http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Thabo
Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, will launch a final
effort to
save Zimbabwe's power-sharing agreement in Harare.
By Peta Thornycroft in
Harare
Last Updated: 6:15PM BST 13 Oct 2008
He will seek to
mediate between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai, the
opposition leader and prime minister designate.
The deal has almost
collapsed over the appointment of a new cabinet, with Mr
Mugabe unilaterally
announcing that all the key ministries would go to his
Zanu-PF
party.
Mr Tsvangirai, who is under pressure from critics within his
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), responded by threatening to abandon
the deal.
Despite criticism for giving too much away, he may have achieved
much.
A Zimbabwean economist, who declined to be named, said that even
under Mr
Mugabe's unilateral list, Mr Tsvangirai's allies would run
ministries like
health, energy and labour. Another MDC faction would have
the education.
This would give Mr Tsvangirai the ability to "improve
people's lives quite
quickly," said the economist. "This will be deeply
significant at the next
elections."
Mr Mugabe sparked more outrage
yesterday by inaugurating his two
vice-presidents, Joseph Msika, 84, and
Joyce Mujuru, who is widely regarded
as a stooge of her husband, a retired
general.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5786
October 13, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Appearing to be determined to forge ahead with the
establishment of
a new government following the signing of the September 15
Agreement,
President Robert Mugabe on Monday swore into office Zimbabwe's
two vice
presidents.
Joice Mujuru and Joseph Msika took their oath of
allegiance in a low key
ceremony at State House in Harare. They were
sworn-in in front of a handful
of government officials and figures from
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, as well as
the service chiefs, a senior government
official told The Zimbabwe Times.
The two vice presidents were hastily
sworn into office ahead of a scheduled
visit to Harare by former South
Africa President Thabo Mbeki who has been
invited to break a deadlock over
the allocation of cabinet posts made by
President Mugabe on Friday evening.
The posts of vice president are not
affected by the current logjam over
cabinet and governors' posts.
Missing from the occasion were the scenes
of jubilation and celebration that
accompanied the installation of Mujuru as
Zimbabwe's first woman vice
president back in 2005.
Mujuru's path to
the vice presidency was cleared by a Zanu-PF congress
resolution three years
ago, which stated that one of the party's two deputy
presidents must be a
woman. Mujuru, a heroine of the war of liberation, was
a long-standing
cabinet member before she became vice president. She is the
wife of the
powerful and wealthy former army supremo, Solomon Tapfumaneyi
Mujuru.
Msika, the first vice-president is 85, a year older than
Mugabe. His
swearing-in defied widespread speculation that he would be
retired because
of ill-health.
Mugabe as president of Zanu-PF signed
a power-sharing deal with the MDC in
September which seeks to end an ongoing
political, economic and humanitarian
crisis.
The agreement was
supposed to have led to the creation of a new coalition
government, with MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.
The parties are currently
deadlocked over the allocation of ministries and
Mbeki, ousted as South
Africa's President last month, was expected to break
the logjam, but this
time with his powers severely curtailed. He will
conduct the mediation as an
ordinary citizen this time around.
The MDC has threatened to walk out of
the deal. It says in spite of
continuing disagreement over the allocation of
ministries between the two
parties, President Mugabe issued a Gazette
Extraordinary at about 8pm on
Friday night, long after the Government
Printer's normal business hours. The
document contained a General Notice
listing the ministries which Mugabe had
arbitrarily allocated to the three
parties.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa released the gazetted notice
only to the
state media. It is still not yet available to the
public.
According to the notice Mugabe relied on section 31D(1)(a) of the
Constitution, which authorises the President to assign functions to
ministries. He allocated to Zanu-PF every important ministry, including
Defence, Home Affairs - which controls the police - Justice, Foreign
affairs, Local Government and Information.
While Mugabe said the
Ministry of Finance remained in dispute, he filled the
quotas of 13 and
three ministries respectively for the mainstream MDC of
Morgan Tsvangirai
and the breakaway faction led by Arthur Mutambara. Only
Zanu-PF still has
room for another ministry.
Tsvangirai told supporters at a rally in
Harare on Sunday that he would
rather forgo becoming Prime Minister than
accept Mugabe's proposal.
Meanwhile, the House of Assembly will resume
sitting on Tuesday, October 14.
The Senate, which sat on Tuesday and
Wednesday last week, adjourned until
November 4.
The Zimbabwe Times
heard that the Constitution Amendment No 19 Bill, set to
give legal and
constitutional force to the new all-inclusive government, is
still not ready
for tabling in Parliament.
Mail and Guardian
CRIS CHINAKA | HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Oct 13 2008
17:10
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has sworn in two
vice-presidents ahead of
talks on forming a Cabinet, a government official
said on Monday, a move
that could further endanger power-sharing
negotiations.
It follows Mugabe's allocation of important ministries to
his Zanu-PF party
at the weekend, angering the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
The MDC said it doubted mediation by former South African
president Thabo
Mbeki this week would get Zanu-PF to compromise.
A
senior government official told Reuters: "The two vice-presidents were
sworn
in this morning [Monday] because their positions are not in dispute."
The
European Union could step up sanctions on Zimbabwe unless Mugabe sticks
to
the terms of the accord.
"If the agreement is not applied we shall resume
our sanctions and reinforce
them," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
said in Luxembourg. France
is EU president.
Existing EU sanctions
include visa bans and asset freezes on top Zimbabwean
officials, including
Mugabe.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday his party could walk
away from a
power-sharing deal he signed with Mugabe if Mbeki's latest
mediation failed
to end the deadlock on dividing key ministries.
"The
visit provides a platform and opportunity for Zanu-PF to reverse its
unilateral action," MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said. "The Zanu-PF
mindset is not consistent with power-sharing. It cannot be power-sharing
when one party controls all key ministries."
Mbeki, who scored his
biggest diplomatic coup last month when he nudged
Zimbabwe's bitter
political rivals to sign a power-sharing deal, is expected
in Harare later
on Monday.
A government notice on Saturday showed Mugabe had allocated
three key
ministries to his Zanu-PF party, drawing fire from the opposition
and
threatening the fragile pact.
Top posts
Mugabe handed his
party the ministries of defence, home affairs -- which is
in charge of the
police -- and finance, which will be important in
eventually reviving the
collapsing economy.
Zanu-PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa said there was
only deadlock on the
ministry of finance, but his party was committed to
dialogue. He expected
talks to start on Tuesday.
"As far as we are
concerned, the only contentious issue is the ministry of
finance. The
locomotive has been too long at the station and is now warming
its engine,"
he told reporters, referring to the paralysis that has gripped
the country
since the March elections.
Chamisa said there was no agreement on key
ministries including justice,
foreign affairs, information and local
government.
Zimbabwe's economy is imploding, with the number of people in
need of food
aid rising by the day, adding to the woes of a country
suffering staggering
inflation of 230-million percent, the highest in the
world.
Tsvangirai said on Sunday he would keep negotiating to try to
reach an
agreement but added that the country's 10 posts of provincial
governors
should be shared between Zanu-PF, a splinter MDC group and his
party.
While the parties have been at loggerheads since the signing of
the
September 15 pact on how to divide up 31 Cabinet posts, this has angered
Zimbabweans who had hoped the deal would bring an end to years of economic
misery.
Under the deal, Mugabe -- in power since Zimbabwe's
independence from
Britain in 1980 -- retains the presidency and chairs the
Cabinet.
Tsvangirai, as prime minister, will head a council of ministers
supervising
the cabinet.
Zanu-PF will have 15 seats in the Cabinet,
Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and a
splinter MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara three
posts, giving the
opposition a combined majority. -- Reuters
Financial Times
By Tom
Burgis in Johannesburg and agencies
Published: October 12 2008 16:20 |
Last updated: October 13 2008 15:14
The European Union threatened on
Monday to step up sanctions against
Zimbabwe unless President Robert Mugabe
adhered to the terms of a
power-sharing accord.
"If the agreement is
not applied we shall resume our sanctions and reinforce
them," Bernard
Kouchner, foreign minister of EU president France, told a
news
conference.
His warning came as Zimbabwe's neighbours renewed efforts
to shoehorn the
country's bitterly divided factions into a power-sharing
government, after
the oppositon threatened to walk away from fractious
negotiations with
Robert Mugabe's regime.
The autocratic president
unilaterally announced on Saturday that he intended
to hand control of every
critical ministry to members of his Zanu-PF party.
Mr Mugabe on Monday swore
in two vice-presidents ahead of talks on forming a
cabinet, a government
official said, a move that could further endanger the
talks.
Morgan
Tsvangiari, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
told
his supporters at a Harare rally on Sunday: "If this mediation fails we
will
say: 'This marriage has failed to be consummated, and we cannot force
things.' There will be no option but to go our separate ways."
But
mindful of the MDC's limited room for manoeuvre, he added: "As long as
there
is an opportunity we will continue to negotiate until we reach an
agreement."
South Africa's former leader, Thabo Mbeki, was set to
return to Harare three
weeks after brokering a deal that raised hopes of an
end to a stand-off that
impending humanitarian catastrophe has yet to break.
However, any leverage
Mr Mbeki, who acts as mediator on behalf of the
southern African bloc, was
able to exert over Mr Mugabe has been
dramatically lessened after his
ousting as president at
home.
Saturday's edition of the state-controlled Herald newspaper
proclaimed that
ministers from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party would be allocated
portfolios
including justice, home and foreign affairs, defence and local
government.
It also suggested that he hoped to retain control of the crucial
finance
ministry - the engine of any recovery from the economic collapse
that has
brought Zimbabwe to the brink of starvation.
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change denounced what it called a
"barbaric ambush".
Mr Tsvangirai, who beat his old foe in March's
first-round elections before
withdrawing amid escalating violence, is
supposed to hold the post of prime
minister in an uneasy division of power
with Mr Mugabe.
Control of
the finance ministry is a deal-breaker for the MDC, which enjoys
the support
of western governments standing ready to deliver a vast
reconstruction
package should the new government begin to restore economic
equilibrium and
halt abuses.
Senior MDC leaders have suggested their patience is wearing
thin. But
Nqobizitha Mlilo, a spokesman, told the FT on Sunday that the
party did not
consider the allocation of ministries a fait accompli. "You
can only resolve
this thing through talking," he said. "If you withdraw,
what's the
alternative?" Unlike many other opponents of authoritarian
regimes, the MDC
has no armed wing.
"This is classic Mugabe midnight
magic," said Bella Matambanadzo,
Harare-based head of the Open Society
Institute's Zimbabwe programme. "But
Zanu-PF cannot run a country. Many
civil servants have not been paid for two
months."
Mr Mugabe's
spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Zimbabwe's neighbours
fear a total collapse of the economy, in which the
official inflation rate
of 231m per cent is considered a fraction of the
reality, could trigger mass
migration. Millions have already fled.
By Jonah Fisher BBC News, Johannesburg |
Now four weeks after the signing ceremony, Mr Mbeki is back in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.
He is trying to prove that the 30-page document he helped draft can be the template for a working government - and also a lasting legacy for his nine years in office.
The question is what strength does Thabo Mbeki now have to whip
Mugabe into line? Immanuel Hlabangana Political analyst |
Though hardly in keeping with the spirit of the deal, the 84-year-old's unilateral action was not strictly speaking in breach of the text.
'Fair'
Section 20.1.3 (l) of the agreement stipulates that President Mugabe "after consultation with the vice-presidents, the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers, allocates ministerial portfolios in accordance with this agreement".
Mr Tsvangirai says "not even an idiot" would accept the
ministries' division |
So ultimately the choice of who gets what ministries is up to the president.
"We have consulted with the MDC for four weeks and now we have allocated the ministries. It's very fair," Bright Matonga, former deputy information minister, told the BBC by phone from Harare.
Zanu-PF's version of fairness would mean them retaining control of the security forces through the home affairs and defence ministries.
They would also keep 12 other portfolios including foreign affairs, justice, information and mining.
The MDC factions have been given 16 ministries, including health, education and constitutional affairs.
'Committed'
Finance has been left unassigned - though tellingly only Zanu-PF has a ministerial seat vacant.
MINISTRY DIVISION
Zanu-PF: 14 ministries including:
Defence
Foreign affairs
Justice
Local government
Media Main MDC: 13 ministries including:
Constitutional and parliamentary affairs
Economic planning and investment promotion
Labour
Sport
Arts and culture
Science and technology development MDC (Mutambara): three including:
Education
Industry and commerce Source: Government gazette |
"It looks like MDC walked into the agreement in the belief that Mugabe had had enough and was willing to move country forward," says Immanuel Hlabangana, a Zimbabwean political analyst.
"I think MDC really didn't foresee the divisions within Zanu-PF and how much many of them disliked the agreement."
The MDC has so far stopped short of withdrawing from the process.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai spoke at a rally on Sunday telling his supporters "not even an idiot" would accept the current division of ministries but that they remained committed to negotiations.
"The question is what strength does Thabo Mbeki now have to whip Mugabe into line?" says Mr Hlabangana.
