http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
23 March
2010
The international financial lending body, the International Monetary
Fund
(IMF), has renewed calls for more reforms in the country's central
bank,
saying new loans are still not available for Zimbabwe.
The IMF
said in a statement on Tuesday that governance at the central bank
must be
strengthened and its role 'refocused' after abandoning the local
dollar in
favour of international currency. Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono, who
presided over the collapse of the local dollar and heralded record
levels of
hyperinflation, remains at the helm of the bank. His presence as
the bank's
chief is a major issue in the fragile unity government, and also
has
potential international investors concerned.
The IMF said that after
consultations on Zimbabwe the Reserve Bank needed to
appoint a board to
strengthen governance, and adopt a budget that would
downsize its
operations.
"Governance needs to be strengthened, including through
appointment of a
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governing board... and
approval of an RBZ
operating budget envisaging a significant downsizing and
refocusing on core
activities under the multi-currency system," it said in a
statement.
Zimbabwe's economy grew by 4.7 percent last year, the first
growth in a
decade, but the IMF said the economic recovery remains
fragile.
"Significant policy challenges need to be addressed without
delay," it said.
"In the area of structural reforms, the business climate,
particularly
respect for property rights, needs to be
strengthened."
The global lender last month restored Zimbabwe's voting
rights after a
seven-year suspension, but said the country would not be able
to access
formal loans until its multimillion dollar arrears were
settled.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
23
March 2010
David Chimhini, the MDC-T MP for Mutasa North, has said
politically
motivated violence and partisan policing are getting worse in
his
constituency. 15 MDC supporters, including a heavily pregnant woman, are
in
police custody for singing while marching past a ZANU PF
gathering.
10 of the people are in their second week in Mutare remand
prison. They are
expected to be brought to court on March 24th. The MP said
the MDC
supporters have yet to be charged, despite being held in police
custody for
two weeks. The other five, including the pregnant woman, were
arrested on
Monday. Chimhini said they are being held under bad conditions
at Ruda
police station, which he said was filthy and the inmates are
chronically
underfed.
"I discovered that they were arrested after
marching through a place where
ZANU PF people were supposed to be having a
meeting. But before that the MDC
people had been allocated a place to meet
by the local headman, and it was
following that approval that the ZANU PF
people decided to go to the same
venue. In actual fact it was just a
provocation," said the Mutasa North
legislator.
"When the MDC
supporters were passing through, going to a new place, that's
when they were
attacked by ZANU PF thugs who immediately ran to the police,
and the police
were very quick to pick up the MDC people."
Chimhini added: "Yesterday
they picked up five more people and among these
people there is a pregnant
woman who is well advanced and we are very
worried about that
development."
The MP said the disturbances in his constituency in
Manicaland Province are
getting worse. He said this should not be happening
when there is now a
power sharing government in place.
Known soldiers
are reportedly also brutalising locals in the area. Chimhini
said he
recently had to appeal for intervention from the co-Home Affairs
MDC-T
Minister Giles Mutsekwa, after Ruda police, with the help of army
personnel,
confiscated the MDC flag which was flying at the district offices
in the
area.
He also said: "There is a selective application of the law because
serious
and worse things have happened and we have evidence of real
political
violence in Ward 4 in Mandeya, where people were brutalised and
beaten up by
known soldiers. But the people have not been arrested. But in
this case
people are arrested for having passed through a place
singing."
There are similar reports of an upsurge of violence in other
rural areas,
such as in Mudzi in Mashonaland East and in Masvingo. The
violence appears
to have been initiated by ZANU PF ahead of the forthcoming
constitutional
outreach programmes.
Of Mutasa North, Chimhini said:
"The MDC people were actually just going to
discuss how they are going to
react to the questions that are coming to do
with the constitutional making
process. So I think it's a matter of
disturbing, threatening and
intimidating people so that when the process
begins the MDC people will be
intimidated and this is very unfortunate."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
23 March 2010
Zimrights National
Director and board member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum, Okay
Machisa, was arrested and later released by Harare police on
Tuesday as
reports of arrests of rights activists and MDC supporters grow.
Brian
Penduka, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum programmes Coordinator
said
Machisa was organising a photo exhibition entitled 'Reflections' at the
Gallery Delta, to be held on Wednesday.
He said the exact charge was
unclear but that the police had confiscated the
photos that were to go on
show. The exhibition included a wide range of
photos taken during the
violent 2008 election period, including pictures of
the victims.
In
Nkayi, the advocacy group Bulawayo Agenda reports that two of their staff
members were arrested on Saturday for allegedly organising a public meeting
without police clearance.
Vumani Ndlovu, the Bulawayo Agenda
Matabeleland North programmes officer,
and Sihle Mloyi the Nkayi Agenda
Committee member, are still in police
custody waiting for their case to be
taken to court.
The civic group says the two were arrested even though
they had applied to
hold their meeting, although it was on short
notice.
Bulawayo Agenda conducts advocacy on issues of democracy and
provides a
platform for people to express their views and debate matters
that affect
their lives.
Another pressure group, the Restoration for
Human Rights (ROHR), reports
that Shepherd Mushonga, the MDC MP for Mazowe
Central, was detained for five
hours at Bindura central police station on
Saturday. In a statement ROHR
said: "Bindura law and order section quizzed
the Member of Parliament for
undermining the office of the President during
a political rally in February
for saying, 'Mugabe might not be around come
the next election'."
"After being pursued for over a month, Mushonga was
arrested and detained
for five hours over the weekend by the Bindura Law and
Order section only to
be released on summons for a court hearing at around
1500 hours."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
23 March 2010
The MDC-T has said it is supporting the
fight for justice for victims of the
2008 election violence and demanding
prosecution of people who committed
acts of rape, murder and
torture.
Four sitting ZANU PF parliamentarians and a losing parliamentary
candidate
have been named, in the first of a series of forthcoming
disclosures by the
MDC of perpetrators of political violence during the
harmonized elections
two years ago.
The MDC insist the perpetrators
must face justice. In the three months
between the March 29th vote and the
June 27th runoff election in 2008, ZANU
PF militias, under the guidance of
200 senior army officers, set about
battering the MDC.
By election
day hundreds of MDC supporters were dead, many more were
missing, tens of
thousands had been tortured and badly injured and over half
a million were
homeless. Tsvangirai dropped out of the contest and took
refuge in the Dutch
Embassy.
In its latest edition on Tuesday of the weekly MDC newletter,
The Changing
Times, the party said that starting this week it will be
publishing names of
the perpetrators of the political
violence.
'These people continue to roam the country scot-free,' the
newsletter said,
detailing how ZANU PF legislators Herbert Paul Mazikani,
Luke Mushore,
Newton Kachepa and Bright Matonga were involved in incidents
where several
MDC activists lost their lives.
Joseph Chinotimba, the
losing ZANU PF candidate for Buhera South, is alleged
to have raped an MDC
activist twice on the 5th May 2008. His car was used 13
days later in an
attack on Choukuse Nyoka Mubango, who later died from his
injuries.
'Mazikana Paul Herbert (MP Mbire) led a team of ZANU PF
supporters who
assaulted Wanzirai Magodo and destroyed his home. Mazikani
also led the gang
that killed Biggie Zhuwawo in April 2008 and Titus Goho on
June 12, 2008,'
the newsletter added.
Mushore, the MP for Muzarabani
North, reportedly led a group of ZANU PF
youths to destroy MDC activists'
homes. The same youths were also involved
in the murder of Ratidzayi Dzenga
on April 1, 2008.
'Kachepa (MP Mudzi North) led a group of ZANU PF
supporters that murdered
Temba Muronde on April 13 2008 and Kingswell Muteta
on 25 July 2008 at
Chimukoko village in Mudzi. Bright Matonga (MP Mhondoro,
Ngezi) led a group
of ZANU PF youths using two vehicles belonging to him to
murder MDC activist
Dadirayi Chipiro, after setting her hut on fire on 8
June 2008,' according
to the newsletter.
Human rights lawyer Dewa
Mavhinga told SW Radio Africa the culprits behind
the 2008 wave of violence
should be pursued and punished so that it will
deter others from repeating
such heinous crimes.
