing Mugabe to the negotiating
table.
An estimated 5 000 people tried to march from the western
Highfield
township towards the city centre on Monday but were dispersed by
police
firing tear gas and live shots in the air.
About 6 000
students at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) also tried to
march towards
central Harare but were blocked by police firing tear gas,
driving them back
to the campus.
About 200 more protesters gathered in the city
centre and were again
chased away by the choking tear smoke. Several of the
protesters were
arrested.
Andrew Nogongo, a senior official with
Transparency International,
yesterday said the government's use of brute
force to quell the
demonstrations was a show of Zanu PF's "loss of persuasive
ability to
justifiably govern the people".
Nogongo said: "What
people should ask themselves is that if the
government is a legitimate one,
why do they have to use heavily armed forces
to persuade the people not to
demonstrate?"
UZ lecturer and political analyst Heneri Dzinotyiweyi
said: "It is of
paramount importance that the people influence both the
government and the
opposition to address their day-to-day
concerns."
A visibly relieved Mugabe mocked the MDC stayaway at a
rally in
Mamina, Mhondoro (Mashonaland West) saying Tsvangirai was dreaming
to
imagine he and his followers could just walk into State House to take
the
presidency.
"Mwana wani iyeye angati Tsvangirai tora zvako
Chigaro cheushe" (Whose
child would that be who will simply tell Tsvangirai
to take over the king's
throne).
Zim Standard
New monetary measures dismissed
By Kumbirai
Mafunda
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's new monetary measures,
expected to be
announced later this month, will not deviate much from its
current policy of
printing more money, analysts have predicted.
Briefing journalists in Harare recently, outgoing RBZ governor
Leonard
Tsumba, hinted that a new monetary policy statement would be issued
this
month that might bring in fresh ideas to tackle runaway inflation,
currently
surpassing 269 percent.
Economic commentators however
said although Tsumba's last statement as
governor might indicate the
government's stance on inflation, the current
low interest rates and its much
criticised exchange rate mechanism, it would
not deviate from its present
focus on monetary expansion.
The major challenges the RBZ faces is
that of trying to find a formula
to shoot down inflation to figures of around
96,1 percent and below that
were envisioned by Finance and Economic
Development Minister Herbert Murerwa
in his 2003 budget
statement.
Already, Murerwa has acknowledged that the current
situation where
interest rates were lower than inflation had discouraged
savings.
Recurring budget deficits, declining economic growth and
inflation
have seen overall savings and investment tumbling to levels below
9,2
percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"Savings have been
confiscated by government the same way they
confiscated land from commercial
farmers," said a Harare-based economist.
Currently, lending rates
for the productive and export sectors have
been pegged at around 5% and 15%.
Although targeted at providing relief to
these sectors, the low interest
rates have been abused and instead borrowers
are sourcing money more for
speculative purposes than investing.
This has given birth to asset
price bubbles and artificial property
market values. So a review upwards on
rates on consumption and speculative
activities cannot be ruled out in the
new RBZ statement, said analysts.
On the exchange rate, the experts
said a support rate similar to the
one announced last month for gold
producers might be introduced to the
tobacco sector, which is being hounded
by viability problems.
The exchange rate of the local dollar to the
major trading currency,
the US greenback, is tied at $824.
However, some experts said it was highly unlikely that government
would
digress from its present expansionary monetary policy because the
central
bank needs more cheap money from the banks to lend at low rates.
"It is the same old story of moving deck chairs. We are going to see
Pilsener
and Bohlingers being given to passengers on the Titanic," said
Peter
Robinson, an economic consultant with Zimconsult.
Since 2001,
government has deliberately kept interest rates low by
flooding the money
market with funds as part of efforts to contain the cost
of its domestic debt
now nearing $400 billion, more than half Zimbabwe's
total budget for the
fiscal year ending December.
Robinson said the prevailing monetary
policy was meant to look at the
interests of the powerbase, the ruling
elite.
"The Reserve Bank's policy on interest rates is to keep them
low . It
is just a stopgap measure to save themselves. We don't have a
monetary
policy," said Robinson.
"We have a policy looking after
the authorities and meant to protect
the authorities from their previous
consequences," he added.
He said if interest rates were pushed
upwards, banks would be pushed
to the wall leaving government to opt for
lower interest rates in order not
to precipitate a 'banking
crisis'.
The country is going through one of its worst economic and
political
crises since independence from Britain in 1980.
This
is dramatised by acute shortages of basic commodities, energy
deficits and a
general economic decay.
Zim Standard
Tsvangirai notches a first as he faces second treason
charge
By Langton Nyakwenda
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, the leader
of the MDC, goes down in both Zimbabwean
and Rhodesian history as the first
person to be charged with treason twice,
as the Zanu PF regime leaves no
stone unturned in its quest to keep the
opposition leader under lock and
key.
Tsvangirai, who is considered the greatest single threat to
President
Robert Mugabe's stranglehold on political power since the
country's
independence in 1980, becomes the first person in the country's
history, to
be charged with treason twice in a lifetime.
The
opposition leader, already with a treason charge hanging over his
head that
would attract a death penalty if convicted, was on Friday charged
again in
connection with a series of statements he allegedly made since the
disputed
March 2002 elections that are said to have incited his supporters
to seek
Mugabe's overthrow.
Legal experts who spoke to The Standard said it
was "impracticable"
for one to be charged with treason twice in a lifetime
and the recent arrest
of Tsvangirai was a sign that the government was
getting more repressive in
its bid to crush the opposition.
Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional law lecturer and chairman of the
National
Constitutional Assembly, said the courts should have waited for
Tsvangirai's
first treason charges to be dealt with before charging him with
fresh
charges.
"As far as I know this has never happened in the history
of Zimbabwe,
even during the colonial era when Smith used to lock up
nationalists at
will," said Madhuku.
Advocate Adrian de Bourbon,
a highly regarded lawyer, said
nationalists like Dumiso Dabengwa and
Ndabaningi Sithole were charged with
treason in the pre-independence era but
not twice in their lifetime.
"In law to charge someone with treason
twice is impracticable and it
has never happened before in Zimbabwe," said De
Bourbon.
"Though it is possible theoretically, in practice it is
impossible as
the courts need to clear old treason charges before levelling
one with fresh
charges," he added.
Mordekai Mahlangu, another
leading lawyer, echoed De Bourbon's
sentiments and said as far as he
recollected, no one had been charged with
the offence twice in Zimbabwe
before.
"In theory, it is possible but I have never heard of a
person who was
charged with the offence more than once and if Tsvangirai is
charged with
treason in his latest arrest, then it is the first of its kind
in the
country," said Mahlangu.
Stanford Moyo of the Law and
Society of Zimbabwe however said it was
possible for a person to be charged
with more than one count of the same
offence "if facts arising from the new
offence were different from the
previous one".
Law lecturer
Geoff Feltoe echoed Moyo's statement but said he would
need more time to
check whether anyone had been charged twice for treason in
Zimbabwe's
history.
Tsvangirai, along with party senior members Welshman Ncube
and Renson
Gasela, are facing treason charges for allegedly trying to
eliminate Mugabe
before last year's presidential election.
Zim Standard
CIO harass Pius Ncube
By Cynthia
Mahwite
BULAWAYO-Outspoken Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube was
on Friday
afternoon detained for about 45 minutes by CIO operatives who
warned him to
desist from discussing political issues before the start
of
inter-denominational prayers for justice and peace.
"They
warned that no political party regalia should be worn during the
prayers,
they also said inflammatory statements were not to be allowed
during the
church service," Archbishop Ncube, told a packed city cathedral
before the
beginning of the prayers.
"We told them that this is purely a
church event with no party
politics to be addressed but we cannot avoid
addressing political issues
affecting the people of Zimbabwe. Politics is
about food, shelter, school
fees for your children, jobs and so on," he
said.
