Harare Sports Club seems such an incongruous place to be at
the centre of a highly controversial tour. Near the heart of the city, it is
nevertheless lined by trees and situated in peaceful surroundings. The
predominant colour is green, the light green of a beautifully maintained
outfield and the dark green of the trees both inside and outside the ground.
There was an air of tranquillity as Duncan Fletcher oversaw the England team
training on the outfield yesterday.
The tour that England faced
with much trepidation has so far been totally uneventful. Andy Walpole, the
team's media liaison officer, and members of the press contingent whose
dilemma had almost caused a last-minute abandonment, confirmed that the only
unusual aspect so far was the heavy media attention they had received. There
had been no demonstrations, no excessive security, no hostility from anybody
they had met, and the only sign of discontent was some graffiti on a wall
advising them to go home.
But appearances can be deceptive. The
immediate parallel that springs to mind is South Africa during the apartheid
years. There, the opulent white areas were a world apart from the real life
in Soweto, and it was easily possible to visit that country without
encountering any evidence of the latter's existence. Here in Zimbabwe, a
visitor unaware of the plight of this beleaguered country can still come and
go, in certain areas only, and leave the country under the impression that
there is little wrong.
But there is always another side of the coin.
Just across the road, in fact. The main entrance to the club overlooks the
high walls of State House, the personal dwelling place of Robert Mugabe, the
ruler who continues to hold on to power against the will of the people and
seems prepared to destroy his entire country so as to maintain that power.
Unwary visitors wandering down the wrong side of that street have had
traumatic experiences at the hands of the president's security guards who
patrol the area with itchy fingers on automatic weapons. The England team
have been worried about the possibility of Mugabe meeting them and wanting
to shake hands with them. They need not worry. There is a frightened little
man hiding behind those walls, terrified as to what might happen to him
should he lose power, and he will never dare venture anywhere he might be
seen by ordinary Zimbabweans.
It does not do to take the comparison
with apartheid South Africa too far. Sport played its part in toppling
apartheid, even though it took more than 20 years of boycotts to achieve its
objective. No amount of sporting boycotts would have any significant effect
on the Mugabe regime. A refusal by England to tour would have been a totally
futile gesture politically. But, as Andy Flower has pointed out, the
presence of England will once again bring the plight of this unhappy country
under the world spotlight. Mugabe would prefer it to be forgotten, as was
communist Albania for so many years.
Robin Brown, the groundsman and
the the man accused of deliberately sabotaging the pitch when Sri Lanka
bowled the new-look Zimbabwe team out for 35 last April, is none too pleased
by the changed programme, whereby the Harare matches will be played on
Sunday and Wednesday instead of Friday and Sunday. A good cook cannot
readily delay the moment his creations emerge from the oven by a few hours
when it is half-ready, and expectant mothers are seriously inconvenienced if
requested to hold on for a couple of days. Similarly Brown's pitches were
prepared with the original dates in mind, and the delay will not see them at
their best. They will be slightly overbaked, and he estimates 250 rather
than 300 will be a winning score. As long as there is no more sabotage
...
And so, under beautifully warm, sunny skies, England trained, and
later in the day, so did Zimbabwe. England looked like a well-oiled machine,
established in its regimen and looking impressive. Zimbabwe appeared a
reasonable club side, not altogether used to heavy practice but deciding to
give it a good shot anyway, with some laughs along the way. There was not
the intensity of the Australians, but neither was there the laxity that the
West Indians have shown at times. The traditional fabulous Zimbabwean
fielding was not much in evidence. A team of callow youths will face
England.
Yet there is one factor that could make this match much
closer than would appear likely on paper. England are basically playing
under protest; they do not want to be there. Zimbabwe are fired with
enthusiasm and eager to go, while England are simply eager to go home. One
cannot expect the best possible performance from a team that does not want
to be there, while a large dose of enthusiasm can cover a mass of
inexperience and give a large rise to limited ability.
It is very
much a David and Goliath confrontation - except that this time David does
not possess any artillery unknown to his opponent. Goliath should still win
easily, but they might find David an awkward little customer in the process.
And behind the scenes, Mugabe's thugs continue to seek out supporters of the
opposition, children continue to starve and the country's economy continues
in freefall as the government tries in the only ways it knows how to regain
its long-lost support from the masses.
