Police disrupt MDC-T rallies

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
28 November 2011

Police have forced the MDC-T to reschedule two of its party rallies in
Masvingo, claiming ZANU PF had already booked the venues.

The rallies in Zaka on Friday and Bikita on Saturday were both disrupted by
police, despite the MDC-T informing the authorities well before time.

The party’s Masvingo provincial spokesperson, Harrison Mudzuri, said the
police’s claim that the venues were booked by ZANU PF is “baseless”.

“We informed the police in time and they pretended as if everything was in
order and they even told us that they were processing our application and we
did not suspect anything,” said Mudzuri.

He added: “To our surprise we received a message that the rallies had been
had cancelled in favour of the ZANU PF event. We would like to know the
method they used to justify the ZANU PF rally ahead of our programme.”

Meanwhile, according to an MDC-T statement on Monday, a ZANU PF activist who
was serving an 18 year jail term for the murder of MDC-T activist Moses
Chokuda, was murdered by other inmates at Hwahwa Prison in Gweru last week
Thursday.

The MDC-T said that the ZANU PF activist, Abel Maphosa was killed by Moses
Pedzisai Mahuvava, Wellington Gadzira and Nyasha Masiiwa “after refusing to
escape from prison.”

Deputy Speaker Fired

http://www.radiovop.com/

Gwanda, November 28, 2011, - Movement for Democratic Change President,
Professor Welshman Ncube Saturday expelled Umzingwane legislator Ms
Nomalanga Khumalo from his party accusing her of working with MDC-T.

Ncube said it was unfortunate that she was using Mutambara as a shield when
in actual fact she belongs to the MDC-T.

Nomalanga Khumalo is the only MP from the MDC who has publicly pledged her
loyalty to Mutambara while disowning Ncube.

Speaking after a rally in Umzingwane which Ms Khumalo snubbed, Ncube said it
was evident that the deputy speaker of Parliament was unfit to represent his
party in any election.

“Her departure is not a painful loss to the MDC family, that is her
democratic decision, we work as a team and in a team if a player gets
injured you substitute him, you don’t dissolve the team” , said Ncube.

Professor Ncube said Ms Khumalo had decided to cross the floor and could not
continue to be their member.

“But it’s something else if a member of team A decides to play for team B.
It becomes clear that the member is as good as not being a player. That is
the case with MaKhumalo.” said the Professor.

Ncube hinted that legal implications would follow after the finalisation of
the Prof Mutambara High Court case.

The law stipulates that if a House of Assembly member is expelled from the
party he/she ceases to be a Member of Parliament and the seat should be
declared vacant.

MDC-T deputy organising secretary Abedinico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and
Norman Mpofu lost their seats under similar circumstances.

MPs blackmail Biti

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior Writer
Monday, 28 November 2011 12:46

HARARE - Parliamentarians across the political divide are plotting war
against Finance Minister Tendai Biti by holding back approval of his 2012
budget proposals until he gives in to their demands for new cars and unpaid
salaries.

The fresh showdown with Biti could potentially throw his budget which was
crafted with the poor in mind, off the rails.

Biti presented his budget proposals to Parliament last week, but MPs are
seething that he failed to allocate resources to buy them new cars as well
as pay off salaries and allowances outstanding since 2008.

The law gives the MPs power over Biti’s budget.

Government ministries’ ability to tap into allocations provided for in the
budget hinges on Parliament’s approval of the budget.

Legislators from Zanu PF and the MDC separately told the Daily News at the
weekend that they would use their power to push Treasury to meet their needs
or get some of form of undertaking before passing the budget.

Paddy Zhanda, chairman of an inter-party welfare committee for MPs, told the
Daily News yesterday that legislators felt the executive had taken them for
granted for too long, hinting that it was time for MPs to flex muscles.

“Do a survey in the Sadc region and find out how much MPs are paid compared
to us. It is very unfortunate that people can perceive that we are trying to
arm twist the government when the truth is that government is not looking at
our welfare issues,” said Zhanda.

An MDC MP who refused to be named said: “This is neither about political
affiliation nor being greedy. We are just uniting against an executive that
wants us to play subservient to it when we are a separate arm of
 government.”

The MPs argue that they need the resources to effectively cover their
constituencies.

The move could open a fresh war between the executive and the legislature.

MPs accuse the executive, led by President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of pampering
themselves with multiple luxury cars and other perks that include paid
foreign trips while legislators wallow in poverty.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai in October agreed to suspend payment of allowances for
MPs for the period July 2008 and October 2011.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga, a Tsvangirai appointee,
later questioned the decision, which he described as illegal.

He said the coalition government principals made the decision without
“sufficient argument or information having been proffered to them”.

MPs are supposed to get about $500 salary per month. They are also entitled
to a $75 allowance per sitting.

“In the Sadc region the average salary of the MPs is $10 000 per month,”
said Zhanda.

There was furore in the House of Assembly last week when MPs cornered
Mutambara over their dues.

MPs from all political divides demanded that Mutambara should bring Mugabe
and Tsvangirai to Parliament to explain why legislators were being
neglected.

Zhanda is also chairman of Parliament’s portfolio committee on Finance,
Budget and Investment Promotion, which is responsible for scrutinising the
budget.

He said apart from the issue of outstanding allowances and perks, MP  would
resist the executive’s arm-twisting tactics to force them tO approve the
budget without much inspection.

“We must have the opportunity to scrutinise the budget to check if there is
no misallocation of resources. There is a strong sentiment amongst MPs that
the budget is an important tool to the life of parliament and it must be
approved by them after thorough scrutiny. We are not going to rubber stamp
it without scrutiny,” said Zhanda.

“Parliament adjourned to next week so that we can meet with stakeholders and
the Minister of Finance to look at the budget as various portfolio
committees,” said Zhanda.

This will not be the first time MPs have clashed with the executive over the
budget.

Last year, Vice President Joice Mujuru and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
had to whip the legislators into line for them to approve the budget after
they raised concerns.

800 WOZA members launch ‘gender violence’ campaign

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
28 November 2011

Hundreds of members of pressure group Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
took to the streets on Monday for a peaceful protest to Parliament, as part
of a global campaign against gender violence.

The 16 Days Campaign was launched last week and is taking place across the
world under the theme ‘From peace in the home to peace in the world: Let’s
challenge militarism and end violence against women’.

On Monday, the WOZA members gathered near the parliamentary buildings and
marched through the streets, singing songs and handing out pamphlets about
gender violence. Despite being closely monitored by police and followed by a
known member of Robert Mugabe’s presidential guard, the WOZA march was not
disrupted.

Once at parliament, different WOZA members gave speeches about gender
specific violence, including the fact that recently, in just 11 days, 124
women had been raped. They also mentioned the fact that sexual harassment is
experienced by up to 70 % of women, while women aged between 15 and 44 are
more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car
accidents, war, and malaria.

WOZA leader Jenni Williams told SW Radio Africa on Monday that this year’s
global theme is particularly fitting for Zimbabwe, where “there is deep
violence in the home and in public spaces.”

“There is so much concern about the increase in militarisation across the
country, with more youth militias and people being harassed. In some parts
of the country, whole villages are being forced to attend rallies and made
to toyi-toyi for hours and they are too afraid to say no,” Williams said.

Williams also explained that WOZA was not invited to the official Campaign
launch, which had been organised by the Women’s Affairs Ministry last week.

“Ministry officials ordered the police not to allow WOZA to participate and
in fact used the word that we were ‘barred’. Instead of even being invited,
we were barred. So when we received the news we were outraged, but we have
proceeded with our events anyway,” Williams said.

