http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff
Reporter 20 hours 57 minutes ago
HARARE - The coalition
government is rocked by the news that another cabinet
meeting scheduled for
tomorrow has been suspended again amid reports that
President Mugabe is
battling for his life in Singapore, sources in
government revealed last
night.
A senior Zanu-PF official whose identity cannot be revealed said
the
President is undergoing intensive treatment in Singapore and he also
comfirmed that some members of his family have since joined him after
boarding a chartered private jet on Saturday evening.
Mugabe
reportedly went to Singapore to oversee university postgraduate
studies
arrangements for his daughter Bona, but this has not helped quell
speculation that the president had health issues to contend
with.
Questions have been raised as to whether it was necessary for
Mugabe to
personally oversee Bona’s registration or aides could have done
that on his
behalf.
Singapore University registration starts in
September.
In a statement yesterday secretary for Media, Mugabe's
spokesman George
Charamba, said: “The Chief Secretary to the President and
Cabinet Dr Misheck
Sibanda wishes to inform all members of Cabinet that
sitting has been moved
from Tuesday, 10 April to Thursday 12 April
2012.”
Last week ministers snubbed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s bid
to chair
Cabinet in President Mugabe’s absence. The meeting was called on
the pretext
of following up on issues raised in the Indigenisation and
Economic
Empowerment Policy at last Thursday’s Council of Ministers’
meeting.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman Mr Luke Tamborinyoka confirmed
the meeting
did not go ahead as scheduled.
The MDC-T, however,
expr-essed dismay that Zanu-PF ministers boycotted the
meeting, which he
said, had been called on the recommendation of Youth
Development,
Indigenisation and Economic Em-powerment Minister Saviour
Ka-sukuwere.
President Robert Mugabe's failing health has forced his
ZANU-PF party to
press for early elections in Zimbabwe and accelerate a plan
compelling
foreign firms to surrender majority shareholdings, but it has not
so far
loosened his grip on power.
While factions within ZANU-PF are
battling to take over from Mugabe, the
88-year-old leader is still the only
figure who can unite the party and has
so distanced himself from possible
successors that no direct challenger has
emerged, but recent reports says he
has struck a secret "gentleman's
agreement" to hand over power to his feared
defence minister, Emmerson
Mnangagwa,.
In any case, ZANU-PF would be
hard pressed in elections, that must be held
by 2013 but which could come
this year, if it fielded a candidate other than
Mugabe, who has been in
power since Zimbabwe gained independence from
Britain in 1980.
But
Mugabe has slowed down, diplomats have said. His meetings are fewer
while
his visits to Singapore for medical checks have increased.
Over the past
few years, he is thought to have spent several weeks abroad
for treatment,
described as routine and for maladies such as eye trouble by
official media.
But talk in Zimbabwe of Mugabe's deteriorating health is
taboo and harshly
punished.
A June 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks last
month said
Mugabe has prostate cancer that has spread to other organs. He
was urged by
his physician to step down in 2008 but has stayed in the
job.
In the cable written by James D. McGee, the former U.S. ambassador
in
Harare, Zimbabwe's Central Bank governor Gideon Gono was cited as saying
the
cancer could lead to Mugabe's death in three to five
years.
Mugabe was flown to Singapore last week after collapsing at his
home, but
his spokesman said he had gone there to assist his daughter on her
application for Post-Graduate studies.
"The health of Mugabe is
deteriorating and ZANU-PF's success at the next
elections is not assured
unless it builds up a war chest and relies on
coercion," said Anne Fruhauf,
an expert on Africa at the Eurasia Group
political risk
consultancy.
ZANU-PF leaders fear that if Mugabe dies in office or his
health forces him
to quit before settling the succession battle, the party
could disintegrate
or the army could be tempted to take over.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, forced
into a
unity government with ZANU-PF after a disputed 2008 election marred
by
violence, said the empowerment law has undermined investor confidence and
could strangle a fragile recovery in an economy crushed by hyperinflation
under ZANU-PF management.
But whatever the potential problems for the
economy as a whole, the income
generated from implementing the law could be
crucial for ZANU-PF and its
supporters.
"(The law) is little more
than an extortion scheme, with rival players
offering companies 'protection'
in return for pay and equity stakes,"
Fruhauf said.
Mining firms risk
losing their claims in the country with the world's
second-largest platinum
reserves if they do not play along. Many are waiting
for a future government
more amenable to international investment before
they ramp up production,
analysts have said.
The MDC has a lead in opinion polls, and ZANU-PF
likely needs cash to
finance the tactics it has been accused of using to win
elections -- hiring
armed thugs to intimidate voters and rigging ballot
boxes.
"Mugabe's health impacts entirely on Zimbabwe's political
landscape.
Everything revolves around his health and his age," said a
U.K.-based
Zimbabwe analyst who asked not to be named.
ZANU-PF is in
a bind. Voters may not want to support Mugabe if they think he
may not
survive the term, but the party has no other candidate who can rally
the
electorate.
Zimbabweans in urban areas have probably heard of Mugabe's
failing health,
but urban areas are MDC strongholds. Many rural areas,
considered ZANU-PF
strongholds, have far les access to news and are probably
not up to date on
the health reports.
The most recent report on
Mugabe's health came from the out-going Archbishop
of Canterbury, Rowan
Williams, who met him during a visit to Zimbabwe this
week and told
reporters: "He's on top of things intellectually."
