Zim Online
by Own Correspondent Friday 23 November
2007
JOHANNESBURG - An international human rights body has
warned that deepening
economic problems could drive Zimbabwe's beleaguered
health sector deeper
into the ground unless there is drastic action to stem
the decline and own
up to the government's international
commitments.
The International Federation of Health and Human Rights
Organisations
(IFHHRO), a worldwide body focusing on health-related human
rights issues,
said the combined effects of the economic crisis and
compromised
infrastructure express themselves throughout a health system
that was once a
model for southern Africa.
It said the eight-year
economic crisis has hastened the deterioration of key
infrastructure needed
for economic activity and public health such as
adequate power and water
supplies.
"Although no data is currently available, the risk of increase
of diarrhoeal
diseases, and even cholera, is evident as individuals dig
shallow wells and
are also forced to defecate outside when there is no
water," IFHHRO said on
Tuesday this week.
The country's second
largest city Bulawayo has recorded at least 3 600 new
cases of diarrhoea
since August due to a water crisis that also threatens to
decimate the
city's industry.
Bulawayo, with more than one million residents, is
facing a serious water
crisis after three of its five supply dams were
decommissioned due to low
water levels, resulting in some suburbs going for
up to three weeks without
water.
Residents have resorted to using
water from unprotected sources or buying
water in order to beat the
shortages.
The IFHHRO said rolling power blackouts were having a telling
effect on the
health sector.
"IFHHRO learned, for example that the
blood bank in Harare had to destroy
its entire supply of blood when power
outages prevented refrigeration of
blood," said the body that draws its
membership from doctors, nurses and
other professionals.
The IFHHRO
saluted the dedication to service of Zimbabwe health
professionals under
difficult economic conditions.
"But that dedication and courage is no
substitute for action by the
government of Zimbabwe to comply with its
obligations under human rights
principles and law," it said.
The
public health sector that caters for the majority of Zimbabweans has
been
rocked by strikes as state doctors and other health professionals
regularly
down tools to demand more pay and better working conditions to
cushion them
from the country's world record inflation estimated at more
than 14 000
percent.
The government admits health workers deserve more money but says
it does not
have enough in its coffers to bankroll the usually high salary
hikes
demanded. - ZimOnline
Financial Times
By Alec Russell,
Southern Africa Correspondent
Published: November 22 2007 20:04 | Last
updated: November 22 2007 20:04
Thabo Mbeki, South African president,
held talks with Robert Mugabe, his
Zimbabwean counterpart, on Thursday amid
signs that the former's efforts to
mediate in his neighbour's political
crisis are nearing a climax.
It was the first time the two had met
outside multinational summits since
regional leaders asked Mr Mbeki to
mediate between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF
party and the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change seven months ago.
While Mr Mbeki was also to
see MDC leaders, the centrepiece of his fleeting
trip to Harare was his
encounter with the president, with whom he has an
awkward
relationship.
Despite initial scepticism about the talks, the MDC has
recently become more
optimistic following a series of provisional agreements
with Zanu-PF
designed to pave the way for parliamentary and presidential
elections
planned for March.
Diplomats believe that Mr Mbeki is
hoping to unveil a fledgling accord
before the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon
next month, although they point out
that it is one thing for Mr Mugabe to
agree to reforms - and quite another
for him to implement them.
In
Pretoria last week, the two leaders of the MDC's rival factions told Mr
Mbeki of their fear that Zanu-PF was merely playing along with the talks.
They said Mr Mugabe's supporters were intimidating the MDC and making the
chances of free and fair elections impossible.
Mr Mbeki has been
heavily criticised in the west over his "quiet diplomacy"
policy towards his
northern neighbour, which has to date yielded little,
while Zimbabwe's
economy has imploded and state repression of opponents has
intensified.
Mediation talks initially faltered after Zanu-PF
delegates failed to attend
early sessions. But last month the two parties
secured their first accord.
They agreed to a constitutional amendment on
poll procedures, the
composition of parliament, and the way a presidential
successor is to be
chosen.
This prompted outrage from many critics of
Mr Mugabe who said several of the
reforms bolstered his position, and that
the MDC had merely given the ruling
regime some threadbare legitimacy. MDC
officials countered that it was a
confidence-building step which could lead
to more reforms.
MDC sources and diplomats close to the talks on Thrusday
suggested the South
African president would put pressure on Mr Mugabe to
agree to changes to
notorious security and media laws that have in the past
given the ruling
party huge advantages in election
campaigns.
Diplomats believe that Mr Mugabe is keen to go to the Lisbon
summit
clutching some form of deal enabling him to argue that Zimbabweans
are
addressing the crisis.
Further sticking points include the MDC's
wish to postpone the elections
until June and to allow for the return of the
several million Zimbabweans
who are estimated to have fled the deep economic
crisis.
