http://www1.voanews.com
VOA News 02 March
2010
U.S. President Barack Obama has extended sanctions against
Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe and his key supporters for another
year.
In a pair of statements late Monday, Mr. Obama said the travel and
financial
restrictions on Mr. Mugabe and his allies will extend at least
through March
6, 2011.
President George W. Bush imposed the sanctions
in 2003, accusing Mr. Mugabe
of undermining Zimbabwe's democratic
institutions and causing instability in
southern Africa.
President
Obama says the crisis has not been resolved, and that Mr. Mugabe's
actions
continue to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.
President
Mugabe has demanded an end to the sanctions and similar measures
imposed by
Britain and the European Union.
The sanctions were put in place a few
years after Mr. Mugabe's government
began seizing white-owned farmland for
transfer to landless blacks.
The Zimbabwean leader said he was correcting
a colonial-era injustice.
Critics say the move triggered a sharp drop in
food production and the
collapse of Zimbabwe's economy.
Millions of
Zimbabweans have fled the country in the past decade, mostly to
South
Africa.
Zimbabwe's economy has stabilized since Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party and the
longtime opposition MDC formed a unity government last year.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
02 March 2010
An independent
monitor ordered by the international diamond trade watchdog
the Kimberley
Process, has arrived in Zimbabwe, to determine if human rights
standards are
being met at the controversial Chiadzwa fields.
The Kimberley Process,
which has been tasked with ending the global trade in
'blood diamonds,' has
given Zimbabwe until June to fall in line with
international trade
standards. The move was in place of the country's widely
supported ban from
trade over abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields where
the military's brutal
control in the name of the state is still ongoing. But
the Kimberley Process
refused to ban the country, hiding behind an excuse
that Zimbabwe's diamonds
are not 'blood diamonds.' Instead Zimbabwe has been
ordered to follow a set
of guidelines approved by the Kimberley Process to
attempt to bring the
country back in line with international standards.
The guidelines include
the demilitarisation of the diamond fields, which has
not happened, with
rights groups reporting that there is still strict
military control of
Chiadzwa and the villagers there. According to the
guidelines there is also
supposed to be an independent monitor in place to
oversee the sale of all
stones from Chiadzwa. Abbey Chikane, the head of the
South African Diamond
Board and a former Chairman of the Kimberley Process
Certification Scheme,
was finally appointed as a monitor for the diamond
fields after four months
of fighting over a suitable candidate.
Chikane arrived on Monday, and was
expected to visit the Marange fields in
the east of the country on Tuesday,
the state-run Herald newspaper reported.
Chikane has reportedly already met
with mining ministry officials, as well
as representatives of Mbada Diamonds
and Canadile Miners, the firms given
state authorisation to mine the diamond
fields.
Chikane's arrival comes days after Mines Minister Obert Mpofu
warned that
Zimbabwe will sell diamonds without Kimberley Process
certification (KP)
should the watchdog rule that efforts to comply with its
standards are
inadequate. Mpofu's threats echo comments made by Robert
Mugabe about two
weeks ago, when he also threatened to withdraw from the
Kimberley Process.
"If the KP is unsatisfied with our efforts and wants
to be difficult saying
that we have failed to comply with their
requirements... we will not lose
sleep, but rather we will just pull put and
not lose anything," Mpofu said,
while addressing the Bulawayo Press Club
last Friday evening.
"The KP does not own the diamond trade markets. Zimbabwe
will pull out of
the KP and sell its diamonds to those markets," he
said.
Meanwhile Mpofu has also denied allegations of corruption involving
diamonds
saying the claims were coming from 'detractors' bent on destroying
his
political career. The Mines Minister has been singled out as one of the
senior government officials involved in the plunder of diamonds from
Chiadzwa, which are still being airflifted out of the zone with no
authorisation from the Kimberley Process. Last month Mpofu was accompanied
by police officers to the Reserve Bank to retrieve almost 30kgs of diamonds
from Chiadzwa. This was carried out in defiance of a Supreme Court order in
the ownership wrangle between the lawful mining concession holders, African
Consolidated Resources (ACR) and the government.
The order said the
diamonds should be secured in the vaults of the Reserve
Bank, but they were
swiftly removed by Mpofu. According to Voice of America
(VOA), those
diamonds have since been returned following threats by Supreme
Court Justice
Godfrey Chidyausiku who also ordered mining operations in
Chiadzwa to
cease.
http://af.reuters.com/
Tue Mar 2, 2010 4:42pm
GMT
* Zimbabwe says complying with Kimberly Process
*
Rights groups wants Zimbabwe diamomnds banned
HARARE, Feb 2 (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe has so far this year produced 2 million
carats of diamonds from its
controversial Marange fields, a government
official said on Tuesday, a day
after an international monitor arrived to
review the mining
operations.
Rights groups, which accuse Zimbabwe's security forces of
widespread
attrocities in a bid to stop thousands of illegal miners on the
poorly
secured fields in the eastern part of the country have been pushing
for a
ban on Zimbabwean diamonds.
Ministry of Mines secretary
Thankful Musukutwa told a parliamentary
committee the government was
complying with demands from diamond trade
regulator Kimberly Process, which
last year gave the country six months to
improve conditions in
Marange.
"We should be at 2 million carats now this year," Musukutwa said
when asked
how many diamonds had been mined from Marange, adding that a
consultant from
diamond producer Namibia had been hired to help train
Zimbabweans.
The government, through its mining arm Zimbabwe Mining
Development
Corporation, has partnered little known South African companies,
Grandwell
Holdings and Core Mining, to set up joint venture firm Mbada
Diamonds to
mine Marange diamonds.
Kimberly Process monitor Abbey
Chikane, a South African, arrived in Zimbabwe
on Monday and on Tuesday
travelled to Marange to assess whether the
government was complying with
watchdog's requirements, Musukutwa said.
Musukutwa said Chikane would
then be able to certify Zimbabwe's diamonds for
export.