Guilty though the English visitors
may feel, they can do nothing to influence that situation. The best they can
do is aim to give Mugabe's cricket team - as it virtually is now, although
the current players are not to blame for this - the biggest hiding they can
muster.
Although a rather rusty England won the opening one-day international, the
day was a triumph for cricket in Zimbabwe.
At least 3,000
supporters revelled in the sunshine, creating a festive atmosphere while,
behind the stands, children of all races happily played games of cricket
together.
There were no political intrusions of any kind - no
banners or chants, and certainly no signs of a potentially awkward visit by
the Zimbabwe Cricket patron Robert Mugabe.
All of this occurred
with barely discernible security presence.
Seventy percent of the
crowd was black, which is remarkable when you consider that even club
cricket in Zimbabwe 20 years ago was almost entirely
whites-only.
The young Zimbabwean team tried their best but,
clearly, the gulf between them and an established international team
remains, and this could yet affect their Test status.
At one
stage they were 90-5, and had they not been rescued by a stand of 82 between
Elton Chigumbura and Dion Ebrahim, they might have been
skittled.
England's bowling was a little erratic - hardly
surprising given their lack of cricket since the season ended in
September.
But Darren Gough picked up three wickets, and Alex Wharf
and Ashley Giles two each as Zimbabwe were dismissed in the final over of
their innings for 195.
This slow pitch was not to Vikram
Solanki's liking at all - he needs the ball coming on to the bat in order to
play his wristy strokes.
But any hopes Tatenda Taibu's young side
had of causing an upset were snuffed out by Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan,
who added 111 for the second wicket.
Both gave chances along
the way, and soon after Vaughan pulled Stuart Matsikenyeri to deep
midwicket, Andrew Strauss was caught and bowled by the same
bowler.
So this was the acid test for Bell, who scored a
half-century in his first Test innings last summer, and now began his
one-day international career with another.
But when Kevin
Pietersen joined him, England needed exactly 50 to win from 15 overs, and
the game needed to be finished off.
Unfortunately Bell gave it away
on 75 when he edged Taylor to the wicket-keeper.
In the next
over, Collingwood was run out for a duck when he failed to respond to
Pietersen's call.
Another wicket might have made it
interesting.
But Pietersen and Geraint Jones batted sensibly until
Pietersen thumped a boundary straight down the ground to give England
victory with fourteen balls to spare.
Zim disgusted with lion-eaters 28/11/2004 14:39 -
(SA)
Harare - Villagers in Zimbabwe have aroused official distaste by
eating a male lion shot by game rangers for raiding livestock.
Many
Zimbabweans believe rogue lions are possessed by the angry spirits of
ancestors and are sent to punish communities for breaking traditional
taboos.
But the government discourages the consumption of man-eating
carnivores, which are frequently old or diseased.
The lion was killed
in the Muzarabani area, 200km north of Zimbabwe's capital, after a six-month
rampage on cattle and goat by a marauding pride, reported The Sunday Mail
newspaper, a government mouthpiece.
A witness described the animal as
"huge" and said villagers begged the local authorities to be given the
carcass: "A few lucky individuals got to have a piece or two - some said
they had eaten the meat in the belief that they would get lion-like bravery
and strength."
A senior official at Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority turned up his nose at the account.
"Never in my
life have I been told of any man eating that which has the potential to eat
human flesh, save for the crocodile tail, which is a world-renowned
delicacy," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "We do not encourage
them to eat such meat. Our policy is that we offer (local people) only the
carcasses of herbivores such as elephants."
One of the diners was
unrepentant: "It ate our animals so it is only fair we eat it, too," he told
the newspaper.
PRETORIA - Zimbabweans
abroad have strongly condemned South Africa for blocking the condemnation of
Zimbabwe by a United Nations committee saying such an action shows that
President Thabo Mbeki's government supports the repressive and authoritarian
regime in Zimbabwe.
Human rights lawyer, Gabriel Shumba told
Daily News Online that time for being diplomatic with South Africa in the
"face of such betrayal" was over and Zimbabweans must start looking to other
regions for solutions to the crisis at home.
