http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet
Gonda
07 May 2013
Dumisani Muleya, the editor of the Zimbabwe
Independent, reporter Owen
Gagare and company lawyer Nqobile Ndlovu were
arrested Tuesday for
publishing a story claiming Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s party was
“engaged in sensitive high-level talks’ with the
country’s security chiefs.
The report, written by Gagare, alleged the
MDC-T talks with the top security
service chiefs were also aimed at
preventing political instability or a
potential coup, if Tsvangirai defeats
President Mugabe in forthcoming
elections.
The independent
journalists were arrested even though they quoted MDC-T
defence and security
secretary Giles Mutsekwa confirming that he held talks
with the military
hardliners.
After spending seven hours in police custody Muleya told SW
Radio Africa
that they still face charges under Section 31 of the Criminal
Law
[Codification & Reform] Act, which deals with publishing or
communicating
false statements prejudicial to the State.
But the
newspaper editor stands by the story, which he maintains was
provided by the
MDC-T official, and says he views the police action as an
attempt to scare
journalists from reporting on this sensitive issue. Muleya
said their
lawyer, Tawanda Zhuwara, asked the police why they were not going
after the
source, but they could not answer that question.
The three are due to
appear in court at a date yet to be announced by the
police.
“Our
defense is very clear. We are denying their charges. We are saying the
story
is true to the best of our knowledge and in any case we are asking
why, if
they are finding so many problems with the story, why they are not
talking
to the minister (Mutsekwa) who was and is still prepared to be
quoted on
record on the events that he says transpired,” Muleya said.
In the
Independent story Mutsekwa said: “We have however assured them (the
security
chiefs) that their pensions and their future would be secure. From
the look
of it, some of them would prefer to go into politics full time and
we have
guaranteed them that their decisions will be respected in terms of
the
constitution as long as they don’t destabilise the civilian government.
We
have, however, told them that we are willing to work with them.
“The
attitude of the security forces, even among those who have been making
public statements, has drastically changed. They understand that they will
not be victimised and they can see that their future will be secure, even
without ZANU PF,” Mutsekwa told the newspaper.
The MDC official is
said to have met top security bosses, including Army
General Constantine
Chiwenga, Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba and police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri. But Chiwenga denied meeting members
of the former opposition and was this weekend quoted in the state media
saying he had no time to waste meeting “sellouts”. He described the Prime
Minister as a “psychiatric patient who seems to be suffering from
hallucinations.” Chihuri warned that the law will visit on “liars and
peddlers of falsehoods” harshly.
MISA-Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla
Ngwenya said the arrest of journalists doing
their work, especially when
they name their sources, is unacceptable in a
democracy.
“We are
seeing heightened attacks on the media, and this is done by those
who hold
public office. I think the essence of democracy is to allow the
media to
operate and subject those in authority to robust scrutiny however
unpalatable the stories are,” Ngwenya said.
Analysts say the issue of
meetings with the security sector appears to be a
double edged sword for the
MDC. On the one hand, the MDC is duty bound to
inform its constituents on
what it is doing on issues of national discourse,
while others say they risk
jeopardising the so-called talks with the
security forces.
But
Ngwenya said either way, the role of the media is not to strategise for
political parties but to inform the public on whatever is happening “and if
they (officials) confirm your report that is a bonus and adds credibility to
your story because clearly the issue is of public interest.”
Despite
trying throughout the day we were unable to contact Giles Mutsekwa
himself.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Staff
Reporter
07.05.2013
WASHINGTON DC — Zimbabwe's mobile voter
registration exercise continues with
reports that most centres have not been
widely publicized.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has now published a
list of the mobile
voter registration centres on its website though
Zimbabweans say they have
already been left out of the exercise.
The
two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), say the
mobile
voter registration centers were only advertised in the
state-controlled
media Saturday, five days after teams from the
Registrar-General’s Office
were deployed in various provinces.
The MDC parties claim that the
registration teams have largely ignored
registering people in their
strongholds. But Zanu PF has dismissed these
claims as baseless.
