Zimbabwe's police are brainwashed by Mugabe in 'reorientation'
camps By Jane Flanagan in Bulawayo (Filed: 31/10/2004)
Members of
Zimbabwe's police force, once the most respected and efficient in southern
Africa, have been ordered to attend brutal "reorientation" camps to be fed
anti-white propaganda in the run-up to next year's elections.
In a tactic
akin to those used by hardline Communist regimes, police officers face
"reprogramming" at the hands of Robert Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence
Organisation.
One officer who recently attended the course told The
Telegraph how he had been fed racist propaganda about a white, neo-colonial
conspiracy against the Mugabe regime. Any dissenting officer faces beatings
and torture at the camps, which are run on military lines with early-morning
physical exercise and strict internal discipline.
"We were told that
anyone who doesn't support Comrade Mugabe is an enemy of the state," the
low-ranking policeman said. "Our bosses told us that if we do not undergo
the training we will be branded traitors and sacked from the force in
disgrace."
The programmes are held at the notorious Stops Camp, once a
smart officers' mess during colonial times but, since independence, used as
a police holding centre and place of torture.
As he stood outside the
sprawling compound of tatty single-storey buildings on the western edge of
Bulawayo, the uniformed officer told how he and colleagues had been taught
about the "great success" of Mugabe's land reform programme. Anyone who
criticises the Comrade's rule is denounced as in the pay of MI6, the CIA and
white agents intent on recolonising Zimbabwe.
The propaganda overlooks
the fact that Mr Mugabe's land reform programme resulted in millions of
Zimbabweans facing starvation, while the mainly black opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) is more popular than the ruling Zanu-PF
Party.
The camps, which have been established to help to ensure victory
for Mr Mugabe in parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, are
similar to those used in the late 1990s to brainwash the youth militia. The
gangs, known as the Green Bombers, were responsible for murder, rape and
torture of opposition campaigners and supporters.
Zimbabwe's police
officers were once the best trained and equipped in the region, with a
reputation for hard work and efficiency.
The syllabus for the week-long
course is designed to reinforce Mr Mugabe's claim that opposition supporters
are working on behalf of Britain and the West for the re-colonisation of
Zimbabwe.
According to the policeman, the lecturers warn that "all police
personnel must have nothing to do with enemies of Zimbabwe, who include all
members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Party and former
white commercial farmers".
The course also includes selective
historical accounts such as: "The colonisation of Zimbabwe by Cecil John
Rhodes on behalf of the British monarchy" and "The seizure of black-owned
land by the colonialists".
Trainees are taught that the government drive
to restore land to poor blacks has succeeded despite "economic sabotage by
Britain and her Western allies opposed to the land redistribution
programme", the lecture notes state.
Another officer who attended the
course described how each day began. "In the mornings we would start with
physical exercises - which we did while singing revolutionary songs - before
doing arms drills," he said.
Police are taught about the deaths in 2002
of two Zanu-PF activists, Limukani Luphahla and Cain Nkala, who the
government alleges were kidnapped and murdered by members of the MDC -
despite the fact that six opposition activists were acquitted of the
killings due to lack of evidence.
Wayne Bvudzijena, a spokesman for the
police, refused to comment on the training courses when contacted by The
Telegraph.
Earlier this year, the government admitted that it had trained
more than 18,000 youths under its controversial national youth service
programme. Opposition groups and the media claim that camps set up to train
the Green Bombers used rape and torture to instil loyalty.
The MDC
has threatened to boycott the March poll because of fears that its members
will, once again, face beatings, abductions and intimidation.
It was at
the last parliamentary elections, in 2000, that the MDC emerged as the first
real threat to Mr Mugabe's 24-year rule. At the same time, he announced the
reform programme under which almost all Zimbabwe's 5,000 commercial farmers
have now been evicted from their land.
Far from being successful, the
reforms have left most of Zimbabwe's 13 million population with severe food
shortages and the economy on the brink of collapse.
Heath Streak: I was fed up telling top players they
didn't deserve to be in the team when it was a lie. Two weeks later I was
fired: Zimbabwe's ex-captain on the racial dispute that wrecked his cricket
career - and why he could never leave Africa
Interview by Tom de
Castella Sunday October 31, 2004 The Observer
The real trouble
began when, in March this year, we were told the team to play Bangladesh and
it was announced to the press. Then the director of integration, Ozias
Bvute, under pressure from one of the provinces, ordered the reselection of
the team. There were only two black players in the side and he said he
wanted five. This is the man who once told me that because Zimbabwe were a
'losing' team we should get rid of all the white players and play a purely
black side. Anyway, Mashonaland province actually went as far as saying that
they would boycott the match, or stage a pitch invasion and dig up the
wicket if their terms weren't met. Imagine a Test match at Lord's where
Middlesex demand that if they don't have five Middlesex players in the
England side they're going to dig up the wicket and boycott the
match.
I demanded action from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU). I was fed
up with telling quality players they didn't deserve to be in the team when
we all knew that was false. Selection policy was inconsistent and
discriminatory. Selectors weren't even bothering to go to matches. It wasn't
just a racial thing: there were regions such as Matabeleland whose players
were not being given a chance because they weren't playing in the capital,
Harare.
Two weeks later I was fired. During that period I had tried to
get the chairman of the ZCU, Peter Chingoka, and certain directors around
the table. Chingoka refused. So I phoned the ZCU managing director, Vince
Hogg, and said what I felt needed to happen or I would consider retiring.
There was a board meeting and that evening I was telephoned by Hogg to say
they had accepted my resignation - which I hadn't even tendered. They said
they would ask Tatenda Taibu to replace me as captain with immediate
effect.
I was on speaker-phone with Hogg and he passed me on to the other
three directors who were the three guys who had caused the problems. Not one
of them said anything. It was quite a shock. I've dedicated pretty much 10
years of my life to playing cricket for Zimbabwe and along the way I've had
offers to play in England and South Africa. I've always wanted to play
cricket for my country, so it felt like they were kicking me in the teeth. I
copped a lot of criticism when Andy Flower and Henry Olonga did their thing
during the World Cup [they wore black armbands in protest at 'the death of
democracy' in Zimbabwe]. Everything now seems to have been in vain. They
[the ZCU] didn't appreciate my efforts to keep politics and cricket
separate. I feel especially let down by Tatenda - not for accepting the
captaincy but for ignoring what was going on at the ZCU. But I suppose he
feels that if he stands up to these guys he would be risking his future in
cricket. Having said that, I could play under him if there were major
changes at ZCU.
Looking back it's amazing but, before their black armband
protest against Namibia, I had no idea what Andy and Henry were planning. I
think Grant Flower was told the night before. But it wasn't until I had
tossed up with the Namibia captain and returned to the changing room that I
found out. I was put in a difficult position and it was pretty tough for the
younger guys who were always being asked whether they agreed with what Henry
and Andy were doing. Sport and politics shouldn't mix. Sadly politicians
want to make mileage out of sport. As cricketers we wanted to make people in
Zimbabwe happy and give them something to be patriotic about
again.
I'll never leave Zimbabwe by choice as Graeme Hick and others have
done. I'd like my children to grow up here. I grew up on a farm near
Bulawayo and remember waking up every morning and going into the bush to
play with my young African friends on the farm. I was lucky that I learnt
English and Ndebele pretty much simultaneously. I grew up in a very
multiracial era compared to that of my parents. At senior school I didn't
think twice about inviting black friends for a weekend at my parents' ranch.
This would have been unheard of in Mum and Dad's era.
Can a white
person live in Africa? I think that depends on how you are as a person.
There is still much bitterness about the colonial past. Too many of the
colonisers were very arrogant: they didn't respect local cultures and didn't
bother to learn local languages. But the majority now are a lot more aware
of other people's cultures and are prepared to learn the differences between
the two.
It's sad what has happened to the game because cricket was a
shining example of how black and white people could get on together. You've
got cultural differences, yes, but that's understandable. Once when we were
on tour in Australia most of the black players ended up in one bus and the
whites in the other. Some of us thought we should tackle this. We said:
'Look, we can't have all whites on one bus and all blacks on the other.'
Taibu just said: 'Well, I don't want to listen to Andy Blignaut talking
about fishing.' So we said if that's the way you want it, as long as it's
not a racial thing, that's fine.
In my heart of hearts, I know what I
did was right. I just hope that future generations can work together and
move on.