The problems facing
ZANU-PF as it considers a post-Mugabe future were
highlighted by the death
of a top Zimbabwean army officer in a fire.
General Solomon Mujuru, a
powerbroker in Mugabe's party for nearly four
decades, was, according to
authorities, burned to ashes when his farmhouse
caught fire, which led to
rumors he was murdered.
The incident has further muddied the waters
within ZANU-PF, meaning that
with the bruising succession battle still
unresolved, attention remains
focused for now on the state of Mugabe's
health.
Mugabe's absence also forced the cancellation of the last week
Cabinet
meeting and that of inclusive government principals a day
before.
Zanu PF was last week due to hold a special politburo meeting to
discuss
what they deemed to be a deliberate slowing-down of the
constitution-making
process.
The party was also supposed to make a
definitive stand on when it wants
elections held, but the meeting had to be
postponed as Mugabe was away.
Mugabe also missed the high profile visit
by Chinese Premier, Mr Hui Liang
Yu and Vice-President Joyce Mujuru had to
cut short her trip to Asian to
come home to preform some Presidential duties
since the other Vice-President
John Nkomo is also not feeling well.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
09/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is expected back in Zimbabwe on
Wednesday after a
week's absence which fuelled fears about his
health.
Mugabe, 88, left on what was described as a "private visit" to
Singapore on
March 31.
Aides said Mugabe would use the trip to
oversee arrangements for his
daughter, Bona, to begin post-graduate study,
after she received her
accounting degree from a Hong Kong university last
year.
Officials in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party have
publicly
suggested Mugabe's absence was paralysing government, with last
week's
Cabinet meeting cancelled.
On Monday, Misheck Sibanda, the
chief secretary to the Cabinet, announced
that Tuesday's Cabinet meeting had
been moved to Thursday when Mugabe would
be back in Harare.
And a member
of the Zanu PF politburo told New Zimbabwe.com that Mugabe was
set to fly
into the country sometime on Wednesday.
He denied the President had a
health emergency, suggesting instead that the
Zanu PF leader was enjoying an
Easter break with his family in Asia.
He said: "The President is on his
Easter holidays, like everyone else.
"He returns to his post this week,
at the same time as those who are asking
about his whereabouts from their
holiday hideouts."
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from
Britain in 1980,
visited Singapore eight times last year.
His
spokesman described the trips as necessitated by cataract surgery, or
simply
private visits, amid repeated media reports that he was suffering
from
cancer.
His health has been the subject of much speculation, especially
since
WikiLeaks last year released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying central
bank
chief Gideon Gono had told then-US ambassador James McGee that Mugabe
had
prostate cancer and had been advised by doctors he had less than five
years
to live.
Mugabe's health has been cited as one reason that a
faction of his Zanu PF
party has pushed to rush new elections.
But
the Zanu PF leader, who has already been named as his party's candidate
for
the next elections, has shot down rumours that he is sick.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Bulawayo, April 09, 2012
-Zanu-PF’s Bulawayo province is not attending
weekly joint peace rallies
held in the country’s second city because it has
not been given a go ahead
by the party leadership, Radio VOP was told.
Only Zapu and the two
Movement for Democratic Change formations (MDC’s) have
been attending the
peace rallies held at various suburbs, calling on their
supporters to shun
violence.
But Zanu-PF officials in the city have been conspicuous about
their absence
because they have not been a directive to do so by the top
leadership.
“We are worried by the no show of Zanu-PF officials in the
joint peace
rallies. These rallies are important peace building initiatives
and the
success of these initiatives will only succeed if all stakeholders
participate.
“However, that has not been the case.
“We have
extended numerous invitations to them (Zanu-PF) to attend and call
for zero
tolerance on violence but the message we get all the time from the
Zanu-PF
Bulawayo provincial executive is that they are still waiting for the
green
light from the party leadership to attend,” Zibusiso Dube, the
spokesperson
of the Bulawayo progressive Residents Association (BPRA) which
organises the
meeting told Radio VOP in an interview.
Zanu-PF Bulawayo province
spokesperson, Michael Sikhosana also confirmed,
saying “our Party elders
have not given us a green light.”
Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu-PF national
spokesperson was not available for
comment.
The failure of Zanu-PF to
attend the Bulawayo peace rallies has raised
speculation of the party’s
sincerity in addressing the issue of violence.
Last year in November a
conference on political violence was held in Harare
by the three political
parties in the unity government but Zanu-PF
supporters continue to unleash
violence countrywide, according to the MDC’s
and civic groups.
The
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network
(ZESN) recently said Zanu-PF which is feared for unleashing violence to its
opponents is still forcing people to attend its political meetings as well
as to buy party cards countrywide.
ZESN and ZPP said political
tolerance is still very low in Zimbabwe as the
country prepares to hold
elections to end the coalition government formed by
President Robert Mugabe
and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
09/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
INDIGENISATION minister, Saviour Kasukuwere has said he’s
the “Hitler of our
time” for forcing foreign-owned companies to sell or cede
51 percent of
their shares to black Zimbabweans.
Kasukuwere said he’s
seeking justice for his people and a restoration of
their rights over the
country’s resources.
Quoting remarks made by President Robert Mugabe when
he dismissed Western
media comparisons with the former Nazi leader
Kasukuwere said: “I am still
the Hitler of the time.
