| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
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(New York) -- The government of Zimbabwe is using provisions
of national
legislation to silence dissent, perpetrate human rights
violations and place
the basic rights of Zimbabweans under siege, Amnesty
International said in a
report published to mark World Press Freedom Day on
May 3.
"The Zimbabwean authorities, particularly the police, abuse this
repressive
legislation to systematically harass, arrest and torture those
perceived to
be supporting the political opposition and exposing human
rights
violations,” said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of
Amnesty
International USA (AIUSA). "The Zimbabwean authorities should
immediately
cease all intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture of
political
opponents, independent media and human rights
activists.”
The report, Zimbabwe: Rights under siege, examines how the
government has
introduced and selectively used legislation as a vehicle for
committing
widespread human rights violations, thus denying its opponents and
critics
their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. In
2002
alone, approximately 44 members of the media were arrested and five
were
physically attacked; there were at least 1,046 reported cases of
torture,
and at least 58 politically motivated deaths.
Provisions of
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Private Voluntary
Organizations
(PVO) Act are examples of recently- enacted legislation that
contravene
international human rights standards. The Zimbabwean government
has ratified
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) and the
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), both
of which protect
the rights to freedom of expression, association and
assembly.
The
report details a number of recent cases involving authorities’ abuse
of
legislation:
· The January 2003 arrests of five members of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), who were charged under Section 5 of
POSA. All five were
apparently tortured while in police custody, and medical
examinations
indicated that two of the men had electric shocks applied to
their genitals,
mouth and feet, and were forced to drink urine. The charges
against all five
men were subsequently dismissed due to lack of
evidence.
· The April 23-25, 2003, national stay-away, organized by the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in protest of increases in fuel
prices. The
police are reported to have detained at least 20 ZCTU officials
and members
in Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe and Chiredzi for their part in
organizing the
stay-away.
· The detention of 15 women on March 8,
2003, International Women’s Day.
Bolawayo police detained the 15 and
reportedly beat several other women who
were participating in a peaceful
march. Among those detained were three MDC
MPs and the wife of the MDC’s vice
president.
Amnesty International calls on Zimbabwean authorities to
immediately repeal
or amend all legislation that violates the rights to
freedom of expression,
association and assembly, and bring national
legislation in line with the
ICCPR, the African Charter and other
international human rights standards.
Authorities must also end the political
misuse of the police and ensure that
police officers abide by the highest
standards of professionalism and
respect for human rights.
The human
rights organization also urged the international community to
increase its
involvement. “In light of escalating state repression of
fundamental human
rights, the international community, particularly Southern
African
governments, must redouble their efforts to demonstrate that
the
intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture of government critics
is
unacceptable," said Adotei Akwei, Africa Advocacy Director for
AIUSA.
Zambia Grants 31 Licences to White Farmers
The Herald
(Harare)
November 10, 2003
Posted to the web November 10,
2003
Sanday Chongo-Kabange
Harare
OUT of over 200 white farmers
who trekked to Zambia from Zimbabwe during the
land redistribution exercise,
only 31 have been granted farming licences
after successfully meeting all
requirements.
Zambia Investment Centre (ZIC) director-general Mr Jacob
Lushinga said in a
telephone interview here that only 31 farmers had been
granted farming
licenses out of 1 500 applications that the centre had
received since late
1999.
Mr Lushinga said most of the farmers who had
been granted farming licenses
were into tobacco farming and have since
settled in northern and southern
provinces of Zambia.
"We have
received a lot of applications from Zimbabweans but only 31 have
met Zambian
requirements and we have given them farming licenses. They are
mostly settled
in Mazabuka, Mkushi and Mpika where there are few settlers,"
he
said.
Mr Lushinga went on to state that the investment centre, in liaison
with the
immigration department, had only managed to clear 31 farmers and
added that
they were still handling more applications.
He urged all
farmers who had not been granted farming licenses to be patient
as Government
was doing everything possible to help them acquire licenses
and other
necessary permits.
Mr Lushinga was, however, quick to note that "they
need to have all
immigration documents in place before they apply for the
farming licenses".
He said most of the farmers were failing to obtain
clearance from
immigration department and opted to apply for farming licenses
without
realising that the ZIC only granted licenses to organisations
and
individuals who are cleared by the immigration department.