South Africa
blocked on Wednesday a motion at the UN by western countries to condemn
Zimbabwe and Sudan for gross human rights violations.
"South
Africa has betrayed the trust that the Zimbabwean population has bestowed on
its leadership and every Zimbabwean feels disillusioned by such a betrayal,"
said Shumba.
He said Mbeki has kept quiet while thousands of
Zimbabweans were being tortured by Mugabe but was quick to act when action
was about to be taken against Harare.
"Mbeki is awfully
dishonest when it comes to dealing with the Zimbabwean crisis," said Shumba
adding that Mbeki had in the past told United States' President George Bush
that he was trying his best to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis when in fact he
is colluding with Mugabe to violate the human rights of
Zimbabweans.
He said in view of the stance taken by Mbeki's
government, Zimbabweans must look beyond South Africa for assistance in
bringing normalcy to the country. Shumba said Zimbabweans in South Africa
support the proposed blockade by the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) of Zimbabwe's borders.
COSATU secretary-general
Zwelinzima Vavi last week said COSATU would mobilise southern African trade
unions in the next few weeks to march to Zimbabwean embassies in their
respective countries and blockade borders with Zimbabwe.
The US-based Association of Zimbabweans Abroad condemned the action by South
Africa and said they viewed it as a "stain on the rich African culture which
is rooted in respect for life."
"This association calls upon
the United Nations General Assembly president and United Nations
secretary-general, to establish a UN fact-finding mission to determine the
extent and impact of the political crisis in Zimbabwe," the association said
in a statement.
THE African Union asked President Thabo Mbeki to mediate in
the Ivory Coast civil strife. He gladly accepted. Soon, the South African
leader was seen huddled with the combatants at conference
tables.
Mbeki does have problems back home. Some of his people
feel he shouldn't be globe-trotting while unemployment and poverty rise back
home. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, no slouch in getting up leaders' noses -
whoever they are - spoke of poverty among the majority, ten years after the
end of apartheid.
Then there is Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's No.2, and
the ANC's designated successor as president. He is in deep legal trouble,
and not for the first time either.
But Mbeki's problems
with the opposition parties are not serious. Tony Leon's party keeps sniping
at the ANC heels, but it has a long way to go before anybody sees it in
power.
But Mbeki must be particularly pleased at the near-RIP
state of his party's pre-independence rival, the Pan African Congress of
Azania.
If the PAC, founded by the charismatic Robert Mangaliso
Sobukwe, had won the 1994 democratic elections, South Africa would be called
Azania.
The PAC has faded into the political mist around Table
Mountain. It makes the odd appearance in support of its war-time ally,
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF. On the land reform programme, the PAC was raucously
supportive of Mugabe.
It criticised Mbeki for not being as
forceful as Mugabe, who seemed to justify even the murders during the 2000
land invasions. Recently, the PAC came out against the Congress of South
African Trade Unions' (Cosatu) campaign against Mugabe.
Mbeki did too but not as scurrilously as the PAC. But on the SA political
scene, the PAC hardly counts for much. Since 1994, it has not performed well
in any elections. For the record, during the struggle, the PAC was allied to
Mugabe's old Zanu while the ANC fought side by side with Joshua Nkomo's
Zapu.
On the African front, some commentators have suggested
that Mbeki's support for Mugabe may be influenced by his fear of a backlash
in favour of the PAC, if he treated the Zimbabwe leader as Botswana's Festus
Mogae treats him: not exactly like a political leper, but
as
someone about whom you say nice things only if it is absolutely
unavoidable.
But Mbeki's problems are nothing compared with
Mugabe's. Nobody has asked him to mediate in any dispute recently. His
international stature - except among diehard Africanists who tend to be
adherents of the autocratic style of African leadership forged by the likes
of Mobutu, Bokassa, Idi Amin and Equatorial Guinea's Macias Nguema - has
plummeted
The Herald carried a story suggesting someone had
proposed Mugabe as a mediator in the Saharawi dispute, which involves
Morocco, Algeria and Spain. Then someone dropped a bombshell on the
newspaper: what numskull had made such a weird suggestion? asked the
Moroccans, not in those exact words.
One of their top officials
had held talks with Mugabe in Harare. Certainly, he had not made such a
request. Other people, overseas, in Africa, but particularly in Zimbabwe,
were intrigued by this storm in a foreign teacup.
