http://news.yahoo.com/
AFP
– Sun Apr 10, 5:22 am
ET
HARARE (AFP) – President Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace, has flown to
Singapore
for a medical check-up after injuring herself and possibly
dislocating her
hip, a report said on Sunday.
The privately owned
Standard newspaper quoted "impeccable" sources as saying
that Grace "slipped
and fell in the bathroom at (the Mugabes') Borrowdale
house and is suspected
to have suffered a dislocated hip".
George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman,
confirmed the Mugabes had gone to
Singapore, but told the state-run Sunday
Mail it was "a straightforward
visit".
Charamba would not confirm
that the first lady had gone for medical reasons,
but told The Standard
Grace had not fully recovered from a complication she
suffered 14 years ago
while giving birth to her youngest son.
"What I know is that the first
lady, after the birth of Chatunga, developed
some some slight discomfort
with her back, but that was a long time ago," he
said.
"However, it
could not be anything serious," he added, referring to her
trip.
Charamba told the Sunday Mail in a statement that the Mugabes
were expected
home Sunday.
"It is a straightforward visit. It cannot
be anything more than that," he
said.
In February and March Mugabe
flew to Singapore for eye check-ups following a
cataract operation
there.
Mugabe married Grace in 1996 following the death of his first
wife, Sally,
in 1992.
Mugabe and Grace have three children together.
http://www.radiovop.com/
10/04/2011
20:46:00
MASVINGO, April 10, 2011- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
on Sunday called
on his party supporters to live peacefully with their
political rivals in
Zanu (PF).
The MDC-T leader said this when he
addressed hundreds of mourners at the
funeral of the first MDC-T mayor
Engineer Alois Vhuramayi Chaimiti.The
funeral was held at the Masvingo
Cathedral on Sunday and was attended by
hundreds of people from the town and
some from other cities as well.
Chaimiti died at the age of 63.Tsvangirai
described the late Chaimiti as a
man of integrity and urged youths in the
party to emulate his good works.
“ Chaimiti was the only mayor in the
country who managed to work with Zanu
(PF) without any problems. Up to now,
we have not yet managed to find a
mayor who can match his standards. He was
a humble father in the MDC family.
Often people said our party was full of
youngsters but the coming of people
like him showed that MDC was not a party
for the young only, ” said
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai took the opportunity to
plead with ordinary Zimbabweans to stop
political violence.
“Why do you
fight here when I can sit with Mugabe every Monday? You all know
that I was
beaten before and often Mugabe laughs at me openly saying
‘chakadashurwa’
(he was thoroughly beaten) but I don’t fight him back when I
meet him for
cabinet meetings. That spirit must also go down up to
grassroots levels, ”
Tsvangirai added.
Top MDC-T officials including spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa and national
organizing secretary Elias Mudzuri attended the
ceremony. Zanu (PF)
politburo member Dzikamai Mavhaire also attended
funeral.Masvingo city mayor
Alderman Femias Chakabuda said he learnt a lot
from Chaimiti whom he
described as his best mentor.
“ I learnt a lot from
my mentor. Often I would go to him and seek solutions
on critical issues in
the council. He did a number of projects to improve
the general life of an
ordinary citizen in Masvingo, ” said Chakabuda.
Chaimiti was elected mayor
for Masvingo in 2000 before he was re-elected
uncontested when Zanu (PF)
candidate Patson Muzvidziwa failed to produce
adequate papers at the
nomination court in 2005.
Chaimiti is survived by his wife Betty, four sons
and three grand children.
MASVINGO, April 10, 2011- Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday called
on his party supporters to live
peacefully with their political rivals in
Zanu (PF).
The MDC-T leader
said this when he addressed hundreds of mourners at the
funeral of the first
MDC-T mayor Engineer Alois Vhuramayi Chaimiti.The
funeral was held at the
Masvingo Cathedral on Sunday and was attended by
hundreds of people from the
town and some from other cities as well.
Chaimiti died at the age of
63.Tsvangirai described the late Chaimiti as a
man of integrity and urged
youths in the party to emulate his good works.
“ Chaimiti was the only
mayor in the country who managed to work with Zanu
(PF) without any
problems. Up to now, we have not yet managed to find a
mayor who can match
his standards. He was a humble father in the MDC family.
Often people said
our party was full of youngsters but the coming of people
like him showed
that MDC was not a party for the young only, ” said
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai took the opportunity to plead with ordinary
Zimbabweans to stop
political violence.
“Why do you fight here when I can
sit with Mugabe every Monday? You all know
that I was beaten before and
often Mugabe laughs at me openly saying
‘chakadashurwa’ (he was thoroughly
beaten) but I don’t fight him back when I
meet him for cabinet meetings.
That spirit must also go down up to
grassroots levels, ” Tsvangirai
added.
Top MDC-T officials including spokesperson Nelson Chamisa and
national
organizing secretary Elias Mudzuri attended the ceremony. Zanu (PF)
politburo member Dzikamai Mavhaire also attended funeral.Masvingo city mayor
Alderman Femias Chakabuda said he learnt a lot from Chaimiti whom he
described as his best mentor.
“ I learnt a lot from my mentor. Often I
would go to him and seek solutions
on critical issues in the council. He did
a number of projects to improve
the general life of an ordinary citizen in
Masvingo, ” said Chakabuda.
Chaimiti was elected mayor for Masvingo in 2000
before he was re-elected
uncontested when Zanu (PF) candidate Patson
Muzvidziwa failed to produce
adequate papers at the nomination court in
2005.
Chaimiti is survived by his wife Betty, four sons and three grand
children.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Apr 9, 2011 10:57 PM |
By HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE
Human rights lawyers have accused Minister of
Justice and Legal Affairs
Patrick Chinamasa and the police of misinforming
Zimbabweans, by saying
suspects can be detained in prisons without being
brought to court while
magistrates are on strike.
Chinamasa, of
Zanu-PF, told the state-run Herald newspaper there was an
option of taking
suspects to facilities such as Chikurubi, to "off-load some
of them there"
while police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told the Financial
Gazette that
all those in police custody would be detained until the strike
by
magistrates ended and that the police would issue warrants for further
detention of suspects.
But Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
has lashed out at Chinamasa and
Bvudzijena, accusing them of misinforming
Zimbabweans by allegedly claiming
the only option available in the absence
of magistrates would be to hold
detainees in prison.
ZLHR said
Zimbabwe's laws - in particular the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Act -
provide that, in the absence of magistrates, the police
should take suspects
and detainees before any high court judge for an
initial remand and that
suspects be given the opportunity to be released on
bail.
"What is
most worrying are reports that the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the
Ministry
of Justice and Legal Affairs are proceeding on the dangerous
misconception
that accused persons can be lodged in remand prisons without
the right to be
brought before a magistrate, or judge, to be placed on
remand and apply for
bail.
"Our laws allow for such accused persons to be taken before any
judge, thus
before the High Court of Zimbabwe, to argue for their liberty as
guaranteed
in the Constitution of Zimbabwe," ZLHR told the Sunday
Times.
Besides lashing out at the police and Chinamasa, ZLHR warned and
called on
the Zimbabwe Prison Service to "refuse to accept detainees for
incarceration
in remand prisons without a valid warrant for imprisonment,
issued by either
a magistrate or a judge".
ZLHR urged Chinamasa and
the police to "desist from misleading the public
into believing that
detainees can simply be imprisoned without due process
of the
law".
Scores of suspects arrested this week have been detained in police
cells
since Monday, when magistrates downed tools to protest against poor
working
conditions and the government's reluctance to give them salary
increases.
Later in the week President Robert Mugabe, however, promised
to review
salaries for government employees who earn between $150 and $300 a
month.
After the pledge, the striking magistrates made an about turn,
suspended
their boycott and resumed work.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Tsvangirai isolates Zanu-PF leader from SADC allies
Apr 9,
2011 10:56 PM | By ZOLI MANGENA
After managing to isolate Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe
internationally, Prime Minister and MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai is now
driving a wedge between the Zanu-PF leader and his
former supporters in the
Southern African region.
In the past few
weeks, Tsvangirai seized vital ground from Mugabe on the
SADC diplomatic
chessboard with a whirlwind trip around the region.
His meetings with
regional leaders were crucial ahead of an extraordinary
SADC summit on
Zimbabwe on May 20 in Windhoek, Namibia, which is likely to
be a watershed
gathering.
Tsvangirai flies to Luanda tomorrow for talks with Angolan
leader, President
Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who takes over as SADC chairman
in August. Their
meeting was initially scheduled for Friday.
Luke
Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said: "The prime minister visited
Lesotho yesterday. He will be going to Angola on Monday. We have so far
visited 10 SADC countries."
A senior SADC diplomat said:
"Tsvangirai's meeting with the Angolans is very
important as they are going
take over as SADC chair. Dos Santos is a very
important leader in the
region. He is now running the second-largest economy
in the SADC and is the
longest-serving, most experienced leader.
"Dos Santos was until recent
years a close Mugabe ally. The two fought
together in the Congo war in 1998,
backed by Namibia's former president Sam
Nujoma.
"So for Tsvangirai
to make inroads into Angola is a major step forward in
his bid to isolate
Mugabe."
While Zimbabwe's relations with Angola remain cordial, Dos
Santos has pulled
closer to the US. Tsvangirai has isolated Mugabe from the
mainstream
international community, the US and European Union. The US and EU
slapped
Mugabe and his cronies with travel bans and an asset
freeze.
At the United Nations, Mugabe's support has dwindled. He now
relies on
Russia and China to help him out, although he is closer to the
Chinese.