National Economic Consultative Forum Moves to Set Up Think
Tank
The Herald (Harare)
November 10, 2003
Posted to
the web November 10, 2003
Walter Muchinguri
Harare
THE National
Economic Consultative Forum's National Dialogue 2003 ended in
Harare on
Thursday with participants calling for the establishment of a
think tank that
would be empowered to gather information across the country
with a view of
finding solutions to the prevailing economic challenges.
Speaker after
speaker said the think tank should comprise dedicated
Zimbabweans who are
committed to finding solutions to the country's economic
problems.
The
grouping would gather views across the business divide such as
the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of
Commerce, which have continued to operate in separate ways, while
pursuing
more or less the same objectives.
Trust Bank's chief
executive Mr William Nyemba said the think tank should
ideally have less than
10 people.
"Such people should be able to move across the length and
breath of the
country collecting views from various organisations and must be
empowered to
deal with the policy makers in the country," he said.
The
president of the Indigenous Business Women Organisation, Mrs Jane
Mutasa,
alluded to the same sentiments.
"We have several examples like the
Development Agency in Japan and the Wise
Man and Wise Women in Britain, which
has worked successfully for these
countries.
"Such think tanks have
immensely contributed to the development of the
respective countries'
economies.
"As a developing country, we need to emulate the so-called
First World. All
we need is a way of penetrating the system to get to
decision-makers like
the Government ministers.
"If they are not
helpful, we should have mechanisms of going directly to the
President," she
said.
Others said the negotiating forum should not be a mere talk
shop.
"The message that has come out clearly from the meeting has been
the need
for action, action, acting and more action," said former Minister of
Finance
and Economic Development, Dr Simba Makoni, who was one of the
moderators.
Participants who outlined a number of issues which include
the need to rein
in inflation, corruption and the need to review the exchange
rate, said
specific targets had to be set to achieve the goals outlined
during the
meeting.
The participants had called for a period of not
more than three weeks for
the Government to respond to the issues raised in
the meeting.
They also proposed that national dialogue should not be a
one-off event but
a continuous process that should seek to ensure that action
is taken on the
part of Government.
Some Tobacco Farmers Withhold Commodity
The Herald
(Harare)
November 10, 2003
Posted to the web November 10,
2003
Harare
SOME tobacco farmers are holding on to the commodity
with the intention of
selling it outside the auction system or carrying it
over to next season.
The move is likely to cost the country millions of
dollars in foreign
currency as the tobacco would not be accounted for under
the official
system.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has, as
a result, set November 18
for final clean up sales and warned farmers who
fail to deliver the
commodity that they would be prosecuted.
"Growers
and buyers are warned that in terms of existing legislation it is a
criminal
offence to sell and buy tobacco outside the auction system," said
the TIMB in
a statement.
"In this instance, the offenders (both the buyer and the
grower) will be
liable to a penalty of a fine, imprisonment or
both."
The TIMB warned that it was also illegal to carry over tobacco
from one
season into the next unless the grower held a permit it issued
authorising
the grower to do so under specified conditions.
There were
some farmers who had genuinely failed to sell tobacco before the
auction
floors closed, but there were others deliberately refusing to
deliver
it.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Cde Joseph
Made,
said the farmers should deliver the tobacco to auction
floors.
"There are some who have been pretending they no longer have the
tobacco,"
he said.
"But others have genuinely failed to deliver
because of problems such as the
shortage of diesel."
The TIMB said
carrying over of tobacco was discouraged to reduce tobacco
post-harvest
pests.
The dual selling system approved by the Ministry of Lands,
Agriculture and
Rural Resettlement where contract growing and buying would
operate alongside
the auction system would commence with the 2003/4 tobacco
production.
But all other tobacco grown without contractor support would
be sold at the
licenced action floors operating in 2004.
Under the
dual selling system, approved contractors who would have provided
crop inputs
to growers vetted by the Government would purchase the tobacco
supported
directly from contract growers outside the auction system and in
terms of the
conditions laid down by TIMB in a memorandum of understanding.
The
tobacco auction floors held a two-day clean up sale at the end of last
month,
but farmers failed to deliver all the tobacco.
The setting of November 18
as another day for clean up sales is one of the
rare occurrences in the
history of the crop in the country as such sales are
seldom held twice in a
season.
At least 82,9 million kg of tobacco worth US$189 ($151,2 billion)
was
brought to the auction floors since the selling season began in
April.
