http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 March
2010
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that Zimbabwe’s
unity
government needs to make more progress before targeted sanctions
against the
Mugabe regime are lifted, resisting pressure from South African
President
Jacob Zuma.
The two leaders met on Thursday in London,
where Zuma is in the middle of a
three day state visit. Zimbabwe was
expected to top Thursday’s agenda, after
Zuma made it clear he would lobby,
on behalf of Zimbabwe, for the targeted
measures to be lifted. But the
pressure was resisted by the British Prime
Minister who said he wanted to
see progress on the ground first, as well as
the results of commissions on
human rights, press freedom and governance
reforms, before they are
reconsidered.
“We applaud the efforts that President Zuma is making to bring
stability and
change to Zimbabwe,” he said at a joint press conference after
the talks.
“We however must be absolutely sure that progress is being
made.”
Referring to Zimbabwe’s fragile unity government, Brown added: “We
must be
moving from what is a unity but transitional government to free and
fair
elections.”
Zuma meanwhile, during the press conference, remained
firm on his stance
that the sanctions be lifted, saying the issue could be
exploited
politically.
“If the Zimbabwe issue is not moving forward,
certainly some people could
use sanctions as an excuse,” he said
The
European Union (EU) last month extended the targeted sanctions on Mugabe
and
his inner circle by another year citing lack of progress in implementing
the
Global Political Agreement (GPA). The United States has since also
extended
its measures, despite pressure from African leaders to drop the
measures
altogether. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) said
the
lifting of sanctions would help the coalition government move forward,
while
Botswana made a surprise u-turn in its position on Zimbabwe by also
saying
the measures should be dropped.
Zuma however has come under pressure by human
rights groups and others
concerned with Zimbabwe’s ongoing record of human
rights abuse, not to lobby
for the targeted measures to be lifted. Analysts
have argued that removing
the measures would reward the same people who are
to blame for Zimbabwe’s
collapse. The UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC)
echoed this sentiment in a
letter delivered to the South African High
Commission in London on
Wednesday. In the letter TUC General Secretary
Brendan Barber said: “Despite
the formation of the Government of National
Unity, human rights violations
have not stopped. Relaxing sanctions would be
seen as a relaxation of
support for human rights in Zimbabwe.”
Athol
Trollip, the parliamentary leader for South Africa’s main political
opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA), said this week that Zuma needed to
take a decisive stand on Zimbabwe. Trollip on Thursday accused Zuma of being
“out of touch with reality,” in reaction to Zima’s call for Zimbabwe’s
targeted sanctions to be lifted. He added that “it is clear from the lack of
progress in Zimbabwe the sanctions should remain.”
“In fact, we believe
that the sanctions should be tightened,” Trollip said.
Trollip said the GPA
signed by the MDC and ZANU PF, which was meant to
address the numerous
crises facing Zimbabwe, had not resulted in any
meaningful change. Trollip
said there “remains no sufficient political
reason for the sanctions imposed
on Mugabe to be lifted.”
Exiled Zimbabweans meanwhile will make their
opinions on Zuma very clear
during a demonstration outside the South African
High Commission in London
on Friday. They will hand over a petition calling
on Zuma to arrange early
elections in Zimbabwe because of the failure of the
unity government to
agree on critical reforms. The demonstration is
organised by the protest
group, the Zimbabwe Vigil, which has been
protesting outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy in London for the past 8 years in
support of demands for free and
fair elections.
Vigil coordinator
Dumi Tutani said in a statement: “Mugabe has made it clear
that he will not
implement the agreement he signed with the Movement for
Democratic Change 18
months ago so it is time to end the people’s suffering
and vote Mugabe and
his gang out of power. An election should be arranged
immediately with SADC
and UN help to ensure it is free and peaceful.”
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk
04
March 2010 08:30 GMT
Gordon Brown has met with South African president Jacob Zuma at
Downing
Street this morning to discuss a range of issues, including the
ongoing
sanctions against Zimbabwe and the upcoming football World
Cup.
In a joint press conference Mr Brown declared Britain wanted to work
with
South Africa to help resolve some of the long-term problems in Zimbabwe
but
said there had to be significant signs of progress.
The prime
minister said there needed to clear evidence of improvements in
human
rights, reform of governance and freedom of speech before the lifting
of
sanctions was considered.
Mr Zuma said the two leaders had agreed to "put
their heads together" to
provide a solution so Zimbabwe can move forward,
with Mr Brown praising the
efforts of the South African president in
attempting to bring about change
in the country.