The church service, held amidst hovering sounds of
military
helicopters, was attended by human rights activists, Christians from
all
denominations and opposition MDC Members of Parliament, who included
Paul
Themba Nyathi, David Coltart and party vice president Gibson
Sibanda.
Ncube is a strong critic of President Robert Mugabe's
scorched earth
policies.
In his sermon, the archbishop urged the
congregation to pray for the
country's leaders to uphold human rights and
said the nation should also
pray for leaders "to be inspired by the Holy
Spirit" otherwise Zimbabwe
would perish.
The outspoken cleric
said despite threats from government agents that
he should keep quiet about
the goings-on in the country, he was not in a
position to do so.
"I shall not be quiet when my people are suffering," Ncube said.
"There is a
lot of suffering here and we need to change this Š our children
are forced to
go for military training where our daughters are sometimes
raped and you call
that normal?"
Ncube said Zimbabwe needed God's intervention for
things to improve.
Last month he conducted a service for torture victims
where they gave
harrowing testimonies about their experiences.
Zim Standard
Rural councils body slams land reform
By
Parker Graham
MASVINGO-Members of the Association of Rural District
Councils of
Zimbabwe (ARDCs) last week said government had failed dismally to
achieve
its goal of decongesting rural population pressure owing to
rampant
corruption and nepotism that infested the land reform
exercise.
Several chiefs, headmen, senior district officials and
chairpersons
from around the country were in Masvingo for their fourth annual
congress
where they sought assurance from the government that it would
dissolve all
land committees before carrying out the new land audit ordered
by President
Robert Mugabe.
They said the fast track land reform
programme, characterised by
violent land seizures, did not help ease life in
the rural areas as they
remained heavily congested. Those who benefited, they
noted, were the well
connected and some senior war veterans.
"The land reform programme did not achieve its intended goals like
the
decongestion of the rural areas where population pressure remains.
Instead,
the fast track programme saw party heavy weights and their
relatives
benefiting at the expense of the general public," said Chief Ndondo
of
Umguza.
"We are appealing to the government to dissolve all
land committees
because of nepotism, corruption and favouritism," he
added.
The chief said some war veterans who invaded white-owned
commercial
farms since 1999 were still staying in shacks casting doubts if
they had
capabilities of turning around the Zimbabwe's agricultural industry
that has
suffered a major slump.
"Some have already resorted to
gold panning, environmental
degradation, the killing of wild animals and
rampant poaching and have
abandoned the intended agricultural activities they
promised to partake,"
Chief Ndondo observed.
Chief Fortune
Charumbira, the deputy Minister of Public Works, Local
Government and
National Housing, admitted that chiefs had not been fully
utilised in the
government's allocation of land.
"I don't condone the way the land
officers conducted their businesses
when they allocated land. Instead of
doing it along proper channels, they
favoured their relatives and friends,"
said Chief Charumbira.
He urged the government to go back to the
drawing board and include
rural district councils and chiefs in their land
redistribution programme.
Ministers Ignatius Chombo and Witness
Mangwende attended the meeting.
Zim Standard
Chinos beaten up by Endy Mhlanga
By Our Own
Staff
SELF-styled war veterans' leader, security guard Joseph
Chinotimba was
pummelled in a fistfight by Endy Mhlanga, the
secretary-general of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWA) at the
Zimbabwe Defence House a fortnight
ago.
Defence House houses the ministry of defence, the parent
ministry for
the war veterans.
Witnesses told the The Standard
that the two accidentally bumped into
each other in the corridors before a
meeting convened by the war veterans'
association to resolve simmering
differences within the movement.
At this point, Mhlanga is said to
have asked Chinotimba where he
trained during the liberation struggle. This
infuriated Chinotimba so much
that he started spewing vulgar words and
challenged Mhlanga to a fist fight.
As the heated verbal exchange
degenerated, Mhlanga pounced on the
bearded security guard's throat and got
the better of him.
Pace and agility is said to have saved
Chinotimba who broke away from
Mhlanga's grip and ran away for dear life
seeking refugee in nearby offices.
The situation normalised after
the two were "conscientised" of the
need for war veterans to unite to quell
streets protests organised by the
Movement for Democratic
Change.
"The two calmed down after intervention and were told to
set aside
their personal differences," said a witness.
Present
at the meeting was the association's leader, Patrick
Nyaruwata. He confirmed
the incident and said he would issue a statement
later this
week.
Many war veterans are not happy with Chinotimba's meteoric
rise in the
ruling Zanu PF party and others have started questioning his war
record.
The war veterans' officials say they want to probe where
and who
actually trained Chinotimba, while the former municipal guard claims
the
senior war veterans want him out because he questioned how they
squandered
the group's finances.
"Chinotimba's file on war
veterans says he trained at Devure Ranch in
Bikita so the association wants
to know who trained him," said a senior war
veterans' official.
The Patrick Nyaruwata-led national executive suspended Chinotimba from
the
chairmanship of Harare province last month but he claims that he still
heads
the province.
Mhlanga confirmed that he was at the defence
headquarters on the
fateful day but declined to comment further.
Chinotimba said: "I know nothing about that. I have never been at the
Defence
House. Taidachii. Taidei.(What did we want there?) Maybe Mhlanga met
chidhoma
changu,"(my ghost) said Chinotimba before switching off his
mobile
phone.
This is not the first time Chinotimba has been
beaten by colleagues in
the war veterans' movement.
Last year,
he received a thorough beating from Mike Moyo who accused
him of advising
management at a fuel station to press charges against him.
By then Moyo faced
charges of extorting fuel worth $5 000 from a Harare
filling station.
Zim Standard
Manyika allegedly leads campaign of
retribution
By Caiphas Chimhete
YOUTH Minister Elliot
Manyika allegedly led the group of soldiers,
police and "Green Bombers" that
brutalised suspected opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters in Glen View on Monday night last week,
victims have
claimed.
Some of the victims told The Standard that the group,
numbering about
30 and in Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) uniforms, was led by
Manyika, the
Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment
Creation.
The victims said the group had a long list of names of
suspected MDC
sympathisers, compiled by Zanu PF supporters together with the
local
militia, trained at the infamous Border Gezi Training Camp in
Bindura.
One of the victims, Jabu Khumalo (31), who sustained a
broken arm and
swollen body, said the group only stopped beating him up after
the
intervention of Manyika.
"They arrived here around 2 am and
dragged me and my colleagues from
the house, beating us.
"When
we were outside, the beatings became more severe as more people
joined in but
he (Manyika) saw that we were badly hurt and he stopped them
before ticking
our names from a long list," said Khumalo, who stays at
Councillor Dewa's
house in Glen View.
He said Manyika was dressed in blue jeans and a
white T-shirt
underneath a blue jean shirt.
"I don't think they
were all soldiers because I identified Tawanda and
Prince who were also in
army uniforms," said Khumalo, adding the two were
Zanu PF militia, dubbed the
"Green Bombers", well known in Glen View.
After beating the
occupants, the "soldiers" allegedly stole six bags
of meal mealie, a
cellphone, bottles of cooking oil, packs of matemba fish,
beans and salt that
the councillor intended to "feed destitute people and
orphans" in the
area.
Douglas Zihara and Daniel Ngoya, who both received medical
treatment
at Avenues Clinic on Tuesday morning after the brutal assaults,
also claimed
to have seen Manyika among the group of attackers.
One MDC ward secretary, who requested anonymity, said Manyika's
Mercedes Benz
was left parked at a house owned by a member of the
neighbourhood watch
committee.
"He was in a white Mazda pickup truck that was trailing
behind two
army trucks," he claimed.
Another victim, Lefingo
Madyira (28), who could hardly walk on
Thursday, said the group attacked him
at a local car park in the area while
he was guarding vehicles.
Speaking from his hideout at a relative's house, Madyira said the
group first
asked for one Teddy Gumbezi, an MDC activist in the area, but
later accused
him of taking part in street marches to force President Robert
Mugabe to the
negotiating table.
