http://www.voanews.com
ZESA
Public Relations Manager Fullard Gwasira said ZESA’s financial position
would improve if local consumers would cough up US$450 million in
outstanding bills - but consumers accuse ZESA of overcharging
Gibbs
Dube | Washington 04 March 2011
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority Holdings Limited is technically
insolvent given its debts
amounting to some US$900 million, ZESA Chief
Executive Josh Chifamba has
told Parliament this week, complaining that
consumers owe ZESA US$450
million.
Consumers have acccused the state-controlled utility of grossly
overcharging
them while failing to provide sufficient electricity to avoid
chronic and
long blackouts.
Chifamba told Parliament’s Committee on
State Enterprises that ZESA faces
serious operational problems for lack of
money and qualified staff.
Debts include US$140 million owed to Southern
African regional power
utilities, he said, adding that ZESA requires some
US$540 million to upgrade
its infrastructure. But he noted that it was
allocated just US$55 million in
the 2011 national budget.
ZESA Public
Relations Manager Fullard Gwasira said ZESA’s financial position
would
improve if local consumers would cough up US$450 million in
outstanding
bills.
“Consumers should pay for what they use in order for us to settle
our debts
and thereafter look for funding for capital projects,” said
Gwasira.
Economic commentator Rejoice Ngwenya said ZESA should consider
selling a
majority stake to raise capital to upgrade and pay down its
massive debts.
“Almost all [Zimbabwe's] parastatals are bankrupt and as
such I think
government should sell its majority shares in this company in
order to
generate money for capital projects and paying its huge debt,”
Ngwenya told
VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
05 March, 2011 02:44:00
By
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa on
Saturday
dismissed reports by the United Nations (UN) that his country
supplied arms
to Ivory Coast.
According to reports, Zimbabwe may have
supplied Laurent Gbagbo with
weapons.
But Mnangagwa said that
Zimbabwe itself was looking for weapons following an
arms embargo slapped on
the country by Western powers. He added that the
allegations against the
country were ‘stupid’.
Earlier this week, UN experts said they believed
the arms shipments were
delivered to Ivory Coast in December. The shipment
allegedly included light
weapons.
Speaking to the NewsDay newspaper
in Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe
itself was under an arms embargo
by the European Union, Britain and other
Western powers. He added that
Zimbabwe was actually looking for weapons for
its own military.
Three
years ago, Zimbabwe’s neighbours blocked a shipment of weapons to
Harare
from China, following fears that they would be used by Zanu-PF on
opposition
supporters.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
05/03/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZANU PF has accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti of trying
to delay general
elections by refusing to release funds for the completion
of constitutional
reforms.
Speaking during a meeting with Germany's
Ambassador to Zimbabwe Albrecht
Conze, Zanu PF chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo
claimed that Biti, a senior member
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC-T party, was playing politics.
He claimed Biti had released a mere
US$1 million for the constitutional
reform exercise against the US$20
million required.
"The outreach programme was completed and we have now
reached the uploading
stage and the Minister of Finance is saying there is
no money,” Moyo said.
"We should by now have reached a stage where we
have concluded the draft
constitution and then go for referendum in June
before we go to elections.”
He accused Biti of stifling progress in a bid
to delay elections.
"We should by now have reached a stage where we have
concluded the draft
constitution and then go for a referendum in June before
we go to elections.
"But there are deliberate efforts to stall this
process so that there are no
elections,” Moyo added.
Zanu PF wants
the constitutional reform exercise completed so that elections
can be held
this year to replace the fractious coalition government.
President Robert
Mugabe has warned that he may have to dissolve parliament
and force
elections if his coalition partners continue to delay the process.
http://www.radiovop.com
05/03/2011 18:05:00
HARARE, MARCH 5, 2011 –
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,s party, MDC-T on
Saturday accused police
of blocking its meetings in Bulawayo, Mashonaland
West and East provinces
claiming that the political situation in the country
was too
volatile.
The party is preparing for its congress in May and the
provincial meetings
are meant to prepare structures for the major indaba. In
Bulawayo where
Lucia Matibenga, the MP for Kuwadzana and a member of the
MDC-T’s national
executive had been dispatched to oversee a restructuring
exercise, anti-riot
police ordered everyone to disperse before the meeting
could be convened.
Matibenga said they were shocked because the meeting was
being held at the
party offices, which meant that it was a private
gathering. The two
detectives who led the anti-riot squad said they were
under strict
instructions from their superiors not to allow the meeting to
proceed
because of the unstable political situation in the
country.