In the
past, The Herald has carried sickeningly sycophantic stories about Mugabe,
some times just stopping short of saying he glows with the same incandescent
light as God's. Typically, the paper did not carry an apology or a
retraction.
Typically, nobody brought against the paper any
charges of publishing a falsehood, as stipulated in the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
If
anybody had really asked Mugabe to mediate in any dispute, even on the
periphery of outer space, the government media would have done a 30-page
supplement on how Mugabe was in great demand as a conciliator in all the
problems of the world, including a tiff between an Eskimo and his wife on
the size of their igloo, now that they have twins.
Nobody
can really recall when Mugabe was last asked to mediate in any dispute. So
far, he has confined his counsel to newly-married couples. The government
flagship had got it wrong over Mugabe's emergence as a statesman worthy of
an invitation to mediate in a ticklish political drama.
If it
had been accurate, the report would have unleashed a flood of Mugabe hit
songs, one of which would have proposed him for the Nobel Peace
Prize.
The reality is starkly against Mugabe. Morgan
Tsvangirai's acquittal on that incredibly botched treason charge was
translated by many neutral observers into a failed and rather ingenuous
attempt by Mugabe to get rid of his chief political rival.
The pretrial hype had been as crude as the inflammatory anti-MDC speeches
after Learnmore Jongwe had allegedly killed his wife with a kitchen knife.
To Zanu PF, Tsvangirai was as guilty as hell and would be executed. Some of
Zanu PF's starry-eyed foreign supporters hoped that would be the end of a
hiccup in the rise of Zimbabwe as another bastion of Marxism-Leninism - or
at least, another dictatorship, if not of the proletariat, then certainly of
one who believed absolutely in the power of terror as an instrument of
governance. Judge Paddington Garwe, previously thought to be an
unreconstituted Zanu PF zealot, may have made his judgment with little
thought of the dire consequences to himself personally. But this would be
unimaginable. Most judges in Zimbabwe today know, from the experience of
their colleagues, that you don't mess with Zanu PF and get away with it.
Since the former Chief Justice, Anthony Gubbay, was forced into early
retirement, the atmosphere on the Bench has been almost frigid. Judges have
fled the country. So have lawyers. So far, nothing untoward has happened to
Garwe. As Zimbabwe lurches towards the March parliamentary elections, Mugabe
must surely reflect on his final place in the political history of Southern
Africa. Joachim Chissano, Sam Nujoma, Bakhili Muluzi, Kenneth Kaunda,
Frederick Chiluba, Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Mkapa, Julius Nyerere, Daniel
arap Moi, Mohamed Siad Barre, Lauren Kabila, Jerry Rawlings, Sani Abacha:
Mugabe has been president while these men were in power. But all of them are
not in power today. Some died in office or in exile, others were defeated in
elections. Thabo Mbeki, so far, is not seeking a third term. His party may
have wished for him to lead the country again, but people must have reminded
him of Nelson Mandela's historic one-term presidency. Mandela himself might
have persuaded Mbeki not to be the arch-typical African dictator, seeking to
hold on to power until kingdom come. Mbeki's stature has improved enormously
on the continent and in the world. It has not rivalled Mandela's by any
means, but most people don't mention his gaffe on HIV/Aids in the early part
of his tenure. All of which might embolden him to be more assertive in his
handling of Mugabe and Zimbabwe's problems. His meeting with Tsvangirai in
South Africa could not have pleased Mugabe. But he would have been the odd
man out if he had not met Tsvangirai, after his acquittal on the treason
charge. Mbeki may not have received from Tsvangirai the sort of the
Zimbabwean political truth to suddenly transform him into another Mogae. But
it may have been just enough to eliminate from his political calculations
any chance the PAC could benefit from a more assertive stance from him
against Mugabe. He must know by now that his international stature could
rise even higher if he was seen as cutting Mugabe down to size.
Zim's children left to fight Aids alone November 28 2004
at 03:17PM
By Sarah Crowe
Lavender Mbika is as
lovely as her name - a bright-eyed, fresh-faced 14-year-old.