"We are agreed that
it is not just Zimbabwe on its own, but the entire
world, the whole world
must help Zimbabwe move forward," Mr Zuma told
journalists at Downing
Street.
The two men are due to carry out a series of engagements today
and tomorrow,
including meeting representatives from their respective
national football
teams and visiting the London 2012 Olympic
site.
Yesterday Mr Zuma received a royal welcome from the Queen and the
Duke of
Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.
http://af.reuters.com
Thu Mar 4, 2010 5:07pm
GMT
* Mugabe says will accept nomination for re-election
*
Defends controversial policy on foreign firms
* Zimbabwe election timing
depends on new constitution
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, March 4
(Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on
Thursday he would
stand for re-election if his party nominated him, brushing
off calls for the
octagenarian to make way for a younger successor after 30
years in
power.
Mugabe, 86, who has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence
from Britain
in 1980, formed a unity administration a year ago with rival
Morgan
Tsvangirai, now Prime Minister, to end a long political crisis after
a
disputed election.
The power-sharing government was initially
expected to run for two years to
2011, but analysts say mutual suspicion and
strategic considerations are
delaying democratic reforms which would clear
the way for a free and fair
poll.
Asked whether he would stand again
for a national election, Mugabe, who will
be nearly 90 at the end of his
current five-year term in 2013 said: "Go ask
ZANU-PF."
"I am a
ZANU-PF son. If ZANU-PF says, 'go for it,' I will," he said at a
rare press
briefing with local and foreign media.
Mugabe said the timing of a new
election would depend on how soon the
parties agreed on a new
constitution.
"As to when this will be, it's a matter of time," he
said.
The veteran leader, who charges that he is a victim of demonisation
by a
hostile Western media, was in a jovial mood, cracking jokes as he
defended
his flagship policies, from the controversial seizure of
white-owned farms
to his latest plans to transfer control of foreign-owned
firms to blacks.
In what has become a standard line of defence, Mugabe
again blamed sanctions
imposed on his party by Western powers for ruining
Zimbabwe's once
prosperous economy, saying ZANU-PF had been targeted for its
land reform
policy.
"Everything else they are saying are just
excuses. We are not the biggest
violators of human rights in the world," he
said, adding he was hoping the
unity government would soon be able to
campaign together to get the travel
and financial sanctions
lifted.
But Mugabe expressed doubts that Britain's Conservative Party,
led by David
Cameron, would immediately lift sanctions on Zimbabwe if it
wins elections
expected in May.
"I don't think so ... although he
(Cameron) stands a better chance because
we have had more constructive
relations with the Conservatives," he said.
Mugabe said Labour leaders
were foolish to ignore Britain's historical
relations with Zimbabwe and in
drag U.S. President Barack Obama's
administration into its problems with
Harare.
"We are sorry that he got taken into this," he said of Obama's
decision this
week to extend U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe for another
year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Published:
6:59PM GMT 04 Mar 2010
The Zimbabwe president said his country would have
better relations with
London if the Conservatives got in.
"We have
always related better with the British through the Conservatives
than
Labour," he said. "We have a better chance with David Cameron than with
Brown."
"Conservatives are bold, Blair and Brown run away when
they see me, but not
these fools, they know how to relate to
others."
Mugabe's comments came after Gordon Brown told Jacob Zuma, the
South African
president, that Zimbabwe's sanctions would not be lifted until
progress was
seen in the power-sharing government.
Zuma, who is the
mediator in Zimbabwe's fragile unity accord, wants the
sanctions
lifted.
Relations between Zimbabwe and London have been strained over the
past ten
years, after Mugabe's government started seizing white-owned farms,
under
his controversial land reform laws.
In 2002, the government
imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his inner
circle - including a
travel ban and freezing of bank accounts - following
allegations of a rigged
election.
Mugabe, who is 86, has led Zimbabwe since independence from
Britain in 1980.
In recent years has been accused of holding onto power
through violence and
fraud.
http://www.busrep.co.za
March 4,
2010
The influx of refugees from Zimbabwe is placing "significant
strain" on
South Africa's capacity and resources, President Jacob Zuma told
British
parliamentarians in London on Thursday.
"South Africa is
greatly affected by the crisis in Zimbabwe," Zuma said in a
speech in the
Palace of Westminster.