“This Hitler has
one objective, justice for his people, recognition of
independence of his
people and their right to resources. If that is Hitler,
let me be a Hitler
tenfold.”
Kasukuwere – from Mugabe’s Zanu PF party -- has been involved
in a public
spat Prime Minister and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai over the
country’s
indigenisation programme.
The minister announced last week
that the state had taken over control of
all mining companies which either
failed to submit plans for complying with
Zimbabwe’s empowerment laws or had
their proposals rejected by the
government.
Tsvangirai intervened and
told Kasukuwere that he did not have the authority
to unilaterally seize
private companies.
“The minister’s statement poses a real risk of
creating anarchy in the
industry and the PM will take corrective measures
within the proper fora and
channels of Government,” Tsvangirai
said.
“The Prime Minister would like to inform mining entities that,
should anyone
or any institution be it private or public, attempt to enforce
minister
Kasukuwere’s pronouncements, they would be doing so unlawfully and
without
the mandate of the Inclusive Government.”
But Kasukuwere remained
defiant and dismissed Tsvangirai as “a courier” of
British Prime Minister
David Cameron
“In the past few days, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has
sought to abuse
his role in government to undermine the laws of our
country,” Kasukuwere
said in a statement published by the Herald.
“He
has brought us a tired legal opinion written by white supremacists in
Whitehall and those still in Salisbury, seeking to overturn the empowerment
programme.
“We have had enough time to play and we are determined and
will not, even
for a moment, waste our precious time sitting down and
listening to their
masters speak through them.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Gugulethu Nyazema, Senior
Writer
Monday, 09 April 2012 12:30
HARARE - Police impounded 400
vehicles and issued 11 000 tickets during the
Easter Holiday which had by
yesterday claimed 28 lives and registered 193
injuries.
Since Good
Friday, Police recorded 200 road accidents.
Press and public relations
officer Inspector Blessmore Chisaka said the
police issued over 11 000
traffic offence tickets and impounded over 400
cars during this Easter
holiday.
“We are worried about the carnage on our roads and we are
appealing for
caution among all road users as they travel back to their
homes at the end
of the holidays,” Chisaka said.
He attributed the
accidents to speeding and lack of good judgment on the
road by
motorists.
“We urge motorists to observe the rules of the road, to avoid
driving under
the influence of alcohol and driving defective motor vehicles.
It is also
important that motorists cooperate with police officers even
those that are
doing general work on the roads,” he said.
The
statistics on road carnage have, however, gone down compared to last
year
where 69 people died in traffic accidents during the Easter holiday.
In
2011, 410 people were injured in 420 accidents recorded
countrywide.
Drunken driving or driving under the influence of alcohol
has become a
serious national concern as road carnage statistics continue on
an upward
trend.
Although every single injury and death caused by
drunken driving or driving
under the influence of alcohol is certainly
preventable, in Zimbabwe the
extent of crashes that are alcohol-influenced
during the country’s public
holidays, is alarming.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Sharon Muguwu, Staff Writer
Monday, 09 April 2012
12:22
HARARE - There is confusion among motorists and police on the
contentious
issue of spot fines which government said should be scrapped
following an
outcry by road users who complained of extortion by some
corrupt police
officers manning the roads.
Yesterday, the Daily News
was inundated with calls from angry motorists
seeking clarity on the issue
of spot fines.
One of our readers claimed to have been detained for over
three hours at a
police roadblock in Chishawasha yesterday.
“They
asked for my licence, insurance, spare wheel, everything and I gave
them.
They asked me to pay $20 for my vehicle not having the gross mass
inscribed
on it but I am not a public transporter operator. My car is a
private
vehicle and I am carrying the correct number of passengers who
happen to be
my relatives and we are attending a funeral,” he said.
The man who
preferred anonymity said: “After realising all this they said
some
inscriptions on the fire extinguisher were not clear. I feel that they
just
want money but I am not going to pay. I have been here for three hours
but I
will not pay it is against my morals.”
Harare Province police
spokesperson James Sabau said they had not received
any directive to stop
spot fines. He said the fines were legal.
“There is wrong knowledge on
spot fines. People are basing their facts on
what they read and hear from
the media but we do not operate from the media.
We work under directives and
it is not in black and white that spot fines
should go. We have not received
that instruction,” he said.
Sabau added that spot fines were introduced
as a way to prevent people from
running away from paying fines.
“We
have had problems with issuing out tickets; people give police the wrong
information. It seemed like people were deliberately committing offences,
knowing that they cannot be traced."
“In most instances they give the
wrong residential address or you find that
the car would have been sold to
four different people and the name would not
have been changed. That is the
dilemma we faced as police, hence the
introduction of spot fines. We have
been writing tickets to no avail,” he
said.
Asked to comment on
whether the police have the right to detain someone at
the roadblock when
they do not have money on them, Sabau said it is up to
the police dealing
with the case.
“We have a problem that people think a certain offence is
smaller than the
other. An offence is an offence and when a person does not
have money the
vehicle can either be impounded or the police do what they
see necessary
according to the law. When the vehicle is impounded it is
taken to the
nearest police station until the matter is resolved,” he
said.
Sabau added that spot fines should always be accompanied by a
ticket.
“When one is asked to pay a fine for a certain offence they
should receive a
ticket. The money which is paid without a ticket raises
suspicions and it is
not encouraged to do as they will be assisting in
corruption,” said Sabau.