According to the draconian Public Law and Security Act (Posa)
political
parties must inform the police if they intend to hold public
meetings.
But the law does not seem to apply to Zanu (PF) which on
Wednesday was
allowed to hold a rally attended by more than 20 000 people at
the Glamis
Arena in Harare.
Police also barred meetings of the MDC
faction led by Welshman Ncube
scheduled for Bulawayo and Chitungwiza
claiming that they did not have
adequate manpower.MDC has threatened to go
ahead with the rallies with or
without police clearance.
Police
commissioner general Augustine Chihuri has been accused of being a
Zanu (PF)
activist which has made it difficult for him to discharge his
duties
impartially. On Friday visiting United States deputy Secretary of
State for
African Affairs Susan Page appealed to the police to stand up to
their
commanders who were openly abusing their powers and showing allegiance
to
Zanu (PF).
“We recognise that not everyone within the Zimbabwe Republic
Police and
armed forces supports or is engaged in violence,” she
said.
“The United States applauds those patriots serving their fellow
citizens and
their country by maintaining law, order and
stability.
Meanwhile one of our reporters in Bulawayo Nompumelelo Ncube
reports that
anti-riot police are patrolling the streets of Bulawayo where
they harassing
shoppers and vendors.The police spent the whole day
iintimidating commuters
and residents at the city's main taxi rank, Egodini.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 05 March
2011
HARARE – Zimbabwe should hold elections only after fully
implementing its
power-sharing agreement including adopting a new
constitution, a top South
African official has said, in a sign Pretoria
maybe losing patience with
President Robert Mugabe who has demanded fresh
polls with or without a new
constitution.
In a statement that
reflects growing regional impatience with the continuing
bickering among
Zimbabwe’s political leaders, South Africa’s Deputy Foreign
Minister, Marius
Fransman, said Pretoria would not allow Mugabe to hold an
election until he
has met outstanding conditions of the power-sharing pact
officially known as
the global political agreement (GPA).
While Mugabe and Tsvangirai have
both called for a vote to choose a new
government to replace their uneasy
coalition, the two rivals have however
differed on the timing of the polls
with the former insisting they should be
held this year without fail and
even before a new constitution is in place.
Zimbabwe is drafting a new
Constitution that will guarantee a free and fair
vote and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has said polls should only come
after a new charter has
been adopted and political violence and lawlessness
in many parts of the
country ended.
Fransman sided with Tsvangirai, saying any Zimbabwean
elections must be
based on provisions of GPA.
"The South African
position and that of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) is to
ensure that the next elections as envisaged in the
GPA are held under a new
constitution that would have been the product of
the constitution-making
process supported by the Zimbabwean electorate
through a referendum,'' he
said.
He added: "In this regard, any calls for elections without the
finalisation
of the constitution-making process are in breach of the GPA as
well as the
Constitution…which gives legitimacy to the inclusive
government."
Fransman said Zimbabwe should resolve sticking GPA issues
such as the
disputed appointments of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana,
central bank
governor Gideon Gono and provincial governors as well as the
swearing in of
MDC-T Treasurer-General Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture
minister.
Political analyst Donald Porusingazi said the change in the
tone of South
African diplomacy towards Zimbabwe reflected growing regional
impatience
with Mugabe.
“We are seeing a trend in which various South
African ministers are openly
criticising Mugabe. There is genuine fear that
following the resurgent
violence in Zimbabwe and the dangerous political
rhetoric by Mugabe and ZANU
PF things may quickly explode in Harare and it
is the neighbouring countries
that will suffer from an influx of refugees,”
Porusingazi said.
Fransman’s boss, Foreign Minister Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane last year described
Mugabe as “a crazy old man” and said
South Africa “cannot do quiet diplomacy
forever”.
She proposed
exposing "the dirty actions" of Mugabe's security chiefs who
are accused by
the MDC-T and rights groups of spearheading ZANU (PF)
violence
campaign.
Tsvangirai last month hinted he could boycott any election
unilaterally
called by Mugabe this year without reforms to ensure the vote
is truly
democratic and urged regional leaders to help pressure to stop
calling a
snap vote.
South African leader Jacob Zuma is SADC’s
official mediator in Zimbabwe and
is understood to be drafting a roadmap
that should see Harare hold free and
fair elections.
Under Zuma’s
roadmap, elections will follow a referendum on a new
constitution and will
also set milestones such as electoral reforms, the
role of security forces
and how to smoothly transfer power. -- ZimOnline
http://www.radiovop.com/
05/03/2011 12:04:00
BULAWAYO,
March 5, 2011-Police in Bulawayo are still holding three senior
leaders of
the secessionist Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) but they have
since
released two female leaders, Ntombizodwa and the organization,s
Zimbabwe
chairperson, Nonsikelelo Ncube.