In January,
the government stopped the auction of 300,000 carats of diamonds
by Mbada
Diamonds because the sale had not been sanctioned by the Kimberly
Process.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
02 March
2010
The constant harassment of a freelance photojournalist in Zimbabwe
has
sparked anger from an international press protection group, after the
same
journalist was arrested for the third time in five weeks on
Monday.
Andrison Shadreck Manyere, an award-winning photojournalist, was
hauled away
by Prison Service officers while he was filming in court in
Harare.
According to the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ),
Manyere had filmed the arrival of several men imprisoned since 2007
on
allegations of plotting to overthrow the government. The prison guards
accused Manyere of taking footage 'without the permission of the
Commissioner of Zimbabwe's prison service.'
Manyere was questioned by
officers of the Law and Order unit of the police
and was detained in Harare
Central Police Station pending a formal charge.
He was eventually released
on Tuesday after spending a night behind bars and
then paying an 'admission
of guilt' fine.
"This is the third time in five weeks Manyere has been
detained on
insubstantial accusations," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator
Tom Rhodes.
"The constant harassment of this photojournalist must
cease."
Beatrice Mtetwa, a human rights lawyer who won a CPJ
International Press
Freedom Award in 2008 and witnessed Manyere's arrest,
told CPJ that several
reporters had gathered outside Harare's Magistrates'
Court as journalists
were barred from entering the building with their
cameras. After seizing
Manyere's camera, prison guards warned other
journalists not to take any
pictures or footage of the suspects who were
held in leg irons and
handcuffs, she said.
On February 24, members of
the ruling ZANU PF party abducted Manyere and
forced him to delete his
footage of their demonstration last week.
Previously, on January 18, Manyere
spent six hours in Harare Central Police
Station after covering a civil
society march. Manyere has been legally
challenging the constitutionality of
his December 2008 arrest that led to
pending charges of banditry,
insurgency, and terrorism. Manyere resumed work
after four months of
imprisonment and was fighting to recover camera
equipment seized by the
police in December 2008.
The ongoing harassment of media officials and
the lack of media reform in
the country have already seen the CPJ lash out
at the unity government. The
group detailed in a recent report how despite
the promise of media reform
made by the unity government, ZANU PF loyalists
have continued to harass,
detain, and attack journalists. Since the
coalition was formed in February
last year, there have been arbitrary
arrests and detentions of journalists,
as well as the imposition of
exorbitant fees for visiting foreign
journalists and local journalists
working for foreign media. According to
news reports, foreign correspondents
in Zimbabwe were told to pay an
application fee of US$10,000 and a further
fee of US$22,000 for
accreditation and permits. Local journalists working
for foreign media
organisations were told to pay up to US$4,000 in fees-an
amount few
Zimbabweans can afford.
A May 2009 conference organised by
Minister of Information Webster Shamu was
touted as promoting 'an open,
tolerant, and responsible media environment.'
Instead, the government
demonstrated its own intolerance. The media
conference was boycotted by
members of the private press in part over the
government's harassment and
detention of freelance photojournalist Andrison
Manyere. Then, while the
conference was under way, police arrested Zimbabwe
Independent Editor
Vincent Kahiya and News Editor Constantine Chimakure on
charges of
'publishing falsehoods.' A Harare magistrate released Kahiya and
Chimakure
on bail the next day.
Most recently, this month a Mexican journalist was
arrested while he was in
Masvingo where he was gathering footage for a
documentary on the upcoming
football World Cup in South Africa. He was
released only after the Minister
of Tourism's intervention, despite his
having received permission from the
Minister himself to be in the country.
Meanwhile in January freelance
journalist Stanley Kwenda was forced to flee
the country after receiving a
death threat. The caller, allegedly a police
officer, warned Kwenda that he
would not survive the weekend if he didn't
leave.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27654
March 2, 2010
By Our Correspondent
HARARE -
Freelance photo-journalist Andrison Manyere was freed Tuesday
morning after
spending a night in police custody.
Manyere was seized by Zimbabwe Prison
Service officers Monday morning for
filming a group of alleged coup plotters
who were being led into the Harare
magistrate's court building.
His
camera was confiscated while he was being accused by prison officers of
filming from a restricted area.
Police from Harare's Law and Order
division later altered his charges to
that of "conduct likely to provoke the
breach of peace", which attracts a
$20 fine.
The embattled journalist
was among a group of 32 MDC and civic society
activists who were arrested
between October and December 2008 on allegations
of plotting to dethrone
President Robert Mugabe through acts of banditry.
Manyere is jointly
charged with six other alleged MDC members Kisimusi
Dhlamini, Gandhi
Mudzingwa, Regis Mujeye, Zacharia Nkomo, Mapfumo Garutsa
and Chinoto
Zulu.
He is currently out on bail.
He has since been arrested
twice over the past month.
On January 18, he was arrested by the police
while covering a demonstration
by members of the Women and Men of Zimbabwe
Arise pressure group. He was
later released without charge.
He was
last week briefly detained and questioned at the Zanu-PF provincial
headquarters in Harare for filming a protest march by party youths who were
demonstrating against Western-imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and
Zanu-PF officials.
He was ordered to delete footage of what he had
filmed and later released.
http://www.sabcnews.com
March 02 2010 ,
3:49:00
Thulasizwe Simelane, SABC Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's stock
exchange has become one of the first casualties of a knock
in confidence
brought on by the country's newly adopted indigenisation
policy. The
procedure requires local and international firms with a value of
more than
$500 000 dollars to transfer 51% ownership to black Zimbabweans.
Chief
executive officer of the stock exchange, Emmanuel Munyukwi says
volumes
traded have plummeted from an average $2 million to $500 000. Under
the new
law there will be penalties of up to five years' imprisonment for
leaders of
companies that failed to comply and also a fine of half-a-million
US
dollars. It was expected that companies will start giving reports on
their
shareholding structures within 45 days, after which they may face
those
penalties.
President Robert Mugabe has defended the regulations, saying
they were
intended to correct what he described as 'historical
imbalances'.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has extended US sanctions
on Mugabe's
regime for another year, saying Zimbabwe's deep political crisis
remained
unresolved. Both the EU and the US maintain a travel ban and asset
freeze on
Mugabe, his wife and inner circle in protest at disputed elections
and
alleged human rights abuses by his government.
