Rebels plan UK tours to raise funds By Chloe
Saltau Harare May 28, 2004
Zimbabwe's outcast players, their
international careers seemingly over, are considering a plan to form a team
of rebels that would tour the UK and play social matches against teams such
as the famous village side Lashings. Veteran Zimbabwe batsman Grant Flower
and the players' agent, Clive Field, emphasised that the idea was only in its
embryonic stage.
But they explained that players sacked by the Zimbabwe
Cricket Union were desperate to find ways of playing competitive cricket and
raising money to pay the hefty legal bills associated with their battle with
the ZCU, in which they were defeated on the eve of the one-day series against
Australia and effectively banished from international cricket.
"There
are quite a few logistics to sort out but it is a possibility, because the
guys have got some good marketability in England at the moment," said Flower,
who has a contract to play with Lashings and said he could potentially help
organise matches against the star-studded team described as cricket's Harlem
Globetrotters.
"We'd have to raise some money here to get the guys over
there."
Field said the rebel players' legal bills totalled about 50
million Zimbabwe dollars ($13,489), while their international careers now
rest with the International Cricket Council's disputes
committee.
Regardless of what happens at next month's ICC meeting, at
which Zimbabwe's worthiness as a Test and one-day nation is set to be
debated, the former players strongly believe the game's administration in
Zimbabwe needs overhauling.
"This wouldn't be a rebel side as such
because that might have implications, but they could play some social games
in the UK to help raise some money to fund their legal battle. They might
even play against a side made up of Zimbabwean and South African expats. That
was something they discussed," Field said. "But it's very much at the drawing
board stage at the moment."
He said any social cricket initiative by the
Zimbabwe rebels would have to be organised in the next six to eight
weeks.
Former captain Heath Streak, whose allegations of racially biased
selection sparked the dispute almost two months ago, still holds out some
hope of playing for Zimbabwe again, but will head to English county
team Warwickshire a week early to make up for the time in which he has
been unable to play cricket.
Sean Ervine has already gone to Western
Australia while fellow all-rounder Andy Blignaut is thought to be close to
signing with Tasmania. While players such as Ray Price, one of the world's
best and most determined left-arm spinners, would also command attention
overseas, others are tentatively planning for life after cricket.
"The
others are going to be doing a variety of things. I know Craig Wishart is
doing a business course, Travis Friend is going to work his hours to try and
get his commercial licence for flying. I know some of the guys are probably
going to take a bit of a break," Streak said.
"I've obviously got to make
a living and if there's no resolution to this whole thing then I've got to
look at making the best of the years I've got left in cricket and
capitalising so I can get myself into a stable financial position to support
my family . . . I've lost a lot of income out of not playing; I haven't
carried on as a mercenary."
Streak maintains members of the Zimbabwe
board, which has an influential political arm, had to be scrutinised. "Some
of them are acting with impunity," he said.
"Integrity has to come
into it and not just integrity of the game of Test cricket but integrity of
the way the game is run. The game of cricket is not like any other game -
it's a gentleman's game and the way things are being done are certainly not
that way. We've been called racists, but those who are accusing us of being
racists are the ones who are creating these problems."
By Staff
Reporter Last updated: 05/28/2004 12:47:30 A RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe
delegation flew into Dallas, Texas on Wednesday to launch a financial package
called 'Home Link' which would allow Zimbabweans in the United States to send
money home, SW Radio Africa reported.
The RBZ's campaign to entice
Zimbabweans in the diaspora was met by protests by a group of Zimbabwean
nationals who attended the meeting with placards.
A frosty welcome also
awaits Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono who is expected to make a keynote
address at the ZimExpo 2004 in Atlanta later on Friday.
The delegation
to Dallas, Texas was led by former ZBC newscaster, Supa Mandiwanzira. The
governor of the bank Gideon Gono, will meet up with the delegation in
Atlanta, Georgia were there are expected to participate at an economic
symposium.
A spokesman for the Association of Zimbabweans Based Abroad in
the U.S. Ralph Black said they condemn the action by the RBZ, describing
their effort as aiding and abetting the policies of a murderous
regime.
The demonstrators waved placards saying: 'Gono seeking foreign
currency to fund the youth militia' and 'Gono: Banker turned
sellout'.
Johannesburg: One of Zimbabwe's richest businessmen has been
arrested here in connection with an investigation into possible fraud and
breaches of foreign exchange rules.
Mutumwa Mawere, a majority
investor in the plush Kilimanjaro night club here, was arrested on Tuesday
and released on R50 000 bail by the Randburg Magistrate's Court
yesterday.
A Zimbabwean police team is in South Africa to escort
him back to Harare. Until recently, Mawere was considered President Robert
Mugabe's closest business crony.
A police spokeswoman said
Mawere's application for bail was in relation to a case about whether he
could be extradited to Zimbabwe. "We cannot comment on the
allegations."
