The Times,UK November 29, 2005
From Jan Raath in Norton
A WHITE
farmer was beaten and strangled by intruders before
being burnt in a pile of
petrol-soaked matresses.
Don Stewart's murder bore "all the
hallmarks of a political
attack" to force his few remaining colleagues off
their land, Justice for
Agriculture, a Zimbabwean pressure group, said. The
intruders took only a
.303 rifle when they left the home of 68-year-old Mr
Stewart, the group
added.
After Mr Stewart came
under severe pressure from squatters, his
British-born wife, Margaret, 67,
left Zimbabwe for Britain. The squatters'
invasions of Mr Stewart's farm, in
Ingwerati, west of Harare, had forced him
to reduce his dairy herd from more
than 200 to about 60, and to reduce the
amount of land he
cultivated.
An estimated 18 white farmers have been murdered
since 2000,
when President Mugabe began his campaign of lawless, violent
farm invasions
to drive whites from their land.
Mr
Worsley-Worswick, of Justice for Agriculture, recalled a
statement last
month by Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of National Security
and Land Reform,
denouncing farmers as "trash".
Mr Worsley-Worswick said: "The
politics on the ground is
heightened by the elections. It's always been the
case that violence on the
farms escalates around elections." On Saturday Mr
Mugabe held elections for
a new Senate, which he had abolished in 1987 on
the ground that it was "a
colonial relic".
Mr
Worsley-Warwick said that Mr Stewart's farm had been heavily
protected. He
added: "An old man living alone out there is very exposed and
a soft target.
If it were ordinary thieves, they would have cleaned the
place out, but they
didn't . . . it has all the hallmarks of a political
hit."
Mr Stewart was one of a handful of white farmers
left in a
district that in 2000 was an important district for producing
cattle,
tobacco and food. Of about 4,000 white farmers at that time, only
about 300
are believed to be still on their land. Vast areas of land once
farmed here
by white owners are returning to natural bush, and the few
white-owned farms
along the badly rutted road stand out as oases of
intensive production.
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 6:24 PM
Subject: ZIMBABWE: Factions expected
to fight over MDC name//CORRECTION
ATTN SUBSCRIBERS:
HARARE,
28 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - Please note a correction to the story initially
released on 28 November. This version notes there is no confirmation that
the MDC's disciplinary committee ruled against Morgan Tsvangirai
The
two factions of the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) could engage in a war of attrition over the ownership of the
organisation's name and assets, some party office bearers are
predicting.
After most voters responded to Tsvangirai's call to boycott
the weekend
senate elections, MDC officials said the factions were
positioning
themselves to wrest control of the party's assets.
Except
for Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, where pro-senate faction
candidates
swept all the seats, other MDC strongholds, like the capital,
Harare, and
Matabeleland North and South provinces, heeded Tsvangirai's call
to boycott
the elections.
Even in one of the constituencies in Bulawayo with a
registered 75,000
voters, the winning MDC candidate managed just under 2,000
votes.
On Monday the ruling ZANU-PF seemed set to win an overwhelming
majority,
bagging 21 out of the 31 contested seats in the results declared
so far,
while the rift in the MDC deepened.
The MDC's pro-senate
faction announced that vice-president Gibson Sibanda
had suspended
Tsvangirai last week on Thursday, after a disciplinary
committee allegedly
found him guilty of violating the party's constitution
by issuing a call to
boycott the poll.
"Mr Tsvangirai is suspended from performing any
functions as MDC leader and
will not be allowed to hold meetings under the
MDC banner. He has also been
barred from visiting MDC offices, including
Harvest House [the party's
headquarters] and is to surrender all MDC
property except two vehicles
issued for his personal use," Sibanda, who
chairs the disciplinary
committee, told journalists.
However,
Sibanda's account was disputed by other members of the committee
who said
they were unaware any formal meeting had taken place.
Tsvangirai told
IRIN on Sunday that his suspension was unconstitutional.
"The attempt to
suspend me is an unfortunate disaster by my colleagues in
the struggle.
Their actions indicate that they are desperate for power and
... will only
play into the hands of the government, which wants to see the
MDC weak and
divided."
Tsvangirai said only the party's congress, expected to be held
in February,
had the power to suspend him.
However, Gift Chimanikire,
the MDC's deputy secretary-general, who is in the
pro-senate camp, said the
disciplinary committee could suspend anybody,
including the president.
"Nobody is above the law, and we will not allow
another dictator to emerge
from our ranks," he asserted.
Senior MDC officials in the pro-senate camp
told IRIN that if Tsvangirai did
not abide by the terms of the suspension,
they would seek relief in court.
"We are simply going to ask for the
protection of the courts if Tsvangirai
does not abide by the
suspension."
There is a perception among political observers that the
judges, some of
whom are sympathetic to the ruling party, would grant the
use of the party's
name and emblem to the less popular pro-senate faction to
further
destabilise the opposition.
Hundreds of MDC supporters in
Harare thronged Harvest House on Monday saying
they wanted to ensure that
Tsvangirai was not hindered from working there.
Some told IRIN that the
pro-senate faction would not be allowed to set foot
at the Harare
offices.
IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11
447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
News24
29/11/2005 14:27 -
(SA)
Bangkok - Zimbabwe, China and the Indian state of Maharashtra
were named the
world's worst violators of housing rights on Tuesday by an
advocacy group
that branded forced evictions in Harare, a crime against
humanity.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) also praised
a Pakistani
official and an Indonesian activist for their work to support
housing
rights, in the group's annual awards meant to highlight violations
around
the world.
The group's executive director Scott Leckie said
Zimbabwe's forced evictions
of residents and informal traders earlier this
year left more than 700 000
people homeless and forced to fend for
themselves.
Judicial bodies
Leckie said: "It is abundantly clear
that crimes against humanity have taken
place in Zimbabwe in recent months,
and those responsible should be held
accountable and brought before the
international judicial bodies to answer
for those crimes."
Meanwhile,
he said the situations in China and the Indian state of
Maharashtra
highlighted the need to balance rapid economic development with
respect for
human rights.
He said: "More than 40 million Chinese farmers have lost
their land and
livelihoods in the past 20 years due to rapid
industrialisation and
urbanisation.
"COHRE is particularly concerned
about the forced evictions of at least 400
000 people carried out in Beijing
in connection with the upcoming 2008
Summer Olympic
Games."
Redevelopment plan
Leckie said in Maharashtra, 350 000
people were evicted in India's
commercial capital, Mumbai, last year as part
of a redevelopment plan that
called for reducing slums to 10% of their
size.
He said those evicted received no alternative accommodation or
compensation.
But, the group also praised Tasneem Siddiqui, former head
of the Sindh
Katchi Abadis Authority in Pakistan, for his work to gain legal
recognition
for informal settlements.
Indonesian activist Wardah
Hafidz was also singled out for her efforts to
help poor urban leaders fight
for the rights of their communities.
Mail and Guardian
Belinda Beresford: NEWS ANALYSIS
29 November 2005
03:00
South Africa, the economic powerhouse of Southern
Africa,
continues to see an escalating HIV epidemic, while economically
crippled
Zimbabwe has apparently brought down levels of HIV infection among
its
people.
According to the latest United Nation's
figures, one in three
pregnant women in South Africa is HIV-positive, the
highest level yet
recorded. In contrast, Zimbabwe may be showing signs of
falling infection
rates, at least for the years between 2002 and 2004.
During that period, the
UN says, infection levels among pregnant women
dropped from 26% to 21%.
The evidence at the moment remains
scant, pending next month's
release of a report confirming the good
news.
Prevalence, which measures the ongoing level of HIV
infection,
is not particularly informative without knowing the incidence, or
the rate
at which new infections are occurring. A falling prevalence rate
may reflect
that the number of people dying because of the virus is
outnumbering those
newly infected with it.
Given the
economic and food security difficulties in Zimbabwe,
high numbers of deaths
could be behind the apparent decline in HIV
infections. In addition, there
are reports that hospitals in Zimbabwe are
running out of anti-retroviral
drugs, a problem attributed to the country's
foreign exchange
problems.
However, the UN report, which is based on
governmental and NGO
research, appears confident.
UNAids
regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Mark
Stirling said the
tentative signs of success across Africa reflected
consistent and sustained
prevention campaigns, which were "evidence-based
rather than
ideologically-based".
The assumption is that Zimbabwe's
sustained HIV prevention
campaigns, dating back to the 1980s, have
encouraged safer sexual behaviour.
The golden trinity of behavioural change
to stop HIV is to reduce the number
of sexual partners, increase the age of
sexual debut and increase the use of
condoms. Last year researchers found
that 86% of men and 83% of women report
using condoms during casual sex. HIV
levels among young women (aged 15 to 24
years), which is used as a rough
proxy for incidence, has dropped from just
less than 30% in 2000 to 20% in
2004.
The Aids Epidemic Update also reports that mortality
rates are
levelling off in some parts of the country, "which further
supports the view
that declines in HIV incidence accelerated by changes in
sexual behaviour
are driving the apparent decline in
prevalence".
