November 23, 2008
By Our Correspondent
HARARE - President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa and his Botswana counterpart Seretse Ian Khama were meeting in Pretoria Sunday ahead of a fresh round of talks to be held between Zimbabwe’s main political rivals.
Official media in South Africa reported Sunday that Motlanthe and Khama were due to meet at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria in an effort to find a solution once and for all to Zimbabwe’s political and humanitarian crisis ahead of meetings with negotiators from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and representatives of the Movement for Democratic Change on a draft constitutional amendment that Zimbabwe’s opposition is demanding before it enters a unity government.
Negotiators Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma from the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC would meet Professor Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the Arthur Mutambara faction of the MDC and Nicholas Goche and Patrick Chinamasa from Zanu-PF on Tuesday in Pretoria for a fresh round of talks to jointly draft the constitutional amendment.
The Constitutional Amendment No 19 Bill is set to give legal and constitutional force to a unity government expected to emerge from a power-sharing deal that was signed on September 15 and which is currently is currently floundering over how to share cabinet posts equitably.
SABC reported that the two leaders will try to put pressure on Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF and the main opposition parties to agree on the allocation of cabinet posts. The issue remains one of the main obstacles to the implementation of the country’s power-sharing agreement.
This is the first official working visit to South Africa by Botswana’s leader, a vociferous critic of the Mugabe regime, ever since he came into office last year.
The meeting comes hard on the heels of a decision by the South African government to withhold agricultural aid to Zimbabwe until a representative unity government is in place. Even if South Africa were to disburse the funds now the current cropping season is too advance to benefit from the intended input of seed and fertilizers.
Zimbabwe’s outgoing Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu says the draft Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill has already been sent to the SADC-appointed mediator after scrutiny by the parties concerned.
But the mainstream MDC has distanced itself from the document stating that
the draft does not have any input from the MDC and that the party was not privy
to its contents.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa has said as far as the MDC was
concerned, the draft that has been sent to Mbeki was a Zanu-PF document with
Zanu PF perspectives.
“Our draft is also ready and it has also been sent to Mbeki for consideration,” Chamisa told The Zimbabwe Times Sunday.
The latest attempt by SADC-appointed broker Thabo Mbeki to reconvene another meeting with negotiators from the parties follows a failed full SADC summit on October 27 that failed to resolve the dispute over control of the Home Affairs ministry, although the MDC insists the dispute is much bigger than that.
The regional bloc met in Johannesburg and resolved that both Zimbabwean parties should share the Home Affairs ministry. However, Tsvangirai disputed the decision outright, saying he could not participate in an ‘illegal government’. He refused to join the unity government with President Mugabe unless several conditions were first met.
The MDC National Council, which met in Harare last week resolved that it would not get into an inclusive government with Zanu-PF unless Constitutional Amendment No. 19 had been passed by Parliament and all other outstanding issues had been resolved.
The MDC’s outstanding issues include the appointment of provincial governors, senior government officials such as permanent secretaries and ambassadors.
Other sticking issues include the equitable distribution of ministerial portfolios and the composition and constitution of the National Security Council.
The MDC has also vowed to resist any attempts by President Mugabe to form a unilateral government saying it would use its parliamentary majority to oppose the passage of legal instruments necessary to give legal force to the government.
Tsvangirai won a first round of presidential vote in March, but pulled out of a June run-off, saying the violence had left more than 100 of his supporters dead.
Mugabe’s victory in an uncontested runoff election in June drew international condemnation, and western nations have heaped pressure on his regime to make good on the power-sharing deal.
Mbeki, who brokered the deal signed two months ago, is expected on Tuesday to try to help the parties jointly draft the amendment at the same time trying to rescue the pact that has raised hopes of an end to months of deadly political unrest that might allow Zimbabwe to drag itself out of economic ruin.
Under the deal, Mugabe retains the presidency while Tsvangirai takes the new post of prime minister. But disputes over how to form a cabinet threaten to sink the entire arrangement.
Tsvangirai has said he would not control of economic ministries to ease the economic crisis and also demanded control of the ministry that controls the police force to counter-balance Mugabe’s control of the army.
The MDC has argued that it needs oversight of at least some security agencies to reassure the party’s supporters who were the targets of brutal violence during election campaigning earlier this year.
The European Union has threatened to impose new sanctions on the regime if the deal falls apart, while the United States accused Mugabe of violating the agreement.
But analysts say they see little prospect of renewed negotiations achieving the require level of success, given Mbeki’s reduced stature after his own party forced him to resign as South Africa’s president two months ago and amid opposition accusations that he was biased in favour of Mugabe from the very beginning.
The protracted political dispute has only deepened the misery of ordinary Zimbabweans, with more than five million people - nearly half the population - needing emergency food aid this year, according to the United Nations.
http://africa.reuters.com
Sun 23 Nov 2008, 17:20
GMT
(Adds meeting between South Africa's and Botswana's presidents in
paragraph
9)
HARARE, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) may boycott a meeting to discuss a
constitutional bill that
would allow President Robert Mugabe to form a unity
government, an
opposition official said on Sunday.
A power-sharing
agreement signed by Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Sept.
15 has faltered as the two fight over control of key
ministries.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who brokered
the deal, has
called for a meeting in South Africa this week where the
parties would
review proposed constitutional changes giving effect to a
power-sharing
government.
But Tsvangirai's MDC, which has refused to
accept the terms offered by
Mugabe and wants full control of the home
affairs ministry overseeing the
police, has responded coolly.
A
senior party source told Reuters some officials wanted the MDC to boycott
the meeting in protest against the Southern African Development Community's
(SADC) stance on the dispute between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the
MDC.
"There is a strong feeling that attending the meeting would
legitimise a
SADC resolution rejected by the party. We cannot continue
engaging in this
process when SADC and Mbeki refuse to take our legitimate
concerns
seriously," the source said.
"Tsvangirai does not want a
boycott of the meeting, but other officials, led
by secretary general Tendai
Biti, don't want that meeting to go ahead until
SADC rescinds its
decision."
SADC has recommended that Mugabe and Tsvangirai jointly
control the home
affairs ministry and that a unity government be set up
"forthwith". The MDC
accuses the bloc of siding with
Mugabe.
Following a meeting with Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian
Khama on
Sunday, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said the two
countries
would continue to push for the new law to be passed.
"We
agreed that, with regards to Zimbabwe, the next step really is to ensure
that we unblock the impasse for them to take Amendment 19 through the senate
and the assembly," he told the SABC.
Khama has previously said a new
election is the only solution to Zimbabwe's
crisis. MDC spokesman Nelson
Chamisa told Reuters the party's leadership
would meet in Harare on Monday
to decide whether to attend the latest round
of negotiations.
"It is
our view that our negotiating teams can meet here, without going to
Pretoria. We continue to insist that there are more issues remaining, apart
from the constitutional amendment."