In July 2008, the
US Treasury Department tightened the screws on sanctions
against the Mugabe
regime one last time under former president George W.
Bush, slapping
punitive measures against 17 companies or entities and an
Omani national for
their links to the government.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by JOHN CHIMUNHU
Tuesday, 02
March 2010 14:37
HARARE - The Zimbabwean economy needs foreign capital if it
is to emerge
from the doldrums Robert Mugabe has driven it into through
years of
mismanagement and corruption, a senior executive linked to the
President has
said.
Anthony Mandiwanza, a close Mugabe ally and
recently appointed Barclays
(Zimbabwe) chairman told the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange-listed company's
shareholders in his annual statement on Tuesday
that the only way out of the
alleged recklessness by Mugabe was to get
funding from international
institutions such as the IMF.
Mandiwanza
said," The Zimbabwean economy will stand to benefit from enhanced
foreign
direct and portfolio investment...As an economy, we need to position
ourselves for that recovery by ensuring that we have policies that attract
foreign capital. Attracting foreign capital is an imperative for the
Zimbabwean economy and the financial sector. In this light, we consider the
ongoing engagements with the IMF and other multi-lateral institutions to be
a positive development. If the recovery path is sustained and consistent
economic policies are followed and applied, the financial sector can only
recover."
The statement came as Mugabe launched a much-discredited black
empowerment
policy in which he is expected to nationalize foreign
companies.
Mandiwanza's statement, though written earlier, is seen as a ray
of light in
ZANU PF's continued onslaught on foreigners since Mugabe lost
elections to
main challenger Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T in
2008.
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister has distanced himself from Mugabe's
company
grabbing initiative since it started.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Caroline Mvundura Tuesday 02 March
2010
HARARE - Top Zimbabwean union leader Gertrude Hambira has fled
to
neighbouring South Africa, as police raided her Harare offices on Monday
wanting to arrest her for releasing a video showing how President Robert
Mugabe's supporters committed rights abuses and other crimes against farm
workers.
Yesterday's raid by the police on the offices of Hambira's
General
Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) was
the third
in seven days and union leaders said she left for South Africa
because of
"fears for her life".
"She (Hambira) fled to South Africa
on Thursday . . . fearing for her life,"
said Wellington Chibebe, secretary
general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU), the mother union
for the GAPWUZ.
The police and agents of the government's spy Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) have been accused in the past of severely
beating up and
torturing union leaders, human rights activists, independent
journalists and
other perceived opponents of Mugabe and his ZANU PF
party.
Chibebe declined to disclose much on the nature of the threats to
Hambira's
life. However, the ZCTU in a statement earlier in the day said it
was
"disturbed by the continued attack on the general secretary of the
General
Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ),
Gertrude
Hambira and staff members of GAPWUZ".
The union called on
the coalition government of Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai to
order police and other security agents to stop
harassment of union
leaders.
After failing to find senior GAPWUZ officials yesterday, the
police took a
student who is on attachment with the farm workers' union to
Harare Central
police station for interrogation. In a raid last Friday, the
police arrested
two union officials, who were still in custody by end of
business on Monday.
Meanwhile the Africa office of the International
Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC) has written to Mugabe protesting the
"arrests and harassments" of
union leaders and urged the Zimbabwean leader
to order police to release
GAPWUZ officials from detention and to return
property seized from the union's
offices.
"ITUC-Africa strongly
condemns the continuing arrests and harassments of
trade unionists by your
security forces, which in our opinion represent
worst abuses of workers'
rights," Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, the secretary general
of the ITUC regional
office, wrote to Mugabe.
"We urge you to order the immediate and
unconditional release of the GAPWUZ
officials that are currently under
arrest in Zimbabwe and to ensure the
return of any properties taken from
their offices by your security
personnel," Adu-Amankwah said.
The
video produced by Hambira and GAPWUZ that has angered Mugabe's security
agents show how Mugabe's land reforms that were ironically meant to benefit
poor blacks led to gross human rights violations including torture, rape and
murder against black workers on former white-owned farms.
Individual
workers give testimonies in the 26-minute video on how they were
affected by
the farm seizures which were spearheaded by mobs of pro-Mugabe
war veterans
and ZANU PF party activists.
The video that is also accompanied by a
report highlights how basic labour
laws were violated and contains evidence
of people who were beaten up,
harassed and sometimes shot by Mugabe's
militia under the guise of
redistributing arable land previously in the
hands of whites.
The decade-long farm invasions which the 86-year-old
Mugabe says were
necessary to ensure blacks also had access to arable land
that they were
denied by previous white-led governments have been blamed for
plunging
Zimbabwe into food shortages.
Once a net food exporter
Zimbabwe has avoided mass starvation over the past
decade only because
international relief agencies were quick to chip in with
food handouts. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 02 March
2010
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe and Botswana last week displayed rare
solidarity when
Gaborone officials supported Harare's call on Western
countries to lift
sanctions imposed on President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU
PF party top brass
eight years ago.
The show of solidarity follows a
Zimbabwe/Botswana Joint Permanent
Commission (ZBJPC) meeting which ended in
the resort town of Victoria Falls
late last week.
In a communiqué the
commission called for "the removal of all illegal
sanctions against
Zimbabwe, whose effects were constraining and impeding the
efforts of the
inclusive government to effectively tackle the economic,
political and
social difficulties affecting the people of Zimbabwe."
The European Union
which imposed sanctions against Mugabe in 2002 as
punishment for failure to
uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law
on Monday extended the
targeted sanctions for another 12 months.
The commission attended by
senior government ministers and security
commanders from the two countries
called on the two neighbours to improve
bilateral relations and "step up
economic co-operation at all levels."
The announcement by ZBJPC comes a
few weeks after the two countries were
embroiled in a diplomatic row
following the arrest of Botswana game rangers
who had strayed into Zimbabwe
while tracking wildlife and spent weeks in
jail before they were prosecuted
for entering the country illegally.