"This is all Mbeki has left as his legacy so he will be doubly determined to make it work.
"Nobody wants to be seen to walk away from this."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5802
October 13, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Simba Makoni, former Zanu-PF politburo member, one
time Finance
Minister, and a losing independent candidate in the March 29
presidential
elections, says demands made by his former party in the ongoing
power-sharing negotiations are both illogical and
unjustifiable.
Speaking at a press conference he called in Harare
Monday afternoon, Makoni
said the demands made by Zanu-PF had the potential
to lead the negotiations
to a situation that would worsen the plight of
Zimbabweans.
The press conference was attended by a number of diplomats
representing
various embassies to Zimbabwe.
Responding to questions
on the justifiability of Zanu-PF's demands for the
Finance, Home Affairs,
and Defence Ministries, amongst others, Makoni told
journalists and
diplomats that Zanu-PF's misrule over the last 28 years had
landed
Zimbabweans in the current crisis. The party, therefore, had no locus
standi
to demand that it occupies in any new dispensation the same
ministries in
which it had failed to deliver.
"We all know why we are in this mess and
who brought us here," he said. "It
would be illogical and unjustifiable for
people to demand posts they know
pretty well they failed to deliver in the
last 28 years.
"Without saying it, it is pretty clear that there are some
ministries that
cannot go to one party because of its failure to deliver the
goods over the
last 28 years."
He lamented the continued defiance of
Zanu-PF officials when it comes to
issues of ministries, saying the
continued holding of offices by Zanu-PF
officials was a direct assault on
the agreement signed on September 15.
"Whereas the agreement emphasizes
the primacy of the rule of law and the
constitution, we are struck by some
blatant disregard for such laws and the
constitution. More than six months
after some people lost in the harmonized
elections, the same still parade as
officials of state."
He also lashed out at the failure by the government
to put in place
priorities that would ensure food security for the people of
Zimbabwe,
saying instead of procuring food for the people, the government
was busy
expending on items that "do not pass for life saving
assets".
"Profligate state spending continues unabated," Makoni said,
"completely
oblivious of the structures and discipline of laws governing
state resource
mobilization and utilization. Whilst more than half the
citizens are either
facing starvation, or have crossed the borders to escape
the threat of
hunger, big money is spent importing materials that do not
pass for life
saving assets."
On the agricultural front, the former
finance minister said while it was
expected that the nation would be ready
for the forthcoming agricultural and
farming season, there was a high degree
of ill-preparedness on the part of
the state for the coming farming
season.
He said former South African president, Thabo Mbeki's advise that
the nation
should gear itself for the task that lie ahead of it in terms of
agriculture
had fallen on deaf ears.
"The rainy season is almost upon
us and yet we are in a state of
unpreparedness that has never been seen
before, threatening the livelihoods
of Zimbabweans across the country," he
said. "The people have been made to
understand that the signing of the
(power-sharing) agreement would unlock
the much-needed support in inputs for
the summer season from our friends in
SADC and the African Union and the
international community, but none of that
has happened."
Makoni also
took a swipe at President Robert Mugabe's assurances that
Zimbabweans would
not starve, saying that villagers were now surviving on
wild fruits and
roots which have been supplemented by food handouts from
well
wishers.
"Where do those that claim to be in our leadership stand on this
(matter of
food availability.) We have had numerous assurances that no one
will starve
in this country, but the people are indeed starving. They now
depend on wild
fruits, roots, and donor handouts for their
survival."
In fact, there have been reports of people starving to death
in some rural
areas.
On his Mavambo/Kusile/ Dawn movement's
transformation into a fully-fledged
political party, Makoni said the
movement's leadership had covered immense
ground and that the launch of the
party could be delayed as they wanted to
make sure that all outstanding
matters were addressed.
"There has been a deliberate delay in launching
the party. Our draft
constitution is now in place and consultations with
other activists and
citizens of this country are underway. This process will
culminate in the
adoption of the constitution and the launch of the party.
No date and name
have been arrived at yet," Makoni said.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5777
October 13, 2008
By Geoffrey
Nyarota
THE human being is a gregarious creature.
Timely acts of
support by neighbours, as well as assistance, advice or other
forms of
amicable intervention, all contribute to a spirit of conviviality.
Among
African people certain forms of neighbourly intervention are taboo,
however,
unless exercised within the immediate family.
Among the indigenous people
of Zimbabwe, for instance, the clandestine
intervention of a man's brother
is perfectly acceptable when a marriage
remains childless for a long period.
Often such surreptitious mediation
meets with a successful outcome and
everybody lives happily ever after. But,
any misguided young neighbour,
however virile-looking, who contemplates
similar intervention while being
totally unrelated to the man of the house
would, of course, never live to
tell the tale of his ill advised act of
kindness.
Many Zimbabweans,
the MDC leadership included, grudgingly accepted the role
of Thabo Mbeki,
then President of South Africa as mediator in Zimbabwe's
ongoing political
crisis. The outcome of his intervention was the
power-sharing agreement
signed by Zanu-PF and the MDC on September 15.
The party leaders should
have ensured all angles were covered before they
appended their signatures
to the deal three weeks ago. The prospect of
Mbeki, totally emasculated, now
arriving back in Harare today to help us to
figure out how best to
distribute ministries among the various parties that
were signatories to the
deal, is what invoked in my mind images of a
neighbour traversing territory
normally reserved for family members. The
new-found fascination of the MDC
with Mbeki is intriguing, given the fact
that the party has in the past
vehemently opposed the intervention of the
same former President of South
Africa in the original negotiations between
that party and
Zanu-PF.
The MDC openly accused Mbeki of being partisan on the side of
President
Mugabe. It is now an open secret that Mbeki actually has a soft
spot for the
breakaway faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara. It is
these vagaries
of Mbeki's mediation that have prolonged the negotiation
process.
Yet the MDC now appears contented enough to appeal to the same
Mbeki to help
Zimbabweans to decide which party should get the crucial
ministries of
Defence, Home Affairs, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Justice and
Information.
Even if Mbeki were both genuine and sincere in his mediating
role, the stage
has now been reached when the people of Zimbabwe must prove
to the world
that they have not become totally inept or
dependent.
The way our political leaders have become so totally dependent
on
outsiders -Mbeki, King Mswati III, Jakaya Kikwete, Levi Mwanawasa (May
his
soul rest in eternal peace), Seretse Khama - has now become a matter of
grievous concern and embarrassment to perceptive Zimbabweans.
Mbeki
might as well be appointed full-time consultant for Zimbabwe in the
twilight
of his political career. Meanwhile we have become the laughing
stock not
only of those countries in the region that we expect to be our
saviours, but
also of a world that genuinely fails to understand how a
nation of citizens
intrepid, enterprising and astute enough to overthrow a
century of colonial
rule can be held to ransom by one elderly politician.
We invite Mbeki at
every turn because we have failed dismally to appreciate
or refuse to come
to terms with the exact nature of the problem that
confronts Zimbabwe today.
As long as Mbeki addresses the symptoms rather
than the problem itself, our
problems will continue to defy solution.
Our problem arises from the
shameful conduct of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission under the leadership
of George Chiweshe.
Chiweshe failed dismally to implement a credible
electoral process. Managers
who fail to deliver are normally fired.
Chiweshe's role was partisan in
favour of Zanu-PF. Soon after he delivered
presidential election results
five weeks late, not only was Chiweshe
decorated for meritorious service by
President Mugabe, he was even given a
new mandate - to organise the second
presidential election. Predictably,
Chiweshe delivered a landslide victory
to his principal. Mugabe won an
election in which he was the only candidate.
Notwithstanding his many
shortcomings, Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar
General, conducted many fairly
successful elections. The problem with
Chiweshe is that he received his
brief from those alongside whom he was
subsequently decorated by Mugabe -
the members of the so-called Joint
Operations Command - Constantine
Chiwenga, Augustine Chihuri, and Perrence
Shiri.
It is no coincidence
that Chiweshe is a retired military man. This was all
part of the strategy
that we now expect Mbeki to unravel merely by
requesting Tsvangirai and
Mutambara to sign documents.
For as long as we continue willingly to
allow the service chiefs to pull the
strings from behind the scenes, while
we pretend not to know the exact
nature or the origin of what we now call
the impasse, Mbeki will never
prescribe a lasting solution.
It is not
as if the securocrats did not declare openly that they would never
salute
Morgan Tsvangirai if he won the presidential election. When he defied
them
by proceeding to secure victory in the March 29 election, they
instantly
swung into action. The JOC invited Chiweshe to an urgent meeting.
Chiweshe
then sat on the election results for five weeks, an unprecedented
act in the
history of democratic elections. Then he called for a second
round of
voting. Finally he delivered the required victory to Mugabe.
Meanwhile,
we all pretend we do not know this. As a result we marvel as
Mbeki addresses
only the symptoms of our deep-rooted problem.
Mbeki is not the cause of
Mugabe's arrogance and inflexibility. It is the
JOC.
The MDC errs
when it pretends it is not aware of this.
The MDC's first mistake was to
agree to participate in secret negotiations
with Mbeki as mediator when they
knew the South African President was not an
honest broker.
It was an
error of judgement for them to agree to negotiate with the
spoilers from
the breakaway faction of the MDC. They erred in agreeing to
sign a document
whose terms were neither clearly nor conclusively
elucidated. It was a
serious error of judgement on their part to assume that
once defeated at the
polls Mugabe would step down graciously without putting
up a
fight.
For all the foregoing reasons, it would be further folly for the
MDC to now
suddenly pull out of negotiations at this stage and allow Zanu-PF
to
revitalize and re-energize itself ahead of elections in 2013.
It
is part of Zanu-PF current strategy to get the MDC to pull out after
legitimizing Mugabe's presidency. Mugabe's intransigency and inflexibility
is all part of a grand strategy to provoke the MDC into
withdrawal.
If the MDC pulled out Zanu-PF would celebrate.
Let the
MDC continue to negotiate with Zanu-PF from within the modified
structures
of power. Zimbabweans have suffered for more than a decade. What's
another
week, another month? Pulling out would be playing right into the
hands of
President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
Pulling out would signal the beginning of
the end of the MDC as we know it
today. There must be other politicians
waiting in the wings for the MDC to
withdraw from centre-stage so that they
can immediately fill the resultant
vacuum.
The MDC should never have
assumed that dislodging Mugabe from power was
going to be a simple process.
As they continue to negotiate with Zanu-PF and
Mbeki, the MDC must make
serious efforts to engage the JOC.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5739
October 12, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - A militant teachers' union has called for street
protests against
President Robert Mugabe's surprise move to allocate key
ministries to his
party after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had
declared a deadlock over
power sharing talks.
The mainstream MDC and
Zanu-PF have reached an impasse over the sharing of
cabinet portfolios,
which has led to the recalling of mediator and former
South African
President Thabo Mbeki.
However, in a government notice published in the
state-controlled Herald
newspaper on Saturday, Mugabe unilaterally allocated
the contested key
ministries to his own Zanu-PF party.
The
power-sharing deal was signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara,
the leader of a breakaway MDC faction on September 15.
Mugabe allocated
to Zanu-PF the key ministries of Defence, Home Affairs,
Local Government and
Foreign Affairs although discussions on the allocations
had been
inconclusive. Mugabe said only the ministry of Finance was still a
subject
of dispute.
The MDC has reacted angrily to the move calling it
contemptuous and
outrageous.
Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general
of the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said his union would
lead protests on Monday against Mugabe.
He said Mugabe's action betrayed
the spirit of the power-sharing deal.
Majongwe was speaking at a public
lecture organized by Bulawayo Agenda, a
Bulawayo-based civic organization
which promotes public debate and dialogue
on topical issues related to human
rights and governance among others.
"I urge all members of civic society
and Zimbabweans in general to get onto
the streets, in all cities and towns,
in a clear sign to Mugabe that we are
not accepting this," he said.
"Zimbabweans should all go out and say this is
unacceptable".
"We
should demonstrate against Mugabe who grabbed all the key ministries for
his
party. Zimbabweans should be militants and protest and say we cannot
continue to let Mugabe hold the country and us to ransom."
The public
lecture was attended by more than 500 people, among them various
civic
society organizations that were exhibiting at a two-day "Ideas
Festival"
organized by Bulawayo Agenda at the Small City Hall .
The opposition MDC
has said Mugabe's move jeopardized the power-sharing deal
signed over three
weeks ago. The agreement is now seen as teetering on the
brink of collapse,
with Tsvangirai threatening to pull out of the deal if
Mugabe refuses to let
go of key ministries.
The unity government had been heralded as a panacea
to the country's
political crisis, deep economic recession characterised by
231 million
percent inflation and shortages of all basics.
Jenni
Williams, the leader of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), addressing the
same
gathering also called for popular protests against Mugabe's move to
grab key
ministries from the MDC.
"Mugabe should not be allowed to steal away our
future," said Williams. "The
deal, despite its shortcomings, is the only
sustainable foundation to
rebuild Zimbabwe ."