To
view the centres, copy this link to your internet browser and open it:
http://www.zec.gov.zw/images/stories/registrar.pdf
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
7
May 2013
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is in danger of
suffering a crisis
of confidence from political parties and civil society
organizations over
its voter registration campaign.
Since the
exercise was rolled out nationwide last week, observers have
contended that
the controversies which the voter registration campaign has
generated are
early signs of an impending electoral catastrophe.
As the far-reaching
implications of the commission’s failure becomes clear,
concern is mounting
over the management of the voter registration by the
Registrar-General’s
office, bias against the MDC formations and whether, in
its present form,
ZEC can be trusted to conduct the forthcoming elections.
On Tuesday, a
number of political analysts said ZEC must answer some
difficult questions
for the things that have gone wrong with the exercise.
This comes after
numerous complaints were raised on the unfair distribution
of voter
registration centers in the country.
The MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland,
Pishai Muchauraya, said while their
province is bigger in size and
population to Mashonaland Central, they were
surprised to learn that only 40
centers are catering for 26 constituencies
in Manicaland, compared to 70
serving only 18 constituencies in Mashonaland
Central.
‘It’s clear
this is a case of trying to manipulate the exercise. They are
doing this to
get more people to register in Mashonaland Central because it’s
perceived as
a ZANU PF stronghold. However, it is not guaranteed that all
these people
they are scrambling to register will vote ZANU PF. They did the
same in
Manicaland five years ago and they went on to lose 18 seats to the
MDC-T,’
Muchauraya said.
In Mashonaland West, another perceived ZANU PF
stronghold, scores of MDC-T
voters have been turned away for failing to
produce documents which the
mobile teams are supposed to produce in the
first place, as per a cabinet
directive.
Charlton Hwende, the MDC-T’s
aspiring parliamentary candidate for Chegutu
West told us they want to
reject the on-going ‘chaotic and purposeless’
exercise which he said is
clearly designed to rig the process in favour of
ZANU PF.
‘Chiefs and
headmen are still denying people proof of residence but still
giving the
same to ZANU PF supporters. We therefore call the Minister of
Finance to
immediately stop disbursement of funds until all parties have
agreed on a
transparent and fair mobile registration process,’ Hwende said.
In
Zvishavane, Midlands South province, Lilian Timveos, the MDC-T provincial
chairperson, branded officials manning the exercise as ‘crooks’ for charging
people $10 for lost ID cards when the Ministry of Home Affairs stated it was
going to be free.
‘It is very scandalous and if this exercise is not
scrutinized now it may
well turn out to be joke of the century. Two weeks
ago we had women who went
to verify their names on the roll and found them
there, only to notice they
are no longer appearing when they inspected the
roll today (Tuesday),’
Timveos said.
Last week, the
Registrar-General’s office revealed that it had scrapped
almost a million
names of deceased people from the voters’ roll. But it has
emerged that
during the process, they may have deleted names of voters who
are still
alive.
One of those affected is 59 year-old grandmother Njerama Phiri,
who was born
in Zimbabwe although her parents emigrated from Zambia in the
1920’s. Phiri
told our Election Watch program that she was shocked to
discover that her
name no longer appeared on the voters’ roll.
‘I
know for a fact that people from the registrar-general’s office are fond
of
fiddling with the roll, so I made it a point to cross check my name
fortnightly. I got information from my friends in Zvishavane that their
names were no longer appearing on the roll and decided to check for myself,
and to my surprise, it had been deleted.
‘I quickly remembered
Tobaiwa Mudede last week saying they had deleted
almost a million names from
the voters roll and immediately knew this may
well have been the time they
deleted ours. Since these people have been
accused of tampering with the
roll, I assumed they did it on purpose for
political
reasons,’ Phiri
said.
Contacted for comment, co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone said
the
reality is that conditions for the exercise were far from ideal in
several
parts of the country.
There was a possibility that through
Parliament, when legislators debate the
new Constitution Bill, the MP’s can
prompt ZEC to seek an extension of the
exercise for some additional days.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
07.05.13
by MDC
Information & Publicity Department
ALERT – There is a highly
suspicious and covert deployment of soldiers a few
metres from Malborough
High School in Harare, the mobile voter registration
centre for Harare West.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
29 April 2013
A Harare magistrate is to rule Wednesday whether
19 MDC-T activists, charged
with impersonating government officials during a
door-to-door voter
registration campaign, should be allowed
bail.