Williams meanwhile was last week awarded with the French National Order of
Merit, in recognition of her relentless advocacy for democracy and human
rights in Zimbabwe. The decision to give the award was made by the French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the recommendation of the French Embassy in
Zimbabwe.

Williams said in her acceptance speech that it was not too late for Zimbabwe’s
political leadership to return to the promises of the liberation war.

“Enough blood has been spilt in a violent war for these ideals. WOZA members
fight tirelessly, but this time non-violently so that we can see, feel and
enjoy those promises,” she said.

She also accepted the award in recognition of the thousands of community
activists who championed for change in the country.

“This award will also help to lift the profile of these champions and
protect them from abuse and torture and may even save their lives,” she
said.

'Chiefs used for political mileage'

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Pindai Dube
Monday, 28 November 2011 09:41

BULAWAYO - Sesel Zvidzai, the deputy minister of Local Government and Urban
Development said traditional chiefs’ posts should be abolished as Zanu PF is
now   using them to gain political mileage.

Speaking to the Daily News in Bulawayo on Saturday on the sidelines of
National Residents Conference on the constitution-making process, Zvidzai
whose ministry is responsible for traditional chiefs, said their posts
should be abolished since most chiefs have turned into Zanu PF activists.

He said countries like Tanzania are being run without traditional chiefs and
there is great development there.

“My personal opinion as Zvidzai is that traditional chiefs’ posts should be
abolished in Zimbabwe as that won’t affect any development in the country.
In Tanzania there are no traditional chiefs but President Kikwete is running
his government smoothly. Right now Bulawayo as a city has no traditional
chief but it’s being run smoothly, even Harare the capital city has no chief
and it is also being run well,” said Zvidzai.

Zimbabwe’s rural areas are currently Zanu PF strongholds and traditional
chiefs have been criticised for using their powers to punish those who
belong to the MDC and other opposition parties in previous elections.

Ignatius Chombo, the minister of Local Government and Urban Development who
is Zvidzai’s boss has also been criticised in the past  for dishing out
vehicles and other allowances to traditional chiefs to get support for Zanu
PF.

In November last year, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met with the
president of the council of chiefs Fortune Charumbira and used the meeting
to implore errant traditional leaders to stay out of politics.

Tsvangirai said traditional leaders are not politicians and should not be
involved in politics.

Charumbira, at a recent Zanu PF conference held in Goromonzi, urged chiefs
to declare President Robert Mugabe life president.

Civil society and human rights groups have also accused traditional leaders
of   championing violence in rural areas.

Reports from Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) and Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP) claim that most traditional leaders force-march villagers to attend
Zanu PF rallies and deny suspected MDC supporters food aid usually sourced
from aid groups.

Tsvangirai's mum welcomes his wife

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

27/11/2011 00:00:00
    by Staff Reporter

THE marriage saga engulfing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai took on a
dramatic turn on Sunday as it emerged that Locadia Tembo – the woman he
insists he has not married – is now at the MDC-T leader’s home in Buhera,
completing traditional rites that follow the payment of lobola.

The state-run Herald newspaper on Monday published a picture of Tembo, 39,
sweeping the yard with a grass broom at the home of Mbuya Lydia Tsvangirai –
the Prime Minister’s mother – in Humanikwa Village.

Tsvangirai’s mother lives in a neat home adjacent to her son’s rural
homestead, where the Prime Minister says in his recently published book he
retires to when he needs time to himself.

Tsvangirai, meanwhile, left for South Africa on Friday on an unexplained
trip. The NewsDay newspaper speculated on Saturday that the Prime Minister
had “gone to reassure his children based there following the pregnancy
scandal that has literally shredded the family’s image”.

Tsvangirai found himself at the centre of a media storm, starting on Monday
last week, when New Zimbabwe.com revealed that he had married Tembo during a
traditional ceremony in Mazowe.

The Prime Minister did not attend the ceremony but his emissaries, including
his uncle Innocent Zvaipa, paid lobola on his behalf and delivered
groceries. Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, a friend of both Tsvangirai
and Tembo, was also present.

The events of that day have been challenged by Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke
Tamborinyoka, who denies the 59-year-old MDC leader married.

Others suggest his emissaries probably went beyond their brief and
overcommitted. In off-the-record briefings, some of Tsvangirai’s friends
insist he had simply asked his emissaries to pay “damages” – which would
appear to confirm a report by the privately-owned Daily News that Tembo is
pregnant with twins.

Despite the denials, Tembo’s family have been steadfast, accusing Tsvangirai’s
spokesman of “dragging our family name in the mud” by continuing to deny the
marriage took place. The Sunday Mail newspaper reported that Tembo's family
had threatened to release a video of the proceedings on YouTube if the
denials continued.

It has now emerged that Tembo, a sister to Zanu PF’s MP for Goromonzi West,
Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga, left her rural home in Christon Bank, Mazowe,
soon after last week’s “lobola ceremony” and moved in with Tsvangirai’s
uncle – Zvaipa – in Harare.

Tsvangirai’s mother, according to the Herald, explained that Tembo had
arrived in Buhera in pouring rain on Saturday night to complete the final
leg of her marriage.

The newspaper said its two reporters and a photographer were not readily
welcomed by Tsvangirai’s mother, who advised them to come some other time.
She is quoted as saying: “We know you want to keep the nation informed but
you can’t just swarm in like birds.”

When the reporters congratulated her on her new daughter-in-law, she
replied: “The congratulations are for all of us.”

Tembo and her aunts are said to have swept the yard while the reporters were
present, before fetching water from a nearby village well.

Tsvangirai’s wife, Susan, with whom he had six children, died in a car
accident in March 2009 . Since then, he has been linked with a string of
women, including a 23-year-old Bulawayo woman, Loreta Nyathi, who says she
has a son named Ethan with the Prime Minister.

Aides have warned the Prime Minister to get a grip on his love life,
cautioning that failure to do so could do irreparable harm to his public
image.

Chiota’s wife dies

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za

Alex Eliseev | 10 Hour(s) Ago

Police have confirmed the wife of Zimbabwean politician Justine Chiota died
in hospital at the weekend.

The estranged wife was shot by Chiota at his home in Morningside, northern
Johannesburg. Chiota later committed suicide.

The politician made headlines in 2008 after it emerged that the founder
member of Zimbabwe's People's Party was driving a black VIP vehicle linked
to the presidency.

Police spokesperson Kim Cloete says despite the suicide a charge of murder
is still being investigated until the docket is finalised.

Chiota's wife had arrived at his home to serve him with a protection order
when she was shot.

Fed-up minister quits politics

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

28/11/2011 00:00:00
    by Staff Reporter

CONSTITUTIONAL Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga says he will quit at the next
elections, disappointed with the level of violence in local politics and
leaders’ pre-occupation with power and personal enrichment instead of
serving the people.

Matinenga, who won Buhera West for the MDC-T in 2008, said he had been
“naïve” to think politics was about service when he was approached by party
leader Morgan Tsvangirai to contest the constituency.

“I think I was a bit naïve. To me politics was about service to the people
and I thought everybody wanted to move from the past into the future and
build a better Zimbabwe,” he said in an interview with the Zimbabwe
Independent.

“I didn’t realise how some look at politics in terms of power and control.”
Matinenga said he was particularly shocked to discover the level of violent
factionalism in the party.

The MDC-T was rocked by violent clashes between rival factions during
provincial elections leading up to its national congress in Bulawayo in May.

