Zimbabwe sanctions on Mugabe allies should go: Zuma

http://af.reuters.com

Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:09pm GMT

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Travel restrictions slapped on Zimbabwean officials from
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party should be lifted to help the unity
government function effectively, South African President Jacob Zuma said.

Zuma, who is mediating in a dispute between Zanu-PF and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party, noted that one side in the power-sharing
government was subject to international sanctions while the other was not.

"What's happening is that one part of unity government, the MDC, can travel
all they want, around the world and do what they want while the other part,
the ZANU-PF, cannot," he told a reporters on Friday at the end of a visit to
Uganda.

"That's impeding the functioning of the unity government and so the
international community that supported the power-sharing agreement must also
lift the sanctions to allow the unity government to function to its full
capacity."

Zuma has previously urged western powers to lift sanctions imposed before
the two rival sides agreed on the unity government in 2008. The government
is riven by conflict and Mugabe said on Friday he would implement terms of
the agreement with Tsvangirai only if the West removed sanctions on his
allies.

Zuma and his host Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also discussed the
situation in Democratic Republic of Congo. In a statement they said they had
agreed that while security there was improving, the United Nation's
peacekeeping mission, MONUC, was still needed to provide stability.

Zuma, who travelled with a business delegation, said Uganda offered
investment opportunities for South African companies. A Ugandan official
told Reuters that some South African investors were keen to participate in
Uganda's budding petroleum sector.

The east African country discovered oil in 2006 and exploration companies
currently estimate reserves at about 2 billion barrels.

"The mining, oil and refining of petroleum sector with the discovery of oil
in the Lake Albert region provides new areas of business," Zuma said at a
business forum in Kampala on Friday.

Museveni said he had not discussed any detailed plans for South African
investment in Uganda with his counterpart.

"We didn't discuss anything specific on oil but we have two areas where
South Africa can help us and those will be discussed when our minister for
minerals meets with his South African counterpart," Museveni said.

Zimbabwe should move fast on media reforms

http://af.reuters.com

Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:53pm GMT

* Media body should speed up newspaper registration

* Zimbabwe media dominated by government

* Biti says free press key to democracy

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, March 27 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe, whose main daily newspaper is state
owned and biggest private papers are weeklies, should speed up registration
of newspapers to boost democratic reforms, a senior cabinet minister said on
Saturday.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti told a pan-African journalists' conference that
Zimbabwe lagged other countries in establishing a legal and political
environment conducive for a free press.

But he said the southern African state -- whose media is dominated by the
government and whose laws bar foreign journalists from working long-term in
the country -- would correct this through a new constitution being drafted
and the recently formed Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).

"I hope the ZMC will begin to do their work in earnest, begin to move fast
in registering (new) newspapers," he said, adding that Zimbabwe should also
end the state's monopoly in television and radio broadcasting.

"The media is the guardian angel of democracy. It keeps in check those
holding political power," he said.

Biti -- secretary-general of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) which formed a power-sharing government with veteran
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF a year ago -- said the current media
environment reflected the slow pace of reforms all round.

"But the good news is that we have begun to take decisive steps to extricate
ourselves," he said.

A UNESCO representative at the conference said the organisation was prepared
to help the ZMC in its work to improve the media environment, including
training journalists.

"UNESCO stands ready to assist. Bad journalism should never be used as an
excuse to denying freedom of expression," said Mogens Schmidt, a deputy
assistant director in the UN agency.

The ZMC said last week it would soon start licensing private newspapers as
part of reforms agreed by the power-sharing government.

Under Mugabe's ZANU-PF administration, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980, a state-appointed body used stringent media laws to police
the newspaper industry, forcing several titles to close.

Critics say the new media commission is moving slowly in its work at the
behest of ZANU-PF, a charge the organisation denies.

Fear that deadlines will be ignored

From The Cape Argus (SA), 26 March

With growing numbers of Movement for Democratic Change supporters being
arrested and the International Monetary Fund warning that Zimbabwe's banks
are increasingly fragile, the March 31 deadline which President Jacob Zuma
gave the leaders of Zimbabwe's unity government to finally sort out their
stalled 18 month-old power-sharing political agreement has become critical.
Zuma's visit to Zimbabwe last week brought the negotiators of President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC together
again for what Zimbabweans sorely hope is the last round of talks, to
produce a binding timetable for reforms in the unity government, which would
enable peaceful, free and fair fresh elections to be held. A mixture of
desperate hope and tired cynicism grips Zimbabwe now in the wake of Zuma's
intervention, as facilitator of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC). The media have been full of encouraging leaks about Zuma having
persuaded Mugabe at last to make real concessions, such as firing biased top
officials and appointing MDC ones. But Zimbabweans have also seen it all
before and are wary of allowing their hopes to rise too high. One
industrialist in Bulawayo, the largest employer in the city, said that his
model factory was on the brink of collapse as domestic demand had slumped
dramatically in the last three months. "We can't borrow money, the interest
rates are too high, and the whole economy is crashing around us." Although
only 20 percent of eligible Zimbabweans are formally employed, many more
formal jobs have been lost recently.

This week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington warned that
Zimbabwe's commercial banking sector had become shaky again after some
recovery following establishment of the unity government nearly 13 months
ago. It also recommended that the central bank's powers be diminished and
that it appoint a new and professional board of executors. Under the wholly
Zanu PF government before the unity government was established, the central
bank controlled the economy and printed so much money that inflation
ballooned to an unthinkable 500 billion percent. Human rights organisations
are reporting arrests of scores of MDC supporters trying to meet to discuss
a new constitution mainly in Zanu PF dominated rural areas in eastern and
central Zimbabwe. The negotiation of a new constitution is crucial to create
a level playing field for the elections, but it has been stalled. Tsvangirai
in meetings with MDC legislators last weekend criticised some of them for
lack of diligence in parliament. Last Thursday, after an intense meeting
with all the main leaders, Zuma announced they had agreed to implement the
power-sharing agreement which they signed in September 2008. They had agreed
to instruct their negotiators to meet this week and to report back to him by
March 31 on the details of how and when they intended to implement their
many outstanding commitments in the agreement.

The timetable must include enabling legislation for establishment of the
proposed Human Rights Commission. Its members have been approved by Mugabe
and Tsvangirai, but there are no laws for it to begin work. The long-awaited
Media Commission became functional last week and said it would license new
independent newspapers and radio stations. Zanu PF controls the only daily
newspapers, the only TV channel and all four radio stations. The new
independent electoral commission has been appointed and is backed by new
laws, but last month Mugabe took away the powers to run the elections from
MDC-controlled ministries and gave them to Zanu PF justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa. That decision, taken without consultation with Tsvangirai as it
should have been, is on the negotiating table. The South African mediation
team, acting on behalf of the SADC, recognises that political tensions are
still too high, particularly in some Zanu PF-dominated rural areas, for any
new elections now. A timetable to speed up political reconciliation and to
end selective arrests and prosecution of MDC supporters is also on the table
for negotiations. This will include negotiations for a new attorney-general
to replace Mugabe's biased appointee, Johannes Tomana, and perhaps also the
urgent repeal of existing laws which give police enormous powers to arrest
people exercising freedom of assembly rights.

There are other outstanding issues such as Mugabe's deployment of MDC
provincial governors. Mugabe appointed only Zanu PF personalities as
governors, even though the MDC won a narrow parliamentary victory in the
last elections in 2008, including a majority in several provinces. The
results of the negotiations this week will go via Zuma to the SADC's organ
on politics and security, the supervisor of the negotiations, to bind
Zimbabwe's partners in the power-sharing government to deliver on the
timetable they produce. Sources close to the negotiations, both in Harare
and South Africa, say processes towards negotiations for a new constitution
are bogged down and must be speeded up so that fresh elections are held
under a new constitution. The political agreement of September 2008 spelled
out a timetable for elections next year, which would follow a referendum on
a new constitution. Western diplomats have withheld aid for reconstruction
of Zimbabwe's largely collapsed infrastructure, such as railways and roads,
until the political agreement is delivered. "We are very depressed at the
situation. I fear that Zuma's deadlines will be ignored," one said. The EU
and US say they will not lift travel and financial restrictions against
about 200 Zanu PF leaders and some of their companies until substantial
political reforms are in effect. One political insider in Harare said he
feared that once the negotiators sat down to thrash out the details of the
timetable, they would, in the absence of any South African mediators to
crack the whip, reach a deadlock once again.

 

Mugabe's men grab prime Harare land

Minister, nephew pay peanuts for land worth millions - or just swap for it Mar 28, 2010 12:00 AM | By STANLEY GAMA and OWN CORRESPONDENT

---

Two prominent Zimbabweans have been implicated in an urban land-grab scandal involving prime property in Harare worth millions of US dollars.

---

BENEFICIARY: Minister of local government Ignatius Chombo

Resolved: 'To get stinking rich and blow the minds of my detractors!'

Local government minister Ignatius Chombo and flamboyant tycoon Phillip Chiyangwa, Robert Mugabe's nephew, have been named in a Harare City Council special investigation report which exposes how influential people irregularly acquired land from the municipality.

The special investigations committee's report on Harare's land sales, leases and exchanges, covering the period October 2004 to December 2009, names Chombo and Chiyangwa as some of the beneficiaries of land allegedly acquired corruptly from the Harare City Council.

The two are among those wealthy Zimbabweans whose sources of wealth are the subject of suspicion and controversy.

The minister owns dozens of houses, residential stands and commercial land in towns all over the country.

He owns up to 20 vehicles and trucks, tractors and loads of farming equipment.

Chiyangwa, a former MP and a Zanu-PF provincial chairman has a string of companies and arguably the most expensive private house in Zimbabwe.

His imposing mansion has 18 bedrooms, 25 lounges, nine servants' rooms, four balconies, 15 carports, three heliports and two swimming pools.

Chiyangwa, a property magnate who loves designer suits, has the most exclusive fleet of cars in the country, including a R4-million Bentley GTC Continental convertible.

Asked in 2007 to say what his New Year's resolution was, Chiyangwa replied: "To get stinking rich and blow the minds of my detractors!"

Chombo, one of the main beneficiaries of Mugabe's violent and chaotic land reform programme, is accused of unlawfully acquiring a prime piece of land in the up-market Harare suburb of Borrowdale.

Stand 61 Hellensvale measures almost 20ha. According to the report, the minister paid only US$2300 for it - a stand estimated to be worth at least US$2-million.

"The investigating team uncovered gross irregularities in the land allocations to Chombo during the period between 2007 and mid-2008," the report says.

"Minister Chombo acquired the stand irregularly since he did not follow council's laid-down procedures."

The report, presented this week to city fathers by councillor Warship Dumba, chairman of the special committee, says Chombo violated provisions of the Urban Council Act of 1996 in securing this land.

"The procedures were manipulated by the minister for his personal gain," the report says.