"When I told them that I did not know his
whereabouts, they started
beating me with batons sticks, planks and booted
feet," said Madyira,
showing this reporter the group's military handwork
marked all over his
body.
MDC national co-ordinator, Nkanyiso
Maqeda, confirmed receiving
reports that Manyika had allegedly led by
example, terrorising and
brutalising Glen Norah and Glen View
residents.
"We also received such a report and that Manyika was
stationed at
Cresta Jameson Hotel in Harare that night and if that is true,
we cannot
rule that out," said Maqeda.
Manyika could not be
reached for comment as his mobile phone was
switched off.
The
rowdy Green Bombers are being trained at centres in Bindura and
other
provinces and fall under Manyika's ministry.
Since the Zanu PF
retribution against protestors started on Monday, at
least two people have
been confirmed dead, allegedly at the hands of State
agents.
The
opposition MDC says more 300 people in Harare have received
medication since
Tuesday for wounds sustained in the on-going beatings by
the security
agents.
On Tuesday, the security agents virtually camped at the
Avenues
Clinic's car park where most of the victims were receiving
medical
treatment.
Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner
Wyne Bvudzijena, said the
deployment of security forces would continue for as
long as necessary.
Downplaying security agents' brutality on
innocent civilians,
Bvudzijena said: "There may be one or two incidents by
members of the
security forces who have acted outside the given orders and
these cases are
being investigated."
l Meanwhile, the
fear-struck Zanu PF government has deployed more
armed soldiers, police and
militia in the streets of Harare to thwart any
attempts by the MDC to stage
more protests.
The militia, some of whom were bussed from farming
communities and
wearing new T-shirts written "No to Mass Action", have been
beating up
innocent people in Harare's central business district.
Zim Standard
Zanu PF youths celebrate
By Langton
Nyakwenda
THOUSANDS of Zanu PF youths, brought from the rural areas
to quell the
MDC-led mass action, went into a jovial mood on Friday night
singing party
songs at its headquarters celebrating what they regarded as
"mission
accomplished".
The exuberant youths, who seemed out of
place in Harare over the past
week because of their dirty and worn out
trousers, aged gumboots and crudely
made home sandals, took time off their
busy schedule of defending the
capital city from MDC marchers to celebrate
their "victory."
In the comfort of the imposing Zanu PF building,
heavily guarded by
anti-riot police and soldiers, the youths broke into song
and dance around
7: 00 pm shaking off the dust that had accumulated on their
bodies as they
walked the length and breadth of the city in the week long
round-the-clock
patrols that also took in the high density
suburbs.
One of the songs, which were repeatedly sung, was the
obscene
"Ndikwenyeiwo amai mwana," which is popular at rowdy soccer
matches.
Dressed in white T-shirts labelled "No to Mass Action",
the
overzealous youths had tormented Harare's streets, tearing
independent
newspapers and beating up innocent civilians in the city centre
from Monday.
However on Friday afternoon, some of the youths were
heard complaining
that the party was delaying in giving them their
dues.
They claimed they had been promised huge sums of money to
disrupt the
mass action. The capital city was from Monday full of the badly
dressed
youths and old women, ferried from Zanu PF's rural strongholds, who
were
quickly given new party T-shirts to help their attire.
The
youths however moved in big groups afraid that they would be
mincemeat for
angry Zimbabweans eager to vent their spleens should any of
them stray or
split into smaller factions.
Zim Standard
War veteran, police officer taste own
medicine
By Richard Musazulwa
GWERU- A plain clothes
police officer and a war veteran on Wednesday
tasted their own medicine when
they were beaten up by armed soldiers who
rounded up residents
indiscriminately at Kudzanai Bus Terminus in Gweru.
The soldiers,
who wrecked havoc in the city, caught up with the police
officer and the
senior war veteran among the peaceful commuters, waiting to
board buses to
their different destinations.
According to eyewitnesses, the
plain-clothes police officer, only
identified as Moyo, was thoroughly beaten
up and had to produce his force
identity card to save himself from further
harm.
The well-known war veteran was not so lucky as the marauding
soldiers
heavily assaulted him. Some of the people who fell victim to the
attacks
said they were pleased that the two had tasted their own
medicine.
"If these war vets and police officers realise that it's
not a nice
experience to be beaten up, that might bring sense to their
minds," said a
26-year-old woman who had stopped over at Kudzanai on her way
to Bulawayo.
A police detail at the Kudzanai police post confirmed
the incident.
Zim Standard
Aids threatens to decimate labour in
agriculture
By Caiphas Chimhete
THE HIV/Aids pandemic that
is sweeping through out Zimbabwe presents
one of the greatest challenges to
the country's agricultural sector, which
is still smarting from President
Mugabe's violent and chaotic land reforms,
farming bodies have
warned.
They said the disease seriously threatened the country's
capacity to
produce and ensure national food security because it kills the
most
productive segment of the labour force.
The executive
director of Farmers' Development Trust (FDT), Lovejoy
Tendengu, said the
country was sitting on "a time bomb" in the farming
communities, where the
majority of people have no access to health
facilities and live in squalid
conditions.
"The pandemic is more rampant in the farming compounds
and as a result
life span is very short. This has led to a high worker
turn-over, which
means efficiency and production is greatly compromised,"
said Tendengu,
whose organisation strives to improve the welfare of farm
workers.
He said absenteeism due to illness or other workers
attending funerals
of colleagues, has also had a great impact on overall
agricultural output.
A study conducted by the University of
Zimbabwe's Centre for Applied
Social Sciences says the death of a single
adult in an indigenous farm
household resulted in a drop by 61 percent of the
family production of the
staple food maize.
Cotton would decline
by 47 percent; groundnuts by 37 percent while
vegetable production would fall
by 49 percent, noted the study.
The outgoing director of the
Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union
(ICFU), Thomas Nherera, said the union
was very worried by the effects of
Aids on agriculture.
"We are
very aware of its effects on agriculture but we can not give
quantitative
figures of how much has been lost or will be lost in the near
future because
we have not carried out detailed research on that,"
said
Nherera.
But the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
said some southern
African countries, including Zimbabwe, could lose 26
percent of their
agricultural labour force within two decades because of
Aids.
Renson Gasela, the Movement for Democratic Change's shadow
minister
for land and agriculture said the recently concluded haphazard land
reforms
would worsen the Aids epidemic in farming communities.
Government statistics indicate that Zimbabwe has more than 2,2 million
people
living with the HIV virus that causes the killer disease. More than
600 000
locals die from the disease every year.
The most vulnerable are the
poor, who live in squalid conditions in
farming and rural areas where there
are no proper health facilities.
That apart, people in farming
areas have little knowledge about the
pandemic and take unprotected sex as a
pastime activity regardless of the
hazards involved.
Mugabe,
eager to win people's support in the parliamentary and
presidential polls in
2000 and 2002, parcelled land to his supporters before
putting in place
health and entertainment facilities.
"By mere observation, the
effects of Aids are going to be very
devastating and very soon we will not
have any agriculture to talk about.
Apart from that, what will happen to
those workers displaced by the
so-called land reform programme," said Gasela,
a former Grain Marketing
Board (GMB) boss.
The Zanu PF
government claims to have resettled 54 000 new farmers
under the A2 model
while about 200 000 have also been allocated pieces of
land under the A1
scheme.
As a result of Mugabe's skewed land policy, which left
nearly 400 000
commercial farm workers jobless, Zimbabwe's food production
went down by 50
percent last year, leaving nearly eight million people in
need of emergency
food aid.
Tendengu called on government and
farming bodies to work together in
combating the Aids pandemic and other
infectious diseases in the farming
areas.
"The government
together with farmers and farmers' organisations
should start bold and
deliberate moves to address the pandemic in the
farming communities if we are
to produce enough food for the country."
The ICFU said it was
working with the government, through the National
Aids Awareness Campaign, to
educate farm workers on the threat of Aids to
their lives and the agriculture
sector.
