http://www.moneyweb.co.za/
Bloomberg|
22
April 2013 14:18
Zimbabwe’s government is preparing a law that would
allow it to seize
controlling stakes in companies without compensation,
according to a draft
of the legislation obtained by Bloomberg
News.
The law would be an amendment to a 2007 act that compels foreign
and
white-owned companies such as Rio Tinto Group, Sinosteel Corp. and
Impala
Platinum Holding Ltd. to sell or cede 51% of their shares to black
nationals
or state-approved agencies.
“The motivation for this
position arises out of the desire to ensure that
the people of Zimbabwe
benefit fully, and without cost whatsoever, from
enterprises that exploit
their God-given natural resources,” according to
the draft
law.
Zimbabwe, which has the world’s second-biggest platinum and chrome
reserves,
endorsed a new constitution in a referendum last month, paving the
way for
elections, which must be held before Oct. 31.
Anglo American
Platinum Ltd. and Impala have agreed to cede stakes in their
local units.
The government is in talks with banks including Barclays Plc
and Standard
Chartered Plc about their compliance with the current local
ownership law.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
22 April 2013
During a meeting with the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) on Monday the
MDC-T demanded that all political parties in
the country be represented in
organisations that run elections, a senior
party official said.
MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told SW Radio
Africa that ZEC had called
for the meeting after their party had raised
several concerns they needed
rectified before the crucial poll in a few
months time.
‘We wrote to ZEC complaining about a number of issues that
included the
staffing at the secretariat and the non-involvement of other
parties in
organs like the accreditation committee and the national
logistics
committee,’ Mwonzora said.
Instead of discussing the issues
with the MDC-T alone, ZEC invited all other
political parties to the meeting
in the capital. 18 parties attended and
ZANU PF was represented by the State
Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi.
The Nyanga North MP explained that
their party does not have confidence in
the ZEC secretariat, that he
believes has been compromised. He emphasized
that the secretariat was
unilaterally appointed by ZANU PF and was therefore
partisan to the former
ruling party.
‘This is the same secretariat that failed to provide
Zimbabweans with
results of the Presidential elections for three weeks in
2008. It’s a
secretariat we cannot have confidence in.
‘In that
regard we told ZEC we were not happy with their secretariat and
urged them
to change the set up,’ Mwonzora added.
The MP reiterated that all
political parties had to be represented in
important organs like the
accreditation and national logistics committees,
which are currently staffed
by appointees from ZANU PF.
‘If you look at the accreditation committee
you have people from the
President’s office, the Foreign Affairs ministry,
the Immigration
department…people appointed by ZANU PF.
‘We believe
in political inclusivity and we asked ZEC to consider
appointments from
other parties. An organ like the national logistics
committee is a very
important one and should not only be manned by officials
from one political
party.
Mwonzora said it is crucial to have ‘ears’ and ‘eyes’ in this
committee as
it is the one charged with the distribution of ballot papers
and boxes.
‘This is a very important organ. This is the committee that
knows how many
ballot boxes and papers go where and the number of resources
that are
deployed during elections. It also deals with the collation of the
results
in preparation for the announcement of the results,’ he
said.
There have been accusations in that the ballot counts; since the
2000
elections have been rigged in favour of President Robert
Mugabe.
It has been highlighted that in some cases there were more votes
than
registered voters, like the case in Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe constituency
in
Mashonaland East province.
This constituency decisively handed
Mugabe victory in the 2002 presidential
elections where an estimated 50,000
people cast their vote, although
subsequent elections have failed to produce
close to half the number that
voted eleven years ago.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
22
April 2013
Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn leader Dr. Simba Makoni has dismissed
allegations by the
state media that he committed ‘treason’, after comments
he made on a South
African news channel about the situation in
Zimbabwe.
The former Finance Minister in Robert Mugabe’s government, and
now vocal
critic of the ZANU PF regime, said recently that all is not well
in
Zimbabwe. He was speaking during an interview with South Africa’s eNCA
news
channel, where he compared life in Rhodesia to present living in
Zimbabwe.
Makoni said that Mugabe and his party were responsible for worse
brutality
being suffered by Zimbabweans now, than what was experienced by
Rhodesians
under the Ian Smith regime.
The state media has since
reacted by accusing Makoni of ‘treason’, quoting
ZANU PF aligned
commentators and ‘analysts”.
The ZBC quoted Gabriel Chaibva, a ZANU PF
member and former high ranking CIO
official, as saying that Makoni is
“clearly playing to the gallery of
westerners who want to see a change of
government” in the country.
Another loyalist, Dr. Charity Manyeruke, who
is reportedly an advisor to
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, is quoted
as saying that Makoni’s
comments are a sign “of a frustrated man who will do
anything to revive his
fading political career. “
She said people
like Makoni, who leave and make ‘irresponsible’ comments
outside Zimbabwe,
should be charged with treason as their actions are
“tantamount to selling
out.”
Makoni on Monday dismissed the allegations and challenged the
analysts to
learn “what constitutes treason.”
“Quite clearly what I
said was not in the faintest idea treasonous. To
suggest I committed treason
was ignoble,” Makoni told SW Radio Africa.
He then went on to repeat the
comments he made during his eNCA interview:
“The key point I made (in
that interview) was that in Rhodesia we lived in
fear and in Zimbabwe we
still live in fear. I said in Rhodesia, the
Rhodesians did not set upon
their own. There is no record of the Rhodesia
arm setting upon a community
of whites in Borrowdale, in Mount Pleasant,”
Makoni said.
He
continued: “In Zimbabwe we have a record of political agents setting upon
villages and townships and communities and brutalising them for holding
different political views. So these are the comments I made. Nowhere can you
suggest this is committing treason,” Makoni said.
He also said that
the reaction from ZANU PF to his comments was a sign of
the party’s own
inability to handle the truth.
“They are not capable of dealing with
issues. When they are confronted with
harsh truths they take comfort in
abuse and aggression. They call you names
and give you labels, but run away
from confrontation,” Makoni said.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
Staff Reporter 20 hours 49 minutes
ago
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said Zimbabweans must not
fight each
other in the run up to the elections expected later this year and
called on
citizens to promote peace in the country.
Speaking at a
peace-building event organised by churches at Chinhoyi stadium
yesterday,
Tsvangirai said that it was important for Zimbabweans to draw a
line that
they would never fight each other again.
“Today I endorse words spoken by
President Mugabe on Independence Day in
Harare. Violence is a culture that
is strengthened by impunity. If people
continue to beat each other, it
becomes the political culture of the
country,” he said.
Tsvangirai
expressed surprise that although Mugabe was calling for peace, it
was other
departments of government that were boldly proclaiming that the
country
would never be taken by the pen.
“That kind of statement is not congruent
with the statements being said by
the President. Others are saying if so and
so wins, we will overthrow him by
a military coup. That is not in the spirit
of advancing peace and stability
in the country. Every one of us is equal
before the law and God,” he said.
