Zim Online
Thu 4 May 2006
BULAWAYO - United States ambassador to
Zimbabwe Christopher Dell on
Wednesday denied that Washington or the West
were demonising Zimbabwe saying
the bad publicity the country was receiving
was because of bad governance by
President Robert Mugabe's
government.
Dell was addressing journalists and students at the
National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo
commemorating the
International World Press Freedom Day
yesterday.
"The bad publicity that the government is getting is a
result of its
bad policies. It is not the international community that says
it wants to
take away mines without compensating owners," said Dell in
remarks, sure to
ruffle feathers in Harare which last year threatened to
expel the American
diplomat after similar criticism.
"The
Zimbabwean government does not observe the rule of law and it is
not the
international community that has destroyed a vibrant economy, all
this is a
result of bad policies of the Zimbabwe government," added the
straight
talking Dell.
The Zimbabwean government last month
threatened to seize foreign-owned
mines, rattling foreign investors. Dell
said it was such careless remarks
that affected Zimbabwe's perception in the
eyes of investors and not hostile
Western propaganda as often claimed by
Mugabe's government.
Last year, Dell caused a diplomatic furore
after he accused President
Robert Mugabe's government of practising "voodoo
economics" that has ruined
the country's economy, one of the strongest at
independence from Britain 26
years ago.
The US envoy said the
Zimbabwean government's clampdown on the media
had contributed to the
country's economic decline.
"Beyond the policy front, freedom of
expression is also a crucial
element in a functioning market economy on the
microeconomic level.
Investors, companies, and individuals cannot make
informed economic
decisions in their interest without free access to
information," Dell said.
"It is undeniable that Zimbabwe's economy
is in a downward spiral
unmatched by any other country not at war. Look
behind nearly every economic
dysfunction in this country ... and you will
likely find some impediment to
a free flow of information or the freedom to
act on that information," he
said.
The US ambassador also took
a swipe at state-controlled media for
misrepresenting the true state of
affairs in the country.
"If you rely on the state media, things
aren't that bad. In fact, the
outlook is rosy indeed and recovery is only
months away. Read the dailies,
listen to state radio, watch state television
we are told the economy will
grow by between 1-2 percent.
"I
for one will watch with interest to see how this turnaround will be
effected," he said.
Relations between Washington and Harare
have been strained over the
past few years after Mugabe accused US President
George W Bush of seeking to
effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
The US, Britain and other major Western powers have imposed targeted
sanctions on Mugabe and his lieutenants whom they accuse of rigging
elections and committing serious human rights violations. Mugabe denies the
charge. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 4 May 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's
health sector has virtually grounded to a halt
with startling revelations
that the country is hanging on to less than a
month's supply of life-saving
anti-retroviral drugs and that the only two
radio therapy machines have
broken down, putting at risk cancer patients
that require radiation
treatment.
The country's drugs repository, the National
Pharmaceutical Company
(Natpharm), shocked legislators by announcing earlier
this week that 20 000
Zimbabweans who are on a national ARV drugs scheme
faced an uncertain future
as the company only had less than 30 days
supplies.
The chilling disclosure highlighted the crisis in
Zimbabwe - which was
this week ranked among the world's top five failed
states - as it battles a
deep economic crisis that critics blame on gross
mismanagement by President
Robert Mugabe's government.
"There
are 20 000 people on the ARVs national programme...we have less
than a
month's supply of the vital drugs and that is not encouraging,"
Natpharm
acting managing director Charles Mwaramba told a group of
parliamentarians
on a tour of the company.
At present, Natpharm stores have 342
different types of drugs in stock
against a requirement of 699 types and its
plans to put an additional 25 000
people on the ARV drugs programme is being
hampered by a crunch shortage of
foreign exchange.
Foreign
currency shortages together with hyper-inflation dramatise
Zimbabwe's
seven-year economic recession, which has also sparked shortages
of fuel and
food while health sector infrastructure is fast crumbling as it
creaks under
the weight of HIV/AIDS.
About 3 000 Zimbabweans die every week from
AIDS-related illnesses,
while more than 170 000 people are in immediate
need of ARV drugs. The
United Nations Emergency Children's Fund (Unicef),
recently said a child
dies in Zimbabwe after every 20 minutes from the
disease.
But the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, seen failing in its
mandate to
turnaround the economy, has between January and March only
allocated US$106
000 to Natpharm against its requirement of US$7.4
million.
Compounding the crisis in the health sector is the fact
that the
country's only two state radiotherapy machines are malfunctioning,
putting
multitudes of cancer patients that require radiation treatment at
risk.
"We used to have locals capable of repairing these machines,
but I am
sure you are aware that we lost several of our qualified health
personnel
due to what the professionals termed 'unfavourable working
conditions',"
Edwin Muguti, the Health and Child Welfare deputy minister
told the press.