Mbeki, who brokered the
power-sharing talks, is expected in Harare on Monday
to mediate in the
dispute.
Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (Bulawayo)
PRESS RELEASE
13 October 2008
Posted to
the web 13 October 2008
IN the first trial of the week, two members
of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) are set to appear in the Bulawayo
Magistrate's Court on Tuesday 13th
October 2008.
Cynthia Ncube and
Trust Moyo had been arrested in Bulawayo on 5th May and
charged with
distributing materials likely to cause a breach of the peace.
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights had applied to the Attorney General for
the matter
to be reviewed due a lack of evidence. (The evidence against
Trust Moyo was
that he was carrying a banner reading 'we want bread and
roses'). A decision
is expected to be handed down tomorrow.
On Wednesday 15th, the 14
members who had been arrested in Harare on 28th
May during a peaceful
procession are also due to appear on trial in Harare
Magistrate's Court.
They had been arrested near the Zambian Embassy in
Harare, where they were
to hand over a petition to the SADC chair calling
for an end to
post-election violence. 12 of the group spent 17 days in
custody in
Chikurubi and Remand Prisons, whilst two, Jenni Williams and
Magodonga
Mahlangu, spent 37 days in Chikurubi Female Prison.
The trial was due to
have taken place on 26th August but Magistrate Shomwe
allowed the state's
application for the trial to be postponed on grounds
that the prosecutor,
Zvekare had fallen ill. The stand-in prosecutor
insisted that the state's
case had been finalised and that Harrison Nkomo,
the defence lawyer could
receive a copy of the docket. However the docket
was not available in the
office and the defence has since received no
documentation. As a result a
further request that the group be removed off
remand will be
submitted.
Under the agreement between the ZANU PF and two MDC formations
(resolving
the challenges facing Zimbabwe) the case against both groups of
members
should be dismissed. (See Article 18 - "Security of persons and
prevention
of violence Clause (j) that while having due regard to the
Constitution of
Zimbabwe and the principles of the rule of law, the
prosecuting authorities
will expedite the determination as to whether or not
there is sufficient
evidence to warrant the prosecution or keeping on remand
of all persons
accused of politically related offences arising out of or
connected with the
March and June 2008 elections.")
It remains to be
seen whether this agreement clause can be implemented when
the whole
agreement is at present deadlocked.
Anyone who is interested in attending
either trial is cordially invited to
attend.
For more information
about the cases or details of the trials, please
contact +263 912 898 110/2.
The legal documents pertaining to both cases are
available at www.wozazimbabwe.org in the legal
documents section.
Names of those appearing on Wednesday are as
follows:
1. Jennifer Williams
2. Magodonga Mahlangu
3.
Tracy Doig
4. Nolwandle Simunye
5. Celine Madukani
6. Melba
Nhavhaya
7. Alice Kasinamunda
8. Clara Manjengwa
9.
Veronica Chshambwa
10. Rejoice Chauke
11. Lilian
Ntefula
12. Tarisai Zheke
13. Verina Muchegu
14.
Mandlenkosi Moyo (male member)
http://www.news24.com
13/10/2008 18:00 - (SA)
Harare - President Robert
Mugabe's decision to swear in his two
vice-presidents was "meaningless", the
main opposition party said on Monday,
ahead of expected talks aimed at
saving a power-sharing deal.
"Whatever appointments or acts that do not
address the woes of the country
are meaningless," said Nelson Chamisa,
spokesperson for the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
"Any
appointments by Mr Mugabe that do not take the country out of the
current
economic quagmire are meaningless," he added.
Mugabe swore in the
vice-presidents early on Monday, as former South African
president Thabo
Mbeki was preparing to visit Harare to try to break an
impasse over the
power-sharing deal that he brokered four weeks ago.
State media announced
on Saturday that Mugabe would give the most important
cabinet posts to
members of his own party, ensuring his control over the
military, police and
other security agencies.
The announcement prompted MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai to threaten to pull
out of the deal. He insists that his party
should control the home affairs
ministry, which oversees the police, while
Mugabe keeps the defence
ministry.
The agreement is meant to end
months of political turmoil, after the MDC won
control of Parliament in
March.
- AFP
SABC
October 13, 2008,
12:00
John Nyashanu
The European Union (EU) has condemned moves by
Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe to take control of key ministries in
defiance of a power-sharing deal
with opposition parties.
British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband says the EU does not support what
he terms
the attempted power grab being made by the Mugabe regime. He was
addressing
EU foreign ministers currently meeting in Luxembourg. Miliband
says he hopes
former president Thabo Mbeki can mediate a solution that will
allow
opposition groups to share power with Mugabe as was agreed in
September.
Zimbabwe's ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku,
says the post of
finance minister is still open for negotiation. The
government and the
opposition MDC remain deadlocked over cabinet posts.
President Robert Mugabe
has already allocated key cabinet posts to his own
Zanu-PF party.
Mbeki is due in Harare today for further mediation efforts
aimed at breaking
the impasse. Mbeki will be accompanied by former
provincial and local
government minister Sydney Mufamadi, Director-General
in the Presidency
Frank Chikane and advocate Mojanku Gumbi. The group will
return to South
Africa tomorrow.
By Lance
Guma
13 October 2008
The Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
Raymond Majongwe, and Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) leader Jenni Williams,
have both called for street protests against
Mugabe's move to grab the key
ministries. The state owned Herald on Saturday
published a list of
ministries allocated to ZANU PF and the MDC, by Mugabe
using a government
gazette. The ZANU PF leader grabbed Home Affairs,
Defence, Justice,
Information, Local Government and Foreign Affairs
Ministries while giving
the MDC minor ministries.
Speaking at a
public lecture organized by pressure group Bulawayo Agenda,
Majongwe urged,
'all members of civic society and Zimbabweans in general to
get onto the
streets, in all cities and towns, in a clear sign to Mugabe
that we are not
accepting this.' He described Mugabe's unilateral allocation
of ministries
as a betrayal of the power sharing accord signed last month
adding, 'we
cannot continue to let Mugabe hold the country and us to ransom.'
WOZA
leader Williams echoed Majongwe's call saying, 'Mugabe should not be
allowed
to steal away our future. The deal, despite it's shortcomings, is
the only
sustainable foundation to rebuild Zimbabwe.'
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU) says it is planning
a big demonstration
Tuesday to coincide with the opening of parliament.
ZINASU President Clever
Bere told Newsreel although the continued closure of
the University of
Zimbabwe would pose a challenge for them they had
committed students who
were still going to come and participate. Other
colleges planning to join
include the Harare Polytechnic and other tertiary
institutions in the city.
Bere said they wanted to hand in a petition
listing their demands to the
'elected members of parliament.'
The students are demanding free and
quality education, a people driven
constitution that guarantees education as
a fundamental human right,
improvements in learning conditions, lifting of
suspensions and expulsions
for student activists, repealing of repressive
legislation and an
improvement in the working conditions of academic and
non-academic staff.
ZINASU has also expressed its outrage at Mugabe's
move to grab key
ministries. 'The list effectively removes the two MDC's
from being partners,
to spectators in the governing and running of the
affairs of the country,'
the union noted. They also expressed disappointment
that ZANU PF wants to
control the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education
despite the party
demonstrating 'a history of failure as evidenced by the
current collapse of
the education sector.' Although the students have
reservations about the
power sharing deal they said, 'it provides a
framework for moving ahead.'
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Monday, 13 October 2008 15:35
The
Zimbabwe National Students Union is totally outraged by
Mugabe's barbaric
behavior, contempt of the Power Sharing arrangement and
lack of political
will to assist the nation in finding a lasting solution to
the crisis
bedeviling our country. Mr. Mugabe announced a new cabinet list
without
agreement and due consultation with the other partners in the all
inclusive
government.
The list effectively removes the two MDCs from
being partners to
spectators in the governing and running of the affairs of
the country. We
are further disturbed that the Ministry of Higher and
Tertiary education has
been given to Zanu Pf contrary to our expectations.
ZANU PF has demonstrated
a history of failure as evidenced by the current
collapse in the education
sector. ZINASU has expressed its reservations to
the deal although we feel
it provides a framework for moving ahead. In this
light we had hoped that a
new dispensation in the Ministry of Higher and
Tertiary education will in
the transition address some of the challenges
facing students.
With all Zimbabweans expecting maturity and
genuine commitment
to have Zimbabweans working together for the renaissance
of Zimbabwe, the
only country we have, Mugabe went on to defy, betray and
frustrate the
aspirations of the people.
We urge Mugabe
to get back to his senses, the people invested
confidence in the September
15 political settlement. The students and the
people have suffered and
demand a solution now.
Our demands as students remain as
reflected below:
Free and quality education
A
people driven constitution that guarantees education as a
fundamental human
right
An improvement in the quality of life and learning
conditions
for students
Lifting of suspensions and expulsions
for students
An improvement in the working conditions of academic
and
non-academic personnel
Grants for students
Repeal of oppressive legislature (University ordinances, POSA,
AIPPA etc)
and restoration of full civil liberties.
On behalf of the
students of Zimbabwe,
Clever Bere
President
http://www.radiovop.com
KAROI, October 13 2008 - Long queues
continued on Monday despite the
increasing of the maximum withdrawal limit
to Zd50 000 by the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon
Gono.
A snap survey conducted in Karoi farming
town, 204 kilometers
north-west of Harare, revealed that some banks had
resorted to giving their
clients a maximum of $40 000 as they did not have
enough cash.
"We can only give out $40 000 per individual as
the RBZ is yet to
release the new notes to our headquaters in Harare" said a
teller at CBZ
bank in Karoi.
Other banks including CABS,
Beverley, ZABG as well as Agribank, had
not received cash from the RBZ by
late Monday.
Bank officials blamed RBZ governor Gono for only
'making public
announcements without taking any action to avert the cash
shortage thereby
exerting unnecessary pressure on banks'.
Gono is in a fire-fighting mood, in the light of record breaking
inflation,
pegged at 231 million percent.
http://voanews.com
By Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
13 October
2008
Barely two weeks after it introduced new notes for
Z$10,000 and Z$20,000 in
a bid to relieve cash shortages, the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe on Monday
issued a Z$50,000 bank note while increasing the daily
limit on bank
withdrawals for individuals to that amount.
Despite the
release of the new note, sources in Harare said many banks ran
out of cash
due to the higher withdrawal limit, as the Reserve Bank had not
supplied
them with the larger bank notes. Sources in Bulawayo said much the
same
situation developed there.
Economist Godfrey Kanyenze of the Labor and
Economic Development Research
Institute of Zimbabwe told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that the Reserve Bank must move to
control inflation instead of
continuing to issue larger notes.
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions demanded the abolition of withdrawal
limits despite the central bank's recent moves. Last month it gave the
Reserve Bank an ultimatum to take action to relieve cash shortages, failing
which it would launch industrial action.
ZCTU Deputy Secretary
General Japhet Moyo said the union is still consulting
with its members as
to how to proceed amid continuing shortages of cash for
ordinary
transactions.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
11 October 2008
Posted to the web 13 October
2008
Synodia Bhasera
Harare
RESPONDING to critics irked by his
penchant for extravagance by flying his
children in a private jet to school
in France, former Zairean strongman
Mobutu Sese Seko had this to say: "Those
who peddle such criticism do not
attach much value to time. They are
ignorant of time husbandry and how much
saving flying makes."
While
Mobutu had little regard for his people and a warped appreciation of
economics, at least he could value time albeit in his small
world.
In Zimbabwe, time has lost meaning.
Analysts this week
said the Zimbabwean authorities are guilty of doing
little to save the long
productive hours being spent daily in queues as
workers battle to access
cash and other basics.
Companies, fighting bankruptcy spawned by the
worsening economic crisis now
in its ninth year, are losing a lot of revenue
as employees are now spending
long hours in bank queues.
While a
number of companies have resorted to providing staff with food
hampers and
transport allowances paid for in cash, their efforts still fall
far short of
what the employees require to face up to the daily challenges.
Last month
the Reserve Bank of Zimba-bwe increased daily cash withdrawal
limits from
$1,000 to $10,000 and $20,000 for companies and individuals
respectively,
following an outcry from members of the public.
The daily cash withdrawal
limit for individuals meant that employees have to
queue on a daily basis to
make ends meet.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions head Lovemore Matombo
was quoted telling
Voice of America that the situation in industry was dire,
with the
manufacturing industry having virtually collapsed.
"Some
people have suggested that they can only work for eight hours for the
whole
week, suggesting that four-fifths of production is lost per week," he
said.
Lovemore Kadenge, president of the Zimba-bwe Economics Society
(ZES), said
since labour was one of the key factors of production, the
absence of
employees at work places during normal working hours was weighing
down
companies.
"In terms of potential output that these idle labour
hours could have
produced, it is not surprising that the economy might be
losing
approximately 40 to 60 percent of its normal Gross Domestic Product,"
said
Kadenge.