The MDC has said it was not
consulted when the constitutional bill was
drafted, dismissing it as a
"ZANU-PF draft."
Tsvangirai, who was still in South Africa on Sunday,
would not take part in
the MDC's meeting, his spokesman George Sibotshiwe
said.
"He has meetings lined up throughout Monday, here in South Africa,"
Sibotshiwe said.
Analysts say the historic power-sharing pact, signed
on Sept.15, presents
the best hope of rescuing Zimbabwe's ruined economy.
The agreement, however,
appears to be unravelling over unresolved
differences between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai. (Reporting by Nelson Banya;
Editing by Dominic Evans)
http://www.sabcnews.com
November 23 2008,
9:20:00
President Kgalema Motlanthe and his Botswana
counterpart Ian Khama
will attempt to find a solution to Zimbabwe's
political and humanitarian
crisis when they meet at the Presidential Guest
House in Pretoria today.
The crisis in Zimbabwe has been worsened
by the outbreak of cholera,
which has already spread to South Africa, as
well as by the influx of
refugees into South Africa and Botswana. The two
leaders will try to put
pressure on Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF and the main
opposition parties to
agree on the allocation of cabinet posts. The issue
remains the main
obstacle to the implementation of the country's
power-sharing agreement.
This is the first official working visit
to the country by Botswana's
leader ever since he came into office last
year. It is not clear at this
stage about the main focus of the talks
between President Motlanthe and his
neighbouring counterpart.
However observers say the two leaders will try to put pressure on
Zimbabwe's
ruling Zanu-PF and the main opposition parties to agree on the
allocation of
cabinet portfolios.
The South African government announced last
week that it was
withholding agricultural aid to Zimbabwe until a
representative unity
government is in place.
http://www.washingtontimes.com
CELEAN JACOBSON ASSOCIATED
PRESS
Originally published 10:54 a.m., November 23, 2008, updated 11:01 a.m.,
November 23, 2008
a..
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AP) - Kofi Annan,
Jimmy Carter and Graca Machel
met regional leaders and aid agencies over the
weekend, continuing efforts
to ease Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis even
though they were barred from
entering the country.
The former U.N.
secretary-general, the former U.S. president and rights
advocate Machel, who
is married to Nelson Mandela, said Saturday they were
denied visas for a
mission to assess the needs of Zimbabweans, many of whom
are suffering from
hunger and disease.
The three are members of The Elders, a group Mandela
formed to foster peace.
They have insisted their visit was not related to
regional attempts to get
President Robert Mugabe and his rival, opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
to implement a power-sharing agreement.
On
Sunday, Carter, Annan and Machel met with Botswanan President Ian Khama
and
representatives of aid agencies and Zimbabwean social organizations.
They
are scheduled to meet South African President Kgalema Motlanthe on
Monday.
Khama has been one of the few African leaders to openly
criticize Mugabe.
"Our biggest concern is that the focus is moving away
from the plight of the
Zimbabwean people, who are currently suffering
through starvation and
diseases," he said after an earlier meeting with
Motlanthe in the capital,
Pretoria.
Zimbabwe's neighbors, like
Botswana, have felt the impact of the crisis,
with millions of Zimbabweans
fleeing across borders in search of jobs and
security.
Khama said he
and Motlanthe agreed to "do anything in our power" to break
the impasse in
Zimbabwe and ensure the parties form a unity government as
soon as
possible.
Mugabe and his rivals signed a power-sharing agreement Sept. 15
but efforts
to form a new government have stalled over the allocation of
Cabinet posts.
http://www.nasdaq.com
JOHANNESBURG
(AFP)--Botswana President Ian Khama is meeting with members of
the Elders
group in Johannesburg after they were refused entry into Zimbabwe
on
Saturday, a spokeswoman said Sunday.
"The leaders will be discussing a
number of issues regarding the Zimbabwe
situation," said Elders spokeswoman
Katy Cronin, who revealed no details of
the discussions.
Former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter and ex-U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan
were to
embark on a humanitarian mission to the strife-torn country, but
were denied
visas by Robert Mugabe's government.
Carter, Annan and Grace Machel, wife
of former South African predisent
Nelson Mandela are meeting aid groups
working in Zimbabwe including major
donors, heads of U.N. agencies and civil
society groups.
Earlier on Sunday, Khama - who has been critical of the
political situation
in Zimbabwe - held talks with South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe.
Montlanthe appealed to Zimbabwe's political parties to
begin constitutional
processes that will create a unity government, state
media reported.
The Elders delegation is part of a group of 12 world
respected statesmen
with experience in global conflict resolution, formed by
Mandela on his 89th
birthday.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-23-081124ET
http://www.sabcnews.com
November 23 2008,
4:59:00
The Elders have experienced first-hand accounts of
the harrowing
conditions in Zimbabwe from refugees at the Central Methodist
Church in
downtown Johannesburg. They are on a mission to assess the needs
of ordinary
Zimbabweans and free up the flow of aid to the cholera-ravaged
country, even
if that means doing it from across the border.
The three Elders, Kofi Annan, Graca Machel and Jimmy Carter were
denied
travel visas by Zimbabwe yesterday. Zanu-PF is now reportedly saying
it
simply asked them to postpone their visit. Annan, Carter and Machel are
not
letting politics interfere with their work.
They met major donors
from Zimbabwe and various international aid
organisations today. Many of
whom flew in especially to meet them.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7779
November 23, 2008
HARARE - The
government of Zimbabwe has hurriedly moved to deny charges that
it barred a
high-level delegation from the diplomatic group known as The
Global Elders
from entering the country to assess its desperate humanitarian
situation.
Government and Zanu-PF officials, however, contradicted
themselves sharply
over the reasons.
Foreign Affairs Minister,
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi hurriedly called a press
conference late Saturday in
efforts to cool down international outrage at
the barring of the delegation
which was expected in Harare Saturday on a
humanitarian mission.
The
Group of Elders, which includes Kofi Annan, the former UN
secretary-general,
Jimmy Carter, the former US president and Graca Machel,
an advocate of
women’s and children’s rights and the wife of Nelson Mandela,
the former
president of South Africa, had attempted to use SADC’s point man
in the
Zimbabwe crisis, Thabo Mbeki, to arrange travel documents.
They were
rebuffed and denied visas.
As the delegation addressed reporters in South
Africa mid-morning on
Saturday, authorities in Harare hurriedly moved to
convene a press
conference aimed at damage limitation.
The effort was
clumsy, however, with government officials issuing
conflicting statements on
the reasons for the barring of the delegation’s
visit.
Christopher
Mutsvangwa, a spokesperson for President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, told
Arab TV news
channel Al Jazeera the delegation was denied several documents
because “one
of the three - Kofi Annan - specifically was up to mischief.