Tobacco has an edge over all the other crops, minerals and
products that are
exported by Zimbabwe because of tight regulations that
enable the TIMB to
monitor all the foreign currency inflows.
The Herald
Polytechnics students fail to sit final exams
From
Bulawayo Bureau
STUDENTS at polytechnics around the country failed to sit
their final
examinations last week and yesterday after the Higher Education
Examinations
Council (HEXCO) failed to provide question papers.
The
development comes amid reports that examinations at other
tertiary
institutions such as the National University of Science and
Technology and
other State universities, which were scheduled for next month
have been
postponed to January because the examinations were not set on time
as
lecturers were on strike.
At Bulawayo Polytechnic there was
confusion on Friday last week when 12
papers, which were supposed to be
written were postponed to a date to be
"advised," when authorities told
students that the examinations could not
take off because there were no
question papers.
Environmental health students failed to sit for their
human physiology paper
due to the non-availability of question
papers.
Students from the Division of Applied Science and Technology
alleged that
they had to use photocopied sheets to write their examinations
after HEXCO
faxed a single question paper to the college last
week.
Students in the same department yesterday failed to sit for
their
Epidemiology paper because the question papers were not sent to
the
institution.
"This is the first time in the history of the college
that students write
their exams from a photocopy. The whole situation
compromises the quality of
the examinations because there is hardly any
security if an examination
paper is going to be faxed," said one student at
the college.
Another student said they were now "very demoralised," by
the developments
as it had affected their preparations.
"We spent the
whole year preparing for these examinations only to be told
that there is no
question paper. It is very saddening and now we are not
sure when we will be
writing or whether there would be examinations at all,"
said another
student.
The vice-principal of the Bulawayo Polytechnic, Mr Alexander
Zengeya
confirmed to Chronicle yesterday that some examinations were
postponed, but
said the situation has been rectified and added that the
students were today
going to write all the examinations they were supposed to
write last week
because all the question papers have since been
sent.
"I can confirm that there were problems with regards to the
examinations.
The disruptions were as a result of the fact that we had not
received the
examination question papers from HEXCO but the situation has
normalised and
we have received all the papers. As from tomorrow (today) the
situation will
be back to normal,’’ he said.
At Harare Polytechnic
students from various departments, including the
Engineering and Computer
Science departments who were supposed to sit for a
Mathematics paper on
Friday last week failed to do because question papers
were also not
available.
The Deputy Director for Curricula Research and Development
Unit and
Examinations, Mr Coaster Pabwe, confirmed that there have been
delays in
sending examination question papers to colleges.
"The
ministry sub-contracted the printing of the examination papers to
the
Department of Printing and Stationary which failed to print some of
the
examination papers on time because they failed to secure foreign currency
to
buy the required special bond paper," he said.
"The department of
Printing and Stationary also informed us late about the
non-availability of
the bond papers so it was impossible to take corrective
measures.
"The
situation is now back to normal and examinations, which have not been
written
have been rescheduled and students should be in continuous contact
with their
colleges so that they are in a clear picture."
At the beginning of this
year hundreds of pupils who sat for the Ordinary
Level examinations had their
results mixed up while others did not receive
results for some subjects they
wrote, a situation which resulted in some
Zimbabwe Schools Examination
Council officials being fired.
The Herald
Disaster looms in rail transport sector
Herald
Reporter
A MAJOR disaster is looming in the public rail transport because
urban
commuter trains have outlived their life span while most signals
are
defective, a parliamentary portfolio committee heard
yesterday.
Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railways Union vice-president Mr Charles
Dube said the
commuter trains were death traps since they were
obsolete.
He said this during a public hearing being conducted by the
Transport and
Communications portfolio committee that is carrying out an
inquiry into the
problems facing the public transport sector.
"The
commuter coaches are dilapidated and rotten hence they may fall
apart
anytime," Mr Dube said.
"Yes, the National Railways of Zimbabwe
wants to provide a service to the
public but not at the expense of their
lives."
Mr Dube said the situation had been compounded by lack of
infrastructure
such as platforms for picking and dropping
passengers.
The Government, he said, should recapitalise the
NRZ.
ZARU secretary-general Mr Gideon Shoko said the NRZ was operating
with an
outdated signal system.
"Where signals are working sometimes
the Centralised Train Control operators
give wrong signals as what happened
in the Dete train disaster," he said.
"Even the commuter trains do not
have lights inside and this is not healthy
for the passengers."