It is understood, however, that Zimbabwean
authorities are investigating invoices issued for asbestos exports through
Southern Asbestos Sales here and want to question Mawere.
The
exports followed Harare exempting asbestos from the materials that had to be
sold through the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe.
Mawere paid more than R7 million for a 60% stake in the Kilimanjaro night
club. Sources say they want to ascertain whether the money was "illegally
externalised".
Yesterday, Zimbabwe's Daily Mirror quoted Mawere as
saying he had been living abroad since 1989. "How can a person who has been
non-resident for 15 years be accused of externalisation?"
Mawere, chairman of Africa Resources Ltd, rose to prominence in 1996 when he
acquired Zimbabwe's largest asbestos mines on the strength of a Harare
government guarantee. Asbestos exports earn about R400m a year
for Zimbabwe.
Also in 1996, Mawere, who had worked for the
International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, teamed up with
Mugabe's Zanu-PF to launch a major bank, the First Banking Corporation. -
Foreign Service
President Robert Mugabe has
ruled out calling an early parliamentary election - something being widely
speculated about in Zimbabwe.
The election is due in March next
year but Mugabe has reportedly been under pressure from his cabinet to call
an election in October or November before food stocks run out.
Mugabe said in an interview with state media yesterday that he would not call
an early election as it would be undemocratic because other political parties
were not ready.
He said general elections in Zimbabwe were held at
the end of every five years, and he would stick to that timetable.
He added that Zimbabwe's electoral system was "very orderly and systematic",
and the country recognised the rules of procedure and the provisions of the
constitution.
Mugabe told The Herald newspaper that reports that he
would call an early election were as far from the truth "as the North Pole is
from the South Pole or as the South Pole is far from the North
Pole".
"We do not waylay the opposition or any other parties by
calling for an abrupt election," said Mugabe. "I think it's
undemocratic."
"The Movement for Democratic Change must be
aware of the ides of March," Mugabe told state media journalists aboard a
flight to Cairo, Egypt.
Buoyed by the party's disputed successes in
recent by-elections, senior members of Mugabe's Zanu-PF have been calling for
an early election which they believe would guarantee the ruling party an easy
victory and the two-thirds majority it wants in parliament.
Zanu-PF secretary for the commissariat Elliot Manyika recently boasted that
Zanu-PF could defeat the MDC any time an election was called.
In
Cairo, the president of the African Export and Import Bank, Christopher
Edordu, held talks with Mugabe, who is desperate to open credit lines for his
government.
Edordu said Zimbabwe was an important and founding
member of the bank, and the institution would provide financial support for
the country's agriculture and mining sectors.
By Staff
Reporter Last updated: 05/28/2004 11:59:04 THE fall-out between
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and senior ruling Zanu PF officials over a
Sky News crew's entry into Zimbabwe took a new twist this week when the man
who organised the trip was barred from entering the country.
Former
Ugandan rebel fugitive David Nyekorach Matsanga was turned away at the Harare
Airport and sent back to London, further emphasising the bitter split which
threatens to tear-apart the ruling party.
Chief immigration officer
Elasto Mugwadi confirmed Matsanga's deportation, but refused to say why he
had been deported.
But New Zimbabwe.com today reveals that information
Minister Jonathan Moyo instigated the deportation as revenge after a messy
fall-out with Zanu PF's secretary for publicity and information Nathan
Shamuyarira over the Sky News fiasco.
Sky News entered into a deal
with Zanu PF through Matsanga to be allowed into Zimbabwe to do a positive
spin on land reform and the national youth training scheme. Shamuyarira began
writing to Moyo in April asking him to ensure their smooth entry into
Zimbabwe.
But Moyo, the architect of draconian legislation banning
foreign journalists dragged his feet and when the crew flew into Zimbabwe a
week ago, he ordered them to be deported sparking a stand-off which was won
by Shamuyarira.
The Sky News crew was allowed to stay but Moyo sought to
undermine them but bringing in a Kenyan team of journalists to interview
President Robert Mugabe. After some resistance, Moyo was again overruled by
Shamuryarira and Sky News landed an interview with Mugabe.
The Herald
which has enthusiastically printed public relations articles by Mastanga
supporting government policy on Friday led the attack, mocking Matsanga for
"boasting about his connections in Zimbabwe".
The paper said last year,
he boasted to British journalists that he "knew everyone in Government and
that all the (Zimbabwean) ministers turn to me for advice. Mugabe is always
interested in what I have to say."
Matsanga, 44, who runs a company
called Africa Strategy has been sheltered in the United Kingdom after running
away from Uganda where he was a member of an outlawed terrorist
group.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper last year described him as a
"propagandist and public relations adviser for Mr Mugabe."