On several occasions, the police have been
accused of demanding bribes from
motorists, particularly public transport
operators.
http://www.thenewage.co.za
Apr 9
2012 3:31PM
Lebogang Boshomane
Zimbabwe can leverage its natural
resources to settle its debt and harness
development if it carefully enters
into deals with foreign firms, Zimbabwean
Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara
said.
Addressing a seminar on “Debt, diamonds and development in
Zimbabwe,”
Mutambara said one “good” deal could offset the country’s
sovereign debt of
US$9,1 billion, Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald
reported.
Mutambara said that the country was losing billions of dollars
in “bad”
mining deals and Government would soon revisit these transactions.
He also
stated another problem was that big foreign mining companies were
not
declaring the value of the unmined assets.
The country is
currently recovering from a decade-long economic collapse
President
Robert Mugabe recently told foreign firms to form partnerships
with
Zimbabweans to secure their investments under new rules requiring them
to
cede majority stakes to locals.
"It's our vision to see partnerships
between rural communities and
non-indigenous investors to guarantee the
security of foreign investment and
the establishment of up and downstream
industries," Mugabe said.
All foreign companies in Zimbabwe are required
to cede 51 percent of their
shares to local blacks under a law that has been
criticised by firms at a
time when the country is looking for investment.
http://www.voanews.com/
April 09,
2012
Sebastian Mhofu |
Harare
Then-US Ambassador to the UN food agency Tony Hall speaks
to Zimbabwean
villagers waiting to collect food aid near Mutare, Zimbabwe in
this August
2005 file photo.
Photo: REUTERS
Then-US Ambassador to the
UN food agency Tony Hall speaks to Zimbabwean
villagers waiting to collect
food aid near Mutare, Zimbabwe in this August
2005 file
photo.
Disagreement is common in Zimbabwe’s three-year-old power-sharing
government.
And the parties in the coalition are once again at odds
-- this time over
the status of non-governmental organizations and whether
they can or cannot
operate in the country.
The outcome of the debate
is important, as millions of Zimbabweans depend on
such groups for safe
water, food and even clothing.
Zimbabwe’s social welfare sector, once the
envy of many developing nations,
has crumbled over the past decade as
government funds and services
increasingly fail to meet people's
needs.
“That is a bad statistic," said Henry Madzorera, Zimbabwe's health
minister.
"We have deteriorated over the last 10 to 15 years. We have to do
a lot of
hard work. If you want to call it desperate, it is really
desperate,” he
said.
Madzorera has recently acknowledged the
country's maternal mortality rate is
on the rise.
According to United
Nations figures, about eight women die in childbirth
each day in Zimbabwe,
or about 725 women for every 100,000 live births. Most
of them occur at home
as the $25 delivery fee charged at hospitals is out of
reach for most
women.
Unfortunately, many Zimbabweans face similar desperate situations
regarding
food, clean water, and other basic needs. As a result, millions
of people
have turned to non-governmental organizations, commonly called
NGOs.
But these NGOs are now in a quandary after Masvingo province
Resident
Minister Titus Maluleke issued a statement saying they need to
register if
they want to continue operating. Cephas Zinhumwe, head of
NANGO, a grouping
of NGOs operating in Zimbabwe, is worried about the
effects of the ban.
"The government has already announced that there is
going to be a serious
famine and Masvingo is going to be one of the places
to be affected," he
said. "If all our members are stopped to deliver food,
there is going to be
chaos. People are going to die. Hence the reason NANGO
has gone to appeal
to the government to stop that, so that we only focus on
that problem of
hunger we are facing instead of fighting on our own,"
Zinhumwe said.
Repeated phone calls to Minister Maluleke for comment went
unanswered.
But Labor and Social Welfare Minister Paurina Mpariwa, who is
responsible
for registration of NGOs, dismissed the ban imposed by his
colleague.
"I have not pronounced or banned any particular NGO," Mpariwa
said. "That is
a non-event because I believe this is the time we need NGOs
most because of
our problems. Specifically Masvingo is faced with a number
of challenges
including water and sanitation. Food, for example, that is
the worst-hit
province, including Mat North Mat Sound and Bulawayo and other
provinces
that need food from NGOs that we allocate provinces to work
in."
Despite Mpariwa's reassurance, Zimhumwe and the leaders of NGO are
concerned
about political trends in Zimbabwe.
At the conference of
President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party in December,
the party resolved that
NGOs must be banned in Zimbabwe, deciding they are
interfering with internal
politics.
"We are going to have the constitution rolled out this year and
we are going
to have the elections this year," said Zinhumwe. "How are we
going to have
civic education if our members are not allowed to get into the
villages?
How are we going to make sure people understand what is written in
the
constitution? ... For us, we say open up the doors so that our members
can
start to work," he said.
One thing seems clear: a large number
of Zimbabweans are benefiting from
the work of the NGOs.
Patients at
Murambinda Mission Hospital, more than 200 kilometers southeast
of the
capital, Harare, stand in line to get treatment. A French NGO,
Doctors
Without Borders, has an almost eight-year-old HIV/AIDS project at
the
hospital.But this project and others might become history if NGOs are
totally banned in Zimbabwe.
Social Welfare Minister Mpariwa, an
appointee of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, believes ZANU-PF's effort to
ban NGOs will backfire on the
party.