At least three million Zimbabweans have left the
country to look for
better jobs in the region and abroad as the conditions
at home continue to
deteriorate although Mugabe's government is defiantly
optimistic about the
country's future.
Most hospitals in the
country, including private institutions now
refer patients to South Africa
where there are better facilities although
the majority can hardly afford to
raise the foreign currency required.
Even meals at state hospitals
have been cut to two, with patients fed
on a diet of sadza (thick maize-meal
porridge) and cabbage and meat at times
while black tea is served with
razor-thin bread slices.
Natpharm says it currently has in stock 88
percent of the drugs for
anesthesia, 75 percent of painkillers, 50 percent
of Tuberculosis, 40
percent of diabetics' drugs and 47 percent of drugs
needed for blood
pressure while all in all there are 43 percent of essential
drugs.
The embattled southern African country also lies close to
the heart of
Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the government estimating 1.61
million out
of its 12 million-plus population people are infected with the
virus.
"The problems in the health sector should be looked at in a
holistic
approach in that they are only a reflection of the crisis the
country is
in," said James Jowa, a Harare-based economist. "But the concerns
that arise
are that there seem to be a shift of the dwindling resources to
non-critical
areas."
The government pours large resources in
security organs such as the
army and intelligence in what political analysts
say is Mugabe's elaborate
patronage system to retain power at the expense of
critical sectors such as
health, education and infrastructure development. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 4 May 2006
HARARE - About 100 Zimbabwean
journalists demonstrated in Harare on
Wednesday demanding the repeal of
harsh media laws and the re-opening of
newspapers and radio stations that
were shut down over the last three years.
The demonstration was
organised by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists
(ZUJ) as part of World Press
Freedom Day which was marked yesterday.
The journalists, who defied
the police in staging the demo, marched to
buildings in the city centre that
formerly housed the banned Daily News and
Tribune newspapers holding
placards demanding the return of the newspapers.
"The Daily News,
The Tribune, The Weekly Times, bring them back," read
one of the banners
which was carried by a journalist during the march.
ZUJ said the
theme for this year's celebrations centred on the need to
push for the
re-opening of all closed newspapers and self-regulation in the
media.
The journalists said the government must also abolish
the Media and
Information Commission (MIC) which has been used to shut down
four
newspapers during the last three years.
"We are capable
of regulating ourselves, we don't need any checks and
balances from anyone
and Mahoso (MIC chairman) should simply go," said
journalist, John
Chimunhu.
The director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA),
Zimbabwe chapter, Rashweat Mukundu, who was part of the protesters,
said the
Zimbabwean government must abolish all laws impeding the operations
of
journalists.
"All the concerns of journalists are around
issues that have to do
with laws such as the draconian Access to Information
and Protect of Privacy
Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and
the Broadcasting Act.
"All we are saying is that all these laws
must be repealed. Many
journalists here are unemployed, papers are being
shut down, journalists
from the state media are being fired on issues that
border on
victimisation," said Mukundu.
Zimbabwe has some of
the harshest media laws in the world with for
example journalists facing a
two-year jail term for practising without a
licence from the government's
Media and Information Commission.
The World Association of
Newspapers ranks Zimbabwe among the three
worst countries for journalists.
The other two are Iran and the former
Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 4 May 2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Football
Association (Zifa) has failed to raise
about Z$1.7 billion to pay for the
release of a 2010 African Cup of Nations
bid document from a private
communications company.
Zifa officials were next week expected to
present the bid document,
which is ready for collection pending the payment
of the funds, to the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) through a power
point presentation.
But the association, which is battling severe
cash-flow problems, has
failed to pay the company resulting in the firm
withholding the crucial
document. Zifa officials were yesterday making
frantic efforts to secure the
money.
"The situation is now
desperate because officials who will travel to
Cairo for the presentation
need time to study it and do some rehearsals. But
the people who prepared
the document want their money first before they can
release it.
"Zifa is now looking to persuading the company to release the bid
document
and pay later. At the same time they are looking for money
elsewhere. Zifa
is broke and it will be difficult for them to raise the kind
of money
needed," said the Zifa official.
Zimbabwe, in its sixth year of a
bitter economic recession, will find
it difficult to convince CAF that they
can host Africa's football showcase
because of a host of problems in the
country.
Critics also doubt whether Zimbabwe will have the money to
pour into
such a social event when the country is failing to feed its
citizens. -
ZimOnline
[ This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 3 May 2006 (IRIN)
- Journalists in Zimbabwe have little to
celebrate on World Press Freedom
Day: their basic rights have been
systematically "criminalised", according
to regional watchdog, the Media
Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA).