Mugabe's real allies internationally are Iran, Cuba, Venezuela,
Libya, North
Korea and China.
Tsvangirai went to Lesotho on Thursday
after visiting the leaders of Zambia,
Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, South
Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania and
the Democratic Republic of Congo. He
met President Jacob Zuma at his rural
Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal. Mugabe
was reportedly miffed as that
signalled closer friendship between
them.
The other key meetings Tsvangirai had were with Namibian President
Hifikepunye Pohamba, current SADC chairman. Pohamba is working with Dos
Santos and Congolese President Joseph Kabila as the SADC summit troika,
consisting of the regional organisation's chairman, incoming chairman and
outgoing chairman.
Tsvangirai also had talks with the leaders who sit
in the SADC troika on
politics, defence and security, Zambian President
Rupiah Banda, Mozambican
leader Armando Guebuza and Zuma.
"The
sentiment of SADC leaders and thus the regional opinion has shifted
dramatically against Mugabe in the past few weeks. Tsvangirai has managed to
win the support of regional leaders itching to take on Mugabe," said an
official at the SADC headquarters in Botswana. "Just watch what happens on
May 20."
When the SADC troika met last week in Livingstone, Zambia,
Tsvangirai had
already convinced Banda, Zuma, Guebuza and Pohamba that
Mugabe was the
problem.
As a result, the SADC leaders dealt with
Mugabe in an unprecedented way,
issuing a damning communiqué that left him
shocked. For the first time, they
did not mention sanctions.
Mugabe
reacted angrily, denouncing Zuma and other SADC leaders, further
isolating
himself.
Feeling the heat and pressure of isolation, Mugabe on Wednesday
sent an
envoy to meet Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika.
That
day, Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, embarked on damage control,
distancing his boss from attacks on Zuma and other SADC
leaders.
Tsvangirai is determined to continue tightening the screws on
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai's MDC-T spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, said on Friday that
SADC now
"appreciates the Zimbabwe situation even more than ever before. We
have made
phenomenal and tremendous progress on diplomacy in the region."
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Apr 9, 2011 10:59 PM | By HARARE
CORRESPONDENT
About 30000 hectares of land and $1.2-billion in potential
revenue have been
lost to Zimbabwe's chaotic land reform due to unrelenting
disruption on
timber estates.
With 5047 hectares of prime forestry
land having been lost to
bounty-hunters, including 500 illegal gold panners
in March alone, the
invasions have mainly affected Allied Timbers Zimbabwe,
listed Border
Timbers Limited and the Wattle Company.
"The industry
loss of 30000 hectares over a 10-year period has had adverse
and dire
consequences for the country's gross domestic product. On a 25-year
rotation, the loss . is equivalent to an annual revenue loss of
$118.8-million," the Timber Producers Federation (TPF) said in an industry
review paper. "The forest-based land reform policy framework recognises that
timber plantations are an acceptable and viable land use option, and as such
should be allowed to thrive without conversion to other uses," it said,
adding that government support was needed in removing settlers to increase
hectarage and strengthening policies for forestry activities.
From a
peak of 120000 hectares in the 1999/2000 season, only 90000 remain,
due to
illegal occupation, harsh weather and relentless fires.
So bad have been
the disruptions that sawn timber production has fallen by
more than 50% to
138000 hectares from a height of 395000 hectares 12 years
ago. Paper
products manufacturing has virtually vanished from a height of
60000
tons.
Crucially, the TPF noted that the increase in squatter settlements
has
fanned fire incidents. Twenty percent of the national resource was
destroyed
or lost in 2008 alone. "It should be noted that prior to.
settlements on
forestry plantations, fire losses did not exceed 120 hectares
in any given
season," it said.
While the 14-member body has held
preliminary talks with such funders as the
World Bank, the issue of
Zimbabwe's land tenure system continues to haunt
the search for much-needed
funds to restore production and revamp key
infrastructure.
"Funding
for such projects is readily available from international financial
institutions and the donor community, but they are sceptical about the land
polices," TPF said, adding the state must also help in capacitating the
industry through research and development.
Already hobbled by
electricity supply, technological, utility and other
operational challenges,
the industry desperately needs $115-million to
rebuild roads over a 9000
square-kilometre expanse of land in the key
producing eastern highlands
districts.
The sector, which used to pay $14.4-million in annual wages,
and support
thousands of its 10000 direct employees' dependants, remains
largely
depressed.
"It is worth noting that during the year 2009, a
number of processing plants
closed down mainly due to viability challenges
emanating from aged
equipment, high cost of borrowing and unsustainable cost
of labour."
http://www.radiovop.com/
10/04/2011 13:48:00
UNITED NATIONS,
April 10, 2011- The People’s Republic of China has gone on a
buying spree on
the resource-rich but economically underdeveloped African
continent. And
central to the plan has been massive investments into raw
materials as well
as political influence in a number of key African states,
notably Sudan,
Angola, and Zimbabwe.
The reasons are starkly mercantile but equally
politically motivated.
Mainland China’s high growth economy needs raw
materials and oil to fuel
Beijing’s high octane business growth. While
Beijing businesses and banks
have shopped the world to find access to
mineral resources and the petroleum
to lubricate the economy, the plan in
recent years has been to buy mines,
petroleum rights, and
agri-business.
Oil rich Angola and Sudan are obvious choices. China needs the
petroleum and
Beijing is hardly concerned about the authoritarian political
pedigree of
such African regimes. Recently the China Development Bank
announced its
intent to invest $10 billion in Zimbabwe, a resource-rich and
once
prosperous southern African land which has literally been run into the
ground during the 30-year misrule of Comrade Robert Mugabe.
Think of it
this way. The Marxist Mandarins running China Inc. view the
world as a giant
Monopoly game board. Using their massive foreign exchange
reserves ($3
trillion) sloshing around, they buy nearly everything they land
on. In the
Third World this can translate into whole countries, economies,
and often
the allegiance of their political regimes, evoking latter day
tribute
states.
Zimbabwe’s current GDP is about $2 billion annually; thus this
foreign
investment would amount to nearly five times the country’s GDP! The
investment would bring influence and clout. Zimbabwe’s current per capita
income is a piddling $157 per year, a shadow of what it was at independence
in 1980.
Now look at the cool and calculated commercial logic. Gold, and
the world’s
second largest platinum reserves, copper, as well as industrial
diamond
deposits. Both gold and platinum are selling at record high levels.
Add
investments in the country’s high quality cotton industry (for China’s
textile mills), and tobacco, and you see inroads into agriculture
too.
Enhanced cotton production is planned after the Cotton Company of
Zimbabwe
and a Chinese firm, Sinotex signed a $500 million deal to finance
local
production and purchases through a contract growing plan, according to
the
Zimbabwe Telegraph.The paper adds that the deal would allow Cottco,
which
currently contracts 200,000 farmers to grow seed cotton, to support an
additional 100,000 growers.
According to Beijing’s official
statistical office, the two-way trade
between China and Africa reached $115
billion last year, a 43 percent jump
in trade. In the 1960s and 1970s the
PRC pursued a radical revolutionary
agenda in its relations with many
African states.
Communist China, along with the Soviet Union, supported
many “liberation
movements” in southern Africa. But today, political ties
and revolutionary
solidarity are trumped by Beijing’s business bottom
line.
PRC Foreign Minister Yang Jechi recently visited Zimbabwe and met with
Mugabe, to discuss budding business and political ties. Last year Beijing
invested $59 billion globally.At the same time regional states including
South Africa are pressing Mugabe for political and economic reforms. The
Southern African Development Community issued a strong statement calling for
an end to “violence, arrests and intimidation.”
Indeed Mugabe’s ruthless
one-man rule has been characterized by political
harassment, intimidation,
and forced expropriations of businesses. The
current government of national
unity deal between the ruling ZANU-PF
political party and the MDC opposition
has proved fractious at best.
Now Mugabe has called for new elections in
June which will hopefully not
repeat 2008’s bloody contest. But given the
civil war in Libya where his
long time comrade Gadhafi is under assault,
Mugabe has become decidedly
nervous about the future. China recently signed
a $700 million loan for
Zimbabwe during the visit to Harare by Vice Premier
Wang Qishan.
Yet even Beijing’s buyers are concerned about Mugabe’s plans to
nationalize
all foreign business, especially mines, worth over $500,000.
According to
South Africa’s influential Business Day newspaper, Wang
emphasized that “he
hoped Chinese businesses would be protected from
Zimbabwe’s plans to
increase business ownership by black
Zimbabweans.”
Mugabe’s rule has tragically turned Zimbabwe’s once bread
basket and food
exporting economy into a pathetic basket case with massive
food shortages
and hyper inflation. In recent years, the country’s major
export has been
refugees, a few million who have fled to neighboring South
Africa or to
Britain, the former colonial power. For Beijing, it’s a buyer’s
market.
Though the Mugabe regime remains widely ostracized in the West, its
business
partners in the PRC will provide political cover, at least for
now.
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering
diplomatic and
defense issues. He is the author of “Trans-Atlantic
Divide/USA-Euroland
Rift?” (University Press, 2010). He can be reached at
jjmcolumn@earthlink.net.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Oscar Nkala
Saturday, 09 April
2011 11:06
BULAWAYO - Zanu PF activists in Matabeland south have
forced thousands of
villagers into signing the anti-sanctions petition after
threatening them
that it is a crime to defy an order from President Robert
Mugabe.
The former ruling party, which is facing growing public
resistance as it
struggles to hit the 2 million-signature target set by
Mugabe, has allegedly
activated the remnants of its crumbling structures,
war veterans and
traditional leaders to spearhead a campaign of coercing
people into joining
the anti-sanctions bandwagon.