"This is a campaign which will
do away with ZANU-PF," he said. "It is a
disadvantage to
ZANU-PF."
Until elections are held, whenever that may be, the status of
NGOs in
Zimbabwe remains uncertain.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Sharon Muguwu, Staff Writer
Monday, 09 April
2012 12:29
HARARE - The MDC Youth Assembly wants speedy resolution in
cases involving
its senior leadership and has accused the courts of
conniving with Zanu PF
to punish key party officials.
Promise
Mkwananzi, MDC youth secretary general said in a statement they were
calling
for justice following all the delaying tactics.
“The continued
miscarriage of justice on this matter highlights the
fundamental flaws in
our justice delivery system. In this matter, we can
conclude that the courts
are in connivance with Zanu PF in its quest to deny
the accused justice and
keep them in detention for as long as possible. We
demand justice,” he
said.
Among the detainees is the youth wing chairperson Solomon Madzore
and other
party supporters whose case has been postponed many
times.
Madzore was accused of taking part in the violence which led to
the death of
Petros Mutedza at Glen View 3 shopping centre last
year.
The High Court is yet to commence trial involving other MDC
activists
arrested for the same incident.
Madzore has been
languishing in remand prison since October last year
following his arrest
upon return from South Africa.
He had fled with other youth leaders
temporarily during the savage attacks
of the party’s activists at the time
of Mutedza’s death in Glen View.
Both Madzore and Mkwananzi had gone to
South Africa when police were on the
prowl for alleged ring leaders of the
murder.
“Six months down the line, the High Court of Zimbabwe has not
adjudicated on
the bail application of the detainees. Even worse, the court
has
continuously failed to bring the accused to trial, citing numerous
frivolous
reasons, including the illness of Justice Bhunu.
“Much as
we wish Bhunu a speedy recovery, we demand that he immediately
recuse
himself from the case and allow a competent judge to finalise the
matter.
Justice cannot be compromised on account of an individual’s
ill-health,”
said Mkwananzi.
The MDC youths met on Friday where they registered their
complaints against
the court following the incarceration of its leader,
Madzore.
In the meeting the youth assembly also attacked Saviour
Kasukuwere, minister
of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment.
“Saviour Kasukuwere has caused enough trouble for one
person; he must be
fired from government with immediate effect. He has put
the country and the
government into disrepute by continuously vomiting
statements that
contradict government policy. He continues on his deluded
path of believing
that his wishes should supersede government
policy."
“The youth of Zimbabwe have not seen a cent from the so-called
indigenisation programme. Therefore, Kasukuwere must go and be replaced by
someone who will respect the country’s laws, constitution and policies. We
don’t want a Malema in government,” said Mkwananzi.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Bridget Mananavire, Staff
Writer
Monday, 09 April 2012 12:23
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu PF is so desperate to "sink" the
constitutional making process
and railroad elections this year, with key
advisors such as Jonathan Moyo
resorting to uncivil launguage to discredit
the process.
In his
unrelenting onslaught on the Constitutional Select Committee (Copac)
process, the former Information minister claims that the team is stuffed
with "mafia" elements bent on using the "devolution proposal" to effect
regime change in Zimbabwe.
“As the curtain falls on the discredited
Copac drafting process with the
Copac mafia realising... that its strategy
of abusing the process to block
or delay elections has been exposed, given
that the constitutional roadmap
for the inevitable holding of elections this
year is set to be firmly
decided next month," Moyo thundered in a Sunday
Mail opion piece.
"...the Copac mafia has become desperate and is now
resorting to fallacies,
and scare tactics about devolution and a women’s
parliamentary quota to
force the adoption of a Copac’s draft constitution to
secure the mafia’s
floundering regime change or succession interests,” he
added.
However, Copac officials including spokesperson Jessie Majome and
Zanu PF
representative Paul Mangwana have rounded up on the Tsholotsho North
member
of parliament, saying his views showed panick and that he was an
"idle
mind".
“He is terrified about what people said. He is trying to
stifle people’s
views. He should however be careful of contempt as the
constitution process
is a parliamentary standing order,” Majome
said.
“It is one thing to criticise and another to totally disrespect
parliament
and Zimbabweans,” she added.
Mangwana, a Copac
co-chairperson, was even more scathing.
“He is crazy, what he is saying
is not true at all, we know his motives. We
are, however, expecting to
complete the draft next week,” the Chivi North
legislator
said.
Mangwana did not, however, elaborate what he described as Moyo's
motives - a
man once accused of trying to mastermind a leadership coup in
Zanu PF in
2004.
In March, Moyo claimed “Copac has characteristically
lacked a demonstrable,
visible, shared and national vision with a redeeming
capacity to rally
Zimbabweans across the political divide around a common
cause with
inter-generational value."
On Sunday, the Zanu PF
politburo member also said the process was
“organically flawed and so
unZimbabwean that it has no chance surviving
critical scrutiny unless public
attention is shifted from examining the
whole draft.
“The new
approach is to influence the conclusion of the Copac process by
recklessly
highlighting, promoting and fronting false constitutional issues
such as
devolution and a women’s parliamentary quota to cover up and
ultimately to
sacrifice real constitutional issues all in the pursuit of
regime change or
succession politics that have absolutely nothing to do with
genuine
constitution-making,” Moyo said.
