Zim Online
Tuesday 14 November
2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government
has stepped up efforts
to compensate white farmers, flighting adverts in
state newspapers for the
dispossessed farmers to come forward to collect
payment for buildings, dams
and other infrastructure on their seized
farms.
The Harare administration adamantly refuses to pay for land
saying
whites stole it from blacks in the first place, while farmers say the
money
they are receiving for developments on farms still falls far short of
the
market value of the infrastructure and farming equipment.
In an urgent notice in the government-owned Sunday Mail newspaper, the
Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement called on more than 800
former white farmers or their representatives to visit its offices "as a
matter of urgency in connection with their compensation."
The
offer of compensation to more white farmers came barely 48 hours
after the
government last Friday began issuing 99-year leases to blacks
allocated
former white-owned land, in a move analysts said was meant to
solidify the
chaotic and often violent land redistribution programme.
Mugabe
also revealed during the ceremony to hand over leases to mainly
supporters
of his ruling ZANU PF party and about half a dozen whites
sympathetic to his
government that Harare had compensated 200 whites since
it began seizing
farms six years ago.
There were about 4 500 white commercial
farmers in Zimbabwe who were
the bedrock of the country's mainstay
agricultural sector, accounting for
production of most major cash crops for
export.
Commercial agriculture, once Zimbabwe's top foreign
currency earner,
has plunged by 60 percent since 2001, which critics blame
on the often
chaotic reforms that many also say have caused food
shortages.
Poor performance in the agriculture sector has hamstrung
the country's
anti-inflation drive as prices of basic food commodities
continue to shoot
through the roof. Zimbabwe has the world's highest rate of
inflation at 1
070.2 percent.
Agriculture contributes 18.5
percent of Zimbabwe's gross domestic
product while 60 percent of raw
materials required in the manufacturing
sector come from
agriculture.
The disturbances in the agriculture sector have had
far reaching
consequences as hundreds of thousands have lost jobs while the
manufacturing
sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is operating below
30 percent
capacity. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 14 November
2006
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe business leaders have
urged President Robert
Mugabe's government to cut the number of foreign
missions abroad as they are
a drain on the national fiscus.
The
sentiments were echoed during a two-day 2007 pre-budget seminar
organised by
the Ministry of Finance which ended in Bulawayo at the weekend.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) vice-president Obert
Sibanda,
said Zimbabwe's embassies abroad were eating away the little
foreign
currency the country was generating.
"What the government should do
to save foreign currency is to reduce
the number of diplomats and embassies
we have around the world as they are
taking away all the foreign currency we
are generating," said Sibanda.
Zimbabwe, in its seventh straight
year of recession, has 40 diplomatic
missions in 38 countries around the
world.
Economists and political analysts have in the past urged the
Harare
authorities to cut the number of foreign missions around the world
saying
they were a drain on the country's little foreign
currency.
The business leaders also took a swipe at the government
over the
flooding of the market with cheap Chinese products.
But Deputy Finance Minister David Chapfika defended the government
insisting
the regulation of the quality of goods entering the country solely
rested
with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) which he accused of
failing
to do its job.
"People should not continue blaming the government
on cheap Chinese
goods flooding the country because it is the duty of the
Standards
Association of Zimbabwe to look at the quality of goods being
imported into
the country.
"These (SAZ) are the guys who are
failing to do their job so people
should not blame the government for that,"
Chapfika said.
Zimbabwe business leaders have often accused China
of dumping cheap
quality products on the local market.
Harare
has increasingly looked towards China and other Asian countries
for support
after the West imposed sanctions on Mugabe's government over
human rights
abuses and failure to uphold democracy. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 14 November
2006
BULAWAYO - The deputy co-ordinator of
Zimbabwe police's
Victim Friendly department that assists victims of
sexual abuse was
last week demoted after he was caught sexually abusing one
of his juniors,
sources told ZimOnline.
Stephen Jusa was
stripped of his rank of superintendent and reduced to
an inspector after he
was caught being intimate with a female recruit at the
police headquarters
in Harare. It was not immediately clear whether the
recruit had consented to
having sex with Jusa.
According to our sources, Jusa was also
removed from the Victim
Friendly department and transferred to the
commissioner's pool, an internal
section where erring senior officers are
placed and made to perform
humiliating and menial jobs as a way to frustrate
them into resigning from
the force.
The sources, who did not
want to be named because they did not have
permission from their superiors
to disclose the embarrassing incident to the
Press, said Jusa was among a
group of 35 senior police officers who were
being investigated for abusing
female officers and police recruits.
Several female police had
complained to Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri last May that they were
being forced to have sex with senior
officers.
"Chihuri is on a
war-path these days and more heads are bound to roll
within the next few
days as other senior officers are also being
investigated for sexually
abusing junior female members.
"Several female recruits have
continued to make reports of sexual
abuse against the bosses, whom they
accuse of victimising them if they turn
them down," said one of the
sources.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena would neither confirm
nor deny
reports of Jusa's demotion and reports of sexual abuse by senior
police
officers.
"There are reports of sexual harassment here
and there, yes, but I
cannot name those that have been accused because that
is an internal matter.
"We will deal with such matters within our
confines and policies,"
said Bvudzijena. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
13 November
2006
Founding president Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe's
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change has called on all opposition
parties, including a rival
MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, to unite
behind a single presidential
candidate in 2008.
Tsvangirai confirmed
that his faction has set up a committee to engage the
other MDC faction on
reunification - the MDC fractured late last year over
whether or not to
field candidates in the November 2005 senate elections,
Tsvangirai favoring
a boycott.
So-called pro-senate faction leader Mutambara declined to
comment on the
issue of reunification, saying such a discussion was
premature.
But Tsvangirai's call for unity talks has drawn a mixed
response from the
Mutambara faction. In a policy paper circulated late last
week, spokesman
Gabriel Chaibva said the Mutambara faction was "not opposed
to any talks
aimed at bringing about the reunification of all democratic
forces." But he
said contacts between the two factions so far had only been
made to
"establish mutual respect and recognition."
Chaibva set
conditions for reunification including the acceptance of
responsibility for
the breakup by the Tsvangirai faction, which does not
seem likely to comply.
His press statement then turned to vilification of
the rival opposition
grouping.
"We have known for some time as most Zimbabweans now do, that
the Tsvangirai
grouping is insincere, and downright dishonest," Chaibva
wrote, accusing the
other faction "negotiating through the press" and
breaking off preliminary
discussions.
"Our view is that the
statements and pronouncements about reunification are
no more than a public
relations exercise designed to hoodwink the nation
into believing that they
are genuinely interested in reunification when
their conduct towards other
democratic forces suggests arrogance and
disdain," Chaibva
stated.
Tsvangirai told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that a
divided opposition stands no chance against the ruling
ZANU-PF party in
2008.
But Chaibva expanded on why the grouping is
demanding the Tsvangirai faction
take blame for the split and pledge to
respect the constitution of the
divided party.
Zim Online
Monday 13 November
2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has
directed the country's largest
journalism training school to accept only
students who have completed a
controversial national youth service training
programme, critics blame for
brainwashing youths into zealots of President
Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF
party.
Churches and human rights
groups say graduates of the youth training
programme that is run by former
and serving military officers routinely hunt
down supporters of the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party beating, torturing and
sometimes murdering them.
The government, which strongly denies
that graduates of the youth
programme victimise opposition supporters, had
said in the past that state
tertiary colleges should enroll only students
holding national service
certificates. The government had however not
insisted on the state-owned
Harare Polytechnic's Division of Mass
Communication to abide by this
requirement.
