http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6642
November 1, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
MUTARE - At least five people were shot dead last weekend
when police
launched an aerial raid by helicopter on alleged illegal diamond
panners in
the diamond rich Chiadzwa area of the eastern province of
Manicaland.
Passmore Nyakureba, a lawyer with the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights told
the Zimbabwe Times Friday that the police used live
ammunition to drive out
multitudes of diamond diggers who fled into nearby
mountains during the
raid.
"The situation in Chiadzwa resembles a war
situation," Nyakureba said.
"According to our investigations, at least
five people were confirmed dead
as a result of last weekend's police raid
alone. The figure could be higher
as we are yet to confirm some of the
reports.
"This has become an everyday scenario. The only difference is
that the
police this time dispatched a helicopter in a bid to drive out gold
panners
from Chiadzwa. Up to five people die virtually every week as a
result of
being shot by the police or after being bitten by police dogs and
left for
dead. Some have been maimed for life."
Police are said to
have used tear-smoke to force the panners out of their
holes before they
fired live ammunition at them.
Efforts to seek comment from police
spokesperson Assistant Commissioner
Wayne Bvudzijena were
fruitless.
Assistant Commissioner Chagonda, the officer in charge of
crime in
Manicaland province refused to discuss the matter with The Zimbabwe
Times.
He insisted on this reporter driving to his base in Manicaland,
some 270
kilometres from Harare, to discuss the issue.
"I cannot
discuss such information with you on the phone," he said. "I would
be much
comfortable if you come to my office for us to discus the matter."
Human
rights violations are said to be rampant at Chiadzwa.
Nyakureba said the
police would hand the bodies of their victims over to
relatives without any
post-mortem being carried out.
The police are also said to be arbitrarily
arresting on travellers on the
main road to the Chiadzwa area on suspicion
they are prospective diamond
panners.
He said any traveller whose
identity card does not bear the code number 75
which is the number assigned
to the district was arrested.
"Any one whose identity card bears a
different number faces immediate
arrest," said Nyakureba.
He said his
organization was always fighting to free people from arbitrary
arrest.
Said Nyakureba: "As many as 200 people can be arrested at one
given time in
Chiadzwa. They are all charged with one offence and tried in
one sitting.
Even worse is the fact that that they can all be remanded
collectively
against their rights to be tried as individuals.
"As
many as 500 to 1000 panners can be found at Mutare central remand prison
at
any given time. Most of the time, the cells will be without any water or
food. A hundred people are forced to eat food that would normally be meant
for 20 people and feeding is often once a day."
Chiadzwa is situated
in the Marange communal area, more than 300 km east of
Harare.
The
human rights situation has deteriorated in Chiadzwa since 2006 when rich
deposits of diamond were discovered in the area by villagers.
When a
Zimbabwe Times crew visited the area last week scores of people
related
heart-rending stories of abuse at the hands of the police.
A dealer, who
is a frequent visitor to the area to sell clothing and
foodstuffs, said
desperate panners were occasionally seen by the main
roadside while waving
for transport carry injured colleagues to the border
city of Mutare. The
injured are normally carried on makeshift stretcher
beds.
"There are
many risks that one faces as soon as one sets foot in this area,"
said one
panner.
"If you are not shot at by the police, you can fall victim to
criminals who
have invaded the area to rob people of valuable goods.
Sometimes you can be
attacked and robbed by your own colleagues after you
discover a diamond."
http://www.afriquenligne.fr
Harare, Zimbabwe - A cholera outbreak which
hit the Zimbabwe capital,
Harare, this week has claimed five more lives
health officials said on
Saturday. Earlier, health authorities had reported
one death from the
outbreak, and at least 20 others hospitalised.
A
special medical centre has been created in the capital to treat the
growing
number of victims, most of who are believed to have become ill after
using
unclean water.
At least three of the deceased drew water from the same
well in one of the
poorest suburbs of the city.
Cholera has broken
out in many parts of the country and has so far killed
more than 30
people.
Poor sanitation, especially use of unclean water, is widely
blamed for the
outbreaks.
Harare - 01/11/2008
http://www.thenational.ae
Thulani Mpofu, Correspondent
a.. Last Updated: November 01. 2008 11:37PM UAE / November 1. 2008 7:37PM
GMT
BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE // Veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s
liberation war who went
on to became enforcers for Robert Mugabe, the
president, are in disarray, a
development analysts say could weaken his
party's future election campaigns.
The militants led bloody campaigns for
Mr Mugabe during several elections
over the past eight years - intimidating,
beating and sometimes killing
opposition supporters.
But now veterans
who fought the liberation war under Zimbabwe People's
Revolutionary Army
(Zipra), the military wing of the Patriotic
Front-Zimbabwe African People's
Union (PF-Zapu), have broken away from the
original Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA).
They say they are being
sidelined by former fellow association members who
fought under the Zimbabwe
African National Liberation Army (Zanla), the
former military wing of Mr
Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National
Union (Zanu), which was
populated by elements from the country's dominant
Shona tribal
grouping.
Only a few former Zipra combatants, the rebels say, are
benefiting from
ministerial, ambassadorial and senior civil service
appointments or other
government-supported programmes, whereas their Zanla
colleagues are enjoying
the lion's share of the national cake.
The
Zipra liberation fighters fought under the late vice president, Joshua
Nkomo, and mostly came from the Ndebele-speaking Matabeleland region, in
south-western Zimbabwe.
Before their planned rally here on Saturday,
apparently to test the waters
for a Nov 25 inaugural convention, they have
already appointed an interim
executive. Reports say the veterans' breakaway
is a precursor of plan to
revive Zapu, their former party, which united with
Mugabe's Zanu in 1987 to
form Zanu-PF.
Given the split, said John
Makumbe, a professor of political science at the
University of Zimbabwe, Mr
Mugabe might no longer depend on the war
veterans.
"They used to give
him strong and unconditional support, but even they no
longer see value in
supporting him. It will certainly have an impact on
Zanu-PF because without
war veterans and the youth militia, the party cannot
campaign. But this is a
pattern we have seen since February."
Mr Mugabe is battling internal
divisions, which exploded on the eve of the
March general election when a
faction sponsored by Simba Makoni, a former
minister and member of Zanu-PF's
top secretariat, decided to contest the
presidential election as an
independent.
Ray Ncube, a retired army colonel now interim chairman of
the Organisation
of Zipra Veterans, is bitter that despite liberating their
country from
British colonialism in 1980, members of his organisation
continue to wallow
in abject poverty.
"The main reason why we have
broken away from ZNLWVA is that our membership
of that organisation has not
helped," Mr Ncube said.
"If you want to see a poor veteran, just look
around for a former Zipra
soldier. He has no land, no formal job, and no
money to fend for their
families. To see a former battalion commander, who
sacrificed his life to
liberate his country, sustained lifetime injuries
during that war, living in
abject poverty is painful. You ask yourself why
we went to war in the first
place."
Another grievance, said John
Gazi, the interim secretary of the veterans'
group, was the failure by Mr
Mugabe's government to return 20 farms and 28
businesses, seized from Zipra
in the 1980s after armed clashes between Zipra
elements and the national
army.
Of the 25 farms that were taken, Mr Gazi said, five farms have been
returned
and only two of the 30 businesses seized have been officially
handed over.