'As you can see the list doesn't contain the big
fish, so I urge the MDC to
go all the way to identify everyone involved in
the political crimes. This
is just the beginning, and I hope they are
starting from bottom going up,
because those named today (Tuesday) actually
participated and were on the
ground during the crimes. The MDC should go all
the way to name the
architects, the so called big fish, who are the authors
of the violence,'
Mavhinga said.
While four of those named on Tuesday
sit in parliament there are countless
others from the military, police and
CIO who still roam freely, after waging
horrific orgies of violence in the
rural areas.
On 5 May 2008 at Chaona village in Chiweshe, scene of the
single biggest
massacre during the disturbances, ZANU PF supporters and men
in army
uniform, led by Major Cairo Mhandu and Major Maravadza, brutally
beat to
death Tapiwa Meda, Joseph Madzuramhende, Alex Chiriseri, David
Tachiwa
Mapuranga, Arthur Matombo, Patson Mudzuramhende and Jeff
Jemedze.
Women were stripped and beaten so viciously that whole sections
of flesh
fell away from their buttocks. Many had to lie facedown in hospital
beds
during weeks of recovery. Men were not spared sexual attack. The
official
postmortem report on Chiriseri listed crushed genitals among the
causes of
death. Other men died the same way.
At the funerals for the
Chaona victims of violence, MDC MP for Mazowe North
Shepherd Mushonga noted
the gruesome condition of the corpses. The MP said
he believed soldiers
trained in torture were behind the killings, not the
less sophisticated
militias or war veterans who traditionally serve as ZANU
PF
enforcers.
The man regarded as the most violent criminal in Zimbabwe,
Joseph Mwale, is
also still free, despite his alleged involvement in several
violent
incidents in Manicaland and his alleged role in the murder of two
MDC
activists who were campaigning for the MDC president.
Eye witness
accounts say Mwale, and two other ruling party thugs, set
Tichaona Chiminya
and Talent Mabika on fire after beating them with iron
bars during the 2000
elections. The police were accused of watching the
incident then pretending
to make a wrong turn instead of pursuing Mwale and
his gang. Mwale is a CIO
operative in Mugabe's office and it is widely
believed this is why the
police will not touch him.
http://news.radiovop.com/
23/03/2010 08:12:00
Harare,
March 23, 2010 - The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) says
it is
very worried about the continued harassment of activists as well as
the
curtailment of civil society operating space.
The election watchdog said
this was so particularly given the critical
moment of the Constitutional
outreach process in Zimbabwe right now.
It said this required a broader
participation by the citizens if the new
Constitution was to gain the
legitimacy which it requires.
"The Secretary General of GAPWUZ is
currently in hiding after having been
summoned before the Joint Operations
Command regarding her role in the
making of a documentary surrounding the
Land Reform Programme," ZESN said.
"We are concerned about the apparent
curtailment of civil society operating
space particularly given the critical
moment of the Constitutional outreach
process which will require broader
process which will require broader
participation by the citizens if the new
Constitution is to gain the
legitimacy which it would require."
ZESN
emphasized its position on the need for significant electoral reforms
before
the next election which could be held in 2011. President Robert
Mugabe of
Zanu PF has already said he would stand for his party in that
election.
The GAPWUz Boss, Getrude Hambira fled to SA after she was
being harassed by
police for a documentary on the plight of farm workers in
Zimbabwe. Some of
Zimbabwe's civic society members have been threatened with
death if they
carry on with educational awareness campaigns on the
constitution following
the launch of constituitonal reform process.
A
new constitution is said to be key to holding free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe.
http://news.radiovop.com
23/03/2010
07:12:00
Zaka, March 23, 2010 - Chief Ranganai Nhema is spearheading
a move to evict
more than 50 people who are all said to be supporters of
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T),
from
Fuve-Panganai irrigation scheme, located about 25 kilometers out of
here.
Although the chief has denied targetting MDC supporters in the
exercise, the
victims told Radio VOP that the chief together with District
Administrator
Felix Zimombe and believed to be backed by Zanu PF party, had
issued out
eviction letters, saying they wanted to de-congest the
area.
Part of the letter reads; "Due to water shortages, we have decided
to trim
Fuve-Panganai scheme so that all the four irrigation schemes can
have equal
access to water."
The deadline for the affected villagers
to leave is Saturday, March 27.
Fuve-Panganai irrigation scheme was
established in 2008 and has 100
inhabitants. It was the fourth to be
established after other
irrigation schemes, section B (1988), C (1990) and
section D in 1993.
"While it may be or may not be true, our question is,
Why MDC supporters,
why not Zanu PF, Mavambo or UPP supporters? We are just
being punished for
our political affiliations," a villager told Radio
VOP.
He added that the chief spared some villagers who were earmarked for
eviction saying, "'they qualified to remain behind".
Zimombe
confirmed the evictions. "We were just looking at those who are not
productive, we do not target opposition supporters, but if that is the
criteria used, probably ask the chief, I only got names, I do not even know
their political affiliations."
Chief Nhema however distanced himself
from the decision when asked to
comment, saying he was working with the
committee in Fuve Irrigation Scheme.
"The names were forwarded to me by
the committees in the scheme, I am not
the one who came up with the list,"
he said.
Masvingo Governor and Resident Minister, Titus Maluleke, could
not be
contacted for comment as he was said to be out of town. His mobile
was
unreachable.
Tsvangirai recently told Masvingo MDC supporters to
stop fighting with Zanu
PF supporters, saying this was no longer necessary
as him and Mugabe had a
good relationship.
Tsvangirai and President
Robert Mugabe recently agreed to a package of
measures, which are yet to be
spelt out, aimed at fulfilling the Global
Political Agreement (GPA). The two
leaders together with Arthur Mutambara,
the leader of the other MDC faction,
signedthe GPA last year, leading to the
establishement of the unity
government last February.
The measures were agreed to after President of
South Africa, Jacob Zuma,
came to Zimbabwe to review the progress of the GPA
talks that had reached a
deadlock due to disagreements in resolving the
oustanding issues.
The package of measures is likely to be unveiled end
of the month when all
outstanding issues are expected to be
finalised.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=28219
March 23, 2010
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO- Victims of political violence here mainly MDC
supporters have
vowed to continue with a proposed march demanding
compensation from the
inclusive government this weekend after an earlier
attempt last Saturday was
banned by the police.
Police in Masvingo
last week banned a proposed march by the victims of
political violence
arguing that such a move would ignite more violence.
The victims of
violence which marred the June 27, 2008, presidential
election run-off have
vowed to go ahead with their march to bring the issue
to the attention of
the inclusive government.
A spokesman for the victims who refused to be
named for fear of
victimisation said that they will engage in the proposed
march and
thereafter hold several similar demonstrations throughout the
province.
"We have to make it known that some of us are still nursing
injuries but the
same people who beat us up during the run up to the 2008
elections are still
enjoying their lives and have not been punished", said
the spokesman.
"We have suffered enough and no one is going to stop us
from marching". "We
are not going to engage in any form of violence but we
want to bring this to
the attention of the government".
"Police
should just kill us while we are on the streets because we need
compensation
from the inclusive government.
"In addition to compensation we want to
see the perpetrators of violence
arrested".
Charles Muzenda whose
house and property were reduced to ashes in Mwenezi
District after they were
set on fire said their attempts to have the
perpetrators of violence
arrested had yielded nothing so far.
"Every time we visit a police
station we are told to come back and make a
fresh report", said
Muzenda.
"We are tired of this and we hope such marches will work in our
favour so
that we will be compensated".
Zaka North MDC-T legislator
Ernest Mudavanhu, whose constituency was hard
hit by political violence,
yesterday said that despite the existence of an
organ on national healing
people in his constituency would never forgive
each other unless victims of
violence are compensated.
"We cannot talk of any national healing
programme if victims of violence are
not paid", said Mudavanhu.
"What
is of concern is the fact that the perpetrators of violence are still
moving around freely and are even boasting of having maimed or killed
people", he added.
However police in Masvingo yesterday reacted
angrily to the proposed march
and vowed to crush it.