The PM called on citizens to register
and vote in the forthcoming elections
and said it was important that the
will of the people was defended.
Speaking at the same occasion,
businessman and Zanu PF Chinhoyi aspiring
Member of Parliament Phillip
Chiyangwa called on Tsvangirai as the PM to
help create employment for the
thousands of unemployed youth in the country.
“I am asking Tsvangirai to
descend [to the grassroots]. For there to be no
hooligans, there must be
food, there is need for jobs. Right here in
Chinhoyi, there are no factories
for people to work. There are many
unemployed people as a result of that,”
said Chiyangwa.
“My plea to the high official in government present here
is that there
should be no hunger or else disputes will arise in light of
where we are
going [elections]”.
Tsvangirai has warned President
Robert Mugabe against putting much trust in
his security chiefs, saying they
were “mere mortals”.
Addressing thousands of people at a peace prayer
concert in Chinhoyi over
the weekend, Tsvangirai said only God had the
ability to ensure political
stability.
The event was part of efforts
by interdenominational churches to prepare the
nation for peaceful, free and
fair elections expected later this year.
“What I am emphasising to my
fellow comrade (Mugabe) is that it is folly to
bank on the might of fellow
human beings, the armed forces. That is not the
power base you should be
bragging about and banking on. Count on the
strength and might of the Lord,
our God.”
The Prime Minister said the new draft constitution respected
the supremacy
of God and viewed all humans as equals.
Tsvangirai went
on to speak against utterances by security service chiefs
and other
politicians who have declared that they will not allow anyone with
no
liberation war credentials to assume the Presidency, in apparent
reference
to him.
Several top army officials have publicly declared their
allegiance to Zanu
PF and vowed not to recognise Tsvangirai as leader of
this country even if
he wins the next election.
During the 33rd
Independence anniversary celebrations in Harare last
Thursday, Information
minister and Zanu PF political commissar Webster Shamu
reiterated the same
position, saying his party would not be removed from
power through the
ballot box.
“Such reckless pronouncements do not advance peace and
political stability
in the country. In the upcoming polls, people should
register as voters and
cast their ballots to defend their fundamental right
of universal suffrage,”
Tsvangirai said.
“I want to emphasise the
peace call by President Mugabe during Independence
Day celebrations in
Harare. Some in Zanu PF now think Mugabe is selling out
when he says ‘peace
begins with you, peace begins with me, peace begins with
all of
us’.
“Peace has never been given so much attention in this country
before. These
are words that build the nation. Violence is a culture, a
value system which
is strengthened by impunity.
“As Zimbabweans, we
are drawing the line that never again should Zimbabweans
fight each other. I
have worked with Mugabe for the past four years and we
oftentimes joke
saying ‘you wanted me beaten up, didn’t you?’ Politics is
counter-productive
when it is violent.”
MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa
underscored the need for
peace and tranquillity in all facets of life,
saying that would bring
harmony and development in the country. Chamisa, who
is also Information
Communication Technology minister, said losers in the
coming polls should
concede defeat and work together with victors towards
nation-building.
Senior officials from Zanu PF, Welshman Ncube’s MDC and
other smaller
parties did not attend the meeting.
The concert
featured performances by renowned gospel musicians Charles and
Olivia
Charamba and fast-rising artiste Blessing Shumba, among others.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga
Moyo
22 April 2013
Analysts have said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai may
have spoken prematurely
when he suggested that the army has no power to
‘save’ President Robert
Mugabe.
Speaking at a peace rally held in
Chinhoyi over the weekend Tsvangirai
advised Mugabe not to put too much
trust on “mere mortals” but rather to
count on divine strength.
The
rally was organised by different churches to prepare the nation for
peaceful, free and fair elections, expected later this
year.
According to the NewsDay newspaper, Tsvangirai told the gathering:
“What I
am emphasising to my fellow comrade (Mugabe) is that it is folly to
bank on
the might of fellow human beings, the armed forces. That is not the
power
base you should be bragging about and banking on. Count on the
strength and
might of the Lord, our God.”
While the utterances were a
caution to Mugabe whose 33-year rule has largely
been propped up by security
chiefs, some people think the PM’s statements
could be misleading,
considering what has happened in the past.
Baster Magwizi, chairman of
the freedom fighters ZIPRA Veterans Trust said
Tsvangirai’s statements can
be misinterpreted and used against him.
He said: “Tsvangirai is making
too many mistakes by issuing arbitrary
statements. The army generals have
given strength to the current regime. It
is wrong to say, ‘They are mere
mortals’.”
Magwizi said it is surprising that Tsvangirai thinks the
generals will alter
their loyalty to Mugabe.
“I think he needs to be
coached on the necessity and significance of
security sector reform. He
should also demand security sector reform,”
Magwizi stated.
Political
commentator Wilfred Mhanda told SW Radio Africa’s Lionel Saungweme
that
rather than leaving Mugabe’s fate to God, the MDC-T leader should be
insisting on security sector reforms.
Mhanda said the PM’s statement
won’t change anything because Mugabe actually
depends on the generals, who
have openly stated that their allegiance lies
with Mugabe, and are on record
as saying they will not salute the MDC
leader, even if he wins the
presidential race.
Outspoken political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said it is
premature for
Tsvangirai to see any change in the way the army operates, and
said that as
long as the reforms that were agreed to as part of the GPA were
not
implemented, Zimbabweans will need to do their bit rather than leave
everything to God.
“To use high moral ground and spiritualism does
not really work with ZANU
PF. As long as Mugabe is alive and as long as
there is that umbilical cord
link between the regime and the military
sector, we can pray all we want but
the generals can just wake up and say
‘you aren’t taking over’ to whoever
wins the next
election.
“Tsvangirai should be underlining the need for reforms and for
a return to
the supremacy of the law and the constitution,” Ngwenya
said.
During the event the PM had also emphasised the peace call by
President
Mugabe during Independence Day celebrations, saying: “Peace has
never been
given so much attention in this country before. These are words
that build
the nation. Violence is a culture, a value system which is
strengthened by
impunity.”
However, Saungweme said it is surprising
that Tsvangirai was taking Mugabe’s
call seriously, given that over the
years the ZANU PF leader has clearly
demonstrated his love for violence,
even declaring that “ZANU PF has degrees
in violence. He clearly never spoke
about a degree in peace.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 22 April 2013 11:23
HARARE - Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has angrily rejected claims that
he has “pleaded”
to purchase his Highlands mansion and official Mercedes
Benz to secure his
future after the imminent expiry of the inclusive
government.
The
State-run media claimed yesterday Tsvangirai has officially “pleaded”
with
authorities to allow him to purchase his official Highlands mansion for
$4,5
million and his official Mercedes Benz vehicle for an undisclosed
amount.
But Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka described the
claim
yesterday as “a desperate attempt to scandalise and soil the image of
the
prime minister and equalise him with Zanu PF people known for living
beyond
their means.”
Tsvangirai and his wife Elizabeth moved into the
Highlands pad in April
ahead of their highly-anticipated wedding.
The
mansion was renovated by government after the former trade unionist
failed
to move into Zimbabwe House — President Robert Mugabe’s former
residence
when he served as PM soon after independence in 1980 until 1987.
The
father of six said while the Global Political Agreement specifically
indicates that the Prime Minister shares executive powers with Mugabe, “the
PM has remained modest using a second hand Mercedes Benz given to him four
years ago.”
“As we speak, the car is in the garage and the PM has
never sought to insist
on material demands even of those things that he is
entitled to,” Luke
Tamborinyoka, the PM’s spokesperson told the Daily News
yesterday.
Tsvangirai has a right as a sitting tenant to buy the house
but he has not
indicated his intention to do so, Tamborinyoka
clarified.
He said the PM’s Highlands house was valued at $790 000 before
improvement
and its value is nowhere near the $4.5 million being peddled in
the
State-run media.
“The PM has right to buy the house but is yet to
do that because he does not
have the money which amount is far less than the
$5 million being peddled by
the public media,” Tamborinyoka
said.
While the State media claimed Tsvangirai has written to Public
Works
Minister Joel Gabuza Gabbuza asking to buy the mansion, the minister
said
yesterday he had not received any such communication from the PM’s
office.
“We have not received such a request,” Gabbuza told the Daily
News
yesterday. “We only said in the contract of occupation that if he so
wishes
to buy, he has a right of first refusal, he can approach us and we
will be
able to give him. For now he has not approached
us.”
Tamborinyoka said as Zimbabwe hurtles towards fresh elections, there
was
escalating and consistent maligning of the person of the Prime Minister
“to
put him on equal footing with those known for pillaging the country’s
resources.”
“The public media has not said a word about those that
own mansions in
Borrowdale,” Tamborinyoka said. “They have not talked about
those that
claimed over a 100 percent disability to abuse the War Victims
Compensation
Fund but still hold high offices in government.”
The
State media claimed Tsvangirai was scared of losing elections, hence his
attempt to negotiate an exit package.
“Mugabe lost elections in 2008
and a few months before the country’s biggest
electoral fight our opponents
are quacking in their boots,” the PM‘s
spokesperson said.
“They have
stalled security sector and media reforms. When even their
president is
calling for a free, fair and credible peaceful poll, the likes
of (Webster)
Shamu (Media, Information and Publicity minister) are declaring
that a vote
cannot precipitate a change of power in Zimbabwe.
“Our people must then
ask, who is petrified of the elections? They know
their removal from power
through the ballot is imminent.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Richard Chidza, Staff Writer
Monday, 22 April 2013
11:21
HARARE - Knives are out for Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede ahead of a
crucial Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) meeting slated for today, with
ruling MDC parties calling for his removal before
elections.
Fireworks are expected at today’s Zec meeting when the
electoral commission
gleans views of ruling and opposition political
parties.
Zec chief elections officer, Lovemore Sekeramayi, confirmed the
electoral
body will meet political parties at its offices today.
“I
can confirm we will be meeting representatives of all political parties
in
the country tomorrow (today),” Sekeramayi told the Daily News yesterday.
“We
would like to hear the concerns of the political parties and at the
moment I
cannot tell what kind of issue they will bring to the table. Zec is
willing
to listen.”
According to the meeting’s agenda, Zec wants to do a
post-mortem of the
constitutional referendum as well as discuss the voters’
roll.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo was unavailable for comment, and
administration secretary Didymus Mutasa declined to comment.
“Handisi
kudaba kutaura nePress mazuva ano (I am not talking to the Press
these
days),” Mutasa said.
While Douglas Mwonzora, spokesperson of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC was unavailable for comment, a top party
official who requested
anonymity said they will demand Mudede’s
ouster.
“Mudede’s hands are dirty,” said the senior MDC Standing
Committee member.
“He has been complicit in the rigging of all previous
elections and it is
time he takes no part in our electoral processes if we
are serious about a
credible poll.
“We will also raise the issue of
the voters’ roll, partisan registration of
voters in favour of Zanu PF and
of course the emotive issue of the Zec
secretariat.”
He said Zec
officials with a military and intelligence background were not
welcome to
preside over the crucial poll.
“Most of them are compromised and would
never be impartial in their conduct.
The availability of the voters’ roll to
the generality of the people as well
as political parties is also a
prominent issue we would like discussed as
well as the difficulties citizens
are facing when trying to register as
voters.”
Qhubani Moyo, Welshman
Ncube’s MDC policy director said they will push for
the removal of
Mudede.
“Mudede must go given his not so rosy history of rigging
elections on behalf
of Zanu PF,” Moyo told the Daily News.
“He has
become a national liability. We cannot have such partisan officials
manning
our electoral processes. Our people have been arrested while trying
to
register as voters in Lupane two weeks ago and we have a record and
police
report of that. In Bulawayo and at the United Bulawayo Hospitals,
there is a
mobile registration centre preserved for the security services
only. We have
complained about this with Zec.”
However, Sekeramayi said: “We have not
received such reports. In fact that
is why we have convened this meeting and
we can only comment as and when we
are officially notified.”
Moyo
said: “At Nketa, our supporters were also denied registration last week
and
there has been systematic denial of citizens viewed to be hostile to
Zanu PF
when they intend to register as voters.”
But Mudede told a news
conference last week that he does not ask for anyone’s
political affiliation
when it comes to voter registration.
“That’s rubbish, no one is asked his
or her political party when we are
dealing with voter registration,” Mudede
said.
The smaller MDC policy director complained that the $30 000 charged
for a
party to get a copy of the voters’ roll was extortionate and meant to
deny
some parties access to the voter register.
Opposition Zapu
spokesperson Mjobisa Noko said: “We want an immediate
clean-up of the roll
and removal of individuals who have become part of the
fixtures and fittings
at the Registrar General’s office. These have ceased
to be professional
because their jobs are tied to certain political
establishments.”
Opposition Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) has also been
invited to the meeting.
MDC-99 president Job Sikhala said they were yet
to receive the Zec
invitation.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 22 April 2013 11:10
HARARE - Zimbabwe is
fretting over the resurgence of typhoid, cholera and
other diarrhoeal
diseases, five years after a similar outbreak killed over 4
000
people.
At least four people have died in the fresh typhoid outbreak, and
aid groups
are rushing in medicine and other supplies to combat Zimbabwe’s
deadliest
health problem.
The outbreak of typhoid in the squalid tarp
capital of Harare, where crammed
residents are vulnerable to disease because
of poor sanitation, has been
coupled with a cholera outbreak in the rural
south eastern region of
Chikombedzi which has infected scores and killed one
person so far,
according to the ministry of Health and Child
Welfare.