In the past eight years, Aids killed about seven million
agricultural
workers in 25 of the hardest hit countries
worldwide.
Zimbabwe is ranked as the third country in the world
with the highest
rate of infection and deaths, presenting serious threats to
agriculture,
which contributes about 18 percent to the country's Gross
Domestic Product
(GDP).
Agriculture also provides employment and
income for 66 percent of the
population.
If the Aids epidemic is
not curtailed, Zimbabwe would not be able to
produce enough food in the next
decade, say health experts.
Zim Standard
Letter
Fighting among ourselves will not solve
country's problems
I think in Zimbabwe we are still living
okay. I know I will get myself
a beating for saying that but first let me
elaborate. We have two sides of
this political tension and they are both
pulling in extremely opposite
directions just for their own good and in the
end its us Zimbabweans who are
suffering.
On the one hand, Zanu
PF is accusing the MDC of being backed by the
British, but for the sake of
the public let's forget that and find a way
forward to the negotiating table.
On the other hand, we have MDC accusing
Zanu PF of having messed up the
economy in the past how-many-ever years.
Yes, they might have but for the
sake of progress let's bury that and look
for a way forward for
everyone.
If we keep fighting and bickering among ourselves, in a
couple of
months, we will realise that what we are calling suffering now is
just a
picnic. Things have the potential of becoming far much worse. We still
boast
of a better infrastructure than most African countries but believe me
that
too sadly may disappear.
Remember those good old days when
we used to laugh at the Zambian
Kwacha but where are we now? We may now look
down at their infrastructure
but if we continue fighting, Zambians will soon
start laughing at ours.
We still need to be convinced by foreign
leaders like Mbeki and
Obasanjo to talk things over, but when things get
really bad we will be
ready to go to the negotiating table without these
people telling us to.
All this beating up of civilians, uncalled
for arrests, torture,
repression, delaying of justice, mass actions,
stayaways, calls for more
sanctions and the like will get us nowhere but
deeper into trouble.
In my own opinion let's get rid of both these
gentlemen and look for
some other pair to start negotiations because, surely,
they have both failed
us.
Way forward
Harare
Zim Standard
New monetary measures dismissed
By Kumbirai
Mafunda
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's new monetary measures,
expected to be
announced later this month, will not deviate much from its
current policy of
printing more money, analysts have predicted.
Briefing journalists in Harare recently, outgoing RBZ governor
Leonard
Tsumba, hinted that a new monetary policy statement would be issued
this
month that might bring in fresh ideas to tackle runaway inflation,
currently
surpassing 269 percent.
Economic commentators however
said although Tsumba's last statement as
governor might indicate the
government's stance on inflation, the current
low interest rates and its much
criticised exchange rate mechanism, it would
not deviate from its present
focus on monetary expansion.
The major challenges the RBZ faces is
that of trying to find a formula
to shoot down inflation to figures of around
96,1 percent and below that
were envisioned by Finance and Economic
Development Minister Herbert Murerwa
in his 2003 budget
statement.
Already, Murerwa has acknowledged that the current
situation where
interest rates were lower than inflation had discouraged
savings.
Recurring budget deficits, declining economic growth and
inflation
have seen overall savings and investment tumbling to levels below
9,2
percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"Savings have been
confiscated by government the same way they
confiscated land from commercial
farmers," said a Harare-based economist.
Currently, lending rates
for the productive and export sectors have
been pegged at around 5% and 15%.
Although targeted at providing relief to
these sectors, the low interest
rates have been abused and instead borrowers
are sourcing money more for
speculative purposes than investing.
This has given birth to asset
price bubbles and artificial property
market values. So a review upwards on
rates on consumption and speculative
activities cannot be ruled out in the
new RBZ statement, said analysts.
On the exchange rate, the experts
said a support rate similar to the
one announced last month for gold
producers might be introduced to the
tobacco sector, which is being hounded
by viability problems.
The exchange rate of the local dollar to the
major trading currency,
the US greenback, is tied at $824.
However, some experts said it was highly unlikely that government
would
digress from its present expansionary monetary policy because the
central
bank needs more cheap money from the banks to lend at low rates.
"It is the same old story of moving deck chairs. We are going to see
Pilsener
and Bohlingers being given to passengers on the Titanic," said
Peter
Robinson, an economic consultant with Zimconsult.
Since 2001,
government has deliberately kept interest rates low by
flooding the money
market with funds as part of efforts to contain the cost
of its domestic debt
now nearing $400 billion, more than half Zimbabwe's
total budget for the
fiscal year ending December.
Robinson said the prevailing monetary
policy was meant to look at the
interests of the powerbase, the ruling
elite.
"The Reserve Bank's policy on interest rates is to keep them
low . It
is just a stopgap measure to save themselves. We don't have a
monetary
policy," said Robinson.
"We have a policy looking after
the authorities and meant to protect
the authorities from their previous
consequences," he added.
He said if interest rates were pushed
upwards, banks would be pushed
to the wall leaving government to opt for
lower interest rates in order not
to precipitate a 'banking
crisis'.
The country is going through one of its worst economic and
political
crises since independence from Britain in 1980.
This
is dramatised by acute shortages of basic commodities, energy
deficits and a
general economic decay
Zim Standard
EMCOZ pleads with ZCTU to return to
negotiations
By our own Staff
THE Employers Confederation
of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) on Thursday went on
bended knees to plead with the
country's largest labour movement, the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU), to rescind its earlier decision to
abandon the Tripartite Negotiating
Forum (TNF).
The ZCTU pulled out of TNF - which is comprised of
labour, government
and business - in April and declared the process as "dead
and buried" after
government astronomically increased the pump price of fuel
by about 300
percent.
This resulted in the retail price of blend
petrol costing $450 a litre
and pushing the costs of transport fares and
other goods and services by an
almost similar margin. The fuel increase came
just two months after a
previous hike of 95 percent in February.
EMCOZ president Mike Bimha told delegates at a National Economic
Consultative
Forum (NECF) meeting on the National Economic Recovery
Programme (NERP) held
in Harare, that it was crucial for the labour movement
to return to the
negotiating table to resolve the economic crisis now
reaching melting
point.
Zimbabwe is in its sixth year of economic recession
dramatised by
stagflation, shrinking economic growth, poverty, unemployment
and social
decay, which critics accuse President Robert Mugabe, its ruler for
23 years,
of authoring.
Presenting a paper on business's
contribution to the formulation and
implementation of the economic recovery
programme, Bimha underlined the need
for the urgent resumption of the TNF
meetings.
"For the sake of Zimbabwe, we appeal to the other social
partners to
come back to the negotiating table before we do even more harm to
this
beleaguered economy," said Bimha.
Labour's retreat from the
TNF process effectively ended the
negotiating forum that had been
resuscitated in January and had partly given
birth to Zimbabwe's new economic
recovery programme.
Among some of the weaknesses of the TNF at the
time labour pulled out
were that since the beginning of negotiations this
year, workers had gained
little in terms of an improvement to their living
standards.
Prices of commodities had been reviewed upwards by
government and yet
workers had not been cushioned off against the decline in
purchasing power,
the union complained.
The TNF was formed in
1998 following the failure of social dialogue
through its predecessor and in
2001; labour withdrew from the process citing
government's unilateral
approach to critical issues and its lack of good
faith and honesty during
negotiations.
Economic commentators have however observed that to
make the TNF
process effective, there was need to make the process statutory
so that
whatever was agreed was not subject to approval by Cabinet or changed
by any
one party, notably government that is notorious of such
moves.
In response to Bimha's overture, ZCTU acting
secretary-general, Collin
Gwiyo apportioned blame on government for wrecking
the process and ruled out
labour's early return to the negotiating
table.
"The position remains the same as long as social partners
can wake up
one morning and announce price increases without the consent of
other
parties," said Gwiyo.