According to MLF official Sabelo Ngwenya,
the women were released last
night.Those still in custody are Paul Siwela,
John Gazi and Charles Gumbo.
“ We are gravely concerned about the continued
detention of the three
officials and we urge the international community to
speak out against human
rights abuses by Mugabe government, ” said Ngwenya
in a statement to the
media.
Gazi and Gumbo are former Zipra
guerrillas while Siwela is a well known
businessman in Bulawayo and a
prominent politician.
“ These arrests exhibit the regime's determination
to intimidate MLF leaders
and the people of Mthwakazi and in so doing derail
our historic struggle for
self-determination, ” said the MLF
statement.
According to MLF Gumbo was arrested at Entumbane while
distributing his
party campaign material.Siwela and Gazi were picked up from
different
locations in the city.Gazi served as a Zipra weapons expert during
the
liberation war and is well respected by war veterans in the
country.
MLF was launched in Bulawayo in January this year and says its
goal is to
liberate the oppressed people of Matabeleland and those in some
parts of the
Midlands who are part of what it calls Mthwakazi
Kingdom.Analysts have
warned the government not to underestimate MLF saying
the organization is
gaining popularity among the people of Matabeleland who
have been
marginalised by President Robert Mugabe,s government since
independence in
1980.
http://www.voanews.com
The Bulawayo branch of
the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said ZANU-PF supporters were cleaning out
supermarket supplies of
maize meal, a Zimbabwean staple
Chris Gande | Washington 04 March
2011
The US-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network reported this
week that
while food is readily available in Zimbabwe, many families lack
the money to
meet their needs
Militants of Zimbabwe's former ruling
ZANU-PF party were said to have raided
supermarkets in Bulawayo and seized
imported foodstuffs in the name of
indigenization, leaving neighborhoods in
the country's second-largest city
short on basic goods.
The Bulawayo
branch of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai issued a statement saying ZANU-PF supporters were
mainly
cleaning out supermarket supplies of maize meal, a Zimbabwean stape
food.
The statement said ZANU-PF militants were loading trucks with
looted goods.
Bulawayo resident Raymond Phiri told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Chris Gande that
most shops have run out of imported foodstuffs which are
cheaper than most
local brands.
The US-based Famine Early Warning
Systems Network reported this week that
while food is readily available in
Zimbabwe, many families lack the money
to meet their needs.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 05 March
2011
HARARE – The wife of Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander
Constantine
Chiwenga called and threatened former United States ambassador
James McGee
in 2009, according to a confidential cable published by
WikiLeaks this week.
The cable said Jocelyn Chiwenga called the US envoy
on June 18, 2009 “and
insulted and threatened him”.
“On other
occasions, she has spoken with embassy staff and criticised the US
with
profanity and abusive language,” the cable said.
The embassy lodged a
complaint with Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
over the threat to
McGee.
Jocelyn is no stranger to controversy. In 2002, she threatened to
kill a
white commercial farmer, reminding him that she had not "tasted white
blood
for 20 years".
A year later, she assaulted Gugulethu Moyo, a
lawyer for the Daily News.
Moyo said she had twisted her arm, slapped her
on the face all the time
shouting: "So what if you are a lawyer? You want to
encourage anarchy in
this country. You want to represent our
enemies."
The ZDF chief’s wife also caused a stir at Makro wholesale in
Harare in 2007
after she slapped photographer Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, who was
accompanying
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai during a tour of the South
African-owned
shop.
Seeing the mainly empty shelves at the store,
Tsvangirai was reported to
have criticised President Robert Mugabe's
controversial price freeze earlier
that year.
Mugabe had ordered
shops, businesses, hotels and restaurants to slash their
prices by at least
50 percent, leading to widespread shortages.
Chiwenga was enraged to see
the MDC-T leader – now Zimbabwe’s Prime
Minister – accompanied by his
bodyguards and journalists in the store, and
immediately ordered guards to
close the shop.
The MDC-T leader escaped but Mukwazi was trapped within
the supermarket and
attacked by Chiwenga who was shopping at the time.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by chief reporter
Saturday, 05 March 2011
12:50
HARARE - The head of Zimbabwe's war veterans association, Jabulani
Sibanda
(Pictured), was 10 years old when the liberation war ended. The
self-styled
war veteran, who has been using classic tactics of mass
intimidation to cow
Zanu (PF)'s political opponents, was born on December 31
1970, birth records
show. And it is not only Sibanda claiming to have waged
the liberation war.