In announcing the news, Stirling, said the
apparent fall in HIV
infection levels applied to the years reported, and
could not necessarily be
extrapolated forward, given the levels of social
disruption in Zimbabwe.
In contrast, the Aids Epidemic Update
describes the "astonishing
speed" at which levels of infection among South
African adults have leapt to
almost 25%, compared to only 1% in 1990. Just
less than 30% of pregnant
women tested positive for HIV in 2004, although
this conceals strong
regional variations, with prevalence estimated at 40%
in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Aids epidemic is also taking its toll,
with Statistics South
Africa reporting a huge jump in adult mortality, with
the number of deaths
between the ages of 24 and 44 almost doubling between
1997 and 2002.
Stats vary throughout Africa
Last year, 43 of every 100 pregnant women in Swaziland were
HIV-positive;
more than one in two women aged 25 to 29 have the virus.
Lesotho saw a small drop in HIV infection among pregnant women,
from 29% in
2003, to 27% in 2004.
In Botswana, for the past four years
one in three pregnant women
has tested positive for the virus. Especially
worrying for a government that
has been forthright about the HIV/Aids
epidemic is the lack of knowledge: a
quarter of people surveyed this year
did not know that consistently using
condoms protects against
HIV.
Namibia has geographically disparate levels of HIV
infection. In
the Caprivi Strip - between Angola, Botswana and Zambia - 42%
of pregnant
women are HIV-positive, but in the north-west of the country the
figure is
just 8,5%. Although last year's annual survey in antenatal clinics
suggested
a slight decline in infections this is a tentative
finding.
Striking geographic differences are also seen within
Malawi,
where more than one in three pregnant women in the south of the
country
tested HIV-positive in 2003, compared to 7% in the central area.
While
overall prevalence appears to stay steady at 20%, this may have been
affected by the lack of food security in the region, which may be
contributing to more deaths from Aids. HIV infection levels appear to be
rising rapidly in rural areas and among younger pregnant
women.
Despite decades of war, Angola has low levels of HIV
infection
for the region, with just an estimated 2,8% of pregnant women
testing
positive in 2004. But the potential for the epidemic to grow is seen
among
sex workers in the country's capital, Luanda, where one in three is
reported
to be carrying the virus.
In Zambia, HIV has
maintained a steady presence, with between
18% and 20% of pregnant women
testing positive each year since 1994. The
highest infection levels are to
be seen in the areas around major transport
routes. Similarly in Mozambique,
the transport routes with Zimbabwe, Malawi
and South Africa are accompanied
by higher HIV infection. In three years the
HIV prevalence among pregnant
women living on the main rail link to southern
Malawi increased from 7% in
2001 to 19% in 2004. - Belinda Beresford
Zim Online
Wed 30
November 2005
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe on Monday this week
told the inner
politburo cabinet of his ruling ZANU PF party that he wants
soldiers and
other state security agents to be given more pay for keeping
Zimbabwe
stable, authoritative sources told ZimOnline.
The
communist-style politburo is practically ZANU PF's most powerful
organ
outside the party congress and virtually directs government policy.
According to the sources, who attended the politburo meeting held
primarily
to review ZANU PF's performance in last Saturday's controversial
senate
election, Mugabe expressed surprise that teachers and nurses were
earning
basically the same salaries as soldiers who he said had done a
"commendable
job in stabilising the country".
"Why should nurses
and teachers be at par with dependable servants
like security people?"
Mugabe is said to have told the politburo.
"Kuti tirambe tichitonga
ndivo (we are still in power because of the
security forces)," the 81-year
old President is said to have remarked.
Most teachers, nurses,
policemen and soldiers take home between three
to five million dollars per
month which is way below the $11.9 million that
the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe says an average family of a mother, father
and four children needs
for basic services and goods per month.
The politburo is said to
have agreed to order the government to review
salaries for the army and
other security organs.
Both Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba and
ZANU PF spokesman Nathan
Shamuyarira were not available yesterday for
comment on the matter.
The ruling party's secretary for
administration and also State
Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa, would not
deny or confirm whether Mugabe
had pushed for higher salaries for security
forces.
But Mutasa insisted there was nothing amiss if the
government gave
security forces more pay. He said: "I don't think anyone
should be alarmed
when a country rewards its soldiers, or any worker for
that matter. Are they
not defenders of our sovereignty?"
According to the sources, Mugabe told his politburo colleagues that
top army
and security commanders had indicated to him that the government
risked
losing the support of especially the rank and file of the army
because of
worsening economic hardships. "He (Mugabe) said that the
commanders had told
him that they have had to resort to using hardliner
tactics to silence
personnel because there were clear signs of discontent,"
said a
source.
While there may be no immediate pay rises for security
forces, the
politburo is however said to have agreed to order the government
to
introduce a more lucrative payroll - higher than that of other civil
servants - for soldiers, the police and Central Intelligence Organisation
operatives.
The powerful ZANU PF committee also agreed to
direct the Ministry of
Defence to ensure that private infantry soldiers earn
more than specialised
army personnel such as doctors and nurses at army
hospitals.
Zimbabwe is grappling a severe food and economic crisis
that political
analysts have said is feeding public discontent that could
erupt in mass
civil unrest.
ZimOnline revealed last October
that the government's Joint Operations
Command, comprising top commanders of
the army, air force, police, secret
and prison services, had warned the
government that Zimbabweans' patience
was wearing thin in the face of
deepening economic hardships and that Mugabe
and ZANU PF could be overthrown
in a popular uprising.
Economic analysts, who spoke to ZimOnline
yesterday, predicted that
the national budget to be announced in Parliament
tomorrow by Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa would most likely allocate more
resources to the
security forces in a bid by the government to ensure their
loyalty. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wed 30
November 2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa
tomorrow announces
the national budget for 2006 that analysts have said is
certain to allocate
more resources to the army and other state organs of
coercion, key to
keeping President Robert Mugabe in power.
They
said swelling public discontent against Mugabe would force
Murerwa to
prioritise the security forces - as has been the case in the
past - at the
expense of financing efforts to avert a looming humanitarian
disaster
because of food shortages and economic failure.
Harare-based
economic analyst James Jowa predicted that Murerwa's
budget was likely to be
more an instrument to fortify Mugabe and his ZANU PF
party's rule than a
mechanism to inspire economic revival.
"I do not foresee Murerwa
coming up with a budget with national
interests at the core but one that is
most likely to boost the morale of the
security forces, army and police to
maintain the status quo," Jowa told
ZimOnline.
Despite
overwhelmingly winning a controversial senate election last
Saturday, Mugabe
and ZANU PF remained wary of civil unrest because of
worsening economic
hardships, Jowa said.
ZANU PF won 43 of the contested 50 senate
seats in an election that
was partly boycotted by the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
called for a boycott of the senate
which he said was a waste of scarce
resources by a country that should be
doing more to fight
hunger.
Independent observers say about 20 percent of the 3.2
million
registered voters bothered to vote in the poll in what political
analysts
said was a clear indication that the majority of Zimbabweans had
listened to
Tsvangirai's boycott call.
Jowa said: "The
government feels the threats of civil unrest because
of the shrinking
economy and therefore is most likely to allocate the
largest chunk to the
army as usual."
ZimOnline revealed last October that the
government's Joint Operations
Command, comprising top commanders of the
army, air force, police, secret
and prison services, had warned the
government that the people's patience
was wearing thin in the face of
deepening economic hardships and that Mugabe
and ZANU PF could be overthrown
in a popular uprising.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
(ZNCC) president Luxon Zembe
said the country's economic crisis required
bold measures from Murerwa
tomorrow such as decisive steps to move away from
a command economy to one
driven by the market.
Zembe said:
"Murerwa must take some bold and tough measures because
his budget must
spearhead economic growth and recovery."
Murerwa would also have to
act to remove price distortions and price
controls harming the remaining
functional sectors of the economy, Zembe
said.
The budget would
also have to strongly signal that government now
regarded the mainstay
agricultural sector as a business sector rather than a
political weapon, he
said.
But Zembe was quick to admit that Murerwa - regarded by many
as among
the few progressive minds in Mugabe's government - did not have a
free rein
on the budget adding that whatever his wishes, the Finance
Minister will at
the end of the day still have to pander to his political
masters.
Jowa concurred saying: "Political will is the key to
economic
recovery. Unfortunately some of the structures draining the fiscus
are out
of Murerwa's control. He cannot do much about it save to just make
political
statements."
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a severe
economic crisis that began in 1999
after the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) withdrew financial assistance.
The crisis worsened a year later after
Mugabe launched his controversial
farm seizure programme that destabilised
the agricultural sector causing a
60 percent decline in food
output.