The ZES president said controls such as the limit on
cash withdrawals and
price controls effected on industry last year can only
lead to inefficient
usage of economic resources such as
labour.
"Apart from that workers are less motivated all the time because
of failure
to withdraw their money from the banks. At the end of the day
they are
compelled to buy (basic products from the supermarkets) using
ex-pensive
methods of payment such as debit cards or other electronic
transfer methods
where punitive pricing systems are a constant thorn in
their flesh," said
Kadenge.
The Financial Gazette has established
that most companies are now resorting
to a shorter working week of say two
to three days because of the reduced
capacity utilisation.
Others
have introduced a rotational system where employees are given a few
days to
attend to personal problems outside the week-ends when most
businesses are
closed.
"From every direction, cash shortages have affected production.
If you can't
get cash you can't spend cash," said economic consultant John
Robertson.
"However, many companies have come to terms with reality and
they now allow
their employees to do their personal business then come to
work at least two
to three days a week," he said.
Bulawayo-based
chartered accountant Eric Bloch said ageing plant and
equipment, high costs
of production and low staff morale have combined to
make the operating
environment difficult.
Bloch said there was despondency among workers
caused by the
hyperinflationary environment and diminishing job security as
companies
downsize while others close their plants altogether.
James
Chirandu, a production manager at a Harare clothing company, could not
believe his eyes when only two employees out of a staff complement of 25
reported for work one Monday morning.
The company had secured a
massive export order that needed to go through the
production line
immediately but had to be delayed due to the shortage of
labour.
"I
phoned all the supervisors enquiring about their whereabouts. The first
one
said he was in a meandering queue at the bank and was only likely to get
to
work around 3pm as his bank had not received cash from the Reserve
Bank.
"The second supervisor was trudging to work on foot because he had
used up
the transport allowance we gave him the previous day on food for his
family.
"The third supervisor could not make it to work that day because
transport
fares had gone up, while the wife of the fourth supervisor who
responded to
my call indicated her husband had gone to South Africa the
previous night to
buy some groceries," said Chirandu.
This example
starkly illustrates the depressing state most Zimbabwean
companies have to
contend with.
The Zimbabwe Coali-tion on Debt and Deve-lopment (ZIMCODD)
said the signing
of a power-sharing agreement between ZANU-PF and the two
factions of the
Movement for Democratic Change last month sets the political
framework for
economic recovery.
The decline of the economy has been
characterised by a corresponding
collapse in social service delivery, with
vulnerable groups such as workers,
people living with HIV/AIDS, women and
children being hardest hit.
"The problems of access to clean water,
skills flight in local medical and
health institutions, poor infrastructure
development and maintenance,
shortages of equipment for delivering amenities
and other related problems,
vividly illustrate the current poor state of
social services.
"The genesis of this social decline can be located in
the implementation of
neo-liberal policies linked to ESAP (the Economic
Structural Adjustment
Programme), which left a legacy of increasing poverty,
high unemployment,
and a decline in health and educational standards, among
other things," said
ZIMCODD.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
11 October 2008
Posted to the web 13 October
2008
Synodia Bhasera
Harare
A DIRECTIVE by the National Incomes
and Pricing Commission (NIPC) to have
all prices rolled back to September 26
levels has emptied supermarkets
shelves while driving parallel market prices
of basic goods to new highs.
Last week the Commission ordered private
sector companies to revert back to
prices that prevailed before the
introduction of high-value notes by the
central bank last
month.
NIPC chairman, Godwills Masimirembwa, said businesses had
taken advantage of
the new $10,000 and $20,000 dollar notes unveiled to the
market on September
30 to hike prices and stoke the inflation
fires.
This is the second time in as many months that the state-run NIPC
has had to
reverse prices.
The first directive to slash prices by
half came in July last year, leading
to the arrest of scores of business
people on charges of flouting the
Soviet-style price controls.
A
survey by The Financial Gazette revealed this week that supermarkets had
emptied their shelves for fear of spontaneous raids by crack NIPC units. A
number of fast food outlets closed shop soon after the directive was
issued.
Most retailers said they had stopped restocking because the
replacement cost
was far more than the revenue earned at the controlled
prices.
"We have stopped restocking," said Simon Chauruka, a Harare-based
retailer.
"We cannot do anything but watch as our shops remain
empty."
Innscor Africa Limited's fast foods chief executive officer
Givemore
Munyanyi said his division had scaled down operations to minimise
losses.
"Following instructions by the NIPC that we have to revert to the
prices of
September 26 we have had no option but to scale down our
operations pending
approval of the new prices.
"The September 26
prices have constricted business viability as we are not
able to replace our
stock. If the NIPC approves our new prices, we should be
able to re-open
before end of day tomorrow," he added.
Economist, John Robertson,
described the NIPC directive as "crazy" adding
that the government has not
learnt a thing from its past mistakes.
He said: "This is a crazy idea.
Remember what happened during last years'
price controls. Shops were empty
and since then they have never been able to
restock. This will make the
situation considerably worse and many more
people will lose their
jobs."
But Masimirembwa has remained adamant. He said yesterday the
Commission had
dispatched letters to various companies instructing them to
comply with the
NIPC's directive.
"Those who don't comply will be
prosecuted. Every sector should revert to
prices obtaining on September 26,"
he said. "There is a formula for pricing
imported commodities. If a person
wants to charge using the local currency,
it is the cost of importing an
item converted at the inter-bank rate plus 50
percent mark-up. If one
decides to sell in foreign currency, they should
mark up the cost of
importing by 30 percent," he added.
October 12, 2008
(Transcript of SW Radio Africa Hot Seat programme - Please note this interview was broadcast on Friday night 10 October 2008, before ZANU PF announced its cabinet posts).
Journalist Violet Gonda’s guest is MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa. The MDC official says the power sharing agreement signed on the 11th of September is different from the document that was signed on the 15th.
Violet Gonda: Nelson Chamisa the spokesperson of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is my guest on the programme Hot Seat. How are you Nelson?
Nelson Chamisa: How are you Violet?
Gonda: We are fine here in London but things are not the same there in Zimbabwe. What is the latest on the talks?
Chamisa: The latest is that there is a deadlock, in fact this afternoon the Principals of the three political parties represented in the dialogue met and agreed to disagree. In fact it is just the tale of deadlocks ever since we met. You are aware it is now exactly 25 days after the signing of the global agreement but there is no agreement in sight, in terms of the cabinet positions as well as the issue of the governors in the country.
Gonda: So what does this mean now? You say they have agreed to disagree what happens now?
Chamisa: I am sure you are aware that ZANU PF were reluctant to have this matter declared a deadlock and were also reluctant to have this matter referred to the next port of call - that is SADC. You are aware that in the deal the clause that deals with the insurance mechanism in the event of any mischief - sights SADC and the African Union as the guarantors to the deal.
What we have to do is that we have to take the matter to SADC and the African Union, and in this case the mediator Mr Mbeki would have to try and intervene to try and assist as a matter of necessity as well as an inevitable outcome of the impasse and logjam we find ourselves in.
Gonda: So at present you are waiting for the facilitator the former South African President Thabo Mbeki. So any word from him?
Chamisa: Well there hasn’t been any communication by way of when he is coming. There has just been communication in regards to the acknowledgement of our notice of disagreement and impasse because we indicated to him as well as SADC and the African Union that we had hit a logjam in terms of the key posts in the cabinet as well as the issue of the governors. So he indicated to us that he was aware and he had taken note of our notice. Now what is left is for him to make the necessary steps to make the shepherding of the process possible.
Gonda: It appears the roles have now been reversed. Before the signing of this power sharing deal Mugabe was for Thabo Mbeki facilitating, but now it’s the MDC that is calling for Thabo Mbeki to come back. Are you aware of the irony of begging Mbeki to return to mediate?
Chamisa: Well what you have to understand is that we have absolute faith and total confidence in African institutions in terms of the ability and capacity to deal with any mischief in the consummation and implementation of the deal itself. So in that regard we have written to SADC and Mr Mbeki is the point man in terms of dealing with the situation in Zimbabwe. So we have confidence in the point person and in institutions that are mandated and given legitimacy by our own institutions to try and resolve the problems.
So I understand what you are saying about the irony but what you have to understand is that we have a nation on fire. We have people who are suffering, we have people who are hungry, and we have people who are almost overwhelmed by the anger and anxiety . So we need to respond to that desire and the only way is to find somebody who is going to unfreeze the impasse.
Gonda: Some media reports allege that Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to sign this agreement. Was he forced by Thabo Mbeki to sign the power sharing deal?
Chamisa: Well forced I think is too heavy a word. But what I would say is that we had insisted, through our President, that signing this deal without being conclusive would invite a lot of problems, in particular the problems we are seeing. But there was insistence on the part of the mediator as well as other authorities to say please go ahead we are going to be the guarantors in terms of any other outstanding issues.
This is why President Mbeki insisted on mentioning that there were outstanding issues and in particular he mentioned the issue of ministries - the allocation of the cabinet as well as the issue of governors - to say those matters were still outstanding.
So those are the issues that are supposed to be dealt with. In addition, Violet, there is also the issue of the actual agreement that was signed. It has some omissions which are still to be corrected because you will find that certain distortions were actually identified and detected well after the signing. And I think this is not going to be a big mountain to climb for the concerned parties.
Gonda: But how could you sign an agreement that had omissions? Even Mr Tsvangirai mentioned this at his press conference in Harare on Thursday. And some people are describing it as an extraordinary disclosure that the agreement was signed but that some of the things in the agreement were not included - the full details. Are you not worried about that?
Chamisa: Well it is a situation that is worrisome but what I must also indicate is that you are aware that the actual signing was done on the 11th of September. What was done on the 15th of September was just the public relations and a public ceremony. So the document that was signed on the 11th of September is different from the document that was signed on the 15th and what we seek to do is to harmonise and eliminate discrepancies in terms of certain omissions that were inadvertently effected in the document that was signed on the 15th.
So that is what we really seek to correct because what was signed on the 15th is the public document but in fact it has some omissions.
Gonda: So can you tell us what some of these omissions are and also when will it be made public?
Chamisa: Well just the issue of the numbers of various political parties in terms of the allocations to the Senate as well as the replacement of people or persons who are either Vice Presidents or Vice Prime Ministers within the House of Assembly, as well as the issue of the appointment of Ambassadors and other key government officials.
Gonda: Did this also include the issue of the cabinet posts and the governors - the stuff that was taken out?
Chamisa: The issue of the cabinet posts and the governors was just a shared understanding but those are issues again that are going to be managed separately. What I am referring to are the issues that I have just cited. These other two issues there was an understanding and there is some kind of documentation to prove that understanding was valid and it has to be pursued to its logical conclusion.
Gonda: So who removed those details in the final agreement?
Chamisa: Well it’s not about the removal of the details. I suppose its typo errors and hopefully it’s going to be corrected. This is why we are not interested in making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Gonda: But Nelson are you seriously saying those were typo errors? Typo errors can happen maybe once or twice but you have listed quite a few things that do not appear in the final agreement.
Chamisa: Well I am a super optimist. I am very positive that it’s not possible to have people who would come with ulterior or sinister motives. This is why I am saying it was a typo error. If it is that it was mischief we hope that it is going to be eliminated, and this is why we a just taking note of it to make sure that we eliminate any zone of differences or confusion. I think it’s in good order.
Gonda: You were quoted in the South African media saying it was a big mistake singing before the deal had been concluded. Do you still stand by that statement?
Chamisa: It was really out of context. What I indicated was to say that what is proving to be problematic is the fact that we signed an inconclusive deal. I didn’t say it was a big mistake. I said it was an omission, which omission is really costing the country in terms of time, effort, in terms of hope and we could have done things in a manner that would have sort of arrested this mischief we are beginning to see.
Gonda: Now critics of the power sharing agreement say ZANU PF’s plan is to use the MDC to get the money; to bring back investors and get sanctions lifted. What are your thoughts on this?
Chamisa: It is their intention but it doesn’t mean that their intention is what is going to prevail, Violet. We are very clear, we are in this deal with all the genuineness, with all the magnanimity, the generosity to try and help the people in our country. We are in this thing not just for the sake of power. Ours is not about power. Ours is about the responsibility we have been given by the people especially as mandated on the 29th of March. We need to have equal responsibility to serve people, to make change possible. To make sure that people’s lives are improved - to have food, jobs and health. Those are the issues we would want. This is why our focus is just not about having positions. It is about having platforms where we are able to make the lives of the people different and this is where we differ with ZANU PF.
For ZANU PF the ultimate is power. That is their religion but for us the ultimate is the wish of the people - the aspirations of the common Zimbabweans.
Gonda: So in terms of the cabinet posts what are the ministries that the MDC Tsvangirai would want to control and why?