Life facts
Heath Streak was born in Bulawayo in March
1974. He made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1993 and had two stints as
Zimbabwe captain. His second period in charge (2002-04) ended in April this
year following a disagreement with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union over selection
policy. As captain he sought to concentrate exclusively on cricket despite
the worsening political and humanitarian situation inside the country. He is
the only Zimbabwean to have taken 100 Test wickets.
Zim unionist's house raided 31/10/2004 20:08 -
(SA)
Harare - Armed Zimbabwean police on Sunday raided the home of a
senior labour unionist after he and his colleagues met with fact finders
from Cosatu who defied a ban to visit the country, the official
said.
Police were not immediately available to confirm the
raid.
Collen Gwiyo, the deputy secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU), told AFP that three armed police and three
detectives visited his home in the satellite town of Chitungwiza, south of
Harare, on Sunday.
Gwiyo, who was not at home at the time of the raid,
said the police had left a message for him to report to a Chitungwiza police
station on Monday.
He said he thought the police search was linked to
last week's visit by 13 members of the Cosatu, which was cut short when the
government deported them 24 hours after their arrival.
"It's largely
to do with the Cosatu business," said Gwiyo, who was acting secretary
general at the time of their visit.
The Cosatu fact-finding mission came
to Zimbabwe late Monday in defiance of the government, which had earlier
blocked the delegation because of what it said was its "political" agenda in
meeting with some "anti-government" civic groups.
Mission members
were detained on Tuesday, then driven to the border with South Africa
overnight and dumped there early on Wednesday, amid an outcry from union
officials on both sides of the border.
Women's League cites deep-seated reluctance from male party
stalwarts
A GRAVE crisis looms within Zanu PF. The Womens League are
apparently threatening not to participate in the crucial March 2005
parliamentary elections owing to deep-seated defiance from ruling party male
stalwarts to deny the women the opportunity to represent the party in at
least a third of all seats the ruling party is contesting in.
Women's
League Secretary for Administration Tsitsi Muzenda told the Sunday Mirror
that there was stiff resistance from male party gurus bent on thwarting bids
by the women to get the party's endorsement at the forthcoming December
congress.
"We will see who will vote for those men opposed to empowering
women. We certainly won't vote for them. There is no going back on the
matter, we want more representation, and we want it at the coming December
congress," said Muzenda.
The move spells trouble for Zanu PF's
chances of attaining the much-needed parliamentary majority that will enable
the ruling party to make constitutional amendments to entrenched provisions
of the Lancaster House Constitution, considering that the Women's League is
Zanu PF's long established powerbase since 1980.
The Women's League
is currently lobbying to have Water Resources and Infrastructural
Development minister Joyce Mujuru appointed as vice president and plans to
take the party to task on the implementation of the
"one-woman-in-every-three" policy.
"We intend to abscond from voting
in next year's elections. They (male Zanu PF members) would better be
careful at the coming congress. If they don't give us the opportunity to
stand on Zanu PF tickets in at least a third of all constituencies, they are
shooting themselves in the foot," said one source who refused to be
identified.
The source said senior members of the Women's League had
resolved that they would initiate such action if they failed to get the
backing of the party at the December congress. Women's League deputy
chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri confirmed the stiff resistance exhibited by
her male counterparts, on the party's one-third-quota obligation towards
women.
"We met as a National Executive to map out strategies. What I can
say now is that we are continuing with our lobbying efforts.However, I
cannot divulge or pre-empt those strategies because some of the men who are
against our cause will prepare counter-strategies and continue to block us,"
said Oppah Muchinguri. Muchinguri said stiff resistance was coming from
quarters that perceived the women factor to be threatening their access to
the corridors of power.
"Under normal circumstances, one could
understand them. We are aiming for the positions they occupy, there is bound
to be resistance," said Muchinguri.
The contentious matter has reeled
in the opposition MDC Women's Assembly that has thrown its weight behind the
intended move by the Zanu PF Womens League to abscond from next year's
elections.
Lucia Matibenga, MDC Women's Assembly secretary, said her
organisation would support the ZANU PF Womens League decision to abscond
from voting for men who were not interested in the uplifting of
women.
"I wish them luck and I will conscientize the female members of
the electorate on the importance of such a move. When the liberation
struggle was fought, the issue of women was deferred; now the war is over,
men still don't want to uplift women. With men, it's always 'later' for our
grievances," said Matibenga.
However, Zanu PF political commissar
Elliot Manyika brushed the threats aside.
"I was not aware of that
development but I can only say we will cross that bridge when we come to
it," said Manyika.
Women's League chief, Thenjiwe Lesabe could not be
reached for comment on the matter at the time of going to press. She was
said to be in a politburo meeting and then later on was said to be at her
farm in Matabeleland where no contact could be made, according to an
official at the Zanu PF headquarters. Soon after the August Sadc summit,
President Robert Mugabe pledged that women would be entitled to equal access
to positions of power within the ruling party and in government.
The
declaration by the President was seen to be in line with the Sadc protocol
on Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections signed by all 14
Sadc member states including Zimbabwe.
Section 7.9 of the Sadc protocol
clearly states that one of the responsibilities of member states holding
elections is to encourage the participation of women in all aspects of
electoral processes.
Other Sadc nations have already embraced the
initiative, top of the list being South Africa, in which women make up
almost half of the cabinet. In addition, they hold powerful ministries such
as the Foreign Affairs, Energy and Trade and Home Affairs.
However
discontentment within the ruling party has been brewing ever since the
Womens League announced it was lobbying for the appointment of current
Minister of Water Development to the post of co-vice president left vacant
upon the death of Simon Muzenda.
Mujuru is allegedly pitted against
powerful ruling party secretary for administration Emmerson Mnangagwa, and
foreign affairs secretary Didymus Mutasa.
The women argued at the
Womens League congress that followed the Sadc summit, where women
highlighted how they had been disenfranchised from the corridors of power.
At the Zanu PF 1999 Congress when Thenjiwe Lesabe had been tipped for the
Vice-Presidency, only to be elbowed out by senior male party
stalwarts.
Zimbabwe to appeal Tsvangirai's acquittal October 31
2004 at 02:17PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's government will appeal against
the acquittal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on treason charges by
mid-November, a state-owned newspaper reported on Sunday.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said the move showed
President Robert Mugabe's government was pursuing a political vendetta
against the opposition leader.
The Zimbabwe High Court acquitted
Tsvangirai two weeks ago on charges of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and
seize power ahead of a presidential election in 2002, saying the state had
failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Acting
attorney-general Bharat Patel - who had previously indicated the state was
likely to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court - was quoted by the
government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper as saying the appeal would be
filed in the next two weeks.
"Certainly by the middle of November
we would have filed the appeal," he was quoted as saying.
Lawyers say the state's appeal is not likely to be heard for several
months.
Patel was unavailable for comment. But the Sunday Mail
reported him saying that the decision to appeal was not political but based
on strong legal grounds.
Tsvangirai's MDC said the state's
appeal showed Mugabe's government was pursuing a vendetta against its leader
and the opposition.
"Our position has always been that there was no
criminal case in the treason charge and that this was political, and the
High Court's decision demonstrated this point," MDC spokesperson Paul
Themba-Nyathi said.
"If they are going to appeal, it shows the
government is still pursuing its political case but I think the courts will
again find there is no criminal case," he said.
Analysts say
Tsvangirai's acquittal has eased political tensions in the country but that
they will rise again in the run-up to March parliamentary
elections.
Although the MDC has said it will boycott all elections
until the government implements "real" electoral reforms, analysts say the
party is likely to contest the poll.
Tsvangirai is also facing
separate treason charges linked to anti-Mugabe protests he tried to organise
in June 2003 which the MDC said were aimed at driving Mugabe from
power.
He is due back in court on Wednesday for a routine remand
appearance.
The Zimbabwe government condemned Tsvangirai's
acquittal in the first trial, saying a guilty man had been allowed to walk
free.
The case against Tsvangirai rested on a secretly taped video
of a Montreal meeting between him and a Canada-based political consultant,
Ari Ben-Menashe, where prosecutors said Mugabe's "elimination" was
discussed.
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono has criticised plans
by Government to pay out gratuities to former political prisoners and
detainees.
