International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished:
March 16, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwean government is
screening foreign journalists
before letting them into the country before
this month's elections, amid
suspicion that some may be spying for hostile
Western nations, the official
media reported Sunday.
At least 300
foreign journalists have applied for accreditation under
Zimbabwe's sweeping
media laws, the state Sunday Mail said.
Priority is being given to
journalists from Africa and other developing
nations that are sending
election monitors, it said.
Zimbabwe's government has barred Western
observers from monitoring the March
29 vote. Western media organizations,
including The Associated Press, have
received no word on accreditation
requests submitted weeks ago.
"We have a team drawn from (the ministries)
of information, foreign affairs
and the security arms that are examining
each and every application,"
government spokesman George Charamba told the
paper, a government
mouthpiece.
"We are mindful of attempts to turn
journalists into observers and security
personnel from hostile countries,"
he said. "Those will be flushed out."
Critics have accused Zimbabwe of trying
to keep out Western reporters by
delaying them from making travel bookings
and other planning arrangements.
Leading hotels have said provisional
bookings by some media organizations
have been canceled on Foreign Ministry
orders, saying rooms were needed for
invited observers from Africa and
mainly developing countries regarded as
friendly toward
Zimbabwe.
Local independent monitoring groups say election preparations
have been
chaotic with chronic shortages of gasoline, food and other basic
goods amid
the nation's economic meltdown. Official inflation is by far the
highest in
the world at 100,500 percent.
For the first time,
Zimbabweans will vote in presidential, parliament and
local council
elections on a single day at about 11,000 polling stations
countrywide - up
from 4,000 polling stations in the last parliament vote in
2005.
The
Zimbabwean government spokesman told the state newspaper that main
Western
media organizations wanted to send their senior correspondents from
Iraq and
Kenya, where 1,500 people died recent post election unrest.
"It is as if
Zimbabwe is a war about to start," Charamba was quoted as
saying. "There is
an expectation of blood in the streets, which explains the
deployment of war
correspondents and cameramen. It's a way to psyche the
world against the
results to justify the continuation of sanctions."
Charamba also alleged
there was "a strange alliance" between competing
Western media networks over
Zimbabwe.
"What this suggests is a shared objective. The story from
Zimbabwe has to be
uniformly echoed for propaganda purposes," he
said.
Zimbabwe has barred official observer delegations from its former
colonial
ruler Britain, as well as from the European Union and the United
States,
saying they backed the opposition and so would automatically declare
any
victory for President Robert Mugabe's faction to not be free or
fair.
Elections in 2002 and 2005 won by Mugabe's ruling party were marred
by
administrative chaos, allegations of vote rigging, irregularities in
voters'
lists and charges that violence and political intimidation
influenced
voting.
On March 29, Mugabe, 84, is facing his biggest
electoral challenge since the
country's 1980 independence, as his party is
being challenged by groups led
by former finance minister and ruling party
loyalist Simba Makoni, 57, and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
55.
Makoni draws his support from ruling party rebels and disillusioned
supporters of the fractured opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
mostly in urban areas.
Mugabe blames the economic crisis on sanctions
imposed by Britain and its
Western allies to protest violations of human and
democratic rights and the
often violent seizures of thousands of white owned
farms that disrupted
agricultural production in the former regional
breadbasket since 2000.
IOL
March 16 2008 at 10:56AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare -
Like his hero President Robert Mugabe, the rebel Anglican
Bishop of Harare,
Nolbert Kunonga, is clinging desperately to power despite
his church's
effort to get rid of him.
Kunonga was sacked by his superiors of
the Central African Anglican
church last month but refused to leave. He is
now living in the old stone
Anglican Cathedral in central Harare to make
sure the church authorities do
not occupy it. Parishioners of the legitimate
church have to worship in the
gardens.
Kunonga's official
replacement, Bishop Sebastian Bakare, says that, by
living in the church,
Kunonga has defiled it and it will have to be
reconsecrated when - or
perhaps that should be if - Kunonga is ever
evicted.
Kunonga, 58, a fanatical supporter
of Mugabe, has closed the cathedral
to the majority of Anglican worshippers
who don't support him. He has
threatened to kill opponents and was put on
trial by the church for breaking
its canons. The ruling Zanu-PF rewarded him
for his loyalty with one of
Zimbabwe's prime white-owned farms at Nyabira,
about 30km north of Harare.
Last year, Kunonga withdrew from the
Anglican province of Central
Africa to set up his own province in Zimbabwe,
ostensibly in a row about
homosexuality.
But his critics claim
he was really just preserving his own position.
The mother church fired him
last month. He has been steadily abandoned by
all the parishes in Zimbabwe
and now serves a community of only a few dozen
worshippers who fill a few
pews in the cathedral on Sunday mornings.
"We will not use the
cathedral for services again until we have
reconsecrated or sanctified it
from the act of sacrilege done by Kunonga in
that place," said Bishop
Bakare, who was brought out of retirement from
eastern Zimbabwe to take over
the cathedral parish temporarily.
Kunonga keeps the cathedral
locked 24 hours a day except during two
early Sunday services conducted by
priests he recently ordained.
He has fought to remain in his post
since he took office seven years
ago through an election that most
parishioners believe was rigged.
His overtly pro-Mugabe sermons and
allegedly violent conduct
eventually led to an ecclesiastical trial in
Harare two years ago where he
was charged with conspiracy to murder 10
parishioners and a priest who fled
to London.
The trial was
mysteriously abandoned before evidence was led.
Kunonga first made
headlines when he stripped the cathedral of
artefacts and memorials which
made even oblique references to white
Anglicans in Zimbabwe.
He
also removed all brass plaques off benches in the cloisters which
marked the
sacrifice of Rhodesian soldiers who died in the two world wars.
Kunonga is so determined to hold on to the cathedral that he has
rented out
the official Anglican bishop's residence in Chisipite, a top
suburb north of
Harare, and has moved into the cathedral.
Last Sunday, the smell of
cooking drifted through the cloisters and
laundry piled into baskets was
stacked in the nearby passage.
Bakare said: "We shall pray for a
new beginning and look around at
what was defaced, and at the cloisters, and
get information about whether
there is a corner where those things [plaques
and memorials] were buried. We
want to restore the cathedral to its former
dignity and its former glory."
Kunonga is also holding on to all
the cathedral's assets, a 10-storey
office block, Pax House, mostly rented
out to parastatals, and a large hall
alongside the church which is rented
out several times a week for cash, for
weddings and parties.
All of Zimbabwe's Anglican wardens and priests gathered at St
Michael's
Church in the high-density Mbare suburb of Harare two weeks ago to
welcome
the last parish, from Lake Kariba, to leave Kunonga and join Bishop
Bakare's
fold.
In terms of a recent High Court order, all the cathedral's
bank
accounts were frozen and Kunonga was told he must share the church for
Sunday services with Bishop Bakare. But Kunonga has defied the court order
and so Bishop Bakare's congregation worships on the lawn alongside the
church.
Two parishioners from the cathedral are on bail from
the Harare
Magistrate's Court, charged with public violence, after a clash
between
congregants loyal to Kunonga and Bishop Bakare.
"Kunonga's act has disgraced us all. It has been a scandal committed
not by
outsiders, but by people in the church, by people who we once thought
were
part of the Catholic tradition," Bishop Bakare said.
A parishioner
renting an Anglican house in Harare said: "I pay my rent
into a bank account
which is frozen for withdrawals. I could never give
Kunonga
cash.
"I am born and bred in that cathedral," he said. "Will we
ever be free
of Kunonga to worship in our own church?"
Last
week Kunonga was quoted in the state-controlled daily The Herald
supporting
Mugabe's bid for five more years in power.
"As the church, we see
the president with different eyes. To us, he is
a prophet of God who was
sent to deliver the people of Zimbabwe from
bondage.
"God
raised him to acquire our land and distribute it to Zimbabweans,
we call it
democracy of the stomach. There is no government without soil. As
the
church, we are totally against sanctions for they are destroying our
country," he said.
The telephones in Kunonga's office at the
cathedral went unanswered
last week. - Foreign Service
This
article was originally published on page 6 of Sunday Independent
on March
16, 2008
News24
16/03/2008 11:52 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - A dossier has been submitted to the National
Prosecuting
Authority's Priority Crimes Unit by the Southern Africa
Litigation Centre
(SALC) urging the unit to initiate investigations with a
view to prosecuting
senior Zimbabwean police and other officials responsible
for crimes against
humanity.
Said SALC Director Nicole Fritz on
Sunday: "The intention behind the
initiative is both to ensure some form of
accountability for the people of
Zimbabwe at a time when their own justice
system has all but collapsed and
also to secure South Africa's interest
against becoming a 'safe haven' for
perpetrators of the most egregious
international crimes."
South Africa's implementation of the Rome Statute
of the International
Criminal Court Act, No 27 of 2002, permits prosecutions
for crimes against
humanity of those who are not South African nationals or
have not committed
such crimes on SA's territory if such a person after the
commission of the
crime, is present in South Africa.
Several of the
perpetrators named in the dossier travelled to South Africa
on official
business, in some instances for co-operative endeavours such as
the South
Africa/Zimbabwe Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and
Security.
Moreover, given Zimbabwe's economic collapse, many of those
named travelled
to South Africa to obtain desired commodities and services,
including
healthcare, Fritz said.
The Independent, UK
Gordon Brown has strongly
criticised Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, but
now ministers are seeking
to expel 1,000 desperate people back to Harare on
the grounds that there is
'no general risk' to them. Emily Dugan and Robert
Verkaik
investigate
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Ministers are preparing
to expel hundreds of failed asylum-seekers back to
the brutal regime of
Robert Mugabe, seriously undermining Gordon Brown's
publicly declared tough
stance on Zimbabwe.
The Government has started a mass removal programme
that could affect more
than 1,000 Zimbabweans who have enjoyed protection in
the UK under a
moratorium on deportations.
Letters sent by the Home
Office to failed asylum-seekers last week inform
the recipients that they
are at "no general risk" in Zimbabwe and encourage
them to leave the UK
voluntarily.
One of the letters, seen by The Independent on Sunday, says:
"Your claim for
asylum has been refused... I am now writing to make sure
that you know that
the Border & Immigration Agency [BIA] is expecting
shortly to be able to
enforce returns to Zimbabwe. The Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal [AIT] has
now found that there is no general risk on
return for failed
asylum-seekers."
It adds: "You have exhausted your
rights of appeal and have no other basis
of stay in the UK. You should now
make plans to return home."
Groups advising asylum-seekers in the UK said
the change of policy follows
an immigration appeals court ruling in 2006
that paved the way for mass
deportations.
The first phase of the new
asylum removal drive will target 500 failed
asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe
living in the north-west of England. In all,
more than 1,000 people are
likely to be affected in the near future, out of
some 7,000 Zimbabwean
asylum-seekers in the UK.
News of the letter could prove embarrassing for
the Prime Minister, who has
made political capital out of a possible
Zimbabwe cricket tour ban and
refused to sit next to Mr Mugabe at an
international summit. Gordon Brown
now faces accusations of hypocrisy over
his dealings with the African state.