A
total of 50 people perished in the Dete train disaster early this year,
the
worst in history.
A commission that was set up to investigate the
accident found out that the
immediate cause was admittance of two trains into
the Mbabanje-Dete block
with conflicting instructions of their crossing
place.
The commission noted that infrastructure deficiency could have
been the
cause of the accident since signals and telephones had not been
working for
a long time throughout the Dete-Thomson Junction.
Mr Shoko
said the public had lost faith in the commuter trains because of
the risk
involved.
"Due to the problem of spare parts we are stripping parts from
one
locomotive and fitting them to the other in what we can refer to
as
"cannibalism" and this is a risk to the safety of workers and
passengers,"
he said.
"We feel all this is happening because of
non-capitalisation. The railway
line should be replaced after every 30 years
but this is not happening."
Zimbabwe United Passenger Company chief
executive Mr Bright Matonga said the
public transport crisis facing the
country was partly due to failure to
implement agreed policies.
"As
Zupco we came out with an action plan in which we wanted to acquire 250
buses
for $10 billion but we managed to acquire only 80 buses," he said.
"We
were then told that we could not acquire the remaining buses on
allegations
that we had flouted tender procedures by acquiring the buses
without going to
tender."
He said the cost of one bus had now skyrocketed to at least $1
billion
meaning that it was no longer feasible to acquire 250 buses at a cost
of $10
billion.
The Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr Matonga
said, had given Zupco
the directive to acquire the buses because the matter
was of urgent national
priority.
He said even investigations that were
later done by the Government Tender
Board exonerated the company from any
corrupt dealings in the manner in
which it acquired the 80
buses.
There was need for all political parties, including Zanu-PF and
MDC, to play
a key role in the development of the public transport sector, Mr
Matonga
said.
Zimbabwe Rural Transport Organisation president Mr Ben
Mucheche said the
deregulation of the urban public transport system was
largely to blame for
the chaotic situation in the sector.
"While
deregulating the urban transport sector appeared to be a noble idea
this has
resulted in a free for all situation," he said.
"Most of the vehicles on
the road are defective and operators are bribing
the police while the roads
cannot cope up with the increased volume of
traffic."
Mr Mucheche said
there should be a transport system controlled by Government
and not by
operators.
The Acting Secretary for Transport and Communications Engineer
Nelson
Kudenga said Government was in the process of rehabilitating most of
the
roads in the country.
"We have been facing problems of fuel but
now we have overcome that," he
said.
Government, Eng Kudenga said, was
aware of the congestion of traffic
especially in Harare and this was expected
to be eased through the on-going
dualisation of major roads leading out of
the city.
Commuter Omnibus Operators of Zimbabwe chairman Mr Tererai
Katema said
operators were facing problems of spare parts due to the shortage
of foreign
currency and this had resulted in most operators grounding their
fleets.
He said operators should be involved in the allocation of
distribution of
fuel allocated to the public transport sector as most of it
ended up being
sold on the black market.
Zimbabwe Traffic Safety
Council deputy director Mr Romaldo Jokonya said road
accidents had become the
second highest killer after Aids.
He said defensive driving courses
should be made compulsory for all drivers,
as human error was the major
contributor to road accidents.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing transport
problems in the public transport
sector with most workers reaching their work
places late. The public hearing
by the committee was expected to come up with
recommendations to Parliament
for lasting solutions on the transport
crisis.
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
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Letter
1: Re Open Letters Forum No. 173 dated 28 October 2003
Dear
Ben,
Be mindful of the fact that the new Government will make
Commercial
Agriculture the corner stone of its agrarian policy.
That
is to commercialise all land where possible and on the basis of
granting
title to the former TTLs and so on.
Displaced farmers will be encouraged
to return and get farming ASAP. Title
and the principles of ownership will be
respected and compensation through
the courts will be granted. In addition,
USD based loans will be made
available for re-structuring and additional
investment. It is understood
that the MDC Agrarian Reform and Agric policy
document will be out by the
end of November.
Race will not feature in
any criteria and respect will be given to those
committed to their country
and to producing wealth which ultimately will be
shared across the
spectrum.
We must encourage everyone to return to re-build with these
fundamental
guarantees in place and protected by a sound and defendable
constitution
enshrining the values we all so desperately desire.