Of
the 16 children in the small "nutrition garden" in Zvishavane, in Zimbabwe's
Midlands - funded by the European Union's humanitarian aid department -
Mbika is one of the few who still has a mother.
The other little
ones, sad-looking, have latched on to her. Children should not be
held ransom to politics - Festo Kavaishe, UN Children's Fund
It
is a stark study in contrasts. While Mbika smiles brightly for the camera,
eager to be photographed, the others clutch at her skirts, shying away from
the camera.
The light in their eyes have gone out.
These are just a few of Zimbabwe's almost one million Aids orphans. They are
living proof that the country, like many of its neighbours, is now in the
death phase of the pandemic.
Mbika's father was somebody
significant once - fairly high up in the military until he died "after a
long illness", leaving his daughter to be added to the growing list of
orphans.
Already the number of children in Zimbabwe who have lost a
parent is estimated at 1,3 million, with 980 000 of them left without any
parent because of Aids - this, out of a total population of 5,8 million
children, or more than 10 percent of the total population of 11,6 million.
The UN Children's Fund estimates that by 2010, this number is expected to be
as high as one in five children.
Orphans in Zimbabwe survive by
only the most tenuous thread.
The all-embracing extended African
family has withered and all but collapsed under the strain of the
crisis.
Relatives prey on children once their parents are gone and
teenage girls are most exposed to sexual abuse, early pregnancy and
HIV.
Young mothers are dying at a greater rate and 10 years earlier
than men, leaving an exaggerated vacuum in a society that has become used to
absent fathers.
Every home seems to have taken in an orphan or
10. These care-givers, mostly women, are the true backbone of this
society.
Enia Phiri is one of them, and does what she can to care
for the many orphans around her - but she knows she can never replace a real
mother.
"To be a child without a mother is the worst, worst thing,"
she says.
"The way people speak to them is not loving, like a
mother. They say, 'do this, do that'. The orphans are not happy, like other
children."
To keep some semblance of home life intact, and to give
orphans some power over their fragile lives community-based interventions
that are funded by the European Union's humanitarian aid department, have
worked best. This has helped build a network of community and NGOs in 27
districts of the country, which aims to reach 30 000 children.
Some of the initiatives are nutrition gardens, where the children - some no
higher than the vegetables - learn to cultivate and sell the
produce.
"Things have really changed now with the garden," says
Mbika. "We can buy books and pens for school. The orphans are benefiting
because we now get washing soap and sometimes cooking oil."
It
doesn't go far though. Mbika, as the treasurer, keeps the books and knows it
has made ZIM$17 000 (about R17) so far.
With the country in the
throes of an economic crisis, this only gives them enough to buy some
pencils and exercise books - a pencil costs about ZIM$500 (about 50c) and
ZIM$2 000 (about R2) buys one exercise book.
Not far from the Mbika
and her fellow orphans is another 14-year-old, Precious Phiri, and her
11-year-old brother, Learnmore.
Since their parents died some years
ago, the two children have lived alone. With no money for school fees, their
days are spent surviving - fetching water, cleaning, cooking - with the help
of Red Cross women.
Learnmore has the yellowed eyes of someone who
has lived alone too long; a haunted, unloved look.
Since their
parents died they had struggled together in a run-down hut that needed
re-thatching. Now, at least, they have a good solid roof over their heads -
part of a project to rehabilitate housing - and a new latrine.
But
with the rising cost of education, Learnmore has little chance of living up
to the name his parents gave him. School fees, uniforms and books have made
schooling something he and his sister cannot afford.
Zimbabwean
education was once the pride of Africa, but gains made since independence in
1980 have been wiped out by the multiple onslaught of HIV/ Aids, the orphan
crisis, economic erosion and the effects of successive years of drought and
hunger.
By 2001, at least one in four teachers was infected by HIV,
and United Nations studies show that school enrolment dropped from 86 to 63
percent in 2002, and 25 percent fewer children now complete primary
school.
Girls are dropping out in greater numbers because they are
the ones who stay at home to care for sick relatives or are forced into
early marriage.
The Zimbabwean government does have a scheme to
help orphans remain in school, the Basic Education Assistance Module, or
Beam, but few are able to gain access to it.
The government is
also one of the first in the region to approve a national plan of action for
orphans and other vulnerable children.