To date, health authorities have recorded over 3 600 suspected
typhoid cases
and four deaths — in the City of Harare alone.
The
outbreak has sickened hundreds more who have rushed to a crowded
infectious
diseases hospital seeking treatment.
The number of unrecorded cases might
likely be higher than what is reported
and treated to-date.
“The
outbreak has spread over four suburbs (of Harare) so far,” says
Shakeman
Mapuranga, the emergency coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontieres
(MSF) or
Doctors Without Borders. Most recently, first cases have been
coming from
Mbare, one of the high density suburbs in Harare and major food
market and
transport hub for the rest of the country. If the epidemic is not
contained
here, it can easily spread further.”
Typhoid is a bacterial, water-borne
disease transmitted by the ingestion of
food or water contaminated with
faeces of an infected person.
This happens in conditions of poor
sanitation, and poor supply of clean
water.
Harare City Council
director of Health Services Prosper Chonzi said people
must be vigilant
about hygiene and wash their hands frequently to slow the
spread of the
disease.
He said “many fresh cases” were being recorded in Mbare, a
populous high
density suburb.
“Our biggest fear is a cholera outbreak
in the city and we hope with support
from partners such as ministry of
Health, World Health Organisation, MSF and
the WASH cluster we can avert
this,” Chonzi said.
“We have new cases mainly from Mbare due to poor
sanitation especially in
the hostels as well as erratic supply of
water.”
Zimbabwe’s political crisis, economic collapse and civil unrest
have had a
major impact on public health.
Once, the country was
considered a breadbasket for southern Africa, and now
nearly half of the
population suffers from malnutrition and life expectancy
is about 33 years,
according to the UN.
With the disintegration of the health care system,
there are few medical
resources except those donated by charitable
organisations to deal with the
many critical health issues.
The
latest cholera and typhoid outbreaks have coincided with the rainy
season.
Chonzi said health education and hygiene promotion activities
are ongoing
around Harare, especially in areas which have not been affected
by the
outbreak.
Harare faces a critical water shortage because of
collapsing infrastructure,
and town clerk Tendai Mahachi said council did
not have enough money to
replace all the old water pipes. Many of Harare’s
suburbs go for days
without water that is lost mainly due to
leaks.
Mahachi says once the leakages were attended to, the city could
adequately
supply 80 percent of the 2,2 million Harare residents with clean
water
daily.
He added that the city’s water quality had deteriorated
due to domestic,
agricultural and industrial activities with Chitungwiza,
Ruwa and Epworth
being blamed for upstream pollution.
“Sewage works
in these local authorities are dysfunctional, resulting in raw
sewage
flowing into the dams since they are located downstream of the
settlements,”
he said.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has
dispatched a
multi-disciplinary team to Harare to support the ministry of
Health and the
city of Harare response team with epidemiologic
investigation, improved
surveillance, water testing, and provision of
laboratory supplies.
“We have some additional studies that we are doing,
including helping
evaluate the distribution of non-food items that were
given out by NGO
partners in response to the outbreak,” said CDC’s Rachel
Slayton.
“We are hoping to see what the coverage of those items was, what
worked, and
what can be improved upon for the next time, so that we can help
direct
those donations moving forward.”
Slayton is part of a seven
member multi-disciplinary team involving two
microbiologists from Kenya and
South Africa that arrived in Zimbabwe last
month as part of efforts by the
Atlanta-based global health agency to assist
Zimbabwe to contain the typhoid
outbreak.
“We have also been looking at the value of the diagnostic test
to see how
well it performs in the field. If the test works well, it allows
doctors to
diagnose patients more quickly than traditional methods which
could help
improve patient outcomes,” said Slayton.
She said they
have enough treatments for now but stocks will need to be
replenished.
“We brought supplies for blood cultures, which are the
gold standard
diagnoses of typhoid fever; rapid test kits that we are
validating; and the
necessary susceptibility testing supplies, so that
patients’ samples can be
fully worked up,” said Slayton.
Harare
officials, including mayor Muchadeyi Masunda, have been pointing to
the lack
of severe disease outbreaks as a success of the 2008 cholera
response.
With more than 2 million people with intermittent access to
clean water,
however, experts have warned that conditions are ripe for
disease to strike
in areas with limited access to clean water.
At the
hospital, some patients including 65-year-old Joshua Moyo said they
got sick
after drinking water from a borehole drilled by aid agencies during
the 2008
cholera outbreak that killed more than 4 000 people, according to
the
UN.
“I have been having continuous diarrhoea, and visited the toilet six
times
last night,” Moyo said.
The sick come from across the dirty and
poor ghettos of Harare. Doctors at
the hospital said they also needed more
personnel to handle the flood of
patients. The government has issued an
advisory urging people to drink only
boiled water or water treated with
“aqua tablets” and eat only food that has
been thoroughly
cooked.
Government has admitted it has no capacity to contain the
outbreak.
“Its really a function of the public health infrastructure that
has really
broken down, here we are referring to safe water supply, which
include
sewerage management as well,” said Portia Manangazira, Epidemiology
and
Disease Control director in the ministry of Health and Child
Welfare.
“This is really the first line of defence for the people in
terms of
diarhheal diseases. For now those things are not in place and
looking at the
environment it may take another three and four years to
achieve the required
coverage in terms of safe water and sanitation in most
of our urban areas.”
MSF is working in collaboration with the Harare
city’s health department in
the provision of safe drinking water, setting up
of mini-water treatment
sites in affected areas as well as rehabilitation of
existing boreholes.
“We have targeted 12 institutions such as clinics,
schools, churches and
Mosque,” said Huggins Madondo, an MSF coordinator who
is over seeing the
water and sanitation component of the
intervention.
“We are doing this in collaboration with Harare City
Council aiming at
providing safe drinking water to the general community
especially in typhoid
prone areas where water supply is
irregular.
“We are providing these institutions with 20mc water tanks,
in-line feeder
with slow releasing chlorine tablets, 4,5KVA generators for
power back-up,
submersible pumps and water taps which are installed outside
the premises to
minimise interruption of activities in these institutions.”
- Gift Phiri,
Political Editor
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Jeffrey Muvundusi, Own
Correspondent
Monday, 22 April 2013 11:00
MATOBO - A group of Zanu PF
youths led by war veteran Soul Ndlovu on Friday
allegedly hijacked the
government’s grain loan scheme and barred non- Zanu
PF members from getting
anything.
The incident took place at Bidi Business Centre under Chief
Bidi in Matopo
South, Matabeleland South.
Gabriel Ndebele the MDC
Member of Parliament for Matobo South told the Daily
News Ndlovu, who is
also the Zanu PF Ward 8 chairperson, led a group of 10
party youths who
seized the distribution of bags of maize and rice.
“When they arrived
they openly told villagers who had gathered for the maize
and rice which was
being distributed, that only Zanu PF members will
benefit,” Ndebele
said.