In his first speech as leader to the
Labour conference last year, Mr Brown
promised to stand up for those
suffering persecution in Zimbabwe. He made
direct reference to Mugabe's
regime, saying: "The message should go out to
anyone facing persecution
anywhere from Burma to Zimbabwe: human rights are
universal and no injustice
can last for ever."
Last night Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem home affairs
spokesman, said the
deportations could not be justified: "With elections due
to be held on 29
March, the timing could not be worse. Unfortunately the
situation in
Zimbabwe has if anything deteriorated. There is no
justification for
returning Zimbabweans into the hands of the Mugabe regime.
It is typical but
depressing that Gordon Brown can seek to gain the moral
high ground by
refusing to attend a summit with Mugabe, while his own Home
Secretary seems
desperate to deport Zimbabweans at the earliest
opportunity."
Kate Hoey MP, Labour chair of the All-Party Parliamentary
Group on Zimbabwe,
said it would be "ridiculous" if the Home Office tried to
force mass returns
of asylum-seekers. "The situation in Zimbabwe is worse
than ever, and to
send people back in a blanket way like this is not
something that anyone
with an understanding of the country would
support."
Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington,
said: "I do
not believe it is safe to return asylum-seekers to Zimbabwe. The
country is
considered by many, including Amnesty, to still be in political
turmoil.
Opposition to Mugabe's regime is still prohibited and political
opponents
vulnerable to excessive police force. I condemn the Home Office's
habit of
sending people back to unsafe countries just to look
tough."
Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "We do
not think
it is morally acceptable for the Government to force people to
return to
Zimbabwe. There has been no improvement in the human rights
situation there,
which remains dire.
"We know most Zimbabweans want
to return when it is safe and to contribute
to rebuilding their country. We
should be offering them a form of temporary
status here allowing them to
work and retain their skills so they're fully
equipped when the situation
has improved."
Beatrice Masina, 26, one of the 500 Zimbabweans who
received a Home Office
letter last week, faces being sent back - along with
her seven-month-old
baby, Leeroy - to people she said have already attacked
her previously in
Zimbabwe.
A supporter of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), she
distributed T-shirts and leaflets at party
rallies. Early one morning in May
2003, a gang of 10 Zanu-PF militia
kidnapped her. The men, armed with
machetes and clubs, took her to a secret
location, raped and then beat her.
A day later, they dumped her by the
road.
She sought protection at her uncle's house but soon began to get
threatening
letters. "The letters said they knew where I was, and that they
would come
and get me," said Ms Masina. It was then that she decided to
flee, arriving
in the UK in September 2003.
"If [Zanu-PF] know I'm
back they might attack me again, and I might be
killed," she said. "I'm
scared my baby would not survive the persecution.
They [the Home Office] are
being very unfair. I don't think they're looking
at the dangers I'll face.
They just want to send people back regardless. If
anything happens to me,
they'll have my blood on their hands."
Patson Muzuwa, chair of the
Zimbabwe Association, said it had called an
emergency meeting with
solicitors to look at ways of fighting this change in
policy. He said: "How
come the Foreign and Commonwealth Office says Zimbabwe
is bad on human
rights, yet the Home Office wants to send people back?
"There doesn't
appear to be a link between the departments; the Home Office
just wants to
boast about how many people they've deported. There are
continuous human
rights abuses in Zimbabwe, and this seems to be deliberate
timing by the
Home Office ahead of the elections."
David Banks, co-ordinator of the
parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, said:
"It's baffling; the BIA doesn't seem
to put what it is doing into any
context of developments in the country from
where the asylum-seekers have
come. I think these letters highlight the
astonishing insensitivity of the
Home Office. Most of their people have no
understanding of the sense of fear
and threat that people in this country
live under."
A spokesman for the BIA said last night: "The Home Office
had agreed at a
High Court hearing on 26 September 2006 to defer the
enforced removal of
failed asylum-seekers to Zimbabwe pending the outcome of
the country
guidance litigation. This position will be maintained until any
application
for permission to appeal the AIT's determination is dealt with.
We expect to
be in a position to resume enforced returns of failed
asylum-seekers to
Zimbabwe very shortly."
He added: "We will continue
to do everything we can to ensure a better
future for Zimbabweans: a
democratic and accountable government, respect for
human rights and the rule
of law, and policies that ensure economic
stability and development, not
humanitarian misery. However, not every
Zimbabwean in the UK qualifies for
asylum and we believe it is vital that we
continue to operate a fair and
robust system, enforcing the removal of those
not entitled to be in the
country who refuse to leave voluntarily."
A family at risk: 'If I go back
to Zimbabwe, they'll kill me'
When Rose Moyo (a pseudonym) fled Zimbabwe
in 2002 she thought she had
secured a safe future. But now a letter from the
Home Office has shattered
the 35-year-old's dream of life away from Mugabe's
militia.
Rose worked as a farm manager with her husband just outside
Bulawayo when
gangs of men from Zanu-PF began targeting them. The couple
were well known
for being MDC members, and visits became more
frequent.
After the most violent of these attacks in October 2001, when
the militia
began whipping MDC activists, her husband disappeared. Rose has
not heard
from him since and fears he is dead. A month later the men came
back again:
this time they raped and beat her. "That was the worst day of my
life," she
said. "And I will never be able to forget it."
After more
death threats, she decided the only option left was to flee, and
her two
children were forced to stay behind with her mother-in-law. But last
year
her mother-in-law also went missing and is believed dead.
Relatives
managed to get her two children, Lucia, 11, and Blessings, nine,
on a flight
to the UK at Christmas, and for the first time in six years the
family is
reunited in safety. But now her dream of them living in peace is
destroyed.
Choking back tears, Rose said: "When I got the letter I
couldn't believe it.
If I go back to Zimbabwe they'll kill me. The Home
Office is just being
cruel. Instead of helping people like me they are
making our lives harder.
"If the Government doesn't believe what I'm
saying they should go there and
see for themselves how bad it
is."
Emily Dugan
Financial Times
By Alec Russell
in Masvingo
Published: March 16 2008 18:13 | Last updated: March 16 2008
18:13
In the darkened provincial hall, the audience of 40-50 Zimbabweans
could
hardly see the man on the stage who was claiming to have come to
liberate
them from President Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule.
Moments
before he was due to speak, one of Zimbabwe’s rolling power cuts had
hit the
region. Nervous spectators speculated it had been timed to undermine
the
appearance of the speaker, Simba Makoni, a former finance minister and
one-time stalwart of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
But as he finished
his introductory denunciation of his former boss they
threw caution aside
and peppered him with questions.
“Businessmen cannot buy goods from
wholesalers without giving a kickback,”
said the first to his feet, a
haggard man in a tatty safari suit. “To drive
I have to bribe a policeman.
To get water I have to bribe someone from the
city council. Such is the
state of corruption in our country. Once in power
how will you remove
this?”
“Foreign investors are afraid of investing in this country,” said
a second.
“If you are elected, how will you attract foreign business? How do
you
envisage engaging international countries so we become again part of the
global village?”
The questions might seem run-of-the-mill given the
parlous situation of
Zimbabwe after 28 years of Mr Mugabe’s rule: inflation
exceeds 100,000 per
cent; headteachers earn the equivalent of US$18 (€11.70,
£8.90) a month and
supermarkets lack all but the most basic
goods.
But this was not a forum for Zimbabwean exiles in London or
Johannesburg,
strongholds of the several million estimated to have fled
deteriorating
conditions in their homeland. This was the central town of
Masvingo,
traditionally a bastion of Mugabe support, and most of the
audience until
recently regarded themselves as Zanu-PF
supporters.
“I’m coming to say let’s join together, let’s get Zimbabwe
working again,”
Mr Makoni told them to shouts of Simba, which in the
language of the
majority Shona tribe means power. “People in rural areas
still have the idea
that there is a hidden camera in the ballot box. Those
of you who live in
towns, go home and tell your rural relations they are
free to vote.”
As Mr Mugabe, 84, seeks another presidential term at
elections on March 29,
his record is under open attack as never
before.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the veteran leader of the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change, is touring the country addressing fervent rallies,
calling for a clear-out of Zanu-PF.
While Mr Makoni’s campaign has
less overt support than the MDC leader’s, his
defection has clearly shaken
Mr Mugabe’s inner circle.
Few senior party officials have publicly
endorsed Mr Makoni, but his aides
insist that privately he has the backing
of many more, who will direct their
constituents on polling day to vote
against the president and also try to
block skulduggery.
Outwardly
undaunted, Mr Mugabe is flying across the country by helicopter
addressing
rallies of bussed-in supporters, painting his rivals as stooges
of the west,
in particular Britain, the old colonial power. They want to
return Zimbabwe
to the control of whites, he maintains. Only he is truly
interested in
“empowering” black Zimbabweans.
Such nationalist rhetoric appears to have
lost much of its old resonance. Mr
Mugabe himself admitted for the first
time the other day that the country
faced an economic crisis. ”Even the
elderly people [traditionally his
staunchest supporters] have lost hope and
want him to go,” said a
head-teacher in Masvingo province. ”I am fed up.
Either Simba or Morgan
would be better.”
And yet as Mr Tsvangirai,
head of the larger of the MDC’s two factions,
knows all too well, it is not
easy to defeat the incumbent who has all the
powers of the state at his
disposal to ensure victory.
Since the MDC’s formation eight years ago,
the party has lost three
elections widely condemned by independent observers
as deeply flawed. While
there have been far fewer reports of state-sponsored
violence against
opposition supporters than in the last three campaigns, the
election remains
skewed in the president’s favour.
The national
police chief made his feelings clear on Friday when he
denounced Mr Mugabe’s
rivals as western “puppets”. State television and
radio, by far the most
influential media, are little more than mouthpieces
for Mr Mugabe. NGOs
monitoring the elections suspect that as many as 20 per
cent of the names on
the voters’ roll are of dead and absentee people who
will “vote” for
Zanu-PF. Diplomats highlight a shortfall of voting stations
in areas where
Mr Mugabe is least popular.
Recent constitutional changes negotiated in
mediation talks hosted by South
Africa are dismissed by many analysts as
perfunctory. The changes were “much
too late”, said Brian Penduka, from the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum.
The opposition candidates are pinning their
hopes on a run-off. In theory
that happens if the winner does not get more
than 50 per cent of the vote.
Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly of
Zimbabwe, and a veteran critic of the president,
believes such hopes are
deluded.
“Mugabe is not facing a serious
threat. The electoral situation is so
defective and the ruling regime has a
grip on the process in such a way
that, despite the uncertainty felt by most
of the electorate, he will still
win.” His opponents say that at the least
there will be a run-off. They are
wrong. The regime is confident the methods
they have put in place will
ensure the result they need.”
In the
Masvingo hall, after Mr Makoni answered the first three questions, an
aide
urgently drew proceedings to a close. They had already exceeded the
30-minutes allowed for their meeting. The police could come at any time.
They dispersed into the night, hoping but not exactly expectant that an
upset was genuinely in sight.