“We are getting
reports which indicate that this is a growing pattern in
Gwanda South,
Beitbridge, Plumtree, Insiza and parts of Matobo district. In
Insiza, a
group of well known Zanu PF terror operatives aligned to area
Member of
Parliament and Minister Andrew Langa is leading that campaign.
In Gwanda
South, the people complain of the same tactics being used by war
veterans
aligned to MP Orders Mlilo.
“Thousands of anti-sanctions petition forms
are being kept at the chief’s
place, the kraalhead and the councillor’s
homestead. Each leader is
responsible for ensuring that all the people under
him or her signs.
Neighbourhood watch police, who are mostly war veterans,
are always on
standby to arrest anyone who refuses and charge them with
disobeying Mugabe’s
orders,” said Petros Mokoena, the MDC provincial
chairman for Matabeleland
South.
In Tsholotsho, all the teachers in
schools across the whole district had
signed the anti-sanctions petitions by
Thursday when schools closed for the
first holiday of the year. A headmaster
at one of the biggest secondary
schools in the district told the Daily News
that senior education officers
were tasked by Zanu PF to distribute the
forms in person to all schools and
ensure that headmasters prevailed on all
teachers to sign.
“They used the education hierarchy to make sure that
the teachers force each
other to sign. The District Education Officer, a Mr.
Phondo, personally
drove to all the schools with forms for every teacher to
sign.
He would record the number of forms and leave the head with clear
orders
that he wants the exact number signed and returned without failure to
him
before schools closed. Headmasters spent most of the closing day in a
queues
waiting to surrender the forms at the District Education Office,”
said the
headmaster who asked to remain anonymous.
He said the resort
to coercion followed the massive resistance shown by
teachers to the
programme when they were first encouraged to sign
voluntarily.
He
said teachers had shunned the signing centres set up in growth points and
rural service centres.
Civil servants from other government
departments have not been spared
either.
A senior officer attached to
the Ministry of Youth and Gender sub-office in
Lupane told the Daily News
that nearly all civil servants in the province
have signed the petition for
fear of their superiors and the threat of
arrest.
“The provincial
heads of government departments were given an order to
ensure that all
departmental workers wherever they are, sign the petition.
We have had
similar reports from nurses in clinics, veterinary staff,
forestry employees
and staff at the Grain Marketing Board mini-depots.
“Every civil servant
in Matabeleland North, including the police, have
signed the petition under
the watchful eye of their immediate superior, who
is also watched from the
top by his provincial bosses. All civil service
chiefs report to their
bosses in Harare and the provincial governor.
Everyone signed because they
fear they will lose their jobs if they don’t,
and no one wants to be
arrested for political reasons in this country,” she
said.
Matabeleland North provincial governor Sithokozile Mathuthu
professed
ignorance about the forced nature of the programme.
“I am
aware that the signing of the anti-sanctions petition is ongoing
around the
country, including Matabeleland North. Civil servants are
Zimbabweans and
those among them who felt hurt by the sanctions signed the
petition on their
own free will. I am not aware of anyone being forced to
sign against their
will,” said Mathuthu.
A source within the Gwanda chapter of the Zimbabwe
National Liberation War
Veterans Association confirmed the use of
intimidation and the threat of
arrest in forcing villagers to
sign.
“When you fight a war, you use persuasion but if it fails, it
becomes open
season for all other tactics. These forms have been available
in every
village in this country for more than two weeks now but people have
been
ignoring them.
“Now we want to ensure that even those who hate
Zanu PF and support the
sanctions sign the petition. Call it a party
programme or whatever you
choose, but you will also sign the anti-sanctions
petition one day,” said
the war veteran.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Maxwell Sibanda
Sunday, 10 April 2011
14:05
HARARE - Monopolistic Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
has set itself
on a collision course with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) after the national broadcaster refused
to play MDC
songs.
ZBC, which is used as a willing propaganda
tool by President Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu PF, made it clear yesterday that they
will not will not play music by
the MDC on its two television stations and
four radio stations.
In the last three years, the MDC has like their Zanu
PF counterparts
released a number of albums which they say were handed over
to ZBC for
broadcasting but they have never been played.
ZBC’s public
relations manager Sivukile Simango said he only saw one MDC
album which was
presented to the corporation last year.
“I have not seen all these albums
they are claiming to have given us,” said
Simango.
Asked why they
have not been playing the album Simango said: “We did not
play it and we
will never play it on ZBC, never. I can refer you to
Muchechetere (ZBC CEO)
so that he can comment on issues of policy, but as of
now I can just tell
you, we will never play that music,” said Simango.
A new MDC campaign
album released last year has not received a single
airplay on ZBC’s four
radio stations.
The five track album entitled Real Change was launched in
Gokwe by MDC
president Morgan Tsvangirai.
While the MDC album was
launched almost simultaneously with a pro-Zanu PF
eight-track music
compilation album by Mbare Chimurenga choir entitled
Nyatsoterera, Shona for
“listen carefully,” the later has been receiving
saturated aerial play on
ZBC.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa, said: “They never play our music and
we have
got it on good authority that as soon as the albums are received at
ZBC, the
bosses there take them and play them in their cars. It is funny
because we
are giving them these releases so they play them for the
generality of
Zimbabwe,” said Chamisa.
Ironically ZBC finds it
comfortable to play music by the Ministry of Media,
Information and
Publicity sponsored Mbare Chimurenga choir led by Elizabeth
Bwanya who is
also the Zanu (PF) district secretary for women’s affairs.
The album
comprises songs that encourage Zimbabweans to rally behind
President Mugabe
and denounce the MDC party.
One of the songs on the album Ndikusetere
team (setting the team) speaks of
setting up a team-ostensibly a political
team, fielding Mugabe at the top,
followed by Vice President Joice Mujuru
and vice president John Nkomo in
third position. This trio, according to
the song, is the team that rules
Zimbabwe.
Upon its release,
Information and Publicity Minister and Zanu (PF) political
commissar Webster
Shamu is alleged to have ordered all four ZBC Radio
stations’ Disc Jockeys
and the two television channels to play the album.
The minister is alleged
to have personally handed the CDs and ordered the
DJs to play at least two
songs per hour per shift.
A fuming Chamisa said this is wrong and said
this showed media space had not
been completely opened up.
“Why can’t
ZBC give people a choice? Zanu PF launched its own album that is
receiving
massive air play on ZBC. We know how people at the station react
to our
releases. There is a lot of politics at play here.”
Chamisa said his
party had however distributed 50 000 copies of the album
Real Change
throughout the country.
“You can hear it everywhere, in buses, in kombi
taxies and most public
places. We are spreading the word through music,”
Chamisa said.He said while
all these years they have been releasing music
albums, their biggest
challenge was to have it played at ZBC “ZBC are
allergic to MDC, but I am
sure with time they might be forced to play
it.”
Chamisa said the album was celebrating the party’s successes as they
fought
to bring real change to Zimbabweans.
“The songs on the album
are about our struggle to build a new Zimbabwe. The
album depicts the future
and celebrates the past road which has been very
difficult.”
Chamisa
said the MDC had better music productions whose lyrics were not
abusive.
Since 2008 we have been producing music but the ZBC does not
give our music
airplay. We have used other multimedia communication devices
like Internet,
where the songs can be downloaded from our party website.”
http://www.radiovop.com/
10/04/2011
16:48:00
BULAWAYO, April 10, 2011- Former director of Bulawayo Agenda
and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,s trusted cadre in Matabeleland Gorden
Moyo on
Saturday won the chairmanship of the Bulawayo province of the
Movement for
Democratic Change, MDC-T at an emotionally charged provincial
elections in
the city.
Moyo who joined the MDC-T party two months ago
romped to victory against all
odds after entering the race as an underdog as
the old guard backed
prominent businessman and senator Matson Hlalo for the
post.The old guard
regarded him as a nonentity after he was handpicked for
ministerial post by
Tsvangirai.
Moyo maintained close relations with the
MDC-T party up to the elections in
2008 where he campaigned to ensure that
the MDC led by Welshman Ncube did
not win in Bulawayo and in some parts of
Matabeleland.
After his victory in Bulawayo Moyo received a golden
handshake from the
Prime Minister when he appointed him a cabinet minister
in his office and
later to the post of State Enterprises and Parastatals
minister.
The party's provincial organising secretary Doubt Nyoni confirmed
the
development last night soon after the elections held at the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Union offices in Bulawayo.Said Nyoni: "I can confirm that
minister Moyo is the new Bulawayo province chairman after getting against
Matson Hlalo's 172 votes.
Bulawayo Central House of Assembly member
Dorcas Sibanda is the new deputy
after ganering 180 votes against the
outgoing chairlady Agnes Mloyi's 155
votes," he said.
Mugabe arrives at Vigil by bike in absence of cart
Vigil supporters were
encouraged by indications of a change of attitude to Mugabe by SADC leaders
meeting in Zambia. It seems to have suddenly dawned on them that he represents
the past and not the future.
Have they been given
the jitters by what is happening in North and West Africa – or (more
far-fetched) by the Vigil’s renewed campaign for penalties against SADC leaders
supporting Mugabe?
Mugabe’s arrival by
‘golf cart’ at the Livingstone meeting with a huge entourage of 60 (including a
large medical team) clearly exposed both his increasing frailty and the big-man
arrogance of Zanu PF. (Zuma was accompanied by only 12 people.)
The Vigil welcomes
signs that President Zuma is now taking seriously SADC’s commitment to ensure
free and fair elections in Zimbabwe – and that regional leaders are alive to the
danger of the Zanu PF thugocracy spreading its recidivist poison throughout
southern Africa.
