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- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Zvakwana Newsletter #22 - They're never going to keep us down
April 24, 2003

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Rest in Peace Tonderai Machiridza

Chimurenga Rebel, 2002
In this double CD, Mapfumo’s lyrics continue his bitter attacks on the misrule in Zimbabwe. This is heard most clearly on the song "Mirima Nzara" (You Have Sown Hunger"), where he accuses the father (of a village!) of abusing people, chasing away the farmers, just to sit amid poverty and hunger. "He will have to pay a high price for having such a big mouth", declares Mapfumo. "But his children are the ones who will face an uncertain fate."


Sinister things are happening during the stayaway
The situation took a sinister turn in many of the high density areas of Harare today. Armed police officers and army details were transported into the high density areas by ZUPCO and omnibuses. bobs puppets then proceeded to the homes of managers of selected stores and banks. They then insisted that the managers take them to the homes of their workers and from there they were forced to open and operate their store or bank. This is yet another vain attempt to paper up the cracks being caused by another successful action by the people. These are examples of stores that were targeted: OK - Glen Norah; TM – Hatcliffe; TM - Sam Levys Village; Barclays Bank - Kadoma & Bindura

New role for police - touts on commuters
Zvakwana wants to remind those armed policemen who have been allocated a zanu "manager" to help them with their duties that their behaviour is being monitored and reported by Zvakwana activists. In Mbare, Highfields, Budiriro, Glen View and Hatcliffe these partners in crime are high jacking commuter buses and forcing the drivers to ply their routes to and from town. Their orders are to make sure the commuters keep on running even through the stayaway. Zvakwana wonders what proud stories these policemen tell their children when they get home at night.

Bulawayo
The City of Kings recorded an even quieter second day of the stayaway. Congratulations. We would also like to commend Sithemba Khumalo, one of the ZCTU representatives in Bulawayo, for her fine speech on SW Radio Africa on Tuesday night.

Despite isolated intimidation, stay away continues
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition commends the majority of Zimbabweans who have heeded a call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to participate in a stay away which began on April 23, 2003. Largely, the stay away has been observed, with the ZCTU estimating at least 60% success nationally. An even greater success rate was reported in the major towns of Harare and Bulawayo, with most banks, major shops and food outlets closed in both towns. The extent to which workers and businesses are following the call to stay away demonstrates that the majority of Zimbabweans recognise the need to work together and develop constructive solutions to the multi-layered economic and governance crisis currently facing Zimbabwe. The Coalition applauds the maturity exhibited by the majority of Zimbabweans who have peacefully heeded this call to action. This is an important step towards achieving the national dialogue necessary to work towards a transitional phase and develop a democratic Zimbabwe. The Coalition commends the ZCTU and the people of Zimbabwe for working together on one crucial step of the long road towards restoring good governance, peace and stability to our country.
For more information, write to info@crisis.org.zw


A true, young and fearless activist dies at the hands of members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Force
Tonderai Machiridza was 32 years old. He was married with 2 children aged 7 and 3. About 2 weeks ago Tonderai along with 3 others was severely beaten in Police custody. The Police alleged that he had been involved in the previous stayaway.

Because of his serious injuries Tonderai was taken by the Police to Chitungwiza hospital. There he was chained to his hospital bed whilst under Police guard. After about 3 days all 4 men were released on bail. The Mayor of Chitungwiza immediately ferried them to the Avenues Clinic because they had not received adequate medical attention.

After treatment the other 3 men were released from the Avenues Clinic but Tonderai was not so lucky. He died on Independence Day from severe trauma. His acute injuries were plainly visible. A government-sanctioned post mortem concluded that he died as a result of police brutality.

His family, already reeling from grief, was not to be spared further suffering from the overbearing authorities. Riot Police descended on the place where the mourners were gathered, and severely assaulted them. In addition they arrested 55 mourners including Tonderai’s mother. They were taken to St Mary’s Police Station. In addition the Police also carted Tonderai’s body to the station.

Tonderai’s body, his family and mourners were escorted to the cemetery under armed guard. Before Tonderai could be laid to rest the grave was found to be too narrow for the coffin. The Police issued shovels to relatives who had gathered at the graveside and they were instructed to widen the grave themselves. Those mourners who had been in detention and who were permitted to attend the funeral were soon re-detained.

At 6pm this evening the police at Chitungwiza police station decided to release the 56 people in custody on payment of a Z$ 3 000 spot fine per person. Members of Zvakwana managed to raise the required sum and at time of going to press the money was being taken to the police station.

Farewell, brother. We love and admire you. The example you have set to those of us who remain gives us re-newed determination to confront the evil before us. We will bring peace and opportunity to all Zimbabweans, especially for your two children.