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 16 March
Moshoeshoe Monare
Rattled by mistrust within the
inner core of the Zanu PF leadership,
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is
expected to put pressure on his own
politburo members to declare their
loyalty. The politburo - the most
powerful decision-making organ of the
party - meets on Wednesday to discuss
its senior member, Dumiso Dabengwa,
who openly defied Mugabe to support
Simba Makoni, the rival presidential
candidate. Makoni was expelled from the
politburo last month for declaring
that he would challenge Mugabe during
presidential elections on March 29.
After Dabengwa claimed that there were
more Makoni allies in the politburo,
Mugabe is expected to question members'
loyalty. Mugabe and the politburo
could face a constitutional crisis on
Wednesday if they decide to expel
Dabengwa. The constitution of Zanu PF
allows for expulsion only when a
politburo member stands as an independent
candidate or joins another party,
charges they cannot put to Dabengwa.
In fact, he still regards
himself as a full politburo member. He told the
Harare-based Quill Press
Club this week that he would attend the Wednesday
crisis meeting. But this
week Mugabe told reporters that Dabengwa had
already decided "his fate", and
accused his former cabinet minister of
betraying the liberation struggle.
Dabengwa is a tribalist who will use
Makoni to buttress his Matebeleland
support base and to resuscitate Zapu, a
rival party that later merged with
Zanu PF, according to a Mugabe ally.
Dabengwa is not the only politburo
member unsettling Mugabe's 18-year
political career as head of state.
Retired general Solomon Mujuru, Mugabe's
trusted ally who put him into power
in exile, was publicly silent on his
loyalty to the president when first
approached by Makoni. But this week
Mugabe told reporters that Mujuru had
visited him on Monday and had
distanced himself from Makoni. He added that
Mujuru had said it was
"untenable" for him to support Makoni given that his
wife, Joyce Mujuru, is
the vice-president in Zanu PF and in the
government.
However, Mujuru did not necessarily renounce his own
political standing. The
meeting lasted only a few minutes. "[Mugabe] asked
him if there was anything
else. And that was it," a reliable source said
this week. Unsettling Mugabe
further, Dabengwa told reporters on Wednesday
that more than 60 percent of
Zanu PF's central committee supported Makoni's
course. "I don't think I want
to go into mentioning names," he said. "I
don't think it would benefit
anybody if I did. But I can tell you that I
estimate a good 60 percent of
that membership was supportive, and is still
supportive, of the move that we
have taken." He told members of the Quill
Press Club that the plan to oust
Mugabe and three members of his presidium
[vice-presidents] was hatched
before last year's Zanu PF congress. He said
the move to get Makoni to
challenge Mugabe finally came when the central
committee tried to force the
congress to endorse Mugabe.
"[At]
the beginning of this year we started debating that issue among
ourselves.
Are we going to an election that we will win? First, are we
ourselves
convinced in our consciences that we can go and vote for the
incumbent
[Mugabe] as our president?" If the answer to that question was no,
he said,
how could he then work to convince others to vote for Mugabe? "No
ways, my
conscience will not allow me to do that." After Dabengwa's address
at the
Quill Press Club, more reports of fractures within Mugabe's inner
circle
emerged, with Happyton Bonyongwe, the director of the central
intelligence
agency, mentioned as supporting Makoni. However, Bonyongwe
denied this in
the state-owned Herald newspaper yesterday. "On my part
really, I have no
association whatsoever with the Makoni group and
everything being said is
rubbish," he was quoted as saying.
Mugabe's thrust on the campaign
trail this week was aimed at rubbishing
Makoni, Dabengwa, and Morgan
Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change
leader who is also a
presidential candidate. This is a sign of panic,
according to one
Harare-based independent journalist. Zanu PF has taken out
full-page
advertisements daily in the state newspapers trying to show how
Tsvangirai
preferred personal comfort while most political leaders opted for
liberation
war in the 1970s. Tsvangirai could not be reached for comment
yesterday. A
Mugabe aide said that, although they were concerned about
Tsvangirai's
campaign, they were less unnerved by "this young boy", Makoni.
"He is not a
factor at all," the aide said. While Makoni's campaign is
battling in the
rural areas and attracting a handful of supporters, for the
first time
Tsvangirai is gathering rural support and has been addressing
large rallies.
Mugabe's support has not shown a significant decline.
Early arrivals at the Vigil were
Simba Chipunza and his family (wife
Madeline Kucherera and daughter Delmar)
all the way from Liverpool. They
hitched a ride on a coach carrying
demonstrators to a 'Stop the War' rally
in Trafalgar Square! Ours was more a
'Stop the Suffering' rally with much
anxious discussion about the coming
elections.
Supporters of our partners Restoration of Human Rights in
Zimbabwe joined us
to recruit members for their campaign to empower people
in Zimbabwe to stand
up for their rights.
We were glad to be joined
by Dr Brighton Chireka, a human rights campaigner
from the early days of the
Vigil and, on his first visit, baby Mandla
Mutyambizi-Dewa with his mother
Addley. Addley's husband Julius told us
that his brother Farai Robert
Mutyambizi has been charged with high treason
after being returned to
Zimbabwe by the German authorities. He said that
Farai, an ex-soldier with
the Zimbabwean army, has been tortured while in
the hands of the Central
Intelligence Organisation. Julius is calling for a
boycott of the German
airline Lufthansa for flying him out of Germany.
On a brighter note, the
German news agency Deutsche Welle is showing more
compassion for the plight
of Zimbabweans. They spent the afternoon with us,
mainly filming Vigil
Co-ordinator Dumi Tutani who is to feature in a report
about Zimbabweans in
the diaspora. He led the singing and dancing with his
usual exuberance
helped by the excellent singing of Thandiwe Ndlovu, another
supporter from
Liverpool.
Patson Muzuwa and Luka Phiri of the Zimbabwe Association were
on hand at the
Vigil to give advice to people anxious about their asylum
status following
reports that many Zimbabweans have received letters from
the Home Office
advising them to make plans to go home.
We have put
the photographs of Vikki Farrell's big tapestry which expresses
what is
happening in Zimbabwe on our photo website (see diary of 1st March
2008).
Vikki is planning to bring it to Vigil.
After the Vigil, we had another
well-attended meeting to finalise plans for
our Mock Election on 29th
March. Good ideas were forthcoming for our media
stunts and a news release
will follow shortly.
For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
FOR
THE RECORD: 203 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
·
Saturday, 22nd March, 1pm. Easter Zimbabwe debate at Scarborough
Library.
Contact: Albert Weidemann (07917 056 093)
· Friday, 28th March, 2.30 -
8.30pm. Vigil of Prayer at Southwark
Cathedral on the eve of the elections.
Saturday, 29th March, 9.15 am.
Special Eucharist followed by a time of
prayer until 11 am. If you wish to
lead one of the prayer times on Friday
afternoon, please contact Canon
Andrew Nunn 0207 367 6727. (The Diocese of
Southwark is linked to the
Anglican dioceses of Manicaland, Matabeleland and
Central Zimbabwe.)
· Saturday, 29th March 2008, 6 am - 6 pm: Zimbabwe
Vigil's diaspora
polling station and mock ballot.
Vigil
Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against
gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Mail and Guardian
Muchena Zigomo | Johannesburg, South
Africa
16 March 2008 06:23
Zimbabwe's
main labour union on Sunday called on millions of
Zimbabweans living and
working in South Africa to go home to vote in the
country's March 29
elections, South Africa's Talk Radio 702 reported.
Zimbabweans will vote in presidential, parliamentary and
municipal elections
in two weeks, in which analysts say President Robert
Mugabe faces the
greatest challenge to his 28-year rule due to an economic
meltdown and
opposition candidates including a ruling party renegade.
"The
situation back home is unfolding, therefore I appeal to
them to cross the
Limpopo and come and cast their votes," Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) Secretary General Wellington Chibebe told Talk Radio
702.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans live and work
in South
Africa, out of a total Zimbabwean population of about
12-million.
The 84-year-old Zanu-PF leader Mugabe faces a
strong challenge
from Simba Makoni, his former finance minister who will run
as an
independent candidate, and opposition Movement for Democratc Change
(MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Working class urban
dwellers are the stronghold of the
opposition MDC, but many of these have
left the country as economic migrants
to countries including South
Africa.
Mugabe's challengers and critics accuse him of buying
votes to
win the elections.
The South African Press
Agency quoted Chibebe as saying: "The
government has doled out billions of
Zim dollars to the members of the armed
forces as unsolicited loans. This is
daylight vote-buying."
Critics say subsidised loans and farm
equipment for farmers, as
well as promises by Mugabe last week to increase
government workers'
salaries also amount to vote-buying.
Zimbabweans have suffered from the world's highest inflation --
over 100
000% a year -- which has eroded incomes in the southern African
country.
Some teachers, the bulk of state workers, are on strike and doctors
have
also threatened to strike, crippling essential services.
In
power since independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe denies
mismanaging the
economy and says it has been sabotaged by Western states as
punishment for
his land reforms which include confiscating farms from white
farmers. -
Reuters
Financial Times
By Alec
Russell in Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Published: March 16 2008 18:04 | Last
updated: March 16 2008 18:04
Simba Makoni, the former Zimbabwe finance
minister and now presidential
challenger, has said that if Robert Mugabe is
defeated in this month’s
presidential elections he can retire to his village
but will remain subject
to the “law of the land”.
“He is an elderly
man who has a special place in our history but who also
has a lot to answer
for,” Mr Makoni told the Financial Times. “There will be
no retribution, no
rancour. He will retire to his village if he wants to. He
can write his
memoirs as he once said he wanted to.”
Asked whether Mr Mugabe would
be investigated over the Matabeleland
massacres of the 1980s when security
forces killed up to 20,000 supporters
of his one-time rival liberation
leader, Joshua Nkomo, Mr Makoni said the
president would be liable to “the
law of the land”.
His ambiguous response reflects the difficulties he faces
honing his
message. A former senior official of the ruling Zanu-PF party the
57-year-old hopes to gain the support of traditional Mugabe supporters by
presenting himself as an “in-house” successor, but he also needs to tap into
public discontent at the veteran autocrat’s mismanagement of the
economy.
Only one senior member of the politburo, Dumiso Dabengwa, has
joined his
campaign, but there is widespread speculation that other Zanu-PF
powerbrokers, including General Solomon Mujuru, a former army chief, are
backing him.
Seemingly stung by the defection, Mr Mugabe has called
his challenger a
“prostitute” and mocked him as a jumped-up junior officer
from the days of
the liberation struggle.
Mr Makoni’s ties with the
Zanu-PF elite have reinforced suspicions that he
would not oversee the
reforms of the political and business regimes that are
widely deemed
necessary in the wake of the increasingly kleptocratic rule of
Mr
Mugabe.
If elected he would, he said, form a government of national unity
reflecting
the composition of parliament and so comprising members of both
Zanu-PF and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Only after
consulting his new
allies would he announce his policies to reverse
Zimbabwe’s economic
implosion.
He was outspoken about conditions in
Zimbabwe. “Today it is in a state of
fear, a nation of stress and mistrust.
My vision is of a country where you
are not partitioned into little paddocks
because you have the wrong card in
your pocket ... or because a relative
supports the wrong party.
“If people have amassed wealth crookedly then
the law will be brought to
bear on them,” he said. In spite of calling for
an end to “disorderly” and
“unfair” land reform, he indicated that land
forcibly taken from several
thousand white commercial farmers would not be
returned.