Since their arrest two weeks ago in Hatcliffe, the ten women and
nine men
have been held in custody after a magistrate denied them bail last
week.
They were part of a campaign team put together by co-Home Affairs
Minister
Theresa Makone, but were picked up by the police as they went
around
Hatcliffe asking residents to register as voters.
Makone, the
MDC-T MP for the area, told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that she
hopes
justice will prevail when the group appears in court for their bail
hearing.
Lawyers representing the group said police claimed that they
were wearing
T-shirts usually worn by officials from the Ministry Home
Affairs. They were
going around the high density suburb asking residents to
check and confirm
if their names were on the voters roll and advising them
to register to vote
if their names were missing.
The group was found
in possession of copies of the voters rolls for the
Harare North
constituency. The MP told us last week she bought the voters’
rolls from the
Registrar General at $15 per copy.
‘I purchased 12 copies for my
constituency, clearly for no reason other than
voter verification. As a
matter of fact my own name was missing in the first
copy and then mis-spelt
in the subsequent copy.
‘As far as I am concerned, this whole furore is
meant to cause fear and
despondency in my activists, while ZANU PF continues
with its own door to
door campaign unhindered,’ Makone said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
07.05.13
by
Staff Reporter
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC’s Youth Assembly has rapped
the Attorney
General’s office for abusing a section of the law that allows
it to
challenge bail granted to accused persons.
The assembly
accused the AG’s office of invoking Section 121 of the Criminal
Law
(Codification and Reform) Act to persecute Zanu (PF)’s political
opponents,
after a prosecutor opposed their leader, Solomon Madzore, bail on
Monday in
a trial in which he is being accused of insulting President Robert
Mugabe.
Under this section, a prosecutor can easily oppose bail
granted by a
magistrate and, according to the MDC-T youth assembly, it “has
been heavily
abused by prosecutors only in cases that are politically
motivated.”
Section 121(3) says: “A decision by a judge or magistrate to
admit a person
to bail shall be suspended if, immediately after the
decision, the judge or
magistrate is notified that the Attorney-General or
his representative
wishes to appeal against the decision, and the decision
shall thereupon be
suspended and the person shall remain in
custody”.
“The prosecutors at times come to the courts unprepared for the
delivery of
justice but to seek means of punishing those who are perceived
as enemies of
Zanu (PF);” said the wing in a statement.
“The Attorney
General’s office has found a lovely toy in Section 121 of
the…Act. Zanu
(PF)- oriented prosecutors have been abusing this draconian
act to keep
behind bars those perceived as (their) enemies,”
read the
statement.
A Bindura prosecutor Munyaradzi Mataranyika on Monday invoked
the to block a
$100 bail that was granted Madzore by Magistrate Elisha
Singano.
“This unjust piece of legislation has seen unprofessional
prosecutors
playing ball to Zanu (PF)’s demands. The section has been abused
to keep
mostly MDC members and civic society activists in jail when they
have been
granted bail,” said the assembly.
It said the section
“therefore renders the judges and magistrates’
rulings academic as the
accused effectively remain behind bars”.
“The State is now persecuting
through prosecution. Even when an individual
is clearly not guilty and with
a clear alibi as in the case of leader
Solomon Madzore, the State can invoke
the section to deny one’s freedom,”
read the statement.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga Moyo
07 May
2013
Zimbabwe moved a step closer to a new charter Tuesday with the
introduction
of the Constitutional Bill in parliament by Minister Eric
Matinenga.
Two other Bills are scheduled for debate during this Fifth
Session of the
Seventh Parliament, but it is the Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No 20)
Bill which is set to dominate, as it is expected to pave
the way for the
next election, expected soon.
The Constitution Bill
contains the provisions of the draft constitution
which was overwhelmingly
adopted at the April 16th referendum.