The tension led to Botswana's foreign
affairs minister Phandu Skelemani
threatening to recall the country's
diplomats from Harare.
Relations between Harare and Gaborone hit an all
time low after Botswana's
President Ian Khama openly criticised Mugabe for
clinging to after losing
elections to the then opposition Movement for
Democratic Change's (MDC)
party's Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008.
Khama,
who was one of a few regional leaders to openly speak against Mugabe,
refused to recognise the ageing leader as president only relenting after the
Zimbabwean leader agreed to form a power-sharing government with
Tsvangirai. - ZimOnline
http://www.postzambia.com
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare,
Zimbabwe
Mon 01 Mar. 2010, 23:10 CAT
MORE than 200,000
hectares of the current maize crop in Zimbabwe has been
written off after
being scorched during the dry spell that affected the
country during
December and January.
A livestock and crop assessment that was conducted
by the government over
the past month found that 200,574 hectares, or 11 per
cent of the 1,723,990
planted this year have been completely damaged,
especially in the southern
and eastern provinces of the country, where the
drought was severe.
As a result, the government has decided to prepare a
buffer of 500,000
metric tonnes of maize through imports, which will cushion
the impact of the
expected grain shortages.
Agriculture minister
Joseph Made told journalists at a press briefing that
as at February 12, 54
per cent of the maize crop was at reproductive stage,
having been saved by
good rains that had been experienced since the last
week of
January.
"Farmers in some parts of the country have started replanting
the maize crop
and this will have an effect on the second round of the
assessment," he
said. "We hope the second assessment will give a different
picture on the
situation."
He said the condition of the maize crop in
most parts of the country was
generally "poor to fair."
However, Made
said the tobacco and cotton crops this season were doing
fairly although
farmers have had to contend with shortages of fertilisers,
power cuts and
poor rains.
He said livestock pastures were mostly in good condition
around the country
although certain parts had been destroyed by the
drought.
He said the government would quickly give permits to importers
who wanted to
bring in maize and that US $3.5 million was available for
payment to farmers
who would deliver maize to the Grain Marketing
Board.
The current development is set to increase the number of people
who will
need food aid in Zimbabwe.
The Famine early Warning System
Network (FEWSNET) has since revised upwards
the number of Zimbabweans
requiring food assistance during the lean hunger
season beginning this month
amid fears donors may also encounter a serious
cereal shortfall until March
2010
It said close to 2.2 million people or 18 per cent of the population
would
be food insecure in Zimbabwe between January and March 2010, up from
an
estimated 1.7 million Zimbabweans who were said to be in need of aid
between
October and December.
This is higher than the previous
projection of 1.9 million who were
estimated to require emergency food
assistance between January and Zimbabwe's
next harvest around March or
April.
FEWSNET said the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP)
planned to scale
up its food assistance activities from January to cover the
food insecure
population.
WFP was however projecting a major
shortfall of more than 40,000 metric
tonnes of cereals between December 2009
and March.
The UN agency announced in December that it faced a US $50
million funding
gap for its Zimbabwe operation until the end of the year
that could see the
United Nations agency failing to feed the people who
require food aid.
Last year, Zimbabwe reaped 1.4 million metric tonnes of
maize, which was a
100 per cent increment on the previous year.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27635
March 1, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu on Monday
dismissed last week's
bid by Roy Bennett's lawyers to bar state witness
Forgive Munyeki, said to
be a telecommunications expert, from presenting
evidence in court.
"The objection to the calling of the witness, one
Forgive Munyeki is
accordingly dismissed," said Justice Bhunu in his ruling,
paving way for the
State to call upon the TelOne employee to give his
testimony.
The state alleges that Bennett, treasurer general in Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's mainstream MDC, conspired with firearms dealer
Peter Michael
Hitschmann to blow up a microwave link at Melfort in
Goromonzi.
The State alleges that the plan was part of a coup plot
against President
Robert Mugabe's government.
Munyeki, who claims to
have 20 years experience as a telecommunications
expert, was going to
enlighten the court on what a microwave link is and
what its destruction
would entail.
The defence, led by Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa
vigorously objected to the
state calling upon Munyeki to
testify.
Mtetwa argued that Munyeki's evidence would be speculative and
irrelevant to
the trial at this stage.
She was adamant it was
prejudicial to Bennett for the state to simply infer
that the two would have
destroyed the microwave link when it was not known
if at all they were going
to succeed in the plan, let alone inflicting any
damage on it.
"The
court will not benefit from the obvious conjecture, surmise,
speculation and
uncertain evidence of what this witness would say would have
happened," she
had told the court.
Johannes Tomana, who is leading the prosecution, said
the microwave station
was a key installation in the area and was prone to
attack by anyone
plotting to overthrow a sitting government.
Bhunu
ruled in the State's favour.
He said it was within the state's rights to
call upon any witness it deemed
necessary for purposes of
trial.
"Evidence relating to the existence or otherwise of the microwave
link its
purpose and function cannot be speculative but a matter of fact,"
said
Bhunu.
"It is a matter of irresistible inference and logical
deduction that if the
microwave link had been destroyed, it could no longer
perform the function
for which it was erected.
"Whether or not the
disablement and destruction of the microwave link would
have been in
promotion and execution of the common purpose or conspiracy is
again a
matter of fact and not speculation.
"It is therefore relevant at this
stage to admit evidence which tends to
show whether or not the accused and
his alleged conspirator would have
succeeded in destabilizing or unseating a
lawful established government had
their plan or conspiracy
succeeded."
Munyeki later told the court the destruction of the microwave
link would
have resulted in the complete disablement of the
telecommunications traffic
between Harare and Mutare.
He, however,
said he was not qualified in weapons to tell the court on how
much
destruction the firearms allegedly recovered from Hitschmann would have
caused to the station.
He said he could only imagine from watching
fiction films during his
childhood how explosives could destroy buildings
and railways lines.
"I am not trained in explosives," said
Munyeki.
"But from my childhood experiences, I have watched explosives,
dynamite
destroying buildings, railway infrastructure,
bridges.