A former
official of the disgraced former Ugandan President Milton Obote, Matsanga has
lived in Croydon, Surrey, with his wife and four children for 10 years. He
was granted political asylum on the grounds that he would be killed if he
returned home.
Until recently he was the British spokesman for the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, a proscribed terrorist organisation which
conscripts child soldiers and has been accused by Amnesty International of
terrorising the population.
It is understood that a bank account held
by Matsanga frozen by the British Government in London in 1999 because of his
LRA activities.
By Staff
Reporter Last updated: 05/28/2004 12:33:54 MAKONDE Member of Parliament,
Kindness Paradza's faux pas at yesterday's hearing before a Zanu PF
Mashonaland West provincial disciplinary committee may prove to be the
Waterloo in his bid to rescue his newfound political career in the ruling
party.
Paradza failed to produce a Zanu PF membership card before the
committee that is hearing his misconduct case.
"We have resolved to
make our recommendations on the basis that Paradza is not a member of the
party," a confidential source on the disciplinary committee said
Thursday.
"We are, therefore, recommending his expulsion from the party,"
the source added.
Paradza, a former journalist who worked at the
Financial Gazette becomes the second ruling party official whose loyalty has
been questioned after Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri was found to possess a
Canadian passport.
Mashonaland west provincial committee deputy chairman
and disciplinary committee head, John Mafa yesterday said the Makonde MP had
responded to the allegations levelled against him.
"We have
temporarily adjourned because some of his responses need to be referred to
other people for verification. We will be calling more people and we expect
to resume by next week," Mafa said.
When asked about his impartiality in
view of allegations that he belonged to a rival faction from that of Paradza,
Mafa said: "I am not very sure if Paradza belongs to any faction.being a
deputy chairman for the province (and) elected unopposed I do not have any
faction, in fact, I don't even know about these factions you are talking
about."
Mafa said his committee's terms of reference were to make
recommendations to the party's national chairman, who would in turn take
further action based on these recommendations.
Mafa, however, declined
to disclose the nature of the aspects that had been raised by Paradza that he
said needed verification.
"I do not want to be seen as pre-empting our
investigations, any interested person will know what will be happening when
the time is ripe," said Mafa.
When contacted, Paradza declined to comment
on the proceedings preferring to refer all questions to Mafa. He, however,
said he was happy with the way the proceedings were going.
"I don't
have any complaint with regard to the investigations, everything is going on
well," said Paradza.
There was speculation that Paradza might not attend
the hearing following the refusal by the committee to furnish him with
minutes of a meeting that led to his suspension from the party last
month. From Daily Mirror
Herald
Reporter A UK-BASED anti-Zimbabwe group has launched a rabid campaign on the
Internet and the British House of Lords to derail the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's international outreach to regularise foreign currency remittances
to the country by Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora.
An article
written by Mduduzi Mathuthu posted on the newzimbabwe.com website alleged
that central bank governor Dr Gideon Gono slipped into London on private
business on Tuesday and was expected to stay there until
Friday (today).
However, the governor was nowhere near London as he
was meeting with African Export and Import Bank officials in Cairo, Egypt, on
Tuesday and Wednesday before being joined by President Mugabe to solicit
support for Zimbabwe's agriculture and mining sectors.
The Zimbabwean
delegation returned home on Wednesday evening.
Mathuthu, a former
Zimbabwe Independent reporter now based in the UK, wrote that outraged
British MPs were set to review the list of senior Zimbabwe Government
officials banned from travelling throughout the European Union after Dr
Gono's imagined visit.
"Since Gono was appointed Reserve Bank governor
last November, the EU sanctions list has not been
reviewed.
"Embarrassed British Foreign Office officials said: 'It's a
private visit. It's certainly nothing to do with us. We are not meeting
him."
"In the House of Lords," wrote Mathuthu, "Baroness Amos, responding
to questions from peers who suggested Gono was on a mission to raise funds
for Zanu-PF's re-election campaign also stressed that the Government's
hands were tied on the issue."
Mathuthu alleged that President
Mugabe's opponents were already planning to make it an uncomfortable visit
for Dr Gono with unspecified protests, as he claimed that the governor was
"trying to raise money for Zanu-PF's re-election campaign".
Contacted
for comment in Harare yesterday, Dr Gono said: "When I go to the UK it will
be on a mission to promote the formalisation of funds transfers into Zimbabwe
by our brothers and sisters in not only that country but other parts of the
world.
"Those of us charged with the responsibility to superintend
financial systems in our backyards have a duty to ensure that funds that flow
into our system do so in as transparent and accountable manner as
possible.
"Some of us cannot forget the horrors of September 11 which
have changed the whole face of this world and that horror was in part
financed by funds which were moving in and out of world financial markets
without close scrutiny or accountability."