Constitutional Affairs Minister
Matinenga will now present the Bill to
members of the House of Assembly
Wednesday, after asking for time to add “a
few details which are not
expected to alter the draft much,” according to
COPAC co-chair Edward
Mkhosi.
“Once presented, the Bill will be debated by lawmakers and this
will
constitute the third reading, followed by the committee stage where
members
will go through the Bill clause by clause,” Mkhosi told this
station.
The whole process is expected to be a mere formality which
should be over by
Friday, with sources telling SW Radio Africa that
impatient ZANU PF MPs
wanted the relevant stages skipped so as to fast-track
the Bill into law.
However, Matinenga disagreed and insisted on the due
processes to be met.
Asked whether the Bill will undergo any rigorous
debate or whether MPs would
merely rubber-stamp it Mkhosi, a member of the
Welshman Ncube-led MDC, said
the Bill was headed for a resounding
endorsement by parliamentarians.
He said: “You will remember that this
Draft went through a referendum where
the people of Zimbabwe took a position
that they support it. Therefore I don’t
think there will be any changes to
the Bill as it is.
“The members have an obligation to rubber-stamp
because the populace itself
voted overwhelmingly for the Bill, so as
representatives we can’t change
what has come from the people. So when I say
we will ‘debate’, I mean it in
the sense of giving it [the Bill] resounding
support.”
Although the draft constitution was adopted by a 95% majority,
some sections
of the population criticised the process as having been
rushed, with most
people saying they voted without even seeing the
document.
Mkhosi said that the draft constitution was the product of a
lot of
compromises, and therefore not perfect, but he added the members were
on the
whole happy to adopt it as the supreme law of the land.
If the
Bill gets the required two-thirds majority in the House of Assembly,
it will
then be passed to the Senate, where it also requires a similar
margin before
it can be signed by President Robert Mugabe.
According to Matinenga, when
the president has signed the Bill and it has
been published in the
parliamentary gazette, that it will become the
constitution of the
country.
The other Bills that will be debated by the current parliament
before it
officially ends on June 29th are the Attorney-General’s Amendment
Bill and
The Constituency Development Fund Bill.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Tuesday, 07 May 2013 13:54
MASVINGO -
Water Resources and Development minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo has
ordered
local authorities in the country to immediately stop disconnecting
residents
failing to pay water bills.
Speaking during a meeting with Runde and Save
catchments councils over the
weekend, Nkomo said disconnecting water in
local urban authorities was
likely to cost government a lot of revenue as
this would lead to outbreaks
of diseases and loss of life.
“I want to
make this clear to local authorities that they should not
disconnect water
to residents. Water is a vital commodity that is needed all
the time for
people to survive. If you disconnect them how are they going to
use their
toilets, bath … what are they supposed to drink,” Sipepa Nkomo
said.
He said local authorities should come up with ways to ensure
that all
residents pay for their water as it was not a free
commodity.
“Water is not a free commodity and everyone should pay but
disconnecting it
is not the effective way of forcing residents to
pay.
So local authorities should come up with innovative ways to persuade
residents to pay their bills, or take some defaulters to court than cutting
them off,” he said.
He said water is a basic human right and
disconnecting it was violation of
human rights. He reiterated that
disconnecting water was likely to cause
more damage and financial cost to
government as lack of the resource
attracts dangerous diseases.
He
said he was in agreement with his local government counterpart Ignatius
Chombo over the issue.
Nkomo urged local authorities and residents in
the country to conserve water
as many dams and sources in the country had
low levels, particularly in
Masvingo Province due to poor
rains.
Masvingo Province’s biggest source of water Lake Mutirikwi is
currently at
low levels of 17 percent capacity, raising fears that people
could face
serious water shortages before the next rain
season.
Experts and engineers from government water agency Zinwa told
Nkomo at the
meeting that the province needed massive water rationing,
particularly new
sugar cane farmers who are failing to regulate themselves.
- Godfrey Mtimba
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Gibbs
Dube
07.05.2013
WASHINGTON DC — Workers at New Zimbabwe Steel Limited
say they have been
abandoned by the government and management of Indian
steel manufacturing
giant, Essar Africa Holdings, which signed a $750
million deal with the
government in 2011 to revive the Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company
(ZiscoSteel).