Numbering about 30,000, the veterans shot to prominence in
1997 when they
staged raucous demonstrations, including one inside a high
court during a
sitting, to arm-twist Mr Mugabe to award them gratuities of
US$4,000
(Dh14,700) each and lifetime pensions.
This triggered a
crash of the local currency, and pushed the economy into a
downwards spiral
from which it has yet to escape.
In June 2000, as Mr Mugabe faced what
looked a certain electoral defeat at
the hands of the then few months-old
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, he invited war veterans to boost
his campaign. An orgy of violence
targeting MDC supporters followed and his
party won the legislative poll by
a five-seat margin.
Worse violence
followed in July the same year, when the ex-combatants, with
tacit
government backing, led countrywide invasions of white-owned farms.
The
MDC estimates that between this year's March election and the June
presidential election runoff, about 100 of its supporters were killed by
suspected Zanu-PF supporters led by war veterans and the youth
militia.
Timothy Sibanda, 56, a former Zipra cadre loyal to the breakaway
group, said
he was a foot soldier of Zanu-PF's re-election campaigns, but he
had nothing
to show for that.
"Zanu-PF would have been history were
it not for our work, especially in
rural areas," Mr Sibanda said. "People
laugh at us because we remain poor
despite our hard work."
However,
Joseph Chinotimba, the self-styled commander of the 2000 farm
invasions,
said Mr Ncube and his ilk have no future. "They are misguided
elements who
have no support on the ground.
"But I must say Zanu-PF and genuine war
veterans are one. The ministers that
you see are war veterans. President
Mugabe belonged to Zanla and his first
vice president [Joseph] Msika was
Zipra. So the point is Zanu-PF and war
veterans are united."
* The
National
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
21:06
Senior Zanu PF officials were yesterday booed by angry supporters
after Vice-President Joseph Msika chickened out of a meeting to discuss the
revival of PF Zapu at White City Stadium.
The fairly
attended meeting was called off at 4pm - more than six
hours after its
scheduled start with an announcement that Msika had suddenly
fallen
ill.
This was despite the fact that staff from the Vice-President's
office
had spent several hours at the venue preparing for his
arrival.
The venue was also teeming with Central Intelligence
Organisation
(CIO) operatives since morning.
"He (Msika) called
me to his house to discuss this meeting," Zanu PF
provincial chairman,
Mcloud Chawe told the agitated crowd. "Unfortunately
the old man is not
feeling well and since this was his meeting we have
decided to move it
forward."
"The national chairman, John Nkomo cannot attend because
he is
travelling to South Africa for a medical check up.
"Since
some of the questions that will be asked here will be too big
for me, we
would rather find another date for the meeting."
Following the
announcement, Information and Publicity Minister,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and
other Zanu PF officials tried to leave the stadium
sparking protests from
war veterans who demanded to be addressed.
The former freedom
fighters then took turns to address the crowd
calling on PF Zapu to break
away from the ruling party.
A group of less than 20 carrying
Mugabe's campaign posters caused a
stir when they started singing while the
meeting was still in progress. They
left the stadium after they were
ignored.
"We have been waiting for this for too long," said a war
veteran from
Harare, who exchanged harsh words with Ndlovu. He had tried to
stop the
minister from leaving the stadium before addressing the crowd. "Our
leaders
are running away from us when we want them to address the real
issues and
this is why Zanu PF is always losing in this part of the
country."
Ndlovu had also been booed by the crowd after he chanted
Zanu PF and
pro-Mugabe slogans.
Former Home Affairs Minister
and veteran nationalist, Dumiso Dabengwa
who broke ranks with Mugabe during
the March elections was also at the
meeting.
The war veterans
said they were giving the Zanu PF leadership
including Msika, a week to call
another meeting. Zanu PF officials, who
spoke at the meeting, took turns to
denounce Mugabe and the ruling party.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:04
THE Kellogg Foundation, which supports activities in Zimbabwe,
yesterday
suspended its operations in the region amid reports that
"significant
financial irregularities" had been uncovered at its offices in
Pretoria,
South Africa.
In a statement released simultaneously in
South Africa and the United
States yesterday morning, the Foundation said a
former US diplomat had been
appointed to advise on future
programming.
The Foundation has awarded grants of more than US$350
million to
deserving causes in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa,
Swaziland
and Zimbabwe since 1986.
Its operations in Zimbabwe
include integrated rural development
projects in Bulilima-Mangwe in
Matabeleland South province and Chimanimani
in Manicaland. There was no
immediate comment from the head of Kellogg
Foundation in Zimbabwe by the
time of going to print.
But early last year The Standard reported
that Kellogg officials had
misled their visiting senior officials by
diverting them to a project in
Manicaland that had been financed by an
entirely different donor as they
themselves had nothing to show the visiting
mission.
Established in 1930, the Kellogg Foundation supports
children,
families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions
that
propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as
contributors to the larger community and society.
The
Foundation said it was suspending operations in southern Africa
for the
duration of a "financial audit" of its Pretoria office and that it
had also
has asked James A Joseph, who was the US Ambassador to South Africa
from
1996 through 1999, to help the Foundation restructure its programming
in the
region.
Sterling K Speirn, president and CEO of the Foundation,
said: "We are,
of course, distressed that our important work in the region
has been
compromised and will take all necessary steps to determine the
facts, take
action against those responsible, make every effort to recover
the missing
funds and redirect them to worthy beneficiaries.
"We will also take steps to strengthen our administrative systems to
prevent
a reoccurrence of this highly regrettable incident."
Speirn said,
retaining Ambassador Joseph, President Emeritus of the
Council on
Foundations and now a professor at Duke University, "underscores
our
commitment to southern Africa".
"Ambassador Joseph's stature,
record of achievement, and reputation
for integrity gives us great
confidence in our ability to continue serving
children and communities in
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South
Africa, Swaziland, and
Zimbabwe."
Foundation spokesperson Gregory A Lyman, senior
vice-president and
corporate secretary, said preliminary indications from
the audit showed that
"several hundred thousand dollars" may have been
diverted illegally, and
that the final amount may be higher depending on the
audit result.
In the meantime, all financial transactions had
ceased and all assets
have been secured until the forensic audit is
completed.
Lyman said the auditors and Foundation attorneys were
working closely
with South African law-enforcement authorities to conduct a
"thorough and
proper investigation".
Ambassador Joseph's role
will be to advise Kellogg Foundation
management on its programme in the
region until all Pretoria issues have
been resolved and steps taken to
ensure that Foundation operations in
southern Africa are sound and serve the
people of the region.
Lyman said Ambassador Joseph was "the ideal
person" to help the
Foundation set its future course in Africa, noting that
the Kellogg
Foundation first consulted the Ambassador almost a
quarter-century ago when
the Foundation first made the decision to expand
operations to the region.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
20:40
THE government last week tried to show a semblance of normalcy in
the
education sector by going ahead with Grade VII examinations and holding
a
graduation ceremony at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), when there was no
learning for the better part of the year right from primary schools to
universities.
The government also announced that the UZ
would open tomorrow for the
2008/2009 academic year - almost three months
after the day the new semester
was supposed to have begun. Other state
universities remain closed.
Lecturers, teachers and students unions
on Friday slammed the move to
open the UZ when the government - through
higher and tertiary education
permanent secretary, Washington Mbizo -
acknowledged last week that staff
records were in a shambles. They said the
latest moves were a government
attempt to "save face and create the
impression that all is well".