“They actually had a list of the Zanu PF members who were supposed
to
benefit and were also demanding party cards.”
During the incident,
the MDC legislator claimed he called Matobo district
administrator Doreen
Molife to get an explanation, but she reportedly told
him to get an answer
from the President’s office.
When contacted for comment Zanu PF
chairperson for Matabeleland South
Province Andrew Langa said: “I have not
received the report yet but I will
have to gather the facts.
“But in
any case it’s not proper for people to be denied food on political
grounds.
There is no political party which is supposed to interfere with the
grain
loan scheme”.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
21/04/2013 00:00:00
by Roman
Moyo
POOR harvest and lack of fertilizer in the last season left the
country with
severely depleted grain reserves African Development Bank
(AfDB) said in its
Zimbabwe monthly economic review for
March.
According to the report released this week, the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB)
had 92,000 tonnes of maize in its reserves and has since stopped
selling to
millers, reserving the grain for the grain loan
scheme.
Millers require 150 000 tonnes to meet the consumer demand before
the new
harvest lands on the market.
“This grain shortage has pushed up
maize-meal prices. The supply of grain
under the grain loan scheme is
erratic and inconsistent. This is because the
reserved grain is insufficient
and transporters are not willing to move it
to the affected areas, as they
are not paid on time,” said AfDB.
Usually, traders import maize from
Malawi, South Africa and Zambia, but
transport costs involved in moving the
grain from these countries to
Zimbabwe make it expensive compared to buying
it from the GMB.
In addition, Zambia is currently facing food shortages
and has imposed a
temporary export restriction on grain.
“The crop
situation in the current season, particularly in the southern
parts of the
country, is poor due to recurring droughts. Seventy-five
percent of the crop
in Masvingo was written off last season due to the dry
spell,” said
AfDB.
The government estimated that at least 1,6 million people would
face food
insecurities between January and March 2013.
The Famine and
Early Warning Systems Network revealed this represents a 60
percent increase
in the number of people in need of food compared to the
same period last
year.
AfDB said government needs to come up with strategies to ensure
that grain
reserves are well stocked and that transporters are paid on time
so as to
avoid unnecessary food shortages in some parts of the
country.
“Government needs to not only intensify the presence of
extension service
officers but also their interaction with farmers in drier
areas to encourage
them to grow drought resistant crops, such as small
grains,” AfDB.
AfDB said there was need to invest in research and
development to come up
with new drought resistant crops that adapt well to
the changing weather
conditions in these drier parts of the
country.
“There is further need for long-term solutions to deal with food
insecurity
problems in these parts of the country. These could be the
resuscitation of
silted dams and construction of new ones, investment in
community gardens,
revamping irrigation schemes and livestock dip tanks,
improving livestock
practice and promoting conservation agriculture,” the
bank said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
21/04/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, has insisted
that, under the current
Constitution, fresh elections must be held by June
30 and dismissed as
“logistical or political but unconstitutional” claims
that the polls can be
delayed by up to four months.
Parties to the
coalition administration remain divided over the exact timing
of the vote
which will elect a substantive government with President Robert
Mugabe’s
Zanu PF saying the polls must be held at the end of June while the
MDC
formations argue that the ballot can and should be delayed.
Mugabe, still
livid at being compelled to share power with long-term rival
and current
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is anxious to end the
arrangement and has
argued that new elections must be held at the end of the
life of the current
Parliament on June 29.
But the MDC formations say the polls can be
delayed by up to four months
after that date and want the option exercised
in order to force the
implementation of reforms they believe are needed help
ensure a credible
vote.
Zvoma weighed into the debate at the weekend,
and essentially backed Mugabe
by insisting that there cannot be a gap
between the dissolution of
Parliament and the holding of new
elections.
Writing in the Sunday Mail, Zvoma said: “In view of the fact
that Mugabe was
sworn in as President on . . . June 29 2008, the five years
of Parliament
shall expire on 29 June 2013 after which, unless he sooner
dissolves it,
Parliament shall stand dissolved.
“In terms of section
63(7) of the Constitution, that dissolution is the ‘day
preceding the day or
first day’ of a general election which must take place
the next day on 30
June 2013.
“In other words, there cannot be a gap between dissolution and
the holding
of a general election. Such a gap beyond the normal (five years)
or extended
life (up to a maximum of five years or up to a maximum of one
year) would be
unconstitutional.”
Zvoma said claims the elections
could be delayed by up to four months were
based on “mischievous”
interpretations of the relevant provisions in the
Constitution.
“Section 58(1) of the Constitution … unequivocally
states that a general
election ‘shall be held on the day or days within a
period not exceeding
four months after the issue of a proclamation
dissolving Parliament’,” he
said.
“(but this) has been mischievously
interpreted even by some prominent
lawyers as meaning that a general
election can be held within a period not
exceeding four months ‘after
dissolution of Parliament’.
“To read section 58(1) as allowing a period
of up to four months to hold a
general election after the dissolution of
Parliament is to attempt to create
circumstances for a third extension of
the life of Parliament, which would
be unconstitutional.”
He said the
current Constitution only provided for the extension of
Parliament if the
country was at war or in a state of emergency adding an
amendment would be
required to provide for a third exceptional circumstance
since these two
conditions did not currently obtain.
“The question is whether there is a
constitutional option to hold a general
election later than end of June
2013,” Zvoma added.
“The simple answer is “Yes”, provided Parliament
amends the Constitution to
create a third exceptional circumstance for the
extension of the life of
Parliament after the expiry of the five-year life
of the Seventh
Parliament.”
A Cabinet committee comprising
Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric
Matinenga (MDC-T) and his Justice
counterpart, Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu PF)
has since been established to help
bridge differences between the parties
over the timing of the
polls.
“(We must) consider the legal and political issues surrounding
that roadmap.
There are legal issues which include the fact that the (new)
Constitution
has to be signed by the President,” Tsvangirai said when
announcing the
establishment of the committee.
“We (also) need one
month (for) voter registration and one month (for) voter
inspection and we
have to consider the last day of Parliament.”
The development however,
precipitated even further controversy with the MDC
formation led by Welshman
Ncube saying it would disregard the committee’s
recommendations after being
excluded from deliberations that led to its
formation.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
22 April 2013
A growing number of Zimbabweans living across the
border are choosing to
return home when they are critically ill, despite the
lack of medical care
they can receive there, just to escape the exorbitant
costs of dying in
South Africa.
A new report by the South African
Mail & Guardian newspaper has revealed the
extreme costs facing
Zimbabwean families when a loved one in South Africa
passes away. The report
said that the costs of repatriating a body back home
can be anywhere between
R10,000 to R20,000.
The report says that as a result of the large number
of Zimbabweans now
permanently living in South Africa, a growing number of
Zimbabwean-based
funeral parlours have opened branches in South Africa “to
tap into the
emerging market.”