According to ZiscoSteel Joint Workers’
Union chairman, Benedict Moyo, the
company’s 3,500 workers have not been
paid for 14 months, a situation that
has left them without any source of
income.
Moyo said there were high hopes among workers in January this
year when the
government announced that operations were to resume within few
weeks in
Redcliff following what cabinet said was an overwhelming backing of
the
Essar deal by all ministers.
He said the future now looks bleak
for workers in Redcliff, Kwekwe and
surrounding areas in the Midlands
Province which have become ghost towns.
Political commentator Effie
Dlela-Ncube said the ZiscoSteel deal is a clear
indication that all is not
well in the unity government.
Industry Minister Welshman Ncube did not
respond to calls on his mobile
phone while Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and
Essar Africa Holdings management
refused to comment.
The deal has
been mirred in controversy with some state officials claiming
that the
Ministry of Industry and Commerce almost parceled out millions of
iron ore
reserves to the Indian firm for peanuts.
The company has a 53 percent
stake in ZiscoSteel which collapsed due to what
critics say was
mismanagement.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Tuesday, 07 May 2013 14:15
MUTARE
- Zanu PF activist and businessman Temba Mliswa on Friday warned that
his
party could be headed for an election loss if it fails to address
pressing
issues such empowering the youths.
Mliswa, president of an empowerment
pressure group, the Zimbabwe Empowerment
Council (ZEC) was addressing war
veterans, war collaborators and Zanu PF
supporters in the eastern border
city.
He said Zanu PF would be “doomed” if it ignores the call by youths
to
meaningfully empower them.
“It’s suicidal, first of all for the
party to go for elections when
corruption is rife in the party. It’s pretty
clear some people have amassed
wealth from the natural resources of this
country, not only that, the party
is being divided because of these
resources especially here in Manicaland
Province,” said Mliswa.
“All
these divisions in Manicaland and the legal cases are a result of this
money
which is being used here to create the divisions, which I would label
dirty
money more than anything else,” said the volatile former national
soccer
team fitness trainer.
Mliswa said more than 60 percent of potential
voters in Zimbabwe are youths
below the age of 35 who have not enjoyed any
empowerment from the current
drive to empower blacks.
“My question,
which is very clear, why does the party think that we will win
elections
when we have not done much for the youths?” queried Mliswa.
He said the
minister responsible for empowerment and youth development,
Savior
Kasukuwere, should clearly define what he has done for the youths in
the
country instead of giving blanket statements.
Mliswa alleged that a few
people in Zanu PF had benefitted from the
empowerment programme and that
most officials in the party are “so
compromised that they cannot speak out
against the rampant corruption”.
“We have not benefitted from the
empowerment programme except for a few
people and this is an indication to
me that things will not be rosy in the
election. These policies and
implementation schemes that Kasukuwere has
stitched and the community trusts
with companies are not true to the spirit
of indigenisation,” said
Mliswa.
He said the earlier such grievances are addressed and deals are
reversed
then Zanu PF may stand a chance of winning the next election. -
Sydney Saize
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 07 May 2013
14:15
HARARE - Battle lines have been drawn in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu
PF
after the party ended months of speculation and adopted guidelines for
primary elections which are likely to be the fiercest fought since
independence.
Young Turks, soldiers, women and an old guard expecting
to be repaid for
decades of loyalty to Mugabe are now in open war, with the
next two months
set to prove decisive for the 89-year-old Zanu PF
leader.
Campaigning for primary elections, which are closely linked to
the
succession saga ripping the party apart, is now in full throttle with
signs
that divisions are set to widen further ahead of crucial polls which
could
be Mugabe’s last.
Mugabe’s chances of reversing a March 2008
poll defeat to Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai hinge on his ability to
rally his warring troops.
Insiders and analysts say the level of
infighting could make this a “mission
impossible”.
Perhaps the
clearest sign that it is now war was the attack on Defence
minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa by Zanu PF’s secretary for Administration
Didymus
Mutasa.