Most of the self-proclaimed “war veterans” are too young
to have served in
the struggle which led to Rhodesia's independence from
Britain in 1980.
"Go to hell," Sibanda shouted when confronted about his age,
before cutting
off the line. He has terrorised rural areas, force marching
villagers to his
rallies and lecturing them ad nauseum on the evils of the
MDC and the
perfection of Zanu (PF). Then, in the style of the Red Guards of
the Chinese
Cultural Revolution, he forces the villagers to go with him to
the next farm
to repeat the process, villagers say.
The only people left
in the compounds are those who cannot walk because of
the beatings they have
received. Injuries range from simple abrasions to
fractures, concussion and
burns. Night after night the pattern is repeated
by Sibanda from one rural
area to the other around the country as President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF)
party battles to ensure it will remain in
government after elections Mugabe
wants midyear.
"It is political violence. This is gross intimidation,'' said
MDC senator
for Gutu, Empire Makamure, whose constituents have been
terrorised by
Sibanda. The Masvingo province area has received the worst Red
Guard
treatment, and more are likely to be targeted.
The tactics appear
to be working. The number of people at previously
well-attended MDC rallies
is dwindling, and party T-shirts, pamphlets and
posters that were a common
sight a few months ago have become a dangerous
rarity. People are so
frightened that they dare not even raise their hands
and wave to their
friends because the gesture emulates the raised,
open-palmed symbol of the
MDC.
http://www.businesslive.co.za
05
March, 2011 19:11
Regional power
utilities supplying power to Zimbabwe might pull the plug if
its government
fails to settle debts owed by the country's power utility.
The Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) evidently owes regional
suppliers more
than US$100-million in accumulated debt.
Yet despite facing electricity
supply problems, Zimbabwe is exporting power
to Namibia at below
cost.
Zimbabwe generates about 1400MW of a required 2000MW, and imports
about
300MW from Zambia and Mozambique.
However, Energy and Power
Development Minister Elton Mangoma says Zesa
exports about 150MW to
Namibia.
Mangoma said Zambia and Mozambique were "willing to export more
power if we
pay for the current imports and something towards the
accumulated debt of
nearly US $100-million."
He said Zimbabwe
expected to receive another 50MW-100MW from the Democratic
Republic of
Congo, starting this month.
Power-sector sources said this week it was
highly unlikely that Zimbabwe
would continue to get power supply from the
regional power utilities and
beyond if it did not settle its
debts.
"These regional power utilities have had enough of excuses. Each
time they
chase for payments of outstanding debts, they are told things are
being
worked out. It is only a matter of time before they get fed-up and
stop
supplying us with power," said a source.
Consumers and
industrial players are hit by power cuts as the power utility
struggles to
provide electricity to all parts of the country.
The government is not
likely to provide funds to clear the debts soon.
Finance Minister Tendai
Biti has indicated the country faces challenges that
will make the
settlement of debts difficult. The government is struggling to
pay decent
public service salaries. Promises of salary increases are
unfulfilled.
There is a dogfight over whether the money from the sale
of diamonds should
go towards public service salaries or not, while other
essential services
await funding from the government.
Mangoma
bemoaned Zesa's US$40-million deal with NamPower to export about
150MW to
Namibia. The tariff agreed is below Zimbabwe's cost of generating
the power.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Rejoice Ndlovu
Saturday, 05 March 2011
13:44
“Illegal western sanctions” is now one of the most popular
clichés in
Zimbabwe’s national conversation. (Pictured: Zanu (PF) stalwarts
at the
anti-sanctions rally in Harare this week where thousands of people
were
indoctrinated with the ‘sanction’ lie)
There are several key myths
that are important to dispel about the position
of foreign nations on the
sanctions debate.
Sanctions are blocking economic recovery
Neither the
United States or Britian maintain sanctions against the people
of Zimbabwe
or the country of Zimbabwe. Sanctions target individuals and
entities that
have undermined democratic processes or institutions in
Zimbabwe. More
specifically, sanctions target individuals who, among other
things, are
senior officials of the Government of Zimbabwe, have
participated in human
rights abuses related to political repression and/or
have engaged in
activities facilitating public corruption by senior
officials of the
Government of Zimbabwe.
Sanctions also target entities owned or controlled by
the Zimbabwean
government or officials of the Zimbabwean government. Unless
a transaction
involves a blocked individual or entity, U.S. persons may, and
are
encouraged to, conduct business in, and trade with, Zimbabwe and its
people.