“Falakhe Funeral Parlour and Kings and
Queens Real Funeral Services are both
headquartered in Bulawayo. They have
been operating satellite offices in
Johannesburg for the past three years to
cater for their Zimbabwean
clients,” the report states.
But with the
repatriation costs still far more than what most Zimbabweans
can afford, the
reality is that many families are either left in debt, or
choosing to send
their loved ones home to die.
Diana Zimbundzana from the Zimbabwe Exiles
Forum in Johannesburg told SW
Radio Africa that “more people are now opting
to go home, rather than
leaving their families with the costs.”
“It
is a situation where people are in a quagmire, but what can they do?”
Zimbudzana said.
She explained that some Zimbabweans are choosing
cremation as an alternative
to repatriation, but the costs are still an
estimated R3,000.
“Unless a person is popular and people donate money,
families are left with
very large costs,” Zimbudzana said.
She
explained that many Zimbabweans in South Africa are now starting funeral
societies, which people pay monthly fee towards. But she added that these
initiatives are still too new to help the many people faced with
repatriation costs.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 22 April 2013
11:23
Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa.
MUSINA - There are more
Zimbabweans than South Africans in this town
according to the last official
census in South Africa.
Infact Musina, the busy border town between
Zimbabwe and South Africa has
assumed a Zimbabwean face.
Several
churches in the town have been turned into shelters for desperate
and
homeless Zimbabweans.
Many of these Zimbabweans first trooped into South
Africa in 2008 fleeing
political violence that engulfed the country
following a disputed
presidential poll.
While many Zimbabweans where
celebrating independence on Thursday, April 18,
2013, a Daily News team
spent the day with the Zimbabwean refugees and
asylum seekers.
At the
Roman Catholic Church Shelter for homeless Zimbabweans in Nancefield
suburb
located next to the busy N1 highway to Johannesburg, we found a group
of
women gathered waiting for the arrival of food handouts from local
well-wishers.
While many Zimbabweans around the world were
celebrating 33rd independence,
for these women, it was just another
day.
“I don’t know what is happening today,” the women said collectively
when
asked what was happening back home on April 18.
They were
visibly not interested in the subject.
“I don’t care what is happening
because I have forgotten about Zimbabwe at
the moment and concentrating on
my life here,” said Selina Chimoyo, a
teenage mother holding her toddler. It
was as if she was cradling her baby
sister.
We asked another group of
women at the shelter what independence day meant
to
them?
“Independence day is the day that the country was won. It was the
day that
we got our sovereignty and self-rule,” one of the women
said.
But others were of a different view.
“There is no self-rule
because we have no money, we have no jobs, life is
tough,” said an elderly
woman.
But why do you say there is no self-rule, we asked them?
“There
is no self-rule at all because we are just suffering and the country
is
doing nothing to help us.
Here in South Africa when they celebrate their
Independence day, you could
see that they are really independent. Women in
this country give birth to
children and those children receive State-funding
but there is nothing like
that in Zimbabwe,” said Dudzai Chireshe from
Epworth, who first moved to
Musina in 2008 with her husband and children
fleeing violence. The couple
went back home in 2010 but are now back in
Musina ahead of another election.
“This time around we can’t risk because
we are afraid we could be attacked
again, so it’s better to stay here until
those elections are done,” Chireshe
said.
Another woman said
independence means nothing to her because she can’t find
a job to look after
her children back home.
“I have been looking for a job. I want to look
after my two children but
there are no jobs in Zimbabwe yet here in South
Africa I can easily get a
job. We also want a good life and to be told that
its Independence Day it
doesn’t help us at all because it’s like a
33-year-old mother who can’t look
after her children, ” said Priscilla
Chatikobo from Mashenjere in
Masvingo -— a mother of two who came to South
Africa to look for a job after
she was left by her husband.
On the
day of the visit to the Roman Catholic Church Women’s Shelter, there
was a
hive of activity. Several women walked in and out of the centre.
Others
tended to their toddlers. Almost everyone here was either pregnant or
nursing a toddler.
“Most of these women came here without travelling
documents. They travel
through the bush and the Limpopo River to get here
and they are raped on
their way here. Others are raped when they decide to
prostitute themselves
to get some money,” said a Roman Catholic nun who is
in charge of the Musina
centre.
These women have a long list of
things that they want addressed before they
can consider Zimbabwe a truly
independent country.
“Schools and hospitals must be for free like here in
South Africa, that’s
what we want. We want to give birth for free,” said
Mashenjere.
Gladys Chino, a 24-year-old mother told the Daily News that
she was HIV
positive but her life changed when she arrived in
Musina.
“Life is totally different here than at home. I am HIV positive
and I don’t
look like I am sick because I got tested and get ARVs for free.
If I was in
Zimbabwe I would have died because you have to pay for
everything. I feel
more at home in South Africa than in Zimbabwe,” said
Chino.
“I would like to send a message to Baba Mugabe and say we are
suffering and
we need real independence that will allow us to look after our
families. If
I had opportunity I would like to meet the president and tell
him that he
should look after us but the problem is we have no access. I
wish the
president could be accessible like here in South
Africa.”
Our interview with the women was interrupted when some
well-wishers arrived
with foodstuffs.
But as we left the shelter, one
thing was clear, no one among the women is
ready to go back home to the
so-called independent Zimbabwe.
The Roman Catholic Church nun said many
of these women hardly get by.
“They have gone through a lot. Some of them
have been raped. They eat
porridge in the morning and only get supper in the
evening. Many of them are
not willing to go back home because they say they
won’t have any work and
life will be difficult so they prefer to stay here,
walk through the streets
looking for piece jobs,” said the
nun.
Lazarus Chidumwa, aged 15, says independence should be a day of
celebration
but he could not do so in a foreign country.
“The country
is independent from colonialism but there is no real
independence because
people are running away from Zimbabwe, coming here to
look for jobs and that
means there is no freedom,” said Chidumwa who came to
South Africa in search
of an education. He does not see himself going back
home anytime
soon.
“The fact that we are now using foreign money means the country is
not
stable and the country has problems.”
Chidumwa stays at the
Christian Women Ministries (CWM) in Matswale — a
sprawling high density
suburb in Musina. More than 80 young Zimbabwean boys
who came to South
African mostly without identity documents are kept at this
centre, funded by
the South African government’s department of Social
Development, other
international and local non-governmental organisations as
well as other
well-wishers.
Believe in Jesus, is a shelter for men just a stone’s throw
away from CWM.
It is home to several homeless men from Zimbabwe.
This
is a dusty outfit with no proper rooms. The men sleep in tents and
hardly
get food.
Albert Nyoni is a resident of the shelter. He believes 33 years
into
independence, there is still a lot that still needs to be done for
celebrations to start.