Chamisa: You are aware that we are being accused of trying to negotiate in public so please don’t help my detractors or the detractors of the party by being drawn into the specific ministries. But what we are simply saying is that for us to be able to move forward we need to make sure that we build sufficient confidence in the country so that the population will have confidence in the government. We need to make sure that within the region, on the continent and the whole world we inspire hope, trust and confidence - things that we have lost over the past decade and that is only possible if we have sufficient power on an equal basis. So that we have ZANU PF controlling some posts and we control some posts that are equally powerful.
In fact we have said the MDC cannot surely take all the positions but equally we cannot lose all the positions that are key to ZANU PF. This is why we have advocated for some kind of working together. But what you must remember Violet is that the deal itself as configured and constituted is a very good deal. The only difference is that you can actually have a good deal but if you have bad actors and bad players in that deal it makes the whole story completely different and this is the challenge we are facing.
Gonda: I spoke with Tendai Biti your Secretary General on Tuesday and he said ZANU PF cannot have the finance ministries because ZANU PF has messed up the economy, ZANU PF put Zimbabwe in this crisis but that the MDC had agreed to negotiate in terms of ZANU PF getting the security ministries. What does that mean?
Chamisa: Well what we had indicated and what the Secretary General indicated is that we would want a situation where we are able to remedy our past misdeeds. Where we are able to correct our past failures. But for that to happen you cannot be a solution when you are part of the problem. So this is why we had put forward the argument that we want certain ministries particularly in the economics cluster. In the security cluster of course ZANU PF would have the greater part of the security ministries, but we also need certain security ministries, the same with the resource ministries. The same with the human rights and social ministries so that there is an equilibrium in government.
I have argued that it is not possible for us to be a junior partner to ZANU PF or to be an accessory to ZANU PF government. Or for us to be reduced to just mere lipstick on a body that is principally ZANU PF. What we would want is a situation were we are able to equitably share responsibilities so that we can all make meaningful contribution. In any case this is an inclusive government so let it be an inclusive government through word, through the latter and the spirit; not for some in ZANU PF who seem not to understand power sharing. I don’t know which part of power sharing they don’t understand.
Gonda: And when I asked you which ministries you wanted to control you said you cannot say this because you are bound by confidentiality clauses. But don’t you think Zimbabweans are hungry and tired of this crisis and that they deserve to know what is happening in the country?
Chamisa: We are aware of the hunger, we are aware of the fatigue and we try to be sensitive. This is why we have been giving briefings and feedback from time to time on where we are but in terms of the exact ministries I am sure it is now common cause on the ministries that we would want. We have indicated that we would hope to obviously have fundamental posts and I can see that you are trying to come through the backdoor by trying to extract from me the ministries we would want.
We would want virtually half of the key ministries so that ZANU PF takes the other half and it would be quiet good for example if ZANU PF would get say Defence and Security and we would get Home Affairs. Equally if we were to get Finance for example in the economic cluster, ZANU PF will also get some of the resource ministries. If we were to get for example Parliamentary and Legal Affairs ZANU PF will get Justice in that order. So that it is comfortable, so that it is a confidence building arrangement not a situation whereby if we were to swap sides the other side will not be happy. That is not what inclusive government is all about.
Gonda: So what ministries do you have so far?
Chamisa: Like the President has indicated - you see when you are having these discussions you are not in a position to say you have conclusively agreed. SO we can’t say we have managed to bag certain ministries by way of taking them home because this is on the table and we are still trying to negotiate. These are just ongoing discussions. You can only talk about the ministries you have after you have conclusively agreed on the issues because taking one position is going to affect the other concessions you are going to make. In fact it is almost like a puzzle if you don’t get it right just on one column you have to start all over again and that is the situation.
Gonda: You have said earlier on that it is a good document but with a bad guy. But your critics say most of what is in that document are ZANU PF intentions. And people want to know from you what is in that document that you can say is good?
Chamisa: You see this is very unfortunate that you have people who are looking at this very beautiful woman for the simple reason that they have other ulterior motives, they would want to characterise this woman or this man who is very handsome differently. The document has everything that would inspire confidence among Zimbabweans. It would give us a perfect opportunity to remedy the things that we have done wrong but more importantly what we entered into this dialogue about.
We entered into this dialogue for four issues: The first thing Violet is we entered into this dialogue for democratization; the issue of constitution making. And we have that constitution. The fact that constitution is going to be written within 18 months is a clear time frame. For us we feel that it is a big boost for democracy for our country and for the future stability of our country.
The second issue is the opportunity for us to undergo national healing. To undergo national healing because once you have the MDC and ZANU PF working together we are then going to deal with the professionalisation of State institutions so that they serve Zimbabweans not serving ZANU PF, not serving the MDC but serving Zimbabweans.
Those are the issues we feel are important and the fact that we have actually agreed that for some time we are going to have some kind of a politically stable environment that would give us the opportunity to dedicate our resources to reconstruction and rebuilding of our country.
Gonda: But Chamisa, still people will say - and I have interviewed people like Dr Lovemore Madhuku from the NCA, and they say there is nothing good in that document. And some of the issues they raise are that what is there in that deal that is good when it says; collectively you are agreeing that the land is the source of the problem, that the militia will not be disbanded, that there is no clarity on where power resides between the of Council of Ministers and Cabinet and also that there is no clarity on perpetrators of violence. What can you say about that?
Chamisa: This is a compromise document. You don’t get everything you want in a document where you sign. It is a painful compromise. We have given some things like I said but we have also taken some things. There are good things we do have but I think it would be unfair and unfortunate for us to just go to the negatives. There is no way we are going to rescue our country without such painful compromises.
Just to go back to the various issues you have highlighted Violet. For example the issue of perpetrators of violence it’s very clear that the rule of law is going to take its course but you are not going to have retributive language in black and white to say ‘we are going to be following so and so for what was done.’ That is not in the spirit on nation building. That is not in the spirit of making sure that we have a stable society and a progressive and successful country.
Those things are there. Once we have a professional police force people who commit crimes, people who have committed crimes they are just going to go through the normal process but without even seeking retribution because that is not going to be our primary objective. The primary objective is reconstruction and part of it has to do with national healing. But national healing will have to then go to the justice aspect through the rule of law. So I don’t see any contradiction.
For those who are saying this is not a perfect document they are justified but you see the proof of the superiority of this document is going to be in the implementation. Let’s wait and see the implementation. We have a perfect opportunity to take off but if we are all going to deflate the wheels of this aeroplane it will not take of and it will be disastrous for this country.
Gonda: But are you not worried with the attitude of ZANU PF? Like for example only on Friday one of the ZANU PF chief negotiators Patrick Chinamasa actually attacked the MDC and called for a paradigm shift by all the political parties and if I may quote the Herald, Chinamasa wondered why external radio stations were still operating. So on that particular issue did you sign an agreement that asked for external radio stations to be shut down? Can you explain what Chinamasa is talking about here?
Chamisa: Look it is their interpretation. In our view under circumstances where there is a free media in the long run it will be up to anybody to run any kind of media station from wherever they want. The fact that ZANU PF are trying to put it on us to say that ‘you must shut down radio stations’ is because there is no space in this country. This is what has actually given effect to the kind of position we find ourselves in. So the issue that you are saying we signed a document that is going to close radio stations, we have signed a document and I am sure you are still operating. It shows that we have not moved an inch in any way. In fact it’s not an act of bad faith because there are certain things that are just not possible to implement and we signed for those things we are able to implement within our own context. And so… (interrupted)
Gonda: But Nelson that issue was in the agreement. It was in the agreement that external radio stations will be shut down.
Chamisa: Radio stations are operating. So there is no contradiction.
Gonda: Yes radio stations are operating now but the signing is for you to start a new process and so the agreement is saying …(interrupted)
Chamisa: Yes. We are hoping that by the time we really take off SW Radio Africa is not going to be broadcasting from where it is broadcasting from. It should broadcast from here in Zimbabwe because we will be having the space and freedoms for the media to operate from our own borders. So there is no contradiction there.
Gonda: What about …
Chamisa: We are looking …
Gonda: Sorry go on.
Chamisa: We are looking into the future. It is not about the past and we are hoping for the best for the future and that will entail all radio stations, Voice of the People, Voice of America, even BBC, SW Radio Africa. They would then broadcast from this country without any hassles, without any problems because we envisage a very democratic dispensation and that is what we remain loyal to.
Gonda: Now speaking of the harassment of journalists. The Zimbabwe Independent reported that some journalists were barred from covering a press conference by Morgan Tsvangirai at his house in Harare. That they were blocked by his security guards. What can you say about this?
Chamisa: You see there was a small issue there where journalists were being asked to prove their identities. You see this is a security matter and when you are dealing with people who come to a particular protected area you would want to screen people. So certain people were actually saying they didn’t want to be screened because they were known and unfortunately there is this misunderstanding between security functions and our own duties as an information and publicity department. But we have since clarified that one.
It was not a big issue, we don’t believe that it was a big issue. This is not the first time we have invited journalists, we invite journalists now and then at our rallies, at our functions, at our various conferences and when they come there they are the happiest of guests because we even give them drinks. We protect them, we do everything better than any other organisation in this country.
Gonda: What’s your position on sanctions? Mr Chinamasa also said in the Herald that you had agreed as the parties that the sanctions must be lifted but he was wondering why no one from the MDC Tsvangirai had privately or publicly called for the lifting of sanctions. What can you say about that?
Chamisa: Violet I think by listening to Mr Chinamasa you are listening to the wrong voice. Mr Chinamasa is very interested in just finger pointing but we have just gone beyond that stage. This is now the stage of building our country together. This why we have actually said that certain people would want serious assistance and help to have that paradigm metamorphosis, a paradigm shift because they haven’t changed. They are still locked in that oppositional mindset of finger pointing, pointing at the MDC and stuff like that.
But I wouldn’t want to really say we are going to remove the sanctions. Even if we say we would want sanctions removed we are not the ones who put those sanctions. Those sanctions were put there for a particular reason and to the extent that there is deficit in terms of actions and deeds on the part of the people who are victims of those sanctions they will not be removed; but once we have dealt with the outstanding issues, once we deal with the governance deficit , the human rights violations and other issues I am sure the issue of sanctions becomes almost none issues. But because we have not changed in the manner and fashion we are approaching issues we will continue to have problems.
Gonda: It’s interesting the way you are describing Patrick Chinamasa. These are the people you want to work with. Some people say it seems to be a loose agreement that you have signed with ZANU PF and mainly basing it on political good will. Would you agree with that?
Chamisa: Well any agreement works, even a marriage Violet, works on the basis of good will. It is about faith. It is about the other partner. And this is the same thing. It’s about all players, all the stakeholders. The MDC led by Professor Mutambara, MDC led by our President , ZANU PF - we all have to show good faith and we all have to exhibit acts of good will and that is what is going to put our country together and that is what is essential as an ingredient in the stability and prosperity of our country. And this why it is important that in any dispensation we have to think as Zimbabweans and that love is what should guide us and that care for one another is what should guide us and not the past period of rapture, of disharmony, acrimony and hatred. We have to bury that chapter and construct a new dispensation characterized by ethos of love, ethos of care, ethos constructive criticism.
Gonda: So Chamisa you know talking of doing things in good faith and exhibiting acts of good will has Morgan Tsvangirai received his passport now and have the treason charges against Tendai Biti been dropped?
Chamisa: Well we raised that at the press conference on Thursday that we are still worried, that there seems to be rigidity, inflexibility on the part of ZANU PF by trying to use Mr Tsvangirai’ s passport as a political weapon. By also trying to use Mr Biti’s trumped up charges as a political weapon those are things we are trying to deal with in the context of cultivating and fertilizing that spirit of rapprochement that spirit of good- naturedness.
Gonda: So by going into this agreement as the MDC are you forgoing the issue of Mugabe’s legitimacy?
Chamisa: Look this agreement was meant to be some kind of a soft landing mechanism to try and locate exit points to the crisis we are facing. This is not the best of what we would want under normal circumstances but this is what we are trying to find as some kind of a way out for the country. We are saying that to the extent that this is a transitional kind of arrangement we are prepared to cohabit and sort of co-run the country until we create sufficient circumstances that would enable our country to have a legitimately elected government because as it is, it is just an inclusive transitional arrangement. But to the extent that this government has not been elected Zimbabweans still have a right to choose a leader of their choice.
Gonda: So is ZANU PF acknowledging that you have sacrificed a lot by recognizing Robert Mugabe?
Chamisa: Well this is what we have indicated that for us to accept ZANU PF - the party we actually defeated in the elections - to be with us in this kind of arrangement is an act of exceptional magnanimity. The fact that we have decided to even work with them when they are supposed to be in the opposition is something that should be commended. In fact we have been extra magnanimous. But that is the character of good patriots. That is the character of great leaders. We believe that our compromise is something that is going to be written in the history of our country. That we did these things not out of power, we did these things not out of greed but out of the desire to find the best way forward for future generations and prosperity.
Gonda: So you said the matter has been taken back to SADC and you hope that Thabo Mbeki will come back to help break this impasse but what if you fail? Can you go back to say Mugabe is illegitimate since you endorsed him in front of the whole world?