The crisis, described by the World Bank as unseen in a
country not at
war, has seen inflation shooting to beyond 400 percent and
has besides food,
spawned acute shortages of fuel, electricity, essential
medical drugs and
nearly every other basic survival commodity. -
ZimOnline
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Business
Reporters
issue date :2005-Nov-30
THE Minister of Agriculture, Joseph
Made called upon the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB) to write off all loans
issued to farmers in drought stricken
areas last season, citing lack of
resources to pay back.
Addressing a rally in Chipinge as part of President
Robert Mugabe's
entourage last week that was campaigning for the Senatorial
elections, Made
said the parastatal should write off all loans it gave to
the farmers last
season, as the majority of them had not harvested anything
due to drought.
"All loans issued to farmers in drought stricken areas last
season should be
written off as farmers cannot service them due to poor
harvests.
"We are all aware that most areas had very poor harvests
and
there is no need of asking
the farmers to service loans," he
said.
"Instead, more resources should be given to the same farmers for
meaningful
farming this season.''
Made also promised to fund, this
season, all other crops that were in the
previous years not covered under
the government's loan facilities.
He said government was fully committed to
having a boosted agricultural
production and as such will, with effect from
this year, fund all crops,
including coffee and tea, which were previously
not
funded.
"On the other hand we are really saddened by reports that
some coffee and
tea buyers are ripping off farmers through buying crops at
very low and
unsustainable prices.
"As government we shall make it a
point that we protect our farmers by
finding alternative markets that would
offer competitive prices."
He went on to assure farmers of adequate inputs
distribution this season for
which he requested the local leadership
and
Arex officials to be involved
in their distribution for
transparency.
In December last year, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Lands,
Agriculture, Water Resources, Rural Development and Resettlement
highlighted
anomalies in the 2005
national budget financing for
agriculture.
The committee argued that although government had allocated
funds for
various farming programmes, it was not clear how farmers would
access
funding for inputs since this time around the funding was not
provided under
the ministry's vote allocation, but under the Productive
Sector Facility
(PSF).
In its 10-page report that was presented to
Parliament, the committee
chaired by Zanu PF Member of Parliament, Daniel
Mackenzie argued that
government
was too ambitious in its
set
goals.
"It goes without saying that the economy of Zimbabwe is
agro-based.
"Agriculture contributes 16 percent to the country's domestic
gross
production (GDP). Agriculture also contributes substantially to
employment
levels in the country.
"Hence one would expect a deliberate
policy thrust, targeting agriculture as
a strategy for economic
recovery.
"The budgetary allocations should be in line with this vision,"
argued the
committee.
Focusing on the 2005 budget statement, the
committee said confusion was rife
with respect to the accessing of
funds.
". Also because of the allocation of the inputs under the PSF, it made
it
difficult for your committee to verify whether the funds are actually
available or only exist on paper.
The ministry (Agriculture and Rural
Development) officials
were also not so sure on this issue."
Government
hopes to move away from direct lending to farmers, as it has
emerged that
the Agricultural Development Bank (Agribank) was now adequately
recapitalised.
However, the committee noted problems likely to be
encountered in the
recovery of previous debts loaned to
farmers.
"Government is projecting loan recoveries to the
tune of $1,455
trillion.
"Your committee feels that the target is too ambitious given the
fact that
some loans were written off due to severe effects of successive
droughts."
"Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, indicated that agriculture
was
targeted to grow by 28 percent although it had registered a
marginal
decline of 3,3 percent in 2004."
In a budget share analysis for agriculture,
vote allocation estimate
(revised) was $497 615 347 000, while the total
budget was $8 747 638 846
000 for
2004. For 2005, vote allocation was
$1000 155 256 000 with an estimated
total budget put at $28 363 608 415
000.
The share for vote to total expenditure in 2004 was 7,3 percent compared
to
4,46 percent of the 2005 budget.
"This is not consistent with the
importance attached to agriculture as a
turn-around economic strategy, let
alone the mammoth demands of the land
reform programme.
"Hence it is very
difficult to understand how agriculture will grow by 28
percent in the
coming year, as projected by the minister, given the decline
in share
allocation," argued the committee.
Parastatals under the purview of the
ministry have always been funded under
the Administration and General
sub-vote.
However, treasury has no allocations for the parastatals under the
ministry's
vote.
"The understanding is that these parastatals would have
to approach the
proposed
Energy, Housing and
Infrastructure Bank for
capital projects.
Modalities are not yet in place and hence it remains to be
seen whether the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) bid of $1,2 trillion to cover
government's
subsidy will be funded from that facility since it was not
provided for
under the ministry's vote," the committee said.
As a
solution to the problem, the committee called for clarity on the
operations
of the Energy, Housing and Infrastructure Bank and procedures
through which
departments could access funds "without delays."
Citizen, SA
By Angus Shaw
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai arrived at his party's
headquarters as usual Tuesday, ignoring
attempts by rivals to force him from
office.
"It is business as usual,"
said Tsvangirai's spokesman, William Bango.
Differences over a weekend
election for a new Senate have caused an
unprecedented split within the
Movement for Democratic Change, the only
party to have seriously challenged
President Robert Mugabe's increasingly
autocratic 25-year
rule.
Tsvangirai ordered a boycott of Saturday's poll, but a narrow majority
of
his party's national executive voted in favour of participating. Rivals
led
by Tsvangirai's deputy, Gibson Sibanda, fielded 26 candidates - just
seven
of whom won seats in the 66-member Senate.
Tsvangirai on Sunday
rejected a letter from Sibanda informing him that the
party's disciplinary
committee was suspending him. He has since ignored
instructions to vacate
his office and return all party property except two
cars allowed for
personal use.
Tsvangirai maintains only the party's annual convention,
scheduled for
February, has the authority to remove him.
Party spokesman
Paul Themba-Nyathi said Tsvangirai violated party rules by
insisting on the
boycott and his refusal to step down was "further defiance
of the national
disciplinary committee and would be dealt with accordingly,"
he
said.
Bango said there were no attempts to prevent Tsvangirai entering party
headquarters in the capital, Harare.
Just 19.4 percent of the 3.2 million
eligible voters cast ballots Saturday -
the lowest turnout for a national
election since independence from Britain
in 1980 - according to the
independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network.
Tsvangirai claimed most voters
heeded his boycott call. Independent
observers said general apathy,
ignorance about the role of the Senate and
voter fatigue after bruising
elections in March for Parliament's lower house
also affected
turnout.
The labor-backed opposition won just 41 of the 120 seats up for
grabs in
that election amid allegations of intimidation and vote rigging.
Mugabe
appoints an additional 30 members in the lower house.
Tsvangirai
argued participation in Saturday's poll would only give
credibility to
another tainted vote. His rivals said the party should take
advantage of an
opportunity to increase the opposition's voice in the
legislature.
Mugabe
himself abolished the Senate in 1990. His critics charge the
institution was
only restored to increase Mugabe's ability to doll out jobs
and perks in
Zimbabwe's ailing economy. The new house has no veto powers
over legislation
passed in the lower house.
The US State Department on Monday called the
Senate election a "nonevent." -
Sapa-AP.
Christian Today
Children left orphaned by AIDS in Zimbabwe are finding
care and
the Gospel in Christian mobile orphanages.
Posted: Tuesday, November 29 , 2005, 12:36 (UK)
Christian World Outreach has been in Zimbabwe helping children
left orphaned
by AIDS with their Mobile Orphanage programme, reports Mission
Network
News.
CWO's Greg Yoder described the organisation's Mobile
Orphanage
as being more like a foster care programme.
"We're not trying to bring children to a centre and then out of
their
communities, but be able to keep them in their communities," he
said.
"We go to them and try to work with school teachers and
community leaders and churches in the community to care for the children who
have been orphaned by AIDS."
CWO is asking for people to
donate just 21 USD a month to
support each child. The money will go toward
their school fees, basic school
supplies, uniform, and food
kits.
"We try to supplement the food that the guardians are
already
giving them to try to support people physically for taking care of
these
kids," said Yoder.
The CWO also runs camps for
AIDS-orphaned children.
"The camps are held for a couple of
reasons," said Yoder. "One
is to introduce them to Christ and to provide
spiritual teaching. The other
is to just help them interact with other
children from the community."
Yoder added: "They're just
children who are taking care of
themselves and taking care of other
children."
In 2003 the number of children orphaned by AIDS
stood at 980,000
or 78 per cent of all orphans in the
country.
World AIDS Day will be held on Thursday to rally
people in the
fight against the disease and to highlight the urgent need for
a response to
the 15 million children expected to be orphaned by
2015.
The Herald
Zinwa's
responsibility
ZINWA took over bulk water treatment and pumping up to the
main storage
reservoirs from the City of Harare on May 9 2005. This entails
bulk supply
of water up to the distribution reservoirs for Harare City
Council, Ruwa,
Norton, Chitungwiza and Epworth.
All
reticulation/distribution infrastructure is maintained by the respective
local authorities.
Progerss to date
Since the takeover, Zinwa
has managed to effect a lot of repairs at Warren
Control, Morton Jaffray and
Prince Edward water works. These repairs, which
are worth billions of
dollars, have reduced losses significantly and managed
to stabilise
output.