Most analysts agree his campaign has rattled the Zanu-PF
hierarchy and
foreshadows the implosion of Mr Mugabe’s authority, but many
suspect his
campaign started too late for him to surmount the president’s
huge built-in
advantages – patronage and dominance of the electoral
machinery.
Asked why more officials had not endorsed him, Mr Makoni said:
“The media
here are fond of talking about bigwigs. There are no bigger wigs
than the
people of Zimbabwe.”
Mmegi, Botswana
Friday, 14 March 2008
* TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE
First, it was Zimbabwe's
Commissioner of Police, Augustine Chihuri, who
announced late last month
that the Zimbabwe Republic Police were going to
use live ammunition on
citizens during and after elections should
Zimbabweans protest about the
conduct or results of the forthcoming
elections.
Chihuri
followed it up with receiving vehicles from dictator Robert Mugabe
and
passing the cars to selected members of the police force.
It's something
called 'bribery.' Chihuri then cancelled leave for police
officers and
recalled those who were already on leave so that these civil
servants can
campaign for Mugabe.
Then this week, Army commander General Constantine
Chiwenga threatened to
stage a coup if Mugabe lost the forthcoming elections
because, he said, the
army would not support an opposition-led
government.
"Elections are coming and the army will not support or salute
sell-outs and
agents of the West before, during and after the presidential
elections,"
Chiwenga is quoted as saying, adding that Mugabe had sacrificed
a lot for
the country and deserved support.
Obviously, the army
general has been blind for decades if he cannot see the
sacrifices the
people continue to make against his master's voodoo
economics, politics of
patronage, stolen elections, disregard for human
life, starving old men,
women and children, corruption, absence of human and
property rights and the
mysterious disappearance of political opponents.
Chiwenga has his muzzle
so deep in the feeding trough that, when questioned
about the role of the
army in protecting a democracy, he burst out, "Are you
mad? What is wrong
with the army supporting the President against the
election of
sell-outs?"
And during this verbal altercation, a woman thought to be
Jocelyn Chiwenga,
the general's wife, is reported to have grabbed the phone
and growled, "We
can come and take you, and deal with you."
But
why?
Jocelyn, the one time bar-room waitress, is no stranger to mindless
controversy. In 2002, she was quoted as having told a white Zimbabwean
farmer, whose farm she coveted, that she had not tasted white blood in
years. She has shamelessly assaulted lawyers and journalists all the while
moronically singing Mugabe's praises and that is why she has never appeared
in court to answer to her crimes.
Where else in the world would you
find an army commander openly telling the
press that he is going to stage a
coup if certain things don't happen? Only
in Zimbabwe! Because there is no
rule of law. Threats of a coup are coming
from the same people who grounded
a planeload of alleged South African coup
plotters on their way to toppling
another notorious son of Africa, Teodoro
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, of
Equatorial Guinea.
Mugabe made the South African adventurers serve prison
terms saying coups
must be discouraged on the African continent. Today, a
bootlicking general
ignorantly proclaims his intention to commit treason if
things don't go his
way. And Mugabe smiles. A coup, for whatever reason, is
a crime against the
people and the constitution. What further evidence is
needed to show that
Zimbabweans are being asked to participate in an
electoral charade whose
results are not going to be honoured
anyway?
What further evidence is needed to prove Ian Smith's proclamation
that
Mugabe and ZANU-PF are gangsters? Mugabe's government is nothing less
than
organised crime. And as if that were not enough, Zimbabweans are irked
that
the notorious do-nothing organisation called the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) has staked its presence in Zimbabwe "to monitor
the elections." And the big fish himself, Tomaz Salomao, SADC
Secretary-General, went there in person.
Why is he not saying
anything about the bad political climate in Zimbabwe?
For sometime now,
people have been harassed, refused permission to hold
rallies, bullied,
arrested and some have started to disappear. It's a
typical Robert Mugabe
electioneering practice.
"As we come and observe elections in Zimbabwe,
we do so with confidence that
the tradition of peace encapsulated in the
unquestionable political maturity
and tolerance shall, once again, guide
Zimbabweans as they go to the polls,"
Salomao said at a news conference in
Harare two days ago. How nauseating,
pathetic and insulting to Zimbabweans!
Can anyone in their right mind, let
alone Salomao and his rancid
organisation, ever talk about Zimbabwe's
"tradition of peace",
"unquestionable political maturity" and "tolerance"?
And some people say my
criticism of SADC and its leaders is unwarranted?
Does Salomao read news
reports at all? Why is he lying? He knows fully well
that the scheduled
elections in Zimbabwe are submerged in circumstances that
do not meet any of
his organisation's requirements, so what is he going to
monitor? Why is
Salomao and his SADC playing such a sickening an immoral
role in the
continued oppression of Zimbabweans?
This leads me to one conclusion:
Salomao is only in Zimbabwe so as to be the
first to congratulate and
endorse General Chiwenga's coup d'Žtat while
relaxing at Victoria Falls.
Paradzai Zimondi is a retired major and is the
Zimbabwe Prisons Service
chief. Last week, he vowed he would resign and 'go
back to defend my piece
of land' if Mugabe lost the election. He ordered his
officers to vote for
Mugabe and announced his intention to resign if the
opposition won the
elections.
"I am giving you an order to vote for the President," Zimondi
said at a
ceremony at which he was conferring new ranks on senior officers,
making one
wonder if the promotions were rewards for the votes.
Does
Salomao care?
Meanwhile, another clown, deposed Anglican Bishop Nolbert
Kunonga, Mugabe's
spiritual midget and partner in futility who was recently
thrown out of the
Anglican Church, is urging Zimbabweans to vote for
Mugabe.
Kunonga, who, like Mugabe, has lost the knack of civilised
discourse, is
refusing to give up his position as Anglican Bishop of Harare.
He went to
court using parish funds to stop parishioners from worshipping at
the famed
Anglican Cathedral in Harare. He lost and now sleeps and lives in
the church
to make sure that only those people who support dictator Mugabe
have access
to the vicary.
Any comment SADC?
Mugabe has
provided Kunonga with a band of the feared CIO agents to protect
him at the
commandeered Cathedral as he soils God's name and that of the
church and
tries to justify evil to please a murderous tyrant.
Kunonga continues 'to
rely on state security for protection and continues to
receive immunity from
arrest despite violating three court orders governing
the use of the
cathedral.' "As the church, we see the President with
different eyes," says
Kunonga. "To us he is a prophet of God who was sent to
deliver the people of
Zimbabwe from bondage."
Imagine an ordained bishop of the church using
words like 'anointed' and
'prophet' to describe a murderer. A bishop
claiming that a man with blood on
his hands is actually our Loving God's
messenger "to deliver Zimbabweans
from bondage" while it is Mugabe himself
who has wreaked bondage, deaths and
misery on the people of
Zimbabwe.
Talk about blasphemy!
Were Kunonga a Moslem, he would be
a prime candidate for the fatwa. As I try
to organise the kaleidoscope of
images in my head, confused and betrayed,
one evident and recurrent sad
observation among these political morons
appears to be their total disdain
and disregard for the people's lives and
wishes. To survive, these
bloodsuckers must keep democracy away. To keep
Zimbabwe, they have to
destroy it. To maintain their oppressive and corrupt
lives, they must stand
behind Mugabe. Have those who have been killed died
in vain? No! As
Zimbabweans, we can't undo the past but we can and must
reconsider the
future.
If history repeats itself with us, it is us who should get the
blame. When I
see the company that SADC keeps, I am afraid for our nation
and continent
but, again, 'to be alive is to be afraid because to not be
afraid is to be
dead.' And, as somebody said, I am secure in my sanity; I am
guilty only of
running away from pain.
My country is
bleeding.
*Tanonoka Joseph Whande is a Botswana-based Zimbabwean
writer.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16
March 2008 11:50
LAST Monday's meeting between President Robert
Mugabe and Retired
General Solomon Mujuru effectively ended their 30-year
close relationship,
The Standard understands.
Sources close to
Mugabe described the meeting as "frosty", saying it
lasted "just five
minutes".
They met, the sources said, at Mujuru's request. He
reportedly wanted
to distance himself from Simba Makoni's initiative, in the
same way Makoni
had distanced himself from "the project" during the meeting
he held with
Mugabe, before announcing he was after the president's
job.
Mujuru told Mugabe that he was not the architect of the Mavambo
formation. He reportedly said this was an initiative driven by Makoni, Ibbo
Mandaza, Retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi, Dumiso Dabengwa and others.
Mujuru reportedly told Mugabe he would not be involved because his
wife,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, was a senior member of the politburo and
was in
the government.
The sources said a petulant Mugabe reportedly told
Mujuru: "Okay, I
have heard you. Is that all?" ending the meeting between
two former allies.
In describing the meeting with Mujuru to the State
media Mugabe
curiously used the phrase, "that's what he (Mujuru) told me",
suggesting he
was sceptical of Mujuru's explanation.
Observers have
said what is significant about this episode is that
Mujuru has not himself
said anything while the President, in desperate need
of allies, purports to
speak for him.
It was not immediately possible to confirm with Mujuru
the outcome of
Monday's meeting as efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Calls to him
went unanswered.
But sources told The Standard
Mugabe's line of questioning indicated
he had detailed information from
security agencies on meetings that Mujuru
had allegedly attended, during
which the "Makoni project" had been
discussed.
"It was a frosty
meeting," said the sources. "Mugabe wanted to contain
the fall-out. The
meeting was hostile and put pressure on Mujuru to come out
in the
open."
According to the sources, the meeting has left Mujuru in an
untenable
position ahead of next Wednesday's politburo meeting in Harare.
But it has
also sent Zanu PF into a tailspin because Mugabe is now said to
believe that
50%-60% of his politburo members support Makoni.
Publicly, these members pretend to campaign for Mugabe but are in fact
urging voters to cast their ballots for the Zanu PF aspiring councillor, MP
and Senator but to vote for Makoni for president, The Standard
heard.
The sources said Wednesday's meeting would be significant on at
least
two grounds: whether Zanu PF has any legitimate grounds on which to
expel
Dabengwa from the party, as some party hardliners are urging the party
to
do, and the matter of the severed nexus between Mugabe and Mujuru,
clearly
rendering redundant a friendship and trust dating back to
1975.
When Mugabe arrived in Mozambique in 1975, Mujuru came to his
rescue,
persuading sceptical guerrillas to accept him, leading to Mugabe's
election
at the nine-day Chimoio congress in 1977, finally sealing his
leadership of
both the party and its armed wing, Zanla.
But that
relationship ruptured at Monday's meeting, clearly
demonstrating for the
first time in more than three decades they were now on
different
paths.
Dabengwa has not stood as an independent candidate and is not
running
for office and has therefore not, technically, breached any sections
of the
party's constitution.
"Makoni's first statement said that
the December 2007 extraordinary
congress of the ruling party was a
disappointment. So did Dabengwa," The
Standard heard. "Effectively, what
they have done is to take their fight to
the public. If the public endorse
Makoni they can bring in other forces
working under the so-called National
Authority, which Makoni has spoken of."