"Maybe that way, somebody can destroy our repeater
station."
Munyeki said a microwave link was a massive concrete and steel
structure
which could not be destroyed by an ordinary person but an
expert.
Next to testify was police ballistics expert Frances Cole, who
identified
the weapons in court as the ones he had inspected during police
investigations.
He told the court the firearms recovered could be
used for military combat.
Bhunu did not make any ruling on last week's
contentious attempt to bring in
another IT expert to authenticate alleged
emails allegedly downloaded from
Hitschmann and Bennett.
The state
says the documents contain an elaborate plan by the two on how
they were
going to dethrone President Mugabe.
The trial continues next week Monday.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27630
March 1, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
SHERMAN, Texas - A Zimbabwean man who conspired with four
compatriots to
commit tax fraud amounting to millions of dollars in the
United States was
on Friday jailed for five years.
The convicted man,
Simbarashe Soko, who conspired with, among others,
Karimanjira-Dumba Made,
the son of Joseph Made, Zimbabwe's Minister of
Agricultural Mechanisation,
was also ordered to undergo three years
supervised release and pay
restitution of $3 097 822.65.
He was convicted after he changed his plea
to guilty. He was arrested along
with four others following an investigation
by the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) Criminal Investigation in Dallas in
2008.
Previously, Soko had denied the charge.
Changing his plea to
guilty, he said: "I secured loan proceeds from banks
through which I, or
others acting on my behalf, established a business
relationship. The banks
extended the loans in anticipation of the receipt of
tax refunds based on my
false representations that the tax refund claims
were legitimate.
"I,
or others acting on my behalf, cashed the checks representing the tax
refunds or tax refund anticipation loans. Three banks, J.P Morgan Chase,
Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, and HSBC, suffered combined actual losses of
$2 253 207. The United States (IRS) suffered an actual loss of $844
615."
Soko committed the fraud together with Ransom Nyamaharo, Ronald
Moyo and
Made.
Fellow Zimbabweans in Dallas have confirmed that Made
is the son of the
minister.
The son is now serving a sentence of 60
months in a federal prison for tax
fraud after he was convicted by a jury on
January 16 last year. Nyamaharo
(24) of Plano, Texas, was sentenced to 10
years for the same crime.
The facts presented by the prosecution were
that from 2005 to 2008,
Karimanjira Made, Soko, Moyo and Nyamaharo opened
and operated a tax
preparation businesses in which they prepared and filed
fraudulent tax
returns on behalf of clients.
They also prepared and
filed tax returns in the names of individuals whose
personal identifying
information had been obtained and used without
authorization.
Nyamaharo, Soko, Moyo and Made established business
relationships with
several banks which offered refund anticipation loans.
The false claims for
income tax refunds were submitted to the Internal
Revenue Service and also
to the banks.
The banks, relying upon the
accuracy of the information provided to them,
authorized the issuance of
loans secured by the false income tax refund
claims.
The Internal
Revenue Service and the banks incurred substantial losses as a
result of the
payments made on the false claims for federal income tax
refunds.
The
case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal
Investigation
Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall A.
Blake and
Shamoil Shipchandler.
A source knowledgeable about the fraud case said
the police were summoned to
investigate a complaint by a hotel guest about
excessive noise at night
emanating from another hotel room in the city of
Sherman back in 2008.
The room was one of a number that had been booked
by a group of Zimbabweans.
On entering the room to investigate the source
of the noise, the police were
surprised to find several people inside, each
armed with a laptop. They also
found a large number of social security cards
in the room. Their suspicion
immediately aroused, they seized the laptops
and cards and took away one of
the people in the room back to the police
station.
The man's name appeared on a list of suspects wanted by the
police in
connection with a major tax fraud case. By the time the police
arrived back
at the hotel some of the group had already checked out with
some reportedly
making immediate arrangements to travel back to Zimbabwe.
http://www.zicora.com/
Posted By own Staff Tuesday, 02 March 2010
08:28
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has
recently purchased
about 10 000 prepaid power meters.
The
prepaid power meters were sourced by ZESA as a stop-gap measure to
assist
customers who have all along been facing difficulties of paying for
the
power after use. Bulawayo ZESA's sales manager Patrick Ngwende recently
said
as the power utility realised that its customers faced difficulties of
paying bills after using electricity, the power utility decided to purchase
about 10 000 prepaid meters in addition to the over 5 000 meters already
there.
He said this would enable their customers to use only
the power that they
would have paid for hence that would not cripple the
utility's
operations.ZESA has all along had over 5 000 prepaid power meters
across the
country but the system of running the prepaid power had totally
crumbled
according to ZESA internal sources, meaning that even though the
meters were
there, the operational system of the prepaid power was no longer
usable.The
ZESA Matabeleland Region general manager, Lovemore Chinaka
recently
confirmed that the utility had over 5000 prepaid power meters. He
also said
the system needed a total overhaul before it was reactivated to
customers.
"The prepaid power meters and the distribution system have
been there but at
the moment we need to overhaul and update the system
before we reactivate
it to the customers. We are in the process of doing
that and very soon we
will be providing that service to the customers,"
said
Chinaka recently at a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Ngwende
said out of the 10 000 prepaid meters that the utility had acquired,
5 000
would be for Bulawayo while the other 5 000 would be
for
Harare.
"The plan for the utility to revitalise the prepaid power system
is under
way and as we speak, about 10 000 meters have been acquired which
according
to the information I got 5000 would be for Bulawayo and the other
5000 would
be for Harare. According to the information we have here, the 10
000 meters
acquired would not be the last ones but the company would
continue to
acquire more so as to enable all those who feel it's better to
use the
prepaid power than the pay after use to do so, " said
Ngwende.
He could not be drawn into revealing where the meters were
acquired from and
their cost. Power users across the country have been
crying foul that ZESA
was sending them high bills which they could not
pay. Some
consumersreceived bills ranging from US$100 to US$1000 figures
which are far
beyond their monthly salaries.
The reintroduction of
the prepaid power meters is expected to resolve the
problem of customers
failing to pay their bills as they would be paying for
their power before
using it.