The following is a list of the repair work undertaken:
l
Repairs of leaks at Warren Control
l Repairs at Ganges are still being
done in conjunction with the City of
Harare.
l Repaired leaks on the
Morton Jaffray to Lochinvar line
l Repaired two transformers and
completed the installation of the third
transformer at Warren
Control.
l At MJ, we have repaired the North intake periscope and two
intake valves
into the treatment works have been also repaired.
l Two
Darwendale raw water pumps have also been repaired.
l Repaired pumps and
motors for alum, lime and silica.
l Purchased and installed new alum,
carbon and lime dosing pumps.
l Recommissioned two clarifiers at the old
works.
l Repairs on the valves for works 1
l Still working on the
filters, with the intention of re-sanding and putting
new nozzles for the
filters.
l Working on the valve system for the Works 2 and 3.
l
Four highlift pumps have been re-commissioned.
l At Prince Edward, two
highlift pumps have been recommissioned.
l Purchased two transfer pumps
for Letombo and installation is in progress.
l Purchased six transfer
pumps for Orange Grove and these will be delivered
shortly.
At Zinwa,
the takeover of Harare bulk water supply is a great challenge as
evidenced
by the number of repairs done and many more that still need to be
done. We
are therefore calling on all water consumers to co-operate with us
by
reporting any pipe bursts or leaks. Your suggestions are most welcome
because for us to overcome the water problems we are currently facing, we
need your support.
See you again next week when we talk about water
demand management.
Have a fruitful week!
ABC, Australia
Last Update: Tuesday, November 29, 2005. 5:41pm
(AEDT)
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander
Downer has condemned elections held in
Zimbabwe, saying the democratic
process in the nation has almost completely
collapsed.
Preliminary
results show President Robert Mugabe's party has won 42 of the
52 seats
contested in the new Senate.
But Mr Downer has told Parliament that voter
turnout was between 15 and 20
per cent, and there are reports that some
polling stations were completely
deserted.
Mr Downer says low voter
turnout highlights the irrelevance of the election
process for most
people.
"The elections for a newly created Senate in Zimbabwe were an act
of cynical
political patronage by President Mugabe, for Mr Mugabe's
cronies," he said.
"The real needs of the people of Zimbabwe are being
ignored."
Reuters
Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:28 AM GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of growing
U.S. animosity toward Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe, a senior U.S.
official dismissed as "a nonevent"
last weekend's Senate poll victory by the
ruling party in the southern
African nation.
Asked to comment on the
election of a new upper chamber of parliament, State
Department spokesman
Sean McCormack said Zimbabwe's new Senate was created
by Mugabe as a "source
of patronage for ruling party politicians."
He added: "So in terms of
democracy -- and we talk about elections as being
part of democracy -- this
was really a nonevent."
Final results announced on Monday showed Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF party won a
broad majority in the 66-seat Senate, which will
have the final word on any
new laws.
Despite his party's victory,
analysts in Zimbabwe said Mugabe's own
credibility was hurt by a voter
turnout of only 10 percent after a boycott
campaign by the main opposition
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
McCormack said this low voter turnout
reflected how Zimbabweans saw the new
chamber. "It doesn't seem as though
the Zimbabwean people took these
elections very seriously ... as a real
exercise in democracy."
Last week, U.S. President George W. Bush widened
economic sanctions against
Zimbabwe, blocking the assets of an additional
128 people and 33 entities
that Washington said undermined democratic
reform. In March 2003, the United
States imposed sanctions against 77
Zimbabweans.
Asked about the extended sanctions, McCormack said the
United States had
tried via "rhetoric" to get Mugabe to change his ways but
this had not
affected his behavior.
"The sanctions to which you refer
are part of this -- to try to convince
those who are currently leading
Zimbabwe that they are on the wrong path,"
he told
reporters.
McCormack's comments about the weekend poll are likely to
further inflame
tensions between Mugabe and U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell.
Mugabe told Dell to "go to hell" earlier this month
after the envoy blamed
the country's economic and political crisis on
mismanagement and corrupt
rule.
In power since 1980, Mugabe has
strongly rejected accusations his policies
have brought economic ruin to
Zimbabwe and he instead blames the country's
collapse on what he says is
sabotage by Western powers.
(
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 3:47 PM
Subject: Pro-Senate MDC is a Sellout
Faction
Allow me to voice our simmering anger over the endless abuse
of Tsvangirai
by unpatriotic renegate officials masquerading as the owners of
MDC yet
clandestinely supporting the Z.A.N.U. (P.F.) election mania and
violence. It
is as clear as daylight that Gibson Sibanda, Professor Welshman
Ncube, Paul
Themba Nyathi Gift Chimanikire and afew others are ambitious and
dangerous
"mafikizolo" bent on derailing people's quest for freedom from
Z.A.N.U.
tyranny. It is foolhardy of these guys to insult Tsvangirai and
expect
Zimbabweans to applause them. Gibson Sibanda, one moment he is
thinking of a
tribal Bantustan and now he daydreams about MDC presisdency.
Kindly join the
Mayoress of Harare and leave Tsvangison in peace.Tsvangison
has a clear
vision for MDC leadership and its quest for demcratic change.
Now
Zimbabweans can see for themselves how difficult it has been for
Tsvangirai
to operate effectively with so much backstubbing within and
without.
Tsvangirai's home has been ransacked several times by authorities.
He has
been arrested several times and accused t of reason. His family, his
person
and even his dog were insulted.Why were Gibson Sibanda and Weshman
Ncue not
subjected to such treatment? Anyone familiar with Z.A.N.U. (P.F.)
hatred of
opposition is bound to question. Whoever is not a threat to
Z.A.N.U.(P.F.)'s
dreams of a one party state is safe. So was and is still
Sekersai
Makwabarara and so is still Jonathan Moyo. If these renegate
individuals are
trully devoted to MDC ideals they should pacify themselves
with true MDC for
which Tsvangirai stands for. He is neither hard hearted
not
dictator.Tsvangirai will accept them but their wings should be
clipped.All
those using their websites to divide Zimbabweans, we will not
accept that.We
are all suffering together in all provinces and Tsvangison is
not the policy
maker or the common enemy. We are tired of reading biased
reporting accusing
Tsvangison of bungling MDC. I call upon the sane minded
and truly patriotic
Zimbabweans to see how poison pens are abusing websites
to belittle a man
who stood up for demeocracy with courage. Give us a
break.Tsvangison ndivzo!
Shonhai Sivindi
The Senate election has
passed recording the lowest vote apathy in the
history of one man one vote
in Zimbabwe. Albeit, ZANU (PF) is celebrating
yet another victory in less
than a year. Tsvangirai is celebrating a heeded
call to boycott the senate
election yet on the other hand Sibanda is licking
his wounds amid a wave in
a tea pot roaming in Bulawayo. The masses remain
disillusion amid a resumed
exchange of words by the MDC warring factions
however misguided and utter
rubbish. What is then the way forward for
Zimbabwe? None of those
celebrating have any political reason to celebrate,
how do you, honestly
celebrate the perpetual of a tyrannical agony which is
slumping the whole
generation into oblivion, those moaning should stop and
devote to reflecting
on what next and put Zimbabwe at heart and not "thy
people".
I have always stated that elections in Zimbabwe will
never yield any
political transition and I have been proven right, not after
my own vicious
battle with ZANU (PF) to which blood and soul needless to say
were lost but
they still stole the day. Now that MDC have unanimously agreed
that any
election with ZANU (PF) is a political suicide, what next? OF
course we
should be stupid to contest any future parliamentary elections
under the
same conditions and knowing ZANU (PF) nothing will change. What
will be our
future role then if we are not going to contest future
elections?
Indirectly, we have declared war on Mugabe, befitting though. We
should
fight Mugabe and his cronies on air, water and space using all
political
tools of trade. The casualties will be high if we delay but if we
start now
and end tomorrow with a victory, we will emerge victorious with
fewer
casualties. We must unshackle the fear phobia and move
swiftly.
The coming congress should be designated for an overhaul
of MDC. We all know
that we have dead wood among ourselves whose presence
continues to be of
patronage, the same ZANU (PF) syndrome. It is a political
fact that people
who are able to bring in meaningful change have been either
been frustrated
or their wings curtailed, that must end. MDC must not dwell
on people's
sympathy anymore they must earn that sympathy. Who would want
sympathy for 6
years with out action under the current conditions? Every
piece of land
locally, regionally, internationally and globally must have a
combative
structure of MDC working round the clock for a meaningful change.
There is
no need to fight for positions of patronage, give the posts to
those who
deserve them. Let the heads roll and I mean cut them dead heads,
inject the
Iron Mike Tyson leadership. There is no need to be apologetic
about it, let's
move on and I mean quickly.