“We all agreed unanimously. Now we are surprised that there are
some people
like Mnangagwa who are now leading another faction claiming that
they want
to take over the party. Anyone who objects the legitimacy of Mai
Mujuru as
the vice president of the party, then that person does not belong
to Zanu
PF,” Mutasa was quoted as saying at the weekend.
Analysts say
Mugabe’s party is trapped between a rock and hard place after
it took ages
for the politburo to come up with the primary elections
guidelines.
Only on Saturday did the former ruling party put finality
to the thorny
issue of choosing candidates who will represent the party
ahead of an
election that could be held on June 29.
And even so some
of the guidelines are yet to be finalised.
Although Zanu PF will lock
horns with the MDC led by Tsvangirai in a general
election, before that, the
former guerrilla movement would have to avoid an
implosion that could be
triggered by factional fights during primary
elections, insiders and
analysts say.
In a show of loyalty to military men, the politburo threw
retired army major
general Mike Nyambuya back into the fray and will be in
charge of the
turbulent Manicaland Province as the provincial deputy
chairperson ahead of
the polls.
Several security officials who
include police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka
are also eyeing a parliamentary
seat — unnerving incumbents.
Mutasa yesterday told the Daily News that
even if primary elections are
divisive they are necessary.
“They (primary
elections) are necessary. We are a big organisation how can
we go to
elections without primary elections first,” said Mutasa.
Mutasa, who is
on record defending the military involvement in the country’s
politics,
yesterday dismissed the so-called young Turks.
“We are Zimbabwe and not
Turkey. Those who call themselves young Turks
should go there. Here we
follow rules, and we are saying people should not
be imposed and we will
never allow that,” he said.
Indications are that Zanu PF’s primary polls
are premised on two main
factions — one led by Mnangagwa and the other by
Vice President Joice
Mujuru, both of whom have for years been touted as
possible successors to
89-year-old Mugabe.
Rugare Gumbo, Zanu PF
spokesperson, yesterday told the Daily News that five
percent of the
guidelines for elections are yet to be completed.
“We cannot give you the
guidelines because we are not yet through,” said
Gumbo.
But many
inside the party fear the impending primaries may be a mere window
dressing
exercise as nomination tickets for certain slots may already have
been
handed to certain individuals.
Mutasa is however, adamant that the polls
will be democratic saying proper
procedures will be followed when candidates
are selected.
However, the fact that primary elections guidelines are not
yet fully out
has not stopped the jostling in the party with Mugabe himself
having
confirmed the scourge of infighting and imposition of
candidates.
In recent weeks, Mugabe has been at pains condemning
intra-party violence
and the imposition of candidates which some believe was
the undoing of the
former ruling party during the 2008
elections.
Party insiders said the forthcoming primaries had the
potential to further
drive a wedge within the faction-riddled party, with
so-called young Turks
pushing for a clean-out of a bunch of geriatrics in
the name of
“generational change”.
The attempt to get rid of the old
guard could break many traditions in the
party, including paying respect to
elder leaders.
According to Zanu PF insiders, the so-called “young Turks”
are pushing for a
clinical clean-out of party “dead-wood.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Tuesday, 07 May 2013 13:59
HARARE - There is
unease in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC on
whether to allow sitting
councillors fingered in graft to run on the party’s
ticket in the next
election.
While reports indicate the party is cracking over sitting MPs
who are facing
serious challenge in party primaries, it is emerging that it
is actually the
issue of local government councillors which is a major
issue.
A majority of councillors want to run again on the MDC
ticket.
But many of these councillors in towns such as Harare, Mutare,
Zvishavane
and Bindura have been sucked in corruption and have tainted the
party’s
image over the years they have been in office, leaving the party in
a
quandary.
Party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora (pictured) said the
MDC was
investigating corruption cases but admitted some would have to be
judged by
the electorate and not by party officials.
“The issue of
corruption is on-going and we will continue to investigate as
cases come in.
Those implicated in corruption have to be found guilty by the
party because
we do not have confidence in the criminal justice system. It
is
compromised.
“We do not generalise issues it would be unfair to those who
have worked
very hard in their constituencies and wards. We have left that
to the
electorate to make a determination,” Mwonzora said.