Simon
Spooner
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2:
Dear Mr Spooner
In reply to your letter Of the 6Th Nov, I would
first of all like to thank
you for a bit of information we have all been
waiting for for a very long
time, that is of course if it is the official
M.D.C. intended policy,
If this policy could have been made clear a long
time ago it could have
influenced the decisions of a lot of people, but I am
afraid it is a bit
late and many people have committed themselves elsewhere,
and would have to
think very hard before they chose to come back to Zimbabwe
and I am afraid
that I still feel that a maximum of 10% of ex farmers would
return to
Zimbabwe.
You speak of loans being granted to returning
farmers who wish to
rehabilitate their farms, This as far as I am concerned
is not acceptable,
why should we saddle ourselves with loans for damage and
theft perpetrated
by the so called settlers and new owners, we should surely
expect grants to
compensate us for our very serious losses and if these
grants are not
forthcoming then I don't believe you will get the 10 % of ex
farmers who
may be prepared to try again.
Only today I had lunch with
a group of ex farmers, some out of Zim for good
and others out for a bit of a
breather, and the very clear feeling that
came across was that Zimbabwe as a
whole was finished and that nothing in
the foreseeable future could ever
return Zimbabwe to its former glory, I on
the other hand said that I did not
believe that Zimbabwe was finished and
that although I accepted that viable
commercial agriculture was essential
to a healthy economy, this could be
achieved with proper planning ,and I
feel that the sooner the M.D.C realise
this the better,
I also note that you do not mention the removal of the
settlers or any
policy to cater for their needs..
There are many other
points that need clarification and consideration
before any right minded
young man could be tempted back to Zimbabwe, I
therefore request that the
M.D.C. get their act together in a hurry if they
intend to save Zimbabwe and
not just get themselves into power, and more
could be added to the last
remark.
Regards Ben
I am going to ask J.A.G to publish your
letter, I hope you do not
mind.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3:
Everyday in Zimbabwe brings new meaning to the word
"desperate".
My farm on Friday, with many others, was given a section
five, this is to
be expected in these desperate times, but here's the crazy
part to this
scenario, and please, I find it vaguely amusing, so have a
little giggle
with me.
My vast Estate is 57 hectares. There are four
families that reside in four
different houses on the plot. Between us we
employ 29 people that also
reside on the property.
There are just over 4
hectares of arable land that we have given to the
employees to plant a crop,
the rest of the land is Matobo rock, there used
to be game but alas somebody
stole the whole lot!
Now my question is, why would the government want to
acquire 4 hectare's of
prime arable land from 40 people? This is a plot not a
farm; they are
effectively throwing 40 Men, Women, and Children off a Plot
for 4
hectare's!!
I'm sure the 4 hectares will help feed the
Nation!
This acquisition is huge, well done to the committee for land
acquisition
for one of the most monumental acquisitions yet seen in Zimbabwe,
my God 57
hectares, what next Suburban houses??
Absolutely
Dumbfounded.
DAVE
DAVIS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4: Re Open Letters Forum No. 180 dated 06 November 2003
I agreed
wholeheartedly with Cherad Made's letter.
I notice that Kerry Kay did not
take offence as Joyce did.
Unless I misread Mr Made's letter, he did not
say you should not believe in
God. He suggests (as I do) that you should not
believe that God is going to
solve all your problems. We have all seen (yes,
even you, Joyce) that
prayers have not stopped the farm invasions, prevented
wide spread hunger,
stopped the barbarians from raping an pillaging at will,
etc, etc. As Mr
Made suggests, we should do something for ourselves instead
of waiting for
God or anyone else to help us.
I would like to ask you,
Joyce, if "your God" is so "very powerful" -
where is he and what is he up
to??
Debbie
Graham
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5: Re Open Letters Forum No. 180 dated 06 November 2003
Hi
John,
Oh dear! Your rather lively correspondence section seems to
have
deteriorated into a war of the gods!
Maybe a few basic reminders
would be in order. That we are all entitled to
our belief systems and that
they are very different. There are no rights
and wrongs - Buddhism, for
example, has no gods or God.
One of the cornerstones of civilisation is
religious toleration, the very
opposite of threats of vengeance from Joyce's
'very powerful' God!
Jacquie
Gulliver
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
6:
Dear Jag,
I have just read 3 letters - Simon Spooner, Ben
Norton and Sophia Janssen -
all concerning the future of Commercial
agriculture. As one of the many
displaced refugees, and well past my
"sell-by" date, I am still as much
concerned as the most optimistic of my
mates to chart a way forward out of
today's mess, and hopefully for my son
who actually wants to inherit.