British ambassador, Mark Canning has said on many occasions that the
targeted measures did not affect the economy, trade or business. Canning
clarified that the EU measures imposed restrictions on 203 key figures of
President Mugabe's regime involved in the violence and human rights abuses.
The measures also affected 40 companies associated with these individuals
and their sources of finance, he said.
There is a trade embargo
against Zimbabwe
There is no US bilateral trade embargo against Zimbabwe.
Trade levels
fluctuate, but in 10 of the past twelve years (with the
exception of 2007
and 2009, when the global economic crisis affected nearly
all markets), the
trade balance between Zimbabwe and the United States has
favoured Zimbabwe,
often by a large margin.
According to Keith Scott,
first secretary Political/Communications Affairs
in the British embassy in
Harare, UK exports to Zimbabwe between January and
October 2009 were £15
million. Zimbabwe exported to UK between January and
October 2009 £49
million worth of goods. In 2008 UK exports to Zimbabwe were
£21 million and
Zim exports to UK in 2008 were £37 million.
"Zimbabwe actually runs a trade
surplus with the UK," Scott said. Another
diplomatic source said the current
diplomatic row between Harare and the EU
had culminated in the imposition of
legitimate “smart sanctions” based on
the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement. A
Western diplomat confirmed that the same was
true in Europe: "The EU as a
bloc remains one of Zimbabwe's major trading
partners," he said. "It’s pie
in the sky that sanctions are hurting the
Zimbabwean economy." Exports to
the EU currently account for about 36 per
cent of the country’s total
exports and cover both traditional and
non-traditional product
lines.
Major agricultural export products from Zimbabwe to the EU are
tobacco,
cotton, meat products, tree plants, and cut flowers. Zimbabwe has
also
benefited from the STABEX fund for supporting export earnings owing to
a
decline in prices of commodity exports.
Aid has been cut off
In
fact, the United States provided over US$300 million in 2009 and over
US$200
million in 2010 for humanitarian, food, health, and democracy and
governance
assistance to Zimbabwe. In 2011, the United States will continue
to provide
this level of assistance while also raising its commitment to
fight HIV and
AIDS in Zimbabwe by US$10 million to a total of US$57.5
million.
According to Ambassador Canning, British aid to Zimbabwe
continues.
"Sanctions do not hurt ordinary Zimbabweans," Canning said.
"Indeed, levels
of British aid - US$100 million last year - to ordinary
Zimbabweans have
never been higher.” Zimbabwe has always enjoyed a balance
of trade surplus
in its trade with the EU, despite claims that the sanctions
were hurting
trade. The EU is also a major donor for humanitarian
assistance.
In a desperate attempt to add more fuel to the ‘sanctions’ fire,
Zanu (PF)
on Wednesday forced people in Harare to abandon their work
stations to sign
an ‘anti-sanction’ petition. "It's either we attended the
signing ceremony
or we lose the market stalls that we were given by Zanu
(PF) officials,"
said a vendor.
At least 20 000 people attended the
ceremony that was dominated by Zanu (PF)
supporters clad in party regalia
and punctuated by music exalting Mugabe in
power since 1980. Thousands of
the people were either forced to attend the
event or as is the tradition of
Zanu (PF) bussed. The use of force to ensure
that there were signatures on
the pages only goes to show the desperate
lengths that the party will go to
to deceive the people.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Sibanengi Dube
Saturday, 05 March 2011
13:48
I will be turning 40 years-old within a few years time. For all
my adulthood
life I have been squatting in the Diaspora, South Africa, after
unceremoniously leaving Zimbabwe on 21 January 1999.
I am still in
Mzansi, obviously not by choice, but by circumstantial
coercion. None of my
children refer to Zimbabwe as ‘home’ because they were
born in South Africa.
My eldest child Sibanengi (jnr) confronted me when we
were in my rural home
in Mberengwa last December and demanded to be taken
back ‘home’ as he was
tired on being in Zimbabwe.
The home he was referring to is my bank bonded
house in Winchester Hills,
Johannesburg where he was born. When other
stunned family members reminded
him that he was actually at his “real” home,
he retaliated by boycotting his
meals until we left for Johannesburg in a
few days time. This encounter has
been constantly coming back to haunt me.
It never crossed my mind that I
would have kids who regard my home country
as a camping festival
destination. I was distressed.
Blame at our
door
My experience is not alien to my friends and family members, who are
dotted
around the globe as Zimbabwe continues to be a refugee generating
pot. Why
are we in this situation? Who is to blame? We may all ask. Why
this curse?
Could it be Zanu (PF)?