MDC Harare
provincial secretary for local government and president of the
Elected
Councillors Association Warship Dumba conceded the party’s
representatives
in councils are posing a headache for the party’s
leadership.
“I can
safely say our councillors have not been doing well. The majority of
them
are compromised and a government minister (name supplied) has been
pushing
his agenda through our councillors,” Dumba said.
http://nehandaradio.com/
on May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm
By
Itai Mushekwe
HARARE – China is set to flood Zimbabwean cities, with
gigantic news-screens
as Beijing ratchets up a new aggressive media
campaign, to solidify her
foreign policy objectives on the African
continent, with a scheme to contain
Western broadcasters in a new feverish
information war.
Diplomatic officials close to China Ambassador to
Zimbabwe Mr Lin Lin, have
told Nehanda Radio how Beijing is seriously
considering a blockade on
critical European media houses, which it accuses
of damaging its image in
Africa.
Zimbabwe has now become one of
China’s key investment destination, following
disclosures recently by Mr Lin
Lin that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from
his country to Harare has
topped US$ 660 million, in the last two years.
“The campaign will see
other African nations namely, Sudan , Angola , Kenya
and Ethiopia also
taking delivery of the monster screens,” the officials
said.
“Western
broadcasters, whose sphere of influence is being targeted in this
new realm
of information competition include America ’s Cable News Network
(CNN), The
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), France 24 and Germany ’s
International broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).”
Most of the
broadcasters are well received in Zimbabwe via satellite, and
the internet.
The BBC and DW have a strong radio listenership, through
short-wave
frequencies, which get jammed and intercepted time and again by
government
using special equipment supplied by the Chinese.
The equipment consists
of three jammers, all installed at the Thornhill
military airbase in the
Midlands.
Thornhill is also a key government communications centre. China
is also
reportedly keen on helping Harare to revive, its failed shortwave
radio
project, the Voice of Zimbabwe (VOZ), whose equipment is derelict in
Gweru.
Major cities like Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru will be a test run for
the media
project’s continental drive, according to our sources. Other
smaller
Zimbabwean cities that will be installed with the “news-screens”,
which
measure 4X3 metres in height include Mutare, Kwekwe and
Kadoma.
Harare already has one such massive high definition screen,
erected in 2010
at the corner of First Street and George Silundika Avenue,
granted as a
freebie by Xinhua News Agency to the State.
“The
controversial screens will offer Chinese news and documentaries bearing
the
subtitles of the African country in question,” said a media contact from
the
rising Asian economic powerhouse.
“Hollywood block-busters produced for
the Chinese market, will also be
syndicated to these news-screens. The
desired movies, will be run for free
as part of efforts to promote Chinese
culture, language and image in
Africa.”
A US official also
conversant, with China’s plans warned that the country’s
leadership must not
engage China with “blind eyes”, because it was Beijing
benefiting the most
from any economic deals.
“Zimbabwean politicians think this whole thing
is a game. China is literally
taking over everything with an electric smile.
People will be brainwashed
with communist propaganda, and this suits Zanu PF
and Robert Mugabe well
since they follow communist doctrines. This is
information colonisation,
which will potentially become colonisation
itself.”
Beijing has also come under fire for causing cyber espionage
horrors on the
US, an accusation which was refuted last month by her foreign
ministry
spokesperson, Hua Chunying.
Information minister, Webster
Shamu refused to take up questions on the
matter. Ironically Shamu at one
time, was trained as a radio journalist by
DW, and used to make radio
announcements for Zanu PF from Mozambique during
the liberation
struggle.
One such eye-sore news-screen will soon be set up at the Harare
International Airport.
So sophisticated is the media rush on Africa,
that China is now opening
branches of its news agencies wherever it can
across the continent, to
manage sensetive political and economic news flow.
The China Central
Television (CCTV), only last year started broadcasting
English-language
African news from Kenya.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
05/05/2013 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
HEALTH Madzorera has urged Indian firms supplying generic
medicines to
produce the drugs locally to help grow the country’s
pharmaceutical sector.