"They cannot say they are opening for
the sake of opening, like they
have been doing with primary schools," said
Zimbabwe National Students Union
(Zinasu) president Clever
Bere.
Bere said students "won't sit idly and
cowardly".
"If they want the university to open, they must
ensure all is in place
for the students to get quality tuition. If our
demands are not met, we will
not stop; we will continue to tackle the
authorities head-on."
On Friday's graduation, Bere said it was
"doubtful if the results are
a true reflection of what the students were
supposed to have learnt since
there were no proper lectures in the last
semester".
Announcing the opening of the institution, Mbizo said
there would be
no student accommodation on campus. He however did not
explain how the
institution's dilapidated ablution facilities would handle
the more than 10
000 students expected at the institution.
As a
result of the accommodation, transport and food, said Zinasu,
students would
find it "difficult to concentrate whilst hungry".
President of
the Zimbabwe State University Lecturers Association
(ZSULA), Government
Phiri said lecturers were taking a wait and see attitude
on the opening. He
said it was "not practical" for lecturers to go to work
tomorrow, as they
will need many times more cash than they can withdraw at
the bank for a one
way trip.
"As long as our demands have not been met, we can not
start teaching.
It is not just about getting salaries, but salaries that are
enough and
accessible," said Phiri.
"We do not have power
when it comes to deciding when the institution
opens, that's the
administrative role of the Vice-Chancellor and his team.
Our power is in the
delivery of tuition services."
Lecturers' representatives are
on Tuesday morning scheduled to meet
with officials from the Ministry of
Finance to discuss payment alternatives.
Phiri said only after that meeting
would they be able to decide whether or
not to resume duty.
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general,
Raymond
Majongwe said the decision to open the UZ and administer public
examinations
was a "bad reflection on the government".
"Grade VII
examinations were conducted in a chaotic and erratic
manner. Some schools
wrote after others," Majongwe said. "There were several
mix-ups. In some
cases, people who are not known at some schools were called
to invigilate.
There were certain instances where headmen also invigilated
the
examinations."
Although most primary and secondary schools
managed to stick to their
calendar, there was not much activity as teachers
were on strike for the
better part of this year. The situation was worsened
by the political
shenanigans before and after the March and June
elections.
Last month, Zinasu petitioned Parliament to urgently
act on "the grave
distress of the students". The students union said "the
infrastructure at
all state institutions is in a dilapidated state" and that
"reading and
teaching materials are either not sufficient or not
available".
The petition said because of the current economic
melee, it had become
"really difficult for students to sustain
themselves".
UZ lecturer John Makumbe said it was a "very
unwise decision to open
the university now".
"It is a
disaster. How can we open when there is no water? The toilets
are in a
terrible state right now when there is nobody there, and what when
there are
up to 14 000 people?" Makumbe said. "This is a perfect recipe for
a cholera
outbreak. It's an unhealthy situation. There are no lecturers. We
know from
postgraduate courses that most lecturers have not been showing up
for the
obvious reason that they are not adequately paid."
At the Midlands
State University authorities recalled the October
salaries for lecturers. No
explanation was immediately given.
Lecturers who spoke to The
Standard said the move was just like
dismissing them from work.
Secretary General of the MSU Lecturers' Association (MSULA), Tenson
Tawanda
Mugodzwa said lecturers had been told to register again for them to
be able
to access their salaries.
"Although some of the lecturers went to
register some did not as they
felt that this was demeaning. It has never
happened before. We have always
known that the registration exercise only
applies to students," fumed
Mugodzwa.
However, those who
registered also had their salaries of between $2
and $2,5 million
recalled.
Nhamo Mhiripiri, a senior MSU lecturer, said the
withdrawal of the
salaries was humiliating. He said this was victimisation
of the few
lecturers still remaining in the country.
Attempts
to get comment from the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Rungano
Zvobgo, were
fruitless. His secretary said he was attending the UZ
graduation in Harare.
The Registrar's phones went unanswered.
The lecturers are demanding
that professors at state universities get
around US$8 000 and lecturers
around US$5 000. Due to the licensing of shops
to sell goods in foreign
currency, lecturers, like most Zimbabweans, are now
struggling to make ends
meet as they cannot raise forex.
No official comment could be
immediately obtained from the UZ. But
speaking at the institution's
graduation on Friday, UZ Vice-Chancellor Levi
Nyagura acknowledged "the past
academic year had many challenges" but he
said despite the challenges "the
university remained focused on its core
business".
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
20:13
MEDICAL staff at Harare Central Hospital - one of Zimbabwe's
largest
referral hospitals - met on Friday morning and resolved to continue
with a
stay away to press the government to address deteriorating conditions
in the
health sector and improve their working
conditions.
For the past two weeks Harare Central and
Parirenyatwa hospitals have
been turning away patients, informing members of
the public the hospital is
closed because there is no staff.
More than 50 medical personnel who attended Friday's meeting said they
were
"not on strike" but were failing to go to work as it has become
expensive
for them to commute daily because of escalating transport costs.
The staffers also resolved not to come to work because there are no
drugs
while other essential medical equipment is not functioning. Going to
work
under the current circumstances, they said, made them feel guilty of
continuously endangering the lives of patients by pretending as if
everything was in order.
"We resolved to stay at home until
next week Friday because we can't
continue to come to work just to watch
patients die because there is nothing
here," said one nurse, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"There are no drips, no antibiotics, no
sutures and anaesthetics for
operations. It is better we close until we have
a fully functional health
delivery system. What we have now is a system that
endangers the lives of
patients."
Soon after the meeting, The
Standard understands that the Permanent
Secretary for Health and Child
Welfare, Dr Edward Mabhiza visited the
hospital to assess the situation.
Sources at the hospital say Mabhiza
arrived at the hospital around 11am on
Friday and expressed shock at the
unfolding crisis.
"He met
with senior medical personnel and consultants at Harare
hospital and
promised government would look into the grievances of health
workers. He was
very convincing, really. I think he has realised that this
is a huge problem
now and knows government has no money."
Chairman of the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights, Dr
Douglas Gwatidzo said the
closure of the country's hospitals had greatly
affected many people who
depend on the public health system for medical
care.
Gwatidzo
urged government to "come clean" and admit its failures and
declare an
emergency in the health sector so that the donor community and
other
concerned Zimbabweans can assist.
"Many people will continue to die
if the Minister of Health doesn't
tell the truth about the crisis at hand,"
Gwatidzo said. "We urge government
to reconsider its position and declare an
emergency in the health sector so
that many deaths will be
avoided."
Earlier last week, Health and Child Welfare Minister
David
Parirenyatwa denied hospitals had closed down telling The Standard the
health sector had not been spared by the prevailing economic crisis in the
country.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November
2008 20:11
WOMEN'S rights organisations have petitioned Southern Africa
Development Community (Sadc) heads of state "to encourage speedy resolution"
of the current deadlock over the allocation of the Ministry of Home
Affairs - and as it has now emerged - nine others between Zanu PF and the
MDC formations.
Sadc leaders are expected to meet again
soon in yet another bid to
find a way of implementing a power-sharing
agreement signed on September 15.