Gono said any unplanned spending on gratuities would throw
Zimbabwe off its inflation targets, which he has upgraded from 200% in
December to 150%. This new target will be missed if the fiscal side fails to
contain expenditure, Gono said, and the slowdown in inflation would
stall. "This (declining inflation rate) should be bolstered through
containment of expenditure levels to budgeted thresholds, avoidance of
supplementary budgets and avoiding awards to unplanned benevolent or
gratuity payments that are unrelated to current production activities or
real economic growth," said Gono, in his third quarter review of the
monetary policy on Thursday.
Government has gazetted the Ex-Political
Prisoners, Detainees and Restrictees Bill, under which it plans to dole out
billions and possibly trillions of dollars to people affected by the
struggle for independence.
Reports say the once-off gratuity payments
will be at $10 million a person. Although there has been no official word on
the exact amount, government has not disputed this figure.
The Bill
gazetted in September, provides for a one-off gratuity payment to former
political prisoners, detainees and restrictees as well as a monthly pension,
not less than the minimum salary paid to public service workers. There will
also be a monthly survivor's or child pension payable to the dependants of a
deceased ex-political prisoner, detainee or restrictee.
The Bill proposes
to establish schemes for the provision of financial assistance to
ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees, as well as their
dependants. Such assistance would come from a fund that will be set up by
the government. The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare
will be given "sole management, control and use of the fund", according to
the Bill.
Observers see Gono's remarks as a plea to Government not to
give in to pressure from the political group, whose number has not been
quantified. His criticism of the planned payouts was thinly disguised, but
he suggested that "reckless policies" would reverse the turnaround he is
leading.
Economists have warned that any unbudgeted for expenditure will
speed up Zimbabwe's economic decline. In 1997 when the Government buckled
under fierce pressure from war veterans and paid out $50 000 to 55 000 of
the ex-combatants, an already vulnerable Zimbabwe dollar collapsed to a then
record low against the US dollar.
ZCTU threatens action over Cosatu ban By Kumbirai
Mafunda
THE government and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
could be headed for a collision course over last week's expulsion of a
delegation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) leaders
who were on a five-day fact finding mission.
On Tuesday last week the
government deported a 12-member delegation from Cosatu saying their mission
was not acceptable because it was "political". The Cosatu leaders had
arrived in Zimbabwe the previous day on a five-day fact-finding
mission. The ZCTU's supreme decision-making body, the General Council met on
Wednesday in the capital to review Harare's highhanded action. ZCTU
president Lovemore Matombo said the emergency meeting of the General Council
had mandated the labour movement to register its protest in the wake of
fresh attacks on trade unionism.
"The General Council is greatly
harmed and angered by this uncalled for action by the government. This
suggests that workers of Zimbabwe and the general population are quarantined
in all aspects of political and social life," Matombo said.
Officers
from the immigration department accompanied by members of the police
deported the Cosatu team on Tuesday, accusing it of meddling in the
country's affairs on behalf of former colonial ruler Britain, a charge
Cosatu vehemently denied.
Matombo did not specify the course of
action the labour movement would take.
"Any form of protest now has to
take a completely different form. The collision course will continue," vowed
Matombo in an interview last week.
The ZCTU has on numerous occasions
clashedwith the government over high taxation, abuse of trade union leaders
and the latter's failure to stem the economic decay.
With a clash
looking increasingly likely between the government and the ZCTU, other civic
society organizations have thrown their weight behind the labour
movement.
"Cosatu was kicked out because they wanted to meet the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA). So when the ZCTU fights this stupid attitude
of the government we will be behind them," said NCA chairman Lovemore
Madhuku.
The deportation, which has left Cosatu locked in an
acrimonious struggle with the leadership of the African National Congress
(ANC), threatens the latter's relations with the ruling Zanu PF government
long considered skeptical of ANC.
Cosatu spokesperson, Patrick Craven
declared the expulsion as a snub to the South African government as well as
Cosatu. Analysts said the uneasy relationship between Zanu PF and the ANC
could be tested by the Cosatu deportation.
During South Africa's
armed struggle, the Zimbabwe government supported the fast fading Pan
Africanist Congress which has performed dismally at subsequent
elections.
Meanwhile, Harare's action continued to draw international
condemnation with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU) vowing to protest to the United Nations' International Labour
Organisation (ILO) against the treatment of Cosatu.
RBZ's 'Allied Banking Group' scheme slammed By our own
Staff
WITH the nationalisation of the land complete, the central bank
chief, Gideon Gono, literally nationalised collapsed banks through the
creation of the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG).
Although the
government, which will own shares in ZABG through the Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV), will divest from ZABG in three years, economic analysts
frowned at the move saying it was confirmation that Gono's policies had
failed. They said through ZABG, Gono was forcing creditors and depositors in
the failed banks to share the pain by requiring them to be shareholders in
the special purpose vehicle.
"This is unlawful nationalisation
because those banks have shareholders," said Tendai Biti the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)'s secretary for economics.
"The
measures he now proposes are an admission of defeat. In converting the huge
debts of the troubled banks into equity, Gono is using public funds to buy
out his failure and is compromising the future independence of the Reserve
Bank," Biti said.
Other analysts felt Gono should have merged weaker
banks with stronger ones to bring confidence in the crisis-riddled sector.
In the last 10 months, seven banks have been placed under the management of
a curator as the central bank moves to clean up the mess in the financial
services sector.
"It is going to be a flop. What hotchpotch would you
live with in the financial sector," questioned Peter Robinson an economic
consultant.
Economic analysts say they are disappointed with the RBZ's
prognosis of a 5% economic growth in 2005. The central bank projects
inflation will dip to 150% in December. Besides the perceived deceleration
in the officially announced inflation figure, analysts say there is very
little to celebrate since Gono assumed office in December 2003.
The
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) say 25 manufacturing companies
are struggling while eight could shut down this year.
"There are no
substantive signs of any turnaround. Gono's forecast for inflation and
economic growth are both wrong," said one analyst.
Nonetheless, other
analysts hail Gono for concocting such a scheme, which they said will bring
relief to thousands of depositors. Besides, small depositors who have their
funds locked up in failed banks will be able to access their money in
January.
"I would give a plus for him because that scheme will bring a
sense of stability to the banking sector," said Franky Kufa Kingdom
Financial Holdings chief executive officer.
The ZABG will be financed
by the conversion of the central bank's Troubled Banks Fund (TBF) and the
conversion of claims of other significant creditors and depositors into
equity.
"There was no scope for these banks to manoeuvre as waning
perception by the public was affecting these banks. This will bring some
stability in the financial sector because there was a lot of smear
campaign," said one analyst who preferred anonymity.
Industrialists
and miners say the central bank chief had not done enough by devaluing the
local unit to $6 200.
"He really needs to do something substantial like
devaluing to $7 500," said one miner.
Looming NGO lay-offs threat to economy By Foster
Dongozi
o15 000 people stand to lose their jobs ZIMBABWE'S economy is
expected to experience another meltdown if the Non Governmental
Organisations Bill becomes law, officials working with NGOs have
said.
Jacob Mafume, the co-ordinator of the National Association of Non
Governmental Organisations'(NANGO) team working on a response to the Bill,
said the full impact of the law was still being assessed. "We are still
finalising the full economic and social impact that the bill will have on
Zimbabweans but a conservative estimate is that if each of the 3 000 NGOs is
employing five people, then 15 000 people will lose their
jobs."
Mafume said based on the assumption that each of the affected
employees had a family of six members; tens of thousands of people would be
thrown into poverty.
Mafume added: "With the devastating effect of
HIV/Aids, many dependants will be left stranded."
This comes amid
reports that some NGOs were preparing to relocate to other countries within
the region such as Botswana while those remaining were moving their bank
accounts to other countries in a bid to evade the prying eyes of the
government.
NANGO executive director, Jonah Mudehwe, said: "In its
current form, the bill targets all NGOs because it says no NGO will receive
foreign funding for governance and human rights issues and that means even
an NGO working with children cannot advocate for children's rights. It also
means the disabled cannot receive foreign funding to lobby for disability
rights which are also human rights."
Economist, Rongai Chizema warned
that in its current state, the Bill was potentially disastrous for the
Zimbabwean society.
"The potential impact, with a multiplier effect, will
be felt by almost all sectors and levels of society," Chizema
said.
He pointed out that the macro-economic, tourism; rural development
and health sectors would be negatively affected.
Since the drop in
tourist arrivals, which started four years ago, 60 percent of hotel business
in Zimbabwe is conferences and workshops-driven. The majority of them are
held by NGOs.