Chombo declined to comment, but later told state media that MDC councillors were out to tarnish his name with the accusations.

Chiyangwa, the report says, swapped land he owned for prime council land. A 2008 council resolution rescinded the swap - but officials went ahead with the deal. He could not be reached for comment.

Probe orders arrest of Phillip Chiyangwa

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:58

A special committee investigating the illegal and irregular sale of land by
the Harare City Council has recommended that property mogul Phillip
Chiyangwa be arrested for irregularly acquiring land in the capital.

Council appointed a special investigating committee chaired by Ward 17
councilor Warship Dumba to probe the illegal and irregular sale of land by
previous administrations.

In its 54 page report entitled Special Investigations Committees report on
City of Harare's Land Sales, Leases and Exchanges from the period October
2004 to December 2009 , the committee observed that there was no council
approval for all land acquired by Chiyangwa.

The report notes several cases where council procedures were flouted with
impunity.

Chiyangwa's Kilima Investments allegedly entered land swap deals with the
council in December 2007.

"The committee discovered with concern that Chiyangwa was given first
preference ahead of several applications received earlier.

"The committee also noted that the land was exchanged for salaries and two
Land Rover vehicles," reads the report.

In its recommendations the committee said the land exchange deal involving
Kilima Investments and HCC should be reversed and the land repossessed.

Dumba's committee said Chiyangwa and some council employees, in particular
finance director Cosmas Zvikaramba and director of urban planning services
Psychology Chiwanga, must be arrested for carrying out illegal transfers.

"Chiwanga and Chiyangwa must be reported to the police for stealing council
land and fraudulently writing powers of attorney to effect title changes
knowing well that the information they were giving was false," the report
stated.

Furthermore the committee recommended that the council must sue Chiyangwa
for the full payment for Odar farm which is along Simon Mazorodze road
"including the amount he should have paid before fraudulently altering
documents presented to council for processing."

The year 2001 was altered to read 2007 in the documents.

Controversial Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo is also accused in
the report of fraudulently acquiring multiple properties and council is in
the process of repossessing them.

Some of the councilors involved in the unmasking of this massive land fraud
now allege Chombo has engaged in dirty schemes to frame them for allegedly
dispossessing poor township tenants of council houses in a bid to portray
himself as a similar victim deserving protection from government.

The committee observed that contrary to council policy that an individual
must not get more than one residential property from council, Chombo
acquired vast tracks of land in his name and others in the name of companies
associated with him.

"It remains disturbing to note that minister Chombo would identify pieces of
land in the city, influence council officials to apply to him for change of
land use and then sit over the same applications and approve the changes.

"He would then write to council officials asking to buy the same stands and
obviously get them.
"Land reserved for recreational activities would end up having title deeds
in his company name," the report stated.

Former Harare mayor Sekesai Makwavarara was also sucked into the illegal
land deals.

The committee found out that although the council made a resolution to the
effect that all council rented houses were not to be sold until at a time
when more houses were built, Makwavarara abused her position and bought a
house in Highlands in contravention of the council resolution of 2002.

The committee recommended that the council should reposes the house sold to
Makwavarara because the sale was irregular as Makwavarara was not the
sitting tenant.

Chombo and Makwavarara were not available for comment but Chiyangwa
yesterday said the report was a "shame, a witchhunt which is full of
untruths, misinformation and misconceptions."

"It accuses Chombo, Mahachi, Makwavarara and me of being corrupt," he said.

"It will be foolhardy to give a comprehensive response when you know that
these are MDC councilors only and it is a city dominated by MDC councilors
going for political mileage against any Zanu PF supporter in their way."

He said in 2006 council asked him to pay its workers because it was broke
and also asked for Land Rovers for their surveying department in return for
land.

BY FELUNA NLEYA AND JENNIFER DUBE

Obert Mpofu’s property-buying spree raises eyebrows

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:54

AN alleged property-buying spree  by Mines minister Obert Mpofu (pictured)
has attracted the interest of a parliamentary committee investigating the
plunder of the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Mpofu who already owns one of the tallest buildings in Bulawayo –York
House – has reportedly been splashing thousands of dollars on high-value
properties in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo.

Information gleaned from various sources indicates that the parliamentary
portfolio committee on Mines and Energy is sweating to establish how the
minister allegedly acquired at least 27 properties in Victoria Falls alone
over the last few months.

The properties include a supermarket in Victoria Falls’ Chinotimba high
density suburb, three houses in a medium-density area, two cruise boats on
the Zambezi, five houses in Mkhosana high density suburb, three houses in
Chinotimba, two industrial stands, one large stand in Chisuma, one big
industrial stand next to Chinotimba stadium, four industrial stands on the
Airport road, and four medium density plots.

The purchases, which are said to have been done mostly in cash, are reported
to be valued in millions of dollars.

For the past two months, The Standard has been inundated with calls from
Victoria Falls residents who alleged that Mpofu was “taking over the town.”

Some of them even provided pictures of the properties that were allegedly
bought by Mpofu in cash.

Hwange West MP, Gift Mabhena said the alleged buying spree was the talk of
the town.

“People are just talking, but you cannot stop an individual from buying
property, but the way he is buying here is just unusual,” Mabhena said. “I
am told in all the transactions, he has been putting cash upfront, and it’s
big amounts involved.”

Zanu PF is also said to be making its own investigations but there was no
confirmation from the party.

Sources said the committee already has a dossier of some of the people
behind companies that were given licences by government to mine the precious
stones.

The background information shows that some of them were mercenaries,
ex-convicts and fraudsters.
On Friday, Mpofu refused to comment on the properties.

He initially gave his mobile phone to Media, Information and Publicity
Minister Webster Shamu, who gave it back to him after it was mentioned that
the matter was about Mpofu’s properties.

He then claimed to be in a meeting and demanded that questions be sent in
writing.

But in an interview with The Standard, three weeks ago, he described the
claims that he had purchased vast tracts of property as “absolute nonsense”.

Last week, Mpofu told the Chronicle newspaper that the allegations against
him were by elements that were benefiting from illegal diamond mining in
Chiadzwa.

“It is a known fact that I am a businessman and businessmen buy properties.
I do not want to talk about my business,” Mpofu was quoted as having said

“Everyone knows that I own York House in Bulawayo which is of higher value.

“Why should they be excited by the fact that I bought cheaper houses in a
high-density suburb?”

Mpofu said he would soon name and shame officials who “have been sponsoring
journalists in writing stories to vilify and demonise the ministry”.

Mpofu also owns a number of businesses in Bulawayo and is rumoured to be
behind the construction of a state of the art garage between Fourth Avenue
and Fife Street.

He is also one of the biggest ranchers in Matabeleland North.

The minister has been under scrutiny following revelations that some of the
directors at Mbada and Canadile – the two companies that were
controversially given licences to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa - had criminal
records.

However, when he appeared before the parliamentary committee Mpofu defended
their appointment saying it was impossible to get a “clean diamond
 investor.”

BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE

Harare council sued over pollution

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:09

THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) last week filed an urgent High
Court application to stop the City of Harare from using illegal trenches to
discharge raw sewage into Mukuvisi River, a tributary of the city's major
supply dam, Lake Chivero. Council is cited as the first respondent, while
Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi are named as the
second and third respondents respectively.
The case comes at a time when an outbreak of typhoid has reportedly affected
400 people, with some lives already having been lost in the high density
suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara.
In the papers filed on Thursday by Vimbai Nyemba of Harare law firm V Nyemba
and Associates, EMA accuses the local authority of "illegally discharging
untreated and raw sewage through an illegal and unlicensed trench".
The discharge subsequently flows into Mukuvisi River and to the already
heavily polluted lake.
In his founding affidavit, acting director of EMA's environment protection
department, Aaron Chigona said he was "convinced that an order inter alia
stopping respondent from discharging untreated sewage and from using
unlicensed outlets will save many lives and the environment".
Chigona said they feared "that there is going to be a fresh outbreak of
cholera and other related diseases.(because of) the continued discharge of
untreated sewage by the first respondent into drinking water sources".
"Cholera outbreak and diarrhoea also caused by poor hygiene habits and the
cholera pandemic which has not ended in Harare may sprout anew and cause
more deaths as it has done in the past," he said.
"If the matter is not treated as one of urgency, more cases of typhoid will
result and more deaths."
Chigona said in February, they received reports that the Firle Sewage
Treatment Plant in Glen View was discharging untreated waste into a Mukuvisi
tributary.
Their attempt to inspect the alleged effluent discharge on February 8 was
blocked.
They finally managed to carry out an inspection on February 10, and
established that "an illegal, unlined, deliberately-dug trench was diverting
sewage into a river bypassing the designated and licensed" outlet at Firle.
Some enterprising residents have reportedly set up a vegetable garden which
is irrigated by the sewage effluent.
One inspector Tapiwa Munezvenyu then served the council with an order and
ticket for illegal discharge.
He said "sewage discharge has become a health hazard", adding "if this
matter is not dealt with urgently, uncontrollable diseases are obviously
going to spread like veld fires and take more lives".
Further inspections at Mabvuku, Hatfield and Crowbrough Sewage Works on
March 12 "showed that waste water treatment in Harare is not being done to
required standards".
"The pollution as outlined is a serious violation of the law and it also
threatens human health and endangers human life surrounding ecosystems.
"If the respondent is allowed to continue to illegally divert raw sewage
into sources of drinking water, the people of Harare will continue to suffer
from diseases."
This, according to the papers, exposes residents to "a deadly hazard and it
is not just a potential threat but it has already started taking lives".
"People have already started to die from these water borne diseases and I
believe it is in this honourable court's authority to order the responsible
authorities to act as matter of urgency to protect the public and the
country," said Chigona.
Chigona adds that this could also affect the country's tourism industry as
"tourists will not come to Zimbabwe during the World Cup for fear of the
water borne diseases".
Mahachi said he "will act accordingly once I see the papers".
"But from what you are telling me, I think these people are not getting
their facts correctly," said Mahachi. "Do they know the areas affected by
the typhoid outbreak.
"Mabvuku is upstream and nothing from Mukuvisi flows into that area."
Chairperson of council's Environmental Management Committee Herbert Gomba
said the cases in Mabvuku were caused by water from unprotected sources.

BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE AND JENNIFER DUBE

Outrage as Zanu PF shields child rapist

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:05

ZANU PF officials at Hopley Farm are allegedly shielding a political
activist from justice after he raped a 13-year-old girl at the compound. The
girl said she has been raped three times since January and after each abuse
the man would threaten her with death.
"Each time he raped me he would threaten me with death," said the girl
fighting back tears. "At times he would give me some sweets (lollipops)
after raping me."
She said the man would use a knife and "knuckle duster" to threaten her.
On seeing her child weeping during the interview, the victim's mother also
started shedding tears.
"He (accused) has destroyed the future of my child," she wept. "I was hoping
that she would also get married and raise  her own family. Now who will she
marry?
The mother, who survives on vending, said the man took advantage of the fact
her family was poor and would lure the child with small gifts.
The matter came to light a fortnight ago after the man was seen trying to
rape the minor at his lodgings. He escaped through the window.
Medical records from Harare Hospital Family Support Unit indicate that the
girl, who only went as far as Grade Two at Porta Farm Primary School before
her family was displaced by Operation Murambatsvina, was raped.
"(She) was sexually abused on 12 and 14 January 2010. Now C/0 genital
itchiness and vaginal thrush," read the records dated March 18 2010.
An initial HIV/Aids test carried by the same health institution was not
conclusive and another one would be done in June.  Pregnancy tests were
negative. The man never used a condom, the girl said.
Residents who spoke to The Standard alleged that Zanu PF activists were
working in cahoots with police at the Waterfalls camp to cover up the crime.
The abuse was first reported to a local Zanu PF "base" (farm house) which
doubles as a "police post" in the compound.
But instead of arresting the accused, the victim was allegedly severely
assaulted with sjamboks by the  youth militia who demanded that she changes
her statement.
The girl, who is now complaining of a backache, said she was assaulted by
the base commander a Mr Gono who is also a member of the neighbourhood watch
committee, and a woman named Winfred Chisiri popularly knowns as "Blake".
After the assault the girl was stripped naked for a virginity test.
Gono on Thursday vehemently denied that he assaulted the girl and that he
was shielding the accused from justice.
"I did not assault her. I was only trying to help. You two (mother and
daughter) are liars. Where were you when your daughter was being raped?
Wanga urikukachasu (You were drinking illicit beer)," ranted Gono who became
abusive.
He added in Shona, "It was found out she (raped girl) already has a big
vagina, bigger than that of a mature woman. That was not her first time to
have sex."
Gono said there were at least 17 cases of rape recorded at the crowded
compound and has assisted some of the victims.
"If you want we can go door-to-door and I will point to you several men who
are married to young girls of below 16 years of age. There are several of
these cases here," he said.
Blake's husband, Tangayi Takaruza accused the mother of the girl of trying
to protect relatives who also raped the girl.
"Our investigations have revealed that this girl was raped by at least three
people, including the mother's relative. She was never assaulted or forced
to change her statement," said Takaruza, who  defended his wife.
However, both mother and daughter stuck to their story in front of Takaruza
insisting  it was Gono and Chisiri, who tried to force her to change the
statement.
Other residents also confirmed that there were several cases of rape
involving young girls at the compound, which houses victims of government's
clean up campaign carried out five years ago.
The matter was reported to Waterfalls Police Station (CR 201/03/2010) but
there has been no joy.
A Sergeant Usaihwevu of Waterfalls, who is handling the matter, became
abusive when questioned why the accused had not been arrested despite the
fact that he was always at the compound.
"That is not the only case I am dealing with," she said. "Iyo nyaya yerape
inoshamisira chii? (What so special about being raped?). In any case, I won't
be around for two weeks I will be manning a tollgate somewhere."
She later switched off her mobile phone.
One Assistant Inspector Chikadaya of Waterfalls said police arrest anybody
who commits a crime. "We arrest anybody found wanting even Gono himself.
"The problem is that Gono is a member of the neighbourhood watch committee
and some of these people are not trained."
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka referred all
questions to another police spokesperson, Andrew Phiri, who could not be
reached for comment.

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

Newsanalysis: Tsvangirai reform agenda faces Zanu PF resistance

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:04

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has cobbled up an ambitious plan that might
see government relaxing draconian media and security laws by the end of the
year but analysts say its success is threatened by hardliners in Zanu PF who
are determined to preserve the status quo. The government work plan for this
year, which Tsvangirai's office indicated would be launched in parliament
this week, also proposes monitoring mechanism for the performance of cabinet
ministers.
Tsvangirai also commits government to conclude the constitution-making
process and to strengthen the national healing programme as well as urgent
reforms that promote free and fair elections.
Under the plan, the government will introduce at least 17 amendments to laws
including the notorious Public Order and Security Act and repeal the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act used to ban critical newspapers
and journalists.
Ai ppa would be replaced by the proposed Freedom of Information Act and the
Media Practitioners Act.
President Robert Mugabe has used the draconian legislation, most of it
inherited from the colonial regimes, to extend his power and to ruthlessly
silence his opponents.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, John Makumbe said the
success of Tsvangirai's plan hinged on the outcome of the penultimate
negotiations between the three governing parties that must be concluded by
tomorrow.
Zanu PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change formations have been
given a Monday  (tomorrow) deadline to conclude the long running
negotiations on the outstanding issues from their power sharing agreement.
The disputes centered on the allocation of key posts and the status of
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and MDC's
choice of deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett has retarded the
transitional government's reform agenda.
"It will be a real battle because I forsee Zanu PF resisting these changes
because they will diminish the party's power," he said.
"But if they are introduced through parliament, Zanu PF will lose the battle
because MDC-M is likely to fight in Tsvangirai's corner.
"However, a lot depends on what is going to happen in the GPA talks that end
on Monday. If the changes that Tsvangirai is proposing are covered by the
agreements reached in the talks there should be no problem."
He said what could complicate things for Tsvangirai was that most of the
legislative changes affected Zanu PF ministers who have tried to undermine
Tsvangirai's authority since the formation of the unity government last
year.
The Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity under Webster Shamu, the
Zanu PF political commissar is seen as one of the biggest outposts of
resistance to change as illustrated by officials who have tried to prevent
the Zimbabwe Media Commission from fulfilling its mandate of licencing new
newspapers.
Brilliant Mhlanga, a Zimbabwean academic based at the University of
Westminster in the United Kingdom said the fact that Tsvangirai wanted to
use the Council of Ministers (CoM) to push the reforms might prove to be his
undoing.
Tsvangirai chairs the CoM, which is responsible for policy formulation in
the inclusive government.  Mhlanga said the body's authority was being
overstated.
"It is clear that the structure called the CoM was in fact, created simply
to present conditions of pretence," he said.
"It presents Tsvangirai with certain powers with one hand and then takes
them away with the other.
"It is indeed, a clear statement of hoodwinking the international community
into blindly seeing those changes which they wish to see as happening, when
nothing is actually changing. It is a situation of a difference that remains
the same."
Zimbabwe is preparing for an election next year and electioneering might
also derail the legislative agenda.
The International Crisis Group, a global organisation led by retired
statesmen, in its latest report warns that Zimbabwe is facing political and
security risks that might scuttle the current transition.
It says the military and other Mugabe loyalists are using their symbiotic
relationship with the state apparatus to exercise veto power over the
reformists.

BY KHOLWANI NYATHI

 

No respite in Anglican feud

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 20:03

MOLLY Mudiwa (54) is a bitter woman. She is a strong Christian, but this
time Mudiwa believes she has no option but to let go of her values. Instead
of spending her Sundays and Thursdays worshipping, Mudiwa now spends them
mostly fighting the police and parishioners from a rival faction in her
Anglican church.
"We have tried to preserve the Christian values but these people have pushed
us too far," Mudiwa said. "We are now fighting and we will fight until this
mess is sorted out."
Flashback to 1986, when then 24-year-old Mudiwa and other enthusiastic young
women would steal money and bricks from their husbands to contribute towards
the building of the St Columbus Anglican Church in Kuwadzana.
"Those were the days," now-widowed Molly says wistfully. "Those were the
days when every member of our church worked together to advance the
Christian values.
"Those were the days before politicians and the police came and planted the
wrong seeds of divisions in our church."
For the past two years, Mudiwa and hundreds of other parishioners hold their
sermons under trees, in the open, in hired community halls or other churches'
premises.
In 2007, their former leader, Bishop Nolbert Kunonga withdrew from the
parent organisation, the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) to
form his own church.
Kunonga, who was later excommunicated from the church, also unsuccessfully
tried to withdraw all Anglicans in Zimbabwe from the CPCA.
The Zanu PF aligned bishop then resorted to denying parishioners access to
the church's properties.
"It is painful that after sacrificing so much building the church, we
sometimes get drenched in the rain worshipping from the open while our
church remains locked but empty," Mudiwa said. "We are forced to ask for
toilet facilities and water from neighbouring houses and we are made to pay
for that yet we have our facilities within the church premises."
She said a recent baby welcome service was held in the open, exposing the
newly borns to bad weather. Her group also struggles to get facilities for
weddings and funeral services.
Kunonga and his followers have allegedly disobeyed several court orders
issued to create co-existence between the two groups. The latest order to be
defied was issued earlier this month by High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri
Bhunu restoring access to the church's properties by CPCA members.
Last week, women's gatherings and Sunday services were disrupted in
Kuwadzana and Budiriro.
Mudiwa said the police and Kunonga's people sometimes followed them wherever
they would be worshipping to provoke them.
Mudiwa says the fight was no longer just  between them and the controversial
bishop but also with the police.
"I have been arrested together with a number of my colleagues and charged
with public nuisance for worshipping God," Never Saruchera a former church
warden in Kuwadzana said. "What worries us is that the police always arrest
CPCA members only.
"Some of the pastors ordained by Kunonga who are now terrorising us are
young boys who grew up under our care.
"It is painful that politicians have found it well to turn our children
against us."
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena dismissed accusations that police
disrupt CPCA services.
"Those people will be fighting and as police, we only intervene to restore
order," he said. "We do not have any reason whatsoever to be near any church
but when people breach the law, we do not seek invitation to the scene, we
just intervene whether they like it or not.
"In the Kuwadzana and Budiriro cases, those people actually attacked police
officers."
With the help of youths from the area, women attending their Thursday
meeting allegedly beat up a police officer during last week's clashes.
Kunonga was said  to be out of the country last week. Promises to call back
later made on his behalf by his wife Agatha were also not fulfilled.
CPCA's reverends Wilfred Zhuwankinyu of St Paul's in Highfield and Augustine
Dizara of St Columbus said Kunonga was irked that his bid to drag the church
into politics flopped. They said he was lying that they supported
homosexuality and the MDC, as people who come to church are members of the
community at large - including senior members of Zanu PF and the MDCs.