The utility has already resorted to disconnecting its customers
with
outstanding bills.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
02 March
2010
The MDC led by founding President Morgan Tsvangirai has requested
all of its
elected or appointed officials to declare their assets 'in and
outside
Zimbabwe' every year with a 'known' legal firm. The requirement is
part of a
new anti-corruption code of ethics.
A statement from the
party said the code will 'guide all party officials in
their day-to-day
operations, including upholding the party's values, and
guard them against
any form of misgovernance.' Officials from Ward level
right up to the top
leadership, including Prime Minister Tsvangirai are
expected to
comply.
The code was developed in response to rampant corruption in
Chitungwiza
involving both MDC councillors and ZANU PF officials in the
city. Even
before the coalition government, ZANU PF officials with the
blessings of the
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo looted council
land and subdivided
it into residential stands. Chombo himself got a stand
to build a hotel in
the city.
MDC councillors who won elections in
2008 quickly joined in the looting and
corruptly allocated the same stands
without following council procedures.
The MDC took drastic measures and
sacked all 23 councillors implicated
including the Mayor Israel Marange.
Minister Chombo however refused to sack
the councillors claiming the matter
was an internal MDC dispute.
The MDC believe its 'Real Change Code of
Ethics and Values' will discourage
any form of corruption and abuse of
office by its office bearers.
'This code shall apply to all elected,
appointed or deployed officials of
the MDC serving in the Party, Government,
local authorities, any institution
receiving public funds, parastatals,
voluntary associations and any other
public or private body howsoever
defined,' the code read in part.
The party believes the code is the first
of its kind to be crafted and
implemented by a political party in Southern
Africa. Meanwhile the MDC also
says it has established an 'independent
investigations commission' to probe
any allegations of corruption brought
against party officials. Party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel they
did not expect 'angels and
saints' in the party, but had set certain
benchmarks that needed to be met.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27649
March 2, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Youths from the mainstream MDC party have vowed to
defend party
leader Morgan Tsvangirai against Zanu-PF youths who last week
threatened to
deal with him for allegedly inviting Western-imposed sanctions
on Zimbabwe.
"Zanu-PF's misguided youths must know that the people of
Zimbabwe will
always stand ready to defend and protect the man they
overwhelmingly voted
for on 29 March (2008)," MDC youth assembly chairperson
Thamsanqa Mahlangu
told journalists Tuesday afternoon.
Zanu-PF youths
staged a street march in central Harare last week demanding
the
unconditional scrapping of the sanctions.
They later gave Prime Minister
Tsvangirai a one-month ultimatum to force the
scrapping of the sanctions.
Tuesday's State-owned daily newspaper, the
Herald, reported in a front-page
article that Tsvangirai had called for the
unconditional removal of
sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and the
Zanu-PF
leadership
But the MDC youths said they would not stand idle while their
leader was
being abused.
"We stand ready to guard the people's vote,"
said Mahlangu.
"If this is now an open season to insult and threaten,
then those who
deserve this treatment are the ones whose executive power is
directly linked
to the blood spilt in the run up to June 27
2008."
The MDC says the sanctions were caused by electoral theft and the
abuse of
human rights by the Mugabe's government.
Mahlangu said
Zanu-PF youths could not purport to be representing all the
youths of
Zimbabwe when they were representing themselves and their party.
"The MDC
Youth Assembly is aware that President Tsvangirai is not under
threat from
the youth of Zimbabwe," he said.
"He is under threat from a sulking
minority in Zanu-PF which is busy looting
diamonds in
Chiadzwa.
"These Zanu PF saboteurs, who are found in the military top
brass and the
Zanu-PF Politburo, have unleashed these hired street urchins
to prevent the
hawk-eyed Prime Minister from putting a dead end to the
shameful corruption
in Marange.
"They are aware that the Prime
Minister wants to divert these proceeds from
their private pockets into the
national coffers so that we can pay civil
servants decent salaries which
they deserve."
Mahlangu said if threats continued against Tsvangirai, the
MDC youths would
also stage their own march demanding an end to the looting
of the country's
rich natural resources by top government officials and the
military.
"Now that these hoodlums have been allowed to demonstrate
without fear of
arrest," said the MDC youth leader, "Zimbabweans shall soon
be embarking on
nationwide demonstrations for the arrest of all those linked
to the
nauseating corruption at Chiadzwa.
"We shall soon be taking to
the streets and giving our own deadlines for the
opening of new newspapers
and television stations, a speedy resolution to
the outstanding issues and
the completion of media and constitutional
reforms."
Mahlangu is also
the Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation
and Empowerment. He
is the Member of House of Assembly for Nkulumane.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za
Eyewitness News | 3 Hours
Ago
A 65-year-old man was arrested in Zimbabwe on Tuesday for emailing
colleagues photographs of what appears to be Robert Mugabe’s
mansion.
Reports said the executive was charged in a case that shows just
how
dangerous it is to criticise the 86-year-old leader.
It is no
secret that the president built himself a huge mansion on the
outskirts of
Harare. But very few people know what it looks like on the
inside. Now a
senior Harare executive from Freshpro Company is being accused
of
circulating an email showing pictures of the mansion’s interior.
The
Herald reported that John Rushdin said Mugabe was living like an
"American
billionaire or a Saudi prince". That is not a great thing to say
in Zimbabwe
where criticising the president can land you in jail.
Rushdin has already
appeared before a magistrate and been given bail of 200
ZImbabwean dollars.
What everyone wants to know and what the state’s not
saying yet is, was that
really Mugabe’s house in the pictures?
http://www.ipsnews.net
By Vusumuzi Sifile
HARARE, Mar 3, 2010 (IPS) - A
new play, Waiting for Constitution has
generated great interest among
politicians and civil society groups anxious
to get consultations over
drafting a new constitution under way.
The play, which premiered in
Harare on Feb. 23, dramatises a family meeting
where daughter Constance's
impending marriage is to be discussed. But
Constance does not appear. She's
late: too busy taking part in a thematic
committee preparing public
consultations over the new constitution.