Speaking in India, where he is holding meetings
with various drug companies,
Madzorera said: "Going forward, we desire our
pharmaceutical industry to
grow, and we believe that the Indian
manufacturing sector can play a key
role in Zimbabwe's
development.
"Zimbabwe is right in the centre of three epidemics -
HIV/AIDS, TB and
malaria. We think drugs to control these should be
manufactured in the
region and Indian companies should exploit this
opportunity," Madzorera
said.
"We want to increase the manufacturing
capacity of Zimbabwe through
partnerships with Indian pharmaceutical
firms."
He said Zimbabwe had recovered from the economic crisis and
political
uncertainty of the last few years which had forced investors to
stay away
from the country.
Investment in Zimbabwe would also give
Indian companies access to markets in
the rest of the region, he
added.
"The situation has now changed. Zimbabwe's economy is mostly
dollarized.
Though we may be a small country, Indian companies investing
there will have
access to a 250 million-strong SADC market," Madzorera
said.
Indian pharmaceutical firms have a significant presence in the
region,
particularly in South Africa, which is the largest market for Indian
medicines in the continent. Indian firms like Cipla are already
manufacturing drugs in South Africa.
Madzorera’s visit comes after
the last India-Zimbabwe Joint Trade Committee
meeting held in Harare in
March.
During the meeting, India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and his
Zimbabwean counterpart Welshman Ncube, discussed potential joint venture
investment projects involving the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
http://www.enca.com/
Tuesday 7 May 2013 - 3:12 PM
JOHANNESBURG -
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) official, Irene
Petras says the
Zimbabwean government is repressing opposition before next
month’s
presidential election.
Leaders in different opposition movements are
being targeted as part of
government’s new election strategy.
Police
arrested a Zimbabwe Independent editor Dumisani Muleya and chief
reporter
Owen Garare for allegedly publishing falsehoods about the military
in talks
with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
While on Monday, MDC youth
leader Solomon Madzore was re-arrested after
prosecutors revoked his
bail.
He called President Mugabe a limping donkey last month.
ZLHR
officials said police have detained fewer people compared to other
election
cycles, but the numbers could rise if the government’s new strategy
fails.
http://www.mdc.co.zw
Tuesday 07 May 2013
The MDC
condemns in the strongest terms the arrest this morning of two
Zimbabwe
Independent journalists, Editor Dumisani Muleya and Chief Reporter
Owen
Gagare.
The two are being charged with contravening the Criminal Law
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly publishing
falsehoods in
connection to a story published two weeks ago claiming the MDC
was in
negotiations with the military and police service chiefs.
They
are being held at the Harare Central Police Station’s CID Law and Order
Section where they were charged but as other progressive organisations, the
MDC demands their immediate release.
As the MDC, we express our
displeasure on the arrests, moreso as they come
barely four days after
Zimbabwe and rest of the world commemorated the World
Press Freedom Day on
03 May.
Their arrest comes in less than a week after another journalist,
Blessing
Mhlanga of the Newsday was arrested and charged with criminal
defamation
charges while another journalist with the Zimbabwe Independent,
Dingilizwe
Ntuli was threatened in the State media by the police
spokesperson, Charity
Charamba.
The threats were made against Ntuli
after he wrote an article last week
saying that Police Commissioner General,
Augustine Chihuri was threatening
journalists.
Today’s arrest of
Muleya and Gagare and other threats against the media
personnel and human
rights defenders are a travesty to justice and worse
when the draft on the
new Constitution is being tabled before Parliament
today.
As a
nation, the police and the State cannot continue using draconian laws
to
suppress the will of the people and their fundamental human rights and
freedoms.
What is more worrying is that the arrests of the
journalists are only
targeted at the independent media while those from the
State media have
limitless opportunities to do as they wish by going on a
campaign of writing
entire falsehoods against elected officials who are not
from Zanu PF.
We hope the arrests will be a thing of the past soon when
the new
Constitution becomes the Supreme law of the country as it safeguards
the
media and other fundamental rights. This development seriously confirms
the
MDC’s demand for security sector reforms. The MDC will continue to push
for
a free media environment in the pursuit of a free and democratic
Zimbabwe.
Yes - Together we can complete the change!!