"The influx of economic refugees from Zimbabwe
places a significant strain
on our capacity and resources.
"That is
why we have consistently sought to follow the path that holds out
the
greatest prospect of success."
The political and economic reality of
Zimbabwe required an inclusive
solution, Zuma said.
"Though some may
suggest otherwise, there is no lasting solution in Zimbabwe
that excludes
Zanu-PF, just as there is no solution that excludes the MDC.
"That is
why, as South Africa, as the Southern African Development
Community, and as
the African Union, we have expended great effort to ensure
that the parties
in Zimbabwe reach agreement on the most critical issues
facing the
country."
Zuma said Zimbabweans had to determine their own
future.
"That is why all parties within the country, on the continent,
and in the
broader international community, must do what they can to ensure
the
attainment of conditions for free and fair elections." - Sapa
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
4 March
2010
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai narrowly escaped a potentially
serious car
accident, when a tyre burst on his recently issued government
vehicle two
weeks ago. Tsvangirai had gone to assess the food security issue
in
Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands provinces. The Prime
Minister's office says preliminary investigations showed the Toyota Land
Cruiser had multiple faults, even though it was supposed to have been
new.
His spokesperson, James Maridadi, told SW Radio Africa on Thursday:
"When we
were travelling from Mat South, the rear wheel of the vehicle that
he was
travelling in burst and obviously we were concerned because it was
supposed
to be an armoured vehicle with a run flat device. And upon
inspection of the
vehicle we discovered that the run flat device was not
working. It was
actually in the boot of the vehicle."
"And the boot
of the vehicle itself could not be opened to retrieve the
spare wheel. When
it was eventually opened we discovered that the spare
wheel was
damaged."
Maridadi added: "The inspection also discovered that the hinges
of all the
doors of the vehicle were loose. So what it meant was that had it
been going
at a fast speed, if the driver had lost control of the vehicle
and the
vehicle had been involved in an accident - like had overturned, then
all the
doors would have come off. That would have been very dangerous for
the
occupant of the vehicle, who was the Prime Minister."
The
incident raises questions about Tsvangirai's security. On March 6th last
year he was involved in a tragic car accident which resulted in his wife's
death. At the time Tsvangirai said the car crash was an accident although
many Zimbabweans remain deeply suspicious because of the numerous
unexplained car accidents that have killed various high profile political
opponents of Mugabe.
Maridadi said the latest vehicle the Prime
Minister was using to travel out
of town should have been issued with a
delivery mileage, but that was not
the case. He said the vehicle has now
been taken to other departments for
investigations. He said: "That vehicle
should not have been given to anyone
to use, let alone a Prime Minister,
because it was in no condition to be
used by anyone."
Meanwhile Radio VOP
alleged that a confidential security document from
Tsvangirai's office
revealed that the Land Cruiser had been tampered with
before being delivered
to the Prime Minister by the Central Mechanical and
Equipment Department
(CMED). It was not possible to verify this information.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
4
March 2010
The national executive council of the MDC has resolved that
SADC should be
called in to mediate in the long running stalemate between
parties in the
Global Political Agreement.
Party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa said his party had evaluated the political
landscape currently
prevailing in the country and found out 'things were
going backwards instead
of forward.'
'We feel the guarantors should be there to resolve
outstanding issues and we
remain optimistic that the issue will be resolved
by President Jacob Zuma as
facilitator and SADC as guarantor,' Chamisa
said.
He said the national executive council will pass on its resolutions
to the
national council of the party that is scheduled to meet in Harare on
Friday.
The national council is the decision making body of the MDC.
Naturally
resolutions that come from the executive council are ratified in
full by the
national council.
A year after the formation of the
inclusive government the MDC is infuriated
at the slow pace in implementing
the GPA, as well as what analysts see as a
deliberate plot by ZANU PF to
stall media, electoral and human rights
reforms.
'This is why we are
formally again writing to SADC to request their
immediate and timeously
intervention in this issue,' Chamisa said.
In the past two months cracks
have widened between the parties in the
inclusive government. Hardline
generals and other Mugabe loyalists have been
showing public disdain for
Tsvangirai and very little in the power sharing
agreement has been
implemented.
Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa said key blocked
steps included a
land audit, appointment of MDC governors, an end of
arbitrary detentions and
arrests, public consultations on a new constitution
and preparation for
elections.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
04/03/2010 00:00:00
THE three
parties in Zimbabwe's power sharing government are on the verge of
resolving
outstanding issues in their power-sharing deal, according to
Industry and
Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube.