ZANU (PF) members
must know that what I am advocating is an inclusive march
to rescue Zimbabwe
from the jaws of a few who have successfully wood winked
them into believing
that only themselves have the right to survival. Can
Mugabe correct the
economic melt down currently besetting Zimbabwe? Of
course not, two wrongs
do not make a right. This is a wake up call for all
Zimbabweans, that as we
languish in bondage we must be mindful of the fact
that we are our own
liberators. Zimbabwe owes us all to make it a better
place for the future
generations, after all, not by design and intend we
remain all in the dust
bin of history for we have failed ourselves before
the
test.
As I leave you all, in peace and in agony, I say in
earnest, let's use every
energy left to remove Mugabe. Those who write do
unto harm as you would do
with a weapon of mass destruction, those who sing,
sing him out loudly,
those who cry, cry him out loudly, those who punch,
punch him where it hurts
most, those who laugh, laugh him till death do us
part and our dear veterans
of the illustrious war of the 70s, I call you
upon on duty to defend the
principles upon which you were robbed of your
youth and energy. To those who
perished in fighting against the colonization
of Zimbabwe, today we call
upon your vengeful spirits to guide us through to
a struggle for the
emancipation of man against man, black against
black.
Victory is certain
Elliot Pfebve
Christian Science Monitor
from the November 29, 2005 edition
By Makau Mutua
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Black Africa, unlike its North African or Middle East
neighbors, has made epochal strides in building open societies.
The
decade of the 1990s witnessed unprecedented political progress in
virtually
all sub-Saharan African states. Military dictatorships and
authoritarian
one-party states were either swept aside or forced to adopt
democratic
reforms by popular upheavals.
Even so, democratization in black
Africa has in recent years either
stagnated or witnessed serious reversals.
The euphoria of change has not had
a lasting effect on the political
cultures of many African states.
Regrettably, recent success stories of
democratic reform are turning into
tragedies. The future hangs perilously in
the balance unless there is a
dramatic shift in the culture of
governance.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, long a darling of
Washington who
has been in power since 1986, rammed through parliament a
constitutional
amendment to remove term limits so that he could run for a
third time. In
Ethiopia, governed by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (dubbed by
former
President Bill Clinton as among the new democratic breed of African
leaders), scores of peaceful demonstrators protesting the outcome of
elections in May were killed by government forces.
Even in
Kenya, the pivotal East African state that in 2002 underwent a
historic and
peaceful regime change since independence in 1964, democratic
reforms have
been derailed. The government of President Mwai Kibaki is rife
with
corruption. It has reneged on all key reforms. Last week, it
resoundingly
lost a referendum on a divisive draft constitution. Kenya's
star has dimmed
amid ethnic tensions, a government in disarray, and a
despondent
population.
Tanzania, once an oasis of calm in a turbulent region,
has been rocked
by violence as protesters have clashed with security forces
in Zanzibar, its
autonomous archipelago nation. The opposition disputes an
election that was
won by the ruling party.
Zimbabwe's Robert
Mugabe has completely run his country into the
ground. He has quashed a
democratic movement, ordered land invasions, and
isolated Zimbabwe from the
world.
And in Liberia, soccer-star George Weah has refused to
concede defeat
to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the Harvard-educated former World
Bank economist.
President-elect Johnson-Sirleaf will be the first woman
African head of
state with an excellent opportunity to end Liberia's string
of despotic
regimes.
Elsewhere on the continent - in Sudan, the
Democratic Republic of
Congo, lawless Somalia, and the Ivory Coast -
dysfunctional or failed states
continue to tear the fabric of society.
Despair among the population is
increasing in countries with more stable
states such as Nigeria, Ghana,
Senegal, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, and even
democratic South Africa.
What has gone awry so soon after a decade
of democratization?
Meaningful political and economic reforms will remain
elusive unless
Africa's traditional political class is exorcised from the
landscape. This
will require both a complete renewal and a broad expansion
of the political
elite.
Second, politics must be detribalized.
One ironic paradox of
multipartyism and open political competition has been
the tribalization of
politics. African political parties - the only vehicles
through which modern
democracy is practiced - are barren receptacles for
tribal barons and ethnic
demagoguery. They are parties in name only, not
substance. They do not
mobilize the population and only heighten ethnic
tensions and fragment the
political landscape when they do. Political
parties must be national
vehicles grounded in political ideologies and
economic philosophies.
Third, democratic development is not
possible without the
demarginalization of women and their full inclusion in
the public square. In
African states, the female gender is the voice of the
powerless. Women till
the fields, raise families, and nurture society. Yet,
their voices remain
excluded from political participation. Their knowledge
of the conditions of
powerlessness makes them the critical variable for
lifting Africa from its
deathbed.
The West must play its role
to help Africa overcome the barriers to
development and democracy. Fairer
terms of trade are better than aid. So are
debt forgiveness and more
equitable terms for loans. Nor should protest
diplomacy be abandoned. It is
reasonable that the United States should
express its concern when Kenyan
legislators pay themselves more than members
of the US Congress in a country
with a per capita income of less than $300.
Denying American visas to Kenyan
ministers would send a clear message that
corruption is not
acceptable.
But the future of black Africa rests squarely in the
hands of
Africans. African leaders must understand that societies are only
as great
as their elites. Politicians must develop a national sense of the
mission of
government. Self-aggrandizement and personal interests cannot be
allowed to
trump the national interest. Africa's first liberation overthrew
colonial
hegemony. The second liberation swept away blatant dictatorships.
The third
liberation must consolidate and deepen democracy.
.
Makau Mutua is a professor of law and the director of the Human
Rights
Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Philadelphia New Observer
By: Itano Nicole
Women's eNews
Originally posted
11/28/2005
Harare, Zimbabwe (Women'sEnews)-In an unlit park in central
Harare on the
night of Zimbabwe's March parliamentary elections, more than a
hundred women
gathered to sing and pray for peace.
In this
increasingly authoritarian southern African nation even public
prayer is
deemed a threat to public security.
Several dozen police brandishing
batons quickly arrived in tan Land Cruisers
and pushed the women into the
cars. By the end of the evening 300 women,
most ordinary mothers and
grandmothers struggling to feed hungry families,
were in jail and at least
nine had been beaten so badly they required
hospitalization.
Among
the first to be dragged away was Jenni Williams, a plump, pale-skinned
woman
who helped to found Women of Zimbabwe Arise, one of the few
organizations
here that has been consistently willing to take to the streets
in protest of
their country's destruction.
''The impetus really was that women were
bearing the brunt of the
instability in Zimbabwe and as the people who were
suffering most, they
should have been speaking out more and holding the
regime accountable,''
said Williams, who has been arrested 18 times, mostly
in Women of Zimbabwe
Arise-related protests. ''We call it tough love because
we love our country
enough to sacrifice being arrested and
beaten.''
Inspired by the methods of the U.S. civil rights movement,
anti-apartheid
protests in South Africa and the nonviolent resistance of
Mahatma Gandhi,
the women have prayed, marched and passed out Valentine's
Day roses affixed
with messages of peace. They say they take courage from an
anti-apartheid
slogan, ''Strike a woman, strike a rock.'' When confronted by
police, they
quietly obey, hoping their silent bravery will shame the
authorities for
mistreating women who could be their mothers, daughters and
sisters.
Williams first rose to public prominence more than five years
ago when
Zimbabwe's government began seizing white-owned farms to
redistribute to
landless Blacks as the spokesperson for the largely white
Commercial Farmers
Union of Zimbabwe. She has undergone a dramatic
transformation in recent
years.
From the public face of an
organization seen to represent the views of
Zimbabwe's wealthy and insular
white farmers, Williams has since become a
street activist and revolutionary
in an organization of mostly poor, Black
women. She began working for the
white farmers when they hired her public
relations firm, but her work for
Women of Zimbabwe Arise is personal. As
many white Zimbabweans left the
country, she decided, she said, to stay and
fight. At Women of Zimbabwe
Arise protests she is often the only
light-skinned face in the crowd. She is
quick to point out though, that
despite her pale skin and an English name,
she is of mixed white and Ndebele
ancestry.
Williams said that
Zimbabwe was her country and that she would fight to keep
it safe. But her
activism has taken personal sacrifice. Her husband and two
sons have left
the country for safety reasons, although she hopes the
situation will soon
stabilize enough that they can return.
''I have requested a three-year
leave from being a wife and mother,'' she
said. It's been difficult, but her
family has been supportive. ''They really
do understand that we're trying to
make Zimbabwe livable again.''
After five years of political violence and
oppression, most Zimbabweans are
terrified to speak out against the
government despite a rapidly
deteriorating economy and devastating urban
cleanup campaign called
''Operation Murambatsvina'' or ''clean up trash''
that began shortly after
the elections and has left an estimated 700,000
homeless and tens of
thousands of children out of school. Robert Mugabe, the
country's president,
has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 and
continues to hold fast to
power.
Williams and other civil society
leaders have been disappointed with the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change's unwillingness to call for mass
action. The party has now lost three
elections under conditions condemned by
the international community, but has
chosen to fight through the courts
rather than on the streets.