We believe they are
right to be fearful of a violent, corrupt, unrepresentative and paranoid regime,
which is looting Zimbabwe’s potential for sustainable economic growth by selling
out to China.
Now that SADC leaders
have been subjected to the vitriol spewing out of the Harare cesspit we hope
they will be prepared for the next stage – how to confront Zanu PF’s delaying
tactics and arbitrary moves. As the Vigil has repeatedly warned, Zanu PF never
changes: it always resorts to the same primitive but successful strategies of
violence and vote rigging. As we gathered outside the Embassy to laugh at the
two million people anti-sanctions petition, we wondered when SADC would have to
apply their own sanctions against Zanu PF . . .
The Vigil management
team met before the Vigil to review our position. It was agreed there was a need
to stress that the Vigil and ZBN news are separate organisations (see our
explanation below in ‘Events and Notices’). Among other matters, we revamped the
Vigil management team and agreed to invite Josephine Zhuga to join. We are
happy to say she agreed. She spends every week on the front desk interacting
with passers-by.
Other
points
·
We have been invited
by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) to join them outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
in a ‘Stop the Violence in Zimbabwe’ Vigil on Zimbabwean Independence Day,
Monday 18th April. We are encouraging everyone to come. ACTSA will be
handing in an anniversary card (which will include the Vigil’s logo) to the
Zimbabwe Ambassador. The card reads “Today, on the 31st anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence,
we pay tribute to those who fought, suffered and sacrificed for the liberation
of the country. That struggle was for democracy, rights and justice. This is why
we are here today; to support democracy, rights and justice for Zimbabwe. We
condemn the violence and harassment perpetrated against the people of Zimbabwe,
including political and civil society activists, trade unionists and especially
women by the institutions of the state, militias and those in and linked to Zanu
PF. We urge you to pass on our calls for an immediate end to the violence,
adherence to the SADC principles for free and fair elections and for democracy,
justice and rights for the people of Zimbabwe now.” Please see ‘Events
and Notices’ for more details.
·
A Zimbabwean reported
that he had attempted to visit the Zimbabwe Embassy on normal business on Friday
only to find it again closed. He wonders if it is ever open to anyone but the
CIO. One Vigil supporter commented that it was just the CIO dormitory.
·
Thanks to Fungayi
Mabhunu for playing the role of Mugabe arriving at the Vigil on a municipal
bicycle propped up by Godfrey Madzunga and Ronald
Nxumalo.
For latest Vigil
pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
For the latest ZimVigil TV programme check http://www.zimvigiltv.com/.
FOR THE
RECORD: 146 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND
NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe.
·
ZBN News.
The
Zimbabwe Vigil management team wish to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is
not responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy
that they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to Dr Tim
Rusike.
·
The Zim Vigil band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit
website: www.imusicafrica.com.
·
ROHR Manchester
meetings. Saturday
16th April: (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting
from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor
Road, Manchester M13
9UB. Contact: Delina Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa
Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende
07886839353, Charles Nenguke 07925146757, P Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070 or P
Chibanguza 07908406069. Future meeting: 14th May. Same times and
venue.
·
ROHR Liverpool
general meeting. Saturday
16th April from 2.30 – 5.30 pm. Venue: Kensington Methodist Church,
294 Kensington, Liverpool L7 2RN. ROHR President, national executive members
present. A well-known immigration lawyer available to talk about the new country
guidance ruling. Contact Anywhere Mungoyo 07939913688, Netsai Karota
07767483180, Sheilla Mironga 07578541227 or P Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070.
·
‘Stop the Violence in
Zimbabwe’ Vigil. Monday
18th April outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand WC2. The
protest, on Zimbabwean Independence Day, has been organized by Action for
Southern African (ACTSA) who has invited the Vigil to join them. ACTSA will be
protesting from 1 – 2 pm but the Vigil will be there from 12 noon – 3 pm. Check:
http://www.actsa.org/page-1028-Events.html for more
details.
·
ROHR
Newcastle general meeting.
Saturday 23rd April from 2 – 6 pm. Venue: Warwick Court, Warwick
Street, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1EY. 3 mins walk from the Gateshead Interchange opposite Gateshead Civic Centre and Gateshead Police Station. Free parking available. Contact Susan
Ndlovu 07767024586, Allen Chamboko
07500246416, Kuda Derera 07411337933, Rugare Chifungo (Coordinator)
07795070609
·
ROHR Manchester
Vigil. Saturday
30th April from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens,
Manchester City Centre (subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens).
Contact: Delina Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota
07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353,
Charles Nenguke 07925146757, P Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070 or P Chibanguza
07908406069. Future demonstration: 28th May. Same time and
venue.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s
acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy by post in the UK
please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and 0send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe
·
Workshops aiming to
engage African men on HIV testing and other sexual health issues. Organised by the
Terrence Higgins Trust (www.tht.org.uk). Please contact the
co-ordinator Takudzwa Mukiwa (takudzwa.mukiwa@tht.org.uk) if you are
interested in taking part.
Vigil
Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
This morning was a typical April day in
Zimbabwe, brilliant, deep, clear,
blue skies, a chill in the early morning
warming up to a comfortable
temperature by lunch time. Superb except for the
knowledge that this marks
the end of the rains and the start of a long, hard
winter. No rain now for 8
months, the veld is drying out rapidly and the
bush fires will start
shortly. Water will become scarce and the hungry
months lie ahead with
bitterly cold nights for those without adequate
shelter.
This mirrors the political scene at this time. Tensions are
rising and it is
clear that Zanu PF feel they are cornered. They are
fighting back with every
tool at their disposal and show scant regard for
the needs of the country or
the people. Retaining power is the only agenda,
at any cost.
On the economic front, they are doing everything in their
power to derail
the economic recovery. Their main tool is Savior Kasukuwere
and the
so-called 'indigenisation' policies. They passed this bit of devilry
in 2008
and are now using it as a means to curb inward investment and
domestic
confidence. It has little or nothing to do with empowering anybody
and even
less with the transfer of assets to local populations. It has been
stunningly effective, stopping investment and recovery in its tracks.
Because of its popularist overtones it has been difficult to deal with in
the Transitional Government but it is becoming apparent that we are going to
have to deal with it sooner rather than later if it is not to stop the
economy altogether.
My own memory goes back to 1968 when the
President of Zambia stood up in the
Mulungushi Hall and announced that all
Zambian companies, employing more
than 100 employees had to have majority
Zambian ownership. The Zambian
economy reacted as if it had hit a wall. All
investment stopped, within 18
months the major mining companies had been
nationalized and for the next 30
years, little or no development took place.
The country slid into poverty
and the copper mines saw their output decline
from 800 000 tonnes a year to
barely 100 000 tonnes a year.
Only
after the Kaunda legacy was totally wiped out and the indigenisation
strategies abandoned for a more conventional package of policies, did the
Zambian economy start recovering and is now in the midst of a commodity and
investment driven boom.
But why would a political party try to stop
economic recovery? It’s quite
simple; any recovery in the economy would be
attributed to the MDC and
contrasted with 30 years of stagnation and decline
under Zanu PF. This was
highlighted for me when I visited one of the larger
supermarkets in Harare
some 3 months after the MDC went into Government in
2009. In this store, 4
months before, only three items had been in stock -
some cabbages, toilet
paper and bottled water. Now the store was packed and
queues of customers
stretched back into the aisles. I said to the till
operator that this was
quite a difference. He said to me just one word
'Tsvangirai'.
By contrast, Zanu is attributing the collapse under their
watch to
'sanctions'. Their view is that since sanctions have not been
lifted -
economic recovery cannot take place. Quite logical really, but it
has
nothing to do with any desire to see ordinary people empowered in any
way.
It also ignores the reality that the collapse had nothing to do with
the
restrictions on some 200 Zanu PF leaders and everything to do with their
looting and corrupt activities coupled to disastrous macro and monetary
policies.
Talking about indigenisation, we could point out to anyone
who would care to
listen, that today at least 75 per cent of the economy is
in the hands of a
small clique connected to Zanu PF in some way. In the last
12 years we have
seen literally thousands of productive companies
transferred to 'indigenous'
Zanu PF linked individuals. Nearly all these
productive enterprises have
been stripped of their saleable assets and now
lie derelict. And it’s not
all farming companies, just in case you think
that - I can list several
hundred industrial and commercial firms that have
been taken over by one
means or another and are now idle and
derelict.
The most recent regulations promulgated by Kasukuwere in his
drive to use
this instrument to stop the recovery were a Gazette Notice 10
days ago. This
has the effect of virtually nationalizing all mining firms in
the country.
These regulations not only fly in the face of recent Cabinet
decisions on
this issue but also bear no relation to any recommendations
coming from the
industry itself or the specialist committees set up to study
the situation
and make recommendations. The reality is that indigenisation
has worked
nowhere in the world and it will not work here.
As if this
was not enough, the political scene is about to get rough. SADC
and South
Africa have put Zanu PF into a corner from which they cannot
escape. They
will respond with violence and coercion. They will come out
fighting, of
that you can be sure. As we can see in both Libya and Ivory
Coast, it is the
people who suffer when those with power use it to defend
themselves and
those with the power to stop them do not do enough to do so.
The half
hearted and start/stop activities of those with hard power in these
situations have done little to curb the destructive power of those who feel
that they have nothing to lose and must protect themselves with everything
they have.