The three parties - Zanu PF, led by
President Robert Mugabe, the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and a rival
MDC led by Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara - signed the Global
Political Agreement in September 2008
and formed a coalition government last
year.
A number of sticking
issues, however, emerged which the parties have been
grappling with since
last year but Ncube told business leaders on Wednesday
that virtually all
the issues - except two major ones - had been resolved.
"We are on the
verge of resolving virtually all of them except the difficult
ones, mainly
the two appointments," he said, referring to the appointment of
central bank
governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana which
the MDC
views as irregular.
"One appointment has been resolved but one of those
two appointments remains
contentious. We have not been able to find each
other yet and we are still
talking," said Ncube, who is also one of the
negotiators for the
Mutambara-led MDC.
Ncube, who said he was not at
liberty to disclose which of the two
appointments remained unresolved, did
say that the swearing in of
Tsvangirai's pick for Deputy Agriculture
Minister, Roy Bennett, was on the
verge of being finalised.
Bennett
is currently in court on charges of possession of firearms, a charge
which
Zanu PF felt should be finalised before he is sworn in. Ncube said the
issue
would be resolved in the next meetings of the party negotiators.
He said
the parties had also agreed on an implementation plan to be
announced as
soon as all the issues had been resolved.
Although reports indicated that
the list of outstanding issues had grown to
27, some of the top ones also
included the issue of sanctions, pirate radio
stations and the alleged
parallel government, which were raised by Zanu
PF. - New Ziana
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
04
March 2010
Education Minister David Coltart has said no child should be
sent home
because their parents or guardians have failed to pay school fees.
Responding to shocking revelations in a BBC documentary charting the lives
of orphans struggling to survive in the country Coltart told SW Radio Africa
that although the law was very clear on this point school authorities were
defying the policy for a variety of reasons. The problem he said was that
some parents who were able to afford school fees were taking advantage and
not making any payments.
Award winning film maker Xoliswa Sithole
spent 9 months in Zimbabwe
following the lives of some of the country's
poorest children. The
documentary shows them grappling with poverty and
starvation, growing up
without an education and either orphaned by AIDS or
caring for parents who
are sick with the disease. On Wednesday Sithole told
Newsreel in an
interview that because these children were being denied a
basic education
their future was being taken away from them.
In
response Coltart told us that in years gone by the government had the
Basic
Education Assistance Module programme to help children in similar
circumstances. However funding issues linked to the collapse of the economy
under the ZANU PF regime had crippled the project. He said in the last 5
months the United Nations Children's Fund had made some money available and
although it was not adequate to cover requirements it would benefit at least
600 000 disadvantaged children. The programme will be implemented closely
with the Labour and Social Services Ministry.
Coltart meanwhile said
education in the country was seriously under-funded.
For example, he said in
the first 11 months of the coalition government his
ministry was given US$10
million to run education in stark contrast to the
US$28 million spent on
foreign travel. He said the country should comply
with accepted standards
and have education taking up at least 22 percent of
the budget and not the
current 12,8 percent.
http://www.diamonds.net
By Avi
Krawitz
Posted: 03/04/10
11:19
RAPAPORT...
Editorial
Dear
Abbey:
Firstly, congratulations on your appointment as the Kimberley
Process (KP)
monitor for Marange, Zimbabwe. It would be appropriate to say
welcome back
to the diamond industry, and even more appropriate to say
welcome home. As a
founding member and a former chairman of the process, I
can't think of any
individual who is more suited to the job at
hand.
I doubt you need be told, but what a job you have on your hands.
Then again,
you are no stranger to challenges nor, I believe, are you fazed
by them.
Need we be reminded that you faced up to the challenge of
putting the KP on
the map and cementing its role in society, uplifting the
ethical standing of
our industry in the process? Do you remember how fragile
we were back in the
days when the atrocities of the Sierra Leone civil war
were revealed to the
world and how, if it wasn't for the very systems you
helped implement, our
standing with diamond consumers would be far weaker
today?
So, you were a natural choice when it comes to Zimbabwe. But I
dare say that
your new role may represent your greatest challenge yet. It
may also unravel
your legacy, at least so far as your achievements at the KP
are concerned.