Chamisa: You see once you have endorsed you can withdraw your endorsement. Once you append your signature you can withdraw your signature Violet. The fact that we have endorsed Mr Mugabe is not supposed to mean that we have done that ad infinitum or into perpetuity. We have just done this to make sure that we move together. To the extent that there is no agreement we go back to the original position that we have an unresolved issue of the executive branch in this country and we would have to have an election that would legitimately give Zimbabweans the ability, the space and platform to choose the person they would want to lead them. Otherwise if there is no agreement then we would have to go back to square one. Where we were just after the 29th of March, before the 27th of June because as far as we are concerned the 27th of June was a non event and there was no election. It was just a one man show to try and prove a point which he failed to prove.
Gonda: And finally Nelson, Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga one of the negotiators from the Mutambara MDC indicated earlier on this programme that the issue of posts is also being hampered by personal interests of negotiators and party members who are now negotiating for their own interests. What can you say about that?
Chamisa: I don’t agree with my sister, Cde Priscilla, that there are people who are negotiating for themselves. Maybe it’s from their side I think there is a problem. She was speaking on her own behalf but as far as we are concerned people who are at the negotiating table they negotiate with a clear mandate. They negotiate with clear parameters and clear demarcations. They cannot go outside the orbit of what is defined as the zone of operation by a particular political party - especially in our way of doing things. Our modus operandi is such that when we are given a mandate that mandate has to be executed to the latter and spirit. So I don’t know what she was talking about. As far as we are concerned it is not our problem. Maybe it is a problem in the MDC led by Professor Mutambara and possibly in ZANU PF.
Gonda: Thank you very much Nelson unfortunately we have run out of time but thank you very much for talking on the programme Hot Seat.
Chamisa: Violet thank you very much.
Gonda: And we also tried to get a comment from ZANU PF but this is what happened when I called one of the negotiators Nicholas Goche.
Gonda: Hello Minister Goche?
Nicholas Goche: Yes?
Gonda: Hello this is Violet from SW Radio Africa. How are you?
Goche: From ?
Gonda: from SW Radio Africa
Goche: What do you want?
Gonda: I wanted to find out about the status of the talks.
Goche: I have no comment on this.
Gonda: What about …(Goche hangs up)… Gonda: …hello?
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Lizwe
Sebatha Monday 13 October 2008
BULAWAYO - A top ZANU PF
member and relative of two senior government
ministers at the weekend
evicted about 50 families from a farm in Umguza
district in Matabeleland
North province because he wants the property for
grazing land for his
cattle.
Tinus Mumbengegwi, who is a cousin to brothers Finance Minister
Samuel
Mubengegwi and Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mubengegwi, drove
the
families from Lettersdert Farm with the help of police.
The
families, who themselves occupied Lettersdert Farm at the height of farm
invasions in 2000, have since Friday been living in the open after being
evicted by Mumbengegwi who claims the farm was allocated to him four years
ago.
"Police evicted us from the farm and dumped us with all our
belongings by
the roadside," said a man who only identified himself as Mr
Moyo and one of
those evicted by Mumbengegwi.
"We have been staying
in the open since our eviction. Mumbengengwi said the
farm was allocated to
him in 2003 and the land is earmarked for grazing land
for his cattle,"
added Moyo.
Mumbengegwi confirmed evicting the families who he said were
staying on the
farm illegally after the Ministry of Lands had allocated it
to him.
"I was allocated the farm in 2003 by the lands resettlement
ministry and as
such the eviction of the families is not illegal," said
Mumbengegwi, who
also produced copies of letters from the government
offering him the farm.
"I am transporting a number of cattle to the farm.
I intend turning the farm
into grazing land for my cattle and the families
cannot share the farm with
my cattle as they might steal my cattle,"
Mumbengegwi said.
It was not possible to immediately verify the
authenticity of Mumbengegwi's
land offer letter with the Ministry of
Lands.
Top officials of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party and their
relatives
have benefited the most from his controversial land redistribution
programme
having grabbed the most lucrative farms seized from whites, with
some having
as many as six farms each.
The chaotic and often violent
land redistribution exercise that Mugabe says
was necessary to ensure blacks
also had access to arable land is blamed for
destabilisng the key
agricultural sector to leave Zimbabwe facing severe
food shortages. -
ZimOnline
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, October 13 2008
- MISA Zimbabwe has condemned the continued
use of repressive media laws to
harass practitioners during the transitional
period and has called for the
immediate cessation of harassment and the
complete repeal of the restrictive
media laws in the country.
Several journalists were on
Thursday, 9 October 2008, allegedly barred
from entering the Prime Minister
Designates Strathaven home for a press
conference.
The
journalists were barred from entering the premises by security
guards on the
basis that they had failed to produce accreditation cards from
the Media and
Information Commission (MIC).
"Ironically, the Movement for
Democratic Change has in the past
criticized the creation of the MIC under
the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the
licensing of journalists by the
commission," said Misa
Zimbabwe.
"Ironically, the Movement for Democratic Change has
in the past
criticized the creation of the MIC under the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the licensing of
journalists by the
commission," said Misa Zimbabwe.
The
security guards are alleged to have claimed that they had been
given
instructions from the 'top' not to allow journalists without MIC
accreditation cards. Attempts by journalists to explain that they were
freelance journalists were fruitless.
The press conference
was however, deferred to 10 October 2008.
In Article 19 of the
Agreement between ZANU PF and the two MDC
formations of 15 September, 2008,
the parties agreed to ensure the immediate
processing by the appropriate
authorities of all applications for
re-registration and registration in
terms of both the Broadcasting Services
Act (BSA) and The Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA)
IN their few
and scattered moments of excitement, MDC supporters normally
chant the
classic "Zanu Yaora baba", which foreign journalists incorrectly
translate
as Zanu PF is rotten.
The proper translation is that Zanu PF is decayed.
What the MDC song misses
is the fact that the state itself is decomposing or
rather is in the last
and highest form of decomposition.
The
announcement this week that Grade 7 students will not sit their exams is
indeed proof of this degenerate state. The fact that the University of
Zimbabwe has not reopened for the September semester and that in the
majority of schools countrywide, students have not attended classes for the
whole year, is indeed as unacceptable as it is a measure of the grandiose
failure of this regime.
Perhaps the saddest thing is the fact that
all exam classes at Grade 7,
Ordinary Level and Advanced Level may actually
not sit in the year 2008 and
would have to repeat in 2009. At the core of
the crisis is the state's
failure to pay teachers and lecturers adequate
salaries and the state's
failure to provide books and other materials to
schools.
The collapse of the education system is indicative of the
general collapse
and retreat of the state. That same decay is found in the
health sector,
where our people are suffering the indignity of feudal
diseases such as
cholera and tuberculosis. No wonder our life expectancy is
now 34 for women
and 37 for men; statistics that are only rivalled by
Somalia and Sudan on
the African continent.
This must be judged in
the context of the fact that at least three million
of our people have to
receive food aid and currently 40% of the rural
population are surviving on
wild berries, competing with donkeys and other
animals for access to the
same. In some areas, chiefs and headmen are fining
villagers who let loose
their animals to the detriment of the supply side of
chakata and other
fruits.
Our people in the urban areas continuously tango with endless banking
queues, the product of an erratic, dishonest, inconsistent, psychopathic
monetary policy being brewed at Samora Machel Avenue.
The pursuance
of eclectic, half-understood, haphazard, ill-baked monetary
measures by
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono have done more harm to this
country than
28 years of Mugabe's rule. The printing of money and the
vicious assault on
the Zimbabwe dollar by unleashing RBZ agents to buy money
on the black
market has ensured the death of the half-baked measures the
very same
governor is attempting to execute. The net result is inflation
that in real
terms exceeds 200 million %, and a Zimbabwe dollar that is not
worth the
cost of printing the same, a banking system on the verge of
collapse and a
Frankenstein economy that knows no description in modern
economic
textbooks.
In short, the RBZ has redefined economic failure and economic
bastardisation. They have shown that there is no such thing as a breaking
point or tipping point in African economies. That collapse is as elusive as
the horizon. You can see it but you can't touch it.
However, it is
the collapse of the public education system that is
unpardonable, cruel and
totally criminal. Education is at the core of the
dignity and decency of any
nation. Education is that fundamental
foundational matrix that a new future
and a new Zimbabwe can be built. This
regime understands this more than
anyone else, which is why in the first
decade of Independence it spent in
real terms 3% of its GDP investing in
education. The result was massive
enrolment of students and extensive
capitalisation, particularly in the
rural areas. The net product is that in
Africa, Zimbabwe, with a literacy
rate of 85%, is second only to Tunisia and
has more degreed citizens per
capita than Kenya, Ghana or Nigeria.
Sadly, the crème de la crème of our
education system has been sucked up in
the diaspora. You will find a
Zimbabwean at the UN, at Goldman and Sachs and
at virtually every decent
university in the world.
That this regime can therefore be allowed to
kill the education system is
unacceptable. Moreso when one considers that
the majority of these pedagogy
terrorists have their children in schools and
universities outside Zimbabwe.
What is indeed most unacceptable is the fact
that for five years Gono has
been allowed to run amok, dabbling in
quasi-fiscal activities. These
activities have seen him become the de-facto
prime minister of the land. In
2008 alone, he has spent over US$150 million
in the farm mechanisation
programme. He also spent millions of dollars
bankrolling the Zanu PF
campaign in the March 2008 election. In short, his
hands have been seen
everywhere where clientelism is an issue. For instance,
he spent huge
amounts buying the judiciary vehicles, generators and
satellite dishes.
Thus, Gono could easily have saved the 2008 education
year if he so wished.
That however could not happen for three reasons.
Firstly, there is no
immediate short-term benefit for Zanu PF. Secondly,
teachers and their ilk
are perceived to be MDC territory. Thirdly, his
children are not in the
system anyway.
Gono aside, the fact of the matter
is that this regime has failed.
Central to the failure is of course the
limitations of nationalism.
We have made the point over and over again
that nationalism has a limited
agenda; that of the national question
captured in the slogan one-man,
one-vote. Beyond the national question,
nationalism is out of depth and is
limited. Moreso when it is the inheritor
of the little enclave, gatekeeping
colonial state totally corrupted by the
vagaries and avarice of
international capital.
Faced with the frustration
of failing to transform the colonial state during
the national democratic
stage of the struggle, nationalism degenerates and
decomposes into
neo-patrimony, clientelism, the imperial presidency and
patronage. In short,
it converts the state into a rogue state where
violence, corruption and
personal accumulation become vehicles for the
continued reproduction of the
state.
The Abhurian State, so brilliantly described by Ngugi wa Thiongo
in The
Wizard of the Crow, which state had been fore-written by Chinua
Achebe in A
Man of the People, Sembene Ousmane in The Last of the Empire and
Ayi Kwei
Armah in The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born. At that stage, the
highest
level of decomposition, nationalism needs to be saved from itself or
it will
take the nation with it.
That is exactly where Zimbabwe is at
the present moment. Zanu PF needs to be
saved from itself or it will
annihilate the construct that Zimbabwe is.
The September 15 2008
agreement must thus be seen in this context; an
attempt to save Zanu PF from
itself so that Zimbabwe can be saved. Sadly,
Zanu PF, which can't see beyond
its nose and is on autopilot to ultimate
self-destruction, continues to
frustrate that agreement by refusing to
consummate the same and more
importantly by making demands that will reduce
the MDC to an innocent and
disinterested bystander in that cabinet.
For us in the MDC, we are fully
aware of the historical duties on our
shoulders and will do everything to
save this agreement. However, our
elasticity is only marginal.
Tendai
l. Biti MP
MDC Secretary-General.
By claiming major cabinet posts, the
Zimbabwean president is trying to
ensure he doesn't suffer further
humiliation at the polls
Wilf Mbanga
guardian.co.uk,
Monday
October 13 2008 18.00 BST
Nothing surprises me any more. Robert Mugabe
the eloquent democrat has
become a murdering monster, and will do everything
he can to cling to power
until the very end. Sadly, the monster retains all
the intellectual
faculties and abilities of the democrat.
He
cunningly orchestrated the power-sharing deal after losing the March
elections and being forced by the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to make a
sham of the June run-off. This had lost him credibility even among some
African rulers.
By engineering the deal, Mugabe forced Tsvangirai to
acknowledge him as
president in return for the premiership and a few cabinet
seats. This
regained him the right to swan around the world as the
legitimate president
of Zimbabwe. Ergo, he does not need Tsvangirai any
more.
But he does not want to be the one to kill the deal - as this would
lose him
credibility once more. So he skilfully manoeuvres things so that
the MDC
will be forced to walk away from the table - leaving Mugabe where he
fully
intended to be all along - in the driving seat.
Despite the
country collapsing around him and millions suffering from hunger
and
disease, there is method in Mugabe's madness. He is positioning himself
for
the next election - determined to reverse his humiliation at the hands
of
the electorate on March 29. He will never forgive Zimbabweans for
rejecting
him.