After his meetings, Mr Mbeki was to fly to the Commonwealth Heads
of
Government Meeting in Kampala, where Zimbabwe was expected to be
discussed.
Zimbabwe's membership was suspended in 2002 amid charges of
election-rigging
and human rights abuses.
SABC
November 23,
2007, 05:45
President Thabo Mbeki is expected to give a report-back to
the Commonwealth
about the Zimbabwean negotiations when he leads a
delegation to the
Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting starting in
Kampala, Uganda, today.
The meeting will be held under the banner
"Transforming Commonwealth
Societies to Achieve Political, Economic and
Human Development". On his way
to Uganda, President Mbeki stopped over in
Harare for talks with President
Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Political stand-off
Mbeki said he was confident
that the political stand-off in Zimbabwe could
be resolved through dialogue.
The talks culminated in an agreement by both
parties to amend the
constitution and harmonise presidential and
parliamentary elections next
year.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has said
there is
optimism that mediation in Zimbabwe will bring positive
results.
She was speaking during a visit to Luanda, Angola.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
22 November
2007
South Africa President Thabo Mbeki met on Thursday in
Harare with President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and leaders of both factions
of the political
opposition, pressing the parties to crisis talks he is
mediating to wrap
them up in the next two weeks.
Sources close to the
Pretoria negotiations said they have bogged down in the
details of
Zimbabwean electoral reform and the repeal or redrafting of
security
laws.
But Mr. Mbeki told reporters at State House in Harare after meeting
with Mr.
Mugabe that the talks have gone well so far and that he is
confident a
solution is in reach.
"They (the talks) have gone very
well. I came to Harare today to see the
president and the leadership of the
MDC so we can reflect on where we are
and to report to them as facilitator
how the talks have gone," Mr Mbeki told
the news conference
Mr. Mbeki
was to continue on to Kampala for a weekend summit of the
Commonwealth heads
of state, whom he was to brief on his Zimbabwe mediation
efforts. A
European-African summit looms in early December in Lisbon, at
which, no
doubt, Mr. Mbeki will be called upon to deliver an account of his
efforts to
bring peace to Zimbabwe.
But opposition officials said they won't sign an
agreement without a firm
commitment to serious democratic reforms by Mr.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. They
said the talks are at a strategic turning point
and further delay will
jeopardize the March 2008 date set by the Harare
government for
parliamentary and presidential elections.
Sources in
the ruling party said Mr. Mbeki related opposition concerns to
President
Mugabe, who promise to consult his party on how to move things
forward.
Secretary General Tendai Biti of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change faction led by MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai told
reporters that his
party remains fully committed to the talks despite the
"process's challenges
and its slowness."
Biti said the opposition
raised its concerns about political violence
against its members with Mr.
Mbeki, reported Harare correspondent Thomas
Chiripasi.
But Mr. Mugabe
in his meeting with Mr. Mbeki dismissed charges of a state
crackdown on the
opposition and obliquely accused Mr. Tsvangirai of playing
to the
gallery.
"It's the usual accusation which the MDC makes," President
Mugabe told
reporters. "It is one basis they have for raising allegations
against us,"
he said, adding, "I wonder if he also raised the matter of the
violence in
his party." The Tsvangirai faction of the opposition has seen
considerable
internal turmoil since last month in reaction to a reshuffle of
the
leadership of its women's wing, including internecine
violence.
Deputy Secretary General Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga of
the MDC faction
led by Arthur Mutambara told reporter Blessing Zulu that
President Mbeki in
discussions with the opposition voiced concerned about
the pace of the
negotiations
Meanwhile, some 400 members of the
National Constitutional Assembly, a
pressure group, staged a demonstration
on Julius Nyerere Avenue in Harare
along Mr. Mbeki's travel route to express
opposition to a constitutional
amendment agreed upon in the Pretoria talks.
They were dispersed by riot
police who arrested 10 protesters.
NCA
Chairman Lovemore Madhuku, who led the demonstration, said his
organization
wanted to express displeasure with how Mr. Mbeki has handled
the crisis
talks.
Click here to read press release of EU delegation to Harare
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
22
November 2007
Both factions of Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change have
taken issue with a report from the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network saying
that they were "barely visible"
over the past several weeks in terms of
their mobilization of potential
voters to register during a recently ended
official mobile registration
drive.
ZESN said the important registration exercise failed to draw as
many people
in rural areas and similarly marginalized exurban districts who
are likely
to find it difficult to obtain transportation permanent
registration offices
in their districts.
ZESN said only the ruling
ZANU-PF was visible to its monitors and even then
only in a few districts
like rural Masvingo and Kariba, on the northern
border with
Zambia.
But Elections Director Ian Makone of the MDC faction led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe
that while his formation agrees with ZESN that the mobile
registration
exercise was not well conducted, his formation did what it
could given
logistical challenges and election
uncertainties.
Elections Director Paul Themba Nyathi of the rival MDC
faction of Arthur
Mutambara said his formation is doing its best under
difficult conditions to
mobilize voters.