Dabengwa had previously denied
he was one of Makoni's supporters but a
few days later he came out in the
open at two well-attended meetings in
Bulawayo to announce he had dumped
Mugabe and joined Makoni.
"Those who are not involved do not bother to
defend themselves," said
the sources. "[But] those who are strenuous in
their denials end up
confirming."
Observers have said what is
significant about this episode is that
Mujuru has not himself said anything
while the president, in desperate need
of allies, purports to speak for
him.
Others, such as Vice-President Joseph Msika, The Standard heard,
are
reportedly sympathetic to Makoni because of the flagrant manner in which
suspended war veterans' leader, Jabulani Sibanda, was roped in through the
backdoor to spearhead Mugabe's re-election campaign, particularly the
leading the "solidarity marches" which culminated with the "one million men
and women march" in Harare.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 11:41
ZANU PF's major
weakness is the failure to renew its leadership, says
Fay Chung, a former
minister under President Robert Mugabe who, she says,
may now be remembered
only for the "sewage" that litters the streets and the
"endless nights"
without electricity.
Chung, a parliamentary candidate under Simba
Makoni's Mavambo
formation, is widely acclaimed for her role in reforming
the educational
system after independence.
In comments highlighting
her disappointment with the performance of
her erstwhile comrades in Zanu
PF, she said they had "run down the country".
She said there was
evidence everywhere for everyone to see that the
country lacked
leadership.
"Even in the streets, you see pipes spewing out raw sewage,
everywhere
there is corruption, GMB (Grain Marketing Board) has no seeds,
ZESA
(Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority) has no electricity, there is
general
neglect. It's clear Zimbabwe is like a plane without a pilot," she
said in
an interview with The Standard.
"Unless you have a moral
leader like a Pope or a Queen, it is wrong
for any country or organisation
not to renew its leadership. You need
renewal; it's 28 years and there has
been no renewal," Chung added, in a
specific attack on Mugabe's
leadership.
"If he had retired early, some would have considered him
greater than
Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere," she said.
Chung
served in Mugabe's cabinet from 1988 to 1993 as Minister of
Education, Sport
and Culture and Employment Creation, before quitting to
join UNICEF in New
York and later UNESCO in Addis Ababa.
She spent 10 years with the
United Nations agencies, returning to
Harare in 2004 where she maintained a
low profile.
Four years down the line, Chung is out in the open
fighting for
change.
She is among the candidates lined up by Makoni
for the 29 March
elections. She is standing in the Mvurachena Senatorial
Constituency.
She said she could not sit and watch while Zimbabwe
slipped further
into an economic and political quagmire.
Unlike
many Zimbabweans, Chung counts herself among the few people in
Mugabe's
government who realised 15 years ago that Zanu PF was heading for
disaster.
This prompted her to leave the government.
While it was generally
thought that she had quit her Minister of
Employment Creation position, to
pursue greener pastures at UNICEF, Chung
says she packed her bags after her
comrades failed to heed her advice on
employment creation.
Chung
realised that government had no plans for the 350 000 students
who were
leaving the schools each year while she was serving as Minister of
Education, Sport and Culture. In 1992, determined to have this situation
corrected, she asked President Mugabe to move her to the Ministry of
Employment Creation, hoping that she would be able to implement policies
that could generate employment.
But in 18 months' time, Chung had
quit her position.
Chung said she decided to leave after realising that
her comrades were
not taking her proposals seriously.
"I realised
they were never keen on employment. About 350 000 children
were leaving
schools but just 30 000 were getting jobs. I thought this was a
bomb, this
bomb would explode one day," Chung said.
Chung recalls that she
requested $400 million for employment creation
in 1993 but was only given $4
million "to keep me quiet".
By this time, she noted, the government was
in the midst of the
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
(ESAP).
"It was clear the government would not do anything with it
(employment
creation). They really believed in structural adjustment," she
said.
The former Minister said she prepared "papers and papers" which
outlined what she then thought would spur employment creation. These centred
on public works programmes and proposals on how government could assist
private industries to increase production, which would translate into more
employment opportunities for the Zimbabweans leaving school.
Chung
had reason to be concerned by lack of a proper employment
policy.
Her Curriculum Vitae shows she quit a teaching job at the University
of
Zambia in 1975, venturing to the Mozambican bush to run schools for
refugees
and combatants.
At independence she was the Chief Education Officer
responsible for
planning from 1980 to 1982 and assisted in dismantling a
"bantu style
education" that prevented blacks from realising their
potential.
During this period, enrollment for black students in primary
schools
rose from 35% to 114%, after taking into consideration adults who
were
joining schools. For secondary schools it jumped from 4% to
65%.
From 1983 to 1987, she was in charge of the curriculum development
unit which developed new textbooks for pupils up to Ordinary Level.
Zim Standard
Sunday,
16 March 2008 10:44
THE determination of a winner in next week's
Presidential election has
been thrown into uncertainty amid revelations that
Section 110 of the
Electoral Act contradicts the Second Schedule of the same
legislation which
outlines how the winner will be determined. This, lawyers
said, had the
potential to cause confusion as it remained unclear how the
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) would read the provisions.
Section 110 (3) of the Electoral Act says in the event that none of
the
candidates gets a majority, there has to be a run-off within 21
days.
"Where . . . no candidate receives a majority of the total
number of
valid votes cast, a second election shall be held within
twenty-one days
after the previous election in accordance with this
Act."
But unknown to many political activists, the Second Schedule
to the
Electoral Act states otherwise. It says that "the Chief Elections
Officer
shall forthwith declare the candidate who has received . . . the
greatest
number of votes; to be duly elected as President of the Republic of
Zimbabwe
with effect from the day of such declaration".
The
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) warned "this
inconsistency has the
potential to cause serious problems in the event that
none of the
Presidential candidates obtain a majority of the votes cast".
The
ZLHR said there was a need for an "immediate clarification" of the
position
regarding a run-off. It sent questions to the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
(ZEC) which were not responded to, at the time of going to press.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa could not clarify
the
inconsistencies. He said he was addressing a campaign rally in the rural
areas.
Repeated attempts to get clarification from the ZEC were
in vain. ZEC
spokesperson, Shupikai Mashereni, referred questions to the
commission's
legal team, who in turn referred the matter back to
Mashereni.
But David Coltart, the Legal Affairs Secretary in the
MDC faction led
by Arthur Mutambara, said if no candidate obtained a
majority, there would
be a run-off as "the requirement for a run-off in
section 110 (3) prevails
over the more general provision in the
Schedule".
"The usual rule is that where there is a conflict
between a section of
an Act and that one of the provisions in a schedule,
the enactment in this
section prevails over that in the schedule," Coltart
said.
A Harare lawyer said he suspected "a drafting error in the
wording" of
the Second Schedule.
"Regrettably paragraph 3
creates confusion because it is somewhat
inconsistent with section 110 of
the Act," said the lawyer. "It also makes
no provision for the run-off
election as envisaged in Section 100 in the
event of no candidate receiving
a majority of the total valid votes cast."
nMeanwhile, an MDC MP
has filed an urgent applicant in the High Court
seeking to compel the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar
General to provide her with
a readable and proper electronic copy of the
Mount Pleasant voters'
roll.
Trudy Stevenson made the application as the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) also refused to avail hard copies of the voters' roll to
the Morgan Tsvangirai led faction of the MDC.
In her
application, Stevenson observed the bits and pieces of the
electronic
voters' roll she obtained would not help her as a candidate to
prepare for
the elections.
She also pointed out the roll was seriously flawed,
and contained
people who should not be on the list of voters.
"I have noticed that Desmond William Lardner- Burke is listed as a
voter . .
. Desmond William Lardner Burke was minister of Law and Order
under Ian
Smith and I cannot believe that he is still alive and residing in
Mount
Pleasant."
Born in 1908, Lardner-Burke died in SA years
ago.
Tsvangirai's MDC said it has received only 50 compact disks
containing
the electronic voters' rolls and repeated requests to ZEC to get
more "have
been met by various excuses, the main one being that their
machines have
broken down."
Apart from that, said the MDC, the
format in which the voters' rolls
are saved makes them "materially
deficient" in various respects.
"Even this is difficult in respect
of some of the compact disks
supplied to us because the JPEG image has a
watermark obliterating some of
the names. We are unable to analyse and
interrogate the voters' rolls
because it is an electronic picture and not
electronic data."
In a letter dated 11 March 2008 to ZEC chairman
George Chiweshe, MDC
Tsvangirai secretary general Tendai Biti said it was
illegal for the
commission to deny the party the voters' roll.
He said the Electoral Act clearly states that the commission shall
provide
any person "without delay" who requests it, with a copy of the
voters'
roll.
Biti said in the past two weeks, MDC national director of
elections
Dennis Murira had been trying to get copies of the voters' roll
and was
informed by a ZEC official that copies would only be available after
elections "since production centre is busy".
Biti also sought
assurance from ZEC that the ink to be used by in the
election could not be
washed away after voting, making it possible for
voters to vote more than
once.
ZEC chairman George Chiweshe could not be reached for comment
as he
was said to be out of town on business.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:35
HARARE jails have been emptied of about 1
000 prisoners in
anticipation of the arrest of people in connection with the
29 March
elections, prison sources told The Standard. But the Minister of
Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs yesterday denied that Harare
prisoners had
been moved to other cities and towns for this specific
purpose.
Patrick Chinamasa said prisons have "finite space" and if they
had
problems with space they would build more prisons.
"This is
nonsense," he said of the reports of prisoners being
relocated from Harare
jails. "The political atmosphere is very peaceful
these days. Zimbabwe is
not Kenya."
Harare is a stronghold of the opposition MDC and other
opposition
groups.
But prison sources insisted that prisoners
were driven out of Harare
to Bulawayo, Masvingo, Gweru and Mutare where the
jail population is lower.
Ironically, the sources identified
Chinamasa as behind the plan.
They said the movement of prisoners
started last month but was at one
time hampered by the current shortage of
fuel
"A lot of arrests are expected in Harare prior, during and
after the
elections, especially if the elections are disputed. It's the
minister who
came up with the idea," said a source.
There are
an estimated 22 500 prisoners in Zimbabwe jails, but this is
well over their
intended capacity of about 18 000.
Only last week, the police said
they had arrested 29 Zanu PF activists
and 39 supporters of the two MDC
formations on allegations of violence.
But Chinamasa insisted
campaigning had been peaceful throughout the
country. He said he held a
rally in Manicaland on Friday, "side by side"
with an MDC rally, and there
was no violence.
He claimed he had an audience of over 10 000
people while the MDC had
less than 15 people.
Chinamasa said
the story of the Harare jails being prepared for an
influx of political
prisoners was "the creation of the MDC" which was afraid
of losing the
election.
"They are never short of excuses but we are again going
to trounce
them and bury them politically," he said.
Last month
police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri said the
police would not
hesitate to use force, including firearms to quell
politically motivated
violence.
He said the police were empowered to use minimum force
when necessary
to deal with rowdy political elements.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:14
BULAWAYO - As the campaign for this month
end's elections gathered
pace last week, Matabeleland emerged as the major
battle ground in the
presidential race with the three main contenders
fighting to show they enjoy
majority support in the restive region.