This is why he has insisted on retaining control of the power
ministries,
while giving MDC the service ministries. He needs the police and
the army,
home affairs and defence ministries, to seal off the rural areas,
disrupt
the MDC's activities and thrash and threaten its supporters. In
addition,
home affairs is responsible for the conduct of elections. He needs
local
government to retain control of the chiefs and keep them on side. He
needs
information to maintain his stranglehold on the media, keeping people
in the
dark - as is the wont of every dictator. Access to information for
millions
through the publication of the mass-circulation independent weekly,
the
Zimbabwean, is what cost him the March election - according to his
election
agent, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
And he needs foreign affairs to
continue his world-wide campaign of
hate-speech and disinformation against
the west, and to continue to wag his
tail for the Russians and the
Chinese.
His henchmen, the military chiefs, have a particularly vested
interest in
keeping control over the police - most, if not all, of them
could and
certainly would be arrested by an MDC-controlled police force on a
wide
range of charges, from crimes against humanity to theft and
corruption.
Mugabe wants the MDC, now united as Arthur Mutambara has been
forced by his
party to abandon his flirtation with Zanu-PF, to walk away
from the deal.
That's why he doesn't want Thabo Mbeki, the lame-duck turned
dead-duck
president/mediator, to come and fix it.
http://www.nationalpost.com
With a power-sharing agreement signed, Zimbabweans are
asking:
RW Johnson, National Post Published: Wednesday, September 17,
2008
This week's power-sharing deal between Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe
and two opposition leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara, marks,
as Tsvangirai noted in his first speech as prime minister,
"the rebirth of
our nation," and the "building of a New
Zimbabwe."
The signing ceremony, conducted before notables from the
United Nations, the
African Union and the 16-nation Southern African
Development Community
(SADC), paid fulsome tribute to the mediator of the
settlement talks,
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. The watershed, it
is hoped, will
bring to an end nine years of strife, which has caused over a
third of the
Zimbabwean population to flee abroad, and killed perhaps
another million
through starvation, political violence, AIDS and the
collapse of the
country's health system.
The settlement provides for
Mugabe to preside over a cabinet of 31
ministers, 15 belonging to his
previously ruling Zanu-PF party, 13 to
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), and three to Mutambara's
splinter MDC. In addition, Tsvangirai
will chair an overlapping council of
ministers that supervises the
government. While Tsvangirai will control the
police, Mugabe will still aim
to control the armed forces.
In his own speech, Mugabe rambled widely,
accused the opposition of
violence, boasted of his own greater experience --
and was frequently booed.
What his speech showed is that the deal is almost
certainly unworkable: The
man who has ruled the country alone since 1980 has
not really accepted the
change for what it is, and clearly hopes to continue
rule by presidential
decree.
Indeed, the whole ceremony papered over
Mugabe's monstrous bad faith in
recent months. Tsvangirai clearly led Mugabe
by a considerable margin in
this year's presidential elections -- until
Mugabe conducted a campaign of
all-out violence that forced Tsvangirai to
withdraw. Even so, the opposition
managed to win the parliamentary
elections. In any even half-way democratic
country, Mugabe and his party
would now be out of power. It was only thanks
to support from Mbeki-- who is
now posturing as a great savior and
mediator -- that Mugabe was able to hold
out for a compromise deal.
With two centres of power and, in effect, two
conflicting cabinets, the deal
is almost certainly unworkable. Tsvangirai
said he signed the deal because
"my belief in Zimbabwe and its peoples runs
deeper than the scars I bear
from the struggle." The word "scars" here is
meant quite literally. In 1998,
Mugabe's thugs tried to throw Tsvangirai out
of a 6th floor window. Less
than two years ago, Tsvangirai was beaten within
inches of his life. No
wonder Tsvangirai added that the deal "can only be a
temporary measure, like
a candle in a dungeon."
Tsvangirai said the
first task of the new government would be to "unlock the
food already in the
country and distribute it to our people" -- without
mentioning that it has
been kept locked up by Mugabe, who wished to ensure
it got distributed only
to his supporters, while opposition supporters were
deliberately
starved.
The crunch is bound to come quickly. Mugabe and his henchmen
have everything
to lose from this. Probably the first big issue will be the
sacking of
Gideon Gono as Governor of the Reserve Bank. Mugabe has used
Gono, a key
henchman and his own private banker, to control the economy; and
Gono has in
turn been rewarded with stolen farms and other looted assets.
Foreign donors
have made it clear that not a cent will be handed over while
Gono remains in
office; but if he goes, so does Mugabe's control of the
economy.
Another point of contention is Tsvangirai's determination to
invite back the
British Military Assistance and Training Team (BMATT), which
trained the
army and police after Zimbabwe's independence. This would mean
200 British
military personnel on the ground. It would also mean the
professionalization
of security forces that until now have acted as partisan
thugs for Mugabe
and his henchmen. In particular, BMATT's first order of
business would be to
help crack down on the murderous "war vets" and Green
Bomber youth league,
both of which were instrumental to Mugabe's efforts to
terrorize white
farmers and opposition blacks.
In other words, the
agenda favoured both by Tvangirai and the major Western
donors will serve to
dismantle Mugabe's violent and corrupt system, and
prepare the way for free
elections in which both Mugabe and his party will
face
annihilation.
In his speech, Mugabe raged on about those who had the
temerity to want to
see him leave the scene after 28 years in power: He
still cannot believe
anyone would attempt such sacrilege. The next few weeks
will show whether he
intends to subvert the deal now reached -- or whether
he will be pushed
aside by a determined opposition seeking to restore hope
and order to a
nation that has been systematically looted and ruined by
Robert Mugabe. - RW
Johnson is emeritus fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford,
and Southern Africa
correspondent for The Sunday Times.
BILL WATCH 40/2008
[11th October
2008]
The House of Assembly will resume on Tuesday 14th
October
The Senate has adjourned until Tuesday 4th November
Bills: None – the Constitution Amendment No
19 Bill is still not ready
Statutory Instruments: See end of
Bulletin
Controversy Rages over Allocation of Ministries
Unilateral
ZANU PF action
In spite of continuing disagreement over the allocation of
Ministries between parties, the Government issued a Gazette Extraordinary at
about 8pm on Friday night [well after the Government Printer’s normal business
hours] containing a General Notice listing the Ministries which Mr Mugabe has
allocated to the three parties. Mr Chinamasa released the gazetted notice to
the state media, but it is not yet available to the public.
Mr Mugabe has
used section 31D(1)(a) of the Constitution, which authorises the President to
assign functions to Ministries, as if the Power-Sharing Agreement had never been
signed.
The General Notice is not a law – It is no more than an
official notification for public information of an allocation of Ministerial
functions by Mr Mugabe. That purpose could have been achieved by a press
release or any other form of public announcement. The notice is also
unprecedented. Never before have Ministries being gazetted without a
simultaneous appointment of Ministers to run them. The General Notice does not
mean that the distribution of Ministries between the parties cannot be changed.
If Mr Mugabe is persuaded to change his mind, the distribution can be changed
immediately, with or without further gazetting.
MDC categorical that no
agreement has been reached
Mr Tsvangirai said on Thursday “there has been
no progress made on this entire section as ministries can only be negotiated
comprehensively and not individually..….In this regard we have declared a
deadlock and therefore the process can not move forward except in the presence
of the facilitator.” On Friday Mr Tsvangirai, Mr Mutambara and Mr Mugabe met
again but still failed to break the deadlock, and agreed to call in Mr Mbeki.
The fact that there is still no agreement was confirmed personally by Mr
Tsvangirai today [Saturday] after the publication of the Gazette Extraordinary.
The MDC-T spokesman also issued an outraged press release saying they had been
“ambushed.”
Opposing Lists of Allocated Ministries
In the Government’s General Notice the key Ministries of Defence,
Home Affairs, Justice and Legal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Media, Information and
Publicity, Local Government, Mines and Mining Development and Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement ,
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment were given to ZANU-PF. The
other key Ministry, that of Finance, was stated to be still in dispute.
[Electronic version of General Notice available on
request.]
The MDC-T has emphatically rejected
the gazetted allocation and published its own very different list, claiming that
theirs captures the general understanding during Friday’s deliberations. It
allocates some of the same key ministries, such as Home Affairs, Justice and
Legal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Media, Information & Publicity, Local
Government, as well as Finance, to MDC-T. [Electronic version of MDC-T list available on request.]
Mr Mbeki is expected in Harare on Monday 13th October.
Mr Mbeki has been confirmed as facilitator by SA, SADC and AU. On
October 2nd the new South African President, Kgalema Motlanthe, informed the
SADC Executive Secretary Dr Salomao that the government of South Africa supports
former President Thabo Mbeki's continued role as facilitator. On October 8th
the AU and SADC issued a statement reaffirming their support for the continued
role of Thabo Mbeki as the SADC mandated mediator and stating that, as
guarantors of the implementation of the Agreement, both the AU and SADC will
spare no effort in supporting its full and effective implementation.
Appointments to Executive Posts
No official announcements of have been made of appointments to Cabinet, or of Vice-Presidents, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers.
Provincial Governors
All 10 of these posts were given to ZANU PF in contravention of the Power-Sharing Agreement and are still the subject of dispute between the parties.
Parliament
Senate: The two sittings were brief – 30 minutes on
Tuesday, just over an hour on Wednesday. Apart from a few contributions to the
debate on the President's speech, no business was conducted . No move was made
to elect the Senate's representatives on the Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders, in spite of the fact that Senate Standing Order 14 requires this
election to be conducted “as soon as possible after the commencement of each
Parliament”. [See under Parliamentary Committees.]
House of Assembly:
There is one item on the order paper [agenda] for the House of Assembly – the
debate on the President’s speech delivered at the opening of Parliament on the
26th August. The speech outlined his proposed programme for this Parliamentary
session [Electronic version
available]. Of course
a new government might change the programme or the priorities, which goes to
show the absurdity of carrying on as normal when there is no new government. In
the absence of movement on the formation of the new Inclusive Government, it is
likely that next week's House of Assembly meeting will follow the same pattern,
culminating in an early adjournment until a date in November.
Supplementary Budget Getting Urgent: It will soon be necessary for
the Government to introduce a Supplementary Budget to obtain Parliamentary
confirmation of the special measures that must have been adopted to fund
Government operations after the funds voted by Parliament in the last
Appropriation Act [passed in December 2007] were exhausted. Under section
103(7) of the Constitution such special measures must cease not later than three
months after the opening of the new Parliament. So a supplementary budget and
an Additional or Supplementary Appropriation Act will be needed before 26th
November.
Parliamentary Committees: Committees play an important role
in the work of Parliament. The early business of a new Parliament,
therefore, must include setting up the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders
[CSRO], which in turn appoints the Parliamentary Legal Committee and the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees. Some members of CSRO are ex officio or
appointed [see below] but others have to be elected by each house sitting
separately. This is why it is odd that elections did not take place in the
Senate.
Committee on Standing Rules and Orders
[CSRO]
This is the principal Parliamentary committee [Constitution,
section 57(2), House of Assembly Standing Order 14, Senate Standing Order
14]. Each House has to elect a certain number of members to this Committee
[see below], and Standing Orders require these elections to be conducted “as
soon as possible after the commencement of each Parliament”. The Committee is
responsible, inter alia, for determining the size of and selecting the
chairpersons and members of all other committees, including the Parliamentary
Legal Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Portfolio Committees
[House of Assembly Standing Order 155, Senate Standing Order 145]. It
consists of:
·
the Speaker and the President of the Senate and their
deputies
·
members of the House of Assembly appointed by the
Speaker
·
Senators appointed by the President of the
Senate
·
members elected by the House of Assembly by secret
ballot
·
members elected by the Senate by secret ballot
The
number of elected members must be greater than the number of appointed members,
and the election of members of this Committee "shall be based, inter
alia, on (the) political and gender composition of Parliament" [Standing
Order 14].
Other functions of the CSRO include the appointment of the
Clerk of Parliament and other officers of Parliament [Constitution, section
48] and a nominating or consultative role in the appointment of persons to
various constitutional and statutory bodies [for example, the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Media Commission] and
important public offices [for example, the offices of Public Protector and
Deputy Public Protector].
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees
In the
last Parliament these Committees were joint Committees of Senators and members
of the House of Assembly, but Standing Orders provide for either joint or
separate committees as decided by the CSRO. There have been calls for each
House to have its own separate portfolio committees, most recently by Senator
Coltart in his speech in the Senate on 8th October.
Election-Related Court Cases
Election petition appeals update: None of the appeals
noted to the Supreme Court has been set down for hearing. Set-down has been
delayed pending receipt of the records of the proceedings from the Electoral
Court.
Local Authorities
Court challenge to Minister's appointment of councillors:
The Government has lodged notice of its intention to oppose the court
proceedings challenging the Minister of Local Government's appointment of nine
additional councillors to the Bulawayo City Council. Although under the Urban
Councils Act appointed councillors do not have a vote in council decisions, they
can take full part in council proceedings and influence them. These appointed
seats were supposed to be reserved to represent special interest groups [e.g.
the aged, the handicapped, etc.] but the court challenge states appointments
have in fact been used to increase ZANU representation.