But the
government's Media and Information Commission (MIC) on Monday
last week
issued a written directive, a copy of which was shown to
ZimOnline, that
the journalism school should ensure all new students had
"passed through
(national youth service) training centres, have undertaken
community work,
and possess 5 Ordinary levels passes and 2 passes at
Advanced
level."
The MIC - accused of forcibly closing down newspapers
critical of
Mugabe's government and ordering the arrest of scores of
independent
journalists - also directed that a committee of selectors be set
up to vet
and approve applicants to the school of journalism.
The state media watchdog nominated Harare Polytechnic vice-principal
Runyararo Magadzire to head the selectors panel which it said would also
include two external members from local media houses nominated by
itself.
A senior official from the department of National and
Strategic
Studies will also be appointed on the panel, according to the
MIC.
The department of National and Strategic Studies runs
political
education courses at government tertiary institutions which are
compulsory
for all students and which mainly focus on the history of
Zimbabwe's
struggle for independence from colonial rule and the roles played
by Mugabe
and ZANU PF in that struggle.
Harare Polytechnic
Principal, Stephen Raza, was not immediately
available for comment on the
new recruitment criteria for students that
observers say is an open attempt
by Mugabe's government to ensure the
college that trains the bulk of
journalists in the country produces pliable
and uncritical
journalists.
Sources at the college however said Raza and his
administration had
written to MIC chairman Tafataona Mahoso questioning the
new student
enrolment requirements.
Mahoso - found by the
Supreme Court to have shown bias against the
banned Daily News newspaper
when he rejected an application by the paper for
a licence to resume
publishing - was not reachable for comment on the
matter.
Under
the government's tough Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act,
Mahoso's MIC is tasked to facilitate the training of
journalists. But the
controversial law does not stipulate that the
commission should lay
enrolment rules for prospective journalism students.
Apart from the
Harare Polytechnic's Division of Mass Communication
there are about three
other smaller and privately-owned journalism training
schools in
Zimbabwe.
The attempt by the MIC to control student enrolment at
the largest
school of journalism comes as the government is also in the
process of
enacting legislation to allow state agents to intercept internet
and cell
phone communications between private individuals and organisations
in the
country.
The Interception of Communications Bill
proposes to also empower state
agents to open private mail sent by ordinary
post as well as through
licensed courier service providers.
Zimbabwe already has a raft of harsh laws that hinder the free flow of
information while imposing severe restrictions on journalists and newspapers
in the country.
For example, journalists in the crisis-hit
southern African country
are liable to imprisonment for up to two years if
caught practising without
a licence from the MIC.
Newspapers
are also required to register with the MIC with those
failing to do so
facing closure and seizure of their equipment by the
police.
Zimbabwe, described by the World Association of Newspapers as one of
the
worst places for journalists in the world, has in the past three years
shut
down at least four independent newspapers including the Daily News,
which at
its closure in 2003 was the largest circulating daily paper in the
country.
- ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 13 November
2006
BEITBRIDGE - An opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) party
candidate in local government elections
held two weeks ago says she has been
ordered to vacate a plot at an
irrigation scheme as punishment for having
dared challenge the ruling ZANU
PF party in the election.
Josephine Mkwananzi who stood for the MDC
in ward six in Beitbridge
constituency but lost to ZANU PF's Itani Joseph
Muleya said she and her two
election agents were ordered by Senator for the
area, Tambudzani Mohadi, to
vacate their plots at River Ranch irrigation
scheme.
"I will only leave at gun point because I cannot allow
myself to be
intimidated for my political affiliation," Mkwananzi told
ZimOnline.
Mohadi, who is also the wife of Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi,
was not available for comment on the matter last
night.
But the alleged threat for eviction against MDC candidates
in the
local government elections follows a similar pattern of
recriminations in
the rest of the country where opposition candidates are
being summoned by
pro-ZANU PF traditional chiefs and fined for supporting
the MDC.
There have also been widespread reports of MDC candidates
and
supporters being denied government supplied agricultural inputs as
punishment for backing the opposition party - charges strongly denied by
ZANU PF and the government. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 13 November
2006
MARANGE - Zimbabwe security forces have
forcibly evicted thousands of
illegal diamond miners and cordoned off
diamond fields in Marange about 100
kilometres south-west of the eastern
city of Mutare.
The armed soldiers besieged the area last Tuesday
and ordered the
thousands of diamond miners off the area in Chiadzwa
communal lands in
Marange.
At least 7 000 people were camped at
Chiadzwa with half of them
illegally mining and trading in diamonds while
the rest were engaged in
selling food and drinks to the illegal
miners.
The mineral was discovered in the area about two months ago
triggering
a 'diamond rush' in the impoverished area.
Sources
within the police said the soldiers were asked to evict the
miners after one
illegal miner was axed to death following a dispute over a
mining
claim.
There were also widespread fears that the miners were
causing harm to
the environment because of the methods they were employing
in their
operations.
A senior government official who visited
the site at the weekend said
the illegal operation in Marange could have
seen the government lose
millions of dollars in foreign currency
earnings.
The illegal miners are suspected to have channeled most
of the
diamonds to illegal markets in places such as South Africa were they
have a
ready market.
Under Zimbabwe's mining laws, minerals
such as diamonds are supposed
to be sold solely to the state-run Minerals
Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 13 November
2006
HARARE - The Global Fund to fight
malaria, tuberculosis and HIV and
AIDS has turned down Zimbabwe's
application for funding, a development
health experts say could cripple the
southern African country's fight
against Aids.
Harare, without
foreign currency to import basic medicines and
Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs,
had hoped to use cash from the Fund to expand
its small ARV distribution
programme by at least 80 percent, according to
senior officials at the
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.
Only 40 000 people are
accessing ARVs from the state and from private
sources compared to more than
600 000 in urgent need of the life-prolonging
drugs.
"State-run
ARV programmes are already facing viability problems with
some patients
being forced to miss some doses because there are no drugs,"
said one
official, who did not want to be named because he did not have
permission to
disclose such information to the Press.
Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa was not immediately available for
comment on the matter while
officials at the Global Fund's offices in Harare
said the reasons for the
Fund's rejection of Zimbabwe's application would
only be made known at a
later date.
But our sources said the Fund had also told Harare it
could not appeal
against the withholding of funding and that it could only
reapply next year.
Although Zimbabwe is only one of two sub-Saharan
countries - the other
one is Uganda - to be able to reverse HIV infections
amongst its population,
the country is still among the worst hit by the
disease which kills at least
3 000 Zimbabweans ever week.
Severe food shortages and a seven-year economic recession, critics
blame on
mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's government have helped
compound
the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country.
Established in 2002, the
Global Fund is one of the biggest
organisations in the world that provides
funding to poor countries to fight
malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS - responsible
for most deaths in Asia and Africa. -
ZimOnline
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: November
13, 2006
HARARE, Zimbabwe: The United Nations food agency said
Monday it has scaled
down food distribution in Zimbabwe, where more than 1
million people are in
critical need, because of a shortage of donor funds.
It said further
reductions might be necessary across southern
Africa.
The World Food Program said in a statement the poor donor
response followed
repeated assurances by the government that the nation
would be able to feed
itself ahead of the next harvests in March. The agency
estimated 1.4 million
Zimbabweans are in critical need of food aid now and
predicts the number
will rise to nearly 2 million in coming weeks because of
soaring inflation
and shortages of food on the local market.