"Sadly for Zimbabwe, the past seven years have seen freedom of
expression
being downgraded from a right to a privilege that can only be
exercised at
the benevolence of the authorities," MISA said in a statement
on Wednesday.
Instead of joining his fellow journalists for a drink at
the Press Club this
evening to commiserate over the state of the industry,
Albert Mazhale was
preparing to jump on a bus to neighbouring Botswana. The
26-year-old had
been a contributor to the Voice of the People (VOP), a
privately-owned radio
station, until it was banned by the authorities late
last year. Now he buys
cell phone accessories and cutlery across the border
for resale back home.
After VOP was shut by the police, Mazhale tried to
correspond for other news
services. But under Zimbabwe's tough Access to
Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA), he needed fresh
accreditation from a
government-appointed media council and regarded that as
a hopeless cause.
"To me Press Freedom Day is a void," said the
Bulawayo-based former radio
reporter. "Do we really have any such freedom as
Zimbabwean journalists or
as a media? And the answer is a resounding
no."
At least 100 journalists have been arrested over the past six years
for
violating the government's press laws, according to (MISA) - all of them
from the private media. Four newspapers, including the country's biggest
circulating daily, The Daily News, have been closed since 2003. And, as a
result of the restrictive Broadcasting Services Act, independent radio
stations have been kept off the air.
Every journalist in Zimbabwe
must renew their registration every 12 months
with the Media and Information
Commission; they face up to two years in jail
for practicing without a
license. Newspaper companies are also required to
register after every two
years. Those failing to comply are forced to close
and their equipment is
seized by the state.
Under AIPPA, the maximum sentence for a journalist
convicted of publishing
falsehoods is five years in prison. Reporters as
well as citizens found
guilty of insulting or ridiculing President Robert
Mugabe can be jailed for
a year under the Criminal Codification
Act.
And the government is on the verge of introducing yet another
potentially
troubling law, this time to regulate cyber-communication. The
Interception
of Communications Bill seeks to empower the authorities to
snoop on email
traffic where there are reasonable grounds of a threat to
national security.
Both MISA-Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists have condemned what
they regard as a deliberate clampdown on the
independent media, and have
urged the authorities to fully embrace press
freedom.
"The situation in Zimbabwe as regards press freedom is
shocking," said
MISA-Zimbabwe advocacy officer, Takura Zhangazha. "What we
want is the
repeal of AIPPA, POSA [Public Order and Security Act] and other
such
legislation that impede of the right to association and free speech,
which
is clearly enshrined in our constitution."
Xinhua
www.chinaview.cn
2006-05-04 03:32:25
Lilongwe, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe
Wednesday arrived in Malawi to a grand welcome
although his four day visit
has been heavily criticized by Malawi's civil
society groups.
Mugabe was greeted at Kamuzu International
Airport in the capital
of Lilongwe by his Malawian counterpart Bingu Wa
Mutharikaand was accorded
full honors befitting a visiting head of
state.
Commenting on his heavily criticized visit to Malawi,
Mugabe
briefly told the press at the airport that it is important for Malawi
and
Zimbabwe to continue relating to each other and strengthen the long
standing
economic and social ties.
He said as member of
same regional groupings, it is imperative for
the leaders and people of the
two southern African nations to interact more
often and jointly play a role
in the development of the region and Africa as
a whole.
Malawi and Zimbabwe have a common history as the two countries
alongside
Zambia were under the same colonial federation of the British
government
after the 1890s.
Zimbabwe is Malawi's second largest trading
partner in the region
after South Africa.
Although
Mutharika accorded Mugabe a majestic welcome, some civil
society groups
still harbored reservations about the visit.
Barely a few hours
before the Zimbabwe leader arrived in Lilongwe,
members of the country's
four civil society groups issued a statement in the
commercial capital,
Blantyre, some 300 kilometers away, calling on Mugabe
and his government to
immediately address social and economic problems that
Zimbabweans are
facing.
The visiting Zimbabwean president would among other
engagements
officially open a road that connects Blantyre to the southern
tea-growing
district of Mulanje, some 100 kilometers away.The road will be
named after
the Zimbabwean leader. Enditem
VOA
By Cole Mallard
Washington
03 May
2006
Zimbabwe's government has begun rolling the printing presses
to produce
about 60 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. The additional currency is
required to
finance the recent increase in salaries for soldiers and
policemen. The
money was not budgeted for the current fiscal year, and the
government did
not say where it would come from.
Economists fear
printing more money will only fuel more inflation and kill
the already dim
prospects of any economic recovery. Voice of America
reporter Cole Mallard
spoke with economist John Robertson, in Harare who
says he
agrees.
Robertson says it will create more demand but increase the
scarcity of goods
available to purchase. He says the government is printing
more money because
it has no other options, adding that the country has had
a shrinking economy
now for the last eight years. Robertson says Zimbabwe
can't borrow more
money because payments on its present debt leave little
money for future
borrowing.