“He is
trying to ride on the back of a well-meaning lady (Graca Machel) who
is the
first lady of two presidents of the region,” he said.
Graca Machel is not
the First lady of any President in the region. Her first
husband
Mozambique’s first president Samora Machel died in 1986. She
married Nelson
Mandela who was President of South Africa from 1999 to 1999.
Mutsvangwa
said Carter has “an impeccable standing in Zimbabwe because he
helped
Zimbabwe get independence, and was the first western leader to
recognise
land as the key issue in the Zimbabwe conflict as far back as 1979
and
1980″.
Carter was president of the United States at the time of the
Lancaster House
negotiations which helped Zimbabwe attain independence from
white colonial
rule in 1980.
“Kofi Annan, as secretary-general of the
UN, never did anything to help
Zimbabwe’s cause,” opined Mutsvangwa. “He was
involved in a conspiracy which
legitimised sanctions on Zimbabwe which were
patently illegal and imposed
unilaterally by western countries.”
But
there were sharp contradictions with the Foreign Office. At his press
conference which was attended by a handful of reporters from the State
media, Mumbengegwi spoke at a tangent with Mutsvangwa.
“It is most
unfortunate that the former (UN) secretary-general has, for
reasons best
known to himself, misrepresented the position of the Government
of
Zimbabwe,” Mumbengegwi said. “The allegations he has made are not
supported
by facts.”
Annan had told a press briefing in Johannesburg Saturday: “We
had to cancel
our visit because the government made it very clear that it
will not
co-operate.”
But Mumbengegwi insisted: “We take strong
exception to any suggestions that
there are those out there who care more
about the welfare of our people than
we do. Mr Annan is a man of great
experience.
“He knows the importance of prior consultations and
preparation for
high-level visits such as the one he was proposing. We
expect someone of his
level to observe the correct procedure and
practice.”
Mumbengegwi claimed the Elders had informed government about
their pending
visit only on Friday. But the government and the State media
had denounced
the visit throughout the week. The Foreign Affairs minister
said the Elders
were still welcome to visit the country “at a mutually
agreed date”.
He insinuated that the Elders visit was useless because
government had
already drafted a “Consolidated Appeal, “detailing the
humanitarian needs of
the country. He claimed the Government and the UN
agency World Food
Programme had last week signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the
supply and distribution of 350 000 tonnes of
food assistance.
WFP officials were not immediately available to respond
but the aid agency
issued a statement last week categorically stating that
there was a massive
funding shortfall because of donor fatigue.
“The
Government of Zimbabwe is fully aware of the humanitarian challenges
facing
the country and is determined to address these challenges, which are
spelt
out in detail in the Consolidated Appeal document,” Mumbengegwi
said.
“The Government is ready and willing to engage all those of
goodwill in an
effort to meet the goals and objectives of the Consolidated
Appeal.”
Annan said food shortages, a lack of seed and fertiliser for
planting and
the breakdown in health services were all having a serious
effect on the
people.
“We understand that the situation requires an
urgent response and that
delays will only prolong the people’s suffering,”
he said.
As government dithers, the World Health Organisation (WHO)
announced this
week that almost 300 people have died from a cholera outbreak
over the past
three months.
Fadela Chaib, a WHO spokesperson, said 6
072 cases had been reported between
the start of August and November 18,
with a rise in the number of reported
cases over the past two
weeks.
Nelson Mandela, his wife Graça and Desmond Tutu convened The
Global Elders
on 18 July, 2007 in Johannesburg. It is a group of world
leaders who were
expected to contribute their wisdom, leadership and
integrity to tackle some
of the world’s toughest problems.
Mandela
announced the formation of the group in a speech on his 89th
birthday.
Archbishop Tutu was to serve as its chairperson. Other
founding members of
the group include Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem
Brundtland, Jimmy
Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad
Yunus.
Ela Ramesh Bhatt, a lawyer by training, is the founder of India’s
Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Dr Bhatt is a respected leader of
the international labour, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements.
She has won several national and international awards.
Gro Harlem
Brundtland is a Norwegian politician, diplomat, and physician,
and an
international leader in sustainable development and public health. A
former
Prime Minister of Norway, she has served as the Director General of
the
World Health Organization. She now serves as a Special Envoy on Climate
Change for the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Li
Zhaoxing was the foreign minister of the People’s Republic of China from
2003 to 2007. He is a professor at Peking University
Mary Robinson
was the first female President of Ireland. She served from
1990 to 1997, and
was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
from 1997 to
2002.
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He previously
was a
professor of economics and is famous for his successful application of
microcredit - the extension of small loans. Yunus serves on the board of
directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity created in 1998
to support United Nations causes. The UN Foundation builds and implements
public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing
problems.
“This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly
and behind
the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken,” Mandela
commented at its
launch. “Together we will work to support courage where
there is fear,
foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope
where there is
despair.”
http://www.iol.co.za
November 23 2008 at
03:19PM
Harare - Zimbabwe said it blocked Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter
and a South
African human rights advocate from visiting on a humanitarian
mission
because they had not properly consulted with officials before the
trip, a
state-run newspaper reported Sunday.
The former UN
secretary-general, the ex-US president and rights advocate
Graca Machel, who
is married to Nelson Mandela, said on Saturday they were
denied visas for a
mission to assess the needs of Zimbabweans, many of whom
are suffering from
hunger and disease.
Instead, they spent the weekend in Johannesburg,
South Africa, meeting with
representatives of aid agencies, Zimbabwean civil
society organisations and
political parties.
The three are members of
The Elders, a group Mandela formed to foster peace
and tackle world
conflicts.
Annan had said Saturday that Zimbabwe gave no official reason
for refusing
them visas for the mission, which they insisted was entirely
separate from
regional attempts to get President Robert Mugabe and his
rivals to implement
a power-sharing agreement.
But the Sunday Mail, a
mouthpiece for the Zimbabwean government, quoted
Foreign Minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi as saying Annan had failed to consult
with the government
beforehand on the "timing and programme" of the visit.
"Mr Annan is a man
of great experience. He knows the importance of prior
consultations and
preparation for a high-level visit," the paper quoted
Mumbengegwi as saying.
"We expect someone of his level to observe the
correct procedure and
practice."
The foreign minister accused Annan of "misrepresenting the
facts" about the
aborted trip and criticised the group for launching the
mission, according
to the newspaper.
"We take strong exception to any
suggestions that there are those out there
who care more about the welfare
of our people than we do," he was quoted as
saying.
Mumbengegwi also
said the group would have had difficulty conducting a
meaningful assessment
after the government had already completed its own
"humanitarian audit" in
conjunction UN agencies based in the country, the
paper reported.
No
details of that programme have been made available and Mumbengegwi did
not
name any of the UN agencies in the newspaper report.