President Robert Mugabe and his
major challengers, independent candidate
Simba Makoni and Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai made a staggering 16
campaign stops in the last five days up to
Tuesday last week as they drummed
up support for their causes.
Analysts say the interest in the region, a hotbed of opposition
politics
since independence was motivated by two major political
developments this
year.
One was the failure by the two MDC factions to re-unite, and
the other
the decision by former Zanu PF heavyweight Dumiso Dabengwa to dump
Mugabe
for Makoni.
Mugabe, bidding for a sixth consecutive term
in office, used his four
poorly-attended "star" rallies in the provinces to
lash out at Dabengwa,
describing his defection as a great
betrayal.
Observers said it was an admission the shaky Unity
Accord, which has
held Zanu PF together since 1987, was under severe
test.
On Saturday, Tsvangirai's MDC pulled out all the stops,
including
allegedly busing students from other towns for its first rally in
Matabeleland in a major show of support.
Two of the pro-Senate
MDC's most senior leaders, Welshman Ncube and
Gibson Sibanda, have their
roots in the provinces and when the party
splintered in 2005, it was always
believed they carried the supporters with
them.
"Every
political party wants to launch its campaign here in Bulawayo,"
said MDC
Tsvangirai secretary-general, Tendai Biti.
He was buoyed by the
crowd of about 12 000 which thronged White City
Stadium, raising questions
about which party controls Matabeleland.
"We have come to re-claim
the city from the pretenders," Biti said. He
was probably referring to
Makoni and the pro-Senate MDC, who officially
launched their campaigns at
the same venue weeks earlier.
On Sunday, Tsvangirai's road show
rolled into Gwanda in Matabeleland
South and was met with similar
enthusiasm.
But Makoni was breathing down their neck, sweeping into
Esigodini and
Mawabeni Business Centre along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway
on the same
day with his suave meet-the-people brand of campaigning before
heading for
Kezi.
On Monday, the former finance minister went
to Tsholotsho, Nyamandlovu
and Plumtree drumming home the message that he
was best positioned to deal
with problems afflicting Matabeleland. The
whirlwind tour also took his to
Mbalabala and Filabusi on his way to
Zvishavane.
Federal Democratic Union (FDU) president, Paul Siwela
who was a losing
candidate in the 2002 presidential election says the three
protagonists seem
to have realised that whoever garners enough support in
Matabeleland would
be in a good position to win the presidency.
"Mugabe is worried Dabengwa's departure will seal his fate in
Matabeleland
because of its implications on the Unity Accord," Siwela said.
"Deep down Mugabe knows the remaining PF Zapu heavyweights - John
Nkomo and
Joseph Msika - are not as formidable in Matabeleland as Dabengwa.
"The people of Matabeleland have for a long time called for the PF
Zapu
people to pull out of the Unity Accord as demonstrated in elections
since
2000 and Dabengwa's move is undoubtedly a popular one.
"As for
Tsvangirai, he wanted to assure the people of Matabeleland
that he remains
their legitimate voice after the split of the MDC."
Siwela said
this explained why Tsvangirai dwelt on the perceived
marginilisation of
Matabeleland by the government and his promise to set up
a compensation fund
for the victims of Gukurahundi.
"Matabeleland is going to vote as a
bloc because of the common
problems it faces such as Gukurahundi and
underdevelopment," said Siwela.
"Whoever wins here will be in good position
to win the presidency."
Jethro Mpofu, a political analyst agreed,
adding it would have been
suicidal for any of the contestants to ignore the
"decisive Matabeleland
vote".
"It was only natural that
politicians would fall over each other to
show they have support in
Matabeleland because it is a critical
constituency," Mpofu
said.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:28
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans' Association
(ZNLWA) chairman Jabulani
Sibanda has threatened "extraordinary measures"
against veterans not showing
commitment in the re-election campaign for
President Robert Mugabe.
Sibanda's threats follow news of former Home
Affairs minister Dumiso
Dabengwa's defection to independent presidential
candidate Simba Makoni's
camp.
This has rekindled the turf war pitting factions of the war
veterans
association that marred Mugabe's campaign for endorsement last
year.
"In the light of the confusion caused by some figures in and
out of
the party," Sibanda said, "we will step up our campaign and enhance
our
closeness to the people.
"Let me also indicate that we will
take decisions, for example, on
those who come late for rallies or leave
early before the end of
proceedings."
Asked to elaborate on
these threats during a recent address at the
Bulawayo Press Club, Sibanda
said there was no need for those outside Zanu
PF to know what he meant as
the instructions were directed at war veterans.
War veterans'
sources told The Standard Sibanda was directing his
threats at war vets who
had dumped Mugabe.
They said Zanu PF structures in the Matabeleland
provinces, dominated
by the former Zipra cadres, had virtually collapsed
with war veterans openly
campaigning for Makoni.
All this
started after Dabengwa openly declared his support for Makoni
at a rally in
Bulawayo.
Dabengwa was flanked by former Zipra commanders when he
made the
dramatic announcement.
Among war vets campaigning for
Makoni are those from a faction led by
Sibanda's rival, Andrew
Ndlovu.
This group, linked to the region's political heavyweights,
petitioned
Vice-President Joseph Msika against the solidarity marches led by
Sibanda in
the run-up to the December congress.
Before ditching
Mugabe two weeks ago, Dabengwa was one of the most
senior Zipra commanders
still commanding respect among war veterans.
One war veteran close
to the Zanu PF provincial executives in
Matabeleland said: "When a commander
(Dabengwa) tells his soldiers that we
are now taking this course of action,
as disciplined people, we follow the
instruction.
"As part of
our strategy, we will not be leaving the party but will
continue to campaign
for Zanu PF candidates in the council, parliamentary
and senatorial
elections, but we are telling people that when it comes to
the presidential
election they must vote for Makoni because Mugabe has
failed in the 27 years
that he has led us."
The shift in the war veterans' position was
also laid bare at a recent
campaign rally in Insiza district in Matabeleland
South where the deputy
president of the Senate, Naison Ndlovu, was told to
"shut up" by war veteran
Tennyson "Thambolenyoka" Ndlovu.
Naison Ndlovu had told the meeting Dabengwa was "a sell-out" but
Thambolenyoka reportedly told him to stop insulting Dabengwa, "my
commander".
Sibanda had addressed the same
meeting.
Information and Publicity minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu was
forced to
issue a conciliatory statement on Dabengwa after he slammed the
former Zipra
intelligence supremo in comments published by The Sunday News,
a government
mouthpiece.
Sources said this was after a backlash
from war veterans who
criticised his statement.
Ndlovu urged
Zanu PF leaders to avoid "the holier than thou attitude
and trying to outdo
one another to prove our loyalty to the party and to the
President".
Even more revealing comments about the loyalty of
former Zipra
commanders, were made by the Zimbabwe Defence Industries boss,
Tshinga Dube.
He told the state-owned SiNdebele newspaper Umthunywa
he still
respected Dabengwa as his commander.
Dube, the Zanu PF
candidate for the Makokoba parliamentary seat, said
it was through "sheer
luck that Dabengwa" was still alive because of his
"heroic political
role"
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:23
GWERU - Simba Makoni has threatened to take
over land from multiple
farm owners and those who did not deserve the farms
given to them under the
government's land reform fiasco. Makoni, one of the
four presidential
candidates in the 29 March harmonised elections, spoke
to
5 000 supporters at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru during his presidential
campaign.
The former finance minister said he would seize land and
redistribute
it to deserving and needy people.
Makoni accused
President Robert Mugabe of "lying to the nation" that
he (Makoni) would
return land to the whites once elected as president.
"As Mavambo,
we are saying land has already been redistributed and we
respect that but we
warn those who have more than one farm and those who did
not deserve the
farms that we will address this (anomaly). Indeed there will
be gnashing of
teeth."
Makoni said he was surprised that Mugabe had accused him of
being "a
stooge" of the West and yet they had worked together for over 27
years.
He said while he was in the government he was "working for
the good of
the nation", but his efforts were frustrated by
Mugabe.
Makoni acknowledged the support he had received from both
the MDC
Arthur Mutambara faction and Zanu (Ndonga) leader Wilson Kumbula but
maintained he was not in alliance with any party.
Although some
aspiring MDC MPs from the Mutambara faction were seated
in the same tent
with him, Makoni only introduced the independent candidates
aligned to
him.
He did not introduce MDC Mutambara candidates namely, Renson
Gasela,
Lyson Mlambo and Timothy Mukahlera.
Makoni said in
constituencies where there were no representatives from
Mavambo, the voters
should choose a candidate of their choice.
The Gweru rally was part
of a campaign trail that also took the
Mavambo formation to Silobela and
Kwekwe, where officials described the
turnout as "excellent".
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:16
THE MDC claims several
of its supporters have fled their homes in
Mashonaland Central for urban
areas because Zanu PF youth militia have
launched a reign of terror against
them.
The youths are said to have threatened to kill the opposition
supporters and burn down their homes if they continued to campaign for the
MDC.
The victimisation and threats were most pronounced in
Bindura and
Shamva, MDC officials said.
MDC parliamentary
candidate for Shamva North constituency, Godfrey
Chimombe, said campaigning
was increasingly becoming difficult in the
province, viewed as a Zanu PF
stronghold.
He said intimidation, allegedly spearheaded by youths
loyal to the
Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Nicholas
Goche, was
most prevalent in Gowora Ward 3, from where a number of people
have fled to
seek haven in urban areas, where campaigning is said to be
relatively
peaceful.
"Our supporters are fleeing to Bindura and
Shamva. Our aspiring
councillor, John Tore Kawara fled to Bindura after the
youths threatened to
burn down his home," Chimombe said. "For a number of
days some were not
sleeping in their houses."
The Shamva North
constituency candidate complained that MDC posters
were being pulled down by
known Zanu PF youths in broad daylight.
Chimombe claimed police at
Madziwa police station had done nothing
although the MDC had made several
reports of intimidation and harassment of
its supporters.
Goche, the MP for Shamva, is reportedly distributing free maize
whenever he
addresses a rally. The MDC alleges this is tantamount to
vote-buying.
Goche could not be reached for comment.
His secretary said the
minister was out of the office and would return the
calls.
He never did.
Zanu PF deputy
spokesperson Ephraim Masawi professed ignorance of
political violence in
Mashonaland Central Province. "I am not aware of any
violence. I will get a
brief from both the police and our structures and
then I will be in a
position to comment."
Masawi is the governor for Mashonaland
Central, based in Bindura.
Shamva is about 30km north east of
Bindura.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri
said they had not
received a complaint against officers at Madziwa Police
Station. He urged
the MDC to approach the Officer Commanding the District
for assistance if
they were not happy with the way the cases are being
handled.
"First they should see the officer-in-charge and if they
are not
satisfied they can go to the Officer Commanding the District for
help. The
cases will be swiftly investigated," he said.
Phiri said the police have so far arrested 29 Zanu PF supporters and
39
activists from the two MDC factions on allegations of intimidation and
tearing up campaign material of rival parties.