"WFP has
had to resort to cutting back its urban feeding and school feeding
programs,
and a suspension of mobile feeding in rural areas," the agency
said.
About 65,000 tons of emergency food was budgeted for at a cost
of US$35
million (?27.5 million) for the "lean" period, when last year's
harvest is
running low and before the new harvest is in, from October to
March. The
agency only received pledges for 39,000 tons expected in Harare
via South
Africa, leaving a deficit of US$17 million (?13.3 million) needed
to import
more food.
The worst current food shortages were being
reported in arid areas of
western, southern and far northern Zimbabwe.
In
its operations across southern Africa, the agency said it faced a US$60
million (?47 million) funding shortfall and aid cutbacks were affecting 4.3
million chronically vulnerable people, some 35 percent of them in
Zimbabwe.
"Further feeding operations may be cut back across the region
if resources
do not improve," said the WFP.
In the longer term, there
were concerns over a general decline in
agricultural productivity in
southern Africa linked to shortages of capital
for fertilizer and other
inputs, soil erosion, overgrazing, deforestation
and global warming that
reduced yields.
These conditions forced an increasing number of people to
become dependent
on small holder and subsistence farming to
survive.
Zimbabwe needs about 1.8 million tons of corn, the staple food,
a year but
in the last harvest produced less half that amount, according to
independent
surveys.
The country is suffering its worst economic
crisis since independence in
1980, with more than 1,000 percent inflation,
the highest in the world, and
acute shortages of hard currency and gasoline.
The crisis has been largely
blamed on the chaotic and often violent seizures
of thousands of white-owned
commercial farms since 2000 in Zimbabwe, a
former regional breadbasket.
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 13 Nov
2006 (IRIN) - Human rights activists have accused the
Zimbabwean government
of a renewed crackdown on dissenting voices after two
senior opposition
members were recently charged with treason.
Paul Themba Nyathi and
Sithatshisiwe Sibanda, both members of a Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) faction, were last week accused of distributing a
pamphlet inciting
security forces to rebel.
The pamphlet, allegedly circulated last month
in the southern town of
Gwanda, an MDC stronghold, was entitled 'A message
to our armed forces' and
read in part: "Everybody knows somebody who is in
the police force or army.
Our police force and armed forces are also
suffering as a result of the
economic collapse.
"They are struggling
to pay for food, health and education because they are
poorly paid. Help
those people to help themselves. Help them to do the right
thing. Help them
to have courage to say enough is enough. Take this message
to
them."
Causing despondency among the security forces is a criminal
offence. Nyathi
has appeared before a magistrate's court and the case was
remanded to 22
November, while Sibanda is yet to make a court appearance. If
convicted, the
opposition officials risk a 20 year prison
sentence.
Aleck Muchadehama, a leading rights lawyer, described the
arrests as an
attack on democracy. He said it was not a criminal offence to
highlight the
economic plight of soldiers and police officers, adding that
to urge the
uniformed forces to say "enough is enough" was not the same as
inciting them
to demonstrate or mutiny.
The salaries of public
servants lag way below the minimum living wage in a
country where inflation
in hovering around 1,000 percent. According to the
Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe, the cost of living for a family of six for the
month of October
surged to about $565, five-times the average monthly salary
of about
$150.
Human rights lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe also said the contents of the
pamphlet
constituted "fair comment". "As Zimbabweans, what the arrests
effectively
mean is that we cannot discuss things that affect us on a daily
basis. It is
a known fact that the civil service, to which soldiers and the
police
belong, are paid poor salaries," he explained.
The independent
Zimbabwean weekly newspaper, The Standard, reported that
according to the
state, "the document was meant to encourage the police and
army to join the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union [ZCTU] demonstrations
against rising
poverty".
The labour movement's protest held in September against poor
salaries, high
taxation and a slow rollout of anti-AIDS drugs was stumped by
the security
forces, with a dozen ZCTU members allegedly assaulted and
tortured.
President Robert Mugabe defended the police action.
Since
Zimbabwe's fast-track land reforms launched in 2000, the country's
economy
has gone into freefall. Unemployment levels have risen above 70
percent,
with chronic shortages of foreign currency. The government blames
sanctions
imposed by the west for its economic problems.
The Herald
(Harare)
November 13, 2006
Posted to the web November 13,
2006
Harare
AIR Zimbabwe will resume its London flights on
Wednesday after settling its
debt with a regional navigation
agency.
The airline had cancelled flights to London, its major cash cow,
as a
security measure for fear that its planes could be seized to recover
money
it owed the Agency for the Safety of Aerial Navigation in Africa and
Madagascar (ASECNA).
ASECNA is the regional establishment responsible
for providing air
navigation services in 17 African member countries and
Madagascar.
It uses satellite support for communication systems to enable
air navigation
control, provide technical and traffic information,
weather-forecasting and
guidance to airlines and airplanes in member
countries within its civil
aviation network and interconnects with other air
navigation agencies in
Africa and beyond.
Air Zimbabwe spokesman Mr
David Mwenga confirmed the latest development,
saying those travellers with
urgent business to do in London or those
intending to catch connecting
flights were transferred to other airlines.
"We have paid the money we
owed. This means the money should start
reflecting in our creditor's bank
accounts by Tuesday, so flights will
resume on Wednesday evening," he
said.
He said affected passengers had been transferred to British Airways
and
South African Airways while others had stated that they would wait until
Wednesday.
"We have transferred some of our passengers to British
Airways today and
others will travel with Air Zimbabwe to South Africa where
they will connect
to London with South African Airways," he
said.
"Quite a number have indicated that they will wait until Wednesday,
so no
passenger has been inconvenienced really."
ASECNA obtained a
court order to attach any property of Air Zimbabwe to
recover money owed to
it by the national airline, dating back to more than
four years.
The
arrears arise from services provided by ASECNA to Air Zimbabwe planes
flying
in airspace within the agency's civil aviation network.
Air Zimbabwe is
one of several parastatals that are no longer receiving
funding from the
Reserve Bank following a decision by the central bank in
July that such
entities had to be run on business lines and generate their
own revenue.
By Violet
Gonda
13 November 2006
Bulawayo Catholic Archbishop Pius
Ncube has described the much talked
about church discussion document as
"soft as decaffeinated tea". The cleric
alleges that some areas were altered
while several pages were removed from
the document that was originally
signed by the clergy in Zimbabwe.
"You see I think someone leaked -
among the three bodies from the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference -
somebody leaked it to the government
and the government was demanding that
before it's published certain pages
should be removed and I see its really
toned down. It's not the original
document that we agreed upon as
churches."
The outspoken cleric was speaking during an exclusive
interview on SW
Radio Africa's Hot Seat programme on the ongoing National
Vision document
launched recently by the three main church groups in
Zimbabwe.
The Archbishop said although the document is very soft it
may still be
usable but he castigated the meddling by the state. He said;
"But I don't
like the bullying of the government. This government has done
enough harm,
enough bullying. They are causing suffering on people and now
they must come
over and bully us the churches. That was supposed to be our
document. Not
their document. I am pretty angry about this."
Although he said he hadn't finished comparing the launched document
with the
original the Bishop believes the critical areas were toned down.
For example
there was a whole paragraph on the media illustrating how there
is no free
media, but the cleric claimed the government cut the whole
paragraph and
just added one sentence that says the media is polarised and
not working for
national unity.
When asked if he thought the church was trying to
confront wrong
without offending the Mugabe regime, he responded by saying;
"As a church we
are too soft in such a way I wonder if we are going to make
any headway."