He says the government's land reform
program is mainly responsible for the
present economic condition; it has
caused low employment, the need to import
food, fewer jobs in industry
related to agriculture, and no exports.
He says the decreasing tax base
from private industry income is not enough
to handle the government's "very
high burden of commitments to its own
employees, the army, the police, the
civil servants, the teaching
profession, the health profession, all of them
need to be paid."
The economist says the bottom line is higher inflation.
He says the
inflation rate - at 1000%, the highest in the world - could
possibly double,
which could destabilize the government. Robertson says that
kind of
inflation usually "becomes destructive of government policies, and
quite
often has led to a change in government eventually."
The Herald (Harare)
May 3,
2006
Posted to the web May 3, 2006
Harare
ACCESS to safe
drinking water and adequate sanitation has been deteriorating
in recent
years, a survey conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund
(Unicef) and
the Government has revealed.
The problem is particularly prevalent in
rural areas with the survey having
concluded that 60 percent of the
households in rural areas had access to
safe drinking water. Contrary, a
survey conducted in 1999 found that over 70
percent of the households in
rural areas had access to safe drinking water.
Only 40 percent of the rural
households covered in the current survey used
safe sanitary
facilities.
"In 1999, on the other hand, the survey concluded that 60
percent of rural
households were using adequate sanitation facilities," the
survey showed.
The survey did not find any difference in levels of access
between
households with and those without orphans and other vulnerable
children with
all of them being similarly affected. The survey, according to
Unicef and
Government, provided a solid baseline to monitor the National
Plan of Action
for orphans and other vulnerable children.
The survey
should, according to Unicef representative in Zimbabwe Dr Festo
Kavishe and
Secretary for Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Mr
Lancelot Museka,
be used to assess the impact of the combined efforts by the
Government,
non-governmental organisations and civil society to support
families and
communities.
Cricinfo staff
May 3,
2006
Pommie Mbangwa, the former Zimbabwe bowler, has bemoaned the state
of
cricket in his county and has pleaded with officials to "agree on a way
to
move things forward". Mbangwa, commentating for television in the West
Indies where Zimbabwe are involved in seven one-dayers, has expressed his
sadness that such an inexperienced side was sent to the Caribbean: before
the series started, the entire squad had played just 176 one-day
internationals between them.
"There have been problems in Zimbabwe
cricket for a long time and they have
been out there for everybody to see,"
he said. "It is very sad the problems
obviously have not been solved, or
else you would see a completely different
side out there on the field, and
Zimbabwe would not have been one of the
whipping boys of world cricket over
the last few years."
Mbangwa made reference to Zimbabwe's previous tour
of the West Indies six
years ago, when they came close to beating the hosts
and showed promise. And
four years ago, the West Indies narrowly avoided
losing the one-day series
during their tour of
Zimbabwe.
"Unfortunately, things have gone pear-shaped about the same
time that
Zimbabwe had been able to get a side together that in time would
have been
very competitive," he said.
"All of the things said by the
players that have chosen not to play for
Zimbabwe must hold some water.
Collectively, anybody who has any love for
Zimbabwe cricket has to come
together, and accept that things have been done
wrong in the past, and agree
on a way to move things forward."
He added that it would have been
thrilling to see some of the more
experienced Zimbabwe players - such as
Andy Flower, who is currently playing
for Essex, and Heath Streak who is
captaining Warwickshire - come back and
play for the country
again.
"It's all they would love to do once they are still active and
playing
cricket," he said. "Here we have a side [whose] average age is
around
20-years-old, and what is sad is that you have young players learning
the
game against players twice their age and several times their
experience," he
said.
"This is what the problems between the board
and the players have brought on
Zimbabwe cricket, and the sooner it's sorted
out, the better."
Though Zimbabwe have surprised the West Indies with
their competitiveness in
the two one-dayers so far, Mbangwa was nevertheless
sorry for the players
who, given their lack of experience, should not be
playing so soon against
such tough opposition.
"It's unfair to them,"
he said. "It may be alright that one or two may stand
out and people may say
they have talent, but for the others, who don't quite
get things right, they
are coming into the international game five or six
years too
early.
"How much better it would have been for some of them to play five
or six
more years of cricket and then turn up as a guy who had talent at the
age of
19, worked through his weaknesses, got better, got stronger, got
fitter,
knew a little bit more about the game, and played 25 or 30
first-class
matches?
"The other reason I say it doesn't hearten me,
but hurt me is that it could
happen again. When these players get a little
older, are they going to turn
around and say they need this, this, and this,
and not get given it, get
frustrated, then leave the game, and some other
young players turn up?"