Mainly for these two reasons this is going to be a hard,
long winter in
Zimbabwe. With our economy again in crisis, revenues to the
State stagnant
or declining, companies throughout the country barely holding
their own or
facing liquidation, people in all walks of life are finding it
almost
impossible to survive. The struggle for power will intensify and
without
effective and significant interventions by the region, the people
are going
to suffer terribly. To compound these factors, food will be in
short supply
in rural areas and aid programs cut back to the
minimum.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 9th April 2011
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011
14:18
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe again left
the country for Singapore on Friday
evening amid revelations that it is
actually the First Lady Grace Mugabe who
is this time seeking treatment in
the Asian country for a serious ailment.
Mugabe has been frequenting
Singapore since his annual leave in January and
his spokesman George
Charamba last month clai-med he was going for a review
after undergoing an
operation to remove a cataract in his eye.
But impeccable
sources have since told The Standard that Grace Mugabe
slipped and fell in
the bathroom at their Borrowdale house and is suspected
to have suffered a
dislocated hip.
She has reportedly not recovered from the injury and
could be seriously ill.
Charamba yesterday confirmed that the First
Family was in Singapore but said
he did not know the purpose of their visit
as he was in Kadoma when they
flew out of the country.
Mugabe’s
trips to Singapore are said to have gobbled US$12 million from the
public
purse.
Charamba, however, hinted that the First Lady is battling
illness.
He disclosed that she has not fully recovered from a
complication she
suffered while giving birth to her last-born son Chatunga
14 years ago
adding he was not aware of the hip dislocation.
“I
would not be privy to that kind of information,” Charamba said.
“I
have not heard about it. However what I know is that the First Lady,
after
the birth of Chatunga, developed some slight discomfort with her back
but
that was a long time ago.”
Charamba also confirm-ed that the
President had gone to Singapore but said
it was not an “official visit.” But
the fact that the presidential spokesman
was not briefed about the trip
hints to the fact that it was an emergency.
Charamba said there were
two possibilities why Mugabe went to Singapore.
“It could be that
they went to visit their daughter (Bona) who is on
attachment in China,
because they usually meet up in Singapore but then
maybe there is something
else,” Charamba said. “However it cannot be
anything serious. Usually, if I
am in Harare, I will go and see him off at
the airport and I would be
briefed on the reason on why he is travelling but
I am in Kadoma attending a
Zimbabwe Media Commission conference.”
As usual Mugabe and his wife
took an Air Zimbabwe plane and striking pilots
had to be recalled to fly
them. Air Zimbabwe board chairman Jonathan Kadzura
justified the move
yesterday saying the flight was not a commercial one but
the pilots were on
“national duty.”
“There is a difference of going on strike for
commercial flights and flying
on national duty,” he said. “You can’t say no
to national duty because
yesterday’s flight wasn’t a commercial
one.”
Grace Mugabe has not been seen in public in a long time,
further fuelling
speculation about her health.
However, the
speculation had mainly centred on her 87-year-old husband who
was driven in
a golf cart during the Southern African Development Community
troika summit
in Livingstone, Zambia recently.
Mugabe was seen struggling with his
step. There have even been reports that
he is suffering from prostate
cancer.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:12
BY PATIENCE
NYANGOVE
LAWYERS for Energy and Power Development minister Elton Mangoma
have lodged
a protest against Attorney General Johannes Tomana accusing him
of trying to
intimidate High Court judges into treating the top MDC-T
official unfairly.
The protest letter to the Judicial Services
Commission was in reaction to
reports that Tomana had lodged a complaint to
the Judge President George
Chiweshe and the Judicial Services Commission
alleging that High Court judge
Justice Samuel Kudya passed judgement on
factual issues before Mangoma’s
trial.
Tomana was said to be not happy
with Kudya’s remarks when he granted Mangoma
bail on March 15 on the grounds
that the state’s case appeared to be weak.
The minister is accused of sealing
a US$5 million fuel deal with a South
African company NOA without going to
tender.
In remarks that have drawn parallels with comments that saw Zanu PF
apologists calling for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Speaker of
Parliament Lovemore Moyo’s arrests on alleged contempt of court charges,
Tomana appeared to be calling for action against Kudya.
But Mangoma’s
lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, in a letter seen by The Standard
accused Tomana of
attempting to bully members of the judiciary and
interfering with their
independence.
“In our respectful view, if the Attorney-General was unhappy
with the judge’s
findings in the bail application, his proper course would
clearly have been
to seek to appeal against judgement,” reads part of the
letter.
“Traditionally and taking into account what the state would have
placed
before a court, judicial officers have always considered the strength
or
weakness of a case in considering a bail application and we do not
consider
that the judge in this case went beyond this traditional
consideration.”
She said although they had read about Tomana’s complaint in
The Sunday Mail,
it appeared it was intended to intimidate the judges
handling Mangoma’s
cases.
Tsvangirai last month threatened a “clean
divorce” from the unity government
following Mangoma’s initial arrest last
month saying the prosecution and
judicial system were being manipulated to
persecute his party.
But he was forced to apologise after President Robert
Mugabe’s sympathisers
pushed for his arrest. The complaint by Mangoma’s
lawyers will resurrect
debate about the alleged conspiracy.
“Whatever the
‘complaint’, it is our view that the Attorney General’s
‘complaint’ is
nothing but an attempt to intimidate members of the judiciary
into not
exercising their independence in matters that come before them,”
Mtetwa
wrote.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 16:01
BY NDUDUZO
TSHUMA
BULAWAYO — Matabeleland is set to face food shortages as crops
in the region
have largely wilted due to moisture stress, it has been
learnt.
Most parts of the country, including Matabeleland region,
experienced a
prolonged dry spell at the beginning of the year resulting in
most crops
wilting.
The Ministry of Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Development last
month conducted a countrywide
crop assessment exercise to gauge the effects
of the dry spell.
However,
the report of the exercise that ended on March 31 has not been made
public.
Matabeleland South governor, Angeline Masuku could not
give details on the
crop situation in her province this week, referring
questions to provincial
Agritex officer Bernard Sibanda, who was said to be
out of office. Sources,
within her office, however, said the situation in
Matabeleland South was
dire.
“All the seven districts have been
severely affected and you will find that
in places like Insiza, only three
of its 23 wards have a good crop and the
rest is a disaster,” the official
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:59
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
POLITICAL parties’ failure to invest in leadership training is
among other
factors which have contributed to violence that has rocked the
country
during elections, a Zanu PF committee member in the Joint Monitoring
and
Implementation Committee (Jomic) has said.
Oppah Muchinguri told
delegates at an induction workshop for Jomic’s liason
committees that many
entrusted with leadership roles failed to promote peace
and harmony in their
communities due to lack of training on good
leadership.
“The
reason why people have defeatist attitudes which make them resort to
the use
of anything else but not the brain is that our parties fail to
invest in
leadership training,” Muchinguri said.
“We need leaders who forge
team spirit and not favour members of their
particular party, accommodative
leaders who take every member of their
community on board in everything they
do.
“We need leaders who compromise and appreciate that violence does
not work.
Leaders who acknowledge that we need both MDC and Zanu PF so that
we have
more competing ideas, so that we choose the best,” she
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:55
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
A group of communal farmers from Nyanzira village in
Murewa believe they
have graduated into commercial farming despite occupying
very small plots.
One of the villagers, Beatrice Mapuranga (53) considers
herself a
businesswoman even though all she has is a five-hectare plot and a
small
vegetable garden. This year, Mapuranga is assured of harvesting enough
maize
for her family’s subsistence just like last year and a surplus for
sale.
“I am also looking at earning some money from selling my
cowpeas, groundnuts
and sorghum,” she said. “Last year, I managed to pay my
children’s school
fees and to buy a cow after selling my
produce”.
The mother of nine is among 11 villagers from Nyanzira who
are involved in a
project to grow cash crops under the seed company
Agriseeds. Under the
project, farmers commit part of their five-hectare
farms to grow the crops.
Agriseeds supports them with loans which
they use to buy inputs, including
seed, fertilisers and
chemicals.
A non-governmental organisation, SNV Zimbabwe provides
technical training
whereby the farmers are taught business skills and how
best to improve their
yields.
Government extension workers provide
technical support while inspectors
visit the farms to assess if the farmers
are adhering to requirements for
growing seed and to also endorse the
crop.
“We encourage small-scale farmers to drop the dependency
syndrome and be
business minded,” Agriseeds MD, Walter Chigodora
said.
“Some, like Mapuranga, have held on since the beginning of the
project in
2009 while others failed to do well and had to be removed from
the programme
this year.
“We started with 2 200 farmers covering
Mashonaland Central, East and West
but this year we only have 1 448 after
some failed to repay their loans.”
At the beginning of this season,
Mapuranga borrowed US$371 from Agriseeds
and has so far harvested 10 bags of
cowpeas, each weighing 50 kg and she
still has some of the crop in the
fields.
She has also started harvesting groundnuts and the sorghum
crop, which is
yet to mature, is flourishing.
The programme
encourages farmers to set aside two hectares to grow maize for
family
subsistence and Mapuranga’s maize crop is ready for harvesting.
“I can now
safely say that I will repay the loan with the cowpeas I have
harvested so
far because Agriseeds buys a tonne at US$700 and I have
harvested half a
tonne already.
Some of the more enterprising villagers have since
set-up small businesses
to tap on the benefits.
One such business
is an agro dealers’ scheme spearheaded by a wholesaler
called
Feyafeya.
Under this scheme, owners of retail shops are supplied with
agricultural
inputs including seed, fertiliser and chemicals to sell to
farmers.
“Seed and fertiliser companies in Harare provide the stock
and we supply the
agro dealers,” Feyafeya sales manager Joel Mugariri said.