Herewith my contribution, which I first
mooted in the late 1980's and just
before the Rukuni Commission of Inquiry.
I can no longer find my copies of
Prof. Rukuni's finalised report, but my
recollection of the outcome was
that black Zimbabweans in general wanted
ownership. This was also what I
had discovered in discussion with resettled
farmers in my area in the early
1980's and brought about the germ of an
idea.
This is a simplified outline:
1. The hopeful farmer will
have title to an area of land to support
adequately one family.
2. His
eventual title will be after an annual "bond" payment over a
specified number
of years.
3. This annual payment will be what I call a " unit of
production" to a
cash value - i.e. whatever produce off his farm, up to that
year's cash
value. (This will compensate for inflation).
4.The cash
thus generated to be deposited with a "land Bank" - IN THE AREA,
(whether
province, local council or other).
5 The traditional leadership (Chief
and his elected Council) spend the
money generated, and as agreed by the
local residents, to develop the
infrastructure within their own
area.
6. Obvious safeguards to be in place to prevent wholesale
acquisition of
these "farm plots" for a period of say 10 - 20
tears
There are a number of pre-requisites;
A. Funding for the
initial inputs to kick-start each individual - loan or
grant??
B. Water
source for each farm holding.
C. Safeguards/accountability for the cash
generated in each area.
ETC.
There are also advantages:
a)
The individual can borrow against his land security
b) Easy identification of
the slacker who defaults in his "bond" payments.
c) The participants
themselves decide how/where to spend what their area
has generated
d) The
land itself will thus generate the capital for development, through
popular
agreement.
I suggest it is a simple solution which will not require a
parasitic
bureaucracy.
If I could illustrate an actual operation from
a Matabeleland ranching
perspective in, say, ecological area IV.
1.
The farmer is allotted 200 ha.
2. His kick-start is 20 heifers and one
bull.
3. His first payment 3 years from "start" date.
4. This payment to
be the equivalent of ONE x 450 Live/wt beast at
Commercial grade.
In
contrast the farmer in areas I and II:
1. Allotted 50 ha.
2. His kick
start seed, fertiliser, means to plough approx 15 ha
3. His bond equivalent,
a "unit of production", as before (Or should it be
more??)
I could
expand further on both pros and cons, but I would prefer to simply
" fly this
kite " for comment and criticism. I believe it would sift out
the wheat from
the chaff - i.e. the genuine aspirant farmer as opposed to
the city dweller's
2nd home.
If ONE MILLION new farmers took up such an offer, the
produce/cash
generated by agriculture could be:
One MILLION X 450
cattle @ today's prices = DO YOUR OWN ARITHMETIC.
Peter
Hubert.
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All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE
ZNSPCA COMMUNIQUE - November 10,
2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw;
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject:
MEMO FROM CHIEF INSPECTOR
Please find attached a Memo from Meryl. I can
only appeal to all members
to abide by SPCA re-homing policy for all
animals. We must ensure the
ultimate destiny of all animals that we re-home
i.e. be in a position to
monitor the welfare of any animal that we re-home
and able to recover any
animal should the need arise - in accordance with the
SPCA Rehoming
Contract. We have given every assurance to the NSPCA-SA that
our Societies
will not add to the already overwhelming burden of unwanted
animals in
South Africa. The cost and inevitable stress caused to animals
being
exported cannot be justified and is quite clearly contrary to SPCA
Policy.
Please do all that you can to convey this message and ensure that you
do
not contribute inadvertently to this
problem.
Regards
Bernice Robertson Dyer
National
Chairman
ZNSPCA
I have recently returned from an excellent Workshop
organised by the World
Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) in
Kenya.
Whilst there, I learnt with horror from other animal welfarists in
the
region that horses from Zimbabwe are being sent BY ROAD to Tanzania.
The
trucks are taking 10 days to get there. This appallingly long
journey
obviously causes great stress to the horses.
ZNSPCA have also
recently received information from South Africa of two
horses from Zimbabwe
that were `re-homed' to a Security Company by an
organisation that is
claiming to `rescue' and re-home many animals from
here on the grounds that
they saving them from certain death.
One of these horses was 28 years old
and the other had a spinal problem.