Police spokesman
Assistant Inspector Tinaye Matake said that any
demonstration which is not
sanctioned by the police remains illegal and
police are mandated by the law
to ensure that there is order.
"We are going to descend heavily on anyone
who breaks the law", said Matake.
"If they defy our order then we have no
option but to deal with them", he
said
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Posted :
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:47:31 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe police on Tuesday
seized all the photographs from an
exhibition depicting repression under
President Robert Mugabe, and arrested
the chief of the human rights body
that organized the show, officials
confirmed.
The incident is another
instance of the harassment of human rights groups by
Mugabe's police, which
has continued despite the formation of a
power-sharing government between
the 86-year-old autocrat and his former
opponent, pro-democracy leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, who is now prime minister.
Tsvangirai was due to open
the exhibition Wednesday at the capital's
well-known, private Delta Gallery
of 62 framed photographs, that showed
Mugabe's brutal crackdown on
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
A spokesman for
Tsvangirai's office said the prime minister was "adamant
that the exhibition
will go ahead," and that he would be opening it as
scheduled. "What these
people (Mugabe's ZANU(PF) party) don't understand is
that by showing these
photographs you are not reopening wounds, you are
trying to heal wounds,"
Tsvangirai said.
The images showed victims of violence, Tsvangirai with
head injuries from an
assault, police breaking up peace demonstrations, as
well as Mugabe praying,
and ended with pictures of members of the coalition
government, said Cynthia
Manjoro, spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Organization (Zimrights)
that was holding the exhibition.
"The aim
was to make people look at where we have been, and to try to make
sure we
don't go there again," she said. "It is about national healing, and
that we
are begging for a truth and reconciliation commission."
Manjoro said
police first arrived and took photographs of all the pictures.
Later about
20 officers, including riot police, removed the pictures from
the walls and
dumped them in a police pick-up truck. Zimrights director Okay
Machisa tried
to intervene and was arrested.
Lawyers later said Machisa had been
released, but it was not clear what, if
any, charges had been pressed
against him. Manjoro said police gave no
reason for removing the
pictures.
In the last 10 years of harassment since Tsvangirai's MDC
emerged as the
first real threat to Mugabe's nearly 30 years in power,
police have
regularly closed down theatres featuring critical and satirical
drama,
arresting actors, producers and audiences, and shut down music
concerts with
a political theme. Observers say it is the first time they
have interfered
with an art exhibition.
The show coincided with a
swell of demands for acknowledgement, particularly
by Mugabe's side of the
coalition government, of a decade of violent
intimidation, with murders,
rapes, torture, assault, arson, looting and
destruction of homes on a vast
scale, which human rights organizations claim
have been committed almost
entirely by Mugabe's security forces and party
vigilantes.
http://af.reuters.com/
Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:24am
GMT
* Miners failing to access working capital
* Gold
output seen rising from 4.2 tonnes to 6 tonnes/yr
* Investors wary of
empowerment rules
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, March 23
(Reuters) - Electricity shortages and lack of access to
capital is
threatening the recovery of Zimbabwe's mining sector, while
uncertainty over
empowerment laws is keeping investors away, the mining
chamber said on
Tuesday.
The mining sector has been the mainstay of the country's export
earnings
since 2000 when commercial agriculture production plunged following
President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms.
Chamber of
Mines President Victor Gapare said the industry's recovery, which
started
last year after the formation of a unity government by President
Robert
Mugabe and his long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister,
was
now under threat as miners could not get financing and power shortages
worsened.
"Mines have not been able to access both working capital
and long term
capital to recapitalise. There are no foreign lines of credit
for the
industry at the moment," Gapare said in an e-mailed response to
questions
from Reuters.
"With regards to electricity, ZESA (utility)
is struggling to supply the
(mines)."
The coalition government has
said it needs up to $10 billion for the economy
to fully recover but Western
donors have continued to withdraw badly needed
aid and lines of credit until
the administration implements political
reforms.
Gapare said platinum
mines were operating at near maximum production, gold
producers at between
30-40 percent capacity but nickel mines remained shut.
He said gold
production had been capped at 500kg a month since November 2009
and was
likely to remain at this level, giving an annualised output of 6
tonnes this
year. Output reached 4.2 tonnes in 2009 up from 3.5 tonnes the
previous
year.
BAD TIMING
At its peak in 1999, gold production stood at 27
tonnes.
"It's difficult to see production increasing significantly in
2010 in the
absence of capital and electricity," he said. Gapare said the
timing of the
publication of contentious rules that force foreign-owned
firms, including
mines to cede 51 percent shares to local blacks, was
bad.
He said foreign investors had shown interest in exploiting
Zimbabwe's huge
platinum reserves and gold, coal, chrome and diamonds, but
were holding back
until the government clarified its empowerment
legislation.
The rules require foreign-owned companies to dispose 51
percent of shares to
locals within 5 years and will also target some of the
global mining houses
operating in the country.
Number one and two
platinum producers Anglo Platinum Ltd and Impala Platinum
Holdings have
operations in Zimbabwe while Rio Tinto Plc is the largest
shareholder in a
diamond mine in the south east of the country.
"If we don't put in place
an attractive investment regime, we will not win
and our leaders have to
realise that ordinary Zimbabweans want to see the
country working so that we
don't become a failed state," said Gapare.
The mining chamber has made
recommendations to the mines ministry on what
they want included in a
Minerals Amendment Bill that is expected to be
passed by parliament by the
end of 2010.
A previous bill lapsed in parliament in 2007 and the
government has been
working on a new law.
http://news.radiovop.com/
23/03/2010 14:26:00
Harare, March
23, 2010 - Most Zimbabwean women who suffered political
violence remain
traumatised for the rest of their lives because of lack of
support from the
organisations that usually put them at the forefront.
This emerged on
Tuesday, March 23, at the launch of a new report on human
rights violations
experienced by female members of the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
The report, titled "Fighting for a New
Constitution", was prepared by the
Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU).
One of the survivors, Mary Pamire, who
says she was abducted and raped by
ten soldiers in 2003, broke down as she
narrated how she was thrown into the
forefront of demonstrations, only for
those who led the protests to dump her
after she had already been
abused.
"I was abducted by a group of soldiers in 2003, they took me to a
secluded
place and took turns to rape me," said a tearful Pamire. "It was
not an easy
thing. I counted up to ten the number of times they raped me.
After that I
lost track of what was happening."
The soldiers
allegedly dumped Pamire near a busy road, and a well wisher
discovered her
and took her into the city centre. This resulted in her being
admitted at a
leading private hospital in Harare.
But while Pamire managed to get
treatment, she is still bitter that her
comrades in the NCA and the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) with whom
she had participated in the mass
action never came to see her at hospital.
She says she also did not get any
form of support from the NCA and MDC.
"The NCA and MDC never helped me,
despite the fact that I was suffering for
them," said Pamire.
But NCA
director Ernest Mudzengi defended his organisation's position,
saying they
were being constrained by resources.
"We have not had resources that
allow for continuous support to victims and
survivors, mostly because of the
enormity of the challenge," said Mudzengi.
The newly launched book
indicates that during times of elections, sexual
violence is usually used as
a political weapon to silence dissent or
intimidate opponents, resulting in
large numbers of women being raped. In
most cases, notes the report, the
perpetrators are usually people who have
got a strong link with the state,
without necessarily being part of the
state.
Despite the hassles it
exposes, the report encourages women activists to
"participate in any civil
society activities without fear of reprisal and/or
brutal treatment from law
enforcement agents".
"Women's voices should be heard in any transitional
justice mechanism that
may be set up for Zimbabwe," reads the report. "Law
enforcement agents and
other state sponsored goups should respect women,
they are to be seen as
individuals in their own right and should not be
treated as the property of
men".
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
23 March
2010
As the country faces the bleak prospect of more food shortages, an
opulent
casino, bankrolled by Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, has opened to
satisfy the
needs of the wealthy minority.