On Thursday,
Zimbabwe's state Herald newspaper said the group had been asked
to "come at
a later date" to accommodate the crop-planting season. The paper
quoted
unidentified people as saying the three were seen as antagonistic
toward the
government.
Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis is deepening, while political
crisis over a
stalled power-sharing government occupies its politicians. A
cholera
outbreak has killed nearly 300 people in Zimbabwe, the United
Nations said.
Carter told a news conference in Johannesburg on Saturday
that the three
were "very disappointed" that Zimbabwe's government "would
not co-operate".
He said it was the first time the 2002 Nobel Peace
laureate has been denied
permission to carry out a mission in any
country.
The Elders - including 12 former world leaders and prominent
rights
activists - have mediated in a number of other international crises,
such as
Sudan and Kenya. - Sapa-AP
http://news.yahoo.com
Sun Nov 23, 9:46 am ET
NAIROBI (AFP) -
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday called for the
deployment of
African Union peacekeepers to Zimbabwe to bring President
Robert Mugabe back
into line.
"Because there is no legitimate government in Zimbabwe, the AU
should
consider sending a peacekeeping force," he said. "This is what is
going to
send a strong signal to one Mr Robert Mugabe."
Speaking to
reporters in Nairobi, Odinga was reacting to Zimbabwe's refusal
to grant
visas to senior peace campaigners, including former US president
Jimmy
Carter and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
"As you all know,
Mugabe was a freedom fighter who spent many years in the
jail of former
prime minister Ian Smith, but I don't believe that when you
are a freedom
fighter you acquire a title deed to own the nation," Odinga
said.
Odinga owes his job largely to Annan, who mediated a
power-sharing solution
to the chaos that broke out after Kenya President
Mwai Kibaki was declared
the winner of disputed elections in December
2007.
The Kenyan prime minister has repeatedly chided Mugabe's regime
since
Zimbabwe's own post-election crisis broke out earlier this year but
saved
some criticism for the rest of the continent's
leaders.
"Recently, he was in Kampala attending an African leaders'
meeting and you
will see that no-one expressed a word about the situation in
Zimbabwe,"
Odinga said.
"To many African leaders, the situation in
Zimbabwe has returned back to
normalcy. But no wonder this is happening, it
is because a number of these
leaders carry the same baggage like that of
Mugabe."
Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai led Mugabe in round one
of the March
29 presidential election but withdrew before the second round,
citing a
campaign of intimidation by the veteran leader's camp.
The
ensuing crisis appeared to have been solved with an accord on September
15
but the two rivals have since failed to form a unity government.
http://www.nehandaradio.com
22 November 2008
By Bridget
Tapuwa
The Zanu PF and MDC deal and the possibly soon to be Government of
national
unity between these parties is nonsensical, to say the least. To
eagerly
await the finalization of this phase is putting energies to
waste.
The passing and effecting of Constitutional Amendment No. 19 into
law, will
not rid of the loopholes of the deal nor will it curb the powers
of the
other various government structures which are already in
existence.
To delve into the various components of that which they have
already signed
to is not even called for. Just a simple overall analysis of
the deal in
relation to the operations of the already standing various
government
structures says it all about how difficult and impossible it will
be to
bring about real change under that environment.
At this
juncture, questions that immediately come to mind are;
. What is the role
of the Ministers vis-à-vis the role of the Ministry's
Permanent
Secretaries?
Given that Mugabe is the one who appoints all the
Ministries' Permanent
Secretaries, and it obviously follows that they serve
his interests, there
is bound to be so much friction and mistrust between
the MDC Ministers and
Mugabe's Permanent Secretaries, to an extend that
service delivery and
efficiency will be compromised.
It has always
been almost impossible to really define or draw a line of
demarcation
between the duties of the Ministers and those of the Permanent
Secretaries.
To bring some bit of lightness to the already stressed
Zimbabwean reader,
(vagara vachitsikana konzi even when they were all coming
from one
party).
To Mugabe, consulting the Prime Minister on the appointments of
the
incumbents to these positions may not necessarily entail respecting the
views of the Prime Minister.
. Yet another pertinent issue is the
role of Mariyawanda Nzuwah, the Public
Service Commission (PSC) Chairman in
relation to all the Ministers. This
issue coming against the background that
the PSC Chairman and all his
Commissioners are also appointed by Mugabe. In
their monitoring and
supervision of the Ministries, are all the parties
going to behave maturely
such that they will set aside their political
differences?
Have the Zanu pf cadres all of a sudden become so
politically mature? If the
PSC is empowered to monitor and supervise some of
the functions of the
Ministries, what measures will the opposition parties
put in place to ensure
that their decisions at the level of the Ministries
in which they are in
charge are not overridden by the PSC for
instance?
To cut the story short, the deal is a mockery and a slap in the
face for
Zimbabweans who are genuinely fighting for democracy. Democracy is
never
achieved through the backdoor, in this case through deals. And it is
high
time Africans learn this.
If anything, it is only Zanu pf and
Mugabe who will benefit from the deal,
through being rescued from sinking
into political oblivion.
And the proposal which was approved by SADC
about co-ministering the
Ministry of Home Affairs is but a joke of the
century. Such a proposal
reflects a lack of sincerity to rescue
Zimbabwe;
co-ministering a Ministry in a country already in economic tatters;
a
country where financial resources are so scarce if not
depleted.
Such a suggestion coming in the light that it has always been
indisputable
that Zimbabwe has always had too many Ministries in relation to
its
financial capabilities. Not only that, but also, how will the two
Ministers
work and liaise without fighting or one undermining the
other?
Zanu pf has other hidden agendas behind this deal. They are well
aware that
they have many other instruments already in place to thwart any
real changes
in the operations of all Ministries, even those Ministries that
are going to
be given to MDC.
For sanity to return to Zimbabwe, then
there has to be a complete overhaul
of the whole political landscape, which
does not therefore leave any room
for deals. Mugabe deals are always
cunningly crafted, designed and modeled
in such a way that democracy in
Zimbabwe is thwarted.
The writer, Bridget Tapuwa is based in Belgium and
she can be reached at
britavoice@gmail.com
Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Sunday
November 23 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 23 2008
There
is no doubting that Robert Mugabe is a masterful, if vicious,
tactician.
Throughout the bloody election process that ran from March
to June, the
struggle for power in Zimbabwe was routinely described as an
endgame for the
incumbent President. And yet, in November, Mr Mugabe has
still avoided the
checkmate that would remove him from office and liberate
his country from
decades of misrule.
He has outmanoeuvred internal
opponents. Meanwhile every tool of
international diplomacy wielded against
him has failed.
Mr Mugabe engaged in power-sharing talks with the
Movement for Democratic
Change, offering its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, the
post of Prime Minister.
By even participating in such talks, the MDC risked
compromising its
principled opposition to Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai decided,
however, that
negotiation was better than civil war.