“I was shocked at what I witnessed of that process. I didn’t believe that as
the MDC we could sink that low … I was saddened and still saddened by that
experience.”
He also felt Tsvangirai could have moved more decisively to deal with the
violence.

“I briefed (Tsvangirai about the violence) and he expressed outrage. I met
him subsequently and he always said he would set up a body to look into
this,” he said.

“I am hoping that this body would carry a full investigation into the
matter. If I was in a position of authority, I would have addressed this
matter immediately, but people work differently. I hope the way he is
tackling the issue would bear positive results.”

Matinenga also said he was disappointed with the failure of the coalition
government to substantively address the myriad of challenges facing the
country.

“Ministers are addressing issues on partisan lines. When we debate issues
they simply go back to their political trenches. This is a huge
disappointment,” he said.
“I don’t think Zanu PF wants to make a clean break with the past. Zanu PF
positions on political issues are rigid.”

Matinenga insisted he had not been pushed aside to make way for University
of Zimbabwe lecturer, Dr John Makumbe who has since been selected to
represent the MDC-T in Buhera West.

“Nobody pushed me out! I had set myself a target to do my term only,” he
said.

“I participated in the process to find my successor (and) I think John
Makumbe is electable.”
Matinenga said he would be returning to legal practice after his unhappy
sojourn into politics.

“I will have to re-apply to be admitted to the Advocate Chambers. My office
and library are still in place and I hope I will pick up from where I left
off.”

Female rape suspects appear in court

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
28 November 2011

Three women from Gweru charged with ‘raping’ seventeen male hitchhikers and
collecting their semen appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday.

The trio of Rosemary Chakwizira and sisters Netsai and Sophie Nhokwara were
arrested in October after being found with 31 used condoms containing semen.
Also charged is Sophie’s boyfriend, Thulani Ngwenya, who allegedly assisted
in committing the spate of sex attacks that has got the whole country in
frenzy.

All four suspects will now be given a trial date on Tuesday, after the
defence successfully resisted attempts by prosecutors to have the matter
postponed to the 5th December. Up to seventeen ‘victims’ have been
identified, including a soldier and policeman, who claim they were abused
without using condoms.

Stories of male hitchhikers being ‘raped’ were reported frequently in the
press accompanied by claims that a ‘sperm harvesting’ syndicate was behind
it. Police arrested the three women after they tried to retrieve 31 used
condoms from a car owned by Sophie, which had been involved in an accident
that killed a pedestrian.

In their defence the women said they were prostitutes who were too busy to
throw away the used condoms. Semen for ritual purposes is reported to be
“selling like hot cakes” in neighbouring South Africa where a full condom
can fetch as much as US$400.

The story has generated general disbelief at a number of levels, including
whether it is possible for women to rape men. Several men who spoke to SW
Radio Africa said they would voluntarily give their semen in exchange for
free sex and there was no need to rape them for it.
The testimony from some of the victims has also been sensational in most
cases. For example one victim narrated his ordeal on national television and
said that he was offered a lift by a group of three women in Harare.

“One of the women threw water in my face and they injected me with something
that gave me a strong sexual desire. They stopped the car and made me have
sex with each of them several times, using condoms. When they had finished
they left me in the bush totally naked. Some people gathering grass helped
me by calling the police, who took me to hospital to deal with the effects
of this drug that I had been given, as the urge to have sex was still
 there.”

The treatment of the women who are still suspects has been contrasted with
the manner in which the late convicted serial rapist Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira
was treated.

Nzira was given a presidential pardon and the Attorney General and several
ministers attended his ‘release’ party in Chitungwiza. In contrast the Gweru
women have been paraded in public and scores of Gweru residents besieged the
local police station where they were initially being held, wanting to beat
them up.

Wilf Mbanga, the editor of the Zimbabwean newspaper, said: “Is it because as
a society we don’t view the rape of a woman as a serious crime? Is it
because in our patrilineal society we regard women as objects of sexual
desire and when the tables are turned we act in a despicable manner?”

Fragile truce holds in Zim

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Monday, 28 November 2011 15:46

HARARE - An uneasy truce is holding in Zimbabwe after the signing of a
non-aggression pact by bitter rivals turned coalition government partners
two weeks ago.

Following the inter-party violence indaba convened by national executives of
Zimbabwe’s three ruling coalition partners on November 11, President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the two MDC parties say relative peace is holding, for
now.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s subsequent November 20 rally at Chibuku
Stadium in Chitungwiza was the scene of an unusual arrangement where police
provided security at an MDC rally.

Police won rare commendation from the MDC for ensuring law and order at the
rally after youths suspected to belong to Zanu PF had earlier in the month
used violence to disrupt a similar rally at the same venue.

“If an MDC member commits a crime, they should be arrested. Likewise, when a
Zanu PF member commits a crime, they should be arrested,” Tsvangirai told
the Chibuku Stadium rally.

The rally came after an earlier rally scheduled for the same venue was
violently broken by knobkerrie-wielding youths.

Scores of MDC officials and supporters were injured when the group besieged
the venue where preparations for the rally were underway forcing the party
to abandon the meeting.

Earlier, similar incidents had taken place in Matabeleland North where the
police disrupted scheduled MDC rallies.

But it was the first Chibuku Stadium violence that precipitated events
leading to the anti-violence indaba.

The arrangement was formalised by a Code of Conduct dubbed the Harare
Declaration.  Ordinary Zimbabweans have welcomed the ongoing
live-and-let-live arrangement.

So far, the “ceasefire” between Zanu PF and the two MDC parties appear to be
holding as South Africa-mediator to the Zimbabwean political standoff —has
also turned up diplomatic pressure on Harare to end violence.

The apparent halt to the violence has been welcomed by leaders of the ruling
parties.

Despite the seeming calm — which followed reports of sporadic fighting —
there were fears that the truce could prove a farce because of deep
suspicion between Zanu PF and the two MDCs.

Reports suggest that Chipangano, a militant outfit linked to Zanu PF,
continues to consolidate its grip on Harare even though there have been no
reported cases of violence by the militia since the peace pact.

Kurauone Chihwayi, deputy spokesman of the breakaway MDC faction led by
Professor Welshman Ncube, said the truce was holding, but slammed Prime
Minister Tsvangirai’s MDC and Zanu PF for inciting hate through public
statements.

“So far we haven’t received any cases of violence,” Chihwayi told the Daily
News yesterday.

“What we are witnessing are inflammatory statements from people who should
be on a crusade for peace. We have (Zanu PF chairman) Simon Khaya-Moyo on a
crusade, (Tsvangirai-led MDC chairman) Lovemore Moyo talking the same
language.

We should lead by example, we should walk the talk. But the other partners
have not been sincere,” said Chihwayi.

Both Khaya-Moyo and Moyo have urged their respective supporters to retaliate
if they are attacked.

Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for the main MDC party, said despite sporadic
outbreaks, the truce was holding.

He also said: “The Code of Conduct or the Harare Declaration does not
guarantee that there will be no violence. The reason why there is so much
violence in Zimbabwe is because of selective application of the law.

“Police arrest MDC people but don’t arrest Zanu PF perpetrators, leaving
Zanu PF supporters to believe they are above the law. The Code of Conduct is
a simple piece which is not worth the paper it’s written on if there is no
corresponding instruction to the police to arrest all perpetrators.”

Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo’s two mobile phones remained unavailable
yesterday. But speaking to the leadership of Zanu PF and MDC at the November
11 anti-violence indaba, Mugabe said: “Let us walk the talk of peace.

“This is our sincere plea from our hearts. People must hold their meetings
freely. Don’t stand in the way of those who are holding a meeting.”