The casino has opened on
the site of the old Ascot Race Course in Bulawayo
and was reportedly
financed by Mpofu and his brother. According to an alert
by action group
Sokwanele, the casino is being protected by uniformed police
officials, paid
for by tax payers. The venue features two stories of plush
furnishings, slot
machines and well stocked bars, and is just one of Mpofu's
most recent
lavish expenses. The Minister has also bought properties in
Victoria Falls,
Bulwayo's elite suburbs and some other buildings in recent
months.
The cash-splash comes as well over 2 million Zimbabweans are
in dire need of
food aid, according to the Red Cross. In a recent statement
the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies pleaded
for
international funds for urgent food aid to Zimbabwe. Emma Kundishora,
secretary general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, has reported that in
some parts of the country the food situation is as bad "as many of our
volunteers and staff have ever seen it."
Most speculators will
probably place their bets on Mpofu's sudden cash
injection being linked to
outputs from the controversial Chiadzwa diamond
fields, where unknown
quantities of diamonds are being mined and airlifted,
without control. The
wealth of the diamonds fields has been marked as key to
rebuilding the
country, if the sale of the gems is properly controlled. But
an official
from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) last
month
admitted to a parliamentary committee set up to probe Chiadzwa's
mining
operations that diamonds were being airlifted out of the country
without any
proper supervision.
Mpofu admitted to the same committee last week that
he had licensed the two
firms mining the alluvial fields, without following
proper procedure. Mpofu
also defended involving 'crooks' in the mining
industry in an effort to get
'immediate cash' to the financially strapped
government. Finance Minister
Tendai Biti has however said that no money was
coming from Chiadzwa, despite
the government, through the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC),
owning more than 50% of the two mining firms
licensed to work the fields.
Directors of the two firms, Mbada
Investments and Canadile Mining, have said
they have not turned a profit,
blaming an order by the Supreme Court to halt
all mining operations. The
directors were giving evidence to the
parliamentary committee on Tuesday,
days after being summonsed to appear.
They have previously snubbed the
committee three times under Minister Mpofu's
orders and were facing contempt
of parliament charges as a result.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon
Muchemwa explained that the directors
were trying to steer any allegations
of corruption away from themselves, by
arguing that they are minority
stakeholders in the mining firms. Muchemwa
said the directors' evidence
contradicts reports from the mine itself, which
shows signs of recent cash
improvements, such as new equipment and a large
and very controversial
airstrip. Muchemwa added that more questions were
raised than answered by
the directors, questions that the committee failed
to ask.
"The
directors were trying to build bridges and trying to persuade the
committee
that they are not corrupt," Muchemwa explained. "Unfortunately the
committee
failed to properly probe these directors."
http://www.zicora.com
Posted by Own Staff Wednesday, 24 March 2010
01:00
THE Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) is on its way to
revival as it
has emerged that South Africa 's Naveen Jindal-controlled
Jindal Steel &
Power Ltd (JSPL) will be acquiring a majority stake in
the
company,ArcelorMittal is the only other bidder for the state-run
company.
In an interview, the Minister of State Enterprises and
Parastatals, Gabuza
Joel Gabuza said the bidding was now in the final
round.
"Jindal Steel has not yet won the bid as there is another company
in the
competition. However, these are now the only two bidders. The
qualifying
round has concluded and bids will be submitted after due
diligence is
complete," he said.
However, Minister Gabuza refused to
be drawn into saying which of the two
bidders was likely to win the largest
steelworks.
"At the moment, I am not in a position to say which of the
two bidders is
leading the race, as there are other ministries and officials
that are
involved in the selection process. It would be premature for me to
release
such information," he said.
However, sources have revealed
that Jindal Steel stood a better chance of
winning the bid.There were
initially six foreign steel producers that had
been identified by the
Government to bid for the shareholding of
Ziscosteel.Work to reline the two
blast furnaces and other repairs at
Ziscosteel is under way, with two-thirds
of the required equipment already
at the plant. The two furnaces have the
capacity to produce between 750 000
and one-million tonnes of steel.
In
2006, Zimbabwe clinched a $400-million management deal with Indian steel
maker Global Steel, raising hopes it was moving towards disposing of its
loss-making firms, but the deal collapsed within two
months.
Ziscosteel is 89 percent owned by the Government of Zimbabwe,
which is
looking to divest a 60 percent stake as part of its privatization
programme.
The company also has a capacity of a million tonnes and is a
facility for
long products (used in the construction
sector).
Ziscosteel has a debt of $300 million and the plant stopped
operations in
2008 and was now depending on selling scrap metal to generate
income, as
well as selling coke breeze and chilled pull that had accumulated
over the
past 40 years.The company has accumulated a three-month salary
backlog and
has placed its employees on a forced rotational two-week
roster.Lack of
funds has stalled progress though Ziscosteel recently
received 60 percent of
the realigning materials from China , such as special
blast furnace bricks.
The repair of the coke ovens also requires millions of
dollars.
The country's new coalition government saw the sell-off of State
entities as
part of necessary economic reforms. Sixteen companies were
identified for
privatisation, including the generation unit of state power
utility Zesa,
which has been struggling to produce enough electricity for
the country
SW Radio Africa Transcript Violet Gonda presents her latest Hot Seat programme, where she speaks to William Bango, former spokesperson for MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, and political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya. They analyse President Jacob Zuma’s recent trip to Zimbabwe . Was the South African President successful in his mission to break the political deadlock? Is the MDC selling its soul just to make this inclusive government work? Find out why Ngwenya believes the MDC has accepted a ‘junior party mentality', and is giving too much respect to Zanu-PF, and why Bango believes the MDC has made ‘tremendous’ in-roads which have reduced Zanu-PF to the status of an opposition party. BROADCAST: March 19, 2010 | |
VIOLET GONDA: My guests on the Hot Seat programme are William Bango, a former spokesperson for MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, and political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya, giving us their analysis of President Zuma’s recent trip to Zimbabwe to try and break the political impasse. Let me start with Mr Bango – did the South African President succeed in his mission to break the deadlock that is threatening the fragile coalition government? WILLIAM BANGO: Well the result has to be seen, what happens in the next few days is going to be very useful. It’s going to, in our view; put a number of minds to rest. We have spent quite a long time in this country since the GPA was signed. People are very anxious as to why the process has been dragging on, we wonder and this is the view of many Zimbabweans, as to why our leaders continue to negotiate over matters that are enshrined in our constitution. By the way, Amendment Number 19 of the Constitution incorporates the GPA and the concern, the anxiety and the feeling and fears among the people that we still try to bring in external mediators to look at our Constitution and to discuss matters which should simply be clear and straightforward and allow us to move on with our lives. GONDA: Right, let me go to Mr Ngwenya – what did we expect from the South African President and in your view, were those expectations met? REJOICE NGWENYA: Well in principle the biggest error that we’ve made, we have given Zuma too much credibility in his ability to be an effective mediator. Now we are seeing a perpetuation of these political games which were started by Thabo Mbeki, SADC is also on to it. Zuma comes to Harare, he says a couple of nice things and we are not seeing any deliverables, we keep being told that there are certain deadlines and dates that have to be fulfilled, agreements that have to be fulfilled. We are being told things that we already know and we are convinced that this is a political game which only one person can benefit which is Robert Mugabe. So the inability of Zuma and SADC to bring a conclusive arrangement to this agreement is cruelly exposing their hypocrisy – Zuma was on holiday and he’s gone back to South Africa and it’s going to be business as usual and I’m sure that we are going to be in a few days time, up until about the 31st of this month, we are going to know that once again the people of this country have been taken for a ride Violet. GONDA: President Zuma said that the rival political parties had agreed to a package of measures that will be implemented as per the decision of the SADC Troika in Maputo . Is there any understanding as to what these measures are? NGWENYA: Well obviously at this stage it’s not very clear. This is what we have been saying – when you are a mediator and you have spent two days on a negotiating table, what we expect is for him to be able to lay these things clearly in black and white. E.g. ‘We agreed in this round of negotiations that Gono and Tomana are going to be relieved of their duties, we’ve agreed that licences are going to be issued, we’ve agreed that the issue of sanctions we have no capacity to handle it’. But these are the deliverables that we are saying we should see and as far as I am concerned we don’t see anything that is visible that we can call a deliverable. So what we know is just a press conference and all the other innuendos and submissions that have been talked about in the past have been regurgitated and it leaves us with a sense of exasperation that perhaps the referee is not as impartial as we thought. GONDA: What are your thoughts on this Mr Bango? Is there any understanding as to what these leaders have really agreed to – what President Zuma described as a package of measures? What are these? BANGO: I think the MDC is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Here is a person who is unwilling to negotiate, the implementation of a set of agreed positions and the MDC is trying almost every day to see to it that the GPA, the agreement itself, is allowed to sit down. The ordinary person in Cheche, Tamandai, in Dotito and in other places, people are wondering as to why we are delaying implementing what we agreed on so that the nation can move on to other