Statutory Instruments
No statutory instruments were published in Friday’s regular
Government Gazette, but three were published in a Government Gazette
Extraordinary published on Friday afternoon:
SIs 145 and 146/2008 – SI
145 sets new listeners' licence fees with effect from 17th October 2008 and SI
146 provides for new categories and definitions of licences [electronic versions available on request]. Incidentally, these SIs are made by or with the approval of the
Minister of Information and Publicity. This post is still being filled by Dr
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who is no longer eligible to be a Minister. As a non-member
of Parliament he was only entitled to continue serving as a Minister until 28th
June [3 months after the dissolution of Parliament on 28th March] with an
extension until the new Parliament opened on 26th August [Constitution, section
31E].
SI 147/2008 – this authorises the
issue of a $50 000 banknote.
Veritas makes
every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility
for information supplied.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Sunday, 12 October 2008 17:57 Phil
Matibe
Robert Mugabe has asked white farmers from South Africa to
come to the aid
of corrupt absentee ZANU (PF) landlords in
Zimbabwe.
The very greedy persons who occupy farms,
misappropriated from the relatives
and friends of these South African
farmers and subjected Zimbabwean white
farmers to summary evictions, now
seek the assistance of their kith and kin
to assist ZANU (PF) cultivate
crops on stolen properties that are now
derelict. How many of the white
South Africans farmers are displaced
Zimbabweans?
Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister
Lulu Xingwana has asked AgriSA's white
commercial farmers at their Congress
to join the Agriculture Department in
coming to the aid of Zimbabwean
farmers to prevent a food crisis.
What an
oxymoron!
Competent Zimbabwean professional farmers, some
who were evicted from their
properties as early as last week now sit in
apartments in Harare and
elsewhere, yet ZANU (PF) has the audacity to invite
foreign white farmers to
come and abet tyranny. Agricultural knowledge and
skills are the only
variables missing in Zimbabwe's food deficit
matrix.
Zimbabwe and South Africa share the same weather
patterns, soils, labour and
input requirements for cereal husbandry. Will
these farmers bring their own
fuel, tractors, workers, security guards and
Rands? Can these farmers
operate in a hyperinflation environment? How will
war veterans distinguish
the AgriSA farmer from the Zimbabwean white farmer
whom they loathe?
These ZANU (PF) connected politicians
are the multiple farm proprietors who
accessed public funds, machinery and
inputs from the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s quasi-financial activities,
which were misused for
fraudulent non-agricultural activities, that
exacerbated the food crisis and
fueled
hyperinflation.
In 2000, ZANU (PF) embarked on a violent,
disorderly fast track land
invasion exercise, which culminated in white
Zimbabwean farmers being
dispossessed of their farming properties under the
guise of correcting a
colonial imbalance. Zimbabwe's white citizens are all
treated as descendents
of colonial land grabbers and are no longer entitled
to land ownership in
Zimbabwe.
Reduction of poverty
through land reform should have been the goal of any
agrarian reform
programme but what occurred in Zimbabwe is the exact
opposite. A cost
benefit analysis of the land redistribution programme
reveals that
Zimbabwe's once proud competent communal farmers are now poorer
overall and
less productive. Before this ill-advised exercise, our resilient
communal
farmers were confident and looked forward to acquiring more land to
increase
productivity. That dream has since evaporated and the farmers have
been
humiliated and cunningly reduced to perpetual beggars by their own
government.
Progressive communal farmers with the
help of some proactive commercial
farming sector colleagues accessed hybrid
and short season variety seed
suitable for our harsh growing conditions,
fertilizers, draught power and
transport. In some cases, white commercial
farmers provided extension
services and agronomic advice that enabled
Zimbabwe's small-scale communal
farmers to produce over 70% of the nation's
commercial maize output.
In the 1985/86 agricultural
season communal farmers alone delivered 819 140
metric tonnes of maize to
the GMB. Farmers always retain some maize for
their own consumption before
selling any surplus to the GMB, thus the
small-scale communal farmer
production figures are actually higher.
By the end of
1986, the country's maize reserve was at a peak of nearly 2
million metric
tonnes and, even though 1987/88 was a drought season,
Zimbabwe managed to
export 500,000 tonnes of maize. In 1990 Zimbabwe
exported 731 000 metric
tonnes and in 1991,407 000 metric tonnes.
In 1992, our
national food security was threatened by a severe drought that
resulted in
virtually no harvests throughout the country. The Grain
Marketing Board
(GMB) domestic maize intake during the year was about 13 000
tonnes, just
enough for two days consumption and yet ZANU (PF) exported 268
000 tonnes
metric tonnes of maize from the nation's strategic grain
reserve.
In 1993,195 000 metric tonnes of maize was exported and
in 1994,564 000
metric tonnes.
Zimbabwe was a net
exporter of grain prior to the 2000 referendum, in which
the ZANU (PF)
constitutional proposals were rejected by 58% of the
population. The
ensuring backlash against white farmers and the war veterans
appeasement
policy that followed precipitated Zimbabwe's agricultural
production decline
and has made our country a food importer. In the
referendum, only 9% of
Zimbabweans felt that land was important.
The land
invasions began two months after the rejection of a referendum on a
new
constitution that would have allowed the government to grab the farms
without paying compensation.
Today, Zimbabwe is
facing its worst food deficit since the beginning of
organised agriculture
over a century ago. The United Nations' Food and
Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) has classified as food insecure, 45 % of the
population, 5 101 800
people, for the 2008/2009 season.
Starving Zimbabweans do not
care if a war veteran or a white farmer grows
their food. White
ex-Zimbabwean commercial farmers evicted from their farms
only a few years
ago, grow and export maize that Zimbabwe now imports from
Zambia. White
farmers in the EU and the USA grow nearly all the World Food
Programme (WFP)
emergency assistance grain that is keeping starving rural
Zimbabweans
alive.
Maize is the most unproblematic crop to grow in
Zimbabwe. Small-scale
farmers should be empowered to grow all of Zimbabwe's
maize, leaving
commercial farmers to produce labour intensive,
export-oriented crops that
create jobs and earn foreign
currency.
Zviripachena saDhiraivha wetarakita.
Help support our pensioners or the Courtney sparrow medical assistance fund
at http://www.hopeunlimited.net,
you can donate via credit card or paypal.
Zimbabwe Pensioner Supporter
August Trip Report 18th to 26th August 2008
Our August trip was once
again done by Hannes and myself although we were
very ably accompanied by
the Mobile Clinic manned by Chemist Johan Snyman
and Elbe Britz in their
Clinics for Christ vehicle and also Annette van der
Merwe who is one of our
most ardent supporters from the Eastern Cape. It was
from her community that
we managed to fill the new truck with food parcels
about a month
ago.
To say that this was an interesting trip would be the understatement
of the
decade. Our enemy, Satan tried every trick in the book to waylay the
success
of our purpose yet our God was there ready to help us overcome each
attack.
18th Aug left Duiwelskloof at 5am we headed for our rendezvous
with the team
as noted above. On arrival in Musina I noted that the coupling
hitch of the
trailer had almost sheared off completely. There, within
minutes I was
introduced to an ex Zim gentleman, Hennie Ferreira, who did a
temporary
repair job on the roadside so we could move the rig to his
workshop where he
did the complete 100% job for no charge. To God be the
Glory, and Satan once
again failed. We pressed on and eventually crossed the
border at 01.15 of
Tuesday morning, having spent about 10 hrs there. Less
than 1 km into
Zimbabwe the truck's turbo or injector pump malfunctioned
resulting in a
serious over revving that damaged the engine and crippling
the truck making
it impossible to proceed. As I stood and looked at the oily
wreck I could
only think to praise God who teaches us to thank Him in all
things because
He is able to make all things work together for our benefit.
We agreed that
Hannes proceed to our first destination and plan from there.
I would sit out
the night and at day light see how to get assistance. I
inevitably dozed off
and in that short period of about 40 mins a group of
raiders snuck up and
cut open the canvas of the trailer and helped
themselves to a copious amount
of the goods we carry. They took Lux soap,
cooking oil, canned fish, canned
meat Mealie meal and a lot of other goods.
After rationalizing the loss I
realized that all people in Zim are hungry
and they would hopefully sell
their loot to get food. I released the loss
and had immediate peace. At
7.00am I contacted my dear wife Liz in
Duiwelskloof, telling her of our
predicament and she soon managed to
organize someone, namely Rob Elliot to
organize the removal of our truck to
his depot for safe keeping, thank you
Rob and Mrs. Elliot for your kindness
and the lovely steak roll prepared the
way I like it, unbeknown to you. God
Bless you. In the meantime, Hannes
contacted an old farmer friend in Kwe
Kwe, Jan Fritz, who without hesitation
sent his similar truck to our
assistance and we were able to transship the
load and proceed on our way. En
route their truck had a front wheel blowout
but donated our spare to him and
continued on the trip.
Why have I made mention of all this? Friends, to
know God is to love Him and
when you are in His will He will come up for
you, and you will have
experiences like this where all Satan's plans to
derail you are turned
around and used to pave a straight road for you. Wait
for the next report to
see how He will use others to bless us because of the
ministry of blessing
we do for others as is the mandate God gave Hannes
years ago.
Wed 20th Well, now for the nitty gritty regarding our
purpose, spreading
the food and medicines that we carried. We visited Kings
Haven in Esigodini
where many of the folk received not only medicines but
also medical
attention and a tender loving ear for the 1st time in months.
All around the
country we heard of people who had not seen a doctor or medic
for many, many
months and who had to suffer in silence as pain and other med
was
unavailable.
In Bulawayo we did our usual rounds of the homes,
namely, Coronation
Cottages, Edith Duly frail care, Jacaranda House, Queen
Mary, and some of
the needy folk outside in the
city. At Garden
Park Clinic we bumped into a
young Indian doctor, who seeing the Christian
logo's on our vehicles came
and asked us if we had certain medicines and
medical things like sutures,
gloves and needles etc they were very short of.
The most basic of stuff is
unavailable. The situation is pathetic in every
area, not only in foodstuff.
Most people are severely malnourished. Needless
to say, we were able to
grant her, her wishes.
Thurs. 21st Did Bogies and Huis Vergesig in Gweru,
M.U.U.S in Sherugwe and
drove on to Kadoma where we spent the night with our
friends, Clive and
Estelle O' Reily. During our visits our medics were once
again inundated
with requests for medicines and we saw the great need they
fulfilled. Even
the dreaded "jabs" were administered. Their presence
brightened up many
faces and in many cases, their care gave folk the unction
to go on as they
had found a new friend. To the three of you, you have made
a contact that
will be looking out for you each trip. Even our hosts and
hostesses were
inspected to see if they were ok.
Fri.22nd.We rose
early, did Westview in Kadoma and then Lynbrook in Kwe Kwe
and Hubert Lee in
Redcliff after which we hightailed it to Harare to spend
the night. Here we
were put up by a new connection, Sarah English, who as a
matter of interest
was a member of the 1980 Zimbabwe hockey team that won
Gold in the Olympics
in Moscow that year. Thank you Sarah for having room in
your "inn" and
putting us all up, and trust we will continue to build our
relationship with
you.
Sat.23rd Up early again and off to Sunningdale in Chinoyi. Here we
did our
usual food drop and the medics were once again overwhelmed by the
need,
especially in the care unit of the home. We also met two of the local
Cuban
doctors who also stood ready to receive much needed medicines for
their work
in the local hospitals. Even they could not say no to a batch of
food from
the fund. Praise the Lord we had a few spare to give. From there
we went via
Harare to Chivhu and left the hampers with Albert and Leanie
Kirstein who
see to the distribution of it. We pressed on to Masvingo where
we once again
came to rest with our friend Gerard Burger where we are always
spoiled as
with our other hosts and hostesses to the best they have. The
team had done
their ministry work there on the 19th so they were up, up and
away early the
next day to return to various loved ones south of the border.
Our heartfelt
thanks to Annette, Elbe and Johan for a job well done and
looking to see you
all again on a trip somewhere down the line. You are all
stars. No mishaps
next time I hope. Hannes and I stayed the next two days to
chill and get our
paperwork started for the next trip.
Tues26th. We
finally crossed the border with Gerhard's help as Hannes towed
our dead Dyna
and I and one trailer across and Gerard towed our other
trailer across. We
left the truck with our new friend Hennie Ferreira in
Musina who is busy
doing an engine transplant as this report goes out.
So, friends, if your
focus is on your goal and not on your adversary, he
will not be able to beat
you, and in fact, all his efforts to do you down,
will work in your favor.
As I said before, "Watch this space." Remember to
pray for the people of
Zimbabwe.
Thank you to all of you who faithfully pray for us on our
trips, and all of
you who faithfully donate towards this worthy
cause.
God Bless you all. Pastor Attie Botha.