Leaders of the Women's Coalition of
Zimbabwe and the Feminists Political
Education Project (FePEP) confirmed to
The Standard they have already
prepared communiqués to be presented at the
Sadc leaders' meeting. Gender
activists have also mobilized women to picket
at the venue of the talks,
which is yet to be confirmed.
"In
addition to the communiqué, we will also be sending a delegation
of women,"
said WCoZ co-ordinator Netsai Mushonga. "We will also mobilize
civil society
wherever the talks would be held to help us in sending our
message across.
These politicians do not seem to care about what is going
on. The
consequences on the ground are deadly, especially for women. As
women we are
very disappointed, as they are clearly negotiating in bad
faith."
One of the FePEP co-ordinators, Theresa Mugadza said
what was
worsening the situation was the secrecy in which the talks were
being held.
"The truth is that nobody knows what is happening in
this process,"
Mugadza said. For us, this is more of an information-seeking
mission, to
find out what is happening."
In their petition,
FePEP members said "women are continuing to die of
hunger while Sadc refers
the matter back and forth; hesitant to make a
decision that would save
people's lives".
Reads the petition: "Your Excellencies, it is our
firm belief that
final resolution of the Zimbabwe question, lies fully with
Sadc and history
will judge Sadc harshly should it fail to arrest the
exploding humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe. Sadc has a responsibility and
indeed a duty to help
Zimbabwean leaders help themselves as they have
clearly failed collectively,
to resolve the issues affecting their
electorate."
On Monday, over 300 WCoZ picketed outside the Rainbow
Towers Hotel
where members of the Sadc organ on politics, defence and
security were
meeting the facilitation and negotiating teams. The women,
dressed in black
and white, all had empty plates and pots "to display our
hunger".
Their mission of getting an audience with the heads of
state was
however not accomplished as the police descended ruthlessly on the
women.
According to WCoZ, 47 women were arrested, while 11 others were
injured.
Over the past month, WCoZ, FePEP and Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA)
have successfully mobilized women to demonstrate against the
snail's pace on
the implementation of the agreement.
The
women's organisations argue "people are dying of hunger on a daily
basis".
They also want the incoming government to be clear on its commitment
on
gender parity, which according to the activists means a 50-50 allocation
of
roles.
Three weeks ago, the women successfully picketed at the
Rainbow
Towers, and were addressed by the three negotiating teams and their
principals, and members of the facilitation team.
By Vusumuzi
Sifile
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008 19:44
A
British journalist was last Thursday arrested at Harare
International
Airport on allegations of practising journalism without
accreditation.
Phillip Warington Taylor (36) intended
to return to Britain after
spending 30 days in Zimbabwe when Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
agents arrested him aboard his flight, which
was about to take off.
"We went to court today and he is out of
custody on $150 000 bail,"
Taylor's lawyer Harrison Nkomo said. He is
expected in court on November 5.
Taylor, who was ordered to
surrender his passport, is denying the
charges being preferred against him
saying he never at any point practised
journalism during his month-long stay
in the country. He says he was only a
visitor.
The Zimbabwe
government is infamous for its heavy-handed treatment of
foreign and private
media journalists, with many having fallen victim to
arrests especially
during election periods.
Taylor's arrest was effected after an
historic signing of a political
agreement between Zanu PF and the two
opposition MDC formations where a
pledge was made to "uphold and develop
press freedom".
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November
2008 19:16
Prime Minister-designate, Morgan Tsvangirai says government
should
declare this year a non-agricultural season because a critical
shortage of
inputs would make serious farming almost
impossible.
Addressing a rally of close to 20 000 people at
Mamutse stadium in
Masvingo recently, Tsvangirai hit out at the Zanu PF
government accusing it
of failing to plan ahead of the agricultural
season.
Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans would not have anything to
harvest even if
the country receives abundant rains.
"We have
no agricultural season to talk about this year, the country
is facing a
serious shortage of inputs and that means we will not have
anything to
harvest even if the rains come," he said. "This year it will be
fair if we
say there is no agricultural season at all."
A few weeks before
rains are expected to set in, farmers are failing
to access inputs such as
seeds and fertiliser.
The only farming plan in place appears to be
a conditional rescue
package worth R300 million organised by the South
African government. It
depends upon a political agreement.
Tsvangirai predicted that Zimbabweans would continue begging for food
aid.
"We will definitely be a country of beggars for the next
two years. We
have no option but to beg for food aid from other countries
beginning from
this year, through next year until the harvest time of the
year after next."
The Prime Minister-designate said the level of
starvation needed a
leadership that shows commitment to its people before
cases of death begin
to be recorded.
"We are aware of the level
of starvation hitting people in the country
especially those in the rural
areas. People are fighting for wild fruits
with donkeys for survival. This
is very bad. The people need to be helped by
their leaders but is seems
those who claim to be leading the country are not
concerned," Tsvangirai
said.
The MDC leader told a cheering crowd that continued to shout
nzara,
nzara (hunger, hunger), that his party had already started efforts to
source
food aid from other countries and "if the power- sharing deal
materialises
the issue of hunger will be our first priority".
He however called for commitment from parties involved in the
power-sharing
deal that has been stalled by failure to break the impasse on
the allocation
of ministries.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008 19:11
A
Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Community (ZimVAC) interim report
that
claims that opposition controlled areas in Matabeleland South do not
need
urgent food assistance has sparked fierce accusations that the
government is
politicising operations of aid agencies.
ZimVAC comprises
the government, United Nations (UN) agencies and
non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and it carries out hunger
vulnerability assessments in
the country.
But its latest report was mainly compiled by
government officers in
August following the ban on the operations of
non-governmental organisations
in June on accusations that they supported
the opposition.
The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and
Urban Development
reportedly sent a circular to all non-governmental
organisations ordering
them to prioritise most food insecure districts as
identified by ZimVAC.
According to the ZimVAC interim assessment
report, Bulilima, Mangwe
and Matobo are excluded from the districts that
need urgent food assistance
despite reports that villagers are now surviving
on tree leaves, roots and
fruits.
Coincidentally all the three
districts are controlled by the Professor
Arthur Mutambara led Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
Zanu PF-controlled Beitbridge, Insiza and
some parts of Gwanda are
identified as the most food insecure.
Umzingwane is the only MDC- controlled district that falls in the same
category.
"There is no way that they can say Plumtree has
enough food,"
complained Bulilima East MP, Norman Mpofu.
"I
have serious cases in Bulilima of people who are on the brink of
starvation
and the NGOs that normally come to their rescue are saying they
cannot
assist because they are guided by the ZimVAC report."
He said it
was curious that almost all the districts that were
classified as food
secure were in the hands of the opposition. The whole of
Matabeleland South
was in 2006 declared a disaster area following successive
droughts and aid
agencies say the situation has since worsened due to a
combination of
factors.
"The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) is selling a 50kg of bag
for $280 000
and in addition to that villagers hire private transporters as
fleets from
government departments such as DDF are grounded," Mpofu said.
"Without the
donors, people are going to starve to death.
"We
also feel there is a political hand in this report because the
benefiting
districts have Zanu PF MPs and those who don't were left out."
Matabeleland South governor, Angelina Masuku was not available for
comment
as she was said to be away on an outreach programme.
Aid agencies
say the suspension of field operations by the government
delayed the
implementation of food assistance programmes that would have
provided food
aid to an estimated two million people.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
18:47
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says National
Employment
Councils should start negotiating for foreign currency
denominated salaries
in response to the prevailing
environment.