Zanu (PF) might have authored the
situation that we find ourselves in, but
the blame lies squarely with all
Zimbabweans. How then can victims of the
situation become instigators of
their won predicament? The honest answer is
that we allowed Zanu (PF)
Pharisees to openly privatise our country for the
benefit of few Zanu (PF)
idiots as the majority gets snared by maddening
poverty and
hopelessness.
One painful reality is that very few Zimbabweans feel at home
when they are
in Zimbabwe. Who would be proud of a home where violence is
perpetrated by
State institutions who are supposed to provide security, hope
and
confidence? We might all be proud Zimbabweans but the beautiful country
was
made inhabitable under everyone’s watch.
We surrendered territory to
a few greedy clowns, who have been plundering
the political and economic
landscape of the country for the past 31 years.
Takaranwira makudo munda,
manje haachada kubudamo. We gave Robert Mugabe a
signed blank cheque book,
literally giving him a green light to insert any
amount that suits his
ravenous taste for sumptuousness. These former
guerrillas, masquerading as
national heroes are nothing other than
unrepentant full-time murderers who
will never stop killing as long as we
continue to surrender ourselves to be
guillotined.
Non-action
As I write this, 47 activists, including two
former MDC MPs, Munyaradzi
Gwisai and Job Sikhala are in detention facing
charges of treason for
watching a video of revolutionary protests being
staged in North Africa.
Guess what the general populace’s reaction is to
these wanton arrests of
innocent citizens: non-action.
Where is the crop
of former student leaders who warned the nation about Zanu
(PF)’s indecency?
Have they gone underground or surrendered to Zanu (PF) as
Zimbabwe goes up
in smoke? What happened to the selfless bravery of the
former student
leaders, who used to be the beacon of light? Was their
resilience drowned by
‘academic perfume’, as the Police Commissioner,
Augustine Chihuri, once put
it in reference to military tear gas that was
used by riot police to
disperse demonstrating students?
It is interesting to note that most of the
best brains to come out of
Zimbabwe are being absorbed by the lucrative NGO
sector where their energies
and brain power are consumed by writing project
proposals and concept
papers. Some have even grown so influential to an
extent of controlling,
distributing and approving budgets of donor
communities. They are in the
business of trading calamities. Their stock is
the crisis bedevilling
Zimbabwe. All they do is to document or analyse the
crisis for a living but
adding nothing of value to mitigate the
crisis.
Zimbabweans are petrified of confronting Robert Mugabe even though he
is
already one foot in his grave. Yes! This is a fact. It is public secret
that
Mugabe is always in and out of operation theatres. Zimbabweans are
genuine
cowards, hell-bent on preserving their lives with no regard of the
quality
of life they are subjected to. They are an opposite of Egyptians who
confronted Mubarak’s armed soldiers on tankers, with prayers and
stones.
Zimbabwe has been mortgaged to Zanu (PF). Can we honestly afford the
luxury
of folding our hands as the nation faces extinction? Zimbabweans are
good at
masking cowardice. Some claim to be apolitical, mouthing neutrality
at
every turn and event. It is an individual choice to join politics, but in
Zimbabwe there are only two options that are obviously identical. It is
either all Zimbabweans must demand freedom from Zanu (PF) or we force Zanu
(PF) to deliver freedom to us by any means necessary
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Tavada Mafa
Friday, 04 March 2011
16:14
HARARE – The state of libraries in Zimbabwe’s main cities is a
cause for
concern with fears rising that the country’s reading culture will
be
destroyed.
At Highfield Public Library, once a well-furnished and
spotlessly clean
space to study, there is a US$2 entry fee to visit the
decaying building.
When the municipal officer manning the desk is asked how
children can afford
to pay such a fee for every visit he responds, “It is
just a directive from
above”.
Roof leaks in the library have rendered the
better part of the reading area
unusable and the floor is littered with
tattered book pages. Despite this,
scores of students, whose parents are
well off enough to afford the
admission charge, spend their afternoons at
the few remaining reading desks.
A Harare Social scientist, Pascal Masocha,
said that in the face of a
booming technological industry, libraries must be
furnished with things such
as internet enabled computers. “There is need to
come up with innovative
techniques to resuscitate the young generation’s
interest in the libraries,”
said Masocha.
A Harare economic analyst, Fred
Nyamadzawo, said Harare must set aside a
special budgetary allocation for
community services departments. “We have
excellent infrastructure in these
libraries, but it needs maintenance,” he
said. Harare’s Mayor Muchadeyi
Masunda admitted that the council had failed
to maintain library
infrastructure. “The libraries are not in the state that
they should be,” he
said, attributing that to various factors including the
council’s bad
financial position.