We cannot emphasize enough that our
horses should by staying in this
country, even if this means that some may
have to be humanely destroyed.
Once they have gone over the border, the
ZNSPCA has no control or means of
recovering any animal that falls into the
wrong hands.
A worrying aspect of the whole operation is that horse
abattoirs are big
business in South Africa, something we do not have in
Zimbabwe.
I was recently contacted by a gentleman from South Africa who
was looking
for Arab ponies from Zimbabwe. He said that he could not afford
to pay for
them but could bring up "some groceries" in return for giving them
a "good
home".
ZNSPCA also recently came across a metal container
mounted on a truck body
that had been converted in order to transport several
horses at one time by
road to South Africa. The container was closed in on
three sides with only
small openings on the fourth. Travelling conditions
for the horses,
especially during the inevitable wait at the border, are not
difficult to
imagine.
So many horses and ponies from farms have been
trucked into Harare to
smallholdings and riding schools that are already
over-crowded and without
grazing, only to be moved later by road to South
Africa to an unknown fate,
quite apart from the fact that they are taking up
homes that should without
question be given to South African
horses.
ZNSPCA once again reiterates that Zimbabwe horses should remain
in
Zimbabwe.
MERYL HARRISON
Chief Inspector -
ZNSPCA
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COMPENSATION/RESTITUTION
COMMUNIQUE.
Farmers are famous for waiting until the last moment before
they make a
decision.
Whether they should plant soyas or maize, or
whether they should sell the
old tractor and buy a newer smaller more
efficient one. In the end they
will do it and then insist on a ten-ton
crop.
With the JAG Loss Claim Document exercise farmers have been true
to
character, and now we need the information yesterday.
We have
experienced a very good response from farmers in the last four
weeks
regarding the JAG Loss Claim Document.
The computer software has made
life much easier and farmers can now
complete a very comprehensive document
on their own in twenty hours at the
computer. A facilitator will take five
hours and it won't affect your golf
handicap.
The first phase of
information gathering and compilation is running very
well with all
facilitators running at full capacity. Farmers can have a
very professional
Document completed in 5-10 hrs of work by the
facilitator. This will be a
fully bound document in hard copy format and
the option of an electronic
copy. For costs and further details please get
in touch with the
facilitators. We have a list of names and addresses of
all the facilitators
at the office. We urge farmer's wives or any other
interested persons who
would like to attend the next training course for
facilitators, to contact
the JAG office with your contact details as soon
as possible.
The
second phase, inputting onto the central database has been started with
the
software in place to process the information and statistics. This bank
of
information and statistics will form the foundation for any
representative
legal and or negotiation process. We plan to have critical
mass on board by
February, March 2004. Please make a plan if you have not
done anything
yet.
Two girls are working on the documents that farmers have handed in
at the
JAG office. These are being updated and upgraded and farmers will
be
contacted soon either through e-mail or by phone if we need
more
information.
Many farmers have had to move and we have not
received your new contact
details. Please make sure that we have your latest
contact details. The
easiest way would be to send us a short
e-mail.
If you have any problems or would like more information you can
contact us
by phone on 04 799 410 or 011 207 860 or by e-mail at
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
or justice@telco.co.zw . Farmers
are
welcome to visit us at our offices at 17 Phillips Ave, Belgravia.
Please
phone to confirm a time.
The JAG Team.
mmegi
Zim - Bots co-operation pact signed
FRASER
MPOFU
11/10/2003 11:48:02 PM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO: Botswana
and Zimbabwe have signed an agreement on the
promotion of trade and tourism
that would in future see the two countries
working closely together on a
range of issues.
The agreement was signed between Botswana
Foreign Minister General
Mompati Merafhe and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Stan
Mudenge, during the
Ninth Session of the Zimbabwe-Botswana Joint Commission
for Economic,
Scientific and Cultural Co-operation in Harare on
Friday.
Both countries agreed that it was important to sign the
revised
Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) by January next year that
promotes
cross-border trade. They also agreed to conclude a technical
agreement to
promote tourism by next year.
The two countries
agreed to put into action a road-transport agreement
signed earlier this year
to boost traffic between them. Mechanisms would
also be put into place to
harmonise road-user charges.
Mudenge thanked Botswana for its
assistance in mobilising donor
assistance for animal disease programmes such
as Foot and Mouth Disease,
while both countries pledged co-operation in the
field of wildlife
management.