"As things stand we are handicapped
to return to the TNF Š at the end
of the day the ball remains in government's
court," he added.
Lovemore Kadenge, Zimbabwe Economics Society
president said if
business was really concerned to see the return of labour
to the TNF, there
was need to communicate seriously in an organised
manner.
"There is need for business to communicate with labour and
not at such
fora like the NECF where people of like mind gather," said
Kadenge.
Zim Standard
Basic commodities reappear at high prices
By
Kumbirai Mafunda
BASIC commodities such as milk, margarine, bread
and cooking oil,
which had disappeared from supermarket shelves, are now
reappearing at a
higher cost following the government's relaxation of price
controls.
Government imposed wide ranging price controls in late
2001 in a
desperate bid to try and control skyrocketing prices, despite
advice from
economic experts that the move would result in the scarcity of
food stuffs
and their reappearance on the black market at inflated
prices.
"Price controls have never succeeded unless as an integral
element of
a social contract," said Bulawayo-based economic commentator Eric
Bloch.
Writing in The Zimbabwe Chartered Accountant after the
government had
reintroduced price controls, Block observed: "Instead, price
controls
trigger massive shortages of those products which manufacturers
cannot
afford to produce and feeds a thriving black market at much increases,
and
highly inflationary prices of all that is in short supply."
Business lamented that the controls would stifle growth in the
manufacturing
sector which was already reeling from the other negative
effects of
Zimbabwe's hyper inflation - that last month rose to an
unprecedented 269
percent - such as the inevitable high wages and subsequent
increases in the
cost of production.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
estimates that more
than 500 companies were forced to close down because of
the price freeze
that also resulted in the emergence of a thriving parallel
market as
producers tried to avoid the controls.
Manufacturers
also resorted to producing lower quality goods at higher
prices much to the
detriment of the consumer whose purchasing power was
being daily eroded by
the rising inflation.
Although consumers cheered the return of
basic foodstuffs on the
market recently, their joy was short-lived when they
realised that the same
goods were now being sold at exorbitant and
prohibitive prices.
For instance 750 ml of cooking oil that cost
less than $1 000 a few
weeks ago, is going for $2 327 while a 5-litre
container of the same product
now costs $13 000.
"Despite the
inflows of commodities we are facing a dilemma where
goods are now taking
longer to clear from shelves," said a manager with a
Harare supermarket
chain.
Anthony Mandiwanza, Dairiboard Zimbabwe Limited chief
executive and
CZI president said the recent influx of goods onto supermarket
shelves was
testimony of the negative aspect of price controls.
"Government has learnt lessons. You cannot interfere with free market
forces
and win. We warned government on price controls and viability
of
manufacturers," Mandiwanza said.
He said manufacturers needed
the flexibility to review prices
periodically to ensure the continued inflow
of commodities into the formal
market without State
interference.
In a keynote address to the National Economic
Consultative Forum
(NECF) on Thursday, Finance and Economic Development
Minister Herbert
Murerwa - in a speech read on his behalf - publicly conceded
that
government's interventionist policies had been ineffective in reining
in
runaway inflation.
"We in government are committed to
removing policy-induced distortions
and regulations such as price controls
and implementing other fiscal and
monetary stabilisation measures that
promote production in all sectors,"
said Murerwa.
Controls on
commodities whose prices are still gazetted now only
remain on maize and
maize meal, wheat, flour and bread.
Products whose prices are still
being determined by government also
include agricultural chemicals,
agricultural implements, seeds, beef, coal,
cement sugar and milk, and a few
others.
The government has however said it would continue to play
a
surveillance role on the retail market "to prevent
profiteering".
Zim Standard
Church should take a stand against evil
Sundaytalk with Pius Wakatama
HAVING realised that the situation in
Zimbabwe is so grave as to be
beyond human solutions alone, the leader of the
Movement for Democratic
Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, rightly called for days of
prayer. He had
realised that without God's direct intervention the country
was facing
imminent destruction.
He called for the special days
of prayer because the MDC was embarking
on a week of peaceful demonstrations
to protest the misrule of the Zanu PF
government.
Not only is
the Zanu PF government cruel; its misguided policies and
rampant corruption
have brought the country to its knees economically.
Ordinary people can no
longer afford basic necessities of life. The MDC felt
that through mass
demonstrations they could force the government to change
its ways and come to
the negotiating table without preconditions.
In response to the MDC
leader's call, over 2 000 Christians from
different denominations gathered in
the Harare City centre to pray. No
sooner had they started to call on God,
with their hands raised in
supplication, to save our suffering nation, than
hordes of baton wielding
riot police descended on them. They savagely
attacked the praying men and
women. Some of the women were old, and others
had babies on their backs.
Several were injured and more were arrested "for
organising and taking part
in an illegal political meeting".
When it was pointed to a member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police that
this was
merely a prayer meeting and not a political meeting, he responded
by saying
it was a political meeting because they were raising their hands
showing the
MDC sign. It seems that the poor man had never seen enthusiastic
Christians
in prayer before. He had also been thoroughly brainwashed by his
masters, or
should I say, handlers. He didn't seem capable of
thinking
independently.
As I read of these events in the press I
hung my head in shame because
these were actions of fellow Zimbabweans. My
own countrymen. I had heard,
seen and read of Zanu PF police brutality but,
surely to beat up people who
are praying is descending to the very depths of
depravity not even expected
of beasts without any conscience. It somehow made
me think of the brutal
treatment of Christians in ancient Rome. Jesus' words
as he hung on the
cross also came to mind: "Father forgive them for they know
not what they
do."
Those who beat up these Godly men and women
as they prayed can rest
assured that God will punish them for this horrible
abomination unless they
recant and ask Him for forgiveness. About these
policemen and other violent
Zanu PF thugs, the Bible says;
"The
son of Man will send forth His angels, will gather out of his
Kingdom all
stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will
cast them into
the furnace of fire. In that place there shall be weeping and
gnashing of
teeth.
"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the
Kingdom of
their father. He who has ears , let him hear." Matthew
13:41-43.
What is amazing about all this is the deafening silence
of our church
leaders over this abominable act. As God's representatives on
earth, are
they not outraged by this kind of behaviour? Where is their
prophetic, "Thus
saith the Lord!?
As I pondered on this silence
of the church, I went back to an article
I wrote for The Daily News on
January 6, 2001. I quote:
"During the debate on the draft
constitution for Zimbabwe, there was a
flurry of activity by the churches to
have their views heard.
"The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe
went as far as petitioning the
Constitutional Commission to pronounce
Christianity as the official religion
of the country and to have that stated
in the new constitution.
"At that time, churches seemed to have
reached a consensus as to their
role in the affairs of the
nation.
"The heads of denominations held a meeting at which the
role of the
church was spelt out as: 'The provision of a common platform of
principles
on which churches can react pro actively and integrally in moments
of
calamity or life-threatening socio-economic and political situations and
to
be prophetic and practical in their mission.
"The general
secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Jensen
Mafinyane, emphatically
said: 'What we are saying is that the church will
not compromise and will not
negotiate on good governance'.
"Father Oscar Wermter SJ, the (then)
communication secretary of the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, spelt
out the stand of the Roman
Catholic Church: 'The church should not be
involved in the day to day power
struggles of party politics, but should be
able to speak out in cases where
power is abused, where corruption is
depriving people of their belongings.
"However, after all these
bold statements, the church is now
conspicuous by its deafening silence in
the face of the most evil abuse of
power by the incumbent Zanu PF
government."
These words were written in 2001. We are now three
years down the
line. The moment of calamity is upon us for the socio-economic
and political
situation is threatening the lives of Zimbabweans. To say that
there is bad
governance is an understatement. This government has totally
failed and is
resorting to brute force to keep in power. Even Christians are
being
assaulted in broad daylight to stop them from crying out to their God.
Power
is being abused daily and corruption in high places is the order of the
day.