“Council had to start from scratch when there was the
introduction of the
multiple currency system and that affected our budgeting
and as a result we
have not been allocating the annual grant to the
libraries.” However,
Masunda said that a management board of volunteers was
recently set up to
resuscitate the libraries. He is also alleged to be
attending a fundraising
dinner in London in an attempt to raise money for
the repair of libraries.
http://www.ft.com/
By Alec Russell
Published: March 4
2011 21:17 | Last updated: March 4 2011 21:17
The Big Man was taking no
chances this week. Loyalists were ferried through
the run-down capital
singing revolutionary songs and banging the side of
their trucks. State
television pumped out propaganda. Dozens of activists
were in court on
treason charges after being arrested for watching a video
of Egypt’s
democracy protests.
It was a bravura display of light-touch tyranny. The
climax was a sulphurous
address. The father of the nation lambasted the
“imperialists” of the
perfidious west. Then he flew to Singapore on the
state airline, clearly
utterly confident in his hold on
power.
Libya’s revolutionaries can sadly as yet only dream of Muammer
Gaddafi
flying out of Tripoli. The orator was not the exotically clad
colonel vowing
to fight to the last man and the last woman. Rather it was
his fellow
African autocrat Robert Mugabe. In a dapper suit with matching
hanky and
tie, the 87-year-old Zimbabwean this week delivered a master-class
in the
exercise of power. Would-be revolutionaries and tyrants alike should
take
note.
While no two are the same, there are enduring features of
tyrannies – and
how to topple them. These two leaders certainly have much in
common: both
imposed economically disastrous “indigenous” revolutions; both
rail at the
west while craving its respect; both see themselves as the
embodiment of
their states.
In the old days there were two basics to
a despot’s longevity – state
television and the army. The former may have
waned in the age of the web,
but the latter remains pivotal. Col Gaddafi has
not been as adept as Mr
Mugabe at keeping his army on side. It is a mistake
he may rue. While Libya’s
dictator may have proved more resilient – or
rather ruthless – than Egypt’s
or Tunisia’s, in the eyes of a master of his
craft such as Mr Mugabe he
should never have reached this sorry pass where
regiments have changed
sides.
The unseating of tyrants is an inexact
science. A mere accident or misstep
can tip the harshest regime. The
persecution of László Tokés, a Calvinist
priest in the Romanian town of
Timisoara, was a run-of-the-mill spot of
secret policing for Nicolae
Ceausescu’s Securitate in late 1989. Yet his
arrest was the equivalent of
the suicide of the fruit seller that
precipitated the downfall of Tunisia’s
regime, provoking a protest that was
to uproot the Ceausescus’ rule. Two
weeks later Ceausescu looked out from
the Central Committee building with
disbelief as the shout “Timisoara”
rippled through the very masses bused in
to cheer him. Four days later he
and his wife were shot dead.
There
is, however, also logic to the survival of autocrats. Mr Mugabe
understands
perfectly well the need to counterbalance despotism, and avoid
elementary
errors. It is often said that Ceausescu’s mistake was to go to
Iran as the
Timisoara protests erupted. There is no way Mr Mugabe would have
gone to
Singapore if there was trouble at home.
When Zambians decided in 1991
that after nearly 30 years they had had enough
of their president-for-life,
Kenneth Kaunda, he is said to have telephoned
Kenya’s leader Daniel arap Moi
in a panic. Moi’s response was tart, a
confidant told me. “Didn’t I tell you
always to keep your people in your
capital, well-fed.”
That was a
basic slip, but the amiable KK was frankly not tough enough to be
a
president-for-life. This could never be said of Mr Mugabe. Since the
emergence of a viable opposition he has had no qualms over unleashing
appalling violence ahead of elections to intimidate the poor into staying in
line.
Yet he is clinically scientific in his use of violence. To
pre-empt any
threat from a rival, early in his rule he presided over the
massacre of
thousands of members of the minority Ndebele tribe. Since then,
outside
election seasons the boot boys have been kept on a leash.
(Speculation of a
snap summer election is thought to be behind a recent
surge in violence.)
He has, indeed, ravaged the economy to stay in power.
Foreign companies are
the next in his sights. But he is, in truth, a subtler
figure than the
cartoon tyrant depicted in the British press. There are
plenty of worse
tyrannies that get a fraction of his coverage. Rackety the
regime is but it
is not a totalitarian state. He is too canny for
that.