Zimbabwe presents the greatest challenge to the KP since
your chairmanship
because for the first time in the KP's existence, a
country has exposed the
organization's weaknesses. While the KP was set up
to prevent rebel
movements from using the trade to fund civil war, it has
failed to prevent
rogue states from manipulating the system for their own
gain. Thus far, it
seems the KP does not have the structural capacity or the
political leverage
to deal effectively with Zimbabwe.
The KP has been
so manipulated by Zimbabwe that the organization failed to
recognize its own
peer review accounts of murder, rape, mass burials and
other human rights
abuses carried out by state personnel at the Marange
fields. We saw the
country hold the November KP plenary ransom and we have
seen its leaders
consistently disregard the KP's purpose since. As a result,
today, no one
can guarantee that blood diamonds from the Marange fields have
not entered
the market.
Here's a quote we read just this past week through the BBC
from Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu, who by the way, orchestrated that
incredibly arrogant
display at the November plenary: "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 out and
not lose anything. The KP does not own the
diamond trade markets. Zimbabwe
will pull out of the KP and sell its
diamonds to those markets."
As if on cue, Mpofu spoke as you touched down
in Harare for your first visit
in your new capacity. I'm sure I don't need
to tell you who the minister's
remarks were directly aimed
at.
Because the KP - with its three pillars of government, civil society
and
industry - has allowed itself to be so manipulated and so ineffective,
two
of your co-founders, Ian Smilie, and my boss, Martin Rapaport, have
resigned
from the organization. They felt they would be more likely to enact
change
outside the KP than from within.
For now, however, you're in a
different position for a number of reasons.
First, you are perhaps one of
the very few individuals who has been engaged
with all three KP pillars.
Second, you are a native African, which I believe
is vital to understanding
and dealing with Zimbabwe's actions. Finally and
most importantly, your
position as KP monitor for Marange is the only one
that can cull positive
change from within the KP.
But there is a catch. It will take twice the
boldness and far more guts this
time. It will require you to be unpopular in
Zimbabwe and at times, I
suspect, in the KP.
We trust that you will
approach the job at hand neither as a bureaucrat, nor
as a politician.
Rather, we look forward to your true assessment of the
Marange diamonds,
taking every aspect of the controversial mine's history
into account,
including the ethical questions surrounding both its past and
present
ownership and their abuses.
Your judgment will dictate whether Zimbabwe's
diamond stockpile from the
past year and a half plus, as well as its current
and somewhat dubious
production, can morally, legally and confidently be
exported for consumers
across the world to purchase -
conflict-free.
We also anticipate you tackling this task with a high
degree of
transparency, which, as an organization, the KP may not be able or
willing
to allow. We - and I think I speak on behalf of at least one pillar
of the
KP - deserve to know what is happening and expect constant and open
discussion with you about how things are progressing. We need your
first-hand account of what is truly happening on the ground.
Finally,
we expect that you realize there may come a time when you, too, are
being
manipulated for political expediency and will need to make some tough
choices of your own to send the right message to all affected parties. After
all, it is not only your legacy that is at stake, but that of the diamond
industry, whose respectability and image hang in the balance based on this
very issue. That is quite the challenge, indeed.
Good
luck!
Note: This article is an excerpt from a market report that is sent
to RapNet
members on a weekly basis. To subscribe, go to www.rapnet.com or contact
your local
Rapaport office.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 March
2010
Civil society organisations have warned of worsening human rights
abuse at
the hands of state security agents, explaining that in the last
three months
there has been an escalation in the number of threats,
intimidation and
harassment against its members.
The warning was made
during a press conference in Harare on Wednesday,
convened by the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association
(ZimRights). ZimRights director, Okay Machisa told
the conference how he and
other members of the ZimRights board last week
received a series of
threatening text messages and phone calls, warning them
against conducting
constitutional outreach programmes.
Machisa received a threatening email
two weeks ago from a person claiming to
be Dzapasi Mumunda. The message
said, "You enjoy flying in and out of the
country demonizing your country,
why don't you go and stay there? They
monitor, soon you will all stay out."
In the email, he was also warned that
people in his office have been tasked
with 'bringing him down' and he should
be careful, especially at
home.
The threats have not been against ZimRights only. Trade unionist
and
Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers
Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), Gertrude Hambira was forced into hiding last
week due to
fears for her safety. The entire union leadership went
underground after
increased threats and harassment by officials from the
Joint Operations
Command (JOC), and a number of police raids on the union's
offices in
Harare. The raids have been in response to the release of a shock
report and
documentary last year, exposing the violent abuse of workers on
farms seized
by the Robert Mugabe regime.