Chizema said rural development was also expected to receive
a knock, further increasing rural poverty while in addition; the little
foreign currency that was finding its way into the country through NGOs was
expected to dry up.
The collapsed health sector especially in the fight
against HIV and Aids was also under threat as most of the work was being
undertaken by NGOs, he said.
The government says the measures are
designed to introduce accountability and to shut down NGOs it believes are
too vocal - an argument which analysts say does not hold water.
Police intensify forex searches By Valentine
Maponga
AT least 30 people are arrested every night in Beitbridge as
police embark on a blitz to search and seize foreign currency from illegal
traders, The Standard has established.
Arbitrary arrests and beatings
are some of the crude tactics the police are being accused of in their
efforts to clamp down on the currency black market. Persistent foreign
currency shortages in the country have spawned a flourishing parallel market
that is currently trading the American dollar at $8 000, a figure way above
the official auction rate of $5 600.
"The situation is now getting out of
hand. We are now living in fear," said a source who requested anonymity for
fear of reprisals. "Possession of foreign currency in Beitbridge is now very
dangerous because you can be arrested by the police at anytime."
He
said the police were also raiding lodges and hotels in search of foreign
currency.
"They have been ordered to arrest anyone they suspect to be
carrying foreign currency and most travelers have suffered because of this,"
he said.
According to the sources, groups of police officers were
patrolling the town in Defender trucks, and arresting anyone found walking
about in the evening.
"People sometimes run away to avoid being arrested.
Those unsuspecting visitors, mostly travelers, have been victimised,"
explained the source.
Those arrested are detained in one huge holding
cell at the main police station in the small border town where they are
searched and screened.
" If you do not have any foreign currency you are
charged with loitering and forced to pay $25 000 admission-of guilt fine
before they release you," said one victim who preferred
anonymity.
Police in Beitbridge confirmed they had an operation code
named "Buyela Ekhaya" or "Dzokera Kumusha" (Go Back Home).
Officials
at one lodge in Beitbridge said they were now getting police details as
their guests almost on a daily basis.
"They come here almost on a daily
basis but there is nothing we can do to deny them entry. However, this is
affecting us in terms of business," the official said.
Some of the
lodges that have been subjected to the searches are Limpopo Lodge,
Beitbridge Hotel and Peter's Motel.
The Officer-in-Charge of Beitbridge
police, Inspector Mahamati, refused to comment. He referred The Standard to
Inspector Nyoni, the Press and Liaison officer for Matabeleland
South.
Nyoni was also not immediately available for a
comment.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said
police authorities in any given area in Zimbabwe have the mandate to
investigate all forms of crime.
"There is nothing wrong with what
police are doing. All our authorities in areas around the country have the
mandate to investigate all forms of crime. Those complaints you have are
most likely to come from people who are benefiting from such illegal
dealings," Bvudzijena said.
He added that the police operated in
conjunction with all stakeholders and the central bank was one of the many
stakeholders.
Zimbabwe is battling a severe foreign currency shortage
that has manifested itself in the shortages of raw materials, fuel,
electricity and medical drugs
Platinum industry shaken as State takes over marketing By
Rangarirai Mberi
ZIMBABWE'S platinum mining industry took a huge knock
last week following news that government would seize all marketing of
platinum and slap a ban on offshore accounts.
Central bank Governor
Gideon Gono announced the new policy on Thursday, a week after President
Robert Mugabe was quoted in the State media as saying government was looking
to end South African dominance in Zimbabwe's platinum industry. Gono,
suggesting platinum producers lacked transparency and accountability,
described the platinum industry as a "black box", which he said had been
"shrouded in an intricate web of processing and marketing
agreements".
"The Reserve Bank has, with the approval of government,
assumed responsibility, as is the case with gold trading, for the handling
of all trading in the platinum group metals (PGMs), under a viable structure
to be set up in close consultation with players in the platinum production
and marketing," Gono said in his third quarter monetary policy review
statement.
The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, a
quasi-Government organisation, will advise the RBZ on marketing
arrangements.
Gono said platinum producers would be required to open
local Foreign Currency Accounts (FCAs) into which all export revenues would
be deposited. In the past, producers were allowed to keep 60% of their
export proceeds offshore. However, the shift in policy means investors will
now have to scrounge for foreign currency on the RBZ's increasingly dry
foreign currency auction floors.
Apparently keen to head off
inevitable criticism on the new policy, Gono said the measures should not be
interpreted as meaning that Zimbabwe "was moving towards chaos in the mining
sector or triggering a free for all approach to indigenisation and
empowerment".
There was no immediate official comment on the matter from
mining executives. Chamber of Mines President Ian Saunders said it was too
early to react, adding the Chamber was yet to fully study Gono's statement.
Zimplats, the country's largest platinum producer, had not responded to
questions from StandardBusiness by the time of going to
press.
However, a mining executive said the takeover of marketing and the
ban on offshore accounts will severely hit fresh investment in Zimbabwe's
platinum industry.
"We are already under a lot of stress regarding
uncertainty about Government's empowerment plans. This latest step really
came out of the blue and, without more detail, we will once again see more
investment plans being put on ice," said the miner, who would not be
named.
Platinum production is significantly more expensive than other
minerals mining, and platinum miners need offshore accounts for expensive
inputs, executives said.
Last month, StandardBusiness reported that
Implats had shelved a R4.7 billion investment to ramp up platinum production
from Zimplats, in which it owns a controlling 82%. Implats CEO Keith Rumble
said Implats was standing back pending the signing of a protection agreement
with the Zimbabwe government.
Remarks by Mugabe in September that he
would seize half of every foreign owned mine operating in Zimbabwe also
shook the sector.
Zimbabwe's platinum producers work mostly on the Great
Dyke, which sits astride the world's second largest known platinum
resources. South Africa holds the largest platinum reserves, but mines there
are getting deeper and more expensive to mine. This means Zimbabwe - with
lower unit production costs - will be a strong competitor. With the added
attraction of surging world platinum prices, mining experts say it was a
matter of time before Government muscled in on the action.
PENSIONERS are among those most affected by Zimbabwe's
ongoing economic crisis, as soaring inflation continues to erode their
ability to provide for themselves and their dependants.
David Banda,
74, living in the capital, Harare, retired from the army in 1990 and has a
monthly pension of Zim $80,000 (about US $14.30). He used to receive it
through a commercial bank, but the high charges forced him to move his
account to the post office, where all transactions are free of
charge.
His 60-year-old wife, his daughter-in-law and her five children
depend on his pension. "The high inflation has reduced our pensions to
worthless pieces of paper, because the little money that I get as pension is
not enough to sustain me as an individual," Banda complained.
He said
that the added responsibility of looking after his grandchildren had forced
him to find a means of generating additional income, which he does by
selling vegetables and cigarettes.
Wellington Chibhebhe,
secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said with
the poverty datum line pegged at $1.5 million (US $267) per month and
inflation at 314 percent, pensions were no longer enough to sustain retired
people.
"The minimum pension being paid out by NSSA (National Social
Security Authority) is $80,000 a month, but it is not enough for some people
living in remote areas to get to urban centres to cash their
cheques."
The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) could not provide
statistics on pensioners.
He said a ZCTU survey had established that,
in order to keep track with inflation, pensioners ought to have been getting
monthly pay-outs of $1 million (US $178) from July this year.
"When
the majority of people retire they would have reached old age, and this
means they would require more medical attention, which is also very
expensive," Chibhebhe said.
According to a Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) survey in September, a lower-income urban family of six
people required about Zim $1.5 million (US $267) a month to purchase basic
commodities.
"During the month of September there was a 6.6 percent
increase in basic and essential commodities, such as sugar, meat, cooking
oil and milk.
"The CCZ is concerned that basic commodities continue to be
priced beyond the reach of many consumers," the survey noted.
Banda
also depends on infrequent remittances from a son working in England. "Once
in a while he sends some money home, but he cannot do it regularly because
he also has to look after his family in England. Life for pensioners is very
difficult. We cannot make ends meet." - IRIN
War vets leader accused of murder further remanded By our
own Staff
MUTARE - The case of Manicaland war veterans leader James
Kaunye, who is accused of attempting to kill John Muringanise, a Rusape
resident, resumed recently with the magistrate remanding the Makoni North
parliamentary hopeful out of custody to January 12 next
year.
Magistrate Hlekani Mwayera presided over the case while Mike Tembo
appeared for the State. The court heard that in November 2002 Kaunye and
Muringanise had a dispute after a shop in Rusape belonging to war veterans'
leader was burnt down. Kaunye allegedly threatened to kill Muringanise after
the incident.