Tonderai was released on bail in this condition - his injuries clearly sustained at the hands of the Zimbabwe Republic Police

 

 

 

 

Zvakwana sends condolences to family, relatives and friends.

In a related incident, one of the 4 men who had been previously arrested and beaten was again taken by the Police. He is Mudavanhu. Mudavanhu had still not recovered from this earlier beating and he was savagely beaten again today and is still being held.

Switch off Firstel Cellular
Please start to discourage people from associating with Firstel Cellular company because it is part of the Zanu PF cash cow business empire and it is also its communication nerve centre. Even mugabe has his line there. It played a big part during the farm invasions as those so-called war vets were give handsets for their operations.
~ From a subscriber

Make your mark
Maybe you need some rubber stamps made so that people can stamp ZVAKWANA! or SOKWANELE! on banknotes and then put them back into circulation - even policemen, MPs and Cabinet Ministers have to dirty their hands with money occasionally . . . Just imagine if 50% or even 10% of the banknotes circulating had ZVAKWANA! SOKWANELE! printed or written somewhere on them!
~ From David, a Zvakwana subscriber
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Beleaguered Mugabe unleashes new terror

Andrew Meldrum in Harare reports on a wave of state-organised beatings and
torture of opposition activists

Friday April 25, 2003
The Guardian

The Zimbabwean government has turned piecemeal repression of opposition
activists into a campaign of full-scale systematic violence in recent weeks,
taking advantage of the world's focus on the Iraq war.
Human rights organisations have documented a startling rise in attacks on
supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change. In the past month, doctors
have reported hundreds of patients seeking treatment for injuries they claim
were sustained at the hands of state officials.

The government's increased violence is seen as a reaction to the MDC's
success in holding a two-day national strike on March 18 and 19, and the
opposition party's victories in two parliamentary byelections at the end of
March.

An Amnesty spokesman said: "Politically motivated violence and arrests have
increased dramatically. Public order legislation is being used to harass and
arrest critics of the government. There is no hope for a peaceful future in
Zimbabwe unless the international community intervenes immediately."

Civil rights campaigners fear that the effectiveness of the current
anti-government strike, which this week again closed virtually all factories
and shops in the country, will prompt more violence.

The government denies it is responsible for the attacks, claiming that the
MDC is using army deserters to smear it.

The MDC yesterday rejected the claim. "Who can believe we would send out men
in uniforms to beat, torture and kill our own officials and supporters?" a
party spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi, said.

The furious pace of the serious injuries has left human rights workers
struggling to cope. At least two deaths have been recorded, according to
human rights groups, and doctors say they are treating victims at a rate of
10 a day.

The home of Margaret Kulinji, secretary of the MDC's women's league, was
invaded by 16 soldiers in uniform at about 1am on March 22. Armed with AK-47
automatic rifles, truncheons and lengths of hosepipe, the men carried a list
of MDC officials who were their targets. They beat Ms Kulinji with their
fists and rifle butts, kicked her and whipped her with the cord of her iron.
They also beat her mother.

"They forced my mother to open her legs and they abused her with the
mouthpiece of the AK rifle," said Ms Kulinji, grimacing as she looked at her
sleeping in the next hospital bed.

The soldiers then went to the homes of other MDC officials on their list.

Chained


Ms Kulinji's experiences are by no means unique. Tonderai Machiridza,
another MDC member, was arrested with three friends on April 12 and accused
of stealing a pair of handcuffs from a policeman during the March strike. He
was severely beaten in police custody. Eventually he was taken to hospital,
where he was chained to a bed.

A magistrate ordered his release and he spoke to journalists. But he
collapsed and died on April 18. An autopsy showed that he died of internal
injuries from beatings.

Police on Wednesday night arrested 55 mourners gathered for his funeral,
including his mother and wife, and allegedly beat them. The police then
ordered the body to be buried while the mourners were still in detention.
The MDC's president, Morgan Tsvangirai, was also barred from attending the
burial.

The police yesterday issued a statement claiming that Mr Machiridza was
arrested for striking a policeman with a stone during the March 18 and 19
stoppages. A police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, said two police officers
were facing murder charges following his death.

Raphinos Madzokere was also targeted. The MDC district secretary for east
Mashonaland was dragged from his home on March 21 by 25 soldiers at about
2am. For three days he was beaten with batons, wires and logs. "They put
wires on my toes, my tongue and my penis and shocked me until I lost
consciousness," said a still dazed Mr Madzokere. He was finally dumped by
the roadside and was taken to hospital with fractured vertebrae, head
injuries and wounds all over his body.