BY JENNIFER DUBE
 

Malnutrition ravages rural Mberengwa

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:28

MBERENGWA - Her skin has thickened and cracked. It has no sign of moisture
in it. It looks like a parched piece of earth with little molehills of rash.
She says it's itchy and burning and the lesions ooze pus. She complains of
diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and poor appetite. It is these  conditions that
have led to her severe malnutrition.
The doctor says she shows signs of confusion, has headaches and experiences
depression, disorientation, anxiety and tremors.
She suffers from a debilitating condition called pellagra - that means she
has not eaten   enough  of healthy grains, meat, fish, milk and eggs for a
long time.
Its progression comes in 4Ds - diarrhoea, dermatitis, dementia and death.
Nancy Kwaramba* cuddles her two-year-old emaciated son in her arms as she
lies on a hospital bed. The doctor expects the worst for both mother and
child.
Nancy, who recently tested HIV-positive, suffers from pellagra, a disease
caused by poor nutrition, particularly lack of vitamin B3.
She had to be admitted at Musume Mission Hospital together with her son who
is also severely malnourished.
Doctors suspect he too is HIV positive and they are concerned by the
condition of the two who appear to have sought medical attention when their
conditions had already deteriorated badly.
With his tiny  spindly legs and distended tummy, Kwaramba's son looks like a
five-month-old yet he is nearly two.
He weighs just 8 kg.
"We have a very severe case of malnutrition in both mother and child which
has been presented to us very late," Ngaavongwe Manyere, one of the doctors
manning the mission hospital, told journalists recently.
"We have had to admit both mother and child and there are now on the
hospital's therapeutic feeding programme but I fear the worst for both
mother and child."
As a result of the perennial rainfall deficit in Mberengwa and the frequent
food shortages, malnutrition is becoming a worrying phenomenon.
A massive crop failure this season already spells more doom for the
nutritional challenges in the district.
In response to the growing cases of malnutrition in the district and other
dry regions, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) last year launched
a therapeutic feeding scheme at the hospital.
Since the introduction of the programme, Musume has admitted at least 52
people suffering from malnutrition between July last year and this month.
More than half of them were children.
The hospital also helps 106 people in the district through an outreach
programme supported by Unicef.
Thenjiwe Mhere, the nurse in charge of the nutritional supplementary feeding
programme said most susceptible children were HIV-positive.
"We have noticed that most of these children are orphans who have been left
in the care of their grandmothers who fail to realise early that these
children have a problem," Mhere said
"Mberengwa is a dry region and that is the reason why we have many of these
diseases like kwashiorkor and pellagra that are related to nutritional
deficiencies.
"We are worried because we have a very high case-load at a time when we have
just come out of the planting season.
"It's a sign that we have a huge food crisis ahead of us."
Although locals told The Standard that humanitarian organisation Care
International had begun distributing food relief, they complained that the
process to choose beneficiaries had not been transparent. They allege food
is being distributed along political party lines. Headmen are known to be
members of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF - by choice or coercion.
"The responsibility to choose beneficiaries of the food aid was given to the
headmen and many of the people who were given food can hardly be said to be
poor," complained one care-giver who refused to be named for fear of
victimisation
"We have orphans living on their own and widows who were left alone.
"Food relief organisations should work with local non-governmental
organisations involved with vulnerable groups in their community so that we
can recommend to them who really needs food aid."
According to the International Red Cross Society of Zimbabwe at least two
million Zimbabweans will need food aid this year because of poor harvests.
Unicef country representative, Peter Salama said the UN and government were
closely monitoring the situation.
"We are certainly concerned about the food security situation especially in
the five provinces that have had prolonged dry spells," said Salama
"Of course whenever there is food insecurity, children are the most
vulnerable to its effects, including malnutrition.
"With our UN partners and government we will continue monitoring the
situation.
"We will have a food and crop situation assessment in April and then we will
be in a better position to respond to the needs."

BY BERTHA SHOKO

Hopley residents bemoan neglect

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:26

UNRUFFLED by wiggling worms and tadpoles, Rosemary Ndawana plunges her  tin
into the shallow well to fetch water for drinking and other household
chores. Less than 10 metres away, one of her neighbours is having a bath in
a grass toilet-cum-bathroom enclosure.
"We are surviving by the grace of God," said the 34-year-old mother of
three. "We know some effluent might be seeping into this well but we don't
have any choice."
Only one borehole is supplying water to Hopley Farm, some 15 km south of
Harare, where Ndawana's family and 5 000 other households were "resettled"
after their homes were demolished by government in May 2005 under Operation
Murambatsvina (Restore Order).
At times Unicef provides clean water to a mobile clinic and a local crèche
in an effort to avoid the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
There has not been much government-assisted development since the families
were resettled at Hopley Farm.
Some of the temporary structures built by non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and President Robert Mugabe's government under Operation Garikai are
already collapsing.
Most of the families still cannot access running water or health facilities.
They queue for long hours to get medication at the only mobile clinic.
Some families have built Blair toilets but most residents prefer to use the
"bush system" for fear that the poorly built mud-brick toilets would
collapse on them.
The tall green grass around the compound is always plastered with menacing
green flies, hunting for any rotting matter to feed on.
"The government has condemned us to death here, you can see for yourself,"
said health promoter Eunah Maruta. "It is a miracle that few people died of
cholera last year."
Maruta, who works at the local mobile clinic at Hopley, said scores of
people were dying of HIV/Aids-related diseases in the compound.
Dysentery, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and sexually transmitted diseases such
syphilis are rampant at Hopley where 90% of the residents are very poor,
said Maruta.
"We are worried because of the number of sexually-transmitted infections
(STIs) that are being treated at the local clinic. Some of the infected
would be as young as 15 years," she said.
She said children as young as 10 were already sexually active because most
of them do not go to school and spend their time indulging in delinquent
activities.
Teenage girls share bedrooms with their brothers, cousins and other
relatives because of the shortage of accommodation.
Hopley Residents Association chairlady Felistus Chinyuku bemoaned the future
of children at the compound, which has virtually turned into a squatter
camp, where vices such as prostitution, rape and muggings are common.
"The future of our children is at stake," said Chinyuku. "They don't go to
school and they spend most of their time engaged in all sorts of immoral
behaviour."
Some of the rape cases go unreported to the police for fear of
victimisation, especially if the perpetrators have close links with Zanu PF
officials residing at the compound.
Many women have been raped in silence while young girls are abused by the
"haves" of Hopley for food - some just for a loaf of bread.
An undertaker, Samson Kazembe (34) last week started a school at the
compound to accommodate children who are not attending formal schools.
Although recruitment is still in the process Rising Star School which
conducts lessons under a shade  of a tree has 351 pupils from the Grade Zero
to Grade VII.
"Most of these children don't have birth certificates while others cannot
afford fees charged by other schools," said Kazembe, a former untrained
school teacher, who doubles as the headmaster of the school.
The pupils do not have books, pencils or uniforms, he said, appealing to
well-wishers to donate in cash or kind for the future of the pupils.
When The Standard news crew visited the compound on Wednesday morning scores
of residents were already downing bottled beer and the popular opaque beer
(Scud) at the many shebeens at the compound.
Some were dancing the morning away to the loud music.  "We have nothing to
do that is why we are here," said Abel Mutendi. "If I had something to do, I
would not be here."
Most of the residents make a living out of vending. Some sell vegetables and
firewood while others sell groceries in wooden tuckshops.
However, residents are unhappy that government appears to have abandoned
them since "dumping" them there almost five years ago.
Maxwell Joe, the secretary of the residents association said they were
informed by officials from the Ministry of Local Government late last year
that government was no longer able to build houses for them.
"But the ministry wants everyone with a stand to pay US$50 per year and
US$35 per month for those with two-roomed structures."
He said most of the residents could not afford the levy demanded by the
ministry.
Efforts to get comment from Minister of National Housing Fidelis Mhashu were
fruitless last week as he was said to be out of the country on business.
However, a senior official in Mhashu's ministry, which has taken over the
Garikai project from the Ministry of Local Government, said government was
still committed to finding shelter for the victims of Operation
Murambatsvina.
"It (programme) has been stalled briefly because of logistical problems,"
said the official who requested anonymity. "There is still some
hand-over-take-over exercise that has to be done."
After the destruction of people's homes, Mugabe's government embarked on
Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, a programme intended to provide housing and
premises for small business for the affected people.
But nearly five years on, most of the structures built countrywide remain
incomplete and some land is un-serviced.
The United Nations estimated that 700 000 people across the country lost
their homes, their livelihoods or both as a result of Operation
Murambatsvina, which was condemned internationally.

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

Prominent lawyer Robert ‘Bob’ Stumbles dies

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:24

ROBERT “ Bob” Stumbles was born on the September 1 1934 in Salisbury to Mary
and the Honorable Albert Rubidge Washington Stumbles, former Speaker of
Parliament and Minister of Lands and Roads in Southern Rhodesia. He studied
at St Georges College before proceeding to Rhodes University where he
studied for a Bachelor of Arts. He later studied for a Master of Arts at the
University of Oxford. In his youth, Bob represented Southern Rhodesian at
athletics.

On the April 30 1960, he married Pamela-Anne Mason. The couple was blessed
with two sons and a daughter. In 1960, Bob joined his father’s legal
practice, Stumbles and Rowe.

He was appointed partner in 1966 then rose to senior partner in 1988 until
his semi-retirement in 1999. From then until his untimely death, he served
as a consultant in various capacities such as attorney, notary and
conveyancer, consultant and notary public for the Malawian legal practice
Sacraine, Gow and Company.

Bob’s journey in service began in the late 60s when he joined Number 1 Round
Table in Salisbury, where he met with a number of future Harare Central
Presidents, namely Alan Aschmann and John Meyburgh.

He was President of his club in the early 70s President of the Association
of Round Tables in Central Africa.
In 1973-74, Bob served as president of the World Council of Young Men’s
Service Clubs.

On the March 23 1977, Robert Stumbles was inducted into the Rotary Club of
Salisbury Central, which he led as president in 1979- 80.

From then until his elevation to excused absence and later honorary
membership, he served in various positions in Rotary International Districts
925, 9250 and 9210, notably as Chairman of the Legal Advice and Resolutions
Committee. Bob was conferred with a Paul Harris Fellowship Award in 1988.

Bob was a staunch Anglican. Between 1971 and 1990, he served as Registrar
and Legal Advisor of the Anglican Diocese of Salisbury (later Harare). In
1989, he was appointed Deputy Provincial Chancellor for the Anglican Church
of the Province of Central Africa, before rising to Chancellor, a position
he held until his demise.

He was also Chancellor for the Anglican Diocese of Harare from 1990 until
his untimely death.
Robert Stumbles held directorship of several companies, both public and
private.

Companies he was Chairman include: British Airways Zimbabwe, Gulliver
Consolidated, Stone Holdings I Conforzi Tea and Tobacco Estates Limited of
Malawi and JR Gobey and Sons (Private) Limited. He also served as Executive
Member of St John’s Ambulance Association and the Zimbabwe Games and
Lotteries Board.

Bob was member, founder member, trustee and chair of several societies and
associations.. He was Chairman of the Dorothy Duncan Centre, the Zimbabwe
IYDP committee, Beit Trust representative boards for Zimbabwe, Malawi and
Zambia, Round Table Race Relations Endowment Trust, Golden keys Foundation
National Pledge Association, National Unity Association, National
Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped and National Trust
of Zimbabwe.