It is alleged that on November 13 2002 Kaunye went to the
Muringanise's house accompanied by four Zanu PF activists.
When
Muringanise saw them coming he assumed they had come to kill him as had been
promised by Kaunye and as a result, he armed himself with a spear.
The
state says Kaunye's accomplices, George Mukundu, Fidelis Kangwere, Mary
Nyaude and Chipo Marindire allegedly incited the war veteran who was armed
with a gun to kill Muringanise.
Kaunye then allegedly shot
Muringanise once in his lower left leg, injuring him in the
process.
The war veteran was subsequently arrested and police recovered
an AK rifle used in committing the alleged offence.
Kaunye faces
another count of unlawfully purchasing or acquiring a firearm.
Akisai
Dhliwayo of Mugadza, Mazengero and Dhliwayo law firm is representing Kaunye,
who is eyeing the Makoni North seat, which is held by Anti-Corruption and
Anti-Monopolies Minister, Didymus Mutasa.
About two months ago his desire
to challenge Mutasa, a Zanu PF heavyweight, resulted in violent clashes in
Makoni North in which several people were severely assaulted and properties
worth million of dollars destroyed.
Kaunye himself was also severely
beaten by Mutasa's supporters.
A committee comprising police officers and
security agents set up to investigate the violence has since submitted its
findings to the Attorney General and President Robert Mugabe.
Ex Chimoio supremo says he would kill all MDC
supporters By Emmanuel Mungoshi
A former top liberation war commander
says if he had his way, he would kill supporters of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).
Major Midson Mupasu, who says he was the
camp commander at Chimoio when the Rhodesian army swooped on refugee bases
and massacred civilians in the late 1970s, claimed the MDC was there to
negate the gains of the liberation struggle. Speaking recently on a ZTV
programme Face the Nation, Mupasu who says he was also responsible for 12
Zanla bases in the area from 1976 to 1977 said: "If it were up to me, I
would kill them (MDC supporters). What MDC is doing hudzvanyiriri, husveta
simba (repression, exploitation). They want to bring back the colonial
system, that will never happen."
Mupasu said: "MDC should be thankful
that Zanu PF is a people's party and a very fair organisation. In my opinion
MDC is not supposed to operate in Zimbabwe. They should all be
arrested."
Mupasu, who is now attached to the Zimbabwe Military Academy,
also said he despised white Zimbabweans. "Even today when I see whites I
spit on the ground. I don't want to see whites. I don't even want to talk to
them, I don't want to see them on the farms that we have occupied," declared
Mupasu.
The programme, presented by Masimba Musarira, began with a video
clip showing decapitated bodies, burning houses and the freedom fighters in
action.
This was then followed by a group of war veterans who
recently visited the shrine erected in honour of the war heroes who died at
Chimoio.
Mupasu addressed the group and gave a description of the
pre-independence massacres that were perpetrated by the Rhodesian
forces.
Mupasu said he survived the raid although he sustained some
injuries.
Several Zimbabweans have complained about the "hate language"
that is increasingly gaining currency at the national public broadcaster's,
ZBC radio and television. They point out that in Rwanda by mid-April 1994,
Radio Television Libres des Mille Collines RTLM had effectively become the
genocide's coordinating body, broadcasting lists of "death-worthy" Tutsis.
It also broadcast names of other "enemies of the (Hutu) republic," urged
militiamen and citizens to seek them out, and congratulated lynch mobs for
"a job well done."
In December, 2003 the Rwanda Tribunal in Arusha
sentenced RTLM director Ferdinand Nahimana to life imprisonment, Jean-Bosco
Barayagwiza to 35 years, reduced to 27 years, and a third for 35 years, for
fanning the flames of the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800 000
people were killed.
On June 1, the Tribunal sentenced Belgian-born
Georges Ruggiu to two concurrent 12-year prison terms for broadcasts that
fanned the 1994 genocide. Survivors remember RTLM, the rabidly nationalist
Hutu radio station, as "Radio Tele La Mort (Radio Death).
At the end
of last year, a radio station calling itself Voice of the Patriot was heard
broadcasting in the Bukavu region, in the east of the Democratic Republic of
Congo, near the borders with Rwanda and Burundi station.
The radio,
thought to be using a mobile transmitter in the mountains above Bukavu town,
issued warnings that Tutsi soldiers from Rwanda and Burundi were coming to
massacre local residents.
Violence escalates ahead of 2005 poll By our own
Staff
CASES of political violence have increased countrywide as political
parties intensify their campaigns ahead of the 2005 general elections, a
local human rights organisation has said.
In its August report, the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum noted that although some of the skirmishes
were inter-party, clashes between Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) had significantly risen. According to the report
there were 44 cases of assault and eight of kidnapping in August, up from 12
and one respectively in July. Ten cases of torture were recorded in August,
up from a single case the previous month.
The increase in political
violence occurred despite the adoption of SADC principles on election
guidelines, which bind member countries to create an atmosphere conducive to
free and fair polls.
Two weeks ago, a group of marauding Zanu PF youths
in Glen Norah, Harare, stormed into houses forcing people to attend a rally
called by war veterans' leader Joseph Chinotimba.
Eyewitnesses in
Glen Norah said the youths ordered shops closed and drove people to
Spaceman, venue of the rally.
Lovemore Machengedzera, an aide to Glen
Norah Member of Parliament Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, told The
Standard that the youths boasted of their might as they went round beating
up people.
"The situation is slowly getting out of hand. We reported the
matter to the police and we gave them the names of the people involved. They
promised to arrest them. We don't know whether or not they were arrested,"
Machengedzera said.
He added that a lot of people were beaten up and
some of them sustained serious injuries during the assaults.
"After
the president (Tsvangirai) was acquitted on Friday (October 15) we moved
around celebrating his freedom and I think this might have angered Zanu PF
supporters," he said.
Contacted for comment Chinotimba said: "That is not
true. I was attending a meeting for destitute people in my area and I
donated a lot of goods worth over $200 million. I did my own investigations
after the police approached me about that."
Zanu PF sources in Glen
Norah said Chinotimba had stepped up his campaign in the wake of a challenge
posed by another aspiring Zanu PF candidate, Loveness Sakupwanya, who
reportedly commands greater support in Glen Norah B and C.
Two months
ago, Chinotimba donated shoes worth $250 million to the Glen Norah
community, in a move seen as vote buying.
Chinotimba decided to move to
Glen Norah after he lost to the MDC's Pearson Mungofa in
Highfield.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum report says incidents that
occurred in Zimbabwe in August showed lack of commitment by the government
to the implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
It
chronicles several incidents of violence that occurred all over the country.
The most pronounced being the physical assault of James Kaunye by the
Minister of Anti-corruption and Anti-monopolies, Didymus Mutasa's
supporters.
Kaunye is challenging Mutasa, the incumbent Zanu PF
Member of Parliament for Makoni North, in the Zanu PF primaries.
The
report also noted that the general political atmosphere was intimidating in
Harare's high-density suburbs of Dzivarasekwa, Kuwadzana, Mufakose, Tafara,
Mabvuku and Epworth, where Zanu PF-sponsored housing co-operatives have
mushroomed.
Reports of increased political violence come at a time when
the police have vowed to stamp out politically motivated
crimes.
Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, declared the police would
have zero tolerance to violence.
He also warned youths, who are
usually used as "cannon fodder" by politicians during campaign periods, to
desist from "barbaric political activism."
The Human Rights Forum
said instigators of violence, usually senior politicians, remain protected
from prosecution while the youths they uses were dragged before the
courts.
"Scrupulous persecution of the instigators of violence is just as
vital as the prosecution of the perpetrators," said the Human Rights
Forum.
The forum is a coalition comprising of 17 non-governmental
organisations, whose objectives include assisting victims of organised
violence through offering legal services.
Police probe CIO torture allegations By Savious
Kwinika
POLICE in Bulawayo have opened dockets on Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) operatives, who allegedly kidnapped, tortured and
severely assaulted four Zanu PF youths they mistook for Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) activists, police sources have confirmed.
The
four Zanu PF youths are Mandlenkosi Sibanda, Mandlenkosi Luphahla, Tisunge
Botomani and Nkosilathi Gama. All are from Emganwini. On September 30 2004
the CIO operatives assaulted the youths all over their bodies with sticks,
electric cables and belts. They were detained at Mpilo General Hospital
overnight for treatment.