He also agreed with sentiments that outspoken critics
like himself may
have been used to legitimise what some have described as a
Mugabe sponsored
initiative. He said he truly hoped it was their (church's)
initiative but
was not aware that the government would pull out certain
pages from the
discussion document. "I am extremely disenchanted having seen
how they have
done a lot of damage to our original document."
The full interview with Archbishop Pius Ncube will be broadcast on the
programme Hot Seat on Tuesday.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
13 November 2006
The Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) has revealed that Chinese
companies in Zimbabwe appear
to have protection from the government
regarding their treatment of workers
and their environmental standards. It
is no secret that the Mugabe regime's
"look-east" policy hinges mainly on
its relationship with China and that
many projects in the country have been
contracted to Chinese firms. The ZCTU
acting secretary-general Japhet Moyo
said the Chinese do not follow the
Labour Act, which spells out the
relationships between employee and
employer. What they have found is that
Chinese firms do not follow what the
law says in terms of safety clothing
and conditions of
employment.
Moyo gave the example of one Chinese company in the
metal sector where
the owner speaks to buyers about the materials they need
in English. But
whenever they identify themselves as trade union
representatives the same
Chinese individual says he does not understand and
his interpreter is away
in China. Moyo said: "They always tell you they
agreed with government but
did they agree to suppress workers? It is not
clear what these agreements
were."
Moyo said ministry officials
seem to be protecting Chinese companies.
He spoke of a general reluctance by
the labour ministry to be hard on the
Chinese. The ZCTU is not given access
to the final reports produced by
labour officials whenever complaints are
submitted against Chinese firms.
Moyo told us the officials always say "We
are working on it."
As for environmental violations, Moyo pointed
to a Chinese steel
company in Willowvale that has a furnace which is
polluting the area beyond
accepted standards. The managers told ZCTU
officials the inspectors allow
them to operate it at night only so they do
not to bother other companies in
the area. Moyo said whether it is night or
day pollution is pollution and
the furnace should be shut down.
For many years now the Chinese have been criticized for running
so-called
"sweat shops" where the workers put in long hours under appalling
conditions
for less than minimum pay. The same conditions are known to exist
in China
as well. This is how Chinese firms keep the price of their products
cheap to
compete on the world market.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
UN News Centre
13 November 2006 - African countries suffering
or facing water shortages as
a result of climate change have a massive
potential in rainwater harvesting,
with nations like Ethiopia and Kenya
capable of meeting the needs of six to
seven times their current
populations, according to a United Nations report
released
today.
"The figures are astonishing and will surprise many," UN
Environment
Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said of the
study,
compiled by his agency and the World Agroforestry Centre, which urges
governments and donors to invest more widely in a technology that is low
cost, simple to deploy and maintain, and able to transform the lives of
households, communities and countries Africa-wide.
Overall the
quantity of rain falling across the continent is equivalent to
the needs of
9 billion people, one and half times the current global
population. About a
third of Africa is deemed suitable for rainwater
harvesting if a threshold
of 200 millimetres of arrival rainfall, considered
to be at the lower end of
the scale, is used.
Although not all rainfall can or should be harvested
for drinking and
agricultural uses, with over a third needed to sustain the
wider environment
including forests, grasslands and healthy river flows, the
harvesting
potential is still much more than adequate to meet a significant
slice of
human needs, the report notes.
"Africa is not water scarce,"
it concludes. "The rainfall contribution is
more than adequate to meet the
needs of the current population several times
over. For example Kenya would
not be categorized as a 'water stressed
country' if rainwater harvesting is
considered. The water crisis in Africa
is more of an economic problem from
lack of investment, and not a matter of
physical scarcity."
Until
recently the importance of such harvesting as a buffer against
climate-linked extreme weather has been almost invisible in water planning
with countries relying almost exclusively on rivers and underground
supplies, the report notes.
Unlike big dams, which collect and store
water over large areas, small-scale
rainwater harvesting projects lose less
water to evaporation because the
rain or run-off is collected locally and
can be stored in a variety of ways.
"Over the coming years we are going
to need a range of measures and
technologies to capture water and bolster
supplies," Mr. Steiner said.
"Conserving and rehabilitating lakes, wetlands
and other freshwater
ecosystems will be vital and big dams, if sensibly and
sustainably designed
and constructed, may be part of the equation
too.
"However, large-scale infrastructure can often by-pass the needs of
poor and
dispersed populations. Widely deployed, rainwater harvesting can
act as a
buffer against drought events for these people while also
significantly
supplementing supplies in cities and areas connected to the
water grid," he
added.
The report mapped the rainwater harvesting
potential of nine countries in
Africa -Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,
Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Kenya, with a
population of somewhere under 40 million people, has enough
rainfall to
supply the needs of six to seven times its current population,
according to
the study. Ethiopia, where just over a fifth of the population
is covered by
domestic water supply and an estimated 46 per cent of the
population suffer
hunger, has a potential rainwater harvest equivalent to
the needs of over
520 million people.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 11 November
Godwin Gandu
A clerk stormed into the September
hearing of the industry and international
trade portfolio committee, which
was gathering evidence about corruption at
the state-run Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company (Zisco). Obert Mpofu, the
Minister of Industry and
International Trade, was testifying. He had just
declared that there was a
"shocking . thick file" implicating people in high
places. The clerk's
message: acting president Joice Mujuru wanted to have an
"urgent" meeting
with Mpofu and his team. The hearing was halted. Three
weeks later it
emerged that Mujuru "may have had key information" about the
scandal the
committee was probing. A report into alleged corruption at Zisco
involving
senior politicians has already pointed the finger at many of
Mujuru's close
allies. One of the country's worst corruption scandals, which
is being
referred to as Ziscogate, is shaking President Robert Mugabe's
26-year-old
government. Its tremors are being felt far and wide, and Mugabe
is under
increasing pressure from certain members of his Cabinet to take
action
against Cabinet members and ruling Zanu PF party officials who are
implicated. In a three-hour presentation, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
advised Mugabe during a Cabinet meeting this week that there was "prima
facie evidence of perjury against Mpofu", that "Cabinet members were
involved [in the Zisco scandal]", and that Parliamentary Speaker John Nkomo
should be given a chance to appoint the parliamentary privileges and
immunity committee to get to the bottom of Ziscogate. Chinamasa was
reportedly emphatic: "Nothing should be swept under the carpet," sources
privy to Cabinet deliberations told the Mail & Guardian this
week.
Intelligence officials advised Mugabe last month that releasing
the report
would damage his government and create a "confidence crisis". The
new
intriguing twist to the saga is how the politics of succession within
the
ruling Zanu PF party - which pits Vice-President Mujuru and Rural
Housing
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa against one another - is affecting
whether or
not the truth about what happened at Zisco will come out. It
emerged this
week that a confidential and controversial National Economic
Conduct
Inspectorate (Neci) report into corruption at Zisco implicates
members of a
faction aligned to retired General Solomon Mujuru, the
kingmaker within the
ruling party, and his wife, Mujuru, in the Zisco
scandal, saying they are
"in it to the neck". Neci is a probe team within
the ministry of finance.
According to a parliamentarian and member of the
international trade and
industry committee, a lot of high-ranking government
officials in Mujuru's
camp "will go to jail if God and the law choose to be
fair". The committee
also believes that the Mujurus; Tirivanhu Mudariki, a
business associate and
relative of the Mujurus and former Zanu PF MP; and
Leo Mugabe, Mugabe's
nephew and Zanu PF MP, are among high-ranking figures
who should "cooperate
with information" surrounding
Ziscogate.