Zimbabwe trail West Indies 0-2 in the seven-match
series, after back-to-back
losses by five wickets and 98 runs on Saturday
and Sunday at Antigua. They
meet again for the third and fourth matches at
the weekend.
© Cricinfo
Mmegi, Botswana
JOE
KAUNDA
5/3/2006 5:12:34 PM (GMT +2)
WASHINGTON DC:
Southern African states will be asking international
co-operating partners
to support Zimbabwe in its efforts to get out of its
economic woes,
Botswana's Minister of Finance and Development Planning,
Baledzi Gaolathe
has said.
At a joint press briefing of African ministers at the
close of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings
here, Gaolathe
said members of the Southern African Development (SADC) were
concerned and
also felt affected by the current problems in Zimbabwe. "If
any member
within SADC has economic or whatever other problem, all of us are
affected,
and therefore we have to work co-operatively to try to solve
those,"
Gaolothe said. Gaolothe, who is also current chairperson of the
Council of
Ministers Of SADC, said in the coming week, member states would
be having
consultative meetings with co-operating partners in Namibia, at
which
support for various initiatives and programmes will be tabled. "In
this
respect, we will be asking our international co-operating partners to
support Zimbabwe in its efforts to get out of the problems it is confronting
now. Specifically, because we are in the IMF, you are aware that dialogue is
always in the process of opening," Gaolothe said. "I think Zimbabwe was
having a problem of arrears which they have now sorted out. It is our hope
that in the coming months, the two sides will make some progress because one
of the hindrances to recovery for Zimbabwe is a shortage of foreign
exchange, balance of payments problems, where IMF can play a major role". He
said it was the hope of African leaders that now that Zimbabwe was
up-to-date with its payments, there would be progress in that regard.
Gaolothe, giving an update on the SADC region's move towards establishing a
free trade zone, said the target for reaching free trade status was 2008. He
said by 2011, SADC should have reached Customs Union status where all
countries should have a common tariff. "Beyond that, we should be working
toward a common market. When we reach that stage, there should be freer
movement of labour across the region. "At the moment, although this has been
removed, there is generally free movement of people, but we see they have
their work permits and the like," Gaolothe said. Meanwhile, Senegal's
Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning, Abdoulaye Diop, hailed Africa's
economic performance which, he said, had registered significant growth rates
never seen before.Central bank governor of Congo, Jean-Claude Masangu
Mulongo, welcomed the review within the IMF regarding the quotas and
representation. "In general, the African countries are pleased with the
initiative to increase the quotas and also to have different representation.
"Our continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, has 45 countries and all
the countries are members of the IMF and most of these countries have a
programme with the IMF," he said. "So the question of the quota represents a
very important one. We have at the moment five percent, and we would like to
have our share, once only, but only if those that are at a disadvantage can
catch up". Mulongo explained that as for representation at the IMF, there
were only two seats for sub-Saharan Africa with 45 countries.
By Tererai Karimakwenda
03 May
2006
The candidate for the Tsvangirai led MDC in the Budiriro
by-election
due later this month has accused the police and security
intelligence
officials of harassing and intimidating their campaigners who
are going to
door to door. Emmanuel Chisvuvure told us Wednesday that the
government is
trying to confuse the electorate and give the upper hand to
the Mutambara
camp's candidate Gabriel Chaibva. He said: "The people of
Budiriro will
never vote for such a Vasco Da Gama type person who was once
in NAGG and
Zoom then lost last year standing for Sunningdale in the
parliamentary
elections." Chisvuvure also accused ZANU-PF of already rigging
the
by-election by continuing to register voters after the April 13 th
deadline
passed. He said many of the people whose names are still being
added to the
list come from the surrounding areas and are being given new
identification
cards.
Chisvuvure said his campaigners had been
blocked from canvassing the
area on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he was going
to visit the member in
charge at the police station to urge them not to
interfere. He said police
details in the Budiriro area have been blocking
campaigners from their work
saying police clearance was necessary. But the
law does not require members
of political parties to get permission from the
police at all. There are
also allegations that Minister without portfolio,
Elliot Manyika, has
threatened MDC activists and supporters of the
Tsvangirai faction.
Chisvuvure said the registrar general still
controls the voters' roll
and was adding new names to the list of people who
live in the surrounding
areas. This is not the first time that the ruling
party has been accused of
adding these so-called "ghost voters" just before
an election. The MDC has
accused ZANU-PF of rigging every election since the
referendum on the
constitution in 2000.
Chisvuvure's first job
was as a clerk at Tobacco Processing Diamond
Zimbabwe in 1995. He rose to
become the Chairperson of the Workers Committee
there in 1998 and went
further to become a full time organizer in the
Tobacco Workers' Union. He
was fired from there in 2000 for MDC activism. He
is still dedicated to the
trade union movement and is one of the MDC founder
members. He also
initiated a pilot HIV/AIDS programme with the assistance of
a women's
NGO.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By
Tichaona Sibanda
03 May 2006
There are reports
that disgruntled soldiers in the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces have resorted to
using graffiti in toilets to denounce their
commander-in-chief, Robert
Mugabe.