Impeccable police sources, who spoke to The
Standard on condition of anonymity, said Bulawayo police had opened the
dockets against the three CIO operatives and that investigations were at an
advanced stage.
"When the CIO operatives assaulted these youths they
thought they were beating up and torturing MDC activists only to be shocked
the following day after learning that they were Zanu PF.
"As police
we will act according to the Zimbabwean laws and we hope justice shall
prevail," said the police source.
Bulawayo Provincial Intelligence
Officer (PIO), Innocent Chibaya, declined to comment referring all questions
to Nicholas Goche, the Minister of State Security.
"I can't say the
allegations are true or false but the right person to talk to is Goche,"
Chibaya said.
Goche could not be reached for comment by the time of going
to Press.
The torture of the youths did not go down well with
Vice-President Joseph Msika, who immediately ordered investigations into the
conduct of the CIO.
MDC Bulawayo spokesperson, Victor Moyo, confirmed
that battered youths did not belong to the opposition party. He said there
was panic and confusion in the Zanu PF structures as they attacked each
other.
"Imagine if it was the MDC youths tortured, kidnapped and severely
assaulted, do you think the Vice-President would have
intervened?
"Now that they have mistakenly attacked youth members from
their party, they are seeing that violence is unacceptable," Moyo
said.
Police Spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said he was not "aware" of the
incident.
Zimbabwe-based Mozambicans register to vote By Foster
Dongozi
POLICE were recently called to control thousands of people who
were massed at the Mozambican Embassy in Harare where nationals from that
country were registering as voters and being issued passports.
The
first secretary at the Mozambican Embassy in Harare, Guilherme Tamele, said:
"The electoral body in Mozambique has decided that Mozambicans living
outside the country are entitled to vote in the December elections." The
registration started on September 6 and ended on September 25.
There were
skirmishes as thousands of people, most of them suspected to be Zimbabweans,
tried their luck to get Mozambican passports.
The Mozambican documents
have become popular with Zimbabweans because as that country and South
Africa have scrapped visa requirements.
The Mozambican and Malawian
passports are much sought after by Zimbabwean cross border traders because
holders of such documents are not subjected to much scrutiny around the
world.
Although many Zimbabweans tried to fraudulently obtain the
passports, alert Mozambican officials flushed them out.
Tamele said:
"We have our own screening methods and anybody who did not qualify to
register as a voter and get travel documents was turned away."
In recent
weeks national radio and television have carried messages urging Mozambicans
resident in Zimbabwe to register as voters if they want to participate in
the December presidential election in Mozambique.
Zimbabweans could only
watch enviously as the Mozambicans jostled in long winding queues outside
the Mozambican Embassy for a ticket to participate in the democratic process
unfolding in the former war ravaged country.
Mozambique, along side
Botswana, is one of the emerging democracies in Southern Africa, which has
embraced democratic elections while Zimbabwe continues to have the label of
rogue State attached to it.
Before the 2002 presidential elections,
Zimbabwean authorities changed electoral laws, which barred those living
outside the country from participating in elections.
The only people
who could vote under the electoral law were embassy staff based outside the
country and members of the military on foreign missions whose votes could be
counted on to be in favour of the ruling party.
Millions of Zimbabweans
based in South Africa, the United Kingdom, USA and other parts of the world
were denied the vote. As most of them were economic refugees or had fled
political repression, the feeling was they were unlikely to vote for the
ruling Zanu PF.
The first SADC Principles and Guidelines governing
democratic elections state that there should be full participation of
citizens in the political process.
NATIONAL power utility, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa) Holdings (Pvt) Limited has failed in the provision electricity which
constitutes its core business as resources are being channeled to
non-revenue generating activities, The Standard has learnt.
For years
now, Zesa has not been able to provide electricity to suburbs such as Mount
Pleasant Heights in Harare and Unit C Extension in Chitungwiza while most
high-density areas do not have streetlights or have lost them. Residents who
spoke to The Standard last week complained that the absence of electricity
in their areas had seriously affected their lifestyles. Apart from that,
they said, they now lived at the mercy of robbers and murderers who took
advantage of the darkness to commit crimes.
"We live in fear because it
becomes too dark during the night and that is when the robbers pounce," said
a resident of Unit C, Peter Zembe.
An official of the Zimbabwe
Electricity and Energy Workers' Union (ZEEWU) said Zesa had reneged on its
core business and instead it was concentrating on making its executives more
comfortable.
The official said about 15 directors, created following the
unbundling of the power company had been offered luxurious perks, which
included Nissan Wolves, which cost at least $400 million each. The directors
also receive huge housing and education allowances.
"Zesa at the
moment can not afford such luxury. If they say we should tighten our belts
it should apply to everybody," said the official.
ZEEWU
secretary-general, identified only as I Munjoma could not be reached for
comment. He was said to be out of the country. "He is the only person who
can answer your questions," said a person who identified herself as
Munjoma's secretary.
There was no immediate official comment from
Zesa on the issues raised by the workers or why it has not been able to meet
the demands of the resident s of Mount Pleasant heights.
The power
utility, which is facing viability problems due to the shortage of foreign
currency, imports approximately 35 percent of its electricity for the
national requirement from Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
As a result, the company has
reduced the importation of power, leading to load shedding.
Zimbabwe
needs more than $40 billion to import electricity for its requirements every
month.
ZESA Holdings operate the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), Zimbabwe
Electricity Transmission Company (ZETC), Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution
Company (ZEDC), ZESA Enterprises and Powertel.
RBZ plans another Homelink junket By our own
Staff
THE central bank will embark on yet another crusade to once again
promote the failed Homelink money transfer facility before the fall of the
year, Standard Business understands.
Insiders at the Reserve bank
said the Herbert Nkala-led campaign team would make two trips to try and
prop up the remittance of hard currency to the crisis-racked southern
African country. Their first port of call will be South Africa where an
estimated two million Zimbabweans are living before pouncing on Zimbabweans
in Asia. The central bank will also target pinpointed investment consortiums
in the respective countries and promote investment opportunities "abundant"
in the country. Zimbabwe is battling a severe foreign currency shortage since
President Robert Mugabe led the nation to independence in 1980. This has
resulted in an acute shortage of fuel and electricity. Vital imports that
include medical drugs and critical raw materials have been curtailed as a
result.
The forthcoming tour will be the third round since the Homelink
team embarked on the promotions. In May the team visited South Africa, the
United States and the United Kingdom and held meetings at some of which the
RBZ Governor, Gideon Gono was reportedly booed off the stage. Only a
fortnight ago, the team returned from the US where it vainly tried to once
again entice the transfer of badly needed green back.
Nkala, the
chairman of the central bank's information and publicity committee, who has
led similar missions in the past, could not be drawn into commenting and
referred Standard Business to Gono.
Through the Homelink campaign, the
central bank anticipates to raise hard currency for Zimbabwe's struggling
economy, which is in its sixth year of recession.
However, economic
analysts say the panacea to the hard currency squeeze lies in boosting
exports, which regrettably, have dwindled over the past three
years.
"The real ability lies in increasing our exports. We should
not expect to overcome our problems with small amounts people in the
diaspora save. The central bank is missing the point.
"Their
(Zimbabweans in the diaspora) biggest contribution is to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of the countries where they are living," says John Robertson,
an economic consultant.
Latest figures on cumulative foreign currency
inflows from the diaspora amounts to about US$36 million. Analysts slam the
July change in the method of payment, which outlawed receiving proceeds in
hard currency for the dwindling inflows.
How To Lose Friends And Influence No One overthetop By
Brian Latham
In a move that astonished an entire continent, officials
from the troubled central African nation's Zany Party this week deported
visiting trade unionists from a neighbouring and considerably confused
southern African country.
And while Zany spin-doctors attempted to
suggest the visiting labour leaders were in the pay of British Prime
Minister Emily Blair, the trade union leaders themselves took strong
exception to the suggestion. They said they were on a fact-finding mission
and had wanted to delve into allegations that certain press laws, public
order legislation and regulations covering aid agencies were being used to
suppress freedom in the troubled central African police
state.
"During our brief visit we learnt that people are given 24-hour
visitors' visas, have their meetings interrupted by state officials, suffer
the indignity of deportations in Emergency Taxis and are labelled foreign
spies," said one trade unionist. "We are no longer confused. The troubled
central African government, in the space of a single day, showed us exactly
what we came to find out. Foreigners are not welcome, public meetings are
illegal and anyone wanting to take a close look at the troubled central
African nation is booted out."