Meanwhile, a faction aligned to Mujuru advised Mugabe two
weeks ago in a
Cabinet meeting that opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
parliamentarians within Enoch Porusingazi's industry and
international trade
committee are behind attempts to nail party politicians.
Then, in a heated
Cabinet meeting this week, members who support Mnangagwa
emphasised that
"nothing should be swept under the carpet" and that as
"politicians they
should lead by example". "We said down with corruption, so
we should walk
the talk," the source privy to the Cabinet deliberations
said. Mujuru is
considered to be the heir apparent, but the political
terrain is fast
changing as allegations of corruption in her political camp
emerge. Mujuru
is believed to have already rubbed up potential allies in the
party the
wrong way. Among them are senior politicians who backed her
against
Mnangagwa in 2004 in the three Matabeleland provinces. "She has
since lost
their trust and confidence after sending signals that she would
back Mpofu
for the vice-presidency when she gets into office," Zanu PF
insiders said.
Matabeleland kingpins within Zanu PF, Vice-President Joseph
Mica and Nkomo
were upset by this. Nkomo did not come to Mpofu's defence
when the
parliamentary committee recommended last week that Parliament
charge Mpofu
with perjury over his testimony on the Zisco affair. "[Mujuru]
cannot count
on the support of Msika and Nkomo in Matabeleland any more,"
said the
source.
IOL
November
13 2006 at 03:42PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's junior information minister
on Monday pleaded not
guilty to seeking a bribe as a Harare court started
hearing a sensational
graft case which has claimed the scalp of a senior
official.
Bright Matonga denied conniving with former Zimbabwe
United Passenger
Company (ZUPCO) chairman Charles Nherera, who is now behind
bars, to solicit
a $20 000 (about R145 000) "gift of consideration" from
Harare businessman
Jayesh Shah.
The state prosecutor Fortune
Chimbaru said some time in 2003 Matonga,
who was then chief executive
officer of the transport firm, and Nherera had
asked Shah for a kickback to
extend a lease agreement for a property rented
out to him by
ZUPCO.
The state prosecutor said the pair also
asked Shah to pay them $2 000
for each of 75 minibuses ZUPCO was buying from
Shah's company, Gift
Investments.
Matonga's lawyer Wilson
Manase dismissed the charges as "pure
fabrication."
"The
accused (Matonga) denies the charges in their entirety and will
say the
frustration met by Shah in trying to sell buses to ZUPCO without
going to
tender made him hate Matonga and Nherera with passion," Manase
said.
"The buses were already in ZUPCO colours when they were
surreptitiously imported into the country. The prosecution is urged to probe
how the buses were imported and whether the state was not prejudiced by Shah
as as far as customs duty was concerned."
Nherera is serving a
two-year jail term for soliciting for an $85 000
bribe from Shah to give him
a contract to supply the public transporter with
75 buses.
Nherera's lawyer Joseph Mandizha said the trial was a repeat of an
earlier
one which led to his client's conviction in August this year.
"The
apparent ploy by the state to prosecute him piecemeal and in
instalments,
which seems to give the attorney-general sadistic pleasure, is
unfortunate,"
Mandizha told magistrate Sandra Nhau.
"It is also a violation of
the declaration of fundamental rights
enshrined in the constitution of
Zimbabwe."
The trial resumes on Tuesday when Nhau is expected to
hear Mandizha's
application to have his client's case referred to the the
supreme court. -
Sapa-AFP
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
13 November 2006
The students who were
arrested last Wednesday after demonstrations in
Harare and Masvingo were all
released on Friday. The two detained in Harare
were released without charge
and the Masvingo group of students were
released on bail.
Washington Katema, coordinator for the Zimbabwe National Students
Union
(ZINASU), said the number of students arrested in Masvingo had gone up
to 24
from the originally suspected 18. He also revealed that the ZINASU
vice
president Gideon Chipanga had been brutally assaulted by police while
in
custody. They brought him to a doctor who released him the same day. The
24
are due in court November 20th in Masvingo.
Katema said the
Masvingo demonstrators are being charged under the
Public Order and security
Act for failing to get permission first from
police before the march. But
POSA does not require permission from police.
It simply states that police
are to be notified.
Students from all colleges in Masvingo took to
the streets of the city
centre last Wednesday peacefully protesting against
unaffordable tuition and
bungled exams.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
The East African Standard
(Nairobi)
OPINION
November 12, 2006
Posted to the web November 13,
2006
Noelina Nabwire
Nairobi
That China's trade in Africa has
risen sharply from $10 billion in 2003 to a
projected $50 billion this year
is laudable.
Besides, the Asian giant is now a key investor not only in
natural resources
in Africa, but also a provider of technical expertise and
funding with less
stringent conditions compared to the Bretton Wood
institutions. It also has
influence in organisations such as the UN Security
Council and the African
Development Bank.
The Chinese interest in
Africa cuts across many sectors - infrastructure,
health, communications,
industry, and agriculture, including market access,
areas Western agencies
have ignored.
But even with all this, there is need for caution: As rosy
as the picture
looks with regard to Sino-African relations and the mutual
cooperation and
benefits, human rights and good governance issues should not
be overlooked.
For instance, China invested $150 million (Sh10.8 billion)
in Sudan in 2004,
three times as much as in any other country, as the Darfur
genocide
continued unabated. Further, it is no secret that the Sudan
government can
count on China's support in resisting UN military
intervention in Darfur.
The Economist cites how, shunned by the West, and
with his economy in a
shambles, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe turned to
China for political and
economic support - and got it.
After he
launched Operation Murambatsvina last year, in which the homes and
businesses of 700,000 people were destroyed, China neutered all attempts at
discussion, leave alone condemnation, at the United Nations Security
Council.
It is worth noting that China ranks second last in the 2006
Transparency
International Bribe Payers Index (BPI). This means that among
the 11,000
business respondents in 125 countries polled in the World
Economic Forum's
Executive Survey, China is corrupt and doing only better
than India, yet it
is the world's fourth largest exporter.
The BPI
looks at the propensity of companies from 30 leading exporting
countries to
bribe abroad. China ranked 29 out of 30. Further, China has not
ratified the
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention that criminalises overseas
bribery.
This
year's Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
reinforces the link between poverty and corruption. It draws on expert
opinion surveys, that show poll perceptions of public sector corruption in
163 countries.
It ranks countries on a scale of zero to 10, with the
former indicating high
level of perceived corruption and the latter low
level. As we celebrate the
China-Africa marriage of investments, the CPI
discloses that most countries
in the continent score poorly in the
index.
Another concern about the cooperation is the dependency syndrome.
Many
Chinese companies carry their own employees to work for contracts they
win
abroad. This denies local people employment opportunities, which the
cooperation should encourage.
This is best exemplified by the
experience of the 1970s when China brought
thousands of workers to construct
the 1,860 km Tazara railway line between
Lusaka and Dar es Salaam. Thirty
years later, Zambia and Tanzania still rely
on Chinese technical expertise
and assistance.
Let us hope that Chinese expansion will not re-enact
capitalism that allowed
states to penetrate and establish contacts with
developing nations,
resulting in slavery and colonialism. It is these that
have made developing
countries prone to the whims of the industrialised
world.