In September, the central bank allowed some
retailers and wholesalers
to sell their goods under the Foreign Currency
Licensed Wholesalers and
Retailers dispensation, a move the labour body says
pushes workers into
abject poverty as they do not have the foreign currency
to buy goods.
Lovemore Matombo, the president of the ZCTU says the
issue of foreign
currency denominated shops had been distorted by the
central bank as they
had left out the workers from the
equation.
Workers who cashed in foreign currency at the end of the
day are paid
in local currency that is depreciating.
"We are
saying every NEC (National Employment Council) should start
negotiating
salaries in foreign currency," Matombo said, adding that if
employers failed
to comply the labour body would be left with no option but
to call for
protests "which will be successful this time around".
A survey by
Standardbusiness showed that some retailers had taken
advantage of the
foreign currency craze to price their goods in foreign
currency even without
obtaining a licence from the central bank.
"This is survival. We
are living in an abnormal environment and we
should charge in foreign
currency if we are to continue in business," said
one manager at a retail
shop.
Standardbusiness also witnessed a worrying trend in which
products
priced in foreign currency increased in what economic analysts say
reflects
the devastating effects of hyperinflation that is eroding the
purchasing
power of money, foreign currency included.
Employers
interviewed said last week that inasmuch as they would have
wanted to pay in
foreign currency, they cannot implement on an ad hoc basis
without clearance
from the central bank.
"We have not been told to pay workers in
foreign currency. If we cross
the path of the central bank we risk losing
our forex trading licence," one
executive at a retail chain
said.
John Mufukare, Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ)
executive
director, said the remuneration policy would be discussed at the
organisation's annual convention next month. He says the remuneration policy
currently obtaining is neither national nor sensible and Zimbabwe needed a
new policy if companies are to survive in the New Year.
"We are
a stakeholder-driven organisation. . .let solutions come from
our members
and we will fine-tune them," he said.
Pressed whether EMCOZ members
were prepared to pay salaries in foreign
currency, Mufukare referred all
questions to David Govere, newly elected
president. Govere said he was going
out of town and would be back in the
office tomorrow (Monday).
Zimbabweans' woes have been compounded by unrealistic cash withdrawal
limits
overshadowed by rising inflation which official statistics show is at
231
million percent, as of July. But independent economists believe the
government figures are being massaged. Professor Steve Hanke, a director at
Cato Institute, a Canadian based economic think-tank says Zimbabwe's wayward
inflation had reached 10.2 trillion percent as at 24 October.
For ordinary Zimbabweans, who have no access to foreign currency it
costs an
arm and a leg to put food on the tables as the $50 000 maximum cash
withdrawal limit hardly buys anything.
A 2-litre cooking oil
costs $450 000 while a 10kg bag of maize meal
sells at $600 000. A bar of
laundry soap costs $110 000. For a 2kg packet of
sugar one has to part ways
with $300 000. A loaf of bread has zoomed past
$100 000. This means an
ordinary household needs an average of $2 million to
buy a few basic items.
At the rate of $50 000 a day withdrawal limit, one
has to go the bank for 40
days: a feat that is begging an entry into the
Guinness Books of
Records.
Since December last year, the country has faced a cash
crisis which is
showing no signs of abating due to runaway inflation that
requires large
sums of cash to buy basic commodities.
The
crisis was exacerbated by the withdrawal of the German firm,
Giesecke &
Devrient, from supplying banknote paper to Zimbabwe as Berlin
tightened its
screws over Harare's deteriorating political environment.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008 18:46
Shops and
supermarkets have started scrapping zeros from their price
lists as rising
inflation quickens the return of the 10 zeros loped off the
Zimbabwean
dollar in August.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
re-denominated the local currency
and re-introduced coins into circulation
after the banking system began to
experience problems with large
transactions. The Central Bank hoped the move
would ease the
crisis.
But supermarket and shop managers say they have started
encountering
problems with the zeros again - two months after the RBZ
intervention.
At Meikles Supermarket, a notice read: "Customers
please note that we
have removed three zeros from the prices."
A shop attendant who refused to be named as he was not authorized to
speak
to journalists said: "Prices keep going up everyday and even if we
remove
three zeros, they will be back again in less than a month."
The
cost of goods and services continue to go up on a daily basis,
sparked by
the continued fall of the local dollar against major currencies.
A
2-litre bottle of Mazoe Orange juice now costs a staggering $5
billion at R
Chitrin Supermarket, meaning that about several teachers need
to combine
their monthly salary of $90 000 a month to buy it.
"The prices at
shop shelves are different from the ones that customers
pay as prices
increase before they reach the till operator," said economist
Oscar Chiwira,
from the National University of Science and Technology
(NUST).
"Inflation has just gone haywire in Zimbabwe and zeros, no matter how
many
are slashed, will keep racing back. This is the worst crisis in
Zimbabwe's
living memory."
Inflation, which is the highest in the world, is
officially pegged at
231 million percent but independent finance
institutions put the inflation
figure at around 800 million
percent.
President Robert Mugabe blames business people for making
the local
currency worthless and stoking inflation fires through rampant
price
increases in a bid to incite Zimbabweans to revolt against
him.
In July, he threatened a state of emergency in a bid to reign
in the
business sector.
Already, the set of coins that were
reintroduced on 1 August by the
central bank have long been made worthless
by hyper-inflation.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
18:44
TN Bank, on the cards for over a year, will open next month after
a
change in the settlement system and a go-slow at Air Zimbabwe derailed its
plans for the October launch, a senior official said last
week.
The bank is jointly owned by TN Financial Holdings
Limited (TNFHL) and
Trust Holdings Limited (THL).
Tawanda
Nyambirai, TNFHL group CEO told Standardbusiness that the
scraping of the
Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) meant that it was now
difficult to pay
various suppliers for services to be rendered, as they were
demanding cash
payments.
Last month the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) stopped
RTGS, a facility
that allows instantaneous transfer of funds among companies
and individuals.
"They were now demanding cash and we had to go
back to the drawing
board," Nyambirai said.
He said the go-slow
at Air Zimbabwe delayed the delivery of imported
equipment from the UK by
two weeks and this affected the roll-out plans.
According to the
new schedule by 20 November, the configuration of the
banking system would
have been completed and the bank will open to the
public on 6
December.
The pre-opening inspection by the central bank will be
conducted once
work on the infrastructure is completed Nyambirai said,
adding the RBZ are
always updated on developments.
TN Bank will
open with one branch at 101 Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, while a
branch in Gweru
and Bulawayo will be opened under phase two of the roll-out
programme.
Nyambirai said the shareholders had so far injected
US$3 million into
the project and was confident the bank will hold its own
in the over-banked
market.
"We do not see competition. There is
a big vacuum that needed to be
filled," the TNFHL boss said.
TN
Bank will rub shoulders with 14 other commercial banks for the same
client
base but Nyambirai said their products were designed to tap into the
pool of
unsatisfied clients.
Neptune, a UK-based firm was engaged to set up
the core banking system
and another foreign company would be engaged to
provide services Nyambirai
was unwilling to disclose for fear of giving away
the project to
competitors.
This is the second time the bank
had postponed its launch.