Bob was a member of the Outward Bound Council, the Advisory Board of
Salvation Army, Honorary Life member of the Association of Round Tables in
Central Africa and the Round Table Joint Venture Club, founder and vice
president of the National Paraplegic Association and Associate Member of the
Zimbabwe Institute of Patent and Trademark Agents.

Robert Stumbles was conferred with the following awards: Joint Recipient of
the Jaycees Outstanding Young Persons award in 1971, Serving Brother of the
Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1988, Order of Epiphany in 1999 and
American International Research Man of the Year 2006.

Kidney treatment too costly for the poor

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:46

PATIENTS diagnosed with chronic kidney failure require about US$1 800 for
dialysis a month for the rest of their lives. Dialysis in the private sector
costs about US$150 per session.
A person requires at least three sessions a week, which adds up to about
US$450 a week.
By month end the patient would have used a staggering US$1 800 minus the
cost of other medications needed to stabilise the condition.
If this is not reason enough for one to take good care of these valuable
organs then nothing is, according to kidney specialist Dr Martin Odwee.
He was speaking at the official opening of a Haemodialysis Unit at the
Avenues Clinic on Thursday.
Odwee, who is the head of the Parirenyatwa Renal Unit and a consultant at
the Avenues Clinic, said where affordability is not an issue, a person with
chronic kidney failure can live for more than 20 years on dialysis.
"When one requires dialysis it means their body can longer perform the
natural function of extracting waste from their body and the dialysis
machine performs that function for them otherwise the waste would build up
inside their bodies and cause illness," he explained.
"They will die if they do not get dialysis but if they do they can live for
more than 20 years through this artificial cleansing system.
"I have a patient of mine who has lived for that long with her condition."
But the reality on the ground is that many patients in need of dialysis or
any other specialist care in Zimbabwe have resigned to early death because
of the inhibitive costs.
At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the dialysis costs about US$80 a session.
For the three sessions this means that they have to fork out US$240 a week
and about U$1 000 a month.
"The world over the cost of maintaining kidney patients is extremely high;
we are looking at between US$30 000 to US$50 000 a year per patient and
because of these high costs our advice is taking good care of your kidneys
while you can," Odwee said.
He said at least one in 10 people in Zimbabwe were prone to kidney related
diseases while those that are diabetic and hypertensive have more chances of
suffering kidney failure.
Health and Child Welfare Minister, Henry Madzorera also lamented the cost of
dialysis for kidney patients.
He said although the private sector continues to offer alternative medical
care for Zimbabweans in the wake of the collapse of the public health system
there was need for the institutions to make their services more affordable.
"The cost of dialysis at US$150 per session remains unaffordable to many,
especially considering that a patient generally requires about three
sessions per week," said Madzorera.
"We must continue as a nation to examine ways of making dialysis accessible
to the poor and under-privileged among us, even in the private sector.
"This is work in progress but together we will make it happen."
The dialysis unit at Avenues Clinic has 10 machines, five for HIV-negative
patients and three for those who are HIV-positive.
Another unit will be on standby for patients with hepatitis.
One machine will be on standby for critically ill patients at the hospital's
Intensive Care Unit.
With the collapse of the health sector over the years many people requiring
dialysis have been forced into the private sector.
But for the majority the high cost of care has meant an early death.

BY BERTHA SHOKO

Guruve farmers defy drought

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:42

WHEN life became really tough, Mbuya Erica Chirimanyemba's husband deserted
her and went to live in Dande, leaving her to battle with perennial droughts
in the Mashonaland Central District of Guruve.

For eight years, Mbuya Chirimanyemba went through all sorts of struggles to
make ends meet and get food on the table for her orphaned grandson.
The youngster had already dropped out of school and his 60-year-old
grandmother clearly could not do anything to help the situation.
Repeated appeals for her husband, Lameck Chirimanyemba, to return home from
Dande did not yield anything.
At her age, it was easy and understandable for Chirimanyemba to just give
up, sit back and wait for handouts from donors and well-wishers.
But she did not. Instead, she worked harder than ever before. Her first few
years without a husband were very difficult, but Chirimanyemba soldiered on.
Her "breakthrough" finally came in 2007 when a local non-governmental
organisation introduced her to conservation agriculture - a way of farming
that involves zero tillage to boost output from a small piece of land.
"My husband only came back last year when he heard how successful I had
become as a farmer," said Chirimanyemba.
"My grandson has also gone back to school. Things are working for me now.
"In the 2008/2009 farming season, I got 35 bags of maize.
"This time I am expecting not less than 50 bags. I have no doubt this year I
will get my biggest harvest ever."
Mbuya Chirimanyemba is one of the 10 000 small-scale farmers in Guruve
district who are currently receiving inputs support from the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), through its European Union Global
Food Facility.
The scheme currently benefits close to 200 000 small-scale farmers across
the country.
"It does not help to just sit back and say we are old, we cannot do
anything.
"Everyone knows that this place is very hot, but if we really commit
ourselves, we can do something," said Mbuya Chirimanyemba.
Her husband, Lameck  only returned home last year after a deserting the
family for eight years.
Although Guruve is generally known to be a dry area, the farmers' woes have
been compounded by changing climatic conditions.
The head of Mavhunga Village, Teddy Chihoko said it was becoming more and
more difficult for them to plan ahead because the rains had become erratic.
"These days it is difficult to tell when the rains will start," said
Chihoko.
"In the last few years we have been using it, this conservation agriculture
programme has proven to be very useful in helping farmers prepare on time.
"It has helped us a lot to develop as a community and to fight poverty."
However, Chihoko said the programme still faced challenges as some
beneficiaries sold their donations to other farmers who may have received
nothing or little.
Leviticus Mashange, the district agricultural extension officer for Guruve,
said there were still many challenges convincing farmers to adopt
conservation agriculture methods instead of relying heavily on draught
power.
"All we are doing is to complement the farmers' effort, enlightening them on
the importance of conservation farming; how it helps them overcome problems
of lack of implements," said Mashange.
Judas Phiri, the district supervisor for the Sustainable Agriculture Trust
(SAT), which is implementing the project on behalf of the FAO and EU, said
agricultural output for this farming season was much higher for those
farmers who used conservation farming compared to those who used draught
power.
"We are trying to tell them that everybody can get a higher yield if they
plant on time," said Phiri.
"Those who are not in the programme (of conservation farming) planted late.
By the time they finished planting, our crops were already at knee height."
A former white commercial farmer who now works as a consultant for the
project, Ian Henderson, said initially there was widespread resistance to
the new methods, but the number of those who embrace them continues to grow.
He said they were expecting each of the farmers to harvest an average of one
and half tonnes per hectare.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made last month said 11% of this season's maize
crop was a write off but analysts say Zimbabwe is facing a much bigger food
crisis due to poor rainfall and lack of inputs.

BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE

RBZ reform a priority for IMF funding

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:37

ZIMBABWE has reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
on a set of policy actions which if fulfilled will result in the global
lender revamping the central bank among other institutions. An assessment of
the economy by the IMF team, which was in the country for the routine annual
Article IV consultation shows that the global lender had recommended the
adoption of a raft of measures that would lead to negotiations on the Staff
Monitored Programme (SMP) during the next meeting in June.
The IMF team, led by Vitaliy Kramarenko, was in the country from March 3-17.
The measures include the appointment and operationalisation of a credible
supervisory board of the central bank and ring fencing the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's settlement account to ensure that normal banking transactions
cannot be intercepted.
The mission has also recommended the abolition of statutory reserves to
improve the liquidity in the financial sector.
Its recommendation comes after observations last year that the central bank
was tapping into statutory reserves to run its operations.
In January, RBZ governor Gideon Gono slashed the statutory reserves to five
percent of incremental liabilities from 10% of total liabilities.
The measures include a plan to reduce the huge wage bill by 15% by 2011.
The wage bill could be reduced through elimination of ghost workers, illegal
hires, freezing of recruitments and below inflation wage increases in 2011
and 2012.
"The 2011 projections see an increase in employment costs by $200m, so a 15%
reduction over 2010 levels means $338 in savings over the baseline," it
said.
"Probably $55m to $85m can come from elimination of ghost workers, but
firing illegally hired or under qualified workers will be politically and
legally difficult."
It said the rest will have to come from a stop in recruitment (US$70 million
assuming 4% a year attrition rates) and "a freeze in salaries at 2010 levels
for the next two years".
The plan advises Zimbabwe to stop additional drawdown on the Special Drawing
Rights over and above the planned US$210 million.
"It is clear that the prospect of an SMP is already proving useful in
providing a compass to macroeconomic policy at a crucial juncture," it said.
"If as we hope the June mission will be in a position to start negotiations
on SMP, the requirement for an indication of a positive vote at the board
for an ECF (Extended Credit Facility) will present us with a dilemma."
It said that ECF is not dissimilar from direct support to the budget, and is
unlikely that the current uncertainties will allow a clear indication even
if conditional to an SMP.
"On the other hand, there is a risk of Zimbabwe losing the benefits of
policy dialogue with the IMF, with the additional danger of Zanu PF linking
shareholders caution to 'sanctions' and scoring another propaganda coup," it
said.
The team noted that new capital is unlikely to come into the financial
sector because of the current political uncertainties.
It said that "as banks have seen their statutory reserves raided by the
central bank they have no cushion of liquidity available to face a bank run
or even maintain current levels of lending".
"Special Drawing Rights represent the only foreign reserves that Government
of Zimbabwe can turn to in a crisis," it said.

BY NDAMU SANDU

Norfund withholds US$1,5m investment

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:34

THE Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) has called
off its proposed US$1,5 million in the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe in
response to the empowerment regulations in another blow for the economy.

Under the proposed investment, Norfund was supposed to take up a third of
the issued share capital and would have exited after more than five years.
The gazetting of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Regulations by
Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere in January has caused anxiety
among prospective investors.
"The recent announcement of the regulations for the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Act have led to Norfund putting on hold any equity
investments and long-term lending to companies in Zimbabwe," it said.
"This includes the planned investments in the financing of the agricultural
sector."
It said it would always be a minority shareholder which favours the
Zimbabwean concept of a controlling shareholding by locals but has
reservations on the regulations.
"The way the Act regulates the way shareholders dispose of their
shareholding, creates challenges both in terms of governance, fairness and
commercial structure," Norfund said.
Norfund said it had been considering a long-term investment in a Zimbabwean
company that provides financing for agricultural production in food crops,
mainly maize and wheat.
"The project was meant to contribute positively in this situation and to
contribute on a long-term basis both to food security and employment of farm
workers," it said.
Elin Ersdal, head of department (Direct Investments) said Norfund "would go
ahead with the investment if the Indigenisation Regulations were to be
dropped".
Norfund's Kjartan Stigen led a delegation of four Nordic development
financial institutions that came to Zimbabwe last year to scout for
investment opportunities.
The mission was made up of representatives from four Nordic countries
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
The team had Stigen, Jaakko Kangasniemi representing Finnfund, Lena Algerin
(Swedfund) and Kim Gredsted from Danish firm Industrial for Developing
Countries.