“They sell the
stock and give us the cash after selling.”
Lookout
Gotora from Musami Business Centre is among the 15 dealers who have
participated in the project since 2009.
“My hardware shop was
closed for a long time because I did not have money to
buy stock,” Gotora
said. “I then struck a deal with Feyafeya so I could
provide about
1 500
families in this ward with farming inputs without incurring too many
costs.
The dealers have also partnered with CABS to provide
banking services to the
community.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:54
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
THE Harare City Council is pursuing an ambitious project to
upgrade Mbare
Musika to match the standards of Johannesburg’s
Parkstation.
Council’s business committee chairperson Wellington Chikombo
said the city
entered a joint venture with a Chinese company, Ningbo Baitai
Industry
Company Limited, to carry out the project.
“The plan is
for us to develop a modern-oriented station like Johannesburg’s
Parkstation,” Chikombo said.
“This will restore order at our
chaotic Mbare Musika and also enhance our
revenue collection
capacity.”
Chikombo said the project would also result in the
establishment of a
textile factory and a modern shopping mall in
Mbare.
“Our partner will bring high-tech equipment to be used in the
project and as
council, we are satisfied with their capacity to deliver,”
Chikombo said.
“A feasibility study, environmental management
assessment and plan designs
are currently underway.
“If
everything is approved, we are likely to start the heavy construction
work
in May,” Chikombo said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:49
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE MDC-T leadership must deal decisively with the
factionalism that is
threatening to tear apart the labour-based political
party if it entertains
hopes of dislodging Zanu PF from power in the next
elections, political
analysts said.
Analysts said while competition for
posts was healthy in any democracy, it
has to be managed in such a way that
it does not become a destructive force.
Others, however, said the perceived
factionalism was good for democracy.
One camp, said sources, is led
by the party’s women’s assembly chairlady
Theresa Makone and her husband Ian
while the other one is headed by Finance
minister Tendai Biti, who is also
MDC-T secretary general.
Party spokesperson Nelson Cha-misa has
always denied the existence of
factions in MDC-T but increasing intra-party
skirmishes and violence,
especially during election time, reflect deeper and
widening divisions among
senior members.
This rivalry has become
open and brutal as the MDC-T gears for its national
congress slated for
April 29 to May 1. Sources said Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, who will
retain his position at the congress, fears this gulf
among factions could
widen to levels similar to Zanu PF’s Solomon Mujuru and
Emmerson Mnangagwa
factions.
The two factions are fighting to succeed President Robert
Mugabe, who has
been ruling the country for the past three
decades.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera urged the MDC-T
leadership to nip
factionalism in the bud to avoid a repeat of the 2005
split that resulted in
the formation of the faction led by Welshman
Ncube.
He said while leadership renewal was the hallmark of any
democracy, the
process has to be well-managed.
“It’s natural in
politics for competition for power and positions,”
Mangongera
said.
“But the leadership has to manage that competition so that we
do not witness
the implosion that we saw in 2005.”
Mangongera
said it was worrying to read regularly of bloody clashes of
“youth vigilante
groups” belonging to the two camps at Harvest House.
The clashes, which
started in 2004, seem not to end.
Other party members last week
accused senior MDC-T officials of deploying
provincial campaign managers
for their camps on the pretext of organising
party
structures.
“The party leadership must deal with this in a decisive
manner,” he said.
Another analyst said if the MDC-T leadership fails
to address the issue of
internal violence and factionalism, that would give
its critics enough
ammunition to label it a violent party.
“I
think it will result in some people accusing the MDC-T of mimicking Zanu
PF,” said the analyst who requested anonymity.
Zanu PF, whose
political symbol is a fist, has over the past decades been
labelled as a
violent party.
President Mugabe has openly claimed to have “degrees
in violence.”
But Pedzisai Ruhanya, a Harare-based analyst believes
that the factionalism
in the MDC-T is healthy.
“There is no
negative factionalism in the MDC-T,” declared Ruhanya, a senior
programmes
manager with Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. “What is there (in
MDC-T) is
benign factionalism Factionalism is taken negatively here in
Zimbabwe
because it is usually associated with Zanu PF, a party which spills
blood.”
Quoting one of America’s most influential founding
fathers James Madison,
Ruhanya said in any case “benign” factionalism was
healthy as it prevented
concentration of power on one group.
It
remains to be seen if the MDC-T leadership would be able to control the
effects of factionalism as the dates for the party’s congress draw
near.
Ironically, the congress, expected to draw about 5 000
delegates in
Bulawayo, will be running under the theme “United, Winning —
The People’s
Covenant for Change.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:44
BY
NQOBILE BHEBHE
BULAWAYO — Zanu PF’s anti-sanctions petition drive
could backfire if the
embattled party intends to use the signatures to gauge
its popularity ahead
of elections expected later this year.
President
Robert Mugabe, in power since 1980, insists that elections must be
held this
year despite strong objections from his coalition government
partners.
Zanu PF is using the campaign to collect the anti-sanctions
campaign
signatures to drum up support.
But analysts warned that
most of the two million signatures Zanu PF is
seeking will not be appended
voluntarily. University of Zimbabwe political
science lecturer John Makumbe
said Zanu PF would get a rude awakening come
election time.
“It’s
a foolish attempt by Zanu PF to want to think that the signatures are
votes
already in the bag,” he said. “It would not work. In fact the petition
drive
is further alienating Zanu PF from would-be voters as they are forced
to
sign.”
Makumbe said at UZ, workers were signing the petition to save
their jobs.
But Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismissed claims
that the campaign was
linked to the election.
“The programme is
totally divorced from elections and people should not
attempt to make a
link,” he said.
“Our popularity is solely based on our
restructuring and mobilisation
drives, which we are managing well. The
anti-sanctions drive is aimed at
showing the world that the illegal
sanctions are not targeted at a few
individuals but the whole country,” he
added.
Although Gumbo could not give indications on the number of
signatures
gathered to date, he said the programme would be wrapped up this
month.
“We are still collecting and also receiving forms from various
centres and
by end on this month the programme ends,” he
said.
There are reports that Zanu PF youths are coercing people
including school
children to sign the petition.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:40
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE
FAMILIES of slain MDC-T activists have accused the
party of abandoning wives
and children of members who died while serving the
party.
At an emotional memorial service on Wednesday at the Dutch Reformed
Church
in Harare, relatives of Tonderai Ndira, Better Chokururama, Cain
Nyevhe and
Godfrey Kauzani told stories of broken dreams, untold suffering
and abject
poverty.
The activists were brutally murdered during
the run-up to the June 2008
presidential election run-off election where the
leading contender, MDC-T
president Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw
because of violence.
Their mutilated bodies were found dumped in
Goromonzi and Murehwa. Kauzani’s
wife Sarudzai Chiutsi told The Standard
that her husband’s death had driven
her into abject poverty. An emotional
Chiutsi said she now regreted why her
husband ventured into
politics.
She chronicled how she struggled when her disabled son who
had a hole in one
of his ears that stretched to the brain fell ill and
eventually died in
February.
Chiutsi claimed the MDC-T refused to provide
her with transport to take her
seriously ill son to Harare
Hospital.
“I am now both mother and father to my children,” she said.
“I struggled
with my son alone and they even refused to give me a car to
transport my son’s
body for burial. They only gave me US$100. The coffin
cost almost US$200 and
I had to borrow money from work which I am still
paying back. I have nothing
to show for my husband’s
struggle.”
But Chiutsi exonerated Tsvangirai, saying she did not
believe he was aware
of their plight. She said she last got assistance with
school fees for the
children, rent money and food two years
ago.
“I am grateful the party helped me get a job but the money is
not enough,”
she said. “In the past we used to go to the MDC-T offices
seeking audience
with Tsvangirai but those people who work there always
denied us that
opportunity,” she said.
Ndira’s elder brother
Cosmas, who was choking with emotion, also had no kind
words for the
MDC-T.
“There is no money to pay school fees for Tonderai’s
children,” he said. “It
pains us that his children are suffering and living
in abject poverty.
Tonderai used to look after his children well when he was
still alive.”
Cosmas said it pained them to see senior MDC-T
officials driving luxury cars
and assisting their relatives to get jobs
while people who bore the brunt of
their fight against Zanu PF were
wallowing in poverty.
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-T spokesman maintained
that the party had done a lot
for the families by helping some of them get
jobs, start income generating
projects and secure
scholarships.
“In fact we have exceeded our capacity to help the
children, wives and
husbands of survivors,” he said. “Unfortunately, those
who perished run into
hundreds if not thousands and survivors run into tens
of thousands.
Considering the task before us, the party is bound to be
overwhelmed and
this is why we have called for restorative and
rehabilitative justice at a
national scale from the government of the day,”
he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:37
BY SILAS
NKALA
ZVISHAVANE — Three self-styled traditional healers, popularly
known as
tsikamutandas, have allegedly fleeced villagers of more than 200
cattle and
thousands of US dollars in a witch-hunt that began in October
last year.
Investigations by The Standard revealed that cleansing
ceremonies in the
Masunda and Shiku areas were being conducted with the
blessings of
traditional leaders and police were allegedly clearing the
movement of
cattle paid by villagers accused of dabbling in
witchcraft.
Chief Simon Masunda allegedly authorised the witch-hunts
last year. The
tsikamutandas were only identified as Gowurane, Ngwenya and
Maguranyanga.
Headman Samuel Venge Shiku told The Standard at Masunda
growth point that
Ngwenya and Gowurane had since moved away from his area
while Maguranyanga
was still active.
“These people were
recommended by Chief Masunda to us. We agreed to invite
them as villagers,”
Shiku said.