The performance uses the
divisions in the family over Constance's marriage
plans - like disagreements
on how much should be charged as bride price, and
who should pocket what
fraction of the proceeds - to highlight competing
positions that have
emerged over Zimbabwe's new constitution.
"The play asks many pertinent
questions, and also attempts to answer those
questions on how to make the
new supreme law a truly people driven one,"
director Tafadzwa Muzondo told
IPS. "People still have questions on some key
aspects of the process, and
whether the input of ordinary people will be
valued."
"The play looks
at such issues as who the people are, what sort of
fundamentals and ideals
make a democratic constitution, the importance of
guaranteeing freedom of
expression and the diverse opinions and ideas coming
from different sections
of society."
Muzondo, a celebrated actor in Zimbabwe, says while it may
not necessarily
provide the answers, the play will provide a fresh platform
for debating the
issues. And the well rounded characters in the production
do just that.
From the stage, Constance's feuding family raises questions
over what's
wrong with the present constitution, whether a new one is
necessary, what
led to the rejection of a draft constitution in 2000 and the
prospects of
achieving a people-driven constitution.
Douglas
Mwonzora, one of the three co-chairs of the Constitution
Parliamentary
Committee - an inter party committee of members of parliament
tasked with
spearheading the process - was very optimistic the play would
add a new
dimension to the process.
"They (artists) have been of great use in
revolutions, wars and other
historic national developments. I believe such
works of art like this play
will play a key role in conscientising our
people on the need for
participation in this unique national project. It is
very encouraging where
you see artists bringing out products on the
project."
The writing of a new constitution is among the major tasks of
the three
parties in the inclusive government, the Zimbabwe African National
Union
Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and two formations of the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC). The process has been delayed several times by lack
of funding
and disputes between the parties.
While the start of
public consultations across the country has been delayed,
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition (CZC) sees the play as a fresh approach to
begin stimulating
thought and gathering the input of ordinary people; the
coalition is
partnering with the production's producers, Rooftop, to take it
on a
nationwide tour. The play will also be translated into local
languages.
"It is not just about taking a play to the people, it is about
taking the
discussion about critical issues to the people," said MacDonald
Lewanika,
director of CZC. "We view theatre as a vehicle that can trigger
debate on
both the process and the content. What the play tries to do is to
highlight
the critical issues and processes. We try to do this in a
non-prescriptive,
non-partisan manner."
Lewanika said the choice of
theatre as a medium of influencing debate on the
new constitution was based
on the realisation that "our society is not
homogenous", hence the need to
portray different messages differently. After
a two week run of the play at
Harare's Theatre in the Park, the CZC will
partner with the producers to get
the play on a national tour.
"As civil society, our work basically is
about engaging the people on issues
that affect them. We are basically
taking the discussion to the people.
There are clear contested issues raised
in the play around the process,"
said Lewanika.
Waiting for
Constitution is Chifunyise's second play centred around current
affairs
issues. Last year, he wrote another play titled Heal the Wounds,
which
focused on the government's national healing process, and the various
issues
around the project.
The current play is a candid and refreshing
exploration of hot-button issues
such as the participation of women in the
process, disagreements of various
proposed drafts, divisions that have
rocked civil society because of the
process, the coercion of people at the
grassroots by different political
parties, the participation of exiled
Zimbabweans in the process, the
composition of teams driving the process,
and the rights of minority sexual
groups.
There is high entertainment
when family members discuss issues "stipulated"
in the various drafts, and
how these will affect their traditional values.
And when Babamnini, played
by Silvanos Mudzova, walks out of the marriage
meeting without any
deliberations, it becomes clear to the audience how
prudent it is for the
process to be concluded quickly to allow people to
concentrate on other
essentials. (END
http://www.panda.org/
Posted on 02 March
2010 Bookmark and Share
Gland, Switzerland - The release of six alleged
rhino poachers from custody
two weeks before a meeting of the largest
wildlife trade convention is
emblematic of the chronic lack of political
will to enact enforcement
efforts required to save this endangered
species.
A Zimbabwean court last week granted bail to six men arrested at
Bubye
Valley Conservancy, home to Zimbabwe's largest remaining rhino
population,
in connection with rhino poaching. Charges included illegal
possession of
firearms and illegal possession of a rhino horn.
The
incident, part of a surge in rhino poaching in Zimbabwe and South
Africa, is
made worse by a lack of enforcement support in Zimbabwe in
particular.
As 175 countries prepare to meet to for the 15th
Conference of the Parties
to the Convention on the International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP 15) in Doha, on March
13, the increased poaching
of rhinos and trade in rhino horns-compounded by
failed enforcement
efforts-is threatening to undermine conservation
successes to date.
Most rhinos are listed in the Convention's Appendix I,
which bans trade in
their parts for commercial purposes. Countries
participating in the CITES
convention have been tasked with combating
illegal trade in rhino horn.
"Zimbabwe's failure to live up to its
obligations to CITES is unacceptable
and has caused its already endangered
rhino population to decline," said
Colman O'Criodain, Wildlife Trade
Analyst, WWF International. "The time has
come for the CITES Parties
collectively to decide how to address this
failure."
This incident,
coming so soon after Zimbabwe was specifically urged by the
CITES
Secretariat to tighten up its law enforcement to protect rhinos, will
reduce
Zimbabwe's ability to defend its wildlife management policies at the
forthcoming CITES conference
Last year, rhino poaching worldwide hit
a 15-year high due to increased
demand for rhino horn. A recent report by
TRAFFIC and IUCN, the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature,
showed that since 2006,
95 percent of the poaching in Africa has occurred in
Zimbabwe and South
Africa. The report also showed that the conviction rate
for rhino crimes in
Zimbabwe is only three percent.
WWF and TRAFFIC
urge Zimbabwe, South Africa and all CITES Parties to uphold
the commitments
they have made as signatories to the Convention and
dramatically improve law
enforcement, including investigation of poaching
incidents and prosecution
of rhino crimes.