As the churches face this calamity, their voices seem to have
left
them suddenly. We hear only lonely voices of dedicated and fearless
prophets
who are crying out in the wilderness.
The silent church
majority espouses a church theology that pretends to
be neutral. They say
that the church should be concerned with spiritual
matters only. This, of
course, is a silent way of legitimising a repressive
status quo. Their real
motivation is not conviction but fear.
Those few who are speaking
out prophetically espouse a biblical and
Godly theology. They are convinced
that God is concerned about all of life.
To them the Bible reveals that God
is always on the side of the
down-trodden. Their theology declares that where
there is oppression and
denial of human rights, neutrality is not an
option.
In 1986 a number of concerned Christians in South Africa
met to study
the Bible and seek God's mind regarding the volatile situation
obtaining in
that country at the time. Their deliberations resulted in the
publishing of
a declaration called Kairos Document. This became a wake up
call to the
churches for it declared in no uncertain terms that apartheid and
its
attendant laws was oppressive and, therefore, unbiblical and sinful.
This
resulted in a movement which swept across the churches bringing them
to
confession and repentance.
Today, Zimbabwe is looking to the
church for guidance. We desperately
need, even from the Zanu PF ranks, a
Kairos- like movement which will lead
our politicians to the negotiating
table for a new and free Zimbabwe.
He who has ears to hear, let
them hear.
Zim Standard
Zanu PF leaders behaving like battered wives
Sundayopinion By Thandi Chiweshe
UNDERSTANDING oppression, its
causes and its consequences is the best
way to deal with it. Without a clear
understanding why things are the way
they are, the oppressed often blame
themselves, or become fatalistic about
their lot in life.
One of
the nice things about being a feminist is that it gives you new
eyes through
which to look at the world around you. As I watched the comings
and goings of
the uninvited Presidential troika, trying to resolve our
national crisis, I
could not help but go back into my experiences with women
in domestic
violence situations to draw lessons and inspiration.
Many of us
often wonder why women stay in abusive relationships. We
wonder how the
violence ever began in the first place, and why the woman
just didn't pack up
and leave the minute it occurred. I remember an occasion
in 1997 when Eddison
Zvobgo presided over a public tribunal on violence
against women. One of the
women told a harrowing tale of beatings, house
"arrests", and on occasion,
humiliation in front of her work-mates.
Another spoke of how her
husband would urinate on her and tell her
that she was an idiot. Zvobgo then
castigated the women for sitting there
and letting it all happen. "What were
you waiting for? Someone to come and
save you? Yes,
we have laws
but the law is not going to come to your house", he
advised the women - and
all of us.
Yes Dr. Zvobgo, why indeed have you and others who
foisted Mugabe on
us not done something to stop him? Are you not clever
enough? What are you
waiting for? Mbeki to save us? I can ask the same
question to the many men
who also often ask the same questions about violated
women. Why are you
tolerating the abuse and the humiliation day in and day
out? Or are you as
powerless as abused women often feel?
Priscilla Misihairabwi, MP for Glen Norah once remarked that all men
in Zanu
PF were behaving like battered wives. All of us collectively have
been
battered and bruised. If it's not direct physical abuse, it's
been
psychological abuse. The most visible aspect is the violence done to us
via
ZBC/TV. What else can one call the amount of garbage, insults and abuse
of
our air-waves that we have been subjected to day in and day out? Yet
we
faithfully continue to turn on our radios and televisions. We get
angry,
feel like switching them off. But we don't.
Some of us
even still buy The Herald! I marvel when I see a motorist
beside me hoot
furiously to The Herald vendor to bring his - its normally a
he - paper. It
is almost as if we are addicted to the horrid stuff. And we
are. We just
can't stop buying that paper, or listening to that nauseating
voice on the
radio.
We behave exactly like the abused woman. She clings on. She
even
continues to reproduce in the vain hope that things will change. But
they
don't. A violated woman becomes fatalistic. She starts believing in
the
supernatural, or she buries her head in some fundamentalist religion.
Many
of us have got to that point. That is why the religious
fundamentalist
element is now thriving in Zimbabwe. That is why every
available vlei in
Harare is filled with mapostori, praying day and night. At
the upper end of
the social spectrum the foot stomping, happy
clappie-give-us-your-tithe
churches are filled to the brim with yuppies at
prayer. See no evil, hear no
evil, just prepare to go to heaven, seems to be
the message. We are in
collective denial about how bad things are and can
get. Burying ourselves in
religion is our strategy for coping. Religion is
the opium of the people -
Karl Marx was right after all.
Then
there is the role of the family, the neighbours, or some
"brokers". On
hearing about this alleged violence they embark on
fact-finding missions to
really establish what is going on. The in-laws, the
neighbours, the
relatives, they will all come. They will arrive, one fine
weekend. They are
received with joy, by the husband, and wife, arm in arm.
As they enter the
house they remark on the lovely garden, the clean
children, aahh and the new
furniture. Are these signs of a relationship in
crisis, they wonder? They are
fed to their hearts' content. They chat and
laugh, as if nothing has
happened. On enquiring about the alleged violence -
if they ever remember why
they are there in the first place - they are met
with disbelief. "Violence?
Me? Abusing her? Ask her? Does she look like an
abused wife to you? Does she
have any scars? Look at her. Look at this house
full of new furniture that I
bought her last week. Look at her well-done
hair. She had that done just this
morning. Look at our children. Where did
you hear this?"
The
relatives will mumble some apology about other jealous distant
relatives.
Those who don't want to see our family prosper. All the while
nobody really
asks the wife what she thinks, nor do they provide the safe
space for her to
do so.
Such were the early missions of SADC, Mbeki and Obasanjo
etc. They
came, they didn't see "anything", and they were convinced this was
the work
of some foreigners bent on destroying Zimbabwe's image. I remember
clearly
the arguments of some Africans who came to monitor elections, and of
many
who have come to my organisation in the last few months. They see the
nice
road from Harare airport, the lovely Meikles Hotel and our
seemingly
well-ordered townships, and wonder why we complain so loudly. Many
of the
scars we carry are not visible. How do you begin to make them
understand?
The language of oppression and patriarchy does not have the
words, "feel,
emotions, pain, psychological" in its lexicon. They only
believe in what is
visible to the naked eye.
A few months later
the violence recurs. This time there are scars. The
wife threatens to leave.
The relatives or neighbours return. This time the
response has changed. "She
started it. She scolded our mother. She is not
cleaning the house properly.
In fact she hit me right here on the forehead!
Look!" Indeed the scar where
the pot landed is visible. The wife tries to
explain her side of the story,
but of course the father of the house has
spoken. He has given the framework
for the discussion. Anything outside this
is problematic. The discussion is
turned on its head. The victim becomes the
problem. She is responsible for
what happened to her. She invited it. She
deserved it. She must learn not to
challenge the ordained power holder.
Similarly the AU people came
and were shown the buses allegedly burnt
by the opposition. They were taken
to Chinhoyi and shown the damage done to
Zanu PF offices by "MDC thugs". The
problem was presented as a fight between
equals, struggling for power. The
real issues under-lying this are
forgotten.
Mbeki, Obasanjo and
Muluzi are Mugabe's relatives. Just like the
relatives of the abusive
husband. They have ties that bind. They have a
common history. Wives don't
have common histories with their husbands.
"Makauya nezuro uno imi", (you
came only yesterday), you will be reminded
when you as they say, "forget your
place" in the matrimonial hierarchy.
Relatives often have their own
interests to protect. Your problem
comes second to theirs. Some owe the
husband money. Others share some secret
with him. Others expect some favours
in the future. You scratch my back I
scratch yours. There is no way a sitting
President can see the side of the
story of another vying for power - albeit
from his friend/neighbour. Each
person in the troika has their own personal
and national interests to
protect. Their concerns for Zimbabwe and its
citizens are secondary. The
sooner we realise that, the better off we will
be.