But sowing
divisions within the MDC was Mr Mugabe's main purpose in engaging
in talks.
Another was creating the semblance of a democratic process while
under
international scrutiny. Now he feels secure enough to drop that
charade.
A fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe by former UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
former US President Jimmy Carter and human
rights activist Graça Machel -
wife of Nelson Mandela - was cancelled
yesterday when authorities indicated
they would not grant
visas.
Meanwhile, the President plans to amend the constitution, giving
himself new
powers to reorganise the government. Since there is not yet
agreement on
which ministries the opposition will run, the constitutional
change is pure
chicanery. The longer Mr Mugabe can draw out an argument over
government
departments, the more distant seems his theft of the
presidency.
Mr Mugabe uses condemnation by non-Africans to smear the MDC
as pawns of
imperialism. Mindful of that risk, the West accepted the
approach, led by
former South African President Thabo Mbeki, of quiet
diplomacy. Blocking the
visit by Mr Annan and Ms Machel proves Mr Mugabe
holds the views of Africans
in as much contempt as he feels for Western
opinion.
Meanwhile, the MDC was tricked into accepting a stolen
presidency as a fait
accompli and Mr Mbeki was complicit.
South
Africa has new leadership under President Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC
leader
Jacob Zuma. They are not wedded to a failed strategy of making
friends with
Mr Mugabe. For Zimbabwe's sake they must be prepared to make an
enemy of
him.
----
Comment
MoveAnyMountain
Nov 23 08, 1:21am
(about 4 hours ago)
Well some people might think that the title of this
editorial is a bit much.
After all, we all knew what Mugabe was like back
in 1979 when he had been
busy murdering nuns in the name of
liberation.
Even if we did not know then, we soon learnt what he was like
from how he
treated with Black Zimbabweans who dared to support some other
political
party.
What a lot of Western liberals did was dismiss such
complaints as racism.
They tried to bully people into silence - people who
knew both Zimbabwe and
Mugabe better than they did.
Those Western
liberals have not paid a price for that support. The people of
Zimbabwe
have.
Mugabe has not fooled us once too often. We have stopped fooling
ourselves
http://news.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2008-11-23
12:55:52
HARARE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's Medical
Association has
urged the government to declare the cholera outbreak a
national disaster, to
help mobilize more resources to fight the epidemic,
state news agency New
Ziana reported Saturday.
Availability
of more resources would help contain the outbreak,
which has so far claimed
several lives, the association said in a press
release.
"This will galvanize all the resources necessary to get the
outbreak under
control," it said.
The association also urged the National
Water Supply Authority to
ensure speedy restoration of the sewer management
system and provision of
safe drinking water.
There are
fears that the onset of the rainy season and the strike
by health personnel
would result in the outbreak getting out of control.
The
association warned that Zimbabwe's health care system is now
on the verge of
collapse, as there was serious brain drain at all levels of
health
professionals.
Lack of trained medical workers had compromised
operations at most
health institutions, it said.
http://www.citizen.co.za
23/11/2008
20:50:31
ALEISHA TISSEN and
SAPA
JOHANNESBURG - Over 1,4 million people in South Africa and Zimbabwe
are at
risk of contracting cholera.
This number could escalate if the
issue is not urgently addressed, warns
Doctors Without
Borders.
Yesterday representatives of the SA and Zimbabwean Health
Departments met to
discuss ways forward in the current cross-border cholera
crisis.
Limpopo Health Department spokesman, Phuti Seloba told The
Citizen late
yesterday afternoon: "The meeting is still under way but we are
making
headway. We believe we are getting there."
Seloba said the
outbreak has claimed the lives of 294 people in Zimbabwe and
another four in
SA since the outbreak started in August.
One fatality has been confirmed
as a South African.
In the latest cholera related death, a man who was
admitted to Durban's
Addington Hospital and placed in an isolation ward has
died.
The man is said to have been a truck driver who arrived in SA from
Zimbabwe
last week.
On Friday Sapa had reported Kwa-Zulu Natal Health
department spokesman, Leon
Mbangwa as saying the man was awake and "much
improved".
Seloba says the meeting between the countries' Health
Departments focused on
how to deal with the water-borne intestinal disease
and how to deal with the
source, which is Zimbabwe.
Poorly maintained
sewerage systems and a lack of clean drinking water have
been blamed for
allowing the disease to thrive and spread.
The WHO says over 6 000 people
have been infected with cholera since August
with many more expected due to
Zimbabwe's deteriorating health system.
Since last Saturday, over 162
cholera cases have been reported in the border
town of Musina.
Seloba
told The Citizen additional rehydration centres were up and running
in
Musina and at the Beit Bridge border post to deal with the influx of
people
coming from Zimbabwe for treatment.
He said there are currently 21 people
in the Musina hospital in a stable
condition.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Michealene
Cristini Risley
Posted November 22, 2008 | 07:17 PM (EST)
Behind the stench of flowing sewage and the
smell of disease is a country
that is beyond collapse. Yet, nowhere are
there more signs of bustling
activity than the countries graveyards. On a
bright day, in Unit L graveyard
in Chitungwiza, the staff opens up 50 new
graves for burials. Those
allocated graves will be used up far before
Sunset. The increases in burials
in this cemetery are up 150 percent. Every
few minutes families take turns
burying their loved ones. They dig; they
grieve and then depart; perhaps
wondering if the will be able to afford the
next funeral.
The rich soil of this previously prosperous country is once
again at the
heart of its activities; at one time famous for its rich
harvests and
abundant food the soil is now providing the country's blanket
of death. The
blanket needs to expand.
When I stayed with a friend in
a residential area of Bulawayo last August,
there was no water. Fifteen
months later, there is still no water in
Bulawayo. In fact, there is no
water anywhere in Zimbabwe. The government
utilities turned off water when
it ran out of money for treatment chemicals.
Shovels have become as familiar
an item as walking sticks as desperate
families search the ground until they
find water. People fill pots and pans,
as they drink from this untreated
sewage water.
In addition to the aids epidemic, the mass starvation and
increase of rape
and abuse, Cholera has reared its' head. Still, nothing is
done by the rest
of the world.
The situation in Zimbabwe is
desperate. Most world news this weekend
discussed President Mugabe's refusal
to let a humanitarian team in the
country. This team included former United
States President, Jimmy Carter and
former head of the United Nations, Kofi
Anon and human rights activist,
Graca Machel, who is also Nelson Mandela's
wife. This was a diversion. So
much more needs to be done immediately. If I
hear one more President or
Chancellor talk about the illegitimate regime or
make a statement, I am
going to scream.
The United Nations and The
Red Cross push into war torn countries like
Rwanda and the Congo, yet
Zimbabwe is left on its own. True, there is not a
typical war in this
country, but there is systematic genocide. Isn't that a
situation worth the
world community's response?