"Rhino poachers are currently operating in an
environment where they are
allowed to break the law without appropriate
consequences," said Steven
Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC. "This kind
of ineffective law
enforcement increasingly undermines the success of more
than a decade's work
of bringing rhinoceros populations in southern Africa
back up to healthy
levels."
Most rhino horns leaving southern Africa
are destined for medicinal markets
in southeast and east Asia, especially
Vietnam, where demand has escalated
in recent years.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Mutumwa Mawere Tuesday 02
March 2010
OPINION: President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 86th
birthday last week and
Zimbabwe will celebrate its 30th independence
anniversary in a few weeks.
Mugabe is the oldest head of state and
government in Africa. He has been
privileged to have a long and eventful
life.
Zimbabwe does not know of any other leader than Mugabe and,
therefore, it is
difficult to imagine what kind of society Zimbabwe would be
if it had had
another leader.
Zimbabwe was born out of the womb of
Rhodesia and its history, challenges,
and prospects have been similar to
that of other post-colonial African
states.
Zimbabwe, like many of
its sister African states, inherited a dualistic and
distorted economic
system.
Mugabe can argue convincingly as one of the founding fathers of
Zimbabwe
that democracy, rule of law, respect for persons and property
rights were
products of struggle and not a gift from the former
oppressors.
After nearly 30 years of independence, Mugabe used the
occasion of the
celebration of his birthday to reinforce the message that
the resources of
the country belonged to the people of the country by
saying: "We are saying
no, no, no the land is ours, the gold is ours, the
uranium and forests and
the wildlife are all ours."
He made the point
that the people of Zimbabwe will fight for their resources
in the same
manner they fought the imperialists to be freed from the yoke of
colonial
bondage.
In an implicit admission that the people of Zimbabwe have
squandered the
opportunities to transform and grow the economy, Mugabe said
that it was up
to the people of Zimbabwe to organise themselves so that they
can take
advantage of the opportunities created by the indigenization
policy.
The challenges facing Zimbabwe after 30 years of independence are
not
different from the challenges faced by any nation in terms of reducing
the
frontiers of poverty.
What kind of Zimbabwe did Mugabe and his
colleagues want to see? Why has it
taken 30 years to admit that the kind of
outcomes envisaged have not been
realised and yet the people who had the
privilege of leading the charge
remain in power with little or no
accountability?
Whose responsibility should it have been to construct an
inclusive and
enabling Zimbabwe? We all many argue that it is and should
have been the
responsibility of the leadership to dictate the pace of
change.
To the extent that after 30 years of independence under his
leadership,
Mugabe admitted that the long walk to freedom did not produce
short walks to
banks, it is important that we seize the opportunity to pause
and reflect on
the kind of society we want to see in Africa and what kind of
citizen should
be part of it.
Although the constitution of Zimbabwe
confers rights and obligations on all,
the premise on which the
indigenization argument is being advanced is that
only black people who were
born before 1980 are eligible for empowerment
even in the knowledge that it
would be wrong to exclude the born frees.
It is being argued that even
white people who chose to be Zimbabwean in the
last 30 years have qualified
citizenship in so far as access to shareholding
in productive
enterprises.
One must accept that there are many white people who came to
Zimbabwe in the
last 30 years and like their black born frees were blessed
with wealth who
now find themselves at the receiving end of a language that
can make them
regret why they made the choices they may have made believing
that it was
all in the interests of building a non-racial and inclusive
post-colonial
Africa.
Who should be the referee? Is it conceivable
that a non-partisan, objective
and impartial referee can ever be found in
the business of economic power
distribution? Can it be argued that the few
who have done well even in the
absence of the new law in Zimbabwe did so
because of patronage?
Can human beings be empowered? Is it possible for
the state let alone
parents to socially engineer outcomes from their
citizens or children?
What do we learn from experiences of progressive
and prosperous nations? Do
we draw the lessons that the success of citizens
is a function of a
benevolent state?
What is even more important in
our knowledge building is to establish
whether there was any causal link
between white business success and state
patronage? If such link existed,
then it would be natural to expect that
state owned enterprises would
produce better economic results that privately
owned
entities.
Zimbabweans are fortunate to have a leader whose views on the
role of the
state have been consistent. After 30 years, Zimbabweans must
admit that they
have failed to convince not only Mugabe but his colleagues
that any future
premised on state engineered processes of economic power
distribution is
doomed to fail in as much as the socialist experiment failed
in many
countries.
Socialism failed to eradicate poverty let alone
provide hope to citizens.
Although socialism is not a reliable partner in
the poverty reduction
enterprise, it is an attractive ideology in explaining
why poverty exists.
Zimbabwe inherited an economy that could hardly be
described as capitalist
and ripe for a socialist revolution. It simply had
too many poor people and
the ruling party could hardly be considered at
independence as having been a
vanguard of the working class.
The
consciousness of the working people (a small percentage of the
population)
was not ready to underpin the kind of changes that would have
been necessary
to support the revolution.
One can appreciate how lonely, for instance,
Mugabe is. He is simply not
aware that his own close colleagues would rather
have a short walk to the
bank than a long walk to freedom.
The people
who are more vociferous on the indigenisation agenda are the very
people who
have no interest in disclosing their commercial interests to the
President.
Mugabe is not alone in believing that through changes in
the legal
framework, desired economic outcomes can materialise.
It
would be difficult for any rational person to argue that economic
transformation is unnecessary. However, the real devil lies in the
details.
Zimbabweans have failed to convince Mugabe, for example, that
the land
reform programme exposed greed than anything else.
From
where he stands, he can argue that the end justifies the means. If
there is
no better way of redistributing wealth, it may then be argued that
any road
taken is better than doing nothing.
What do individual Zimbabweans want
to see? If indigenisation as framed were
the answer to the Zimbabwean
question then one would expect a mass movement
of human traffic from the
diaspora in the same manner as East Germans
stampeded to the West when the
Berlin Wall was removed.
People need a secure future. The pioneers black
entrepreneurs have been
harassed and externalised and yet their progress was
not driven by any
legislative changes but by the determination and hard work
of the actors
concerned. - ZimOnline