Meanwhile in Bindura, some
facilitators belonging to the Civic Education
Trust (Civnet), Taurai
Chigunwe, Tinashe Madzimbamuto and Faustino Mukakati,
were arrested last
week for allegedly holding a public meeting. Last month a
ZANU PF councillor
for Nhekiwa ward in Uzumba, together with a group of some
ZANU PF youths,
disrupted an outreach meeting convened by the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition,
claiming that it had not been sanctioned by their
political party. The
councilor and the youths also intimidated, harassed and
threatened the
Coalition's youth committee members Tichaona Masiyambiri and
Oscar Dhliwayo
and an intern, Edwin Sithole, who had organised the outreach
programme.
ZimRights and the ZLHR also explained in a joint statement
that police in
Mutare on Tuesday arrested and detained three Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) employees, who were attending the labour
union's Regional
Women's Advisory Council's civil and legal training in the
eastern border
city for five hours.
"Security agents should strictly
observe the principles of the Rule of Law
and should adhere to the laws and
regulations governing their operations,"
the two groups said in a statement.
"ZLHR and ZimRights calls upon the
responsible authorities, including the
Ministry of Defence, to penalise
these elements without fear or
favour."
Human rights group Amnesty International has also expressed its
concerns
about worsening human rights abuses, despite the formation of the
unity
government more than a year ago. Amnesty's Zimbabwe researcher, Simeon
Mawanza, told SW Radio Africa that there was concern that the government has
not made any meaningful reforms to rectify human rights abuse.
"By
delaying reform, the situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile as
perpetrators
continue to escape justice and are instead effectively given
the all clear
to continue violating human rights," Mawanza said.
http://www.zicora.com/
Posted by Own Staff Friday, 05 March 2010
01:37
Residents have vented out their frustrations over the current
devastating
shortage of electricity in the country and the high bills from
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and
TelOne.
Speaking at public meetings organised by Bulawayo Agenda
and the Bulawayo
Progressive Residents Association in Cowdray Park and Old
Pumula suburbs
over the weekend, residents expressed their displeasure to
the
representatives of the service providers over their failure to provide
efficient services.
Residents complained that the current shortages of
electricity had a
devastating effect on their lives and they also found
fault with the
inconsistent billing system from ZESA.
"We
would like to understand why ZESA has not devised a system of informing
us
when they are going to carry out load shedding as most of our electrical
gadgets have been affected by a power surge," said a resident from Cowdray
Park.
They also called on the authority to present updated bills
noting that their
unavailability also affected their ability to pay for the
rates.
"We need ZESA to ensure that we receive our billed statements so
that we
know how much we are supposed to pay. We cannot be expected to pay
for
estimated bills," said a resident.
Pensioners who also attended
the meetings said there is need for service
providers to review their
tariffs in line with salaries as they highlighted
that the current bills
were beyond the reach of many in the country.
"We are failing to pay for
the bills because our pension funds are very
little and we cannot raise
enough money to repay the debts we owe service
providers," said a pensioner
in Old Pumula.
The public raised concerns over the failure by ZESA to
provide enough
electricity in the country, noting that the people were
living in new
suburbs without electricity. The residents of Cowdray Park
were concerned
that some sections of the suburb were yet to witness the
installation of
electricity at the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikayi houses.
The
ZESA representative from the sales and marketing division, Mr. G. Zulu
called upon the residents to negotiate with the authority in order to devise
mechanisms of paying for their debts.
He said ZESA continued to face
challenges with the availability of
electricity which had also worsened the
load shedding schedule in the city.
"The country does not have enough
electricity and the load shedding is
expected to be very rigorous in the
next few weeks because we currently
cannot produce enough from Hwange Power
station and also from Kariba. Power
Station. Electricty must be rationed so
as to avoid tripping that will
result in a blackout of the whole country,"
he said.
He emphasized the need for the residents to also desist from
vandalising
ZESA property highlighting that the authority did not have
enough funds for
repairs.
"There is need for residents to be wary of
naked electricity wires which are
very dangerous. We also encourage
residents to desist from bribing ZESA
officials in an attempt to speed the
process of repairs in their areas. We
call upon residents to assist ZESA in
catching the thieves who continue to
steal electricity cables and oil from
transformers," said Mr Sibanda, a ZESA
representative.