The
political climate in Zimbabwe makes any kind of protest extremely
difficult.
A series of new laws-like the Public Order and Security Act,
under which the
women were arrested-restrict public gatherings and make
criticism of the
president and security authorities illegal. The independent
press has been
stifled and a state-sponsored campaign of violence against
government
critics and opposition supporters has created a climate of fear.
While
both government supporters and critics are in theory subject to the
act, in
practice the law has been selectively enforced to prohibit any
public
expression of dissent. Usually it is simply used as an excuse to shut
down
protests and meetings of dissidents.
Arnold Tsunga, head of the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, which
represents Women of Zimbabwe Arise members
in court, said that in 2003 and
2004 there were at least 2,000 arrests under
the act and related laws. Not a
single person, he said, has ever been
successfully prosecuted under the law.
On the night of the election, for
example, Women of Zimbabwe Arise members
were eventually released after
being charged with obstructing traffic,
although they were in a park with no
roads.
Thabita Khumalo is a less visible face of Zimbabwe's protest
movement, but
she too has experienced the brutality of Zimbabwe's regime
first hand in
retaliation for speaking out against its excesses.
One
Saturday in July, the small, dark-skinned woman was about to open a
meeting
of female trade unionists at a Harare hotel when a group of
outsiders
stormed the room and began to beat the participants. A man smashed
his fist
into Khulamo's face, breaking several teeth and giving her a black
eye. But
the labor activist refused to run away or scream for help.
''I wanted to
assure them, we have to be brave,'' she said. ''If I ran away
as a leader
then it means that I would have destroyed all the work we had
done in recent
years to encourage them.''
''We women are very brave. But they
underestimate their power. Women don't
realize that they are very
powerful,'' she mused. ''The day they realize
their power they will change
this country.''
Zimbabwe Standard
(Harare)
November 27, 2005
Posted to the web November 29,
2005
Nqobani Ndlovu And Godfrey Mutimba
Children in Bulawayo's
Cowdray Park collapsed and fainted on Thursday after
they were made to wait
for hours for President Robert Mugabe who was on a
senate
campaign.
But in drought-prone Chivi communal area, in Masvingo province,
villagers on
Tuesday preferred to go to their fields than attend a rally
addressed by
Mugabe
Mugabe's campaign in Cowdray Park was launched
against the backdrop of a sea
of poverty and suffering among ordinary
residents who are struggling to cope
with food and water
shortages.
Hunger, fatigue and thirst caused by the blistering sun were
cited as the
cause of the children's fainting. The Standard witnessed
several children
collapsing.
Some of the children were bussed in and
were made to wait for more than five
hours, from 11AM until 4:30PM when
Mugabe and his entourage arrived at
Cowdray Park. Earlier in day, the
presidential entourage had attended a
tree-planting ceremony at Mkhikathebe
Primary School.
The children were made to sit in the scorching sun all
day while Mugabe's
Senate campaign took him to Matabeleland
South.
Well-nourished Central Committee, Politburo, government ministers
and
various officials attended the ceremony.
When it was time for
Mugabe to speak, he disappointed many people when he
made no mention of the
water crisis in Bulawayo, despite seeing residents
who carried empty buckets
to the venue in search of water.
Just across from where Mugabe was,
residents queued for City Council bowsers
to deliver water to the
area.
The President commissioned 443 houses without water and sewerage
reticulation services at Cowdray Park on Thursday.
"I thought the
President was going to say something about the water
situation " said one
woman.
Bulawayo deputy mayor, Albert Mhlanga, says the President did not
speak on
the water crisis because he was well aware that the Zimbabwe
National Water
Authority (ZINWA) had faied to provide water to the
council.
"We have told him about the water crisis but he knows the
government is
responsible for providing water. He had no answer for the
people on the
water crisis as he knew ZINWA is failing to provide the
council with water,"
Mhlanga said.
In Masvingo, Mugabe addressed a
gathering of mostly school children after
villagers from Chivi communal area
decided it was better to spend their time
in their fields than listen to
empty political rhetoric.
The Standard news crew estimated less than 3
000 people at the rally. Some
villagers could be seen busy in their fields,
following the rains that fell
in the area.
Addressing the campaign
rally at Madzivire Primary School, meant to drum up
support for Zanu PF
candidate, Samuel Mumbengegwi, the former minister of
international trade
who lost in the 31 March 2005 parliamentary elections,
Mugabe conceded that
fewer people had turned up.
"Zvirikuonekwa kuti vanhu havana kuuya
vakawanda ndinovimba rally
yakazorongwa zvekukurimidza uyezve constituency
ye Mwenezi- Chivi yakakura
yotoda nguva yakawanda, (I can see that fewer
people turned up for the rally
and I believe the rally was organised at
short notice while the constituency
itself is big)," he said.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Nov-30
THE
embattled Chitungwiza Municipality says it is currently engaged in
negotiations with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) with the view of
persuading the central bank to take-over a staggering $27 billion government
debt to the council.
In an interview with this newspaper yesterday, under
fire Chitungwiza mayor,
Misheck Shoko said government institutions in the
dormitory town were not
paying rates to the municipality.
"They have gone
for months without paying rates to the municipality and hope
is now pinned
on the RBZ," Shoko said. "We are owed $27 billion by
government as its
institutions operating in Chitungwiza like the hospital,
police and others,
have not been paying water charges and other rates to
council."
He said
the council's treasury department had since approached the RBZ to
persuade
the central bank to take over the debt. "The treasury met RBZ
officials on
Tuesday (last week). The government departments have since
acknowledged
their debts," he added.
The RBZ public relations office yesterday could not
comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, Shoko said council has not yet received
funds promised by
government recently.
"Government promised us R850 000
and $5 billion but we are yet to receive
that money," he said.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Chakanetsa
Chidyamatiyo Court Reporter
issue date :2005-Nov-30
CENTRAL Africa
Building Society (CABS) was defrauded over $430 billion
within four months
in an alleged scam orchestrated by one of its privileged
clients.
The
client, Mathias Ndlovu, who has a Platinum Club facility, which is
exclusive
to people who enjoy extra-ordinary banking services, appeared
before a
Harare Magistrate yesterday.
The State alleged that between July 5 and
November 7 this year, Ndlovu
(37) - who operates three accounts with CABS -
issued 82 cheques in his
favour from his Platinum chequebook with varying
amounts totalling $432 220
000 000.
The court heard that Ndlovu's first
account number 9011813393 is referred to
as a transaction account which gave
him the privilege to deposit or
withdraw, the second (6090002440) was a high
interest savings account which
earns interest on funds not for immediate use
by clients, while the third
(6090002440)-according to the court papers-also
served as an overdraft
account.
During the period in question, Ndlovu
deposited the cheques he would have
withdrawn into his transaction account
number 9011813393 at different banks
which did not have Platinum facilities
so that it would not be detected that
he had deposited his own cheques drawn
on his Platinum account, the State
alleged.
The cheques were allegedly
cleared instantly under the privileges of
Platinum account holders.
The
amounts deposited were immediately reflected in his account as cash,
although he did not have sufficient funds to support the values.
Ndlovu,
an indigenous businessperson living in Harare's plush Gunhill
suburb, then
allegedly transferred some of the funds to various people and
companies (not
identified in court papers) to the tune of $154 396 462
938.87
The
offence came to light last Friday when officials from the Reserve Bank
of
Zimbabwe queried the huge transactions and transfers of funds, which
appeared on Ndlovu's transaction account.
CABS then instituted
investigations and discovered the anomaly and
subsequently reported the case
to the police.
The State further alleged that the police recovered 15 brand
new state of
the art vehicles, including three Mercedes Benz, a BMW, four
Mazdas, three
Toyotas, a Nissan, a Volkswagen, an Isuzu twin cab and a
Peugeot allegedly
purchased from proceeds of the crime.
Besides the
vehicles, the police reportedly established that two houses in
Gunhill and
Greystone Park were bought with the allegedly stolen funds,
while $62
billion was frozen in Ndlovu's Platinum savings account and $10
billion in
his investment account held at First Banking Corporation.
The police were yet
to ascertain the values of the cars and the two houses.
Yesterday, Ndlovu
appeared before Harare magistrate Rodin Mzyece and
remanded in custody to
today when he is expected to make a bail application.
Harare lawyer Misheck
Hogwe assisted by Evelin Mutswangwa represented Ndlovu
while Blessing Mhande
prosecuted.
Zimbabwe's banking sector has in recent years been characterised
by white
collar crime which has seen prominent bankers flee the country
while First
National Building Society, Intermarket Building Society, Trust
Bank,
Barbican Bank Time Bank and CFX Bank were placed under curatorship on
allegations of massive corruption.
Prominent bankers who fled country
include Nicholas Vingirai of Intermarket,
Mthuli Ncube of Barbican, NMB's
Julius Makoni, Francis Zimuto, Otto Chekeche
and James Mushore.