BY NDAMU SANDU

Mimosa rises from the ruins of Shabanie Mine

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:28

WHEN one man falls, another one rises. This aptly sums the situation in
Zvishavane today where, after the fall of the town's "founding father",
Shabanie Mine, another big firm is taking control of the mining town.
Located 32 km out of Zvishavane's central business district, platinum miner,
Mimosa Mining Company has virtually taken over the "father" status from
Shabanie Mine which continues to sink into oblivion.
The asbestos mine, is an example of a government attempt on nationalisation
that has gone awry.
Ever since government grabbed Shabanie from its previous owners, SMM
Holdings owned by exiled businessman Mutumwa Mawere in 2004, the decline has
been irreversible.
But on approaching Mimosa, a only stone's throw from the asbestors mine, one
is greeted by the sound of a crusher, which runs 24-hours on end despite the
erratic power supplies dogging industry and households at large.
"We are among companies participating in the power-import deal with the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) Holdings," Mimosa managing
director Winston Chitando says.
Under the deal sealed at the height of the economic hardships in the
country, participating companies import power directly from external
suppliers.
Mimosa consumes 20 MWh every day, all of which is imported from Mozambique's
Hydro Cahorra Bassa.
Chitando said the company invested a lot in solar power to cushion itself
from Zesa blackouts which also affect it despite the deal.
On arrival at Mimosa premises, the first thing one sees is a big fleet of
cars, which Chitando explains are part of the pecks given to key staff
members.
He told journalists that the company's last labour wrangle was in 2003 and
attributes the calm over the years to concerted efforts to keep the workers
happy.
At Shabanie Mine, workers have not been receiving their salaries since last
year.
"Like all other companies, we found ourselves faced with the problem of huge
skills flight two years ago and we had to do something to retain staff at
certain levels of the workforce hence the decision to introduce a vehicle
scheme," Chitando says.
"We also try to offer our workers good salaries while also giving them
decent housing."
Since beginning operations in 1994, Mimosa has built houses for almost all
its employees in Eastley, Platinum Park and Mandava among other areas.
After 10 years' service, an employee is entitled to the house under the
company's home-ownership scheme.
Workers not covered by the vehicle scheme are provided with transport to and
from the mining site.
Although Chitando would not say how much his workers earned, some residents
said Mimosa employees were so well paid that some of them provided piece
jobs to struggling Shabanie Mine employees.
Two weeks ago workers at Shabanie were given a paltry $50 after going
without pay for more than a year.
Chitando said Mimosa also prioritised safety, having been recently
recognised for operating a record 2,3 million fatality free shifts.
The highly mechanised mine runs three shifts daily.
Mimosa's social responsibility projects have also ensured that the company
maintains a big presence in the surrounding communities.
Among others, the company has done water reticulation and sewage works at
Jairos Jiri Old People's Home, built a state-of-the-art mortuary with a
holding capacity of 72 bodies for the town's major hospital and has also
constructed a number of roads, which it continues to maintain despite
handing them over to the town council.
The company has also built classroom blocks and furnished some schools in
the town and surrounding areas.
Mimosa also maintains falling giant Shabanie Mine's Sports Club.
Chitando said the company worked with the council and the town's local
leadership in many of its projects, including in some cases, identifying
potential employees from the community.
Despite all the glow, Mimosa has had its downturns, although none saw it
failing to run at full capacity daily.
Without giving figures, Chitando said the unlisted company posted a loss in
the full year to June 2009.
Other challenges included rising wages and costs of machinery maintenance,
procurement, chemicals and reagents.
The mine, which is operating on a 20-year plan, is considering a sixth phase
in its expansion programme, Chitando said.
Mimosa spent $22, 3 million in a similar programme at the height of economic
hardships in 2007.
The  company is jointly owned by South Africa's Impala Platinum and
Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Aquarius Platinum Limited on a 50-50
shareholding basis.
It currently produces 100 000 ounces of platinum per annum, together with
some palladium, rhodium, nickel and gold.
Chitando said the foreign-owned company has always had plans to indigenise
and will submit its proposals to the Chamber of Mines once sector-specific
requirements have been communicated to the industry.

BY JENNIFER DUBE

Investors give Zim a wide berth

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:25

IS Zimbabwe cursed? This could be the question money market analysts ask
themselves everyday as international investors continue giving Zimbabwe a
wide berth despite the country offering the best investments rates in the
world.
With securitised placements with a tenor of 30 to 90 days now attracting
investment rates ranging from 20% to 35%, this makes returns on the local
money market the best in the world.
In South Africa securitised 90-day paper is being quoted at below 8% while
in UK and US the same paper is quoted at below one percent.
Naturally with Zimbabwe's high investment rates, there should have been a
stampede of investors capitalising on the enticing rates.
Analysts say Zimbabwe's financial markets are paying the heavy price for the
disproportionate sovereign risk the nation carries, a development that
inhibits the flow of foreign capital into the country.
"Investment rates on the local money market are apparently way above
regional and international investment rates, but the menacing underlying
economic and political fundamentals of the nation have scared potential
foreign investors, even those with a high tolerance for risk," observed
Kingdom Financial Holdings (KFHL) in its market report.
Zimbabwe is perceived to be a risky country despite the formation of an
inclusive government last year.
Critics argue that the delay in the implementation of the power sharing deal
means that some investors will sit on the fence until things are resolved.
In addition, analysts say, mixed signals on the empowerment legislation have
killed the little remaining hopes investors had on the inclusive government.
KFHL said given the high interest rates obtaining on the market without a
noteworthy corresponding increase in savings, "it appears there is no
reasonable level of risk premium that can be offered to foreign investors to
compensate them for the systematic risk that they carry by investing on the
local money market".
Another factor that is chasing investors away is the vulnerability of the
financial sector to shocks in the absence of a lender of last resort.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is inadequately capitalised to play its
lender-of-last-resort function leaving the financial sector at the mercy of
an implosion if one institution were to face problems.
If banks are stable, they will attract international capital, but in the
case of Zimbabwe it's a signal that things are not well.
"High interest rates mean you are facing liquidity challenges and in itself
scares away investors," an economist said.
Independent economist John Robertson concurred: "It's always a
risk-versus-return factor. When people are offering so much that you think
is too good to be true you start to lose trust."
KFHL said the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) continued refusal to lend
money to Zimbabwe, while it may be justified given the huge debt burden, has
further increased the country's risk profile.
Last month, Zimbabwe regained its IMF voting rights but the global lender
said Harare could not access resources without clearing the US$140 million
under the Fund's Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.
"IMF is an international Commissioner of Oaths. Investors sitting in London
don't have to come here to look for information. They just go to IMF reports
for information on a country," said an economist with a leading financial
institution.
Foreign direct investment to grab the highly discounted financial assets on
the economy is therefore anticipated to remain limited as potential foreign
investors see the IMF stance as a reflection that Zimbabwe's economic and
political environment is not yet conducive for rational investment
commitments to be made, KFHL said.
Economists contend that the high interest rates prevailing are not
consistent with a dollarised economy.
David Mupamhadzi argued that banks are doing a disservice by levying
punitive charges at a time they are supposed to mobilise savings.
"The majority of Zimbabweans do not have any incentive to keep money in the
banks because of high bank charges.
"I think Zimbabwe is the only country in the world which penalises economic
agents for saving," he said.
Tanzanian-based economist Brains Muchemwa said the current high interest
rates cannot attract significant international portfolio inflows from the
carry trade perspective because they are not sustainable in the long term
due to the absence of a yield curve buttressed by risk-free paper.
He said the underlying assets being funded by the hot money "cannot be
easily securitised to generate liquidity in the absence of a secondary
market in Zimbabwe for credit securities, and hence the default risk becomes
excessively pronounced in the advent of a liquidity crunch".
"When you fuse these two risk aspects with the absence of rating agencies in
Zimbabwe, only small investors may want to experiment on carry trade because
the high interest rates on their own are actually signalling high underlying
economy-wide risks borne out of the liquidity crunch, which factor deters
meaningful flows of capital," he said.

BY NDAMU SANDU

Editor's desk: Partnering crooks to mine diamonds unforgiveable

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:17

MY first lesson in idiomatic Shona came when I was six.

Sekuru, the man who looked after our herd of cattle hid something he had
stolen from an enemy in my schoolbag and told me to walk home fast.

But the victim of the theft noticed, followed me and gave me a good hiding
after retrieving his property. I ran home to mum hollering at the top of my
voice. On relating the story to her, instead of commiserating, mother gave
me another thorough beating.

My sister who was a year older was dancing in glee cheering mother on.  She
was saying repeatedly, "Adziya moto wembavha aba." I have since reconciled
with my sister who is now a grandmother.

But the lesson was salutary. Translated into English it means if one warms
himself on a fire that belongs to a thief, he too automatically becomes a
thief.

It was interesting therefore to read last week what Mines and Mining
Development minister Obert Mpofu told the parliamentary portfolio committee
on mines and energy.

Mpofu reportedly admitted that some officials of the two companies - Mbada
and Canadile - controversially contracted to mine diamonds at the Marange
fields might be "crooks".

According to reports, Mpofu told the portfolio committee probing
irregularities in the mining sector that it was "virtually impossible" to
get clean people in the industry. He said he was aware that some of the
directors of the two firms, Canadile and Mbada Mining, were involved in
shady business deals, but challenged the committee to identify any investors
in the diamond industry who were clean.

He reportedly said he had done his research and found that people in the
diamond business globally are drug traffickers, smugglers or plain crooks.
He is reported to have said this was the trend worldwide and the committee
was fooling itself by thinking that they could get a clean diamond investor.

The hearing was held in camera. The government-owned Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) last year partnered little-known Grandwell of
South Afr ca to form Mbada Investments, which is mining diamonds at the
Marange field.

The ZMDC also partnered another little-known South African firm, Core Mining
and Minerals, in a joint-venture operation trading as Canadile Miners.

But parliamentarians have accused some members of the boards of the two
firms - whose names have not been disclosed - of being former illegal drug
and diamond dealers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra
Leone.

In Mutare early last month police arrested two directors of Canadile Miners
on charges of stealing diamonds from the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange.

Komilan Packirisamy, 37 and a Viyandrakumar, 42 were arrested - and later
acquitted - at a police check point at Hot Springs along the Mutare-Masvingo
highway.

They were in possession of 57 pieces of diamonds worth US$28 000. Police
discovered that the pieces of diamonds had not been recorded with the
Canadile Miners' register as required by the company.