This outlines a strategy to
help get children into school and make sure they have better access to
health care, nutrition and safe water.
As costs skyrocket, however,
these plans are threatened as donors become more reluctant to fund President
Robert Mugabe's regime.
"This national plan of action gives us an
important roadmap to accelerate our efforts to make sure that no child is
left out," said UN Children's Fund representative Festo
Kavaishe.
"We know we are only reaching a small number of children.
It is crucial that we act now.
"Children should not be held
ransom to politics, and if we are going to reverse the HIV prevalence rate,
we have to start with these children, who by being orphaned are the most
vulnerable to abuse."
.....Sarah Crowe visited Zimbabwe
recently. She is the United Nations Children's Fund communications officer
for sub-Saharan Africa.
This article was originally published
on page 20 of Tribune on November 28, 2004
Zanu-PF congress 'a formality' 28/11/2004 14:39 -
(SA)
Harare, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe's ruling party holds
its annual congress this week, but observers of his authoritarian regime say
the meeting is unlikely to produce any dramatic developments like last
year's announcement Zimbabwe was quitting the Commonwealth.
Lovemore
Madhuku, chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly, an umbrella
organisation of churches, unions and rights groups pressing for radical
reform, dismissed the four-day Zanu-PF congress beginning on Wednesday as
"just a formality" that will do nothing but give Mugabe a platform for more
anti-white anti-Western rhetoric.
Madhuku said all key decisions had
already been taken by Mugabe's 26-member party "politburo", an elite
policy-making body.
Those decisions included the appointment of water
affairs minister Joyce Mujuru as one of Mugabe's two deputies following the
death last year of Vice-President Simon Muzenda, 80.
Mujuru, 49, a
former teenage guerrilla with little formal education, will serve alongside
Vice-President Joseph Msika, 81.
Her selection dashes the ambitions of
parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, 63, who had declared his candidacy
to succeed Mugabe at the next presidential elections in 2008.
Mugabe,
80, has been in power since Britain granted independence in 1980.
The
troubled southern African country, once the white-ruled colony of Rhodesia,
is moving toward new parliamentary elections Mugabe says will take place in
March.
Capturing 57 of the 120 elected seats at the last polls in June
2000, Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it
was only deprived of outright victory by massive rigging and
intimidation.
Delegates 'powerless' to influence government
policy
University of Zimbabwe lecturer John Makumbe said the 7 000
congress delegates were powerless to influence government
policy.
"Normally, whatever Mugabe says, goes," he said.
The
Financial Gazette, owned by a consortium of pro-government businessmen who
include Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, last week voiced doubts about the
estimated Z$20bn (US$3.2m) cost of staging the event and accommodating the
delegates. It suggested numbers be trimmed back to 5 000. Zimbabwe's 80 000
civil servants have already been called on to contribute from their pay
packets.
In addition to announcing Zimbabwe's exit from the
Commonwealth of former British possessions, Mugabe raged at the last
congress in December against "money seekers" in party ranks, creating a
fear-charged atmosphere with threats of an imminent purge.
In the
aftermath, police swooped on several leading political figures including
Finance Minister Christopher Kuruneri. He has been held without bail for
over eight months.
No date has been set for his trial on charges of
currency smuggling and secretly holding dual Canadian citizenship, an
offense under Zimbabwe law.
Mash Central residents call for return of
wildlife Staff Writer
RESIDENTS and tour operators in Mashonaland
Central province have blasted government for failing to ensure the return of
wildlife removed from Mupfurudzi Safari Area by Ian Smith's regime during
the liberation struggle as part of efforts to thwart funding for
nationalists fighting to free the country from imperialist
rule.
Animals removed from Mupfurudzi Safari Area, which covers thousands
of hectares in Mashonaland Central, include rhinos and elephants hunted for
their horns and tusks, which fetch high prices on both official markets and
black markets, and have been the major victims of poaching.
The
residents called for the return of the animals, saying the move would augur
well with the revival of eco-tourism in the area and in the process create
revenue that could be used for community development whilst creating
employment.
"We want those animals returned to Mupfurudzi Safari area
so that tourists can come and enjoy what the area has to offer. It does not
make sense to cull elephants in Binga and surrounding areas when we can
simply relocate them to Mupfurudzi," said Clemence Maroodza, proprietor of
Mupfurudzi Safari Lodge.