Mr Sibanda
emphasised that the country continued to face shortages of
electricity
because of the failure to rehabilitate the Kariba Power stations
because of
the socio-economic meltdown as well the huge costs of
recapitalisation
currently required.
http://mdc.co.zw/
Wednesday, 03 March 2010
16:54
President Morgan Tsvangirai will on Thursday officially open the
MDC
regalia shop and a research and library centre at the
party's
headquarters, Harvest House.
The regalia shop, known as the
New Zimbabwe Excellence Shop is the
first of its kind to be launched by a
political party in Zimbabwe.
The shop will open its doors on Thursday and
will offer a wide
variety of MDC-labelled products such as T-shirts, mugs,
caps, CDs,
DVDs and umbrellas.The research and library centre will
offer
internet, library and research facilities to the MDC's leadership
and
the party's structures and members.
The regalia shop and the
research centre and library are a brainchild
of the party's Information and
Publicity Department. The three
facilities will go a long way in assisting
Zimbabweans to access
information as well as buy party paraphernalia and
branded material
of one of the biggest political parties in Africa.
At
Thursday's launch, President Tsvangirai will be accompanied by the
MDC
leadership and members of the national executive. Zimbabweans
have been
clamouring for a one-stop shop where they can access MDC
party material of
the people's party. The regalia shop is situated at
the ground floor of
Harvest House and will prove to be a popular shop
for millions of Zimbabweans
who are demanding real change.
The MDC, which overwhelmingly won the
presidential, parliamentary and
local government elections in the historic
plebiscite of 29 March
2008, will in the next three months replicate similar
facilities in
all provinces in order to make party information and regalia
easily
accessible to the people.
Click here for the eighth Zimbabwe Weekly Bulletin for 2010 for the period 23 February to 1 March
It is 6 1/2 pages in length
and gives a brief synopsis of the following areas:
The bulletin is accessed
from the Zimbabwe Democracy Now website
http://af.reuters.com/
Thu Mar 4, 2010 10:17am
GMT
* Feuding coalition months behind reform schedule
*
Mugabe determined to hold onto power
* Former opposition seeks conditions
for free, fair poll
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, March 4 (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government looks
unlikely to step down in 2011 as
planned because it has failed to draw up
the reforms needed to ensure free
and fair elections, political analysts
say.
President Robert Mugabe
and bitter rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
formed a coalition last
year to end a political and economic crisis, but
mutual suspicion and
strategic considerations are delaying democratic
reforms meant to clear the
way for a poll next year.
Under a global political agreement that brought
together Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), a new
constitution should be written by December.
That
process is seven months behind schedule and there have been long delays
in
the process to license private radio and television stations and daily
newspapers.
Critics say ZANU-PF has deliberately stalled media
reforms for strategic
reasons but the MDC has not pushed hard
enough.
"It is becoming quite clear that we are not going to get
elections next year
or even in 2012 because the whole political process is
way out of schedule,"
said Eldred Masunungure, a professor of political
science at the University
of Zimbabwe.
"For political reasons both
ZANU-PF and the MDC are still pretending that we
may get a general election
in 2011, but the reality on the ground does not
support that assertion," he
said.
LIFE PRESIDENCY
An early election is unlikely to appeal to
Mugabe, 86, as it would increase
calls for him to make way for someone
younger.
Potential successors also need time to organise their political
forces to
take over the ZANU-PF machinery and oil it for a fight against
Tsvangirai.
"Although we are going to see leaders grandstanding on issues
here and
there, the parties appear to be settling in for a long transition,"
Masunungure said.
Tsvangirai may be counting on eventually taking on
a ZANU-PF without Mugabe,
who is lionised in his party but has become an
increasingly polarising
figure as he hangs onto power.
The MDC may
also see a long transition as an opportunity to pressure ZANU-PF
to
neutralise what critics call its structures of violence, the youth
militia
and independence war veterans, who have led Mugabe's election
campaigns in
the past.
Political commentator John Makumbe, a fierce Mugabe critic,
said the
Zimbabwean leader could be planning to die in office to avoid
possible
prosecution on charges of rights abuses.
"I think Mugabe's
plan is for a life presidency, and if he can drag this
power-sharing
arrangement to 2013 (when parliament's latest term ends), he
will be nearly
90," he said.
Despite his frustrations with ZANU-PF tactics, Tsvangirai
sees no
alternative to the power-sharing deal, which would produce reforms
and,
ultimately, elections acceptable to all.