He said: "Under the
prevention of terrorism finance, as governor of the central bank I have an
obligation to urge Zimbabweans living outside the country to use safe,
transparent and accountable channels for funds transfers as our collective
fight against opaque financial systems which tomorrow can be used against
humanity through money laundering and other terrorist activities."
He
said if Mathuthu could regard such a mission as counterfeit by choosing to
lie about "why I would be visiting the United Kingdom or any other part of
the world then he ought to be seen for what he stands for."
"His
(Mathuthu) hatred for the governor should not be allowed to cloud the noble
mission that is founded on international responsibility towards
clean financial systems in one's backyard."
Dr Gono said he last
visited the United Kingdom in September last year
'Land issue can only be resolved through
dialogue'
Herald Reporter THE land issue is a bilateral and colonial
question and can only be resolved through dialogue between Zimbabwe and
Britain, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Cde Patrick
Chinamasa, said on Wednesday.
"It cannot be resolved by the British
speaking to the opposition because they are not in Government. It can only be
resolved by dialogue between the two contended parties," he said.
The
minister was answering Kuwadzana MP Mr Nelson Chamisa (MDC) during
the question and answer session.
Mr Chamisa had asked Cde Chinamasa to
clarify the Government's position following the statement by President Mugabe
that Zimbabwe was willing to engage Britain in talks if London wanted
dialogue. The President said this during an interview with British news
channel Sky News.
Mr Chamisa had alleged that by trying to talk to the
British government the Zimbabwean Government was selling out since the
President was on record saying anyone who talked to the British was a
sell-out.
"A sell-out is a person who is a member of this House and goes
to talk to George Bush (United States President) behind Zimbabwe's back and
we have got them here. Those sell-outs will go to talk to the State
Department and the CIA, that is now selling-out," Cde Chinamasa
said.
The land issue, he said, would not be resolved by the British
funding white farmers in Zimbabwe or sending them to Nigeria.
Nigeria
has been wooing some of the former Zimbabwe commercial farmers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ANNUAL
inflation in Zimbabwe declined last month to 505% year-onyear from 583,7% in
March, with all subcategories of the inflation index registering a decrease,
Standard Bank said in a research brief yesterday. "Clearly, the
administrative measures introduced over the past six months have been
instrumental in lowering inflation. However, viewed over a longer term the
inflation outlook is not positive," said Standard Bank economist and author
of the brief Robert Bunyi.
The productive sector lending facility was
injecting inflationary pressure into the economy. "We expect annual inflation
rates will continue to decline but will later revert to a rising trend,"
Bunyi said.
Late last month the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe reduced the
overnight rate from 400% to 205%, indicating to the market where it would
like interest rates to be.
"Following this the bank stated that
compound effective interest rates should be in line with inflation levels. In
response to these signals, commercial banks progressively began revising
lending rates downward.
"Frequent changes to interest rate policy have
increased the level of uncertainty in the money markets," said Bunyi. This
was expected to result in rapid, large changes in money-market liquidity. In
the short term, interbank interest rates were expected to stay
volatile.
Following the decision to let Zimbabwe's dollar depreciate on
the auction market it depreciated 15,3% last month.
Black market
activity fell due to tightened controls. "The reserve bank may have to
incorporate a programme of periodic devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar as
part of the process of injecting some stability into the markets." I-Net
Bridge
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- The
South African government's position on Zimbabwe is not diplomacy, but cynical
conniving with a ruthless and cruel dictator. President Robert Mugabe says
food aid is not required, and makes every effort to thwart attempts to bring
food into the country by concerned donors. Why?
He wants a big
election turnout (food for votes) to decimate the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), increase his majority and return to changing the constitution
(which he cannot do now).
He will call the election early, arranging it
for October. This is the driest time of the year with maize at its annual
low. Without donors, he will control all food stocks.
He can then
ensure not only compliance at the ballot box, but the large turnout he and
President Thabo Mbeki need to pretend his popularity is increasing
again.
Mbeki will collaborate. SA will declare the election free and
fair, shrug its shoulders and say it tried to bring the two sides together,
but the MDC would not respond with any sense of urgency and hence lost out,
so let's recognise Mugabe and back to business as usual.
SYDNEY: Zimbabwe is ignoring cricket's 'core values' and the
International Cricket Council (ICC) should consider that when assessing the
Zimbabwe crisis at its meeting next month, the international players'
association said on Thursday. Zimbabwe is in danger of being suspended from
Test cricket after a revolt by the country's top white players forced two
Test matches against World Champions Australia this month to be cancelled.
Former Australian Test bowler Tim May, who is chief executive of the
Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), said the ICC must
investigate claims that Zimbabwe was ignoring cricket's equality and
integrity. "It is the strong position of FICA and its member player
associations that the present Zimbabwean crisis is more than just a perceived
dilution in the value of international cricket," May said in a statement here
on Thursday.