He said all the livestock that had been collected from
the area was cleared
by the police before it was moved to other areas by the
witch-hunters.
“People are told of their evil possessions and they
volunteer to be
exorcised,” Shiku said.
Shiku said “mysterious”
things that were allegedly used for witchcraft had
been discovered in
several homes.
He claimed that only the Johane Marange Apostolic sect
members were
boycotting the ceremonies for religious
reasons.
Some villagers claimed that they were misled to believe that
the
witch-hunters were sent by the government.
Shiku volunteered
to help track down Maguranyanga at Tom Chivi village,
about 5km away from
his home.
On arrival at the base, the crew was introduced to kraal
heads, Munikwa,
Boilous Shonhayi Chimamiwa and John Mafuma
Mafurire.
A herd of 10 cattle that had been surrendered as payment
for the cleansing
services by villagers was still tied to trees
nearby.
However, Maguranyanga was said to have travelled to
Zvishavane on business
while his assistants were said to have gone to
another ward 20km from Tom
Chivi village.
The three kraal heads also said
no one was forced to attend ceremonies.
They said as leaders they
supported Maguranyanga’s activities.
The witch-hunters are allegedly
charging “witches and wizards” two beasts
each while victims pay one beast
to be exorcised. A villager, Mafuma
Mafurire said he had paid two goats
after the tsikamutandas had removed a
bad spell affecting his
family.
The witch-hunters are said to be between the ages of 30 and
45. Shiku said
he does not know their full names. He said Maguranyanga is
originally from
Chinhoyi.
Officer Commanding Zvisha-vane District, Chief
Superintendent Alphio Maphosa
was not available for comment last week as he
was said to be in Harare.
Chief Masunda was also not reachable for
comment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:34
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
MDC-T is pushing for reunification with the Welshman
Ncube-led faction as it
seeks to build from the support it received from
their bitter rivals in the
re-election of its chairman Lovemore Moyo as
Speaker of the House of
Assembly.
MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti on
April 1 wrote to Ncube thanking him
for the support in parliament but said
their struggle for the democracy
could be shortened if they worked
together.
MDC had initially resolved to abstain from the election but
decided to vote
for Moyo after noting that Zanu PF was trying to use
unorthodox means to
help its chairman Simon Khaya Moyo to land the
post.
“It goes without saying that the struggle for democracy in
Zimbabwe will be
a long and arduous journey,” Biti said. “However, it can be
shortened if all
democratic forces work together as we did on March 29
2011.”
Analysts last week said the tone of the one-page letter was a
clear overture
for the two formations, which split in 2005, to start unity
talks.
The labour-based party split over whether to contest the 2005
senatorial
elections or not.
But Regional Integration minister
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who is
the MDC secretary general, said they
had not discussed the issue as a party.
“There are no talks,” she said. “The
party has not discussed the issue.”
Misihairabwi-Mushonga could not
say whether her party would entertain the
talks, saying she was in a
meeting.
Efforts to get a comment from Ncube were fruitless as he was
said to be in
the same meeting.
But sources said some senior
officials in the MDC-T were not prepared for
any form of talks as their
positions would be threatened by such a
development.
They said if
the two parties united, there would be need to accommodate
officials like
Ncube and Misihairabwi-Mushonga in the new set-up.
Attempts to
reunite the two factions ahead of the 2008 elections floundered
at the last
minute after some senior MDC-T officials expressed fears they
would lose
their posts.
Sources said there are plans by all political parties in
the country to
unite against Zanu PF in the next elections slated later this
year. In
previous polls, political parties contested elections as single
entities,
giving Zanu PF an advantage.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:32
BY PATIENCE
NYANGOVE
AWARD-winning human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says Zanu
PF officials
tried to bribe her so that she would stop representing
President Robert
Mu-gabe’s opponents.
Mtetwa, who was last week announced
the winner of the United States’ Case
Western Reserve University’s 2011
Inamori Ethics Prize said she had resisted
offers of a farm and appointments
to boards of parastatals.
But she refused to name the officials who
attempted to bribe her.
“I have also been offered perks if I abandon
my human rights work,” Mtetwa
said.
“In 2001 in particular I was
offered various positions, boardships in
parastatals, even a farm if I
abandoned my human rights work.
“I found it very interesting because
the people making those offers were
people I had once represented when their
own rights had been violated by the
very system.”
Mtetwa said she turned
down the offers because she was not doing her work
for financial benefitbut
simply because she believed in what does.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 16:45
BY KUDZAI
CHIMANGWA
GOVERNMENT will lift the suspension of import duty on basic
commodities once
local industry capacity utilisation improves, Economic
Planning and
Investment Promotion minister Tapiwa Mashakada has
said.
Finance minister Tendai Biti extended the suspension of duty on
imported
rice, maize meal, flour and cooking oil, which was imposed at the
height of
the biting shortages of basic commodities to June
31.
Mashakada said the market liberalisation policy had been
forced by the
country’s economic crisis and government was aware that it was
adversely
affecting local manufacturers.
“Local industry can look
forward to food and textile imports eventually
being phased out, but this
reform will only be in line with the country’s
economic performance levels
where companies can viably produce for the
market,” he said.
The
minister pointed out that the dispensation would continue for critical
industrial products such as raw materials, machinery and spare parts among
others.
A number of manufacturing companies are surviving at
break- even levels
while others, especially in the once vibrant textiles
sector, have folded
altogether as imports continue to flood the
market.
However, manufacturers have in the past come under fire from
consumer groups
for overcharging and taking advantage of the food
shortages.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011
16:21
Like a decapitated bird, Zanu PF has been running aimlessly
following one of
Sadc’s most successful summits in recent
history.
Professor Jonathan Moyo was among the first to fire the
salvo.
Sensing danger, George Charamba played the fire-fighter but
not before Moyo’s
careless comments had reached the ears of those who
matter. There are times
when Moyo talks like a comical lunatic. This was one
such moment.
Calling Sadc, the AU and President Jacob Zuma all sorts
of names, including
Judas Iscariot, was the height of madness and political
suicide. This is the
same Moyo who used to fervently support the notion of
quiet diplomacy and
African solution to African problems when it worked in
Zanu PF’s favour.
Today, he stands for the opposite. Those who give a toss
about international
relations were baffled by such self-destructive
innuendos which shall always
influence Sadc in its future dealings with
Zimbabwe.
In his typical fashion, Moyo chided Sadc leaders for
delaying official
deliberations of the summit to 8pm when Mugabe and his
delegates had been
waiting and waiting. He went on to say the official
session only took less
than an hour. In his mind, Moyo is totally convinced
that Sadc can only
transact when Mugabe is in attendance and also that the
length of the
sessions should resonate with the amount of Mugabe’s waiting
time. Is he
aware that Zimbabwe is not part of the Troika and that Mugabe
did not
convene the meeting?
“Decisions were made without much
dialogue, which is traditionally essential
for the success of such summits,”
moaned Moyo. What he seems to forget is
that there is nothing happening in
Zimbabwe that Sadc is not aware of. The
fact that the body has taken this
long to flex its muscles is not a sign of
gullibility. Rather, Sadc leaders
patiently and respectfully assumed that
Mugabe and his party would one day
stop acting like kids and start doing the
right thing. Having realised that
this was not to be, the only option was to
crack the whip. It is now time
for action, not rhetoric.
An outstanding aspect of Moyo’s post-summit
analysis was his reference to
Zanu PF as the Republic of Zimbabwe. For a
political science professor to
fail to distinguish between a political party
and the state is just
pathetic.
Moyo also predictably attack-ed
Sadc for suggesting to constitute a team
that would clo-sely work with Jomic
in implementing the GPA.
Two points need to be highlighted; it is
Sadc which created Jomic,
therefore, only Sadc has the prerogative to review
Jomic’s mandate,
restructure its composition or reinforce its operations.
Such simple logic
should be too obvious to Moyo.
Nevertheless, he
doesn’t stop wondering, “If there is resurgence of
violence, why should
there not be any arrests?” This is a question any sane
citizen would have
directed at the Police Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri, not Sadc. We
hope Chihuri will find time to answer this question
honestly and educate
Moyo on why perpetrators of violence are being
protected while the victims
are arrested.
In a seemingly well-calculated attempt to inflict as
much damage on Zanu PF
as possible by further insulting African institutions
including Sadc, Moyo
said the African vote on UN Resolution 1973, together
with the Livingstone
Troika communiqué, epitomised the work of puppets and
sell-outs who should
be abandoned by Zimbabwe as it turns to those friends
who can provide
weapons and military co-operation. For some strange reason,
he religiously
believes that those who fought in the liberation war are all
alive, well,
unchanged and ready to be used.
If anything, a good
number of the ex-combatants have since moved on in terms
of political
affiliation and ideology while a lot more have passed on. Moyo
will one day
get his just rewards.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011
16:20
The question on many people’s minds right now is: Who advises
dictators when
endgame looms? This question is important when one looks at
events in the
Ivory Coast and Libya.
In the Ivory Coast former
president Laurent Gbagbo, deserted by most of
those who propped his regime,
is holed up in a bunker under his home. Only a
handful loyalists surround
him, hoping against hope that some miracle would
save them and their master,
but in the process committing crimes against
humanity which he will, in the
fullness of time, be asked to answer for. He
knows, unless he has become
totally delusional, that he does not stand a
chance in heaven of coming out
of there and reclaim his former powers as the
president of the
republic.
The world has recognised his rival Alassane Ouattara as the
legitimate
winner of the presidential poll held last November. Gbagbo, in
spite of
world consensus on this issue, has refused to cede power. The
result has
been the resurgence of civil war which last year’s polls set out
to end.