Mugabe, who enjoys full backing from the top military
brass, was last
week forced to award hefty salary increments to soldiers in
an effort to buy
their allegiance following reports of low morale due to
poor pay and working
conditions. Last month, soldiers from 2 Brigade in
Cranborne sabotaged a
fleet of vehicles in a show of defiance against the
regime.
Several senior officers in the army have also allegedly
received
anonymous letters questioning their loyalty to the crumbling regime
headed
by Mugabe who has been at the helm since independence. The ZDF
however
always keeps a tight lid on information about rumours of disquiet
against
Mugabe.
But there are reports junior soldiers are not
happy with the current
political situation and want change. Contacted for
comment MDC Mutare North
MP Giles Mutsekwa confirmed reports of grafitti
being found in toilets in
most army camps in and around Harare.
'We have no reason to suggest the reports are not true. It's a
development
we knew was bound to come. The rank and file and middle
management within
the uniformed forces are disgruntled and the government
thought they would
brush that aside by throwing money at them,' Mutsekwa
said.
A
highly reliable source based in the UK and who has a colleague still
serving
in the army first alerted SW Radio Africa to the graffiti and
letters last
week. Enquiries that we made suggest the practice is largely
confined to
bases in Harare.
Harare is surrounded by an array of ZDF
establishments and there are
reports of growing disquiet in most of the
camps, mainly at 2 Brigade. Other
military camps in the capital are Manyame
airbase, the 1 Commando camp along
the airport road and the Parachute
regiment at Inkomo just outside Harare.
The artillery and mechanised
regiments are in Pomona, just past Borrowdale
in the north.
Mugabe is heavily guarded by the Presidential battalion, stationed at
State
House, with another garrison in Dzivarasekwa. There is also the Kabrit
barracks along the Chitungwiza road, which houses the school of military
intelligence.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Press Release
Français: La censure, la surveillance et la contrôle par
l'État et la
complicité des compagnies limite la liberté de l'expression sur
Internet:
rapport annuel de RSF
Country/Topic: International
Date:
03 May 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
(RSF/IFEX) -
The following is an RSF press release:
Annual report: everyone's
interested in the Internet - especially dictators
The Internet has
revolutionised the world's media. Personal websites, blogs
and discussion
groups have given a voice to men and women who were once only
passive
consumers of information. It has made many newspaper readers and TV
viewers
into fairly successful amateur journalists.
Dictators would seem
powerless faced with this explosion of online material.
How could they
monitor the e-mails of China's 130 million users or censor
the messages
posted by Iran's 70,000 bloggers? The enemies of the Internet
have
unfortunately shown their determination and skill in doing just
that.
China was the first repressive country to realise that the Internet
was an
extraordinary tool of free expression and quickly assembled the money
and
personnel to spy on e-mail and censor "subversive" websites. The regime
soon
showed that the Internet, like traditional media, could be controlled.
All
that was needed was the right technology and to crack down on the first
"cyber-dissidents."
The Chinese model has been a great success and
the regime has managed to
dissuade Internet users from openly mentioning
political topics and when
they do to just recycle the official line. But in
the past two years, the
priority of just monitoring online political
dissidence has given way to
efforts to cope with unrest among the
population.
The Internet has become a sounding-board for the rumblings of
discontent in
most Chinese provinces. Demonstrations and corruption
scandals, once
confined to a few cities, have spread across the country with
the help of
the Internet. In 2005, the government sought to counter the
surge in
cyber-dissidence. It beefed up the law and drafted what might be
called "the
ten commandments" for Chinese Internet users - a set of very
harsh rules
targeting online editors. The regime is both efficient and
inventive in
spying on and censuring the Internet. Other governments have
unfortunately
imitated it.
The Internet's jailers
Traditional
"predators of press freedom" - Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran,
Libya, the
Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Vietnam - all censor the Internet now. In 2003,
only China,
Vietnam and the Maldives had imprisoned cyber-dissidents. Now
more countries
do.
A score of bloggers and online journalists have been thrown in jail
in Iran
since September 2004 and one of them, Mojtaba Saminejad, has been
there
since February 2005 for posting material deemed offensive to Islam. In
Libya, former bookseller Abdel Razak al-Mansouri was sentenced to 18 months
in prison for making fun of President Muammer Gaddafi online. Two Internet
users have been jailed and tortured in Syria, one for posting photos online
of a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Damascus and the other for simply passing
on an e-mailed newsletter the regime considers illegal.