Col Gaddafi, however, appears to have allowed things to slip too
far. There
are fears that a civil war may loom. But the most apparently
impregnable
regimes can implode overnight. What we are waiting for is
someone in the
army to move – and if, or as, the revolutionaries move closer
so that
likelihood will grow.
We should remember Zaire. One steamy
May day in 1997, the playboy son of the
kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko was
treating the capital as his fief. The next
he was firing a grenade at the
national bank before fleeing for his life.
(Is there a moral here for Col
Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam?) It was not just
that the rebels were at the
gates. The army’s commander had thrown in the
towel.
We should also
remember Romania, where the joyous shout “armata e cu noi”
[the army is with
us] signalled the end of the regime.
No two topplings are the same.
Zimbabwe’s opposition prime minister
explained Mr Mugabe’s survival to me by
saying that after its independence
war Zimbabwe was wearied of fighting. He
also hailed its coalition
government – yet he added we could wake tomorrow
and find a spontaneous
revolt.
But if I had to bet on it, Mr Mugabe
will die in office and Col Gaddafi will
not see out the year or even the
month.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
March 5, 2011, 3:08 pm
Dear Family and Friends,
At
6 am in the morning, seven soldiers dressed in camouflage stood hitch
hiking
on the main highway leading to Harare. A few kilometres along the
road
another group were trying to flag down a lift. This was the day that Mr
Mugabe and Zanu PF were holding their much advertised ‘Anti Sanctions
Petition Campaign.’ The early morning was cool and overcast, the roadside
grass dripping with dew, drenching strings of children as they cavorted
along the road towards their schools. Smiling and waving, shiny-faced and
innocent, they pushed and giggled, proud in their bottle green, navy blue,
and deep purple uniforms.
On the outskirts of Harare there were three
Police roadblocks within ten
kilometres and an increasing number of soldiers
sitting in the back of open
pick up trucks. In the centre of Harare some
shaven headed youths and a few
newspaper vendors were wearing full size
Zimbabwe flags strung around their
necks and draped down their backs. And so
the city braced for what was
coming.
The first sign of what lay ahead
came , as it always does, with shouting,
whistling and banging. These are
the Zanu PF ‘youths’ calling people to
come to the Zanu PF function. By 9
in the morning numerous big open trucks
full of people were heading towards
the venue. A 60 seater bus went past,
filled to bursting with people even
standing in the aisles. On the roof rack
of the bus, sitting in fifteen
lines of four, were another fifty or so
people. These on the roof rack were
the rabble rousers. Wearing the national
flag wrapped around their heads and
draped like towels round their
shoulders, they whistled and shouted, banged
their hands on the sides of the
bus and waved their fists, the Zanu PF
symbol.
A truck filled with white-robed Apostolic church members went
past, forty to
fifty women sitting on the floor of the truck, watched over
by half a dozen
shaven headed Church men, also wearing full length white
robes. Sitting half
in and half out of commuter minibus windows, youths
wearing Zanu PF T shirts
shouted for people to go to the Anti Sanctions
rally. Mostly people did what
they have become used to doing: they looked
away and tried not to make eye
contact.
“Down with Sanctions” the
speakers at the rally shouted, clenched fists
thrust over their heads. Down
with, down with, down with – the same
feverish, negative, chorusing that so
personifies politics here. Mr Mugabe
said there was a Hit List of Western
companies he had instructed his
Minister of Indigenisation to look into.
Companies which include Old Mutual,
Rio Tinto and BP. Barclays Bank and
Standard Chartered Bank were singled out
particularly by Mr Mugabe; he said
they were on the Hit List of foreign
owned companies to be investigated by
Minister Kasukuwere.
Two days later I popped into my local branch of
Barclays Bank. They have
installed new security doors since I was there a
couple of weeks ago, a
fascinating little coincidence considering the
Indigenisation Hit List talk.
I thought I’d find the place full to bursting,
with worried customers, but
there was only one other non staff member in the
bank on an otherwise busy
Friday morning. The Personal Banker on duty
couldn’t answer any of my
questions like: is my account going to be safe
here, or, is there a chance
you will close your branches in Zimbabwe?,
Looking nervously over his
shoulder, smiling even more nervously, he talked
quickly and quietly: the
Hit List speech was the first time he’d heard
about this, he said, they were
as much in the dark as I was. I was worried
about my account, he was worried
about his job. I didn’t tell him that as a
farmer I knew all about these Hit
Lists and as a result was now a
dispossessed farmer. The farm indigenisation
Hit List left nearly three
quarters of a million people who worked on the
land without homes, jobs and
pensions. Three quarters of a million people
of whom less than 10 thousand
had white skin colour.
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.
5th March 2011.