MDC
national director of elections Dennis Murira said violence against
opposition supporters had become a tradition in every election. He insisted
that the police were virtually doing nothing to protect MDC
supporters.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:39
A YEAR after their
attack by the police on 11 March 2007, opposition,
civic leaders and
activists who survived the ordeal last week remembered the
trauma they went
through with chilling accounts of police brutality. The MDC
on Tuesday
commemorated last year's beatings at a lecture series it hosted
where
constitutional expert Lovemore Madhuku and MDC secretary for policy
and
research Sekai Holland remembered how the police battered them.
On 11
March last year, police blocked a scheduled prayer meeting
organised by the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign and arrested scores of activists and
civic
leaders.
In the commotion, the police shot and killed National
Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) activist Gift Tandare.
While in
police custody the arrested leaders, who included MDC leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai, were severely assaulted.
Speaking at the New Zimbabwe
Lecture series, held every month by the
MDC, Holland said up to this day the
torture she went through was something
she had failed to
understand.
Holland was arrested together with Grace Kwinjeh in
Highfield after
they had gone to the police to enquire about the arrests of
MDC spokesperson
and secretary general, Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti
respectively.
Holland, who sustained a fractured leg and broken
ribs in the attacks,
said she was hurt by the fact that the police who are
supposed to be
custodians of the law were actually the perpetrators of such
violence.
She said she was convinced the police were under instructions
to "kill
the whole MDC leadership". From her experience in Zanu PF she said
she had
learnt of the party's ruthlessness. "The children of democrats are
seen as
baby snakes and they are killed," she said.
"When Zanu PF
beats you up - I was once in Zanu PF, mind you -there
are no old women, no
youths, no women, no children, no babies, no old men.
They beat you up
because they want to kill you. I believe this was Zanu PF's
intention but
the problem was that word of our arrests got out too soon and
there was
panic," Holland said.
After the attacks, Holland sees herself as a
survivor, not a victim,
as the ordeal had made her stronger and more
determined to bring change to
Zimbabwe.
She said: "All those who
went through 11 March, are survivors. It took
me four weeks for the 11 March
attack shock to wear off but in Australia
where I was receiving treatment
and counselling we were taught that we were
not victims but survivors. Since
then I have regained my strength and sense
of being after this trauma.
Change must come to Zimbabwe."
Holland recalled how she almost had a
heart attack after she was taken
into a corridor where she saw Madhuku
sitting with his head slumped, as if
he was dead.
"I was relieved
later on when I was asked to sit on floor near him and
nudged his feet with
mine. When he moved I sighed with relief. It was really
a traumatic time,"
she said.
Holland recalls how the police kicked, punched and hit
her and other
MDC officials and activists with iron bars and called them
whores.
Giving his testimony, Madhuku, the NCA chairman, said the
attacks had
made him more determined to challenge an unjust
system.
"We were tortured for hours. Even after we had fainted, the
beating
would continue. We ended up not feeling the pain at all as the iron
bars hit
you continuously."
Madhuku remembered how he fractured his
hand after trying to fend off
an iron bar on his head. He said he feels
today very fortunate to be alive
and will never forgive President Robert
Mugabe's government for allowing
such human rights abuses to happen under
its nose.
"We must have the courage to fight this system, to go
into the streets
and demand what we want from the government. We must not
fear the police and
not take part in demonstrations or protests," Madhuku
said.
"It is our democratic right to go into the streets and make
the
current government accountable. My clashes with the police have made me
stronger. They can never break us. God is on our side. I am much tougher now
and stronger to push for change in Zimbabwe."
Other opposition
leaders beaten on the same day include Biti, Chamisa
and MDC secretary for
elections, Ian Makone.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:26
BULAWAYO - All police officers have been
barred from taking days off
until after the March 29 elections. Sources
said there was fear of a repeat
of the post-election violence that rocked
Kenya last year.
This follows threats by police commissioner general,
Augustine Chihuri
that police would be allowed to use live ammunition to
quell protests during
and after the elections.
Fears have
mounted the polls might not be entirely free and fair as
President Robert
Mugabe, facing what is probably his greatest electoral
challenge since
independence, appears determined to win at all costs.
Sources told
The Standard the police were now working seven days a
week, while those on
annual leave were forced to cut short their vacation.
But this has
reportedly dampened morale in the force amid concerns the
long working hours
do not correspond with what most officers view as their
"measly"
salaries.
"We have been told leave and off days would only be
approved after the
elections, but there are no financial incentives to go
with the new
measures," said a disgruntled police officer who asked not to
be named.
Another officer said: "Many police officers are not happy
about this
move. The government must recruit more officers if it feels that
we are
short-staffed, rather than forcing us to work like
slaves."
Police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena on Friday confirmed the
latest
developments, but insisted there was "nothing unusual about the force
cancelling vacation for its members".
"It's very normal and
procedural for police officers to be recalled
from leave and for the
cancellations of leave and off days," he said.
"Members of the police force
will only be allowed to take leave after the
elections."
Meanwhile, the Progressive Teachers' Union (PTUZ) has called on the
police
to ensure the safety of teachers facing political harassment in the
run-up
to the elections.
"In previous elections, hundreds of teachers and
students were raped
and teachers were displaced, assaulted, killed and
maimed," the PTUZ said in
a statement.
"There were uncountable
cases of extortion. In all those sad events,
the ultimate losers were school
children."
PTUZ secretary general, Raymond Majongwe and several
trade unionists
were recently battered by suspected Zanu PF youths in Harare
after they
tried to distribute flyers bemoaning the state of the country's
education
sector.
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008
09:39
A company manufacturing water-purification chemicals has
threatened to
cut off supplies to the state-owned Zimbabwe National Water
Authority
(Zinwa) over a $6.5 trillion debt, sources told Standardbusiness
last week.
The ban could compromise the quality and supply of clean
water
countrywide, the sources said.
Senior managers from Zinwa and
the Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries are
reported to have met two weeks ago to
thrash out an agreement under which
Zinwa would pay Zimphos $5 billion every
day until the debt is cleared.
"Zinwa has failed to honour the
arrangement and the debt is mounting,"
said one source. "Zimphos has now
threatened not to supply the parastatal
with the chemical, which would be
disastrous in terms of the health and
safety of the population."
Zimphos supplies one of the eight chemicals vital in the purification
and
treatment of water, aluminum sulphate.
Zinwa public relations manager
Marjorie Manyonga confirmed the $6.5
trillion debt, insisting negotiations
were in progress to devise a
settlement formula.
She said: "We are
also engaging the Ministry of Finance to see if we
can get a loan so that we
can pay off the debt. We are still talking with
Zimphos."
Zimphos
chief executive officer, Misheck Kachere, was said to be
attending meetings
last week.
Water experts said the absence of enough water treatment
chemicals
could trigger an outbreak of water-borne diseases, among them
cholera and
dysentery in urban centres.
Cholera has killed 15
people countrywide in the past month, four of
them in Shamva last
week.
Last year, cholera claimed 14 lives and over 800 people received
treatment at various health centres countrywide.
Secretary for
Health and Child Welfare Edward Mabhiza last week
attributed the latest
outbreak of cholera and dysentery to the sporadic
water supply that has
forced residents to fetch water from unprotected
wells.
For over
two weeks last month, effluent into Harare's water bodies and
drinking water
was not being "independently tested" because Environmental
Management Agency
(EMA) workers had gone on strike over improved pay.
The agency monitors
effluent discharges into the water bodies, as well
as conducting
verification tests of the cleanliness of drinking water.
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
Zim Standard
Sunday, 16 March 2008 09:36
THE National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) has
approached the Ministry of
Finance over its members' failure to access their
Foreign Currency Accounts
(FCAs).
Standardbusiness was told last week that, since last year,
the NGOs
could not obtain the funds from their FCAs as quickly as they did
in the
past.
They had asked Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
Gideon Gono to
intervene, but to date their efforts have not
succeeded.
So critical was the issue that some NGOs are still to pay
employees
their January and February salaries, while others have had to
suspend
operations.
The NANGO had written to Willard Manungo,
finance ministry permanent
secretary on Tuesday to highlight the plight of
their members.
An insider said that since last year NANGO had been
trying to meet
Gono over the issue, so far without success.
"We
raised the issue last year," an official said, "and they (RBZ)
said
individual banks were delaying in processing the money. We have tried
to
arrange a meeting with Gono but every time they say he is busy.
"The
issue has become so serious that the December salaries came in
January, the
January salaries came last month and the February salaries are
still to be
processed for some NGOs."
Cephas Zinhumwe, the NANGO chief executive
officer confirmed they had
written to the Ministry of Finance and that they
had sought a meeting with
the central bank but to no avail.
On
allegations that some NGOs were engaging in the parallel market
business,
the NANGO boss said: "If our members are going to the black
market, they
should be arrested. The laws of the country should be
followed."
Murmurs of disapproval from the NGOs come hard on the heels of
concerns
raised by miners and industry last month to the Ministry of Finance
over the
RBZ's failure to release funds into FCAs.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries, the Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of
Mines have all pleaded with the
ministry to intervene and save their member
organisations from imminent
collapse.
The RBZ had not responded to
questions sent to their office at the
time of going to press.
Manungo was said to be attending a meeting when Standardbusiness
called on
Friday. His advisor, identified only as a Mr Nyamurowa, was said
to be in a
meeting.
The central bank has been, on a number of occasions, accused
of
"raiding" corporate FCAs to finance critical food imports and pay
electricity bills, a charge the central bank has vehemently denied.
Zimbabwe is facing a critical foreign currency shortage attributed to
low
exports and the drying up of foreign inflows.
The country requires
foreign currency to import food after another
dismal performance by
agriculture for the seventh successive year.
Zimbabwe requires foreign
currency for drugs and electricity imports
and will import farming equipment
for the agricultural mechanization
programme.
Since the turn of the
millennium, Zimbabwe has not received any
support from multilateral finance
agencies such as the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund due to
default in settling its arrears.
The IMF arrears were settled after the
global lending institution had
threatened to expel the country from its
ranks.
Zimbabwe has also not received meaningful Foreign Direct
Investment
(FDI) as a result of the country's "bad boy" image that scaled
new highs
last week after legislation allowing the expropriation of
foreign-owned
companies operating in Zimbabwe was signed into law.
A World Investment Report released by the United Nations Conference on
Trade
and Development showed that FDI inflows into the country had plunged
to
US$40 million in 2006 from US$103 million in 2005.
BY NDAMU
SANDU
Zim Standard
Opinion
Sunday, 16 March 2008 10:10
IF the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is serious about ensuring
the 29 March
polls are seen as free and fair it will increase polling
stations in urban
areas. However if it has problems with the proposal then
it will allow
voting to continue on Sunday 30 March in order to avoid
accusations of
appearing to tilt the scales in favour of the ruling party.
Findings of a non-governmental organisation, covering the period up to
the
end of last month (February), identified areas where significant steps
need
to be taken in order to ensure an even electoral playing field.
During the 2002 presidential election hundreds of voters were turned
away at
the close of polling because of inadequate polling stations. Given
that
voters will have to decide on four choices of councillors, MPs,
senators and
presidential candidates, they will take more time to vote.
Increasing the
number of polling stations will mean a greater number of
voters will be able
to participate in the election.