The Zimbabwean government
has called local elections in January 2008 and
general and presidential
elections in March 2008. But some have urged the
ballots be put off in view
of the ongoing crisis talks between the ruling
party and opposition, and the
logistical challenge of implementing recently
legislated electoral
changes.
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
22 November 2007
Incoming U.S.
Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee on Thursday presented his
credentials to
President Robert Mugabe, later saying in an interview that he
intends to
re-engage the Harare government while seeking to promote free and
fair
elections.
"I expect to come in and hopefully build bridges with the
government of
Zimbabwe," he told reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyele of VOA's
Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe shortly after fulfilling the diplomatic formality at
State House in
central Harare.
"I hope to open a dialogue at the
uppermost levels of this government all
the way up to and including
President Mugabe," said McGee, who before being
posted to Harare served as
ambassador to Swaziland, Madagascar and Comoros.
McGee told VOA that
after he presented his credentials to Mr. Mugabe, the
president "gave us a
long history of the relationship between the United
States and Zimbabwe, one
that he, correctly I believe, characterized as not
very good at the present
time."
Most observers agree that U.S.-Zimbabwean relations hit a
historical low
during the tenure of McGee's predecessor, Christopher Dell,
who infuriated
the government and Mr. Mugabe with unsparing criticism of
Harare's policies
and human rights record.
But McGee on Thursday
defended Dell's confrontational style. "My predecessor
I think did a
wonderful job of making certain that everyone knew what was
happening here
in Zimbabwe," he said in an interview. "And the government
did not
appreciate that."
McGee said the U.S. government would look to Zimbabwe's
national elections
set for March 2008 as a litmus test of how serious Harare
is about
democratic reform.
He said the U.S. fully supports the South
African-led crisis resolution
process and will work with the Southern
African Development Community to
promote fair elections.
But for now,
he said,"U.S. policy on Zimbabwe is not going to change -
everyone knows
what the United States stands for as far as human rights are
concerned, and
we expect to continue that exact same stance in Zimbabwe,
unless we see a
substantial change on the ground."
A top priority for him will be to
oversee US$200 million a year in aid to
Zimbabwe for humanitarian food
assistance and antiretroviral drugs to fight
HIV/AIDS, he said.
Zim Online
by
Nqobizitha Khumalo Friday 23 November 2007
BULAWAYO
- Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
is dehorning
the country's black rhino population in a desperate bid to
discourage the
poaching of the endangered species.
The exercise, that began last
month, has seen 29 rhinos in the
Sinamatella Game Park in north-western
Zimbabwe being dehorned.
Department spokesman Edward Mbewe
yesterday told ZimOnline that the
wildlife authority planned to dehorn the
country's entire rhino population.
"Our target is to have all the
black rhinos in the country de-horned
in the coming few years. We have
already de-horned 29 rhinos in the
Sinamatela game park over the past few
weeks," said Mbewe.
The rhino horn is a highly coveted item in the
Far East where it is
traditionally regarded as having potent aphrodisiac
qualities.
Zimbabwe is among four countries in the world still
carrying
significant numbers of rhinos. The other countries with large rhino
populations are South Africa, Namibia and Kenya.
However, the
southern African nation has seen its rhino stock
dwindling since the 1990s
owing to increased poaching by armed gangs mostly
from neighbouring
countries. - ZimOnline
Mining Weekly
Published: 23 Nov 07 - 0:00
Mining company Falcon Gold
Zimbabwe says the nonpayment of outstanding
foreign currency earnings
amounting to US$509 590 by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has forced it to
limit expansion and exploration programmes, as its
resources have been
diverted to the sustenance of daily operations.
In an unaudited statement
covering its operations during the nine-month
period ended June 3, 2007, the
company notes that operations have also been
severely affected by power
outages and frequent machinery breakdowns owing
to a shortage of
spares.
"The continued spares shortages and interruptions in power, fuel
and other
supplies have affected, and are continuing to adversely affect,
mining
operations.
"The company's poor US dollar generation capacity
has placed immense strain
on its ability to maintain plant and equipment, to
secure essential stores
and to honour payments to contractors and
creditors," reads the financial
statement. The company says that power
outages during the nine-month period
totalled 763 hours.
It notes
that operations have continued at all its mines - Dalny, Venice,
Golden and
Camperdown - largely thanks to a US$1-million loan from Central
Africa Gold,
which now owns 85% of its shareholding.
During the period under review,
the Dalny mine produced 4 308 oz of gold
from 569 442 t processed, while
dump retreatment operations yielded 2 245
oz, from 548 167 t processed. The
Venice mine is currently under care and
maintenance.
The Camperdown
mine produced 5 052 oz of gold from 101 091 t it processed,
giving an
average yield of 1,55 gr from each ton processed, while Golden
Quarry
produced 2 403 oz.