Observers and ordinary Zimbabweans say a prolonged truce will benefit the
coalition government because it would allow the fragile administration to
get on with its job unimpeded.

Finance minister Tendai Biti told Parliament last Thursday that peace and
stability were key to achieve the projected 9.4 percent economic growth this
year.

“We should applaud the meeting of our political leaders, their main organs,
that is the Central Committee of Zanu PF, and the National Councils of the
two MDC formations.

“Mr Speaker Sir, I have no doubt, the nation hopes and trusts that the
principles of their Harare Declaration will be implemented,” Biti said.

The Harare Declaration Code of Conduct says: “The leader of a party that has
subscribed to this code will instruct the party’s officials, candidates,
members and supporters that no weapon of any kind, including any traditional
weapon, may be brought to any political rally, meeting, march or other
demonstration...accepts that intimidation in any form is unacceptable
...will not use official state, provincial, municipal or other public
resources for campaign purposes.”

Women triumph against Mudede

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Tendai Kamhungira, Court Writer
Monday, 28 November 2011 15:20

HARARE - Women have scored big against Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede
after years of being told they cannot secure birth certificates for their
children before changing their surnames to those of their husbands.

High Court judge Martin Makonese recently granted an order against Mudede’s
actions.

“There is no provision at law that compels married women to change their
surnames to those of their husbands,” said Justice Makonese.

In terms of Zimbabwean marriage law, a married woman is legally free to keep
her last name. She also has the option to use it in combination with her
husband’s.

But that had not stopped officers from Mudede’s office from forcing married
women to changing their surnames before obtaining birth certificates for
their children.

However, all that should be a thing of the past following the order granted
by High Court Judge Justice Makonese in a matter involving Fadeke Obatolu, a
Zimbabwean citizen.

After her husband made three fruitless efforts to register their newly born
son last year at the Mount Pleasant District Registry, Obatolu decided to
take the matter to court.

In her application she cited Mudede, Home Affairs Co-Ministers, Kembo Mohadi
and Theresa Makone as first and second respondents respectively, while
Attorney General Johannes Tomana was cited as an intervener.

“I believe first respondent is obliged to register all births that occur in
Zimbabwe notwithstanding the citizenship of the mother,” Obatolu said in her
application.

She further told the court that: “I am aware that first respondent
habitually and incessantly forces married women to change their surname
before registering the births of their children. I do not believe there is
any provision in the Births and Deaths Registration Act that empowers him to
do so."

“I believe he is in breach of his constitutional obligations not only to me
but to the masses of women whom he summarily compels to assume the surnames
of their husbands.”

Ruling in Obatolu’s favour, Justice Makonese said: “The first respondent
shall not compel or require the applicant to change her surname to that of
her husband before or after the birth of the applicant’s child.

“The first and second respondents shall no later than seven days hereof
instruct the Registrars not to compel women to change their surnames to
those of their husbands.”

Sarudzayi Njerere of Honey and Blanckenberg represented Obatolu. Tinei Dodo
of the Attorney-General’s Office represented Mudede and consented to the
order sought by Obatolu.

Rights groups fight for SA asylum seekers

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Taurai Mangudhla, Staff Writer
Monday, 28 November 2011 12:03

HARARE - Rights groups in South Africa have begun fighting efforts by that
country to stop asylum seekers from working and studying, a policy that
would further tighten screws on Zimbabwean exiles already facing deportation
and harassment from SA’s law enforcement agents.

The South African government is instituting a review of its policies on the
minimum rights to which immigrants are entitled.

South African Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni says the review
could be done in a year.

“We are hoping that we will be able to process whatever amendment within the
next year, that is the next sitting of the National Assembly,” Apleni said
last week.

“In terms of the right to work, we are talking about asylum seekers — we
currently have a process that is really not helpful. People come through our
ports of entry and then are immediately issued with a section 23 permit.
This enables you to present yourself to any of our refugee centres,” added
Apleni.

But groups representing the rights of immigrants argue that such a move
“without offering an alternative will have the effect of practically making
it impossible for genuine asylum seekers to get protection, thus ultimately
violating South Africa’s obligations under domestic and international law.”

Four rights groups, Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Solidarity Peace Trust, Passop
and Southern African Litigation Centre have taken a united stance on the
matter, and have issued a joint statement stating their intention to fight
the review.

“The decision would merely force more asylum seekers underground, thus
making them liable to exploitation in this country,” the groups said.

The exact number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa legally and illegally
is unknown, although immigrant rights groups estimate the figure at about
three million.

Zimbabwe’s Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede recently told Parliament the
figure was no more than a million, most of who could be affected by the
review.

“The (rights) organisations believe that if carried out, any decision to
revoke the right to work and study of asylum seekers will fly in the face of
the Bill of Rights, and may be a subversion of the courts,” reads the group’s
statement.

They cited the case of The (South African) Minister of Home Affairs and
Others versus Watchenuka and Another in which a South African court ruled
that: “Human dignity has no nationality. It is inherent in people — citizens
and non-citizens alike — simply because they are human. And while that
person happens to be in this country — for whatever reason — it must be
respected, and is protected, by s10 of the Bill of Rights...The freedom to
engage in productive work — even where that is not required in order to
survive — is indeed an important component of human dignity.”

The groups said the decision to review work and study rights for asylum
seekers revealed “more fundamental questions about the commitment of the
South African government to protect non-nationals within its borders, as
asylum seekers and refugees have already been stripped of the right for
example to obtain a driving licence in this country.”

South Africa received more than 207 000 individual asylum applications in
2008 and a further 222 300 in 2009, representing nearly a four-fold rise in
both years over levels seen in 2007, according to UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Most of these people are from crisis-torn countries such as Zimbabwe,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Somalia.

The review of the policy comes as South Africa has started deporting
undocumented Zimbabweans.

Earlier this month, a Daily News crew witnessed large streams of Zimbabweans
being deported from South Africa.

Most of them were women and children who were dropped off at the tip of no
man’s land between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Some said they are holders of
genuine asylum papers waiting for permits to regularise their stay in Africa’s
biggest economy.

Most of the people who were being deported said they planned on finding
their way back to South Africa.

Many Zimbabweans entered South Africa illegally as they fled biting
decade-long economic and political turmoil.

Zanu PF thugs to pay for torturing MDC activist

Monday, 28 November 2011

Weston Katiyo, an MDC activist was this month awarded a US$12 168
compensation at the High Court for damages sustained after he was abducted
and assaulted by Zanu PF thugs in Murehwa on 13 June 2008.

Katiyo, 70, was abducted by 14 Zanu PF youths from his home in Jonga Village
and taken to a torture base at Madamombe Business Centre some six kilometres
away, where he was heavily assaulted for two days.

During that period, another MDC activist, Chrispen Chinjeke collapsed and
died due to the assaults.

Those who were ordered to pay the damages are; Robson Marozva and Phanuel
Nhenda.

“The respondents shall pay to the applicant jointly and severally, the one
paying the other to be absolved the total sum of US$12 168 together with
interest at the prescribed rate from the date of summons to date and full
payment. Respondents shall pay costs of suits,” reads the ruling made at the
High Court.

During the assault, Katiyo’s right leg broke and he had to seek medical
attention later.

Thousands of MDC activists were injured prior to the sham June 2008
presidential run-off after Zanu PF and its presidential candidate, Robert
Mugabe were defeated in the March 2008 elections by President Tsvangirai.
Over 500 more MDC activists died during this period.

The people’s struggle for real change: Let’s finish it!!