No immediate reaction was available
from the confused southern African country's ruling Absolutely No Comment
Party, save for a brief sop claiming that the troubled central African
nation was free to decide for itself whom it allowed in and whom it
didn't.
Of course, that may be because the confused southern African
country devotes considerable resources to deporting troubled central
Africans seeking refuge from poverty, persecution and pummelling from the
police.
Still, the southern African labour leaders, who hold considerable
sway in their country and make up a substantial power bloc within the ruling
Absolutely No Comment Party are expected to take the issue
further.
Insiders say they may be at odds with their party's leader, the
confused president of the confused southern African country, but they are
unlikely to back down in a hurry.
Southern African analysts said an
impending showdown between trade union leaders and the now comfortable chefs
in the Absolutely No Comment Party could prove entertaining - though whether
it would have any effect in the troubled central African nation was a
subject of considerable conjecture.
While labour leaders are deeply
concerned about the crisis in the troubled central African basket case,
political leaders of the confused southern African nation are not in the
least worried because they have decided to ignore it.
Some analysts
claim that at some point the troubled central African nation will simply
implode (explosions being illegal), at which point the confused southern
African leaders will look north and buy whatever is left. In this way they
will gain the extra province they tried unsuccessfully to win over in
1923.
This may prove to be the ultimate humiliation for once proud and
now troubled central Africans, but at least they won't have to carry their
money around in cardboard boxes whenever they want to buy a few beers. It
might also bring about an end to fuel shortages, food shortages, alleged
food shortages, shortages of realistic food estimates and shortages of
everything else.
What it won't bring about is an end to surfeits of
corruption, violence or lackadaisical governance, these items being
available in abundance in the confused southern African nation. In other
words, troubled central Africans will be able to buy all the petrol they
want, provided they can get to the filling station without being
hijacked.
THIS is an appeal to President Robert Mugabe. The national
trauma that this country has suffered for the past four or so years must
come to an end. Zimbabwe has become a fractured society and we do not want
to believe that this is the legacy you want to leave to
posterity.
History is full of examples of political leaders who hated
each other to the bone but at some point worked out the grammar of
co-existence with each other for the sake of their country. Your own
example Mr President in the early years of our independence bear testimony
to this.
Not many war heroes in modern times turned their swords into
ploughshares with such practical fervour and consuming commitment like you
did. You preached a gospel, which resonated not only with Zimbabweans of all
colours and creeds but with the whole of the international community as
well.
This was the gospel of freedom, tolerance, truth, peace and
national reconciliation.
Even yesteryear sellouts and 'strangers and
visitors' to the ruling Zanu PF party like Olivia Muchena and Jonathan Moyo
would not be where they are today had it not been for your generosity and
magnanimity - a trait which is deeply embedded in our African way of
life.
It is in this context that we are appealing to you to use your
moral authority and asking you to be true to your deepest nature and
exercise the powers you have to release the Chimanimani Member of Parliament
Roy Bennett - a patriotic Zimbabwean who as it is has suffered
enough.
We have no doubt that most Zimbabweans including men and women of
goodwill in Zanu PF would applaud this kind of action.
No sane
Zimbabwean would condone Bennett's conduct in Parliament when he manhandled
Patrick Chinamasa and Didymus Mutasa but the point we are making here is
that we must learn to answer provocation not with extreme vindictiveness and
retribution but with tolerance, forgiveness and love.
This is our bottom
line. We are making an effort to be balanced and put things in their proper
perspective.
It is common cause that Chinamasa provoked Bennett
extremely. There is no denying this fact. Equally, Bennett's first instinct
should not have been to apply a 'military' solution to a 'political'
problem.
But as Bennett himself said, his family, workers and himself had
been subjected to an endless programme of extreme harassment and anguish and
this would have driven any man to breaking point.
His had become a
tormented soul. The Parliamentary Privileges Committee which found Roy
Bennet guilty of contempt of Parliament should have considered his dilemma
and anguish in a more positive and constructive spirit resulting in a more
lenient sentence.
It cannot be repeated often enough that Gideon Gono's
laudable efforts to turn around the fortunes of this country cannot fully
bear fruit if we do not get our politics right. This is a fundamental
pre-requisite.
What is extremely important at this stage of our
development is to reduce significantly the political temperature and equally
reduce the intensity and volume of populist rhetoric that has accompanied
many of the government actions in recent weeks and months.
What
conceivable benefit is there in deporting a harmless Cosatu delegation
except to unnecessarily damage the image of the country further? In what way
can the proposed NGO Bill for example improve Zimbabwe's image and
investment opportunities apart from isolating the country even
further?
If the ruling Zanu PF government is serious about complementing
Gideon Gono's ongoing interventions in the economy, the above problems and
challenges must be addressed urgently as a matter of creating the necessary
objective conditions of turning the country around.
The tragedy of
Zimbabwe is that our politics is going in one direction and the efforts to
revive the economy are going in a different direction- a classic case of
eventual failure on all fronts.
And the mafikizolos who are trying very
hard to be more Zanu PF than the authentic Zanu PF itself are not helping
matters at all.
If we are to survive as a country and survive we must, we
must be prepared for change and we must change. That is why we are pleading
with the President to once again give national reconciliation and conflict
resolution a chance. The benefits of such a policy change will be so great
that we cannot afford not to make them.
In this regard therefore, may
the mind of Christ our Saviour take root in you Mr President.
ALLOW me to
express my disgust pertaining to the confusion going on within the Ministry
of Education, Sport and Culture.
As a matter of fact, it does not need a
rocket scientist to tell that the ministry is being run negligently and
without caution as to the impact and prejudice our children will face in
future. Obviously, with the unsolved ongoing strikes by teachers, it is
glaring that the education system in Zimbabwe is going to the
ashes.
One can not imagine the practicality of running examinations
without invigilators of necessary expertise. How can a person taken from the
street be appointed invigilator? This is grossly shocking, to say the
least.
It does not need a person from the moon to tell that authorities
in the education ministry are not concerned especially with respect to the
smooth functioning of the education system in the country.
One can
not imagine that June 2004 Ordinary level results are not yet out. It can
not be ignored that these results are fundamental especially to those who
are due to sit again for November examinations.
The ongoings at the
ministry can not be left unchallenged.
It would be better if the
authorities in that ministry, including the Minister Aeneas Chigwedere, were
to resign and I say this without fear or favour.
Mavese
Mapfumo
Harare
---------
Chinamasa exposes his
daftness
PATRICK Chinamasa has been very vocal in the past few weeks,
exposing his daftness and arrogance in the process.
I sat in the
public gallery in Parliament the other day, when Chinamasa was answering
questions raised by MDC parliamentarians concerning access to public media
by all political parties in line with the SADC protocol on elections signed
recently by SADC leaders, among them, President Robert Mugabe. Chinamasa
said the regime would not allow the Movement for Democratic Change access to
the public media because he fears the party's leaders may talk about wanting
to remove Robert Mugabe from office violently.
Chinamasa was quoting out
of context a statement by MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai in which he warned
Mugabe that hungry and angry Zimbabweans would violently remove him from
office if he did not step down voluntarily.
Chinamasa seems to forget
that the case he is using as an example is before the courts, and as the
president, Tsvangirai will be found not guilty and acquitted. Chinamasa is
supposed to be a legal fundi, but some of the remarks he makes are laughable
to say the least.
If he wants to use examples of the use of the word
violence as a condition that would result in a political party being denied
access to television, then he must have forgotten that his boss, Mugabe, has
been screened on national television preaching violence on several
occasions. He has boasted of having degrees in violence. If Chinamasa wanted
to apply common logic, he should have said both Zanu PF and the MDC should
be denied access to national media.
SADC leaders should note with
great concern how the Mugabe regime, through Patrick Chinamasa, has
deliberately violated the SADC Protocol on Elections by denying the
opposition access to public media as is required under the
protocol.
I sincerely request President Thabo Mbeki and all the SADC
leaders close to Mugabe to tell him that his ministers are causing more harm
than good to Zimbabwe, and in turn causing untold suffering to the people of
Zimbabwe.
Benjamin Chitate
Harare
------
Moyo: A
political chameleon
JONATHAN Moyo has not been a card-carrying member
of Zanu PF for more than six years. In fact, before his miraculous rise to
stardom he worked for the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) where he produced
literature denouncing President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF.