One can only surmise that Gbagbo’s defiance is a result of
bad advice. His
circumstances are now more complicated than they were on the
day he refused
to accept the results of the election. Now, even if by some
dint of fortune
he emerges from that bunker alive, there are many things he
would have to
answer for. Because of his ill-advised stance, thousands of
people have
died, most of them at the hands of brigands loyal to
him.
No country is now prepared to offer him asylum because that
might invite the
ire of its own citizens who most likely are also fighting
dictatorship. In
the new world outlook few leaders, even in Africa, would
like to associate
themselves with leaders who have been rejected by their
own people.
The humiliating picture a few years ago of former Iraq
dictator Saddam
Hussein being pulled out of hole surely must haunt anybody
who thinks he can
hide away from justice forever.
In Libya
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi chose war instead of capitulation when his
people
revolted demanding the civil liberties they have been denied for more
than
four decades. Who advised him to follow the path he took? It seems
clear
that he got his advice from his sons who have singularly enjoyed the
fruits
of their father’s rule.
For some reason Gaddafi thinks that he can come out
of it all alive and
continue from where he left off.
But this
has become well nigh impossible. Not only is world opinion rallied
against
him, but he has also run out of allies both in sub-Saharan Africa
and in the
Arab world. He will also be made to answer for the crimes he has
committed
against unarmed civilians.
Gaddafi could have left a legacy had he
acted differently. In spite of
everything else, Gaddafi had used billions
his country earned from oil
revenues to develop his country. This fact is
indisputable. Gaddafi survived
on a bloated ego. He wished to show to the
world what he had done for his
people in terms of infrastructural
development. He meant this to disguise
his darker nature which made him to
accumulate a personal fortune running
into tens of billions of dollars while
his people starved.
It turned out, when he moved around the world
saying that he was a devout
Moslem, deep down he was not. He was paying
millions of dollars to American
women to dance naked in front of him and his
clan.
With good advice he could have instituted the changes that his
people
demanded or, better still, he would have relinquished power and
retired a
true “benevolent dictator”, respected by his people. But his
legacy is all
gone now. In its place is the story of a man who built a
nation and
cynically destroyed it.
Africa is replete with
dictators who have failed to recognise their moments
to achieve greatness
and have had inglorious ends to their lives.
There have been
exceptions though. Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere is a good
example. His reign
was not the greatest in the world because he experimented
with ideologies
which failed to move his country forward. But he was able to
recognise the
time he had to live. Now, in spite of everything, he is
considered one of
Africa’s greatest statesmen.
Nelson Mandela too knew that after
successfully leading the transition from
apartheid to democracy he had to
step down after only one five-year term in
office. He too is considered one
of the world’s greatest statesmen of all
time.
The same cannot be
said of Malawi’s Hastings Kamuzu Banda who sought to die
in power and used
youth militias called the Young Pioneers to achieve this
by bludgeoning into
submission those who sought change. When he died, a
centenarian, for the
world it was a joyful riddance.
The world has refused to grant
Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda the same status it
has given Nyerere and Mandela. In
the 27 years of his rule, he had run his
country into the ground and was
stoutly refusing to let go. He had also
created his own legacy by helping
all of southern Africa’s liberation
movements. But all that was destroyed by
his failure to recognise just the
moment when he had to let
go.
Events of the past two weeks have shown that the world,
particularly the
southern African subcontinent, has lost its patience with
our own President
Robert Mugabe. That the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) Troika
summit held in Livingstone, Zambia was a turning
point in the way the
Zimbabwean story will play out from now onwards is not
in dispute.
But what is important from now onwards is the question of
who is advising
him. The diplomatic furore that arose after that summit gave
us some insight
into how his think-tank works. From the insufferable
Jonathan Moyo spewing
vitriol against a foreign head of state to mere civil
servants writing
newspaper editorial to buttress an ill-conceived reaction
to the Sadc Troika’s
chastisement, it was all on the table to see. It is
obvious his advisers
like him to hang on, but what effect will this have on
his legacy?
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 16:14
Is the
latest resolve by the South African Development Community (Sadc)
troika in
Livingstone, Zambia on Zimbabwe any cause for celebration and
optimism?
This is a pertinent question that any Zimbabwean, and any
citizen of the
sub-region is inclined to ask in view of what seems to be
continuous
stalling in the implementation of the Global Political Programme
(GPA)
signed in 2008.
Three years or so after the signing of the GPA, the
only thing that seems to
have happened is a nominal government of national
unity (GNU) with Morgan
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, with some of his
Movement for Democratic
Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) colleagues in some
ministerial positions.
Whether this GNU has been more than just in
name, and good intentions, my
guess is good as anyone’s.
To date,
since the signing of the GPA as on which most, especially our
Zimbabwean
brothers and sisters, and we their Southern African neighbours,
pinned
hopes, it remains only a pipedream with hope of its implementation
fading
slowly, if not forever off the rail.
Frankly, the process has been
iced and whether it shall ever thaw remains a
million-dollar question.
Political agreement on outstanding issues such as
ministerial powers and
duties, the appointment of provincial governors,
media liberalisation and a
national audit of land ownership in the country
still have not been reached,
as important as these are as milestones toward
putting Zimbabwean on a new
plain of reform, including amending the country’s
constitution and
eventually free and fair elections.
This is not to say that there
have been no positive developments, notably in
the economy, where some
degree of normalisation has been observed, including
a dip in
hyperinflation. But all these still remain a far cry from the
necessary
foundation and head start Zimbabwe needs to embark on meaningful
change. And
that is why Sadc eventually seems to adopt a hands-on attitude
towards the
Zimbabwean issue by the appointment of a team to assist the
Joint Monitoring
and Implementation Committee of the GPA on Zimbabwe.
Certainly, this
must be a sober re-wakening on the part of the Sadc states,
that unless they
do something drastic to defuse the Zimbabwean situation,
and to spur her
towards real transformation, the country, as much as the
entire region, run
the risk of manipulation by Western powers.
One needs to look no
further than Libya. What is currently happening in
Libya can partly be
blamed on the regional blocs, notably the Arab League,
first and foremost,
and secondly the continental body, the African Union
(AU). For their own
hegemonic reasons and strategic interest the Western
power bloc of Britain,
France and others, through the United Nations
Security Council, the body
through which they usually advance their hegemony
on the world platform,
exploited the delayed boldness, if not lack thereof,
on the part of the Arab
and African regional blocs to intervene in Libya.
Sadc should be
forewarned that the longer they dilly-dally on the Zimbabwean
issue, and
play Big Brother to President Mugabe, the more they risk the
country, and
the region, to the hegemonic Western powers’ self-interest. The
Arab League
and the African Union did not lose the initiative only with the
adoption of
UN Security Council Resolution but with their obliviousness to
the cry of
the Libyan people in the face of alleged state brutality and
disregard for
human rights and freedoms.
African and Arab leaders hesitated on
the pretext, first, that what was
unfolding in Libya was an internal matter.
Secondly, that the Libyan
government was dealing with Western-sponsored
rebellions. They seemed to be
ignorant of the fact that what started in
Libya started as genuine
aspirations by the Libyan people for
liberalisation.
That is the moment African and Arab leaders should have been
bold and
intervened. During the initial stage of the demands of the Libyan
people,
there was no talk of the people being armed. To date we cannot for
sure know
how many people may have been killed by the Libyan authorities, as
there was
total media black-out on the protests and retaliation by the
authorities.
African leaders simply and strangely seem too slow,
reluctant and ominously
blind to signs of human rights abuses? One cannot
but conclude in the face
of such blatant dereliction of leadership that with
a few exceptions, most
of our African leaders’ democratic credentials are
simply artificial,
transient and parochial.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 10 April 2011 16:09
A
Bulawayo High Court ruling stopping the activities of the Fallen Heroes
Trust in Mount Darwin has come as a welcome relief to all Zimbabweans
appalled by the horrid spectacle of human remains being paraded for all to
see at the disused mine shaft.
After weeks of being bombarded with grisly
pictures of dead bodies, Zipra
veterans made a bold decision to challenge
the exercise in court and won an
interdict to stop heartless individuals
from exploiting a human tragedy for
political gain.
It was not
surprising that the so-called Fallen Heroes Trust did not oppose
the court
application. The shadowy group, which is linked to Zanu PF, simply
does not
have any mandate or basis to carry out such an exercise and
justifying their
activities in court would have been impossible.
Although the
exhumations were meant to portray “Rhodesian atrocities” during
the war, the
political charade was robbed of its credibility when the
Gukurahundi
massacres were not given equal attention. The manner in which
they were
conducted also left people not only disgusted but alarmed that
Zanu PF, in
its desperate bid to remain in power, was now exploiting even
the dead for
political gain.
The exhumations turned out, like so many other
election-related
performances, to be a self-inflicted shot in the foot for
Zanu PF.
It remains to be seen whether or not the court ruling will
be respected and
adhered to. There is room for scepticism. We have witnessed
the systematic
disregard by government officials of court rulings which they
deem
politically inconvenient.
The court application has clearly
shown that the whole country is nursing
festering wounds of great
proportions.
Ill-conceived, self-serving exhumations by shadowy
groups with no expertise
whatsoever can only poison further a nation that
desperately needs to forget
its dark past.
What is needed is a
process that goes beyond giving those dumped at Chibondo
mine shaft a decent
burial; the process must encompass restorative, social
and economic justice
that will result in perpetrators of past violations
being brought to justice
and victims compensated as part of a comprehensive
healing endeavour.