The country has virtually shut down. Every
school, store and government
office is closed. Last I read, inflation
hovered somewhere near 230 million
percent. Zimbabwean currency has been
abandoned and replaced by the American
Dollar.
Last week a group of
men who supported the opposition party disappeared in
the dark of night from
their homes. The locals know these men will never be
seen alive again.
Families are separating out of desperation, traveling to
other parts of
Africa or globally, so they can send money back to family
stranded in
Zimbabwe. These people are the lucky ones. The families who have
never
traveled outside of Zimbabwe are the ones dying. They have no
alternative.
Rapes have doubled, if not tripled. The women who had
been raped by the
youth militia are nowhere to be found.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michealene-cristini-risley/the-estimated-cost-of-hum_b_103772.html?view=screen
There
is no medical treatment available, so most of these women are
developing
full blown aids. HIV/AIDS treatment medication is inaccessible;
there is not
a single hospital or clinic with its doors open.
A woman pregnant in
Zimbabwe right now, is anything but joyful; most are
certain to die. If a
woman is unlucky enough to be in need of a caesarean
for birth, she has two
choices. She must pay the $400 dollars to get this
procedure done, or her
family creates a vigil as she dies. Death in these
cases is almost
imminent.
In the LA times on Friday, Robyn Dixon interviewed a member of
the Central
Intelligence office, the CIA of Zimbabwe.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cio20-2008nov20,0,4184119.story.
The
CIO agent speaking anonymously and "Estimates that 60% to 70% of CIO
officers -- all but the hard-line ideologues -- no longer back Mugabe." Even
with Mugabe's support deteriorating it is not likely to change the outcome
in Zimbabwe. Conformity is a prerequisite to those in Mugabe's regime. No
matter what your personal feelings, conform or risk death. This is why
change cannot happen from inside Zimbabwe.
My friend recently pleaded
with her husband to get their three children to a
neighboring country. All
their friends beg for food as they watch their
children starve to death.
Some of the Zimbabweans have had to bring food in
by bus to feed their
families. They cannot bring in enough food to feed
everyone. She has
struggled to help many to stay alive, but her life has
been threatened, so
she is now in hiding. Her husband drove all night to
visit with her. She
almost did not recognize him as he drove up; he had not
had a bath in
months. His skin was very dry and much darker than she
remembered. He
smelled as if he had "all the sewage of Gaborone on him", she
said.
Nowhere do I hear a discussion of Mugabe's Syphilis. I often
wonder if this
disease has ravaged this man's mind or do I use that as an
excuse. It is
hard for me to imagine a man turned so rotten from the inside
out. His
thirst for power and insatiable greed has destroyed this incredible
country.
Perhaps we can learn from the destruction of Zimbabwe that the
actions of
power and greed can destroy us all.
http://www.iol.co.za
Basildon Peta
November 23 2008 at 01:54PM
At least 20 prisoners are dying every day
of hunger and disease in
Zimbabwe's over-crowded jails because President
Robert Mugabe's embattled
government can no longer provide food to
prisons.
While weary Zimbabweans have grown accustomed to a life of food
shortages,
lack of water and electricity and ubiquitous outbreaks of
disease, like the
current cholera epidemic which has claimed nearly 300
lives, officials said
the situation was "indescribable" for the tens of
thousands confined in
Zimbabwe's notoriously inhumane prisons.
"An
ordinary jail sentence in Zimbabwe today is as good as a death
sentence,"
said a senior prison official interviewed last week.
"We can no
longer cope with the numbers of those dying and whose
bodies are not being
collected by struggling relatives."
Two senior Zimbabwean prison
officials, who agreed to be interviewed
on the state of Zimbabwean prisons
last week on condition they were not be
named, described the dire situation
in Zimbabwe's jails.
They said at least 20 prisoners die daily in
the different prisons
across the country, due mainly to a lack of food and
ubiquitous diseases.
On one day alone in September this year, 57
deaths were recorded from
different jails around the country.
The officers spoke as Zimbabwe's main state referral hospitals in
Bulawayo
and Harare had virtually closed shop because of a shortage of
water, drugs,
equipment and staff.
The Mugabe government has been underplaying
the health crisis,
particularly the latest cholera outbreak, admitting to
"only 90 deaths".
James McGee, the US ambassador to Harare, whose
government helps fund
HIV/Aids-linked health initiatives in Zimbabwe, said
294 deaths had so far
been recorded.
The figure has since been
confirmed to Zimbabwean media outlets by
health workers and non-governmental
organisations, who have warned the
cholera death figures could be higher
since most victims are dying at home.
The United Nations World Health
Organisation (WHO) confirmed the 294 deaths
late on Friday and warned that
the situation was worsening.
But while the cholera outbreak, which
fleeing Zimbabweans have since
spread to South Africa, killing three in
Musina last week, is in the public
domain, the most suffering away from
public glare is unfolding in Zimbabwe's
prisons.
The prison
officers emphasised that they were being conservative in
their estimates of
at least 20 deaths per day as national figures were not
always made
available and, they were basing their estimates on the deaths
being reported
at the big prisons they worked at in Harare and Bulawayo
Chikurubi and Khami
maximum prisons respectively.
The number did not include figures at
prisons in other remote areas
like Mutimurefu Prison in Masvingo, Hwahwa
Prison in Gweru, Binga Prison in
Binga, Anju Prison in Nyamandlovu, among
others.
The prison officials said food supplies to prisons had
virtually
stopped with prisoners being fed on boiled cabbages once a day if
they are
lucky. The boiled cabbages are not accompanied by any starch,
particularly
the staple sadza (thick pap or porridge), because there is no
maize meal in
Zimbabwe.
On other days when there is no boiled
cabbage the prisoners get man'ai
(boiled maize). The food is served in small
portions once a day during "good
times" but mostly once in two or even four
days.
"It's almost some form of prison genocide," said one
official.
The situation was made worse by the total lack of medical
care in
prison clinics.
"If the public hospitals are closing
because of all the problems being
talked about, imagine the situation in
prison clinics. It's not even worth
talking about," said the
official.
"Diseases are so widespread in the prisons that it no
longer matters
for us to determine which is the most rampant. We just gather
dead bodies,"
said the other official based in Harare.
"Even
those ill prisoners who might have survived if they got
medication end up
dying because of lack of food."
Relatives struggling with the
economic crisis no longer bothered to
answer appeals to collect dead bodies
and prison mortuaries are overflowing.
Those prisoners with sympathetic
relatives were not spared the ordeal as
hungry prison guards stole their
food brought from home.
The situation was worsened by the lack of
fuel, which has prevented
the prisons service from taking prisoners to
court.