It was billed to open in August month but
its launch was pushed to
last month after a delayed US$12.5 million capital
raising initiative to
meet RBZ minimum capital requirements for commercial
banks.
TN Bank, in which TNFHL has a 91% shareholding, was born
after the
former Trust Finance applied for the conversion of its finance
house licence
to a commercial bank in which approval was granted by the RBZ
in March.
TNFHL had bought 75% stake in Trust Finance in 2006 with
THL retaining
the remaining 25%. THL now has 9% after the group did not
raise enough money
in the bank's rights issue.
Notwithstanding
a change in the shareholding structure, Nyambirai said
the existing board
would remain in place as independent directors
constituted a
majority.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008 18:43
KUMBIRAI Katsande , managing director of top horticultural firm,
Ariston
Holdings, has bounced back as the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI)
president.
Katsande, who takes over from Callisto Jokonya,
was elected CZI boss
at the organisation's annual congress in Harare last
week.
Allied Timber Holdings' chief executive officer Joseph
Kanyekanye and
AICO Africa's Happymore Mapara were elected his
vice-presidents. CZI's
vice-presidents wield equal power.
It is
understood that the organisation had difficulty in finding a
candidate for
the hot seat, with most executives politely declining the
offer.
The organisation reportedly asked Jokonya to extend his
tenure but he
also declined saying he wanted to concentrate on his
business.
The CZI presidency turned into a hot seat amid
deteriorating relations
between government and business at the back of a
biting economic
environment.
Government has frequently accused
business of conniving with Western
powers and the opposition to advance a
supposed illegal regime change
agenda.
Among others, government
last year attempted to "tame" business with a
price slash campaign which
landed most CZI members behind police cells on
allegations of overcharging
goods.
The deteriorating relations saw the outgoing president, then
well-known for his pro-government stance, suddenly changing his rhetoric and
denouncing all "human" solutions to the country's economic mess and in a
sense of despair, inviting all Zimbabweans to seek divine intervention
instead.
"The outgoing executive was doing a good job," the
soft spoken
Katsande said. "We will continue from where they left although
we are aware
there is a lot of pressure now as you heard congress saying
they do not know
where business will be in the next two weeks."
The experienced industrialist hopes to draw from his past experience
in the
same position.
Katsande's experience also spans around directorship
of several
companies, among them diversified banking group FBC Holdings,
Hunyani
Holdings and Nestle Zimbabwe. He also served as a board member for
Barclays
Bank of Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board, Olivine Industries and
the Cold
Storage Company.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
18:41
INDUSTRY captains gathered at the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries
(CZI)'s annual congress last week warned business might soon come
to a halt
due to a plethora of problems, among them the country's continued
failure to
form an all-inclusive government.
A sense of
despair engulfed the congress as the participants
constantly referred to the
economy as a "dead man walking" and a "bomb that
will detonate
anytime".
They said they were finding it difficult to continue with
operations
as their businesses were broke.
"We do not know
where we will be in the next two weeks," CZI immediate
past president
Callisto Jokonya said. "Zimbabwe has been on the reactive
mode for over 10
years and we are saying to our people stop and think."
They said
among others, they were having problems with the central
bank's
discriminatory foreign currency licences, saying had the system been
applied
across board, it would boost industry activity and encourage
competition.
They also said they were finding it difficult to rely on
cheques as a means
of payment.
Among other problems dogging the industry in the past
decade is a
widespread shortage of fuel, foreign currency, raw materials,
skilled labour
and unreliable power and water supplies.
"But as
they say, a dead man can walk," Jokonya said. "Our politicians
had done well
by engaging in dialogue."
The congress noted that it was sad that
Zanu PF and the two MDC
formations were failing to form a government, an
integral step towards
formulating sound economic policy to heal the
economy.
Among other resolutions, participants said they would this
week seek
audience with leaders of the three political parties with the hope
of
encouraging them to break the political impasse and form a
government.
"We hear the outstanding issue is that of the ministry
of Home
Affairs," Jokonya said. "As business, we understand that government
wings
complement each other and we are thus wondering what is
wrong."
The industry captains said the way forward for Zimbabwe was
to switch
to a free enterprise economy but with emphasis on a fully
developed
monitoring mechanism. They said for better economic results, the
country
needs to get rid of organs like the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission
(NIPC), adding that most companies are yet to recover from some
of NIPC's
measures, particularly a campaign to lower prices last
year.
They said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe needs to be autonomous
and
focus on its monetary obligations of managing the interest and exchange
rates while any quasi-fiscal activities must go through
parliament.
The industry captains also said there was need for
concentration on
agricultural production for food security. They expressed
concern about
widespread hunger and said they would offer themselves to
government so they
could assist with aid distribution. They also said more
support should be
given to communal farmers as they were best positioned to
produce to the
country's satisfaction.
A supportive
infrastructure development strategy was cited as an agent
to Zimbabwe's
improved participation on the regional market.
Held under the theme
"Manufacturing Sector Restoration:Gateway to the
Future", the CZI congress
also emphasised the need to revamp the
manufacturing sector whose
contribution to the country's annual wealth has
fallen from 25% in the 1980s
to about 10%.
Jokonya said ordinary Zimbabweans also needed to be
patriotic and stop
"burning the country". He was referring to the parallel
market's foreign
exchange operations which see the value of the local
currency constantly
sliding against major currencies.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
19:02
THE only people who do not appear to appreciate the extent of
nationwide starvation are the leadership of Zanu PF.
That is why there is incessant bombardment of obscene announcements of
beasts to be slaughtered, how many tonnes of maize-meal, rice, flour, sugar,
tea, eggs and sausages will be consumed at the party's annual congress
scheduled for Bindura in December.
These people have no sense
of shame. They are completely out of touch.
People are starving and
the only ones unaware of this are Zanu PF
members.
Just to
amplify the point, villagers throughout the provinces are
being asked to
contribute to the hosting of Zanu PF's congress. The extent
of denial of
reality in the party defies narrative.
It is this denialism that
leads them to go on national radio and
television to announce that end of
year examinations are proceeding without
problems when in some cases
children have been sharing exam papers; that
universities are reopening for
the first semester of the 2008/2009 academic
year when the institutions'
staff have just stopped short of taking to the
street to protest conditions;
and that hospitals have not closed down even
when it is evident to the sick
visiting the health facilities that there are
no resources or staff
reporting for work because they can't afford
transport.
Local
and international humanitarian organisations have since the ban
on
activities of non-governmental organisations on June 4 this year warned
of a
major humanitarian crisis. The government has done nothing to
demonstrate a
sense of urgency in reversing the effects of its June
directive.
Villagers are dying because of inadequate food,
while the situation in
urban areas has been worsened by the cholera epidemic
- itself a result of
government's neglect which resulted from its stubborn
refusal to heed
warnings about commandeering the water and sewage treatment
responsibilities
of local authorities and handing them to the Zimbabwe
National Water
Authority.
Organisations such as the NGO Forum
and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights could assist relatives of people dying
from cholera to sue Zinwa and
the government for negligence which has caused
the unnecessary loss of
lives. Maybe the government and Zanu PF could then
begin to put people
first.
After more than 20 recorded deaths
from cholera and promises that the
government "was doing everything in its
power" to ensure no further lives
were lost, last week residents of Ward 14
in Kambuzuma, who were trying to
do something to prevent the spread of
cholera in their area after several
reported cholera-related deaths, woke up
to teargas and arrests. So much for
political dialogue and
power-sharing!