“Zimbabwe is independent but things are still
tough, we want to go back home
but there are no jobs, we want jobs. The
politicians must get their act
together for us to be truly independent,”
said Nyoni who had just returned
from a day job sorting out bricks at a
local brick factory where he earns $6
a day. - Own Correspondent
http://www.businessweek.com/
By Brian Latham
April 22,
2013
Benson Mahenya makes as much as $10,000 a month as he drives
around Harare
in a white Mercedes- Benz dealing in the five currencies that
Zimbabwe
recognizes as legal tender.
Selling South African rand to
Harare’s car-part dealers, he receives dollars
in return and uses them to
buy euros from the city’s hotels. He then sells
the European currency to
liquor stores so they can import French and
Portuguese
wine.
“Different customers want different currencies, depending on the
business
they’re in,” Mahenya, 46, said in an interview in Harare last
month. “On a
good month I make an excellent living.”
Mahenya, and
traders like him, have sprung up since Finance Minister Tendai
Biti
abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009 following hyperinflation that the
International Monetary Fund estimates hit 500 billion percent. Under Biti,
Zimbabwe stopped printing money and adopted the U.S. dollar, the euro, the
South African rand, the Botswana pula and the British pound as legal
currencies.
While the country is still mired in political crisis 33
years into President
Robert Mugabe’s rule, the move helped end an economic
collapse that
decimated the country’s tobacco and rose export industries and
shrank the
economy by 40 percent between 2000 and 2007, according to an IMF
estimate.
It also created huge arbitrage opportunities for a new breed of
currency
trader.
“I’ll always better the banks,” says Jackson Jere,
sitting on a wooden crate
as he haggles with customers ranging from shop
owners to tourists at Harare’s
Road Port international bus
terminus.
Dollar Economy
Harare, the capital in the north of the
country, has largely become a dollar
economy while in the south, the second
city, Bulawayo, uses rand because of
its proximity to South Africa. In
Harare supermarket goods are often paid
for in dollars while retailers give
out change in rand and minibus taxis
also charge in the South African
currency. Speculators profit from arbitrage
between the different rates in
the cities.
“Bulawayo is closer to the South Africa border, so rand are
both more
popular there and cheaper,” said Jere, who deals in amounts as
high as
$30,000. “I can buy rand there and sell the rand for a better price
in
Harare. I’ll always better the banks.”
On March 22 Barclays Plc’s
Zimbabwe unit was selling 100 rand for $11 at its
Borrowdale branch in
northern Harare. Across town in the central suburb of
Avondale a branch of
Standard Chartered Plc’s local unit was selling the
same 100 rand for
$10.43.
Empty Shelves
Officially there are three exchange rates in
Zimbabwe, Dave Mills, managing
director of Meikles Africa Ltd.-owned TM
Supermarkets (PVT) Ltd., said in a
March 21 telephone interview from Harare.
TM competes with OK Zimbabwe (OKZ)
Ltd. as the country’s biggest
retailer.
Banks sell currency to general customers at rates set at a
daily level based
on international markets while giving their corporate
customers, such as
retailers, a range within which they can trade. Customs
rates are set weekly
by the government for import duty purposes.
It’s
an “incomparable” improvement from trading before Zimbabwe dollar was
abolished, said Mills, whose company competes with OK Zimbabwe Ltd. to be
the country’s biggest supermarket chain, said. “Back then shelves were empty
and retail was at a standstill.”
Stores and taxi drivers convert the
rand at 10-to-the- dollar for ease
rather than using a market-related
rate.
Coalition Government
“Until recently we were using old Zimbabwe
dollar notes, even though they
weren’t legal tender. It was like a voucher
or ticket system,” Mike
Muparutsa, a minibus taxi-driver, said. “Now it’s
rand coins, but the
consumer loses on the exchange rate.”
The
currency reform has brought some semblance of stability to a country
bearing
the scars of Mugabe’s economic mismanagement. Zimbabwe’s central
bank began
printing money in 2006 to pay a debt to the IMF to stave off
expulsion and
continued the practice to meet expenses including
infrastructure
payments.
Biti was then brought in as finance minister in 2009 after the
15-nation
Southern African Development Community forced Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai,
who is now prime minister, to form a coalition. Tsvangirai’s
Movement for
Democratic Change won control of the economic ministries as
part of that
agreement and Biti was one of his appointments.
That
agreement ended a decade-long recession and political dispute after a
series
of violent elections won by Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front.
‘My Benz’
“Having a multi-currency economy
with no Zimbabwe dollars is primarily good
news for Zimbabwe because
government can’t print its way out of a deficit,”
said John Robertson, an
independent economist, in an interview from Harare.
“They can’t just print
more if they need it, as was happening in 2008.”
The economy is expanding
and most shortages have abated. Economic growth of
5 percent is being
targeted this year, Biti told reporters in Harare on
April 16. Biti and
Tsvangirai have said a return to the Zimbabwe dollar isn’t
likely
soon.
Still, with no control over the currencies, commerce can be stymied
when
enough of the right currency can’t be gathered for a transaction, said
Robertson.
“It boils down to scarcity and extremely tight liquidity,
which has created
a very skewed economy,” Robertson said. When a particular
currency is short
the buyer has to “pay a premium.”
That’s a boon to
the Mercedes-driving Mahenya, who says he has no plans to
take his
currency-trading prowess to the trading floor.
“The bank would be making
fortunes, not me,” said Mahenya, explaining that
he was able to walk into a
dealership and pay cash for his car. “You saw me,
you saw my Benz. $33,000
walk-in, drive-out cash.”
http://www.bdlive.co.za/
April 22 2013, 00:00
I FOUND your
coverage of Zimbabwe and the impending elections a sad reminder
of just how
big a waste this past decade has been in my birth country’s
history.
It beggars belief that, in the face of such overwhelming
evidence of
corruption, economic incompetence and political repression, Zanu
(PF) is
still able to attract a big following.
Almost every
Zimbabwean family has a member who has either been the victim
of political
violence, had their livelihood destroyed by Zanu (PF) policies
or has left
the country for better prospects. Vote-rigging has played a role
in keeping
Zanu (PF) in power, but even in a fair vote the party would have
still
probably have received the backing of more than 40% of the
populace.
Perhaps it goes to show that literacy and education, which
remain remarkably
high in Zimbabwe despite the economic collapse, do not
translate into basic
common sense.
Both factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) have allowed
themselves to become part of the
charade by being subordinate partners in
the far from equal "unity"
government.
I believe there is only one course of action left that will
show the people
of Zimbabwe that they are different from Zanu (PF) – Morgan
Tsvangirai must
decline to run for the presidency when elections are held
this year and the
two factions should hold a joint primary for a new
presidential candidate.
Despite his flaws, Tsvangirai is a decent man. He
has endured suffering,
imprisonment, humiliation and personal tragedy since
the MDC’s formation.
When liberation-fuelled nationalism is finally
discarded, he will be
accorded his rightful place amongst the country’s
greatest personalities.