Maroodza told the Sunday Mirror that tour
operators and lodges were suffering as the animal population had been
depleted to shocking levels that could not result in guaranteed levels of
tourism arrivals in the area.
Maroodza added: " How does government
expect tourists to come to these areas and enjoy eco-tourism when there are
no elephants, buffaloes, rhinos and lions to grace Mupfurudzi Safari area?
Our businesses are suffering exceedingly and yet we are part of the tourism
drive targeting tourists. No attractions such as these animals, no
tourists." One villager who declined to be named castigated the decision by
government not to return the animals that were transported to other parks by
the Smith government sometime between 1973 and 1976.
"They have
robbed us of our livelihood. My son was employed at Mupfurudzi Safari Lodge
but because of the ever-declining figures in tourists visiting the place,
the management of the lodge had to dismiss some employees including my son,"
said the villager.
The only game found in Mupfurudzi Safari area consists
of warthogs, antelope, ostriches, Kudus, sables and impala, but none of the
Big Five which include buffaloes, rhinos, elephants, lions and
leopard.
As of the year 2001, Zimbabwe's elephant population stood at 88
100 elephants, with over half the number being located in Matebeleland North
province where they have wreaked havoc amongst the local populace as their
grazing area continues to diminish.
On the other hand, Mupfurudzi
Safari Area has virtually no elephants; a phenomena that has irked residents
and holiday resort operators, who have complained that their tourism
business has suffered as a result.
Zanu PF
legislator for Rushinga constituency in Mashonaland Central province,
Lazarus Dokora, who is bidding for re-election to Parliament next March
could have his political ambitions scuttled after villagers in his
constituency accused him of neglecting the constituency following what
appears to be a humanitarian crisis brewing in Rushinga. Serious
disgruntlement by constituents revealed a debilitating water crisis, as
there is no water infrastructural development in most parts of his
constituency, especially the Chesa area.
"MP (Member of Parliament)
Dokora has neglected us severely and we are not happy with this. We are
suffering as a result of his inaction and yet he is supposed to bring our
concerns to parliament so that government can act on our plight," said one
villager who declined to be named.
Villagers in the Chiyada area in
Chesa, a small scale farming area in Rushinga, took the Sunday Mirror on a
tour of the area last week where it was confirmed that there were over 30
families within a 10 to 15 kilometre radius are without access to clean
water supplies.
Villagers and livestock alike in the area are dependent
on one mud pool in which they wade knee-deep in efforts to get water for
cooking and bathing.
The water is then sifted through the use of sand
filters to remove visible impurities before the poverty-stricken villagers
can consume it.
"There have been a number of cholera outbreaks in our
area with a lot of people dying but the water crisis still has not been
solved. We have no option but to drink this grey coloured water which we
have to share with cattle," said Eunice Dhanda, whose homestead is seven
kilometres away from the mud pool.
Exacerbating the crisis is the
fact that cattle belonging to villagers have fallen into the mud pool whilst
trying to quench their thirst, with some sinking and dying before any help
can be administered.
"I lost over 30 cattle and I am not happy. How can
we be neglected like this year's after independence when we have an MP
representing us? I have not seen Dokora since the last presidential
elections when he was campaigning for the President and we only get to see
him when elections are around the corner.
"I think it is high time we
chose another MP from Zanu PF to represent us," said one villager who
declined to be named for fear of victimisation.
Besides the serious water
problems afflicting Chesa area, a dilapidated road network and poor
educational facilities are serious causes for concerns for
villagers.
The disgruntlement expressed by villagers with Dokora
comes at a time when President Robert Mugabe has castigated sitting
legislators for only visiting the constituency when elections were
due.
President Mugabe blasted all MPs who were representing their
constituencies in absentia, saying they should not be offended when they
fail to get re-endorsement to represent the constituency in parliament, as
they would have tarnished the name of the ruling Zanu PF party by failing to
address the needs of their constituents.
This was after it had been
noted that there were a number of legislators who scarcely visited their
provinces during their five-year tenure in the parliament.
Efforts to
get a comment from Dokora proved fruitless at the time of going to
press.