An abused woman also misplaces her faith in these brokers. She
expects
them to deliver her from this bad situation. "Dai mandibatsirawo", -
help me
please, she pleads. She even begins to assume they like her. "Mai
vacho
vanozondida. Kana vari sekuru vacho, ah ungati ihama yangu. They will
fight
for me. He has to listen to them," she boasts feebly. She is always the
last
to know about the secret deals between her husband and his
relatives.
Finally, the woman realises no-one but herself will ever
save her. She
has to make up her mind to stay or get out. She has to work
through her
fears-real or otherwise, and find the courage to say zvakwana. No
matter how
well meaning, friends, neighbours, or relatives will not do it for
her.
Mbeki, Obasanjo and Muluzi can only hear from us what we want
as
Zimbabweans. They cannot save us from Mugabe. We should tell them that.
We
must liberate ourselves.
Zim Standard
Morgan Tsvangirai: Can he lead Zimbabwe?
Chido Makunike on Sunday
RECENTLY I have sought out leading
politicians to probe them in depth
on issues touching on Zimbabwe's
challenges. Being a critic of the
establishment, perhaps it is not surprising
that my overtures to ruling
party officials have been rebuffed so far, but I
still hope to overcome this
resistance.
I approached MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, someone I have also
criticised more than I have praised.
He readily agreed and I met him on May
23. I sought to get a general measure
of the man rather than ask about
specific events.
Why is so
little known about his family?
"We have fairly young children, and
want them to have as normal an
upbringing as possible. We don't want them to
become the objects of
attention."
How are they coping with his
treason trial?
"They are concerned about the gravity and the
possible outcome, but I
have a strong team of lawyers, and have confidence
the truth will prevail."
Surely it was naïve to trust the strangers
who turned him in to the
authorities?
"We were too trustful, but
it is unfair to call us naive. They had a
different agenda to ours, there was
no malice in our meeting them."
* The MDC claims to have approached
the Canadian consultants merely
for political consultancy, rather than to
hire them to assassinate President
Mugabe as charged.
Are you
bitter about it all?
"It has changed me a lot. I am more
suspicious, now people have to
earn my trust."
Does he sometime
"switch off" from all the pressures ?
"I am on call 24 hours a day,
but manage my time very strictly. I have
very competent lieutenants and
staff, and delegate a lot of duties to them."
Have whites taken a
lower profile because of accusations that the
party was a front for their
interests? A now famous picture of white farmers
with open cheque books
surrounding you was used to portray the MDC as
wanting to "give Zimbabwe back
to the whites." Why would whites who had been
generally apolitical after
independence so eagerly support the party unless
it was because they thought
you would serve their interests by forestalling
land reform?
I
went to Mhangura to address mine workers, "and those farmers were
just a
handful of people in a crowd of 10 000. No one believes I am under
the
control of whites, otherwise the MDC would have been long gone by now.
If
they are taking a back seat, it is merely because they have never been
the
dominant force in the party. We stand by the principles of
non-tribalism,
non-racialism and non-sexism, so it is natural that whites
find the MDC their
political home after their bashing at the hands of Zanu
PF."
*
His formal schooling is limited, and his double-crossing by Ari
Ben-Menashe,
reputed Canadian fraudster, made many question how much he is
street
smart.
Is Tsvangirai rather slow, lacking in intellectual
depth?
"If you want intellectuals go to the university! I am very
confident
of my leadership role, and feel no inferiority complex to
anyone."
His view of the recent visit of three African presidents
to try and
break the impasse between Zanu PF and the MDC?
"There
was no breakthrough, but their visit was significant. It became
obvious that
the crisis is one of governance, not Zimbabwe/Britain
differences. The
insistence on no preconditions for dialogue was another
milestone. The final
sticking point was the issue of recognising Mugabe as
the rightful
president."
* Tsvangirai has not conceded this point, and his
challenge of
Mugabe's win of last year's election drags on through the
courts.
It has been said that Africa is lukewarm to the MDC partly
because it
cozied up to the West more. He denies the charge, giving an
example of five
West African heads of state he visited before his passport
was seized as a
condition of bail. In the region, he admits, "it was an
uphill struggle to
be accepted by the liberation-era governments, but we
finally succeeded."
They re-evaluated their stance and MDC
delegations to several
countries in the region have been received by their
governments."
* His Zanu PF detractors nickname him "Tsvangson,"
alleging he is
merely a tool of the West, rather than a home grown opposition
leader. He
defended himself.
"My background in the labour and
constitutional movements should tell
you I am no one's lackey. No one has a
monopoly on patriotism. I will not
discharge my responsibilities by betraying
my national interests. Zimbabwe
needs to find its own niche in the world.
Britain, the US and other powers
are not necessarily philanthropists, but we
will seek mutually beneficial
partnerships with them."
Who
bankrolls the MDC?
"We are largely funded by the State in
proportion to our
representation in parliament, just like Zanu PF. We receive
voluntary
contributions nationally and before the Political Finance Act
banned foreign
funding, we received a small amount of external support," he
said.
"It is best for all political funding to be local, but our
reality is
that it needs to be supplemented, which is why Zanu PF received
large
amounts of external support before the Act. If not adequately
funded,
democracy is endangered, but foreign money can result in undue
external
influence on a country's politics."
The behaviour of
some leading members of the MDC, ranging from
childish to criminal, has
called in to question their ability to govern.
Tsvangirai
responds:"We are a young party, and what we lack in
experience is compensated
for by our capacity. Our ability to govern must be
measured against the
ability of Zanu PF to misgovern. We control five big
cities and our mayors
have outperformed their Zanu PF predecessors, even
under difficult
conditions. We chair five committees of parliament, and are
more experienced
and better prepared to govern than Zanu PF was in 1980.
Some of its
legislators wore shorts to Parliament because they were not
aware there was a
dress code!"
So what, when that body has been made almost
useless?
"It is true that Parliament has been undermined, with it
sitting as
rarely as possible, but the MDC's entry has introduced a new
political
culture. It is now a lively platform for debate."
On
whether the black middle class generally shuns the MDC, Tsvangirai
replied,
"They do support us in private, but some have benefited from Zanu
PF
patronage, such as wealth from speculation based on privileged access
to
fuel, foreign currency and so on. Their assets are not performing in
this
environment, and are actually draining their resources. But we also now
have
a core of good entrepreneurs who have not relied on patronage
and
speculation to be where they are."
Should you assume power,
where would you start to unravel the mess?
He replied, "We would
reestablish the rule of law. You need peace and
security before you can
revive the economy, an urgent task no longer
amenable to orthodox methods.
"
"It would be critical to revive the agricultural sector, which
does
not necessarily mean going back to the status quo of a few years
ago.
Is Tsvangirai a president in waiting, or just the latest in a
string
of opposition leaders to be outwitted by Robert Mugabe and fade in
to
political oblivion?
As the economic crisis worsens,
confrontation with the government
escalates and his treason trial proceeds,
the next several months will be
critical in determining Morgan Tsvangirai's
future.
Chidomakunike@yahoo.com
Zim Standard
Confront the real issues Mr Mugabe
... The real threat to your power base Mr President is not Tsvangirai
but the
people of Zimbabwe. WHAT will probably be remembered as the most
memorable
self-fulfilling statement by President Mugabe occurred on Friday
the 6th of
June 2003.
Addressing a rally at Mamina in Mhondoro, Mashonaland
WestProvince,
President Mugabe said of Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC): "Those whom the gods wish to destroy,
they first
make mad."
How prophetic! President Mugabe and the
ruling Zanu PF party must
grasp one quite simple fact: It is not Morgan
Tsvangirai who is a threat to
your power base but the people of Zimbabwe. To
attempt to blame Tsvangirai
and the MDC is to completely miss the point of
the mass protests.
Provide an environment in which people are not
idling in fuel and food
queues endlessly doing nothing and Tsvangirai will
have no leg to stand on.