things. Our main problem at the moment and that is the general sentiment countrywide is that the people are saying why should we continue to talk about matters that we thought had been dealt with a long time ago? Why can’t we move on as a nation? If one person, if one signature to that agreement decides to continue breaking the law, to continue disrespecting a clear constitutional provision, to continue disrespecting a position the nation thought was going to take them from one point to another, then perhaps people like Zuma and other mediators should do is to come and find ways of nudging that person just to do what normal habits of citizenship demand of them, that they get on with their work. So for ordinary people, the continuing discussions over what should be done, what should have been done, what should be planned for the future and it’s getting on to them. Zanu-PF and Robert Mugabe are behaving as if they are in the pre-2008 era, they still have a nostalgic view that Zanu- PF is still in power but the fact of the matter remains that there’s been a regime change in this country since the signing of that agreement and to get that regime change sit down, to get it recommended, to get it to be seen as the new dispensation is the problem. And one party has decided that they will continue to flout the law, they will continue to disregard norms and standards and what is generally accepted as normal in our own society and many people are baffled as to what these people still continue to talk about. GONDA: As a person who used to be very close, in terms of you were the spokesperson for the President of the MDC Morgan Tsvangirai, what are your thoughts on what could be happening with the MDC ? Why is the MDC allowing this to happen? BANGO: Well all transitions are normally very difficult processes. In the case of Rhodesia , the whole transition began with the Geneva Conference of 1976 and it ended in 1980 – 1979/1980. In South Africa the transition began in earnest with the release of Mandela in February 1990 and it ended four/five years later. All what we are doing, all what the MDC is trying to do is to try to cool down the temperatures so that reason may prevail at the end of the day, so that people can see that there is some benefit at the end of the day. People have had a raw deal for a long time. They want food on their tables, they want progress over their own conditions, and they want their lives improved. We have a typhoid epidemic coming up now, yesterday we had cholera, we have a drought looming, we have a food emergency in our hands yet we are talking about peripheral issues. We are talking about trying to erode each other’s political brand, Zanu-PF is trying to blame, to erode Morgan Tsvangirai’s brand by delaying, wearing down the MDC , wearing down the people, using money to confuse the electorate, trying to develop an apathetic political situation in this country, trying to demobilise everybody, trying to make people lose hope so that at least they could have a flicker, a flicker burning indicating that perhaps Zanu-PF may return to power as a sole Zanu-PF government, which I don’t think in the foreseeable future is a distinct possibility. GONDA: But Mr Bango, some MDC supporters on the ground are feeling betrayed and are tired of what they describe as this talks charade. Now is the MDC selling its soul just to make this inclusive government work? NGWENYA: Violet, can I also come in there? GONDA: Yes. BANGO: That’s exactly what Zanu-PF is trying to get at. Zanu-PF is trying to demobilise the people. Zanu-PF is trying to use time, money and the people to erode the MDC brand. The party generally is aware of these tricks, the party generally understands this from grassroots structures all over the country, but what is frustrating them is that they want to see a result arrive. There is a general understanding that in any meaningful transition results rarely arrive early, results always come late – but there must be a clear path which they can demarcate, they can see that slowly we are getting toward an intended destination. GONDA: Let me go to Mr Ngwenya and then I’ll come back to you Mr Bango on this. What are your thoughts on this because villagers we speak to from rural areas such as in Mudzi and in Masvingo they say that they are being beaten up and their livestock stolen and they are saying there is no-one to talk to about this, including the MDC . Now as I asked Mr Bango, what are your thoughts on this? Is the MDC selling its soul just to make this inclusive government work and is turning a blind eye to what is happening on the ground like the violence that is continuing? NGWENYA: The point I would like to make… (interrupted) BANGO: The MDC is not in government at the moment. The MDC is not the only party that is in government. What we have is a marriage, a marriage that is running a transitional arrangement, that is running the country and in that transitional arrangement there is always a clash of vision, there are always conflicting interests, there is always going to be a case of shadow boxers raising their fists in all directions and so forth. The people generally do understand that but while they do understand that unfortunate position they would want to see a definite move towards a possibility of putting that behind them so that they can get on with their lives. GONDA: Mr Ngwenya can you respond to my question and also to what Mr Bango has just said that the MDC is not in government? NGWENYA: Well I don’t know what he means when he says that the MDC is not in government. The MDC is in government. The problem that we can see here is of a political party that has a junior party mentality. It is a political party that has given too much respect to Robert Mugabe. It is a political party that has got an electoral majority and they don’t seem to be getting grips on the situation. The villagers have got a right to feel that they have been abandoned because the party is not visible. We have not seen the MDC going into the commercial farming areas questioning those war veterans and asking them what they are doing in there. And we want to see MDC assuming a leadership role they were bestowed by the majority of the voters. What is actually clear is that perhaps since 2000, the party has failed to produce alternative political strategies. We want a Plan B. If the MDC for instance, decided to leave government today, do they have ability to mobilise the masses against the Zanu-PF machinery? Obviously it means that what they are really lacking is that critical ability to be able to galvanise masses, so they use the masses to fulfil their political objectives. Now the MDC is in government so we expect them to take charge. They are giving Mugabe too much credibility, Mugabe is junior partner and we feel that really perhaps they don’t appreciate the element of being the majority party, so we want to see alternative strategies. If this Agreement does not work by the end of this month, what alternative does MDC have? I want Bango to be very clear on that. What alternative does MDC offer to people of Zimbabwe if Zanu- PF continues to play truant in the GPA? GONDA: Before Mr Bango responds Mr Ngwenya can you just tell us a bit more about what you have just said because some allies of the MDC have described them as hapless strategists. Now is this because their strategy is poorly executed or is inadequately communicated? NGWENYA: Well basically when you are talking about a strategy execution it will obviously would depend on the quality of the strategists (inaudible) … For instance if you look at the way Mugabe stripped certain political powers from MDC ministers, all they did was to protest about it. Really we want to see more positive action, we want to see more action on the ground. In terms of communicating to the grassroots, they should have a fall-back strategy of going to the grassroots to say our powers that were bestowed upon us by you the electorate have been stripped from us, what do you think we should be doing? We cannot have strategic decisions only being discussed at MDC level we want to see the grassroots participating and being involved in the execution of that particular strategy. So the assumption that we have as analysts is perhaps MDC does not have Plan B, they don’t have a fall-back strategy. This is why Mugabe can afford to sit there and behave like the senior partner and abuse them because there’s no alternative strategy. So you could be right by saying perhaps the weakness is in terms of the communication of the strategy. We want to see the grassroots being involved. We want to see Morgan Tsvangirai and his team, the Arthur Mutambaras of the world getting into the front line of the action, going into the farms, talking to the media to try and entice the media to fight for their right of freedom of expression but we are not seeing that. We are hearing a lot of diplomatic talk about; ‘Mugabe being a good coalition partner, it’s a workable Agreement’, but we know that the agreement is not workable. It is not right for MDC to make excuses for Mugabe. It is not right. The responsibility of the MDC is to expose Zanu-PF as truant partner in the agreement and therefore we are then able to seek solutions that are backed by critical leverage from the voting masses. GONDA: Now Mr Bango can you respond to this and also can you explain before you do that – what you meant by ‘the MDC is not in government’? BANGO: Well what I meant was that the MDC is not the party that formed this government alone, as a party on its own – even when it won the election on March 29, 2008 , that’s what I meant by that because the MDC is not the government as a single party. But to answer the issues that Mr Ngwenya has raised let me make it clear right from the outset that I don’t speak for the MDC anymore but what I know is that whenever there is a fight between two protagonists, to simply join in the brawl, to simply join in the melee and start hitting back would confuse the situation even further, when the national sentiment is pointing towards a direction in which a lasting solution could be on the way forward. To expect the MDC to take off its gloves and say let’s meet one on one in the street and let’s see who is the most stronger between itself and Zanu-PF, using those kind of Stone Age tactics would not move this nation any further. The point that I might need to add is that if you conduct an analysis of the people who are spearheading the current chaos, the current mayhem in the country you would actually see that after the GPA was signed, the agreement was signed, Zanu-PF formed a parallel administration, one that is composed of hardliners, you get these elements in the police force, you get these elements in the military, you get these elements in the judiciary, you get these elements in the media who are running their own fields apart from the spirit of inclusivity and their business is a nostalgic business which keeps on drawing them back to the pre-2008 position which makes them feel and think that Robert Mugabe is still thoroughly in charge of Zimbabwe which is far from the truth. These elements unfortunately are still extremely powerful and they get the blessing often from the top leadership of Zanu-PF itself because Zanu-PF itself is seeing