If China is, therefore, hell-bent on exporting workers, the
relationship
will be characterised by capital and technological transfer,
and thus remain
parasitic, setting the stage for the integration of the
less-developed
countries into the world capitalist system.
Let us not
forget that dependency makes Africa turn to developed countries
to meet
their needs. Capitalist states transfer technology, capital, foreign
aid and
credit facilities. The practice has also generated a vicious cycle
of
dependency. Several countries in Africa and Latin America have been
turned
into one-crop cultures, usually a cash crop needed in industrialised
countries and into importers of food.
Africa is fuelling China's
surging economic growth and this is why the
country has keen interest in the
continent's farm produce, oil and minerals.
While China will probably
rely on manufactured products, Africa will rely on
raw materials. Of great
concern is China's tendency to determine the quality
of products and fix
prices.
Then there is the fear that Africa may never benefit from
re-investment of
surplus capital. Coupled with this is that export-oriented
production in
developing countries is managed by an elite that shares a
lifestyle and
tastes with capitalist states. How will this partnership
benefit the poor?
It should never be forgotten that industrialised
countries are what they are
because of what developing countries are. The
people should be involved in
planning so that they do not just become mere
observers in the partnership.
To what extent have African leaders been
involved in the negotiations that
have led China to offer impressive
investment packages? Or are they just
being dished out on a silver platter
at summits as happened last week?
What therefore should be the engagement
between China and Africa? Africa
needs development partners who advocate
policies that promote human rights
and good governance. Further, they should
denounce abusive leaders and
corrupt regimes.
The Herald (Harare)
November 11,
2006
Posted to the web November 12, 2006
Harare
MDC faction
leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday met church leaders and
commended them
on their efforts aimed at finding a lasting solution to the
country's
challenges.
Mr Tsvangirai met the clergy led by chairman of the Heads of
Christian
Denominations, Bishop Trevor Manhanga at Harvest House. At a joint
Press
conference held after a two-hour meeting, Mr Tsvangirai said his
faction's
national executive met last weekend to consider the church
national vision
proposal document entitled "The Zimbabwe We
Want".
"Today I met the bishops and shared with them our views on some of
the
issues they raise in their document, 'The Zimbabwe We Want.' We commend
the
bishops for their efforts," said Mr Tsvangirai.
"This was an
engagement and not a negotiating forum, the church took us
through the
document and we exchanged views and some of the views converge
with our
roadmap."
The opposition leader said he had reservations on the
provisions, which
apportion blame to all stakeholders for the challenges the
country is
facing, saying, in his view, the blame lay with
Government.
"The other issue is the election management system, which
leaves a lot to be
desired but all that can be addressed with a new
constitution," he said.
However, the MDC called on the European Union and
the United States to
impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, which have weighed down
on the economy.
Asked if his faction was prepared to unite with the
Arthur Mutambara led
camp, Mr Tsvangirai said his group is prepared to work
with "every
democratic force in Zimbabwe."
"It is all part of a
concerted effort and we have to do everything on our
part to bring all
democratic forces in the country," he said. Speaking at
the same occasion,
Bishop Manhanga said they had achieved what they intended
by engaging the
MDC faction. "We have received the initial feedback from the
MDC and we have
requested them to do it in writing. There is a lot of
misconception about
the document and we wanted to explain the document," he
said.
Asked
to comment on President Mugabe's view that there were some
non-negotiable
issues like sovereignty and independence and his belief that
the present
constitution was home-grown, Bishop Manhanga said the church was
determined
to hear as much comments as possible from everyone.
"The President made
his statement, he said Zanu-PF will sit down and examine
the document and
what we are looking at is a written response," said Bishop
Manhanga.
"It is not a question of making a concession because as the
church we are
not making an ultimatum, we are soliciting views and we hope
they (Zanu-PF)
will produce a preliminary report by end of January." The
church also met
the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations
to discuss the
document and is expected to meet other political
parties.
Zanu (Ndonga) has also added its voice in supporting the
initiative by the
church. In an interview yesterday, the party spokesman Mr
Reketayi Semwayo
said churches should continue with their work. "We support
their initiatives
but they should realise that they are men of cloth and not
politicians,"
said Mr Semwayo, a former personal aide to the late party
leader Reverend
Ndabaningi Sithole.
Business Day
Peter Bruce
13 November
2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SO,
who is first in line to apologise to Judge Hilary Squires? The ANC Youth
League? Zwelinzima Vavi? Jacob Zuma? As we now know, Judge Squires wrote to
complain to Business Day a while back that we kept on insisting in print
that he, in sentencing Schabir Shaik to jail for fraud and corruption, had
found that Shaik and Zuma had had a "generally corrupt relationship". The
judge had a simple point to make, which was that he never found any such
thing. We ran it as the lead story in The Weekender on Saturday and it has
caused quite a rumpus.
Understandably, perhaps. Based on the
impression that he had used the
phrase, Vavi, the incoherent babies who run
the ANC and communist party
youth leagues, and Zuma himself have spent the
past year casting aspersions
on Squires and his judgment because he is (a)
white and (b) formerly
Rhodesian.
Now that it is clear that he never
found it, and that he judged the case on
the evidence before him and nothing
else, will these people perhaps have the
courage or the strength of
character to stand up and celebrate with us all
how important it was in
modern-day South Africa that a citizen did his job
properly? It is an
inspiring thing. ?
I WAS amused the other day to read
that President Thabo Mbeki had declined
some or other appeal to investigate
the links police chief Jackie Selebi is
said to have with organised crime
because the government, apparently, doesn't
launch commissions of inquiry
into rumours.
Really? What was the Hefer Commission, then, if not an
official inquiry into
rumours that the chief prosecutor had been an
apartheid spy?
I guess the difference is that Mbeki knew what the outcome
of the Hefer
Commission would be but can't be quite as sure about probing
Selebi. So he
chooses the soft option - to issue a cabinet declaration
supporting Selebi
and the sterling job he is doing to keep the nation safe
from harm.
Mbeki brings new dimensions to denial. There's AIDS (for which
poor Dr
Beetroot has had now to take a fall), Zimbabwe (on which he has been
spectacularly defeated by Robert Mugabe), and now crime (it's just another
"challenge") and the police chief who I suspect he fears.
Selebi
can't be touched because he could influence the outcome of the ANC
presidential succession if aroused. Even Manto has to be treated with kid
gloves. She knows too much. Her husband, Mendi, is the treasurer of the ANC
and knows where all the money comes from. Mbeki's battles are all inside his
party and they will absorb him until he leaves office in 2009. Looking for a
leader, mister and missus average citizen? Forget about it for a while and
take care of your own stuff.
New Zimbabwe
By Mutumwa D.
Mawere
Last updated: 11/14/2006 00:03:12
PERCEPTION is King; and in the
case of Africa, there is so little global
knowledge about individual African
countries to the extent that every
country ends up sharing the same
reputation of civil strife, corruption and
poverty.
In as much as
individual African countries and persons who share an African
heritage may
try to distance themselves from the generally perception of
Africans,
Africans cannot avoid being painted by the same brush.
As Africans
continue to mourn about why they are perceived lowly in the
global
development chain, it is important that we recognize that Africans
and its
people wherever they may be have not invested in better
communicating who
they are to the global audience. Although some Africans
have done
exceptionally well as individuals, body corporates and nation
states, they
cannot avoid being contaminated by the African image disease.
The need
for Africa and its global family to communicate, differentiate and
symbolise
itself to all the global audience of consumers and investors
cannot be
overstated. It is very important to underline that the audience is
split
into two major categories: African people and everyone else.