The MDC says Mugabe has
remained in office by using violence and rigging
elections, including the
2008 presidential run-off, which Zimbabwe's
neighbours refused to endorse as
free and fair.
Critics say hardliners in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party -- in
power since
Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 -- have been
stalling
democratic change for a year, including disrupting a constitutional
reform
process that would lead to new elections.
ZANU-PF
HOSTAGE
This leaves the MDC caught up and unable to press for a
democratic vote
without constitutional reforms and a free media.
"The
MDC is a player, and also a hostage, a hostage of ZANU-PF politics in
the
same way that Zimbabwe as a whole has been a victim of Mugabe's
incredible
policies," said Makumbe.
Last October, Tsvangirai's MDC briefly
"disengaged" from the unity
government over the appointment of some senior
state officials and the pace
of reforms but rejoined weeks later after
mediation by the Southern African
Development Community.
Tsvangirai
has now toned down his demands for Mugabe to swear-in some MDC
members into
government and to fire some ZANU-PF allies, in exchange for
reforms towards
early polls.
Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the smaller MDC group,
said on
Wednesday the three parties had settled nearly all disputes and a
breakthrough on the swearing-in of Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy
agriculture minister was near.
Mugabe says the MDC needs to campaign
for the lifting of Western sanctions
against his party, including travel
restrictions and a freeze on general
financial aid to Zimbabwe.
Mar 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
TWO compelling documentaries illuminate the dilemmas facing Africa's dwindling white tribes. One is set in Zimbabwe, the other in Kenya. The Zimbabwean film, "Mugabe and the White African", is the more straightforward and should be shown as widely as possible to help end one of Africa's great tragedies: the ruin of one of the continent's most successful countries and the moral bankruptcy of the governments of the nearby states (bar plucky Botswana) for failing to isolate and oust a vile dictator.
It shows how a brave film company, embedding itself with a beleaguered family of white farmers off and on for a year, can bring to life the horrors that have befallen an entire country. Like the large majority of the 5,000-odd white farmers who stayed on after Robert Mugabe became prime minister in 1980 and later president, Mike Campbell and his son-in-law Ben Freeth acquired their farm and the regulation government certificate showing that no black citizen also sought to buy the same farm, which then became Zimbabwe's largest producer of mangoes and employed 500 locals. When a man with ministerial connections claimed the property for himself a few years ago, Messrs Campbell and Freeth refused to go, prompting a campaign of intimidation, arson and assault, including the beating up not just of the two farmers but also their wives, all horrifically shown on screen.
When they took their case to a tribunal of the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation club including both Zimbabwe and South Africa, and won, Mr Mugabe's thugs ignored the verdict and burned down the farmsteads. Much of this is covertly filmed, sometimes by the farmers themselves, with wobbly camera shots enhancing the sense of chaos and terror. It is impossible to watch without feeling sympathy for the farmers and their loyal but terrified black workers, and revulsion for the barbarities of Mr Mugabe's regime. A shocking postscript is that although the film has been screened by the BBC, no cinema in neighbouring South Africa, which could stop Mr Mugabe in his tracks, has yet seen fit to air it.
The Kenyan film, "Murder on the Lake", is more intriguing and complicated. Also screened on the BBC and elsewhere, it looks at the murder in 2006 of a famous wildlife photographer, Joan Root (pictured), who was shot in her home beside Lake Naivasha, the centre of Kenya's flower industry. The film offers a tangled web of whodunnit theories. What is certain is that in the last decade of her life, Mrs Root set up a local task force to wage a harsh but ecologically admirable campaign against fish poachers destroying the lake's resources. When she was made to disband the force, some of its aggrieved members turned against her. But she had made other enemies along the lake. It has never been clear who killed her.
The film shows the ecological and social turmoil of modern Kenya: the success of horticulture on the lake's edge, at a cost of draining the lake's waters; the growth of the riparian village from a one-horse town to a seething metropolis of 350,000 in a couple of decades, creating tribal tension and mass poverty in burgeoning slums; the greed and corruption of politicians and police; and the resentment of many locals who feel that white conservationists care more about wild animals than people. Above all, it highlights the awkwardness of the role of the engaged white person in the midst of a society that is still, in many respects, at odds with Western norms.
Is there room for the Joan Roots, let alone the Mike Campbells, in modern Africa? One hopes so. Africa needs both of them. But, judging by this pair of films, one cannot, in the long run, be too confident.