–
MDC Information & Publicity Department

MISA-Zimbabwe: call for local radio station licenses

MISA-Zimbabwe Communiqué
28 November 2011
Call for applications for local radio station licenses.

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) on 27 November2011 called for
applications for free to air local commercial radio broadcasting service
licenses and content distribution broadcasting services in terms of Section
10 of the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06].

“Free to air broadcasting service” means any broadcasting service
transmitted otherwise than by means of an encoded signal.
“Local Commercial radio broadcasting service” means an audio-broadcasting
service operated for profit or as part of a profit making enterprise and is
provided in a particular area.
The two fall under the free- to -air local commercial radio broadcasting
service licenses.

According to the advert placed in The Sunday Mail of November27- December 3,
2011, the local free-to-air licenses will each be allocated to Harare,
Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Gwanda, Marondera,
Lupane, Plumtree, Kariba, Victoria Falls and Beitbridge have all been
allocated one license each.

The initial application fee for a “free- to- air local commercial” is US$2
500 and for a radio broadcasting service license the cost is US$7 500.

The basic license fee is US$50 000 plus 1% of annual gross turnover or
deemed turnover. The Broadcasting Fund -0.5% of the audited gross annual
turnover or deemed payable annually. The frequency fee is US$30 per
frequency per month. The license is valid for 10years.

Meanwhile, the “Content Distribution Service” applies to service provided by
a content distributor comprising content aggregated within or outside
Zimbabwe that is made available in Zimbabwe with or without payment of a
subscription fee and the reception is through satellite transmission.
The Content Distribution Service application fee is US$2 500. The basic
license fee is US$100 000 per annum plus 3% monthly subscription turnover or
deemed turnover monthly. The Broadcasting Fund -0.5% of the audited gross
annual turnover or deemed payable annually. The license will be due for a
period of 10years.

The deadline for submission of applications for both types of licenses is 31
January 2012.

End

Report: Zimbabwe Plans To Open Diamond Sales Offices In Antwerp, Dubai

http://www.diamondintelligence.com

28 November 2011

Government representatives from Zimbabwe, Belgium and the United Arab
Emirates are finalizing plans of opening satellite sales offices in Antwerp
and Dubai to facilitate the sales of diamonds from Marange, reports the
Zimbabwe Guardian.

Zimbabwe's Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu, confirmed to
the news source that emissaries of Belgium and the UAE approached Harare
with the offer earlier this month and that it is specifically aimed at
optimizing earnings from Zimbabwe's diamond mining and trade.

"We are discussing with Dubai and Antwerp for us to open offices in these
countries for the convenience of trading in our diamonds," Minister Mpofu
told the Zimbabwe Guardian. "We would also like to ensure value is added to
the gems. It is an encouraging development that will make it easy to polish
our diamonds."

The report did not give any details of when the sales offices would to
operate or estimate the amount of trade that would be conducted through the
offices.

Transcript of Theresa Makone on Crisis Analysis

Theresa Makone denies meddling in the Prime Minister's love life

In an explosive and at times emotional interview with Lance Guma, the co-Minister for Home Affairs, Theresa Makone, responds to allegations that she is causing chaos within the MDC-T by meddling in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s private life.

Makone admits she is close to Tsvangirai, as his late wife Susan was her close friend, but angrily denies involving herself in his affairs with other women. She said she does not control the PM and has no ambitions to take his post at any time. Her life’s work, she said, is dedicated to helping women in Zimbabwe.

Interview broadcast 24 November 2011

Lance Guma: Good evening Zimbabwe and thank you for joining us on this special programme. Yesterday we ran a story on the alleged marriage of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and we spoke to political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya who had in his analysis blamed the co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone for getting the Prime Minister in this mess, accusing her as he said of meddling in his private affairs. I’m happy to report that we have the co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone joining us on this programme. Thank you so much for your time.
Theresa Makone: Thank you very much Mr. Guma for calling me.

Guma: Now I’m sure you have had the chance to look at the report and see the allegations made by Mr. Ruhanya. What would you like to say in response?
Makone: What I would like to say takes the whole day so I shall try and be as brief as I can. First of all I don’t know what Pedzisai Ruhanya’s problem with me is. I don’t know him from a bar of cheese and he seems to particularly enjoy taking a dig at me at every turn.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe is turning 60 next birthday and so am I. I do not know what a 60 year old man is doing listening to Minister Makone for what to do with his private life. How do I meddle in someone’s life to the extent that I would want to ruin his life? And in this case, concerning women?

The Prime Minister and I have got a relationship which does not include meddling in his private affairs. I am married to Ian Makone, I have known my husband for the last 37 years. I have known the PM and his wife for up to ten years to the time of Mai Tsvangirai’s death and now almost 12 years with the Prime Minister.

We do not involve each other in our private lives. We involve each other to the extent that we want and there are boundaries in that relationship. The Prime Minister has never allowed me to go into that area of his life and Ian and I have never allowed him to go as far as our private marital matters are concerned.

So if the Prime Minister was at all ever being influenced by myself, then the Prime Minister’s life should be mirroring mine and so I really don’t know. I, when I got married to my husband I was not pregnant, thirty seven years ago, and I had just left university as a 24 year old, I was not pregnant my child was born long after my white wedding and I’ve got no other things that anyone can pin on me which are of an immoral nature of any kind.

I’ve got no other relationships in private or in public except with my husband so what is it that Ruhanya is saying about me, what does he know about me? I think Mr. Ruhanya really needs to get his head read and in fact I can tell the world now, I am actually going to sue him and I’ll sue him to the last cent because I think this man is getting carried away because I have never responded to all his accusations and now I am sick and tired.

The Prime Minister leads a private life and I’m not part of that life. He has never introduced the subject to me and I’m not going to discuss the subject with him. If he talks to me about it, I will give him my opinion as far as things stand right now but I have got nothing to do with anything that he does with his private life.

Guma: In the story that we did and in the interview we had with Mr. Ruhanya concerning the alleged marriage to Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo, Mr. Ruhanya had indicated that part of the problem was that Ms Tembo is either a friend or relative of yours. Would you like to respond to that?

Makone: So what? So what? Whether she is a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, so what? So what has that got to do with me if she is going to have a relationship with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe? Her relationship with me at any level, and I know a lot of people, they can have their relationship with the Prime Minister which has got nothing to do with my relationship with them.

So really it does not matter and I don’t have to explain anything to anyone. I know you Lance. To the extent that I know you, I’ve never influenced your life and you have never influenced mine. So how do you say because people know each other, therefore they have got a relationship, therefore what they do in their private lives actually impacts one on the other. That is ridiculous. I know many people and she is not a stranger to me.

Guma: I suppose the suggestion there is that the fact that you know her might have meant you introduced her to the Prime Minister, I think that’s the allegation being made.
Makone: Well he can say what he likes and I don’t have to reveal or tell the world how the two met because it’s really none of my business. It really is none of my business and I refuse to get involved with the Prime Minister’s private life. I refuse to get involved with the Prime Minister’s private life. I refuse to get involved. I don’t want to get involved because when he wants me involved in this particular matter, he shall approach me. When he hasn’t approached me as he has done so far then it means he does not want me to get involved.

Guma: Mr. Ruhanya aside, I’m sure over the years you and your husband have received these sort of accusations before, it’s not the first time, it has happened a lot. Several other MDC-T officials that we have spoken to have made the same type of accusation. What’s behind this Mai Makone?
Makone: You know I think it is a problem of proximity. There is no question that I was Susan Tsvangirai’s best friend and that, I have paid for with my political life. People have got this natural hatred, I don’t know if you can call it hatred or jealousy of anyone who happens to get close to a leader, any leader I think in the world and it just happens that Susan and I had something in common.