ZEC has withdrawn some of its
literature such as that on use of
cardboard boxes instead of translucent
boxes, after discovering that it was
misleading. Latest findings by the NGO
which has 210 staffers, covering
constituencies nationwide, show for
example, Victoria Pre-School polling
station is listed in Ward 1 of Binga
Rural District Council (RDC). In fact,
the polling station is in Victoria
Falls Municipality. It is important that
all registered voters are furnished
with the correct information on their
polling stations.
The ZEC
list of polling stations for the 29 March harmonised elections
gives fewer
polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare. But such information is
critical
for it to be published on just a few occasions. It should be
published
repeatedly until 29 March in order to ensure voters have adequate
information. Most of the district offices where such information should be
available by now don't have it, while ZEC voter educators have not covered
anything like enough people to prepare them for Election. Limiting
publication of the information on polling stations in constituencies and
wards can only be preparing ourselves for failure.
In areas
such as Bulawayo, Gweru, Harare and Mutare, the number of
registered voters
is more than in other provinces. As a result, the average
voter in Harare
province would need to be processed in 22 seconds and in
cases such as
Chitungwiza Ward 2 and two polling stations, they will require
as little as
nine seconds.
It is therefore clear that for all voters to have a
reasonable chance
of voting they will require more than nine or 22 seconds
and that the only
way to dispel suspicions of manipulation of the electoral
process is to
increase the number of polling stations or to extend voting to
Sunday 30
March.
ZEC could have a legitimate argument - that it
does not have the
resources to increase the number of polling stations and
the officers to
oversee the process. But at SADC level there exists an
arrangement for
electoral management boards to request resources - such as
ballot boxes -
from regional counterparts. An argument over inadequacy of
resources could
only strengthen voting over two days.
The
continued flaunting of State resources for the purposes of
enhancing the
prospects of the ruling party and repeated comments by
security chiefs make
it imperative for ZEC to act and safeguard the conduct
of the polls.
Zim Standard
Sunday,
16 March 2008 10:03
UNTIL he made the admission himself in public, I
had no idea President
Robert Mugabe could not speak French.
Like
many others who admired him before he unsheathed his claws of
intolerance, I
had always harboured this inexplicable certainty that a man
of such
erudition would know, not just some, but a lot of French.
But I almost
shouted the equivalent of the French "Maihwe!" when he
told his tale of
woe.
After all, the man can quote from Aesop's Fables, which may or may
not
be testimony to his being truly "a man of letters".
A reviewer
once said of the Fables:
"Still a good read 2 600 years on, this famous
collection of Greek
fables dates from about 600BC onwards, all attributed to
the wise old Aesop.
Like Animal Farm, the animals generally take on the
human roles and keep the
whole thing humorous while delivering a good point
at the end. In general it
is aimed at adults, not children."
Right
now, Mugabe might be paging feverishly through Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar,
trying to trace the scene in which Brutus decides to commit
the
deed.
The president feels grievously betrayed, although, personally,
this is
surprising. He has lost enough friends and allies recently to
possess a
hatful of anecdotes on how it feels to be friendless - or
almost.
But his admission struck me as a great mea culpa. He has
always put
education as the jewel in his crown of achievements since
independence. Yet
when a man after his own heart, as Paul Biya must be,
called him on the
telephone in the middle of a cabinet meeting, he was
stumped because he
couldn't speak French.
You felt mildly sorry
for him (he is not an easy man to feel sorry
for, under any circumstances)
as he narrated how he made frantic efforts to
find someone who spoke
French.
Not even the foreign minister speaks French. So, they ended up
calling
the minister's secretary to do the translation. We were not filled
in on the
exact content of the conversation between these two men of kindred
political
philosophies (if ever-lasting, one-man rule of dubious democracy
can be
called a philosophy.)
Biya has ruled Cameroon almost
forever. Was he sharing his woes with
Mugabe and perhaps warning him of his
own impending Armageddon?
Yet, throughout the past week my thoughts
were firmly with Festus
Mogae, the outgoing president of Botswana. On their
emphatically state-owned
TV station, he was shown being feted as he bade
farewell to this or that
group of well-wishers. They all seemed so happy,
Mogae and his compatriots.
Mogae (69), became president when he was 59,
succeeding Sir Ketumile
Masire, who had taken over after the death of the
founding president, Sir
Seretse Khama, in 1980, a few months after
Zimbabwe's independence, which
he had helped see to fruition as one of the
frontline presidents.
Why has Mugabe ruled us for so long? The old
lie that it's because we
were born spineless - spiritually, that is - cannot
survive close scrutiny.
Cecil Rhodes and company didn't just stroll into
what they were later to
call Salisbury, without firing a shot.
In
fact, there were rebellions which the settlers eventually overcame
with
their superior weapons. And I doubt that Ian Smith and his white
supremacist
brigade gave up the country out of the goodness of their hearts.
From
the evidence piling up like huge, dark, storm clouds, on the
horizon there
will soon be other rebellions.
This is the nature of Humankind since
time immemorial: all chains are
made to be broken.
Mugabe has
survived in power through a combination of instilling fear
in the
faint-hearted around him and doling out juicy favours to those who
would not
be cowed by his threats. All of them know from experience that
defying this
man can entail a very high price.
Mugabe has an explosive temper, or
what others prefer to call a "short
fuse". Nobody has gone as far as to
describe him as someone of whom it
could be said "there but for the grace of
god goes God".
During this election campaign, he has been quite unable
to restrain
his fury, in condemning Simba Makoni and Dumiso
Dabengwa.
Yet, as has been predicted for so long, we are now witnessing
the
inevitable implosion of Zanu PF, a party built in bloodshed, probably
heading for its own gory Apocalypse.
For Mugabe, the lesson must
be the finiteness of leadership. In any
language, it spells finis. Whether
he can make his exit with grace will
depend entirely on him.
saidib@standard.co.zw
'Without drugs,testing HIV+ is a death
sentence'
Sunday, 16 March 2008 09:51
AS the Zimbabwe HIV
and Aids Activist Union (ZHAAU), we are concerned
that
many of our
members are getting tested by various service providers
but are later unable
to access the Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) or the
treatment against
opportunistic infections.
This incomplete service being given by the
service providers to people
living with HIV and Aids (PLWAs) is our main
concern.
When a service provider tests someone and finds them
HIV-positive and
in need of ARVs, that service provider should be able to
give them follow-up
services, or if they cannot, refer that person to an
organisation that can
assist them to obtain these drugs.
We believe
that it's unfair to expose people to their HIV-positive
status, only to
abandon them. PLWAs believe that revealing someone's HIV
status and later
failing to provide treatment is like handing them a death
sentence.
There would therefore be no purpose in encouraging people to be tested
when,
later these same service providers just forget about the welfare of
the
person they have tested. What we have noted, as an organisation, is that
people come to us in desperation when their CD4 count is very low and their
immune systems have succumbed to the disease because they cannot afford the
ARVs.
It is very frustrating to see our members in this state and
we have
seen many of them dying from stress, after failing to get a sponsor
or
because they cannot afford or access the ARVs.
Non-governmental
organisations providing voluntary counselling and
testing should go further
and provide ARVs and other relevant treatment to
the people they have
tested.
We are also concerned about people who buy drugs on their own
with
prescriptions from private doctors, but have very little information on
how
to administer the drugs.
The result is that some people do not
take the medication as regularly
as prescribed, skipping dosages for days
because they have no money to buy
the drugs.
Our fear is that some
of the private doctors are not counselling PLWAs
comprehensively on how
important it is to follow the prescribed dosages.
Bernard
Nyathi
President, Zimbabwe HIV and Aids Activists Union
Harare.
--------------
Gono trash polluting streets
.
Sunday, 16 March 2008 09:49
GIDEON Gono's papers are
littering our landscape. I want to raise my
concern over the bearer
cheques, ranging from the 1c to the $10 000 (in
reality $10 000 000) which
seem to be competing with litter in polluting
street corners, the landscape
and even the forests.
Gono was quoted as saying just under half of the
cash he put into
circulation was still in circulation. He believes that
so-called cash barons
are holding the rest of the cash. I am in total
disagreement with this
because the truth is that the rest of the cash is
polluting the street
corners and the rest of the country.
Prince Nyoni
Gweru.
----------
Madhuku antics at
People's Convention unacceptable
Sunday, 16 March 2008
09:48
WHEN those who purport to be fighters for democracy and plurality
of
ideas turn around and seek to coerce others into believing only their
view
you begin to appreciate the tragedy we are in as a nation.
What I witnessed recently at the People's Convention dismayed me. Dr
Lovemore Madhuku's attempt to sway those gathered to vote for Morgan
Tsvangirai was in bad taste. He should have used other underhand tactics but
not to openly tell people not to vote for Dr Simba Makoni or President
Robert Mugabe.
It was my understanding that the convention was a
gathering of people
from various civic and political formations but with
progressive minds.
But not everyone who attends such meetings is like a
robot. Certainly,
we are not like the youths he called out to toyi-toyi
around the tent in
support of his views.
Thank God, we still have
other voices of reason. Thanks to Munyaradzi
Gwisai, Jenni Williams,
Lovemore Matombo and Raymond Majongwe, among others,
for promptly rebuking
Madhuku for such blatant lack of respect for others
because we were not
gathered as Madhuku's people.
When one addresses the public, one should
try and avoid copying
President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has a habit of doing
this but this is
usually to members of the Apostolic faith and naïve youths,
not
intellectuals.
Madhuku surprised us when he said that given a
choice between Mugabe,
Makoni and Tsvangirai, those gathered should vote for
Tsvangirai. That was
arrogance! The same Zanu PF mentality that we are
fighting. Since when did
civil society formations start advocating for
specific individuals?
We respect an individual's right to associate
with whoever they so
wish. We are all political animals, but our own views
should not supercede
those of the umbrella body.
Madhuku called his
National Constitutional Assembly members outside
the tent and we saw them
toyi-toying. Only half-baked activists allow
themselves to be abused like
that.
When one's charges sing that after Saddam Hussein's hanging
Mugabe is
next, does one think that Zanu PF loyalists will take that lying
down? Of
course not.That is provoking them. Given the machinery at Mugabe's
disposal
was this not suicidal? Such provocation should not be tolerated
regardless
of where it is coming from. We cherish peace!
Fortunately, Madhuku was dressed down by his fellow leaders. Next time
I
will think twice before attending such gatherings. The first NCA
convention
at the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex was much more respectable. We
had
level-headed people.
Odrix Sithole
Pelandaba
Bulawayo.
--------------
Polling officers too must
vote
Letters
Sunday, 16 March 2008 09:46
THE increase
in the number of polling stations and polling officers
might disenfranchise
the majority of civil servants and some employees of
quasi-governmental
institutions as they will be polling officers.
If 107 000 polling
officers are needed to conduct the elections on 29
March 2008, this number
will represent an average of four constituencies,
and this figure is almost
the same margin by which the opposition candidate
lost to the ruling party
during the 2002 presidential election.
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) needs to come up with a system
that allows polling officers
a chance to vote. Our elections maybe
ward-based but ZEC should allow the
polling officers to cast their votes
first.
Luxury
Makanyisa
Chitungwiza