We may ask how many sacks of diamonds have already been stolen from the
diamond fields? It is obvious that the two caught were not the only
individuals who have stealing diamonds.

Mbada tried to auction 300 000 carats of diamonds in January this year.

The auction was aborted because the miner had not followed the Kimberley
Process. But a lot of questions had already been raised about the security
of the diamonds. The auction was supposed to be held at the old domestic
terminal at the Harare International Airport which has been converted into a
diamond processing factory.

Many asked how the diamonds had been packed and transported from Marange to
Harare. It turned out the police had not been involved.

The implications of this were enormous. It was said the diamonds had been
airlifted by helicopter. Wasn't it possible the chopper could have stopped
somewhere along the way and downloaded just a few? How could we know for
sure that only 300 000 carats had been transported from the diamond fields?
Who guards the factory at the airport? And who guards the guards?

There have been too many loopholes and certainly they have been exploited.

But back to the lesson in idiomatic Shona.

Is it morally right to enter an agreement with someone one knows for sure to
be a crook, for surely that is what Mpofu has admitted to?

It seems our minister sent teams all over the world to seek diamond mining
partners only to discover that all people involved in diamonds are drug
pushers, smugglers and generally crooks. But he partnered them anyway.

Was it generally known in all arms of government that the ZMDC was
partnering thugs? If so, has our government, or some individuals within it,
been warming themselves around a fire belonging a thief?

Stories have been doing the rounds about some highly-placed individuals in
the diamond industry who have very quickly changed their lifestyles.

Some have gone on property-buying sprees and are said be richer than small
towns.

The portfolio of committee on mines and energy is said to be investigating
them but obviously the investigations will come to zero as has happened in
the past where the big-fish have managed to go through the net while it's
only the tiddlers that get trapped.

For a country that's trying to emerge from a crisis the discovery of the
Marange diamonds had been a godsend. With them, and had they been
well-managed, the country could have effected a quick turnaround in its
economic fortunes.

But what the diamonds have managed to do is only to enrich the few while the
rest of the country continues to sink into the abyss. As we speak our
education system has collapsed and the whole civil service has been
paralysed by industrial action. We have heard that the striking public
workers are present in their offices only in person but not doing any work.

And this is understandable. Their children are starving and they cannot send
their children to school. The whole country is in the grip of a political
system that seeks only to perpetuate itself and does not give a damn what
happens to the rest of the country.

It is a fact that wherever there have diamonds there has been civil strife.
Sadly, in Zimbabwe the environment for such strife is being created by the
elite that knows for certain that its political hegemony is coming to an
end, so it's making the hay while the sun still shines. The country watches
helpless while the concubinage between this elite and the cabal of
international crooks continues to plunder our resources.

One prays that one day there should be roll-call on all these plunderers for
one thing is certain their deeds are being recorded. They may not be aware
of this but it is happening.

BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE

Sunday Opinion: African myths about homosexuality

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:15

ZIMBABWE'S Sunday Mail newspaper, which is controlled by Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF party, ran an article last week headlined "Gay rights furore".
It claimed that "Zimbabwe's major political parties are on a collision
course over the inclusion of gay rights in the new constitution" because
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC is campaigning for the recognition of gay rights,
while Zanu PF is against the idea for cultural reasons.
In turn Tsvangirai's MDC has denounced what it regards as "attempts by Zanu
PF to distort the MDC constitution principles through media reports that the
party is lobbying for gay rights in the new constitution:
"Nowhere in our principles document is there any reference to gays and
lesbians. For the record, it is well-known that homosexuality is practised
in Zanu PF where senior officials from that party have been jailed while
others are under police probe on allegations of sodomy. It is in Zanu PF
where homosexuality is a religion."
Zanu PF and the MDC's use of the gay rights debate for political mileage and
in order to deflect attention from other subjects are superficial
explanations for these homophobic political developments. They are
symptomatic of a broad disinclination for open and factual discussion about
gay rights in many African states and black communities around the world.
Myths about African culture, the strength of religion and black masculinity
are the main reasons.
The standard explanation offered by Africans opposed to gay rights is that
homosexuality is alien to their culture and was introduced to Africa by
European colonialists. A good deal of African-American homophobia relies on
the same justification. But late 19th-century records on Africa and African
oral history show that homosexual practices existed in pre-colonial Africa.
One case in point are the Azande people in the north-east of modern-day
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it was acceptable  for kings,
princes and soldiers to take young male lovers.
Further evidence for the existence of homosexuality is that pre-colonial
African ethnic groups ascribed tribal classifications to gay people. While
some of these categorisations had negative associations, many had neutral
connotations. Certain tribes in pre-colonial Burkina Faso and South Africa
regarded lesbians as astrologers and traditional healers. A number of tribal
groups in Cameroon and Gabon believed homosexuality had a medicinal effect.
In pre-colonial Benin, homosexuality was viewed as a boyhood phase that
males passed through and eventually grew out of.
Indeed, European contact altered some pre-colonial African attitudes towards
homosexuality considerably. For instance, early colonial Portuguese penal
codes criminalised homosexuality in Angola. Prior to Portuguese control,
homosexual men called chibados had been free to exercise their sexuality.
Portuguese colonial laws either gave rise to or intensified homophobia in
Africa. Homophobia is more colonial than the practice of homosexuality in
Africa. The contradiction could not be starker.
Moreover, it is wrong to claim that nowadays the west campaigns for gay
rights in Africa. In fact, the  American evangelical right invests as much
financial and advocacy effort in influencing religious Africans to shun gay
rights as do pro-gay rights western non-governmental organisations working
in Africa.
Along with the moralisms of traditional African religions, Christianity and
Islam - which were brought to Africa by European missionaries and Arab
traders respectively - facilitated homophobia because they regard
homosexuality as sin. Today religion shapes many African and
African-American social and political designs. Churches in Africa are major
players in the production of homophobia. In black America, churches are the
most dominant homophobic institutions. Not all African and African-American
churches, however, are intolerant to homosexuals.
The response of many Africans and African-Americans to European colonialism,
racism and slavery was the construction of a black masculinity pitted
against white supremacy. The enduring legacy of this is that black Africans
and African-Americans often interpret homosexuals and white males alike as
synonymous with femininity and vulnerability. From my experience as a black
boy growing up in a white Zimbabwean neighbourhood and during my higher
education in the west, I am all too conscious of how my masculinity is
partly formed by continuing racial stereotypes of black men as sexually
rapacious solely towards women. There is no scope for black male
homosexuality in this pigeonhole. Little surprise sex between black men is
ridiculed and criminalised more than sex between black women in African and
African-American communities.
Black Africans and African-Americans must address constructions of their
masculinity, the myth that pre-colonial Africa was exclusively heterosexual
and anti-homosexual attitudes emanating from religion if they are to rise
above homophobia.

BY BLESSING MILES TENDI

Comment: Hunger, disease are signs of bad governance

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:14

PEOPLE need not be suffering from, or even dying of, severe malnutrition as
is happening in Mberengwa and many other parts of the country that
experienced a bad 2009/10 agriculture season. Reports coming from Mberengwa
in the southern Midlands show that hundreds of adults are being treated for
malnutrition-related diseases such as pellagra while many more children have
contracted kwashiorkor.
Zimbabwe is a modern country that should be able to deal with such regular
occurrences as droughts. Not only is the country's rainfall patterns closely
monitored but also a lot of organisations have made it their brief to give
food assistance to people who need it.
Climatic changes ravaging the world today have also affected the tropics to
which Zimbabwe belongs. It has been established that Zimbabwe suffers a
drought every three years.
By the middle of the last century Zimbabwe had already been divided into
five agricultural-climatic zones according to the amount of rain they
received and what kind of farming was appropriate in each region. The amount
of rainfall received lessened with descent from region I to region V. Region
V, the second biggest and driest, occupies 27% of the country. According to
a 1960 research the region "is an extensive farming region. Rainfall in this
region is too low and erratic for the reliable production of even
drought-resistant fodder and grain crops, and farming is based on grazing
natural pasture. Extensive cattle or game ranching is the only sound farming
system for this region".
But people do cropping in this region anyway. Most of southern and parts of
north-west Zimbabwe lie in this region and receive less than 450 mm of rain
a year. On the other hand, according to the 1960 research annual rainfall is
highest in natural region I which covers approximately 2% of the land area.
The region is a specialised and diversified farming region.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network gives regular updates on which
regions would need food assistance, when. So, with this essential data why
are people starving? How is the country's lack of preparedness explained?
Again we find that our politics are not right.
First, one of the reasons why the land reform programme was launched was
ostensibly to resettle people living in arid areas in areas where decent
farming could not be practised. But this was done only to a limited extent.
People in arid or semi-arid regions remained where they were. The reason was
mainly tribalism - politicians in fertile regions refused to accept people
from the poor areas purely for their political survival.
Second, the regions that should produce food for the nation have been
handicapped again through political expedience. Zimbabwe's commercial
agriculture sector, which was once the envy of the world, now lies in ruins.
The official reason for this was that historical imbalances had to be
rectified. Fair enough, but we have not seen a concerted effort to
rehabilitate this sector even though the powers that be now accept the
mistakes they made in land redistribution.
As if that was not enough, organisations that have proffered help in feeding
affected people have seen their efforts hampered, again by emotional
political monkey tricks. The government has decreed that food can only be
distributed through Zanu PF's political structures. Headmen who are known to
be the party's men on the ground, by free will or by coercion, have been
given the responsibility to distribute food. Naturally they are doing this
on a partisan basis.
So until we correct our politics Zimbabwe will continue to the backward
nation it has become.

Sundayview: No secret land deal at Lancaster

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 27 March 2010 19:09

BRITAIN has always been one of Zimbabwe's biggest aid donors, especially in
recent years while the country's economy has been in such dire decline.
Britain put tens of millions of pounds into land reform until the 1990s when
the rule of law broke down, and it became impossible to guarantee land
rights for subsistence or commercial farmers.

Zimbabwe needs a new start. It used to be the breadbasket of southern
Africa, and could be again if it invests in rural development and land
reform.

Britain should help to fund this, in partnership with other donors, as soon
as Zimbabwe provides the leadership, strategy and legal safeguards to make
it work.

The Zimbabwe government makes no claim that Britain made a secret deal on
land in its submission to a cross-party group of British MPs and Peers. In
its report - Land in Zimbabwe: Past Mistakes, Future Prospects - the group
concludes that there is no historical basis for allegations that Britain
"betrayed" promises made at Lancaster House to fund land reform.

Published, exactly 30 years after the historic signing of the Lancaster
House Agreement that led to the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, the report
recognises that land tenure remains a potent political issue in Zimbabwe.

The parliamentarians argue that the British government, which spent almost
£50 million on land reform in the country after independence, should
mobilise a multilateral team of donors to plan to provide new aid for land
reform and rural development in Zimbabwe as soon as political conditions
allow.