Like I told you just now I’ve been married to Ian for 37 years and Susan was married to her husband for close to 32 years up to the time she died and from that point of view as African women and the way we conduct our private lives, we had a lot in common. So we struck that friendship on a moral and spiritual level that no-one can take away from us and that obviously brought me closer to the Prime Minister than most people because I had that personal relationship with Susan.

And obviously once I got close to Susan, it followed that my husband would become part of that circle because he is the only friend and husband that I’ve got. There is no-one in this nation who can actually say that they’ve ever been close to me enough to come to my home or myself going to their home.

I don’t have those kind of friends, in fact I don’t have that kind of a life, but this is the first time that I had a friend that became so close that she came into my home and I went into her home and our children became friends and with her passing on there was no-one ever to replace her and she will never be replaced because I’m just very busy, I don’t have the time and I don’t have that in common with a lot of people.

So if people hate that little bit then it is really their very serious problem because there is nothing I can do about it and there is no way the PM can write off ten years of that very close relationship which has got nothing to do with politics. Absolutely nothing. Whether or not I was going to stay in politics or move out of politics, that relationship is now there and there is nothing that can destroy it.

So people can write and say what they like. They can say that we influenced the Prime Minister – well if we influenced the Prime Minister, then it follows that he influences us. So if he is influencing Ian and I to live the kind of life that we do as husband and wife, then he is doing a good job so what are we doing interfering with his life so that it ends up on the public domain?

I want people to understand that even in a close relationship there are boundaries, there are areas where you don’t go into each other’s lives and who he marries is his business. If he introduces me to the person that he has married or he wants to marry or that he will marry, that will be my privilege but so far he has not done that and I don’t want to even go there because he has not broached the subject with me.

When he does, I will then respond to him but before he does I’m not going to get involved. And it’s no good saying Mai Makone’s got something to do with it, for a start people are saying that he cannot think, that he is led by the nose by myself so if people think that he cannot think how does he end up being the Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe and being the leader of the biggest party in the country?
Guma: Help us with this Mai Makone – this was a nightmare story for journalists to report on, the alleged marriage with Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo and then we had other reports that no actually it wasn’t a marriage it was just a ceremony to go and pay damages. Would you like to help us clarify this because it’s still a source of confusion.

Makone: I would not want to comment. Lance I’ve just said I don’t want to discuss the Prime Minister’s private life and please respect that. I actually do not want to discuss his life. I’m not a journalist and if journalists are having a nightmare, it’s actually their problem. If they want information, they must look for other sources.

This source has got no news to give, absolutely none. I choose what I want to say or what I want to discuss and these are personal things of the Prime Minster that I do not want to go into. I do not have authority to discuss his life because he has not authorized me to discuss his life.
Guma: We received an email yesterday soon after we ran the initial story and like I explained to you, several allegations being made by several other people other than Mr. Ruhanya and one email had suggested that you were a very ambitious, go-getting woman and that you actually have ambitions to be the next president sometime in 2016. We were even told there’s what is known as Project 2016 that you are spearheading within the party and rallying structures around you. Would you like to respond to that accusation?

Makone: That is really wonderful that people actually think that I have the potential to lead any party let alone this mammoth party called the MDC. Let me tell you something, I did not want to get into politics until my own life was affected economically. If I had the choice right now and the country was normal, I would rather be doing what I was doing and I was a successful business person.

And I have had to sacrifice everything that I ever wanted to do because of the ruin that was brought upon me by the mismanagement of the economy by Zanu PF. So I am now the leader of women in MDC. Surely, surely, at my age this is really something to write home about, this is something to be proud of? What do I want to do, starting to fight for 2016 and by the way by that time I think I will be going towards my 65th or 66th birthday, what will I still be wanting to achieve?

Are we saying that there are no people in this country that can run this party or are we saying that the Prime Minister himself will have outrun his time? Well let me tell you something, I honestly believe that if we went into elections now, Morgan Tsvangirai would win the elections and more than that he will run this country for the next ten years after elections.

The Prime Minister and myself have got an age difference of six months so we are practically the same age, so when it is time for him to go home it will be more than time for me to go home as well. I have no ambitions to become even the secretary general or organiser or anything in the standing committee.

That position that I occupy as the leader of women in the MDC for me is the highest privilege that I can ever attain. If people see me working very hard and not staying at home and campaigning for my party with every free hour that I’ve got, it is because I would like to see the MDC one day becoming the government.

Because if I don’t do that, if I don’t do my job as the chair of women, then I will have let down Zimbabwe, I will have let down the women, so if people think that I am doing it for myself then they’ve got another thing coming. They are going to wait for a very long time and Theresa Makone does not want or does not even aspire to become the president of the MDC so let them talk.

Let them create whatever they want to create. They want people to think that I am fighting my president, well apart from being my president, like I told you, we have a strong family bond dating back to the year 2000 which cannot be broken, no matter the malicious rumours, those I have heard from, from people who actually want to do that and they want to hide behind my back they must just forget it, it’s not going to happen.

Guma: Now my final question for you Mai Makone, they say sometimes perception is more prominent than reality so although you have explained your side of the story many in the party continue to have this negative impression of you and I think you even remember from the last interview I had when we had the whole issue with Didymus Mutasa’s son, some in the party actually say you are too close to Zanu PF, what do you want to say to them when they are listening to this interview?

Makone: Well I really don’ know what I should say. How close am I to Zanu PF? What makes them think that I am close to Zanu PF? What have I done or what do I say that says I am close to Zanu PF? Those same people go out of their way to marginalize all the work that I do every single day for my party. They do everything to make it impossible for me to function as I should and they fought as hard as they could to make sure that I do not emerge at Congress.

They spent a lot of money canvassing against me but you know what? The women told them to go to hell and I won resoundingly against their better judgement so the people that matter to me are the women of Zimbabwe that I interact with, that I work with at the grassroots level who know where my heart is, who know my passion for the freedom of Zimbabwe.

Those people and their ambitions can go exactly where they belong. Lance I am thoroughly unimpressed, nothing is going to stop me doing the work that has been assigned to me by the women of Zimbabwe which is to be the chairperson of the National Assembly of Women of the Movement for Democratic Change, nothing else.

Guma: Well Zimbabwe, that’s the co-Home Affairs minister and the MDC Women’s Assembly chairperson Theresa Makone joining us on this special broadcast. Thank you so much for your time.
Makone: Thank you Lance.

Listen here

Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com

Transcript of Question time with Pedzisai Ruhanya

Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya

Question Time looks at the confusion surrounding reports that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had married long term girlfriend Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo. Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya blames co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone for meddling in Tsvangirai’s personal love life. In a hard hitting interview he says Makone should focus on her duties as a minister.

Interview broadcast 23 November 2011

Lance Guma: This week the media was ablaze with the story that the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had paid thirty-six thousand US dollars in lobola for a new wife in Harare businesswoman Locadia Tembo. Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka however denied this, setting into motion a lot of confusion and speculation around the matter.

Political commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya early this year advised Tsvangirai to settle down, arguing that history has shown the wives of political players are sources of stability or instability to their husbands. Mr. Ruhanya is my guest on this special edition of Question Time. Thank you for joining us.

Pedzisai Ruhanya: You’re welcome.

Guma: Now the media provided a lot of evidence that Tsvangirai had gone to the Tembo family to pay something but his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka denied there was a marriage. Starting off point – what did you make of this whole story?