The Herald
(Harare)
OPINION
November 29, 2005
Posted to the web November 29,
2005
Harare
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr Gideon Gono
recently announced
that the central bank will introduce a new currency next
year, Mozambique is
also mulling the same idea. Stephanie Nolen of the Globe
and Mail writes
about the new currency debate in Maputo.
MOZAMBIQUE'S
money is almost worthless, so the country is banking on a wild
idea: lopping
off three zeroes.
Mozambique has money troubles. Not just of the foreign
debt or empty
government coffers kind, though these are certainly a problem.
There is the
more immediate problem: It takes two million meticals to pay
for lunch; a
wad of crumpled bills to buy tomatoes and bananas in the
street, and a box
load of cash if you are one of the lucky few who can
afford a television.
Buying a new car? You will need a wheelbarrow when
you go to pay for it. The
metical is one of the weakest currencies in the
world, outstripped these
days only by the Zimbabwe dollar, which loses half
its value every month or
two.
Years of hyperinflation, as Mozambique
made the rocky transition from
socialist state to free market economy, have
rendered the currency almost
worthless: today US$1 is worth 32 000 meticals.
"I can't sell calculators,
even though lots of people want to buy them,
because they only show eight
digits and what good is that in Mozambique?"
said a sighing Salim Ismail,
who runs an electronics store. The government
has tried through the years to
respond to the problem by issuing higher and
higher denominations of bills.
It came out a few months ago with a 500
000-metical note, which helped
well-paid urban dwellers but didn't go down
very well with labourers who
suddenly found themselves receiving one measly
note in their once-bulging
pay packets.
But in an effort to start
afresh, the Bank of Mozambique is proposing to lop
the last three zeroes off
the end of the metical, so a one-million-metical
pair of shoes will now cost
1 000 meticals, and a beer a mere 10 meticals
rather than the wad of old
notes it costs now. Mozambique is not the first
nation to do this - Russia
did it with the rouble, for example - but it's a
risky move in a country
where much of the population is illiterate, and at
least half the economy is
informal - made up of traders and farmers who have
nothing to do with the
banking system.
To complicate matters further, the metical is more than
just a currency.
It's a symbol. There is Metical Day, a holiday each June,
the anniversary of
the day independent Mozambique adopted the currency,
replacing the escudo of
the Portuguese colonisers. There is also a museum to
the metical. It traces
a fascinating history, from the use of cowry shells
through
revolutionary-era bills with impressionistic paintings of suffering
peasants
all the way to the current metical.
Yet despite the
currency's symbolic value, the denominations required for
basic transactions
have become unwieldy. And while the majority of
Mozambique's population are
subsistence farmers who use the currency rarely
if at all, the country is
promoting an open-for-business ethos, wooing major
mining companies and
manufacturers, and that makes the badly devalued money
an embarrassment.
"It's going to be good for business, and good for
tourism," architect Mr
Memed Loonat said about the dropped zeroes. "You
won't have to come with a
suitcase (of money) any more."
Mr Loonat makes low-cost houses these
days: People who want one of his
houses must pay him 300 million metical in
cash. (The vast majority of
transactions here are cash, because there is
little infrastructure for
credit cards, and the banking sector, while
rapidly expanding, is still in
the main antiquated and clumsy, and serves
only a handful of urban centres.)
"It's going to be easier to handle the
money; it's going to increase the
efficiency of payments between
institutions and it will facilitate the use
of computer systems and
automatic tellers," said Mr Augusto Joaquim Candida,
director for currency
and payment systems at the Bank of Mozambique. "Also,
it will be an
improvement in terms of security: Today, even if you're buying
something
small, you need to carry a lot of money so anyone can see it."
He said
the bank is aware that the large numbers of innumerate people
operating in
the informal economy make the change a challenge. "It's not
going to happen
in one day," he said. If parliament approves the change,
likely in the
coming days, then businesses will be ordered to post all
prices in both old
and new metical prices beginning January 1. Then, in
June, the new notes
will be introduced, and both will remain in circulation
(so a buyer can pay
two million old or 2 000 new meticals) for another six
months or so, he
said. Local authorities will be primed in rural areas to
tell people about
the change and alleviate panic about their savings. And
Mr. Candida was
quick to stress that the change will be only the zeroes:
"The metical is the
metical and we can't change that, of course," he said.
"So the new currency
will be the metical nuovo, and once it is fully phased
in, it will the just
be the metical again."
Hyperinflation is characterised by monthly
inflation greater than 50
percent, which means something worth $1 would cost
$130 a year later. While
its causes are varied, the results are similar. In
Germany after the First
World War, prices were doubling every 49 hours.
Workers were paid daily or
more often with bundles of cash, and would dash
out to buy something before
it grew more expensive. Someone could buy a
bottle of wine, and the next
morning the empty bottle could be sold for more
than it had cost full. The
largest denomination was a 100-billion mark bill,
which would buy two
postage stamps.
In Bolivia during the
mid-eighties, inflation was at 25 000 per cent
annually.
The stack of
money needed to buy a chocolate bar far outweighed the candy.
In Argentina
in 1989, prices for some things would double overnight. Many
restaurants and
stores refused to accept credit cards, because the charges
paid at the end
of the month were worth much less than they were at the time
of purchase. In
Yugoslavia, the rate of inflation was 5 quadrillion per cent
between Oct 1,
1993 and Jan 24, 1994. (A quadrillion is a 16-digit number).
At the time, it
was against the law to refuse personal cheques.
Some people wrote them,
knowing that in the few days it took for the cheques
to clear, inflation
would wipe out as much as 90 per cent of the cost of
covering the
cheques.
By Tererai Karimakwenda
29 November
2005
The 38th Session of The African Commission on Human and
Peoples Rights
is currently underway in Banjul in the Gambia, and many NGOs
have sent
representatives there to lobby for a resolution on Zimbabwe. The
NGOs
conducted a public session last week, where they adopted a resolution
which
was passed on to the commissioners to consider in their private
sessions.
Their efforts seem to be paying off, as there was already talk on
Tuesday
that commissioners had agreed on a Zimbabwe resolution. A final
statement
will be given at a press conference on December 5, and an open
letter from
the African NGOs has also been published by a number of
newspapers in
Africa.
Participants meeting at the Forum passed
a resolution condemning human
rights violations in Zimbabwe and calling on
the government to immediately
stop forced evictions around the country. The
resolution called on Zimbabwe
to adhere to its obligations under the African
Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights and other international human rights
instruments. It also urged the
government of Zimbabwe to implement the
recommendations of the African
Commission Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe,
and the recommendations of the
UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka. A total of
12 recommendations were made by
the African NGO forum, which requested that
the measures taken to implement
these recommendations be made public. The
full text of these recommendations
can be found on our website.
Many Zimbabwean organisations are in the Gambia for this summit, and
have
been making their own efforts to pressure for change back home. We
spoke to
Wilbert Mandinde of The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA),
who are
lobbying for greater freedom of expression. We also spoke to Abel
Chikomo
who is in the Gambia with The Media Monitoring Project. Statements
to the
Commissioners from both organisations are also on our website.
MMPZ
on ACHPR
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tererai Karimakwenda
29 November
2005
On the day that low voter turn-out characterised Zimbabwe's
controversial senate elections, proving that people did not want a 2nd
chamber of government, the pro-senate faction of the now split opposition
did not seem bothered, as they moved swiftly to try and take disciplinary
action against the party president Morgan Tsvangirai. A letter sent to
Tsvangirai by vice president Gibson Sibanda said a disciplinary committee
had suspended the opposition leader Tsvangirai for violating the party's
constitution, campaigning against the polls and misrepresenting the party's
position on the polls, among others.
Pro-senate spokesman Moses
Mzila Ndlovu told us Monday that there is
only one MDC and it is functioning
from Harvest House. Asked if they had
access to the Harare headquarters,
Ndhlovu said some youth hired by
Tsvangirai had assaulted their staff and
hounded them out of the building.
As for the committee that suspended
Tsvangirai, Ndhlovu said it was properly
composed according to the
constitution and is chaired by MDC vice president
Gibson Sibanda himself.
Asked whether it was proper for Tsvangirai's
accusers to sit on the
committee as well, Ndhlovu said he saw nothing wrong
with a legal
institution of the MDC performing its functions.
As for the coming
congress, Mzila-Ndlovu said the people will choose
new leaders and those who
violated the constitution or are guilty of any
infringements will not be
welcome. He said fugitives are not welcome and
Tsvnagirai was definitely a
fugitive.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona Sibanda
29 November 2005
The country's professional cricketers will not
avail themselves for
future selection as long as Zimbabwe Cricket President
Peter Chingoka
remains in charge of the sport.
The players are
also demanding the resignation of Chingoka's right
hand man Ozias Bvute, who
is the managing director of ZC. The players'
ultimatum leaves Zimbabwe
Cricket in dire straits as they are due to select
a squad to travel to
Bangladesh in January for the Asian Cup.