In the case
of Africa, government leaders are more concerned about improving
the image
of the continent to foreigners than invest in image building
targeted at
citizens. Ultimately, the hope of Africa and its global family
lies in
investing in a new identity of a functioning Africa than a selective
approach where islands of hope are created in the midst of an ocean of
hopelessness and misery.
Every African nation has its own brand in as
much as each individual and
family has theirs. A nation's brand is defined
by its people, by their
temper, education, look, by their endeavors. Africa
with one geographical
mass and many tribes has its own identity and it is
not easy to come up with
a one size fits all perspective on branding. It is
very hard to change
African people's values and attitude to life. This
requires an investment in
literacy, a change in the economic status of
Africans, and a new way of
life. This takes generations to change but can be
fast tracked by the few
Africans who realise that it is in their self
interest to work towards the
collective transformation of Africa and its
global family.
Africans need to write their own story in the own words.
We need to ask why
it is the case that non-Africans have the last laugh in
Africa and its own
natives have to bear the brunt of bad governance and
policies. Africa and
its leaders are more than eager to export African jobs
through policies that
reward imports and welcome foreign capital in
preference to domestic capital
formation while maintaining an
anti-imperialist hypocritical posture.
The improvement of the Africa
brand lies not in the work of branding
agencies, not even of governments but
instead in every person who shares
Africa's heritage and we need to invest
in making Africa and its global
family's values being better known, minimise
the effect of several accidents
caused by individuals that affect the brand.
Africa has a fair share of bad
leaders who intentionally and unintentionally
have made the African story
difficult to sell and as long as they cling to
power for the wrong reasons
the job is cut out for all of us. Africa's
development and the advancement
of its people will continue to be arrested
by the few who have taken it upon
themselves to monopolize the political and
economic space whose enlargement
is a prerequisite for the establishment of
a new African identity.
Historically, nation branding and invention of
tradition has always happened
by accident more than continuous economic
planning. Singapore, Malaysia,
South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Japan,
New Zealand, Australia etc have
created and represented much more consistent
brand leadership than exhibited
by most global companies. What is important
is that some countries with the
same colonial baggage as Africa took
ownership of their own destinies and
invested in new brand architectures
that have resulted in the improvement of
standing of their citizens in the
global family of nations.
The Japanese have changed the global language
by producing products that
have now been accepted in the world as
representing good quality and today
the world speaks the Japanese language
through the consumption of products
produced in Japan. Equally countries
like South Korea have demonstrated that
a determined people can in one
generation be accommodated in the global
marketplace on its terms through
the production of quality products and not
through speeches that have now
been the defining characteristic of African
leaders at every opportunity
they can get. To my knowledge South Korea still
hosts American troops and
yet did not use this as an excuse to invest in a
uniquely Korean brand. If
South Korea was an African country it is not
difficult to imagine what its
citizens would be subjected to in terms of
propaganda.
Nation-branding as a discipline is the confluence of two
seemingly disparate
fields: marketing and diplomacy. In the 1960s, marketers
became interested
in what is called the ''country of origin'' effect. Why is
it, they asked,
that simply sticking a ''Made in Japan'' label on a stereo
boosts its value
by 30 percent? Clearly, they argued, there was something
about Japan
itself-perhaps its reputation as a technically savvy
society-that made
consumers value Japanese technology over similar products
from, say, India.
What are the roots of these national stereotypes, and how
can marketing take
advantage of them? And what if India wanted to develop
its own high-tech
export industry? How could it change those
stereotypes?
In a world increasingly connected by 24/7 media, there has
to be a ''brand''
strategy for Africans-the message has to be coordinated
and consistent, and
it has to respond to stereotypes already in circulation.
Nation-branding,
then, is what you get when you take traditional public
diplomacy strategies
and add marketing tools designed to change global
perceptions.
True nation-branding is a complex and involved exercise that
requires
strategies to "harmonise" the brand message across African
governments and
communicating the message internally as well as externally.
That means
surveying citizens on the values they think should go into the
''Africa
brand,'' as well as reiterating the importance of ''living'' that
brand. The
idea of defining and changing Africa's ''brand'' has to start
with its
citizens who stand to lose a lot if the message continues to be
contaminated
by bad apples which Africa continues to produce and nurture in
their
abundance. The way to address this issue is not through propaganda but
through actions.
For Africans in general, it's very difficult to step
back and listen
particularly for the educated and affluent. I submit that
this has to be the
starting point. The first stage is for Africa's people to
first admit that
Africa has a fundamental image problem whether caused by
slavery,
colonialism, imperialism, socialism, communism, etc that needs to
be
addressed.
One of the fundamental tenets of branding is
consistency. We have only a
certain number of chances to register in
people's minds and unless each time
we register, it appears to be making the
same point; we don't have much of a
chance. It's advice many African
governments would do well to heed. After
all, anti-imperialism and look East
agenda is as much about rhetoric and
symbols as it is about genuine
development interest of Africa.
If Africans want to lead by example,
then, Africa and its family has got to
make sure that its message and
actions are consistent. We have seen many
authoritarians hijack the
nation-building agendas of a number of African
countries because inherently
there are authoritarian undertones in
nation-building strategies. Africa's
problem is not just with its
brand-which could scarcely be stronger-but with
its product. If you close
your eyes, and think of Africa as a place to do
business, what images spring
to mind? Poor, corrupt and hopeless? Or a
developing market with huge
untapped potential? Too often, it's the former,
which is one reason why the
whole of Africa receives less than 3% of the
world's total foreign direct
investment annually.
South Africa where
I am now a citizen has blazed the trail in Africa. In
1998, government and
business came together to create a "Proudly South
African" campaign. The
logo can be licensed by companies for products whose
content is at least 50%
local, and who commit themselves to responsible
labor and environmental
practices. About 2,500 firms now use the logo, and
are starting to enjoy the
benefits. It's all part of a greater focus on
Africa.
The continent's
economy grew by about 5% last year, in large part thanks to
improving prices
for natural resources, including oil. Foreign direct
investment in Africa,
while still a trickle compared to the amounts flooding
into China, is on the
rise too. South Africa is the youngest African country
with the biggest
white population of a little more than 4 million. South
Africa through its
corporate citizens has now become one of the few African
countries to join
the global marketplace with products and services that
have originality and
reputation.
As we look at Africa's 54 countries and try to locate
companies that were
originated by blacks and are led by blacks whose
products and services have
helped to reposition the African brand, we
struggle to come up with any
meaningful names. Yes, South Africa's companies
like Anglo American, South
African Breweries, Old Mutual, Standard Bank,
Investec Bank, Dimension Data,
Bidvest, Sanlam, BAT, (the list is long),
have now become not only
pan-African players but world class players who
share Africa's heritage. But
at the same time, the companies are driven by
individuals who would
ordinarily be classified as foreigners in Africa. In
fact, many of Africa's
people and governments are cynical about the role of
South African capital
in Africa's renaissance and yet they have done little
to encourage domestic
capital
formation.
.........................................................
I
bumped into one Zimbabwean politician who had read my article entitled:
"Is
Mugabe Corrupt?" and he expressed his views about Mugabe and felt that I
should not even have asked the question because in his mind there is no
doubt that Mugabe is guilty of corruption. He was adamant that Mugabe cannot
and should not be absolved of the decay in Zimbabwe and he should be
personally identified as culpable and liable for the mess.