The narrative that Britain "betrayed"  promises at Lancaster House has
played a destructive role in the present relationship between Britain and
Zimbabwe. After asking for evidence from all sides and holding four sessions
to question leading participants, including Lord Carrington, the chairman of
the Lancaster House Conference, it concluded there is no evidence of a
British behind-the-scenes promise to buy out white farmers or fund a
comprehensive solution to land tenure in Zimbabwe.

Submissions by President Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF, and a former
adviser to its rival, PF-Zapu, made no claim that, in the margins of the
conference, a sum of money was agreed upon for land reform that Britain
later reneged on.

The British MPs and Peers, who collected evidence from British, Zimbabwean
and American officials, the Commercial Farmers' Union and land experts,
recommended that:

    * Land in Zimbabwe should be treated as a political issue, not just an
economic and development issue.

    * It must be a priority of the British government to address the
"promises betrayed" narrative that has developed since Lancaster House in a
sensitive and constructive manner.

    * Zimbabwe's dualist system of land tenure, which provides commercial
farmers with different land rights from subsistence and communal farmers,
should be replaced with a uniform land tenure system.

    * Once the government of Zimbabwe decides on the status of land tenure
after the recent upheavals, Britain should re-engage in a land reform
programme on a multilateral, not bilateral, basis.

The group believes that agriculture will remain the main driver of Zimbabwe's
economy for the foreseeable future. It also believes that the British
government has a role to play in helping restore the Zimbabwe economy by
supporting a land policy that is just, based on law and benefits all
Zimbabweans.

We do not think this will be easy. Land in Zimbabwe and throughout much of
southern Africa is an emotive issue.

Despite the successful transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, there remains
much bitterness about the role Britain has played in the country since
colonisation - including what many indigenous Zimbabweans see as an
illegitimate "land grab" by the European settlers that created a deeply
unequal society.

Furthermore, Britain's failure to prevent the Unilateral Declaration of
Independence by Rhodesian whites in 1965 and the bitter war for liberation
that ensued has continued to make relations between Zimbabwe and Britain
difficult.

Recently there has been a growing belief among Zimbabweans and others that
during the Lancaster House talks that led to Zimbabwe's independence,
Britain and the United States made promises concerning land transfer which
were later betrayed.

These promises, it is claimed, included specific amounts to buy out white
Zimbabwean land-owners and set up black Zimbabweans as farmers, thereby
righting a colonial wrong.

British and American versions of events maintain that no promises were made
other than to provide substantial funding for agricultural development.

Bayley is Chair of the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group, a cross-party
group of British MPs and Peers

BY HUGH BAILEY

Zim says no to Engen buying assets

http://www.busrep.co.za

March 27, 2010

By Siseko Njobeni
Energy Affairs Editor

The Zimbabwean government has scuppered Engen Petroleum's plans to acquire
petroleum assets in the country.

The deal is the first to be barred under controversial new legislation that
came into force earlier this month in Zimbabwe.

Engen and Kenyan oil retailer KenolKobil have been eyeing Shell and BP's
Zimbabwean assets after Shell and BP's decision to exit that market. The
assets include 75 service stations, fuel depots in several towns and a
Harare blending plant that has a capacity of 30-million litres a year.

The proposed transaction had been on a knife edge since several Zimbabwean
oil companies publicly questioned the sale, saying it was in contravention
of that country's Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which states
Zimbabweans should own 51% of "strategic" businesses in the country.

In November, Engen MD Rashid Yusof, BP Southern Africa chairman Rams
Ramashia and BP Africa CEO Sipho Maseko met Zimbabwe's Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to discuss the
deal.

But the Zimbabwean government yesterday notified Engen of its decision not
to approve the transaction. Engen spokeswoman Tania Landsberg said yesterday
that the letter informing Engen of the decision came from Kasukuwere.

The government had rejected the proposals Engen and KenolKobil made to
comply with the legislation. Landsberg said the letter did not give reasons
for the decision.

Comments from Zimbabwean authorities have suggested the deal fell short of
their requirements. Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald yesterday quoted
National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund chairman David
Chapfika saying indigenous fuel tenants should be protected "and be accorded
the right of first refusal under the considered arrangement. The deal should
give room for new entrants should the need arise."

Chapfika recommended that a consortium of local companies should be
considered for the assets. The fund is responsible for the implementation of
the legislation.

Engen's plans to buy the Zimbabwean assets were consistent with the company's
10-year growth plan, in terms of which it wants to be the biggest or the
second-biggest sub- Saharan petroleum marketer by 2016.

njobenis@bdfm.co.za

I will soldier on - Chipanga

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by TONY SAXON
Friday, 26 March 2010 16:10

"It is very unfortunate that one is persecuted for telling the truth.
Despite all these problems that I have faced I will soldier on. They have
banned some of my songs and I have received threats from some people, but I
will never stop preaching the messages affecting the people. It is my duty
to educate, inform and entertain them," said Chipanga (Pictured).
According to the musician, the banning of some of his songs has actually
given him more enthusiasm and the resilience to continue singing. "For ZBC
to ban some of my songs shows that I am a very genuine musician. I am not
just a praise singer. I do not just praise people who are doing more harm
than good to the innocent Zimbabweans," commented Chipanga. "I will not
change my stance. I will continue singing about the social and economic
problems that are affecting our society. I will be in the studios in April
and I hope to release a new album there after," he said.
"I am holding live shows and my banned songs have become hits within the
fans. But, it is very unfair that they are shutting my mouth, depriving the
listeners their right to education, information and entertainment,"
explained Chipanga. A Chipanga fan Moses Kuswetuka said: "This is unfair and
absolute cowardice. There is need for media reform in this country. Why
should we pay for radio licenses when they deny us the right to hear what we
want? They want to force us to listen to Zanu (PF) propaganda songs.
Zimbabwe is a changed country and no one will ever listen to these Zanu (PF)
propaganda songs anymore."
Chipanga's latest album Hero Shoko (The Message) that was released last year
has been banned from the state airwaves as it was viewed as "extreme
political material" denigrating Zanu (PF). Songs on the album include Baba
Nkomo (Father Nkomo) dedicated to the late Zimbabwe Vice President Joshua
Nkomo. In the song Chipanga was asking why liberation war heroes like
Ndabaningi Sithole, James Chikerema and Canaan Banana were not buried at the
National Heroes' Acre. Chipanga exposes Zanu (PF)'s controversial criterion
of who can become a national hero or heroine.
Michero Mudenga (The Fresh Fruits) is another song on the album where
Chipanga was mournful of the fall of the living standards of the majority of
innocent Zimbabweans, while a handful of people at the top get rich. Nhunzi
Nechironda (The Fly and The Wound) is another track from the album, which
sources have said has angered the Zanu (PF) leaders. Chipanga in his usual
rich language said people should not waste their time fighting flies on the
wound. This is his way of saying that insteaed of fighting each other over
the problems facing Zimbabwe, there is need to deal with the few people
causing those problems first.
The other song that is believed to have irked the Zanu (PF) officials is
Zvaita Nyika (State of the Nation) where Chipanga laments the worsening
socio-economic state of the country. In the song he says the price of a
house is now paying for the rent while the price of a chicken is now the
price of an egg. Allan Chiweshe, the director of programmes at the Zanu (PF)
controlled ZBC, has publicly admitted and confirmed that Chipanga's album
was banned as it had "heavy political connotations". "There are some tracks
that we have banned from his album Hero Shoko (The Message) because they are
too political, but some of them are being played," he said.
But Chipanga said: "I do not know what they mean when they say that the
songs are political. I want them to define what the word political means in
as far as my songs are concerned. I want them to differentiate between
politics and the truth." "There are elements within (Zanu PF) who are
forcing me to be a politician. If that is the case, then they should tell me
to become a politician. It is a shame that Zimbabwe has become a country
where people are forced to listen to some certain songs. People have their
wishes and they should listen to whichever music they want. There is no
freedom of expression in this country," said the popular musician.
Radio Zimbabwe and National FM, the most popular vernacular radio stations,
are forced to monotonously play revolutionary songs that praise Mugabe and
Zanu (PF). Of late there are numerous songs that praise Mugabe and Zanu (PF)
that are receiving a lot of airplay. "It then surprises me that a song that
praises Zanu (PF) is viewed as not political, but that one that is perceived
to be anti-Zanu (PF) is scratched off the airwaves. Zanu (PF) is a political
party, so is singing for Zanu (PF) not political? Why is it that those who
sing praising Zanu PF do not have their songs banned? There is something
wrong somewhere. But, I am glad that the fans out there know the truth and
they will stand by me," said Chipanga.

Out of sight is not out of mind

Dear Family and Friends,

The democratic space in Zimbabwe shrunk dramatically this week in a
series of events reminiscent of our recent past.

It's a familiar litany which instils fear, silences voices and closes
doors that were just beginning to open:

The Mayor of Marondera town together with a Ward councillor and two
others were arrested after a rally at a football stadium. The Mayor
was held overnight and released without charge. At the time of
writing the others were still detained without charge.

A 10 day photo exhibition at an Harare art gallery closed down one
day after it was launched. Pictures highlighting human rights
violations during the 2008 elections were seized by Police before the
official opening by Prime Minister Tsvangirai. The pictures were
returned after a High Court order but then attempts to seize them
again later that same day, led the organizers to close the
exhibition. Even though we are now not able to go and see the
pictures, the images are already burned into the minds eyes of
hundreds of thousands

who witnessed the horrors at first hand when they were happening just
2 years ago.

Out of sight is not out of mind.

Another exhibition behind held to commemorate the 27th anniversary of
the massacre of thousands of people in Bulawayo, was the next to come
under the spotlight. Being held at the Bulawayo art gallery, the
Gukurahundi Exhibition

displayed documents, paintings and graffiti painted onto the walls of
the gallery and visible to passers by on the street. Police raided the
Gallery, arrested the organiser and confiscated pictures.

Then, in the midst of all this came the news that Finance Minister
Tendai Biti had been in a car crash. Side swiped by a haulage truck,
the Ministers car was a write off but miraculously he was OK. Need I
say more?

A bad week ended on a bad note. Just as we dared hope that South
African President Zuma had made some progress in breaking our
political deadlock, there was a Zanu PF central committee meeting in
Harare. Filmed on ZBC television Mr Mugabe stood at the podium and
said that Reserve Bank Governor Gono and Attorney General Tomana were
not going anywhere. He said that there was no package deal with the
MDC and that no concessions were going to be made.

"Sanctions must go! Sanctions must go! Sanctions must go!" Mr Mugabe
said to laughter and applause from the audience.

Sanctions: the scapegoat for everything that is wrong in Zimbabwe; it
used to be the Rhodesians, then the whites, then the farmers but now
its sanctions!

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy � Copyright cathy
buckle 27th March 2010.

http://www.cathybuckle.com