that it has lost the plot, their supporters countrywide are totally confused as to what actually is taking place in the party. After ten years of incessant brain washing that Morgan Tsvangirai would never set foot in a government office, they are seeing him today, with the designation of Prime Minister and Zanu-PF is failing to explain this simple fact. They cannot run the same propaganda mantra that we are now sitting with a vassal of imperialism so the hardliners have taken centre stage in Zanu- PF, trying to reassure their confused electorate that the situation has hardly changed – when the reality on the ground is totally different. Regarding the mobilisation efforts and the whole question of keeping the country wired up from the MDC side, as an official of the MDC I can tell you there’s activity all over the country, almost every week. The MDC structures are actually getting stronger by the day. In the strongholds, the previous strongholds of Zanu-PF, the MDC is making inroads every day, Zanu-PF structures have disappeared in most parts of the country. They are still reliant on remnants from their militia, the remnants from the rogue group of war veterans and some retired soldiers but by and large, the national mood, the national spirit is that change is inevitable and that the reality is that this inclusive government has brought in a huge peace dividend to a previously battered community especially the people in the rural areas who have been held hostage by Zanu-PF for a decade and longer than that. GONDA: How do you respond to people who say that the MDC keeps changing deadlines and has failed to put pressure on Robert Mugabe and that Zanu-PF is just rolling over them? And some critics even go as far as to say that the MDC is being swallowed up by Zanu-PF? What can you say about that? BANGO: The MDC has made tremendous inroads during the past year while in this government. For the first time, the MDC managed to second its officials to be appointed ambassadors in places where previously it was unthinkable that Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF could accept that. The MDC has made inroads in Local Government, in a number of areas the MDC has managed to contain the rot that was going on in government. Even in their day-to-day business in Cabinet and other places the presence of the MDC has had a serious stabilising effect. The last year alone, the last year alone was quite significant in this country and the impact of the change that has taken place in this country can be attributed to the presence of the MDC . The MDC cannot be expected to overhaul the entire system overnight because it is not solely in government, it is unable to present its policy positions and run away with it because they are currently in this negotiated partnership where the situation unfortunately has to move fairly slowly because the other party is in favour of a failed state status. GONDA: Let me go to a different issue and this is going back to what President Zuma said when he said that the political parties had agreed to a ‘package of measures’ that will be implemented as per the decision of the SADC Troika in Maputo. Now we all know that in November last year the parties agreed at this Summit to urge the international community to lift all forms of sanctions on Zimbabwe and also to engage in dialogue about all the outstanding issues in the GPA. Now we know that Europe and the USA have said to the parties in Zimbabwe that they should implement what they agreed to and then they will consider the issue of removing the targeted sanctions. Now given what Zuma has been told regarding the restrictive measures during his recent trip to the UK , what will be his next step on this? Let me start with Mr Ngwenya. NGWENYA: Well really the principle is that if the EU and the Americans and the West have already mentioned that they are not going to lift sanctions until the partners have fulfilled their obligations of the Agreement, that’s a dead end. In other words, there is no way this Agreement can proceed if the negotiating partners commit themselves to think that they cannot fulfil – so the issue around Mr Zuma is that then he has to focus on things that are deliverable. There are basic things within the agreement that are within the control of the negotiating parties – freeing the media, ensuring that there is no political intimidation and so on and so forth. And those are the things that the EU is saying – when you guys agreed, these are the things that you agreed to deliver. Now when you talk about sanctions, you then look at the scenario around the continued abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe which are the causative factors. In other words, the factors that caused the implementation of the sanctions regime are still intact, so it does not make sense for Zuma to make that part of the negotiating deliverable. So as far as the sanctions are concerned, I’m sure Zuma has to accept and admit as a negotiating partner that he has reached a dead end, then refocus the negotiating partners around issues that are deliverable. My opinion really is perhaps that if Zuma then gets stuck in the mud around the issue of sanctions he is basically playing the same game that Zanu-PF is playing, that any fulfilment of the Agreement is dependent upon the sanctions which I think really is asking for too much. It’s more in fact, of insulting our intelligence because we know that the MDC , they can cry all they want but as long as the scenario around which sanctions were imposed on the Zanu-PF activists remain intact, they are not going to be lifted so perhaps it is the right time to look at other issues that are deliverable. GONDA: Mr Bango has Zuma reached a dead end on the issue of sanctions or do you think he’s telling Robert Mugabe up front to reach a compromise if he wants the targeted sanctions to be removed? BANGO: I think President Zuma is simply being diplomatic. The issue of restrictive measures, the issue of sanctions, political sanctions against rogue States date back to more than 20 years ago. You will recall at the Commonwealth Summit in Harare in 1991, the Harare Declaration came out very clearly on the question of the observance of human rights and how rogue States should be treated by the international community. That position, the Harare Declaration was reaffirmed at the Millbrook Plan of Action in Australia two years later and the result of that was the action that was taken on Fiji in 1995 when there was a military coup there and similar restrictions were imposed on the civilian/military junta which had taken over power there. A few years later we saw similar actions being taken on Pakistan and after Pakistan , then Zimbabwe ironically where this declaration emanated from at the beginning, they became a victim of that simply because it was falling back on what it had managed to steer through with colleagues in the Commonwealth of Nations . The issue of institutional violence is no longer a debatable matter as far as Zimbabwe is concerned. There are lots of cases, documented cases, cases which have never been denied, showing and pointing to the fact that the State itself has been instrumental in violence and the State that has been there was led by certain individuals and certain measures have to be taken in terms of these universal benchmarks, universal forms of sanctions on anybody whose behaviour becomes misplaced. So to keep on talking about whether sanctions should be removed on 200 individuals and less than a dozen companies which are known to have been helping a rogue state to institutionalise violence is to engage in a sterile and moribund debate. President Zuma is simply being diplomatic, trying to cover needs from both sides. People know what has gone wrong with this country; people know that you can literally do business with anybody in the world today without any restriction whatsoever. Phillip Chiyangwa was on television the other day and he was boasting that he can import any car from anywhere in the world, he can enjoy caviar from any capital in the world, he can import his suits, his business suits from anywhere in the world. And Phillip Chiyangwa is no small beer, he is one of the topmost Zanu- PF officials and to keep on running that mantra shows one very clear thing – Zanu-PF has run out of an election message. Zanu-PF no longer knows what to tell its supporters. They cannot tell people that they don’t have the capacity or interest to move away from their feudal way of doing things, to move away from their aristocratic behaviour where they turn their top officials into massive landowners and not farmers. They do not have any message to the electorate so they are harping on the sanctions issue and of late, they are also talking about the need for empowerment. I chuckled with friends yesterday when we read Gono’s interview in one of the local newspapers here and Gono was saying ‘this whole business about empowerment is misplaced!’ Zanu-PF is now out of its wits; they failed to empower people with their wholesale agrarian reform programme, what makes them think they can empower anybody by taking Lewisham Family Butchers or Donors Drycleaners and think they can run away with it? So, in fact, these are political statements by a party that is desperate for a political message that probably would resonate with the electorate. Tied to that if you listen to recent Zanu-PF statements, Zanu-PF is speaking as if it is in the opposition and is not part of the GPA. It is telling the world and Zimbabweans that look at what your government is doing – it’s refusing to empower you, ‘civil servants – look at what your government is doing – it’s not paying you’. ‘Ordinary people – look at what your government is doing – it’s imposing sanctions’. They are speaking as if they are outside government. They are speaking as if they are in the opposition. Further to that, if you look at their principles, their position, and their constitutional position they’re putting forward, they are saying – ‘now we want two terms for a President’. What happened to their saying that ZANU PF would rule forever? Why are they are talking of two terms now when their oft stated position for three decades was that they would rule until donkeys have horns? It means here is a political party that is speaking as if they are in opposition to a particular government. GONDA: OK. I am running out of time so I’ll end with getting a final word from Mr Ngwenya. NGWENYA: Well my final word really is that I think what we need from MDC Violet is an alternative strategy Plan B. It must be clear now that once the deadline has expired, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara should take a decisive decision either to stay in there and take charge of the destiny of the people of this nation or they should step out of this coalition government and find another approach to liberating the people of this country. Thank you very much. BANGO: Thank you. Feedback can be sent to violet@swradioafrica.com
|
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
By David Coltart
4:00 AM
Wednesday Mar 24, 2010
I cannot help but feel that there are
unspoken reasons behind the New
Zealand Government's decision to discourage
the New Zealand cricket team
from touring Zimbabwe in June
2010.