Ruhanya: I think I totally agree with Tamborinyoka. Those who understand our tradition know what damage means and for the Prime Minister to go and pay damage to someone with a 16 year old child and someone who has been married before, someone who was a divorcee is not what our culture says.

So when I read the story and I critically looked at what Tamborinyoka is saying, then I understood that there was no marriage, that the marriage was still-birth because the Prime Minister, as I understand him cannot go to pay damage to someone who is that age having been married before and has a child from a previous marriage.

What it indicated to me is that he was simply accepting something that he could have erred in the process but actually was denying that there was a marriage and that he was not prepared to co-habit with the lady.

Guma: Okay so what we know right now is that she is seven months pregnant, so are you saying given her age and the fact that she already has a 16 year old, Tsvangirai was not even obligated to go and pay those damages?

Ruhanya: Because if it is true that she is pregnant, it’s an acceptance maybe to say that he is responsible for the pregnancy but not to take the individual as his wife because if he was going to marry, there was no need to pay damage, damage for what?

Damage in our culture, ha, ha, means either that the individual was a virgin, the individual has been disturbed from her schooling or other activities but you cannot damage someone who has been married before and someone who has a child. So the damage that is being paid here is acceptance of what has happened and with an indication that they are not going to marry.

Guma: Okay so where has this come from – that Tsvangirai has married because there was quite a lot of heightened publicity around this, we saw all the state media papers covering this?

Ruhanya: If you look where this issue has come from, there are several sources. One source is the family who have come out clearly that Tsvangirai has married; the other source is the behavior of the state media which to me was very curious because if Tsvangirai had actually married and married an individual who’s solid, they would have lampooned Tsvangirai, they would have attacked Tsvangirai, they would have tried to do everything to soil that marriage but to show that there’s something that is very, very sinister about this whole arrangement, they are celebrating it, they are giving it good coverage which is very, very dubious.

The behavior of the Herald, the behavior of the state media as far as this marriage is concerned, to me is dubious to the extent that this marriage never happened. So there is the state media, there is also I think the role of the intelligence doing the bidding for Zanu PF to put Tsvangirai into bad public position and also the family to pressurize Tsvangirai and to blackmail Tsvangirai into doing what he doesn’t want.

And also there is a key factor, a key figure in this whole melee and this key figure is Theresa Makone. This woman (Tembo) is related to Theresa Makone, this woman is a friend of Theresa Makone and the MDC and anyone who does not see the hand of Theresa Makone is not being faithful to themselves. This woman is a source of instability in the MDC in the long run, in the short run and probably in the future of the party if they are not careful about her machinations.

Guma: So how should the Prime Minister’s office have handled this particular matter because there is a school of thought that perhaps if they had been more forthright in explaining the true circumstances of this, this could have been avoided?

Ruhanya: I think Tamborinyoka has done a good job; only that he has done it in a very intelligent manner. I must applaud Tamborinyoka for the way he has handled the matter. Anyone who listened to Tamborinyoka, anyone who has followed what Tamborinyoka has said is that there is no marriage and Tamborinyoka is the spokesperson of the Prime Minister.

He cannot go public to say that there is no marriage when the marriage takes place. So people should listen carefully and critically analyse what Tamborinyoka is saying. What Tamborinyoka is saying I have come to the conclusion that what Tamborinyoka is saying is the fact that there is no marriage, that it is still birth and I suppose there must be blackmail activities behind the scenes from the CIO, from the state media and particularly Theresa Makone.

Theresa Makone should do her job as a public figure and an elected member of parliament, a national executive member of the MDC and should move out of the private, personal activities of the prime minister because she is cooking rotten food around.

Guma: What’s her interest if you allege that she is doing this and…

Ruhanya: Obviously to control, to control the prime minister. The Prime Minister Mr. Tsvangirai has immense public support, immense public sympathy and he is the figure, the face, the driver of the democratic struggle in Zimbabwe and if elections were to take place in a free, fair environment, despite all these machinations, Tsvangirai is definitely going to occupy State House, he’s going to win elections.

So she thinks that she can be minister of Home Affairs, she can be, she is over-ambitious. The post that she holds currently does not deserve, she does not deserve it but she thinks that because of her closeness to the Prime Minster and all that kind of stuff she is there, not by merit but because of her political machinations.

What is she doing as minister of Home Affairs that you know, going to Matapi (police station in Mbare) to remove (Didymus) Mutasa’s children. Her traces, her linkages, the thread of Theresa Makone to Zanu PF is as clear as a goats behind and she is behind all this fuss.

Guma: Why would Tsvangirai, given a situation where maybe some of his officials are saying exactly what you are saying about Theresa Makone, why has he not acted? Why, does he owe Theresa Makone anything?

Ruhanya: This is for him to explain, hah, this is for him to explain but if he’s not careful by the time he realizes it, by the time he explains it, he could be political history. He needs to be very careful on issues to do with romance, on issues to do with his private life.

The most important thing that the prime minister must know is that he is a monumental political actor in Zimbabwe. He has contributed immensely to the democratization agenda and it is in the public view that Tsvangirai is the next president of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

So we will look at his private and his public activities because he is such a huge political player. People, a person who, where people have put their hopes to deliver us from the evils of the regime.

So those people like Theresa know that Tsvangirai, given free, fair elections will be the president of the Republic so they want to control him but we should not only blame Theresa, we should also give a caution to the prime minister, that he has to look at the people around him and see whether they are good for purpose or they are not good for purpose.

I can argue, I can write a thesis, I can write a PhD thesis to say that Theresa Makone is not fit for purpose.

Guma: Let’s look at the whole issue surrounding this particular matter. I’d like to contrast this with the response that I got from the Prime Minister when I interviewed him several weeks ago when he seemed to imply that his private life is just that – it’s private. Can we really separate his private life and his public life as the prime minister or a future president whichever way you…

Ruhanya: Of course we do agree that any politician has a private but you see there is a thin line between the private and the public especially if you are a public figure of that monumental life. The same applies to President Mugabe, we look into their private life because what they do influences everything that happens in the public domain. So we cannot hide under the issue of privacy, he has to be accountable, he has to be responsible and this is the time to be.

Guma: Let me just clarify a few things that have happened; I’m sure listeners who are listening into the programme would like to know – it was initially reported thirty-six thousand was paid in lobola, we are now told it’s actually under ten thousand US dollars. The state media had also reported that Tsvangirai went to the Tembo homestead, we are now told that is not true. The prime minister was nowhere near…

Ruhanya: Those issues tell me that there’s an underhand, that there are people who want to use this issue to destroy the prime minister. All the lies about money, the thousands, all the lies about him going there when they know, the state media know through the CIO that the prime minister was never there, they know through the family he did not pay that amount and that family did not say that they were given thirty-six thousand by Tsvangirai.

So allowing these lies, these half-truths to go around, particularly by the state media and some journalists who do not want to check facts and just write 36000, laziness in some journalist shows that there’s a hidden hand to think that Tsvangirai can be destroyed but I think that this is an issue that cannot destroy Tsvangirai but Tsvangirai must learn lessons from such kind of activities.

I think he is beyond this kind of disruption. The good thing is that he has good people like Tamborinyoka who is insisting on the truth and I think the line that is taken by Tamborinyoka must continue as it is, except that in fact they maybe in future need to say one or two things but Tamborinyoka has been doing and is doing a fantastic job. The prime minister did not marry.

Guma: Let’s look at Tsvangirai’s private life – obviously a lot of people are, he’s coming in for some serious criticism, this is now on record I suppose the second woman he has got pregnant in two years I think, people are looking at that obviously and asking questions.