“Devolution is administrative and not
constitutional or even political for
that matter. The kind of devolution
that some elements in the Copac mafia
are now talking about is alien and
treacherous and is not supported by our
history or by the views that came
from at least six provinces during the
Copac outreach programme where the
issues raised were clearly about
decentralisation, deconstruction and
devolution as statutory matters,” he
said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and SADC
Election Support
Network join other international non partisan election
observation
organisations in welcoming the Declaration of Global Principles
for
Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring launched at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York on the 3rd of April
2012.
09.04.1206:19am
by ZESN
Representatives from 50
organisations from West Africa, Southern Africa,
East Africa, the Middle
East, North Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe
and Eurasia, Latin
America and the Caribbean participated in the launch.
ZESN notes that this
initiative not only builds the capacity of election
observation through the
adoption of a code of conduct, best international
practice and methodologies
but also strengthens synergies between observer
groups around the
world.
The ZESN Director and SADC-ESN Deputy Board Chair Mrs Rindai
Chipfunde Vava
who attended the Launch in UN Electoral Assistance Division
(UNEAD) in New
York together with the Malawi Election Support Network (MESN)
representative
and ZESN Monitoring and Observation Manager highlighted that
“the
declaration will go a long way in enhancing the quality of domestic
election
observation and increasing the credibility of citizen observation.
It will
complement already existing regional principle guiding domestic
observation
in southern Africa.”
The declaration launched in New York
sets the tone for more effective and
informed domestic election observation
guided by international best
practice. It would enhance the quality,
professionalism and integrity of non
partisan election observation and
monitoring by citizen organisations like
ZESN.
We do hope that the
Zimbabwean and other SADC governments create a conducive
environment to
provide for access and the security of non partisan citizen
observers and
monitors. This would go a long way in enabling them to play an
effective
watchdog role throughout the whole electoral cycle that is,
before, during
and after the election period. We call upon SADC and AU to
endorse this
declaration and recognise the critical and frontline role
played by domestic
observers in electoral processes.
Zimbabwe Election Support
Network
10 Rochester Crescent, Belgravia
Harare,
Zimbabwe
Tel : 250736/791443,798193,791803
Fax:
250735
Email: zesn@africaonline.co.zw , Website: www.zesn.org.zw
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Wonai Masvingise and Ngonidzashe
Mushimbo
Monday, 09 April 2012 12:05
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party has been accused — for the
umpteenth time — of
unashamedly trying to use churches for its own ends
ahead of possible
elections this year or in 2013.
In recent years, the former ruling
party has repeatedly attempted to court
support from such churches as Johane
Masowe, Guta RaMwari and other popular
congregations to advance its
political interests.
On Friday, Zanu PF bigwigs led by political
commissar Webster Shamu
allegedly “hijacked” popular preacher Emmanuel
Makandiwa’s Harare vigil at
the National Sports Stadium (NSS).
With
an estimated 100 000 people attending the event, the Information
minister
jumped on the stage to join the Mahendere brothers in singing one
of the
group’s songs.
John Makumbe a political analyst, said even though people
were free to go to
any church they wanted, the latest moves by Zanu PF
“smacked” of sinister
motives.
“Everybody is free to go to church but
Zanu PF is desperate and the presence
of Zanu PF guys at Makandiwa’s
judgement night is questionable.
Zanu PF is desperate to garner support
because their party is in trouble and
wherever there is a crowd they want to
be there, that is why they are trying
to lure Makandiwa to their side to get
political mileage,” Makumbe told the
Daily News yesterday.
“Those
people are (clearly) not genuine worshipers but had gone there (to
the NSS)
on (party) duty.
They were desperate to know what Makandiwa was going to say
concerning his
prophecy. Zanu PF has got a habit of sending spies to all
churches and
gatherings,” he added.
But Makandiwa, who was last week
reported to have predicted future chaos in
the country, did not dabble into
politics during his sermon on Good Friday.
The much anticipated judgement
night was held two days after he tried to
tone down on his predictions which
torched anger amongst Zanu PF bigwigs as
well as the intelligence services,
who angrily questioned
the ground for the supposed chaos.
Makandiwa,
has, as has been the case with other church leaders, been
privileged to
visit and meet President Robert Mugabe.
“It is nothing new. Zanu PF has
been using every platform to gain political
mileage. They have been into
music, soccer, churches and of late clothing
wear to try and lure as many
followers as possible.
Makandiwa is a good target because he commands a
huge following,” said
activist Blessing Vava.
“Coincidentally, the TB
Joshua and Makandiwa prophecies have sent chills
down many spines in the
Zanu PF camp. They are afraid and that is also the
reason why they are now
trying to be close to the popular
evangelist."
“They are desperate and
after the (Bingu) waMutharika prophecy was
fulfilled, they are really
scared. It is on two levels, one is to capitalise
on the congregation and
try to lure potential votes ahead
of the elections,” Vava added.
Apart
from Zanu PF, other parties, while not being so aggressive about it,
including Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), have also courted the religious sector.
And as the battle for
the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans hots up ahead of
the forthcoming polls,
the turf wars for Christian groups have sometimes
turned ugly, amid worrying
allegations that some powerful Zanu PF figures
are using state security
agents even on religious issues to outflank their
opponents.
For
example, the MDC claims that there were manouvres to bar it from
addressing
a Zimbabwe Christian Church gathering at Defe last year, with a
repeat of
that scenario feared at a joint rally in Mutare in
recent
weeks.