Moyo then
left the UZ and worked for the Ford Foundation and left in unclear
circumstances. Ford Foundation is not a revolutionary Third World
organisation but one of the pinnacles of American imperialism. Moyo has
written in a Book edited by Lloyd Sachikonye and Ibbo Mandaza called The One
Party State Debate which, among other things, said that there was no
democracy in Zimbabwe. In fact, he argues that the war of liberation in
Zimbabwe was not about bringing democracy but rather extending Rhodesian
democracy.
Apart from attacking some of the luminaries of the
country's liberation struggle like Vice President Joseph Msika, Zanu PF
national chairman John Nkomo and many others, Moyo built his reputation
attacking the establishment. Doing exactly the same thing he is doing now,
attacking the founders of the liberation struggle.
So this former
Western non-governmental organisation employee now suggests that he has a
Damascus experience between allegations against him in Kenya and the
Constitutional Commission Referendum loss of February 2000 that he heard the
voices of the liberation struggle saying, ''Jonathan, Jonathan why do you
trouble us.''
When opposition politics paid the highest price, Moyo was
one of the most revered prophets of opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Equally
so when Western nn-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Ford Foundation
were the highest paying, Moyo was the most senior employee in East Africa
(Kenya). Indeed it was on Western funding that he allegedly built his
comfort zones in South Africa.
When he heard that the government's
Constitutional Commission was the best paying job in town, Moyo became its
court jester. Certainly Zanu PF is well paying, hence Moyo's abandonment of
opposition politics and the NGO job and now wants to portray himself as the
most authentic "Son of the Soil" and first member of Zanu PF.
Moyo
was a regular columnist in some of the independent newspapers and magazines
in Zimbabwe that he now labels "anti-Zimbabwe" organisations. So when it
suited him there was no press freedom in Zimbabwe under President Mugabe
before his recent marriage. But now because he is controlling the public
media and also influencing the closure of other privately owned newspapers,
the media is now free. Talk of a political chameleon!
The fact that he
managed his several claims of authenticity to convince Western
non-governmental organisations, opposition movements and now Zanu PF must be
given to him as credit for having mastered the art or capacity to change his
political skin more often than a snake does in its life time, hence the
title "This one beats the snake."
Moyo can talk and write his way out of
his failures. Lest Zimbabweans forget he lost in the national referendum in
February 2000, and blamed non-existent South African whites.
Lest the
public forgets after being embroiled in allegations of multiple farm
ownership disputes, Moyo wrote a spirited defence against Zanu PF's policy
of one household one farm under a pseudonym in of the state-controlled
newspapers that he runs.
When it suited him like an undisciplined child,
he took his gloves up and poked the Zanu PF national chairman's eyes in
public. His behaviour towards Nathan Shamuyarira, his senior in the
information department of the party, has not been any better.
So to
use Moyo's criterion, he is a loyal card-carrying member of Zanu PF and what
does loyalty mean to Zanu PF? What is the difference between Moyo's attacks
against the Zanu PF leadership and what the party's opponents do to the
ruling party?
Zimbabwe scores own goal Sundaytalk with Pius
Wakatama
THE state in which our government is in today can only be
described by one word. That word is, confusion.
On one hand the
government loudly claims that we are a democratic country and yet its words
and actions clearly show that we are nothing but a totalitarian
dictatorship. Not only is it a dictatorship but also it is a confused
dictatorship, which has all but lost its head. The treatment meted out to the
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) delegation, which had come
on a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe is a case in point. The delegation had
come to meet with key stakeholders in the form of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU), Crisis Coalition, National Constitutional Assembly,
Zimbabwe Election Support Network, and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
Zimbabwe Council of Churches as well as political parties. These
organisations are composed of sober and loyal Zimbabwean citizens who are
concerned about the future of their country.
One would have thought that
the visit by the Cosatu delegation was a God-given opportunity for our
government to show the visitors our economy, which is "turning around", our
"successful land reform programme", and our "democratic laws" which support
the government.
Instead, the Cosatu visitors were treated like
terrorists. They were unceremoniously bundled by armed police and driven to
the border with South Africa without meeting anybody. Their friends in the
ZCTU were refused permission to even give them food. How
unAfrican!
The Department of Information and Publicity in the Office of
the President and Cabinet, which is headed by Professor Jonathan Moyo
announced: "This defiant visit, facilitated by the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions, itself an affiliate of the Western sponsored opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, constitutes a direct and most frontal
challenge to the sovereignty of the Republic of Zimbabwe by individuals
purporting to be African and trade unionists on a fact-finding mission when,
in reality, they are an integral past of Britain's disguised manoeuvres to
meddle in the politics and internal affairs of Zimbabwe in order to reverse
her hard-won independence and gains of the land reform programme through so
called regime change." Phew! What a mouthful, even for the verbose
Moyo.
Last week I said Professor Jonathan "Mafikizolo" Moyo had
successfully tarnished Zimbabwe's image. He has now dealt what was left of
that image the final blow. "Uku ndiko kunonzi kugochera nyama
pautsi."
In their now pitiful desperation to cling on to power, without
the people's mandate, the government of Zimbabwe has managed to alienate
more individuals, organisations, and countries than any other government on
this good earth. Our friends are now few and far between. However, this time
by insulting Cosatu, we have really done it. "Uku ndiko kunonzi kutamba
nemadhodhi pasina mvura."
We can't expect to insult Cosatu like this
and get away with it. At the same time we have put our friend President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in a difficult and embarrassing
situation.
Cosatu is a powerful and loyal South African trade union
movement, which is part and parcel of the ruling African National Congress
(ANC).
Cosatu is so powerful that it is an undisputed fact that if it
pulls out of its coalition with the ANC today South Africa would be thrown
into a political crisis of great magnitude which might even bring the
government down. This is because Cosatu is composed of the majority of South
African workers of all races who support the ANC.
As an integral part
of South Africa's ruling coalition Cosatu is very much concerned about
events in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe owes South Africa a lot of money for petrol and
electricity, which was generated by workers who are Cosatu
members.
They have a reason to be concerned. Millions of Zimbabweans
flocked to South Africa as political and economic refugees. They took up
jobs and as workers in that country they are now members of Cosatu. They
have every reason to be concerned about what happens in Zimbabwe politically
and economically.
South African workers are not entirely pleased by the
great numbers of Zimbabweans who have legally and illegally entered that
country to take up jobs which they regard as theirs. This is creating
feelings and acts of xenophobia among some of them who now refer to them by
the derogatory term, "Makwerekwere". These are concerned that Zimbabwe puts
its house in order so that they can have all the jobs to
themselves.
I have some dear friends in South Africa. They are quite
influential and think very highly of Cosatu and its leadership. So far, I
had failed to convince them that Zimbabwe was now a lawless dictatorship.
They strongly believed that our government had done the right thing by
taking land away from white oppressors to give to landless
blacks.
Their ears were shut to all my arguments about the destruction of
the agriculture infrastructure, the rule of law and human rights. Now thanks
to the Zimbabwean government they will hear the truth, first hand, from the
Cosatu delegation, some of whose members, I am sure, they know
personally.
Zimbabwe has scored an own goal! Hurray! I thank them for
accomplishing in a few hours what I could not accomplish in so many
years.
What happened to the Cosatu delegation will also definitely change
President Mbeki's attitude and approach to the Zimbabwe situation. He can no
longer continue to pussyfoot with his softly-softly approach. The guy was
beginning to see the light anyway. After talking to him at great length
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition MDC said that he had revised his
view and perception of Mbeki.
President Mbeki has been under pressure
from Zimbabweans, the region, the international community and indeed his own
brother, Moeletsi, who does not hide his contempt for the ANC's apparent
support for Zanu PF. He had also been embarrassed by the fact that he had
promised that the Zimbabwe problem would be solved by the end of June 2004
since President Mugabe had given him certain assurances. I am sure he was
not amused to realise that he had been cleverly conned.
I am anxious
to hear of his reaction after he meets with the Cosatu delegation. He will
have to take some strong line in order to forestall unilateral action by
Cosatu. They have the power to close the border with Zimbabwe for any length
of time, as they hinted, and Mbeki would not be able to do anything about
it.
I am also most anxious to hear of the reaction of South Africa's
Foreign Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who after being wined and dined by
the powers that be, declared: "There is rule of law in Zimbabwe."