But after 13 years at the helm of the MDC, two
failed attempts at the
presidency and five years of being outwitted in a
coalition government, it
is time for a different actor to take Mugabe on.
Nothing would cement his
legacy as someone who stood up to oppression and
the "presidency for life"
mantra of Zanu (PF) than to concede that his time
is up.
Suhail Suleman
Newlands
The Zanu PF MP for Mudzi West, Aqualinah Katsande easily goes onto the Zimbabwe Wall of Shame. Between April and June 2008 she orchestrated a reign of terror that left many people with terrible stories to tell about her brutality.
According to a detailed dossier Katsande moved around the entire Mudzi district hunting for her victims. “She was present when most heart wrenching punishments were meted out on MDC activists in her constituency.”
Most of her victims either died instantly or a few days later.
After Morgan Tsvangirai’s presidential election victory over Robert Mugabe in March 2008, a run-off was engineered by ZANU PF. Tsvangirai withdrew citing violence and the murder of his supporters.
The one-man run off went ahead anyway and in the build up to that election many opposition activist were targeted.
In Mudzi West Aquilinah and her son George Katsande rose to notoriety.
They teamed up with Bramwell Katsvairo, described by many in the area as a ‘known killer’. On the 6th April 2008 Aqualinah Katsande and Peter Nyakuba, the local ZANU PF councillor, held a rally at Bensen Mine.
Katsande openly declared that all the MDC-T supporters who had campaigned for Tsvangirai in the March 29 election should be assaulted to force them to change allegiance.
“If any of the MDC supporters foolishly resist, kill them all. We have been granted authority by the president to kill MDC supporters,” she said.
According to witnesses, immediately after this rally Zanu PF youths and war vets went on the war path, many MDC supporters were brutally assaulted, homes were destroyed and livestock forcibly taken for food, to feed comrades at the torture bases.
On the 1st June 2008 George Katsande and Tawanda Mazunze, leading a gang of ZANU PF militia, abducted Fianda Katiyo. They took him to Nyahondo torture base using a vehicle provided by Katsande. Katiyo was subjected to terrible torture throughout the night and only released the following morning.
The torture was so serious Katiyo died a week after his release.
Again on the 1st June 2008 Bramwell Katsvairo, in the company of George Katsande and three unknown people, hunted down Tafadzwa Meza after accusing him of transporting MDC-T supporters to rallies using his pickup truck.
After several days they caught up with him at Nyamuyaruka Business centre near Kotwa.
“Meza tried to flee but Katsvairo shot him in the leg. Meza jumped off his truck to hide under some bushes close by as it was getting dark, probably hoping that the killers would not find him. George and the band of killers set Meza’s truck on fire and the resultant light from the flames betrayed his hiding spot,” the dossier says.
The gang dragged Meza’s to their vehicle then took him to the Broken Bridge in the Nyamanyora area. His body was recovered there the following morning. Witnesses reported that George Katsande, using his mother’s gun, had shot Meza at close range, killing him instantly.
Not only did George boast about killing Meza but his mother, Aqualinah Katsande the MP, is said to always use this murder as an example at all her meetings and rallies in Mudzi.
Meza’s mother, who survived a stroke in 2009, said that she is reminded of her son’s murder every time the Katsande’s hold a rally in the area.
On the 6th June 2008 an MDC-T ward official, identified only as DK, was abducted from his home. He was bundled into Katsande’s truck and taken to Nyamanyora base. The people who took part in assaulting him were identified as Nyamaromo, Mangwende, George Katsande and other ZANU PF supporters.
According to the dossier, “They kept on assaulting him for several days before releasing him, he never recovered from the injuries inflicted on him and passed away at his home on the 28th June 2008.”
On the 5th of July 2008 Aqualinah Katsande, in the company of Peter Nyakuba, caught up with Gwindiri Mutadza, an MDC-T activist they had tried to capture before the 27 June elections but had failed.
Witnesses say Mutadza had returned from hiding on the assumption elections were now over and peace would return. But:
‘Katsande’s gang had other plans for him and quickly descended on him in full view of all the people who had gathered at Chimukoko Business Centre. Aqualinah Katsande, and Peter Nyakuba, assisted by two other unknown men, heavily assaulted Mutadza with fists and booted feet they bashed him all over the body.”
Mutadza passed out and died on the spot. On realizing that he was dead, Aqualinah Katsande and gang jumped into their double-cab truck and sped off from the murder scene.
On the 8th August 2008 MDC-T activist Winnet Makaza was assaulted on the instructions of Katsande. The MP mentioned Makaza as being on a list of MDC-activists on her ‘wanted list’. Carrying out the assault on behalf of the MP was Tambadzi Gombe.
The assault was so severe that Makaza is reported to have screamed only once, then collapsed and died. Relatives reported the incident to the police but nothing was done. The police did not even bother to take the body to the mortuary. Tambadzi Gombe is still a free man in Makaza village.
Later on Aqualinah Katsande issued an order forcing the Makaza family to bury Winnet without delay, or they would also meet with the same fate.
More recently on the 1st January 2010 George Katsande; “Now a seasoned killer was roaming the area armed with a gun”.
Along with his gang he attacked Bennizah Nyapfunde Mutize at Rukonde School in Mudzi. Mutize’s children were also not spared.
Members of the gang included Asmore Simoko, Tichafa Kativhu, Josiah Nyamuda, Punzu Charles, Martin Mutaundi, Daniel Chitedega, Misheck Pengapenga, Dinga David, Solomon Chingwete, Tonde Chipwanya and four other unknown men.
As part of a new terror campaign in 2010 the group was:
“Revisiting their victims at night and many MDC activists are sleeping in the bush and going back to their homes in the morning. Aqualinah through her son George is sponsoring this new wave of terror; George has vowed to shoot all MDC supporters in Mudzi West.”
In May 2012 Katsande along with fellow Zanu PF MP Newton Kachepa were implicated in the murder of 67-year old MDC-T Ward chairman Cephas Magura who was assaulted by ZANU PF youths.
Sekuru Magura, fell down after he was hit with a stone and was severely assaulted as he lay on the ground. The gang, led by ZANU PF councillor for Ward 3, David Chimukoko, then dragged him to the roadside and left him there.
Zanu PF Mudzi North MP Newten (Newton) Kachepa, allegedly drove the violent youths to Chimukoko in his truck.
Also implicated in the attack were the Zanu PF Mudzi North youth chairperson, Graciano Kazingizi, Gerald Nyatsinde, Patrick Mutepeya, Clement Simendi, John Karonga, Ward 2 councillor Jevas Chiutsa and George Katsande, son of the Mudzi West MP Aqualinah Katsande.
Many of Aqualinah Katsande’s victims have reported their cases to the police and despite the glaring evidence linking her to these terrible crimes she has remained untouchable and continues to sit in parliament.