Fast bowler Blessing
Mahwire, who is speaking on behalf of the players
said if the crisis remains
unresolved, it would mean the country being
represented by a schoolboy squad
in Bangladesh.
'We are standing down until two things are resolved
by the board.
First they have to pay the players their match fees for the
India and New
Zealand fixtures. The second thing is Chingoka and Bvute have
to step down,'
said Mahwire.
Asked what would happen if the two
administrators refuse to step down,
Mahwire, who turns out for Universals
club and Masvingo province
respectively replied; 'It's simple. We will all
walk away from Zimbabwe
Cricket. We have made a stand and we stand by that.
Its now or never,'
He added; 'basically what this would mean is the
end of cricket in
Zimbabwe'.
Mahwire said all the players were
not happy with the way Chingoka and
Bvute dealt with former captain Tatenda
Taibu, who resigned from Zimbabwe
cricket last weak.
He said if
ZC were truly concerned about cricket in the country, they
would have found
a way of dealing with issue, rather than let Taibu resign.
'They
gladly accepted his resignation. That was a sign that they are
only
concerned with their survival and not the welfare of players. These
guys
(Chingoka and Bvute) are simply not doing anything good for the sport,'
said
Mahwire.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Lance
Guma
29 November 2005
Frantic consultations are currently
taking place within Zimbabwe's
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
over the merits of splitting up.
The party has been rocked by a rift within
the top leadership over whether
to participate in senate elections. Trouble
began after party president
Morgan Tsvangirai disregarded a narrow National
Council vote in favour of
participation citing the grassroots mood and how
some members who voted had
ignored the resolutions of their provinces. The
other faction however says
Tsvangirai in doing so had violated the party
constitution.
With the impasse at leadership level deteriorating
following
Tsvangirai's alleged suspension by a two member disciplinary
committee,
members in various wards, districts and provinces are meeting to
debate the
crisis. From Bulawayo, correspondent Lionel Saungweme told
Newsreel how the
wards in the city are meeting and debating the merits of
splitting.
Unfortunately for the party, emotions are running high and
members aligned
to the different factions are either refusing to meet or
failing to agree on
how the meetings should be structured.
Saungweme says although there seems to be consensus a split will not
help
either side, the attempt at suspending Tsvangirai had made the
situation
look irretrievable. Bulawayo, he says, is abuzz with rumours on
the
emergence of the United People's Movement (UPM) led by Jonathan Moyo and
any
analysis of the benefits of a split in the MDC have to be taken in that
context. Other press reports have predicted a fight for the MDC name and
logo but all seem to ignore the possibility of the party's February congress
being the ultimate authority to resolve the
crisis.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Zim Online
Wed 30 November
2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe has cancelled a multi-billion dollar licence
awarded
two years ago to a local firm to set up a second fixed telephone
network in
the country saying the licensee had failed to meet
conditions.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
of Zimbabwe
(Potraz) says it cancelled the licence because TeleAccess
Zimbabwe had
failed to roll out its network by May 2003 as it should have
under the terms
of the document.
TeleAccess is owned by Daniel
Shumba, a former Zimbabwe soldier and
also a former provincial chairman of
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU
PF party. He was not available for
comment on the matter yesterday.
In a public notice, POTRAZ said:
"The license number PFT20030102
issued to TeleAccess Zimbabwe was cancelled
in terms of Section 43 of the
Postal and Telecommunications Act [Chapter
12:05] on 24th of November, 2005.
TeleAccess Zimbabwe has been duly informed
in writing of the cancellation."
The telecommunications body
further explained: "In terms of the
conditions of this licence, TeleAccess
Zimbabwe was supposed to offer
commercial services no later than 1st of May
2003.
"TeleAccess Zimbabwe has failed to roll out its network and
offer any
commercial services as expected and therefore stands in breach of
the
license conditions as read in conjunction with the provisions of
Statutory
Instrument 11A of 2001."
Shumba's firm maintains a
small staff in Harare. It has to date not
begun work to instal a telephone
network anywhere in Zimbabwe.
But Potraz appeared to have ignored
TeleAccess' breach of its licence
conditions until Shumba fell out with
Mugabe when he backed an alleged plan
by former information minister
Jonathan Moyo to block the appointment of
Joyce Mujuru as ZANU PF and
subsequently Zimbabwe's second vice-president.
Shumba and six other
provincial chairmen of ZANU PF were suspended
from the party after they
attended the meeting in the southern Tsholotsho
district where they are
said to have plotted how to block Mujuru, who was
eventually appointed to
the two posts and looks strongly positioned to
replace Mugabe when he
retires.
Mugabe has been accused in the past of dolling out
government
contracts among other favours to buy the loyalty of senior
officials in
ZANU PF and the government. He denies the charge. -
ZimOnline
Agencia de Informacao de
Mocambique (Maputo)
November 25, 2005
Posted to the web November 29,
2005
Maputo
Zimbabwean peasant farmers are crossing into the
central Mozambican
provinces of Manica and Tete to sell their cotton - an
unexpected turn of
events which is exhausting the bank credit intended for
the cotton marketing
campaign.
The company that is buying the cotton
relied on a bank loan, and has run out
of money. The cotton markets have
thus ground to a halt.
A source in the Mozambican government's Cotton
Institute (IAM) told AIM that
more farmers than initially expected had
brought their cotton to the markets
"since Zimbabwean peasants crossed the
border, wanting to sell in our
country, thanks to the strength of the
metical against the Zimbabwean
dollar". Something similar had happened
further north. Malawian farmers had
crossed the border into Mozambique
because the Malawian kwacha has
depreciated against the metical: the
Malawians were selling tobacco and
preferred to receive meticais rather than
kwachas.
Ironically, the loan taken by the Zambezi Cotton Company (EAZ)
comes from a
Zimbabwean branch of the African Banking Corporation (ABC), and
is
guaranteed by EAZ's partner, the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe
(COTTCO).
COTTCO cannot obtain any further loans for the current
marketing campaign,
because of the Zimbabwean government's restrictive
banking policies. For the
same reason, COTTCO has been unable to invest in
Mozambique so that EAZ
would have some assets which would serve as
collateral for loans from
Mozambican banks.
The top management of the
Mozambican government's Zambezi Planning Office
(GPZ) is trying to deal with
the problem, and has been explaining the
situation to the provincial
governments.
"The situation on the ground is tense", said the IAM source,
"and the
Zambezi Cotton Company has been unable to do anything except call
for
patience from the producers and transporters affected, telling them that
everything will be paid for as soon as possible".
COTTCO wanted an
extra 20 per cent to make the additional payments. If it
does not obtain
this, said the IAM source, then the cotton markets will only
reopen in three
months time, when revenue from cotton exports becomes
available.
Mozambican production from the 2004/05 campaign is
estimated at 87,000
tonnes of raw cotton. This is processed down to 31,000
tonnes of cotton
fibre, which the IAM says will be sold for 31 million US
dollars.
Assuming there is no repeat of this year's drought, then it is
hoped that
the 2006 cotton harvest will reach 110,000 tonnes of raw cotton.
If the FOB
price remains unaltered at 1,000 dollars per tonne of cotton
fibre, then
export revenue should rise to 39.6 million dollars.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Court
Reporter
issue date :2005-Nov-30
TEN MDC supporters who last Friday
allegedly went on a rampage demonstrating
against Senate Elections in the
city centre and grabbed a till box with
nearly $9 million from OK
Supermarket yesterday appeared before a Harare
magistrate.
Better
Chakururama (20), Patrick Runyowa (17), Kenneth Nyamanhindi (22),
Zvikomborero Mashonganyika (33), Tendai Marimo (17), Dickson Nyakuwanikwa
(19), Nash Ngoroyemoto (18), Albert Shonhayi (30), Motsi Chimbimi (40) and
Zinda Manyengwa (22) were not asked to plead to a charge of public violence
when they appeared before magistrate Rodin Mzyece and were remanded on $200
000 bail each to December 15.
Mzyece ordered the State to investigate
allegations that the 10 were
assaulted by the police and denied food while
in custody.
Prosecutor Blessing Mhande alleged that last Friday, the 10
gathered outside
the MDC offices at Harvest House and planned to stage a
demonstration
against the Senate Elections held the following day.
They
allegedly marched from the offices and turned into Jason Moyo Street
waving
anti-Senate Election placards and flyers.
They allegedly assaulted passers-by
along the way forcing them to join in
their protest.
During the alleged
unsanctioned march, the MDC supporters arrived at OK
Supermarket along Angwa
and Jason Moyo Street and hailed stones into the
shop forcing till operators
to scamper for cover.
Chakururama and Runyowa allegedly grabbed a till box
containing $8 744 236
and took to their heels.
Staff at the supermarket
quickly closed the doors and some security guards
gave chase to the fleeing
two who were apprehended at Agribank, Hurudza
House branch with the
assistance of a police officer.
The duo led to the arrest of the other eight
and $7 560 000 was recovered.