Instead of diverting food, which should be directed
to starving people
in the villages and many urban areas, transport and
scarce fuel, Zanu PF
should be mobilising the transport to be used by
organisations such as World
Food Programme, World Vision, Care and others to
transport food to the needy
in order to stop more Zimbabweans from starving
to death.
Zanu PF can for once demonstrate that it puts people
first, not only
in its slogans but in everyday practice by scrapping its
congress because
current hardships render such a gathering highly
inappropriate and offensive
to the majority of Zimbabweans for whom
starvation is a looming reality.
It would be outrageous to feast
for days in Bindura while the majority
of the people can hardly afford to
provide a day's meal for their families.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 01 November 2008
18:58
THERE was a time, in the eighties, when villages across Zimbabwe
became hosts to young men like Mukoma Zhuwawo.
These
were young men from Mozambique, having crossed the border to eke
out a
living far from the raging war in their homeland. They worked hard,
these
young men, tilling the land and looking after cattle.
There was a
time, too, in the nineties, when we received young men and
women who had
travelled thousands of miles, hitch-hiking along the way, from
the genocide
in Rwanda. Some of them became good friends when they joined
university.
They were decent young men and women who sought shelter and
comfort in our
home.
I remember speaking to our guests and asking about the
conditions they
had left behind. Their stories weighed heavily on our
hearts. They carried
many wounds of war - they had lost families and
friends.
I remember wondering at the time whether we, too, could
find ourselves
in a similar situation. At the time, that Zimbabwe could
descend into
absolute poverty and utter chaos was far from the mind. It is
not far
anymore.
There has been a reversal of fortunes. The
likes of Mukoma Tendai are
now foraging in the Mozambican hinterland,
perhaps Mukoma Zhuwawo is now his
host. Young Zimbabweans are paying the
last penny; they are using the last
of their energies to cross borders into
Botswana, South Africa and thousands
of miles away into Britain, Australia,
USA, etc.
But what are the chances that Zimbabwe could also descend
into civil
conflict, the type that made young men and women run from their
homes in
Rwanda, Somalia, Mozambique and the DRC into Zimbabwe? The
possibility is
certainly no longer far-fetched. There are already situations
we thought we
could never have. I remember the wild laughs when visitors
from Zambia in
the late eighties brought the worthless Zambian Kwacha. Yet
it never quite
fell to the depths that the Zimbabwe dollar has
reached.
At this rate, that Zimbabwe could descend into civil
conflict is
therefore not beyond imagination. It is no longer something to
be easily
dismissed. There are a number of reasons why the situation may
deteriorate
to the state of conflict:
Zimbabwe has failed and
continues to fail to find a political solution
to its problems. Normally,
questions of leadership are decided through
elections. This has, so far, not
worked in Zimbabwe. The other option, as we
saw in Kenya earlier this year,
is to submit to a negotiated settlement.
This has not worked either and
holds little prospects of success. When
politics fails and when politicians
fail, this creates opportunities for
military strongmen to take power. This
will not allay fears of conflict; it
will only heighten
them.
ith political failure comes desperation and desperation
causes people
to think of crazy things. Desperate men develop very dangerous
minds,
especially when coupled with poverty and a paucity of options for
survival.
Zimbabwe is reaching, if not so already, the Hobbesian state of
nature where
life is "nasty, brutish and short". In this kind of world it is
only the
fittest who survive by virtue of force.
Beyond and,
indeed, within the large political party structure, the
Zimbabwean political
landscape is characterised by deep cracks along
regional and ethnic lines.
This is an often understated reality but only
because it is an inconvenient
reality. Zanu PF's unity, or what appears on
the surface, is driven by the
common desire to retain power and the mutual
benefits accruing to rival
factions. If the equilibrium that sustains the
mutual interests shifts,
there is likely to be chaos between the rivals.
For its part, the
MDC (already divided since 2005) is united only by a
common desire to drive
out Zanu PF from power, perhaps less so by any common
vision or ideology
that would withstand the challenges of a post-Mugabe era.
The different
factional conflicts, which simmer under the surface like a
volcano, could
erupt at any time.
When it all breaks down, the Big Men, especially
within or connected
to the military who have their spheres of influence
could easily mobilise
impressionable and desperate young men to engage in a
free-for-all brawl.
There is a huge reserve of unemployed young people, the
type that Frantz
Fanon referred to as the Lumpen Proletariat which is
vulnerable to
manipulation and easily led.
Violence has always
been employed by the powerful to suppress the
largely pliant majority of
ordinary people. There is a growing pool of
desperate young men who in their
crucial teenage years have been led to
believe that violence is a perfectly
legitimate way of resolving disputes.
The then burgeoning middle class of
the nineties has been severely eroded
and in its place is the growing Lumpen
Proletariat. They have very little to
lose; nothing but their lives to
protect and when it comes to the worst, who
knows what risks they could
take?
Add to this the large numbers of youth militias, better known
as the
Border Gezi Youths or Green Bombers, after their olive green garb,
who have
been indoctrinated in the virtues of the fist. They have killed,
raped and
assaulted at will without fear of the law's enforcement. Then
there is also
the growing number of deserters from the military, as recently
reported in
parts of the media. These are poor young men who know how to use
arms; they
are desperate and who knows what they might do if they got hold
of arms?
Zimbabwe has experienced a tumultuous history since it was
founded as
the colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1890. The culture of violence
and
impunity did not commence in the Zanu PF - MDC era as is often
presented.
Right through the violence of the colonial era, the bloodshed of
the
liberation war in the 1970s, to the unmitigated atrocities in
Matabeleland
during the 1980s, Zimbabweans have endured pain, loss and
suffering. There
are divisions and suspicions along the fault lines of race,
ethnicity and
class. The nation has not healed.
he
post-2000 violence has undoubtedly received greater coverage and
intensified
the hostilities. People naturally want to account for what
happened; they
want justice and accountability in order to have closure. If
there is no
proper system in place, people could easily resort to chaos,
where they take
the law into their own hands, with devastating results. All
these episodes
in the history of the nation are festering wounds and chances
are that they
will burst, and when they do, it will not be a pretty sight.
We
Zimbabweans have long thought of ourselves as a sophisticated
nation. We got
independence late in the day, long after our African
counterparts had
experienced the political and economic demise of the
post-colonial period.
We had our sunshine years when dark clouds hung over
most of Africa. We
never thought we would get to their sorry state. But they
have moved on;
they are moving on and we are where they were in their dark
days, only
worse.
If we still think civil conflict is unimaginable in
Zimbabwe, perhaps
it is time to wake up and smell the coffee. There are too
many factors
building up to create a very dangerous situation, largely
because politics
and politicians seem to be failing.
Now after
the failure of the Sadc Troika, we have to wait for the Sadc
Summit. The
question is: what if that, too, fails? But even if it does
succeed, there is
little evidence of good faith and political will on the
part of politicians
to make things work. No amount of beautiful clauses, not
even control of
"key ministries" will transform Zimbabwe's fortunes unless
the politicians
invest sufficient trust, confidence in each other and act in
good faith.