Generate employment and make basic commodities
available at affordable
prices and the talk of marches and protests will
vanish into thin air
overnight. Put a stop to tyranny and the abuse of human
rights and more
power will be given unto you by the people.
As
long as the country's economy remains in intensive care, your own
position
will remain vulnerable. This is the crux of the matter. You can
delude
yourself by dismissing the protests as a flop but is this the real
issue? The
real issue, Mr President, is that the people of Zimbabwe are
completely
dissatisfied and disillusioned with the state of affairs in the
country.
Tsvangirai has won the hearts and minds of the Zimbabweans because
of this
dissatisfaction and disillusionment - pure and simple. The MDC
leader has
only to blow the whistle and the whole country shuts down - even
though you
choose to shut your eyes to this reality.
For how long can the
ruling party continue to control the population
of this country by massive
use of brute force? It is foolhardy to think that
you can subdue the people's
will indefinitely by military means alone. It is
a serious error of judgement
to think that all the people who participated
in the stayaway were
necessarily members of the MDC.The truth is that these
were ordinary
Zimbabweans fed up with the situation in the country.
President
Mugabe and the ruling party must neither underrate the mood
of the people nor
their power to change things. As long as Zimbabweans
continue to suffer the
way they are doing, the challenge and threat to the
President's power base
remains. And it will be arrogant and naive in the
extreme for the government
and its media to gloat that they have scored an
immense propaganda victory
over Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC.
Last week's mass stayaway was
not just mass action for the hell of it.
The main goal was to express
people's anger about the current political and
economic crisis. Nobody
benefited from those events. The government must
certainly realise that it
gobbled up more resources that it could ill
afford. And much more has been
lost because people are no longer productive
in the whole
country.
We report elsewhere of the folly of sending thousands of
soldiers and
police officers onto the streets to crush protests by your own
people, that
has already cost Zimbabweans more than $2 billion this week
alone. Who can
afford such unnecessary costs? Not Zimbabwe, not yourself, Mr
President.
It is this kind of unbudgeted for and unnecessary
expenditure that
result in Zimbabwe getting expelled from international
organisations such as
the IMF, as we also report.
Zimbabwe needs
a political solution today, not tomorrow.
It matters little how
many times Tsvangirai is arrested on fresh
charges of treason but the
problems will not go away. The sooner Zanu PF
grasps this simple point, the
better for us all. A way has, therefore, to be
found out of this current
impasse.
Zanu PF has its back on the wall right now and with the
army and the
police backing them to the hilt, their back can only remain on
the wall for
some time-but at great cost to the country. Tsvangirai and MDC
do not have
much to lose by holding out but again it will be the country that
will
increasingly be damaged in the process.
So what is to be
done? The two leaders have to swallow their pride in
the interest of
Zimbabwe. More so President Mugabe because there can be no
doubt that most
Zimbabweans want him to quit. It is important for Zanu PF to
adapt and
reinvent itself from time to time as all living things do.
The
President has little children. What kind of future are you leaving
them? Are
you that callous, cruel and reckless that you no longer care about
the future
of your children and other Zimbabwean people's children? Are we
asking too
much of you to do something about your unharnessed ego of a small
child, your
craze for attention and reverence?
Deriding Tsvangirai is not the
way to create an environment conducive
to dialoguing with your opponents.
Mwana wani iyeye hardly creates an
atmosphere in which an opposition party
that commands a huge following can
be accommodated.
Acknowledge
Mr Mugabe that there can be no real political solution to
our crisis without
the participation of the MDC-whether you like it or not.
To a Zimbabwe
labouring under a near-collapse of the economy, Tsvangirai has
brought a
dynamic new energy and focus. And you have to recognise this fact
whether you
like it or not.
To Tsvangirai, a point has to be driven home that
Yes, the Zimbabwean
people are with you but if you do not transcend the
current impasse, very
soon there will be no government or country to talk
about. People know that
far from contributing to the destruction of the
country, you are passionate
about lifting the country out of its present
predicament.
Political leaders must get away from the notion that
gaining office is
the sole and exclusive purpose of politics. For office,
however sweet and
agreeable to those who hold it, pales into insignificance
when it comes to
the interest of Zimbabwe. As part of our role as moral
counsellor, we feel
as a paper that it is our duty to point the way forward
for our country.
This deadlock is not helping anyone. It has to be
broken.
President Mugabe restored hope and public confidence to
Zimbabwe in
1980. You can do it again in 2003. It does not add any value to
try "to
teach Morgan Tsvangirai a lesson" as you have been saying these past
two
days. You will merely be pushing hard a door which is already open.
Rise
above your pet projects you two.
Great men can and do cause
great events to happen. We expect our
leaders to do precisely that.
Zim Standard
Of mass action and massacres
overthetop By
Brian Latham
The leader of a troubled central African nation, the
most equal of all
comrades, has said it's regrettable he has to shoot tear
gas at his own
youths in the interest of peace and stability.
The statement comes just months after the most equal of all comrades
said
flattering things about a certain German who used an even more robust
form of
gas against people he didn't like.
The statement came while the
troubled central African regime was
experiencing its longest ever national
strike as millions of people almost
rose up in defiance of the most equal of
all comrades.
The strike saw cities across the nation paralysed as
suspiciously
youthful cops loitered on city streets by day. And by night,
suspiciously
youthful men dressed like cops and soldiers rampaged through
townships,
committing countless acts of GBH against the More Drink Coming
party.
Victims of violence flooded hospitals in cities across the
country.
But despite the walking wounded -and worse-the government
of the
troubled central African dictatorship denied any wrong-doing. The most
equal
of all comrades dismissed the tear gas as necessary because the victims
had
been "misled."
Not being satisfied with causing terror and
mayhem in the capital's
troubled townships, victims of violence were
re-visited in hospital, said
the More Drink Coming Party. "It seems they
weren't traumatised enough first
time round to satisfy Zany loyalists," said
an unnamed spokesman who can't
be named because he doesn't really want a
third visit from club wielding
thugs.
Still, the tear gassed
youths from the More Drink Coming Party
(formerly they More Diesel Coming
Party, but everyone knows that's not going
to happen) were quick to
disassociate themselves from the most equal of all
comrades. "We most
certainly are not his youths," said one young man,
speaking in a muffled
voice through several layers of bandages. "His youths
wear green or blue
uniforms and are easily distinguishable from us because
of their well-fed
appearance and the heavy armour they carry."
Meanwhile the Zany
Party did its best to pretend there was no protest
by describing it as "a
flop" and claiming it was business as usual.
The claim was made in
the face of empty streets and closed doors to
shops, banks and
supermarkets.
Growing increasingly frantic, the Zany Party
threatened to confiscate
licenses from businesses, forgetting for the moment
that few businesses
require licenses. Those that do get them from municipal
councils which are
almost exclusively dominated in cities by the More Drink
Coming Party, which
said it had no plans to remove licenses from anyone just
yet.
But one troubled businessman told Over The Top that although
he did
not need a license, he was worried because he'd heard "from a
reliable
source" that the Zany Party intended to confiscate all
businesses-especially
white-owned businesses-almost immediately after the
mass action ended.
OTT tried to reassure him by explaining that
even if the Zany Party
did attempt such a mad move, the confiscation of his
business was likely to
be a temporary one because the Zany Party was frankly
bankrupt of
everything, including time.
Sadly the troubled
businessman wasn't satisfied with this explanation
and said he was
considering emigrating to somewhere more stable, like the
DRC, Angola, Bosnia
or Chechnya.
While the week of terror and mayhem, fear and loathing
left the
troubled central African country bewildered and licking its wounds,
the 60
odd percent of its people who live in urban areas asked what comes
next?
While they said they were firm in their support of the More
Drink
Coming Party, they rather hoped the More Drink Coming Party might be
a
little more organised next time it organised a final push. They said
there
simply isn't room in the city's hospitals to accommodate all the
victims of
too many more final pushes.