As an
individual who has also been identified by the state appointed
administrator, Afaras Gwaradzimba, as culpable and liable for my own
company's
affairs, I can now understand why my views in the article may have
been a
source of misunderstanding. I had not thought through the
implications of
Gwaradzimba's appointment by the government of Zimbabwe to
steal my
companies under the guise of reconstruction. It was only after the
intervention of this politician who maintained that if I can be held
culpable and liable for the alleged financial state of affairs of my company
by the government, led by President Mugabe, then surely President Mugabe
should be held culpable and liable for impoverishing Zimbabwe.
He
argued that it is imperative that Zimbabwe urgently finds an
administrator
to take over the affairs of the country and investigate Mugabe
in as much as
Gwaradzimba has been appointed to do. Incidentally, I was
shocked to learn
that this politician had actually read the Reconstruction
of State-indebted
Insolvent Companies Act 2004 that is now the law of the
land in Zimbabwe
that allows the government to expropriate private assets
without following
any due process of the law.
The law applies retroactively and what is
significant is that the state does
not exist at law begging the question of
how a person can be indebted to a
ghost. Under this law, any person
identified by a partial administrator as
culpable and liable will have his
assets forfeited to the state without any
compensation. I was encouraged
that the intervention of the Friends of
Zimbabwe Coalition on the property
rights question has helped to open the
eyes of many Zimbabweans including
politicians who had a naďve understanding
of the ramifications of this
draconian piece of legislation.
This politician observed that if Mugabe's
government can steal companies in
broad daylight how can I dare say that he
is not corrupt? I responded saying
that all I wanted to do was to generate
debate on Mugabe's legacy and have
come to accept that the expropriation of
property rights of blacks will also
be part of the legacy. What was more
fundamental in the observation of this
politician was that if the government
of Zimbabwe can steal assets and
citizens' human rights, why should anyone
trust such a government to hold an
election where it will lose?
I was
encouraged to learn that many people are indeed reading my articles
and to
the extent that they are helping expand the knowledge base, I am
satisfied
that my intervention is directing Zimbabweans and Africans in
general to
think hard about what kind of future they deserve and how they
should be
governed.
In pursuit of this, there can be no justification of anyone
prescribing what
is non-negotiable. For what is sovereignty worth when a
government can
operate outside its own laws and how can the challenge of
building a new
Africa be addressed when those in power are working
constructively to
undermine it?
Without the rule of law and not rule
by law, there can never be a new
Africa. Africa can rise to the challenge
when its citizens get the respect
from those they have chosen or those that
have chosen themselves to lead
Africa understand the true meaning of common
citizenship and the need to
create and nurture a new African identity
premised on the respect of human
and property rights.
In pursuit of
the goal to help create a new Africa found on new values, I am
a member of
the Africa Heritage Corporate Council (AHCC) and from now
onwards you can
reach me on my new email address: mmawere@ahccouncil.com. I
realise
that this mission can only be considered as work in progress
requiring the
intellectual and physical resources of all persons concerned
and interested
about Africa's destiny.
I know we can create our own identity through
enterprise and as Africans we
can made the difference that we enhance our
collective profile in a
competitive global environment. Let us invest in
challenging the consensus
that Africa should be a conveyer belt for what God
has endowed it with in
form of minerals and natural resources to feed the
world without its
citizens taking ownership of their resources.
The
governments of Africa have consistently underestimated the potential of
citizens in preference for the promise of investment that is solely aimed at
exploiting the resources of Africa. While we are being encouraged to look
East, let us begin to look at ourselves.
As I have said before, the
only power people who have no power is the power
to organize. To this end, I
welcome all those who are passionate about
Africa to join us in the AHCC
family to hopefully invest in bridging the
knowledge, execution and capital
gaps that confront us as a people. Our
website address is: www.ahccouncil.com.
Mutumwa Mawere's
weekly column appears on New Zimbabwe.com every Monday. You
can contact him
at: mmawere@global.co.za
"We, the 1984 petitioners, earnestly and
respectfully request that a payment of pension entitlements to ex-residents of
Zimbabwe be made a condition of any future aid procedures, and paid at the
historic rate of Z$2 to 1 pound Sterling".
Click here to read the report
VOA
By
Patience Rusere
Washington
13 November
2006
Southern African church leaders have urged two Zimbabwe
church organizations
to work together more cooperatively, tacitly chiding
them for political
differences.
Christian Alliance spokesman Jonathan
Gokovah and Churches in Zimbabwe
official Bishop Ambrose Moyo have pledged
to press the issue with their
members.
Regional church groups
including the Botswana Council of Churches, the
All-African Council of
Churches, the South African Council of Churches, and
the South African
Catholic Bishops Conference, among others, met in
Johannesburg on the
weekend to discuss how churches can help to resolve the
Zimbabwean
crisis.
Zimbabwean church groups have launched separate - and to some
extent
politically contrary - initiatives aimed at speeding resolution of
the
Zimbabwean crisis.
Churches In Zimbabwe, comprising more moderate
clergy, seeks dialogue with
the government. Uniting the Zimbabwe Catholics
Bishops Conference, the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, it
recently put forth a "national vision" paper titled
"The Zimbabwe We Want,"
which it presented first to President Robert Mugabe
and then to an overtly
skeptical opposition.
At odds with this
conciliatory approach is the Christian Alliance, a church
group that came
together in 2005 to provide humanitarian aid to those
displaced by Harare's
forced eviction and demolition campaign known as
Operation Murambatsvina.
The Christian Alliance, closely linked with
opposition political parties and
civic groups, regards the government - and
Mr. Mugabe - as the heart of the
problem.
The Christian Alliance has launched an initiative called the
Save Zimbabwe
Campaign under which political parties, trade unionists and
NGOs have
organized protests.
Reverend Nicholas Mukaronda, a
coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, told reporter Patience
Rusere that churches must combine their
resources to help.
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
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Letter
1 - Marion & Adrian Herud
Dear JAG
We will be unable to attend
your AGM, being on the other side of the world,
but our appreciation goes to
you all. Any chance of seeing the Minutes
afterwards? And maybe transcripts
of the speaker's notes? Big ask, I know,
but we are
interested. All the
best for the day.
Yours,
Marion
Herud
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2 - B Norton
Dear JAG
My sincere good wishes for the forthcoming
meeting. Could you please
publish the minutes of the said
meeting.
Have been looking forward to seeing the list of recipients of
99-year lease
& how this will affect the titleholders.
Many
thanks
Ben
Norton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3 - J Kockott
Dear JAG
Thank you for all the efforts you all put
in, in trying to
assist us all. I apologise that I will not be able to make
the meeting, but
you have my full support in all you do.
I would like
to remain a member of your organization, and will visit your
offices whenever
I am in Zim to make sure my subs are up to date.
Regards
Jeff
Kockott
PS - Did some white farmers actually attend the handing out of
99-year lease
"ceremony". If some did do you think that their name could be
made public.
I also sincerely hope CFU did not say anything positive about
this either?
Anyone one who willingly assists the government in trying to put
positive
spin on the land situation in Zim needs to be "ashamed" of
themselves and be
held in the contempt they
deserve.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4 - Bill Moore
I regret I will be in South Africa when the meeting is
on. My apologies.
Dr W
Moore
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5 - G. Watson-Smith
Dear JAG
Your work is hugely appreciated
and valued by all of us whether we are in
Zimbabwe currently or not.
I
wish you a successful AGM, from France, and would be there if I
could.
With thanks and good luck.
Kind regards,
Guy
Watson-Smith.
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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.