Prime Minister John Key is reported as stating that the main
concern was for
"player safety".
But I fear there is more to it than
that.
I believe in particular there are deep-rooted concerns about
ongoing human
rights abuses within Zimbabwe, scepticism regarding the
transitional
agreement and its chances of survival and, perhaps, distaste
for the fact
that certain personalities are still in office.
If I am
correct in this assumption one understands why this has not been
stated
openly - because New Zealand may then become liable to pay damages to
Zimbabwe Cricket.
Be that as it may I believe there are compelling
reasons why the tour should
go ahead. I write this in the context of being a
human rights lawyer who has
opposed human rights abuses in Zimbabwe for the
last 27 years.
Article continues below
Firstly, those of us in the
MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) are
ourselves deeply concerned about
ongoing human rights abuses and our
collective failure as a transitional
government to fully implement the
transitional agreement.
However,
putting it negatively, this agreement is the only viable
non-violent option
we have.
The agreement has a positive side too.
Despite our
failure to implement it fully, we have made remarkable progress
in the last
year. The economy has stabilised. Schools have been reopened.
Hospitals and
clinics now have drugs and the cholera epidemic of 2008
stopped. There has
been a massive downturn in the number of human rights
abuses.
Importantly maladministration in cricket is being addressed;
racism and
tribalism in team selection has ended and former doyens of the
sport, such
as Heath Streak, have been reintegrated.
Secondly, for
all the political rhetoric, the fact is that the political
agreement is
functional and is gradually being implemented in its entirety.
Zanu PF
has been desperately holding on to whatever power it can and has
resisted
implementing certain aspects of the agreement.
But as demonstrated by the
successful visit of President Zuma to Harare this
week there is progress and
in my view there is no danger of the agreement
collapsing in the near
future.
Thirdly, and most importantly, our friends in the international
community
have an obligation to help those of us acting in good faith to
make this
peaceful process work and sport has a critically important role to
play in
this regard.
Clint Eastwood's recent film Invictus about
Nelson Mandela's efforts to use
the 1995 Rugby World Cup to forge unity in
post-apartheid South Africa is a
powerful reminder of the positive role
sport can play in assisting countries
in transition.
Whilst there are
obvious differences between South Africa in the early 1990s
and Zimbabwe
today, there are many similarities.
We are in transition; we too have to
forgive those responsible for terrible
things done in the last decade; there
are still those who will do all in
their power to derail the peaceful
process.
Just as rugby was able to bind a nation together then I believe
cricket can
play a similar role in Zimbabwe today.
Furthermore when
it is the clear wish of former Zimbabwean cricketers such
as Heath Streak
and Grant Flower, now both national coaches who have also
suffered in the
last decade, that this tour should go ahead, they too should
be listened
to.
What I am absolutely convinced of is that by asking the New Zealand
team to
travel there are substantially less safety and security risks
involved than
there are in touring the United Kingdom, the subcontinent or
indeed South
Africa.
We do not have any terrorist or al Qaeda threat
in Zimbabwe; bombs have not
gone off in Harare as they have in London or
Mumbai in the last decade.
Crime rates in Harare and Bulawayo are far below
those in Johannesburg and
Cape Town.
In short Zimbabwe is one of the
safest places to travel to and the apparent
safety concerns of the New
Zealand Government are simply misplaced and not
based on fact.
I have
no doubt that if the New Zealand team decides to honour its
obligation to
tour Zimbabwe in June they will find they will be welcomed by
all with
remarkable warmth and friendliness.
In the process they will help
Zimbabwe cricket in its quest to regain test
status, bring much joy to the
Zimbabwean cricketing public and greatly help
our peaceful transition to
democracy in Zimbabwe.
I hope that the New Zealand Government will have
the vision and boldness to
enable this to happen.
* Senator David
Coltart is Zimbabwe's Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and
Culture.
When I was trying to explain Zimbabwe's National Youth Training Programme to someone today, the first words that came out of my mouth were "youth militia" - not youth service. This isn't surprising given how many youth service graduates have been manipulated into being agents of political violence. Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe (YIDEZ) is launching a campaign for the reform of this youth training programme into a non-partisan youth empowerment programme.
The Zimbabwe National Youth Training Program (NYTP) was established in July 2001. Its aim was to instil patriotism and self reliance amongst other values that were never practiced. Training at the camps was stopped in 2007 but graduates from these institutions are still being deployed to carry out partisan political work and some are serving as youth officers and are paid using tax payers' money. Nine years since its inception, with 80,000 graduates, the curriculum of the program still remains 'top secret'.
The Global Political Agreement provides that; the program shall be run in a non-partisan manner. The Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenization & Empowerment recently initiated a process that intends to reintroduce the NYTP. Part of the process will include public consultations.
As a member of Civic Society, YIDEZ is concerned by the Ministry's limited engagement of the key stakeholder (YOUTH) in this process. In 2001 the program was implemented without the input, consent and involvement of young people and the general public. If this program is intended for the benefit of young people, then this oversight cannot be repeated. As the youth, we are saying:
- We demand genuine reform and consultations in the development and delivery of the National Youth Service Training Program
- We demand transparency and that our voice, as the youth of Zimbabwe, be heard in the curriculum development process
- Nothing for us without us
To join the campaign and find out more, contact YIDEZ on yidez@zol.co.zw or +263-4-776772
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
23rd
Mar 2010 09:19 GMT
By Chenjerai
Chitsaru
ANY truthful political history of Africa must record the fact
that
corruption was spawned by the political hegemony embraced by the first
ruling parties. Since they boasted of having brought independence to the
countries they felt entitled to a reward: for their pain during the
struggle, they demanded to be allowed to reap the fruits of their
labour.
In Ghana, after 1957, with the Kwame Nkrumah's Convention
People's Party
riding high, there was a spate of scandals. They culminated
in the scandal
of Krobo Edusei's wife's golden bed.
On reflection,
some political historians have tried to play down the impact
of this
incident on the political history of Ghana under The Osagyefo. But
Ghana's
road to the one-party political system could only have been designed
to hand
to the CPP the total control of the country - politically as well as
economically.
The leaders of the ruling party must have felt the
people ought to be so
grateful to them they dared not make a squeak if they
seemed to want to live
more lavishly than ordinary people did.
Nearer
home, the same thing happened in Malawi and Zambia. The quest for a
one-party political system was total - and was achieved. Soon, there were
reports of political leaders living so luxuriously the people wondered if
that was acceptable as a reward for their role in the struggle. Some of it
became so obscene; it was exploited by the opposition forces. If there
hadn't been a decline in the living standards of the ordinary people, the
reign of the corrupt parties would probably have lasted longer.