Efforts to get official comment from Paradzai Zimondi, the
Zimbabwe
Prisons Service boss, failed. - Independent Foreign
Service
This article was originally published on page 3 of
Cape Argus on
November 23, 2008
The prospect of yet more talks
under the partisan chairmanship of the late
Mbeki failed to warm even the
most optimistic of us at a wintry Vigil. We
phoned our friends at the
Glasgow Vigil to see how they were faring closer
to the Arctic Circle. We
were cheered to hear they were even colder than
us!
ROHR activists in
Liverpool are continuing their Saturday protests. Isaac
Ndoro (Interim
Chair ROHR Liverpool Branch) reports that they were out in
the biting cold
handing out leaflets and displaying placards telling the
miserable story of
Zimbabwe and collecting signatures for petitions. He
says many of their
activists have problems getting to the protests because
they cannot afford
the bus fare - rather like the problem back home! ROHR
activists in
Liverpool would like to thank the community of Liverpool for
the immense
support they have shown since these demonstrations started.
With the
refusal of Mugabe to allow a fact-finding visit to Harare by the
Elders -
including Mandela's wife Graca Machel - we hope South Africa will
realise
what a poisonous regime it has clasped to its bosom. The South
Africans must
wake up and smell the cholera. Read Cathy Buckle's letter this
week 'No
Welcome Mat' for an insight into why the Elders were denied visas -
http://www.cathybuckle.com/november2008.shtml.
We
are afraid that Mbeki's garlic, beetroot and lemon potion will be no more
successful with Zimbabwe than it was with AIDS and we demand that his
mandate as facilitator be revoked. If he makes any more public appearances
they should be at the Hague.
Vigil supporters were puzzled by
suggestions that Zimbabwe's problems are
being prolonged by the absence of
the MDC in a Mugabe government. Speaking
for our part of the Diaspora we
believe no donor country will put money into
the resurrection of Zimbabwe
until Mugabe takes a back seat. The mere
inclusion of the MDC in the
government will not change that.
We were joined at the Vigil by Megan
Redmond from Cape Town who handed out a
leaflet about the demands of the
South African Coalition against Xenophobia.
The Coalition is calling for an
end to the South African government's
'racist and xenophobic immigration
policy' and particularly for the closure
of the Lindela Repatriation Centre
near Krugersdorp. We pointed out that the
influx of Zimbabweans is likely to
increase given the cholera epidemic and
the widespread food
shortage.
Vigil supporters all had stories to tell of the suffering back
home. One
said that in his home area, Mbare, 13 people had died of cholera
in one
week, including three from one family. People are going out to the
rural
areas to get water. Standing outside a window advertising the
attractions
of visiting Zimbabwe, we notice that the Zimbabwe Embassy is not
warning
tourists against the dangers of contracting cholera.
We were
joined by Michael Little, of the African HIV Policy Network. He was
looking
for young Zimbabweans who have been HIV-tested (not necessarily
positive) to
take part in a Pan-African group discussion on HIV. He managed
to find
several people who were willing to take part.
Another visitor was Gally
Kambeu, a Zimbabwean photographer who is doing a
project on memories of
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. She asked us to dig up
photos of our memories
to bring to the Vigil next week for her project.
Last month we mentioned
that a Zimbabwean journalist had been in contact
with us about sueing SADC
if it recognised the Mugabe regime after elections
which SADC's own
observers said were seriously flawed. He was back with us
today and the
Vigil was able to refer him to an article this week by
Tanonoka Joseph
Whande, a Zimbabwean journalist based in Botswana who
regularly broadcasts
on SW Radio Africa. His article
(http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/THM201108.htm)
strikes a chord with the
Vigil because of our campaign to get the EU to
suspend government-to
government aid to SADC countries because of their
failure to honour their
human rights commitments to Zimbabweans. There was
agreement that
Zimbabweans would get no help from SADC, the African Union,
the UN or anyone
else so we should pursue a campaign for refugee camps to be
set up in the
bordering countries where Zimbabweans could get: 1) food,
2)medical
attention, 3) shelter, 4) education, no longer available at home.
These
refugee camps would hopefully be paid for by Western governments with
the
money saved by suspending government-to-government
assistance.
There was much discussion of the outcome of the recent
Zimbabwean
immigration case at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Many
were hopeful
that it would make a difference to their asylum
claims.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 118 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
· Central
London Zimbabwe Forum. Monday, 24th November at 7.30 pm.
Nick Oakeshott,
barrister and campaigner at Asylum Aid and James Deavin of
Howe and Co
Solicitors will speak about the recent landmark decision (RN
case) by the
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Venue: Downstairs at the Bell
and Compass,
9-11 Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NA, next to Charing Cross
Station at the
corner of Villiers Street and John Adam Street.
· Next Glasgow Vigil.
Saturday, 6th December 2008, 2 - 6 pm. Venue:
Argyle Street Precinct. For
more information contact: Patrick Dzimba, 07990
724 137
·
Zimbabwe Association's Women's Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays
10.30 am - 4
pm. Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton
Street,
London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Nearest underground: Finsbury
Park. For
more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355
(open
Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Vigil co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current
regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue
until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in
Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
http://www.timesofmalta.com
Sunday,
23rd November 2008
Patrick
Cooke
"Growing up in Zimbabwe was as near paradise as any boy
could wish for,"
says Christopher Hingley, the rector of Petra Primary
School and Petra High
School in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest
city.
Even the most blinkered Zanu-PF spokesperson would be unable to say
the same
about life for children in Zimbabwe today.
Mr Hingley, 59,
was in Malta recently to raise awareness of the situation in
Zimbabwe in a
personal context, and to explain how his two schools are
battling against
the odds to offer children a high standard of education.
Born in Kenya to
a father in the colonial service, Mr Hingley is white. He
realises that
while his childhood in Zimbabwe may have been idyllic in the
1950s and
1960s, this wasn't the case for a lot children as the region
struggled to
find a solution to the deep-rooted problems of racial and
political
discrimination.
What really concerns Mr Hingley is that Zanu-PF - the
political party of
Robert Mugabe which emerged from the victorious
liberation struggle of the
1970s - perpetuates the injustice that it once
fought against. It has turned
against not only the white population, but
also the most vulnerable in
society to keep its hold on power.
"If
people have nothing and depend entirely on the State, they will be no
threat
to the regime at all," Mr Hingley tells The Sunday Times.
With talks
about the make-up of a power-sharing government between Zanu-PF
and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change seemingly deadlocked,
statistics
point to Zimbabwe being on the verge of total failure.
Approximately 45 per
cent of the population is expected to require food aid
by the begining of
next year. The official level of inflation is 231 million
per cent, although
Mr Hingley says that inflation stands at several trillion
per cent in
reality. It has the highest orphan rate in the world in relation
to
population (22 per cent).
The average life expectancy is 37 years for men
and 34 for women. It is
estimated that three million Zimbabweans have fled
the country. Against this
backdrop of chaos, the education system - once
considered to be the best in
Africa - is close to collapse.