Ruhanya: Yah but there’s no evidence that he impregnated the other woman or even this one. We are yet to find out. Those are speculations, the prime minister has never come out and said that he has done that. But there is an issue around his marital status which needs to be addressed. This is the critical matter. These issues about impregnating this and impregnating that one, is not factual, we don’t have…that kind of evidence.

Guma: Why is it important for Tsvangirai to get married? You made this argument…

Ruhanya: Not to get married?

Guma: Yah to get married yes.

Ruhanya: To simply settle down or to control his zip. It is important for him to control his zip as prime minister, not that he should marry, because we are not saying, it is not for us to say he should marry or he should not marry but he should behave in a manner that does not question his behavior as a politician, as a public figure. That’s what we are saying.

Guma: You did make the argument previously that women are a source of stability or instability depending on what sort of character they are and you even drew comparisons with the late Sally Mugabe and her effect on Mugabe. What would be the importance of a stabilizing figure for Tsvangirai?

Ruhanya: It’s important because the family of a public figure, of a monumental character like Tsvangirai, matters. Let me give you an example: the late vice president Nkomo had a wife, the late Mama Mafuyana did she ever have a scandalous story?

Guma: No.

Ruhanya: Not that we know, so she was a stabilizing. We never heard about her shopping, her this and that and when she passed on people were really touched. That is what we expect. Even Mai Muzenda, what is it that you can say about that woman? Very little that you can. Those are the kind of individuals that you expect.

With the marriage to a public figure comes responsibility. Look at that how that appears on New Zimbabwe dot com, that woman, that Locadia woman, that is not in good taste for the poor in good taste for a country with economic problems such as Zimbabwe so to those people, those things matter.

Guma: Now we are told and this again is speculation but maybe you might have information on this, this whole issue about Locadia is creating some fissures within the MDC and there are various competing interests, what do you know about this?

Ruhanya: Ah I don’t think I have got any information but what I know as a matter of fact, people talk about it but they don’t want to confront it, Theresa Makone must extricate herself from the alleged role that she plays behind the scenes to do with the private life of the prime minister and she must do her work as a public figure and not think, because we hear that when she’s drunk she says that the prime minister is always in her pocket. How does a prime minister, a president of a whole political party go into a pocket of a political hoodlum like Theresa Makone?

That is overzealousness that we cannot accept but also the prime minister has a responsibility to make sure that he does the correct thing, it is not only about Theresa Makone but it is also his position and he should be seen to be controlled by some dubious elements within the party.

Guma: So what happens from here Mr. Ruhanya because this issue seems to be very messy now? Should the MDC come out and clarify this matter once and for all?

Ruhanya: I don’t think the MDC should come out, I think the prime minister will handle his case, his family will handle that case and I think Tamborinyoka is doing a good job.

Guma: Well Zimbabwe that’s Question Time. We were joined by political commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya looking at the issue around the reported marriage of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and subsequent denials by his office that in fact no marriage took place. Mr. Ruhanya thank you for joining us on the programme.

Ruhanya: You are welcome.

To listen to the programme:

http://www.swradioafrica.2bctnd.net/11_11/qt231111.mp3

Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com  http://twitter.com/lanceguma or http://www.facebook.com/lance.guma

Zimbabwe Media: Mahoso, Resign Now!

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/

28th Nov 2011 15:37 GMT

By Rejoice Ngwenya

FORMER media hatchet man Dr Tafataona Mahoso and his team at the Broadcast
Authority of Zimbabwe [BAZ] have sunk to the deepest and darkest enclave in
the abyss of parochial shame.

Last Thursday, 24 November 2011, they gave the country’s first two
commercial private radio broadcast licences to two institutions aligned with
ZANU-PF: Super Mandiwanzira’s AB Communications’ Zi Radio and Zimpapers’
Talk Radio.

Mr. Mandiwanzira is a former Zimbabwe Television reporter and president of
indigenisation pressure group Affirmative Action while Zimpapers is a
State-controlled public company.

The tragedy of this blatant act of partisan theatrics is aggravated by Dr
Mahoso’s cult worship of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF,
masquerading as head of a board ostensibly meant to protect and defend media
freedom! He has a democratic right to be a member of an ideologically
bankrupt party, but must be stopped dead in his tracks in attempting to
force-feed its malignant institutions on progressive Zimbabweans.

In fact, BAZ have to be really narrow-minded to take citizens so much for
granted that they will accept Zimpapers / AB Communications outfits as
‘alternative, independent media’.

By a stroke of fateful coincidence, a few days earlier, the African National
Congress [ANC] of South Africa had itself engineered a systematic return of
that country’s media to the Inquisition. The so-called ‘secrecy bill’ meant
to muzzle freedom of expression passed by 229 votes to 107 attracting
criticism from the Nobel prize-winning trio of author Nadine Gordimer,
ex-Robben Island inmate Nelson Mandela and human rights activist Bishop
Desmond Tutu.

Opposition Democratic Alliance Parliamentary whip Lindiwe Mazibuko
threatened to seek Constitutional Court recourse if the Bill was passed into
law. In Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF treats court verdicts with contempt, yet if Dr
Mahoso insists on his Kamikaze mission, enlightened media stakeholders will
have no choice but lace the arteries of BAZ with populist venom.

Zimbabweans have a right to protest, and vigorously. BAZ’s raison de etre is
entrenching the hegemony of ZANU-PF on media as inherited from Ian Smith’s
Rhodesia. Zimbabwe Newspapers group is a ZANU-PF loudhailer manipulated to
exalt authoritarian dictatorship.

In no way can one argue for media diversity when President Mugabe and his
cronies control all local broadcast networks and the public press. What
Zimbabweans are fighting for is freedom of not multiplicity in media.

Whereas the ANC wants to classify most government information as ‘secrets’,
ZANU-PF is intent on perpetuating totalitarian insanity during the 2012-13
plebiscite era. Therefore Dr Mahoso’s decision must be met with objective
hostility to prove that Zimbabweans are not political poodles rolling over
for their bellies to be caressed.

BAZ is duly constituted under the Commissions of Inquiry Act and Section 10
(8) of the Broadcasting Services Act. Coalition partners Movement for
Democratic Change [MDC] are disputing its legitimacy, thus BAZ have no moral
standing to stifle media freedom through an imbecilic and mythical
‘qualification and selection process’.

It would be a tragedy of incalculable proportion if truly independent
broadcast continues to be excluded from Zimbabwe’s pre-election landscape.
ZANU-PF, under a smokescreen of ‘indigenisation’, will camouflage its
predatory gluttony by using so-called ‘independent’ analysis on Zimpapers
and Zi Radio stations. The externally based Voice of the People, SW Radio
and Studio 7 will be no match to locally modulated ZANU-PF propaganda.

Zimbabweans should take up the challenge of discrediting BAZ by making life
intolerable for Dr Mahoso and his compliant board. Media Institute of
Southern Africa, Media Alliance Zimbabwe, Voluntary Media Council of
Zimbabwe, Editors Forum, African Media Initiative, Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists, Advertising Agencies, human rights organizations, media
students at National University of Science and Technology, Media State
University, Zimbabwe Open University and University of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo
and Harare Polytechnic must unleash a relentless cyber revolution against
this contagious monster called BAZ.

Our politics must, once and for all, be inoculated for immunity against
ZANU-PF’s irritatingly arrogant pre-election partisan paranoia.

Court Watch 2/2011 - November 2011 [Cases in the Supreme Court]

Bill Watch - Parliamentary Committees Series - 28th November 2011 [Committee Meetings 29th November]