Things could get much worse. Politicians have the responsibility
to halt the
slide on the slippery slope toward civil conflict.
nAlex Magaisa is
based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent and
can be contacted wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
The Fallacy Of Tsvangirai's Hand In Western Sanctions
Saturday, 01
November 2008 18:56
DO the editors of the state media honestly think
that all their
readers/listeners are so daft?
How can
they justify the denial of a passport to MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on the
flimsy grounds that there is no passport paper in
Zimbabwe? People are
getting passports everyday, and I am sure state
reporters can find this out
with a short trip to the passport offices in
Harare.
The state
media and the government further argued that Tsvangirai
should be the last
person to get a passport because he refused to condemn
sanctions imposed by
the Western countries on Zimbabwe. Firstly this is
being dishonest to the
public because people are getting passports despite
those sanctions.
Furthermore Tsvangirai did not impose any sanctions on
Zimbabwe so why
should he call for them to be scrapped. Tsvangirai is often
portrayed by
Zanu PF as a puppet of the West. It then boggles the mind how a
puppet can
tell the master what to do, with the master willingly obliging.
The western
economies are going through problems of their own at the moment,
and anyone
who thinks words from Tsvangirai are going to produce miracles is
evidently
deluded.
Lest I be accused of calling for more suffering for the
people of
Zimbabwe, I wish to acknowledge that indeed sanctions are making a
desperate
situation in Zimbabwe even worse. Western countries imposed what
they termed
"targeted sanctions" on selected individuals in President Robert
Mugabe's
government. The problem was that as long as aid and funding was
coming to
other government bodies and agencies under influence of the
government,
corrupt officials would always get access to these funds and
abuse them, so
the targeted sanctions were not very effective so they were
unofficially
extended.
The state media recently carried stories
about the abuse of government
vehicles by officials in different ministries,
including that of Information
and Publicity, showing that Zanu PF corruption
knows no bounds. For as long
as Zanu PF remains in power, people are going
to suffer whether sanctions
are removed or not. It doesn't require a great
mind to know this.
If Tsvangirai could influence the Western
governments to do anything
about sanctions (which he can't), it would be to
call for the strengthening
of these sanctions so that all those people who
have abused power can never
be allowed to travel anywhere outside
Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai might have his own share of political
miscalculations, but
the criticism he is currently getting regarding the
status of the
power-sharing talks with Zanu PF is unfair. It is Mugabe who
is negotiating
in bad faith by allocating to himself the largest share of
important
ministries when he lost both the parliamentary and presidential
elections in
March, and only calls himself president by virtue of a shunned
June
election.
The government press keeps telling people that
Zanu PF won the popular
vote in the March 29 parliamentary elections
conveniently forgetting to
mention that parliamentary elections should be
based on the number of seats
won and not total votes cast. If they want to
use the popular vote, then
they should consider the presidential votes where
Mugabe won an embarrassing
43% of the votes.
While accepting
that there is no other way out of the current
political mess other than
through dialogue, it is too much to expect MDC to
accept a raw deal just for
the sake of progress. Knowing Zanu PF's evil
machinations, it would be
political naivety for people to suggest that
important government ministries
aren't important because everyone will be
part of one happy family. Unless
we see a serious change in tone in the
government press, we should always
view Zanu PF as a party against the
wishes of the majority, and not as a
friend.
Hudson Yemen Taivo
London,
UK
-----------
Getting The Facts Right
Saturday, 01 November 2008 18:54
I wish to lodge a complaint against
your story headed, Army Officer
denies PLWAS access to aid, by Bertha Shoko,
which was published in your
issue of 26 October 2008.
The story is untrue because I have no authority to decide which
non-governmental organisation can or cannot operate in which area. This is
the brief of the District Administrator.
My organisation has
nothing to do with the army, although I am serving
in the Zimbabwe National
Army.
My sincere hope is to assist people in difficult situations,
such as
people living with HIV and AIDS, the disabled, orphans and other
vulnerable
people.
The story also alleged that I threatened
Sister Margaret of
Mashambanzou or that I denied them access to food and
medication. I attach
correspondence written to her, seeking assistance for
the same people who
came to your newspaper to complain. I urge them to
follow the normal
channels and approach the District Administrator or other
relevant
authorities.
As you may be aware, non-governmental
organisations were banned from
carrying out their activities on 4 June 2008,
where would people like me get
foodstuffs for PLWAS under such circumstances
and which NGOs were able to do
so?
I was recently in Masvingo
where the National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations met and
elected a committee to look after
concerns around foodstuffs. It is puzzling
that I could be accused of
seeking to deny food to people in need when on
the other hand I am involved
in the process of trying to source food for
them.
Your reporter did not consult me or even Sister Margaret in
order to
ascertain the truthfulness of the allegations against me. I feel
you owe me
an apology.
Tanaka Mutava
Director,
Miriro Orphanage Home Retreat Farm
Waterfalls,
Harare.
---------------
Another Sadc Summit A Futile
Exercise
Saturday, 01 November 2008 18:53
I have
reservations about the effectiveness of another Sadc summit on
the
Zimbabwean impasse.
I was made to believe that as we had
the Sadc chair in Zimbabwe on
Monday it was no longer necessary for the
organisation to keep on grouping
at the expense of the Zimbabwean
people.
What is new they want to discuss? Most of these leaders
have been
sitting on our case for the past nine years so either they cannot
resolve it
or they want to see our continued suffering.
I hope
the new South African leader takes heed of Ian Khama Seretse
Khama's advice
that the crisis can only be solved by the holding of free,
fair and
internationally supervised elections.
The other thing is that from
the very first time it became apparent
that Zanu PF was not in the mood to
go the Sadc president must have acted
swiftly. Instead they showed us that
they would rather have President Robert
Mugabe as if they are the ones who
voted.
As long as former president Thabo Mbeki is the mediator the
MDC must
refuse to be part of the talks as he is the one who is fighting for
Mugabe's
continued stay. Zimbabweans showed him the red card. Now the whole
Sadc has
decided to go against the Zimbabwean people. What is it they want
us to do
before they can act?
As they are always drawing
parallels with the Kenyan situation, do
they want us to first go on an orgy
of violence as did Zanu during the run
up to June 27? We are past that
period. We refuse to be drawn into senseless
killings by Zanu PF. Mugabe was
not the people's choice and there is
therefore no way they can continue
entertaining him.
All the Sadc leaders except King Mswati III have
opposition parties so
why do they want Zimbabwe to be without any opposition
party? How can
someone lose and yet refuse to go and instead have regional
leaders urging
the winning candidate to be subservient to the loser? What
kind of legacy
are the leaders of Sadc leaving to current and future crop of
politicians?
How can they let Mbeki get away with the claim that
the parcelling out
of ministries by Mugabe unilaterally was the best
arrangement? Mugabe must
be taking the back seat just like Professor Arthur
Mutambara. Instead you
get the two of them being the most vocal, waxing
lyrical.
L C
Harare
---------------
MDC 'report back' Rallies
Spot-on
Saturday, 01 November 2008 18:51
THE move by the MDC
leadership to carry out "report back rallies", is
very
commendable.
The rallies are giving the people an
opportunity to hear from the
horse's mouth what the situation regarding the
government of national unity
is.
As Zanu PF is using the state
media to churn out falsehoods regarding
the talks, the MDC can only rely on
these rallies to brief the people on the
current state of the
talks.
The people shall govern.
Agrippa
Zvomuya
Harare