On
October 9, Unicef issued a statement declaring that Zimbabwe's education
system is in a state of emergency. Following routine monitoring visits,
Unicef found that only an estimated 40 per cent of the country's teachers
were attending lessons, a third of pupils were reporting for classes and
district education officers were ill equipped to run national exams, which
were due to begin the following week.
Teaching unions say that state
schools have had just 23 days of
uninterrupted schooling in 2008, and the
Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has called for the 2008
academic year to be cancelled
altogether. It has instructed its members to
boycott the marking of exams,
saying they were written under unprofessional
conditions.
In the mid-1990s, there was a national O-level pass rate of
72 per cent.
Last year it crashed to 11 per cent, with many schools
recording zero
passes. This year is expected to be the worst
ever.
Unicef is especially concerned that the collapsing education system
will
have long-term repercussions for Zimbabwe's development: "Education
remains
the engine to drive Zimbabwe's long-term prospects. It is critical
that the
sector is not left to collapse... the situation in schools requires
urgent
action."
Only a handful of private schools like Petra are able
to offer any semblance
of normality in education. Petra is a mixed-sex,
ecumenical Christian
institution that includes pupils from all faiths and
abilities. Its students
are approximately 75 per cent black and come from
across the social
spectrum. Most parents and guardians are willing to pay
fees, and Petra uses
innovative methods to raise funds and equipment to
ensure that the schools
function effectively and disadvantaged pupils do not
have to leave. They
have even accepted practical items, such as stationary
and sports equipment,
as payment from parents unable to pay fees in
Zimbabwean dollars. Unlike
most schools in the country where teachers can't
afford to come to school,
Petra's capacity to pay its staff a living wage
and provide an environment
conducive to education means that staff turnover
is low, and well qualified
state school staff apply in droves for any
vacancies.
"Our staff really believe in the school, believe in Zimbabwe,
and want to
stay if we can enable them to do so," says Mr
Hingley.
Private schools are hindered further by the government's
requirements for
their students to pay fees approved by the state, which are
"set at a
totally uneconomic level," according to Mr Hingley. School
management staff
are threatened with imprisonment if they don't get
government approval
before collecting the fees.
"We all want to
address educational issues, but the frustrating thing is
that so much time
is taken up sourcing money, sourcing supplies, paying for
things... it's
very draining."
For information on how you can assist Petra schools,
contact Frank Wilmot in
Malta on 7926 1646, e-mail fwilmot@keyworld.net, or e-mail
Christopher
Hingley at hingley@hushmail.com.
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/
How a Zanu-PF plot led to the death of a young
girl
Slyvia Mudzingwa was a confident young woman from Zvishavane, a
mining town
in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. She was an enthusiastic
recruit to the
police service in Harare, and - even given the stricken state
of the
country - she could be said to have a promising future. Now she is
dead, and
the story of what led to her death is both shocking and
heart-breaking.
The manner of her death was brutal. Two months into her
training at the
Morris Police Depot in Harare, she was beaten by her
instructing officer,
Inspector Maone, allegedly for laziness during a
physical training session.
Maone did a thorough job. Slyvia died on her way
to hospital. An internal
memo reveals a pathetic attempt at a cover-up, her
death being put down to
an "awkward fall."
But it is the real reason
that lies behind this horrific incident which will
tell the world of the
reality of life in Zimbabwe today. Slyvia had a lover
within the police
service - the same man who beat her. Inspector Maone.
Maone is also a
member of the feared Department 58, a police unit devoted
to abductions,
killings, and the like. Through her relationship with him,
Slyvia knew of a
crucial Zanu-PF plot - and she talked about it.
Slyvia had to be
silenced. A warning, even a beating, was not thought
sufficient. But her
fatal "awkward fall" was, and the plot proceeded.
The plot went into
action two weeks ago, when a 4x4 Nissan truck, carrying
five men and 10 boxes
of AK47 weapons, was apparently intercepted on the
border with Mozambique by
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO),
Mugabe's secret police. It was
announced that the men were all agents of
Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and had
all been trained in Britain and
America in terrorism and subversion.
Pictures were taken. Statements were
made. And the men were all arrested,
and incarcerated in Chikurubi Maximum
Security prison, there to await trial
and punishment.
Co-incidentally,
at this time the leaders of the Southern African States
were gathering in
Johannesburg to try and break the political impasse in
Zimbabwe. "See!"
declared Zanu-PF to those leaders - "See - these MDC people
can't be trusted.
They are attacking the state. Therefore they cannot be
given control of the
vital Ministry of Home Affairs in any government of
national
unity."
The truth is, of course, the whole deal was cooked up by the CIO,
who
supplied truck, weapons and men. The five men are indeed at
Chikurubi
prison. They'll stay there until the heat dies down, other events
occur, and
they are forgotten. Then they will be quietly released, to carry
on with
their duties on behalf of Zanu-PF.
We know all this for two
reasons. Firstly, Slyvia talked enough, before she
was killed. And second,
we've been here before. Long-term observers may
remember the case of 20
soldiers, said to be rogue supporters of MDC who
allegedly beat up innocent
Zanu-PF voters at election time. All 20 were
paraded on TV in chains, and
sent to Chikurubi. None were ever tried. All
have now been
released.
Indeed, Mugabe's men pulled the same trick back in the Eighties
at the start
of the infamous Operation Gukurahundi. Arms were planted on a
farm owned by
the Ndebele-aligned party Zapu, and used as an excuse to start
the killings
of the Ndebele people. At least 20,000 people died as a
result.
Today, Slyvia alone has died. Her death is just as cruel, just as
brutal as
all the others.
Posted on Sunday, 23 November
2008 at 12:59
http://www.goal.com
23/11/2008
13:29
Brazilian coach
Jose Valinhos has threatened to drag Zimbabwe to the world
soccer governing
body regarding his unpaid salaries.
The Zimbabwe Football Association
(ZIFA) has not paid Valinhos since May,
and the Brazilian coach has offered
to receive his salaries for six months
and forgo those of November and
December, in order to receive payment.
He told journalists, "I've
offered to them to do that since they have no
money. But still they haven't
honoured that. If they don't pay me before I
return to Brazil, I will have
to report to FIFA,"
Valinhos, who took charge of the Zimbabwe
national team in January of this
year, warned his successor Sunday
Chidzambwa he faces similar frustration
with ZIFA.
"They (ZIFA) have
to change, otherwise the new coach will face the same
problems as I faced.
To Sunday I say good luck. I wish him all the best,"
said the coach, whose
contract was to expire next month.
Chidzambwa, who helped Zimbabwe
qualify for their first-ever Nations Cup
final in Tunisia in 2004, admitted
his new job will be a very difficult one.
"People must not expect good
results instantly. This is a very difficult job
ahead of me and I will try
my level best. I may succeed, I may not," said
the former Dynamos
coach.
Samm Audu