In
the two countries, it did last longer than it ought to have - nearly 30
years. By then, both countries were in dire economic straits. The leaders
couldn't blame sanctions, as the leaders of Zimbabwe are doing so raucously
you wonder if they sincerely believe the Western countries will be swayed by
their noise.
The downfall of both Kamuzu Banda and Kenneth Kaunda
owed much to the
people's disillusionment with their ineptitude in tackling
corruption in
high places. While the leaders enjoyed the milk and honey of
independence,
ordinary people could hardly afford three meals a day. Both
ruling parties
were whipped, fair and square, out of power by new political
parties. They
had promised a clean-up of the corruption and a new
dispensation for the
poor.
But the script went wrong somewhere along
the way. Corruption reared its
ugly head again. People were assailed by the
same stench of rottenness they
thought they had subdued when the parties
which had brought independence
were defeated.
Bakhili Muluzi finished in
disgrace. Frederick Chiluba fared even worse. He
actually was charged with
stealing government funds. His reputation as a
thief may never be forgotten
by the people of Zambia. Its political history
will record that his
performance as Kaunda's successor was shamelessly
selfish and probably as
anti-people as that of the colonialists.
Muluzi was never officially
charged with corruption. But there are some in
Malawi who feel he was worse
than Kamuzu: at least, with the Ngwazi you
didn't expect any fairplay.
Muluzi had promised them something better. He
handed them the same empty
plate, sprinkled with a few rotten grains of
something that looked like
maize.
In Zimbabwe, if the MDC does not polish up its act now, we could
see a
repeat of the scenes of squalor which followed the reign of Muluzi.
Morgan
Tsvangirai spoke recently of the corruption among the party's urban
councillors. Inevitably, the state media has had a field day publicising the
corruption of the opposition councillors. It's not unlikely that some of it
is being done with the aid of the government.
The MDC has promised a
robust reaction - which has yet to materialise. Zanu
PF must believe it has
the MDC exactly where it wants it - between a rock
and a hard place. Add to
that the pressure on Tsvangirai on sanctions, and
you have an opposition
party reeling from criticism of non-action on vital
issues - the fight
against corruption and the fight against sanctions. The
latter is easier to
deal with than the former.
These sanctions are described as "illegal" by
Zanu PF. There is no distinct
reference to what law is being broken - the
United Nations Charter? The
United States and the European Union have so far
not been brought up on
charges of imposing the sanctions by any court in the
world. If there was a
chance of this, Zimbabwe would surely have gone to the
International Court
of Justice at The Hague. So, in what sense are the
sanctions illegal?
If they are not and the government is making them
"illegal" for some
nefarious, diabolically political motive, then they ought
to be condemned in
the strongest terms. Among most people in Zimbabwe, the
fine line between
"legal" and "illegal" sanctions is pretty faint, if not
non-existent.
In any case, how many people remember the conduct of the
2000 parliamentary
elections and the 2002 presidential elections? In fact,
does anyone remember
elections since independence in which Zanu PF played
fair?
But to return to the MDC and its reaction to corruption within its
ranks:
Even if there is some clandestine role that Zanu PF is playing, the
fact
remains that the MDC must act quickly and decisively against any
miscreants,
regardless of what harm the renegade councillors might inflict
on the party,
come election time. There must be mechanisms in the party
constitution or
regulations which allow for the neutralisation of dissident
party members.
The prospect of the MDC sweeping to power in the next
election cannot be
discounted: Zanu PF has thoroughly dissipated any
sympathy it might have
enjoyed since 2000. It has outstayed its welcome. It
would be unfortunate if
the MDC was subjected to the same fate as Muluzi's
UDF in Malawi, or
Tsvangirai to Chiluba's fate in Zambia.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=28214
March 23, 2010
By Takura
Zhangazha.
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma is a man of few words. This would perhaps
explain the
brevity of his press statement at the end of his two day visit
to Zimbabwe,
a visit that was intended to ensure a resolution of the
Zimbabwean inclusive
government’s problems.
He also decided, true to
fashion, to not field any questions from an eager
press corps that had been
patiently waiting to hear something substantive
from the SADC-appointed
facilitator.
But perhaps, apart from his lack of a willingness to talk to
anyone other
than the three political principals, President Zuma went one
further than
his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. He went from quiet diplomacy to
chart the
previously unexplored waters of speculative and silent diplomacy.
And in
saying this I am not attempting an immediate comparison of the style
or
substance of either President Zuma or Mr. Mbeki.
But given the
character of the nearly three year mediation in Zimbabwe’s
political crisis,
President Zuma, like former President Mbeki, cannot escape
criticism, even
if he has not yet asked that now infamous question of his
predecessor:
‘Crisis? What crises?’
I have referred above to President Zuma as having
brought into my mind a new
phrase, that of ‘speculative and silent’
diplomacy. This is primarily for a
number of reasons. The first being that
given the hype about his visit to
Harare, and for two days at that, public
expectation of either finality or
literal progress on ‘outstanding issues’
was phenomenally high. These
expectations were also about anticipation of
firm leadership vis-ą-vis his
facilitator’s role.
Depending on which
side of the political divide one stands on, this role
would have been either
that he firmly rein in President Mugabe or
alternatively assuage Prime
Minister Tsvangirai. Well, given the short
nature of his statement, as well
as its very vague statements, President
Zuma did not assert that expected
leadership. This is not to say diplomacy
is done by stamping your foot down,
but surely something to that effect was
needed. But perhaps this would be to
expect too much of the President of
another country.
And because one
cannot realistically have expected messianic feats by South
Africa’s
President over and about a Zimbabwean problem, analysis must
therefore focus
on the full import of what in my view is speculative and
silent
diplomacy.
In reading President Zuma’s statement, the reference that is
made to a
‘package of measures to be implemented concurrently as per the
decision of
the SADC troika in Maputo’, without even as much as hinting what
this is or
at least means is potentially beyond even the phrase
‘speculative’. Either
it means we are back in Maputo, and therefore
President Zuma’s visit was
unnecessary.
Further still the vague
belief that President Zuma expresses in the
implementation of a ‘package of
measures ’ that no one apart from the
political parties knows anything is
puzzling. Assuming that there is a
package that is reasonable in the view of
the political parties, the fact
that it has to be discussed on three days,
March 24, 26, 29 and 31
speculatively assumes that whatever was agreed while
he was here will hold
firm.
But given the character of the Zimbabwean
negotiators it is least likely
they will carry through what Zuma wants, even
over the days announced. This
is because if one were to attempt to count the
number of outstanding issues
during the life of the GPA, there is no one
moment where they are completely
certain or again,
non-negotiable.
The silent diplomacy component of President Zuma’s visit
and statement is to
be found in the secrecy of both the talks and their
outcome. In previous
negotiations where the facilitator has been in direct
attendance, the
secrecy would have been confined to the process of the
talks. Following
these, there would have been a somewhat elaborate statement
on the results
of these talks and journalists would be been permitted to
field questions.
In President Zuma’s instance, secrecy was both during
the process as well as
in his final statement. Even where the political
parties meet on the
designated days next week, it is evident that they will
take a leaf from
President Zuma’s conduct. And perhaps we will never know
what the ‘package’
entails until the next SADC summit.
In the final
analysis, President Zuma’s latest round of direct mediation in
Zimbabwe’s
crisis was primarily impolitic. This is because the facilitator
did not in
any way seek to demonstrate his understanding of the political
expectations
of his role to the Zimbabwean people. It may be agreed that
not all
Zimbabweans ever had confidence in the talks, but surely they have
come to
accept them as necessary together with a limited feedback from the
facilitator.
President Zuma did not account to anyone but the
political parties, neither
did he demonstrate a sense of urgency for the
Zimbabwean public to have
confidence in his ability to bring matters to a
heel. But perhaps that is
his business, and he is particularly under no
obligation to ingratiate
himself with the people of
Zimbabwe.
Whatever secrets are over what happened during his visit, he
has indeed
allowed students of international relations to begin to worry
whether their
lecturers will introduce a new assignment question;
‘Speculative and silent
diplomacy’ Discuss.