A lawyer has
been in jail in Tunisia since March 2005 for criticising
official corruption
in an online newsletter. While a UN conference was held
in Tunis in November
2005 to discuss the future of the Internet, this human
rights activist was
in a prison cell several hundred kilometres from his
family. A grim message
to the world's Internet users.
Censorship of the Web is also growing and
is now done on every continent. In
Cuba, where you need permission from the
ruling party to buy a computer, all
websites not approved by the regime are
filtered.
The situation has worsened in the Middle East and North Africa.
In November
2005, Morocco began censoring all political websites advocating
Western
Sahara's independence. Iran expands its list of banned sites each
year and
it now includes all publications mentioning women's rights. China
can now
automatically censor blog messages, blanking out words such as
"democracy"
and "human rights."
Some Asian countries seem about to go
further than their Chinese "big
brother." Burma has acquired sophisticated
technology to filter the Internet
and the country's cybercafés spy on
customers by automatically recording
what is on the screen every five
minutes.
Complicity of Western firms
How did all these countries
become so expert at doing this? Did Burma and
Tunisia develop their own
software? No. They bought the technology from
foreign, mostly American
firms. Secure Computing, for example, sold Tunisia
a programme to censor the
Internet, including the Reporters Without Borders
website.
Another US
firm, Cisco Systems, created China's Internet infrastructure and
sold the
country special equipment for the police to use. The ethical lapses
of
Internet companies were exposed when the US firm Yahoo! was accused in
September 2005 of supplying the Chinese police with information used to
sentence cyber-dissident Shi Tao to 10 years in prison.
China is now
passing on its cyber-spying skills to other enemies of the
Internet,
including Zimbabwe, Cuba, and most recently Belarus. These
countries will
probably no longer need Western help for such spying in a few
years
time.
Democratic governments, not just the private sector, share
responsibility
for the future of the Internet. But far from showing the way,
many countries
that usually respect online freedom, now seem to want to
unduly control it.
They often have laudable reasons, such as fighting
terrorism, child sex and
cyber-crime, but this control also threatens
freedom of expression.
Without making any comparison with the harsh
restrictions in China, the
Internet rules recently adopted by the European
Union are very disturbing.
One of them, requiring Internet service providers
(ISPs) to retain records
of customers' online activity, is presently being
considered in Brussels and
seriously undermines Internet users' right to
online privacy.
The United States is also far from being a model in
regulation of the
Internet. The authorities are sending an ambiguous message
to the
international community by making it easier to legally intercept
online
traffic and by filtering the Internet in public
libraries.
MORE INFORMATION:
For further information,
contact Julien Pain, RSF Internet Desk, 5, rue
Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009,
France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 71, fax: +33 1 45
23 11 51, e-mail: internet@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.internet.rsf.org
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Foreign investors nervous about Mugabe's plan to place country's mines
in
state hands.
By Hativagone Mushonga in Harare (AR No. 62,
3-May-06)
President Robert Mugabe has thrown the economic future of
beleaguered
Zimbabwe into greater uncertainty and confusion with a
declaration that the
state intends nationalising all 500 of the country's
mines.
Speaking at Independence Day celebrations on April 18, Mugabe
fanned fears
among foreign investors when he proclaimed a new mine ownership
policy. "We
said we want 51 per cent in favour of Zimbabwe and 49 per cent
in favour of
the investors," he said.
"The depleting resources,
non-renewable resources, are ours in the first
place. You, the investor,
will get a reward, yes, but that reward will be
balanced by what we keep for
ourselves."
The Mines Ministry subsequently further shocked foreign
investors by issuing
a statement saying 25 per cent of the shares in mine
companies would be
nationalised without any compensation.
Mining has
become Zimbabwe's top foreign currency earner following the
collapse of
commercial farming, which critics blame on Mugabe's decision to
abolish
ownership rights of former owners, mainly white, and drive them off
the
land.
However, some senior ministers are now suggesting that the
government is
willing to compromise and take only an initial 15 per cent of
shares in the
mines in order to reduce the level of alarm among
investors.
Jack Murehaw, president of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines,
representing some
200 foreign and local mine owners, said the organisation
is still discussing
the issue with government. "We presented specific
suggestions and
discussions are earnestly in progress," he said. "It will,
therefore, be
improper for me at this point to get into the details of the
discussion
currently taking place.
"Our response centres on our
desire for government to come up with
amendments to the Mines and Minerals
Act which will encourage further
investment in the industry, and therefore
growth of the sector, while also
addressing the issues of [indigenous]
empowerment."
The Chamber of Mines has warned that the policy, as
outlined by Mugabe on
Independence Day, would kill all foreign investment.