However, Zanu PF denies the allegations, saying religion remains a
free
domain in the country. On Sunday, its leaders also insisted that there
was
neither wrong nor sinister motive about their attendance at
the
United Family International Church (UFIC) event.
With an estimated 200
000 to 300 000 followers in the country, the Masowe
sect has been a popular
Zanu PF target and other party leaders, including
Mugabe and Jabulani
Sibanda have routinely “graced” its many
gatherings.
Mugabe has even
“donned” Masowe garments in his quest to war this religious
sect, while his
commissariat teams have also addressed and helped several
religious causes
countrywide.
And in the lead up to the Makandiwa gathering, Zanu PF
leaders, including
Tourism minister Walter Mzembi spoke glowingly about the
UFIC founder and
charismatic preacher, saying he was a “tourist
attraction”.
“You can also qualify... if you are a centre of attraction
in the manner (in
which) prophet Makandiwa will be attracting so many
hundreds of thousands of
people. He qualifies in our definition here...
broad definition of tourism
as an attraction, but specifically as religious
tourism,” he said.
“With prophets like Mutendi, Makandiwa and Angel
(Hubert) set to draw
hundreds of thousands of religious tourists... to their
shrines, we are in
for some serious domestic tourism with all its
national
benefits and value,” Mzembi added.
The all-night affair,
which was dubbed judgment day, had drawn such huge
interest after the lanky
pastor had said he foresaw chaos in the country.
With his prophetic words
coming hard on the heels of another popular
churchman and Nigerian-based
preacher Temitope Balogun Joshua’s views that
an old African leader was
about to die, Makandiwa is reported to
have strongly urged Zimbabweans “to
remain vigilant in prayer” due to a
number of potentially disturbing
socio-economic events.
However, it is believed that after sustained
pressure from state security
agents and other political players, the
Mashonaland Central-born preacher
sought to downplay his prophecy and to
placate his political friends – and
foes – by declaring at the vigil that he
was misquoted.
Ruth Maclean,
Malawi – Last updated at 12:01AM, April 9 2012
When the
President of Malawi died last week, the country rejoiced.
Violently
crushing peaceful protests, throwing donors out of the country and lining up his
brother to succeed him, President Bingu wa Mutharika was beginning to resemble
Robert Mugabe of neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The
President’s death last Thursday appeared to be a miraculous solution to their
problems. But perhaps they should have seen it coming.
On February
5, Prophet T.B. Joshua predicted, live on the hit Nigerian Christian channel
Emmanuel TV, that an African leader would die within 60 days.
“We should
pray for one African head of state, what I say, president, against the sickness
that will take life,” he told a 15,000-strong congregation and millions of
viewers. He said that he was in negotiations with God and that prayer might save
the president. He did not say which one.
“I’m just
being used by God Almighty,” Mr Joshua told The Times. “I had to send the
message ... I cannot say more than that. I will not say somebody will die. I’m
not God.”
Many thought
that Mugabe, who is 88 and constantly quashing rumours that he is sick, was a
safe bet. President Mutharika, although 78, seemed to have considerable life in
him. Enough, at least, to get rid of Joyce Banda, the Vice-President, whom he
threw out of his party when she refused to back his attempts to line up his
brother as his successor.
After Mr
Mutharika’s heart attack, clandestine negotiations in the top echelons of his
party went on for two days and the Malawian people were not told whether he was
dead.
Ms Banda was
finally sworn in on Saturday. She is a firm devotee of Mr Joshua, whose latest
prophecy is the bizarre crown on a number of “miracles” performed to her
benefit.
It is well
known in Malawi that when he suffered a serious stroke she took her husband to
see the prophet and believes that Mr Joshua’s prayers cured him.
“In Malawi,
T.B. Joshua is a person that is dearly loved,” she said before her latest
prayers were answered. “I must say that I’m addicted, because every Sunday ... I
sit all day watching Emmanuel TV.”
Mr
Mutharika’s death came hot on the heels of Mr Joshua’s repetition of his
prophecy last Sunday, when he narrowed down the location of the presidential
demise, eliminating West Africa: “I’m seeing a sudden death. This is as a result
of sickness. Quote me. The Lord showed me the country . . . this is not even in
West Africa.”
Although he
is often vague and never names his subject, Mr Mutharika’s purported predictions
range from the deaths of Michael Jackson and Kim Jong Il to the London riots
last summer.
“You remember
when I said your country will be burnt and crash, you never listened!” he told
The Times crossly. He does not rule out helping again, however. “You want
to know what is going to happen? I will make an appointment with [God].”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
09/04/2012 00:00:00
by
zambianwatchdog.com
NIGERIAN Prophet TB Joshua has revealed that the
late Malawi president Bingu
Wa Mutharika knew that the prophecy of the death
of an elderly African
leader was talking about him.
Speaking during a
Sunday service broadcasted live on his Emmanuel
Television, TB Joshua also
displayed the letter written by Mutharika to him.
President Mutharika died
on Thursday after a sudden cardiac arrest.
TB Joshua’s prophecy was first
made on 18th March 2012 and repeated on April
1. Malawi newspapers reported
the prophecy but Mutharika downplayed it when
he told local religious
leaders that he will not die because a person wished
so.
A cabinet
minister Yunus Mussa nonetheless did not take the prophecy lightly
as he
offered an animal sacrifice to ensure it did not pass.
TB Joshua informed
the packed church and millions of viewers following the
service via
Television that when a prophecy is made the one talked about
always
knows.
“Last week on Sunday I told you I see the close Thursday,” said TB
Joshua.
He told the service that God shows him a lot of things and he
only tells
people what they are suppose to hear.
“When a prophet says
I can see death he is simply telling you to put your
house in order,” he
said.
“But everyone would like to hear when and how? Here we are only passing
through tell your neighbour”
He revealed: “Nine days ago I received a
letter from his excellence Malawian
president. He sent it to me because he
knew I was talking to him.”
Knew he was dying ... The late Malawian
President Bingu wa Mutharika
TB Joshua did not disclose the content of the
letter saying it was personal
but just showed the top reflecting whom it was
addressed to and the bottom
showing the sender.
He explained that
Mutharika knew that his days of living were numbered and
that he had
answered God’s call and was now resting.
He prayed for the people of
Malawi to forge ahead under the leadership of
President Joyce Banda who has
been visiting the Prophet in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Mutharika’s remains will
be flown from South Africa to Malawi on
Thursday, a Foreign Affairs ministry
official told AFP.
“An official announcement will be made today but the
late president will be
flown by a South African military plane,” the
official said Monday.
After suffering a heart attack on Thursday,
Mutharika was flown to South
Africa and was pronounced dead on arrival at a
military hospital there the
same day.
The date for his funeral has
not yet been made public, but he is expected to
be buried near his home
village at his sprawling Ndata farm in the southern
Thyolo
district.
Mutharika’s first wife Ethel, who died three years ago, is also
buried at
the farm.
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 09/04/12
It could be argued that the recent
sudden death of Malawi’s Bingu
WaMutharika has left many people puzzled as
they thought someone other than
him was meant by TB Joshua’s
prophecy.
They have been puzzled because the imminent death of an African
leader
appeared to refer to Robert Mugabe.
On the other hand, some
Malawians were reportedly not bothered: “We know he
is dead and
unfortunately he died at a local, poor hospital which he never
cared about –
no drugs, no power,” said Chimwemwe Phiori, a businessman
(Reuters,
06/04/12).
The same could be said of Robert Mugabe’s obsessive personal
indulgence and
will-full extravagance by seeking medical attention abroad
while medical
facilities back home are falling apart.
Even if Mugabe
finally makes a surprise appearance at the Cabinet meeting
which has been
rescheduled for Thursday 12 April, that would not stop wild
speculations
surrounding his health and the succession crisis.
His absence is
undoubtedly paralysing Cabinet meetings and his party’s
politburo meetings,
which can only be chaired by him until his death. Let
alone his party’s push
for “elections now” regardless of key reforms.
Given his recent
assertions that he was as fit as a fiddle and the regime’s
claims that he
was going to help find a post-graduate place for his daughter
alias ‘Tracy
Guvamombe’ in Singapore, the only plausible explanations for
his prolonged
absence are either he is seriously ill or probably being held
up for unpaid
bills, because it is taking too long.
Ironically, the University of
Zimbabwe for which Mugabe is the Chancellor,
has fallen on hard times and
needs up-to US$70 million for capital projects
that include geo-technology
laboratories and the refurbishment of medical
laboratories.
Mugabe’s
hypocrisy of pumping money into foreign economies and universities
when
Zimbabwe’s economy is on its knees can be clearly understood in the
context
of UZ which has suspended geology and metallurgy departments due to
the
unavailability of lecturers.
The mining engineering department is
reportedly “limping with no more than
three lecturers”. To make worse, for
the first time in the country’s
history, the UZ’s school of medicine which
used to be the envy of many
regional countries, had a record failure rate in
March 2012 when 45 of the
163 medical students failed their
examinations.
Proof that some politicians hardly learn any lessons is
that after 18 people
had been killed in two days of public unrest sparked by
worsening fuel
shortages, rising prices and high unemployment in Malawi, the
late Bingu wa
Mutharika obliviously said:
“You demonstrated yesterday
and throughout the night until today, but is
there fuel today because of the
demonstrations? I think God will do
something top help us, will bless us,
because these people are not being led
by God, they are being led by Satan”
(Guardian, “Malawi protesters killed
during anti-regime riots,”
21/07/11).
Although, some people are disappointed that TB Joshua
predicted “the wrong
despot”, the consolation may be that he did not name
the leader he predicted
could be nearing his death but Zanu-pf was quick to
issue a denial saying he
did not mean Mugabe.
While puzzling to
political scientists, a positive aspect of the yet
unexplained ability of TB
Joshua to make politically-relevant claims has
been arguably its multiplier
effect.
For instance, whether out of fear or anxiety or having an eye for
an
electioneering opportunity, one of the Zanu-pf loyalists who attended
“the
Day of the Judgement” service at the weekend drew laughter when he
lifted a
clenched fist (a-la Zanu-pf) instead of an open palm (a-la MDC)
when saying
‘Praise Jesus” in greeting the crowd as the usual
practice.
The prophets seem to have finally shifted the tables on African
tyrants and
their followers, at least for now, when the oppressed appeared
to be
despairing and finding refuge in fatalism as a safe haven than going
on
street protests to effect regime change.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri,
Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com