Zimbabwe is already
suffering a critical shortage of foreign exchange, both
in the private
sector and in government coffers, which would make the
financing of the deal
sought by the president very difficult. "The
government and locals will have
to fork out at least three trillion Zimbabwe
dollars [3 billion US dollars]
to take any significant equity in current
mining operations," said Murehaw.
A senior government official confirmed
to IWPR that negotiations were
continuing and that the percentage ownership
ultimately demanded by the
government was likely to be lower than Mugabe's
51 per cent, perhaps around
30 per cent. "Zimbabwe is not the only country
that has done this, but
because Mugabe [is] proposing [it], it is blown out
of proportion," said the
official.
"Mali has 51 per cent shareholding
[in gold mines], while Namibia and
Botswana have 49 per cent in their
diamond mines. South Africa is also
talking about it. So it's nothing new.
It is a SADC (Southern African
Development Community) approach to mining
that we are adopting."
On talk that Zimbabwe might lose current
investment and future investors,
the official said threats of pulling out
from Zimbabwe were not serious. If
current owners, mainly South African and
British, pulled out other investors
from Russia, Australia, India and the
Middle East had indicated their
interest in mining in
Zimbabwe.
"Mugabe is doing it all for the future, for our children,
grandchildren and
other future generations," the official continued. "We
can't sit by while
our country is being raped. These are not renewable
resources. If they are
gone, they are gone. The figure of 51 per cent is
just a
discussion point."
The trouble is that past experience of
Mugabe's catastrophic nationalisation
of land makes it difficult to shrug
off his statements on mine
nationalisation as mere politicking. Whatever the
senior official might say,
Mugabe has the final word in Cabinet and he
broaches no opposition.
Ask anyone in the ZANU PF party or the government
who has tried to
contradict the president, often rightly so, and they relate
receiving a
tirade of insults. Few dare to criticise seriously for fear of
being sacked.
Vice President Joseph Msika and ZANU PF's national chairman
John Nkomo tried
to convince Mugabe some two years ago that it would be a
mistake to allow
the incompetent government-owned Agricultural and Rural
Development
Authority, ARDA, to nationalise the once successful and
lucrative Kondozi
farm in Odzi, Manicaland province.
Despite being
given facts about ARDA's past failures, Mugabe stuck by his
guns and went
ahead to confiscate from its owners the huge property, which
was one of
Zimbabwe's largest horticultural exporting concerns, with markets
in Europe
and South Africa. The property was registered as a protected
Export
Processing Zone with an annual turnover of 15 million US dollars and
employing 5,000 people.
Although some cabinet ministers agreed with
Msika and Nkomo, none dared to
add their voices to the protests. Now, two
years later, Msika and Nkomo are
having the last laugh. The farm is lying
derelict and most of the equipment
has been looted and vandalised. Mugabe's
righthand man, Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa, and Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made are among senior
ministers accused by military investigators of
stealing machinery from the
farm.
A senior official of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, MDC,
told IWPR it would be a mistake to
assume that Mugabe was only politicking
on Independence Day. "Mugabe has now
said the final word and there is no
going back," he said. "It is just
another way of nationalising the mining
sector. I strongly believe that we
are shooting ourselves in the foot. The
mining companies are going to pull
out and we will not get any more foreign
investment in that sector because
investors are there to make money."
The mining sector is the last
remaining pillar of the collapsing Zimbabwean
economy, earning 626 million
US dollars last year, which represents 44 per
cent of the country's total
foreign currency revenues.
Major companies that will be affected by any
legislation include the world's
second largest platinum producer, South
Africa's Implats with an 87 per cent
interest in the local-based Zimbabwe
Platinum Mines; South Africa's Anglo
Platinum, the world's largest platinum
producer; the United Kingdom's Rio
Tinto Zinc; and Metallon, owned by South
African tycoon Mzi Khumalo.
Zimbabwe, with the second largest platinum
deposits after South Africa, is
the main area for Implats' future planned
growth.
Zimbabwe introduced royalty fees on mineral production in January
last year,
piling pressure on an industry already saddled with foreign
currency
shortages and a surge in power costs. "The cost of foreign
currency,
officially and unofficially, is putting producers on edge," said
leading
independent Harare economist John Robertson. "The constraints are
quite
serious and nothing government is doing is encouraging investment. No
miner
wants to invest a lot of capital because of the uncertainty in the
sector."
In South Africa, Zimbabwe's giant southern neighbour, investment
analysts
are watching the Zimbabwean mining and economic situation keenly,
trying to
gauge the right moment to invest in what was once the second
strongest
industrial economy in Africa, and pick up bargain basement
concerns. That
moment may not come until 82-year-old Mugabe leaves the stage
and the dust
settles on the successor regime. What could then follow is a
takeover of
vast swathes of the near-destroyed Zimbabwean economy by
capital-rich South
African interests.
Hativagone Mushonga is the
pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.