"They ordered me to give up the MDC, but I refused," he said. "I cannot give
up our hope for a better government. I would be betraying so many people."
His family has paid a high price. They have moved home four times in six
weeks.

"The level of violence against the opposition party has taken a quantum
leap," said a doctor at a Harare hospital. "It started after the MDC's
national strike in March. That weekend we were inundated with injuries from
beatings by the army and others. In some cases we had entire families
admitted to hospital - mothers, fathers and children."

Local campaigners say the army and police, working from lists of MDC members
and officials, went from house to house, subjecting them and their families
to savage beatings and torture. Often the squads had informers with them who
pointed out the MDC supporters, they say.

The MDC says that more than 600 of its officials and supporters were
arrested. More than 250 people needed medical treatment in the four days
after the national strike, according to figures from the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, a politically independent body which represents more than 250
civic organisations.

"The majority of the perpetrators were army soldiers in uniform, conveyed in
military vehicles to the home of the victims," the Crisis report said. "The
perpetrators were well equipped with weapons of torture, such as batons,
chains, hosepipes and rifles."

Zimbabwe's Human Rights Forum confirmed the upsurge in violence, saying:
"The human rights situation is deteriorating critically".

Diplomats in Harare were alerted to the rise in what the Crisis report calls
"state-organised violence and torture" and saw many victims in hospital. But
despite the compelling evidence, South Africa last week led a successful
campaign at the UN human rights commission to take no action on Zimbabwe.

The MDC publicised the violence with graphic photographs of the torture
victims in advertisements in the privately-owned press. In response, the
government is running advertisements accusing the opposition of plotting
violence.

Iden Wetherell, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, said: "The sheer
savagery of this new violence is the government's reaction to the success of
the national strike last month and the opposition's victories in
parliamentary byelections."

But the political equation has changed, Mr Wetherell said. "Up to last month
Mugabe was able to roll back the opposition and hold the initiative. There
has now been a sea change. The opposition is calling the shots. Mugabe is
responding viciously, but he is only able to react to events beyond his
control."

As the current three-day national strike has highlighted, pressure is
growing on Mr Mugabe because of the massive shortages of basic foods and
fuel, inflation of 228% and unemployment above 60%. The latest crisis is a
shortage of electric power which has caused power cuts to factories. The
reason is that Zimbabwe has not paid its bills for the 35% of its
electricity requirements imported from Mozambique, South Africa and Congo.

A sign of the MDC's new assertiveness is its effort to hold the Mugabe
government accountable for the violence. The MDC produced a list, which was
published by two newspapers, of police officers accused of torture and
violence.

"The Mugabe regime and its agents must be aware that they will be held
accountable for their deeds," said its spokesman, Mr Nyathi. "We are
compiling documented evidence of those responsible for torture and murder.
The day of reckoning is not far away."
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BBC

Zimbabwe militia occupy town

Themba Nkosi
BBC, Matabeleland


Kamativi, in northern Matabeleland province, is now a garrison town
controlled by the young militia of the ruling Zanu-PF party who are
infamously known as Green Bombers.
Now numbering about 1000, they moved into Kamativi recently from one of
their four training centres in Tsholotsho district.
 We are here to do our job. Our mission here is to crush the MDC and flush
out all sell- outs

Green Bomber
In Kamativi, the militias, some as young as 16, have become the law.
All residents of the former mining compound have to apply to them for passes
which allow them to leave and enter the compound.
They have, on several occasions, beaten up policemen on patrol for trying to
arrest Zanu-PF supporters.
All check-points in the area are manned by the militias.
Severely tortured
When they arrived in the town, they chased away opposition Movement for
Democratic Change , MDC, officials including councillors. The remaining MDC
supporters have become hostages.
The councillors who were forced to flee their wards have taken refuge in the
coal mining town of Hwange.
They are still too scared to return to Kamativi after they were severely
tortured by the youths.

Visitors to Kamativi must report their presence to the militia and state the
purpose and duration of their stay.
"Our movements here are controlled by these thugs. We are hostages of
ZANU-PF", said one woman who smuggled me into her house at night.
She was terrified and told me she was putting her life in the firing line by
speaking to the BBC .
Fear in town
During my brief visit to Kamativi a few days ago, I managed to speak to
three members of the militia.
They only agreed to speak after they were persuaded by a war veteran friend
of mine who accompanied me to the area.
I asked them why they were terrorising and subjecting their own people to
inhumane treatment.
One of them became angry and warned me to be careful how I ask my questions.
"Don't say that to me. We are here to do our job. Our mission here is to
crush the MDC and flush out all sell- outs", he told me. "Who gave you such
orders to crush the MDC", I asked him.
"Don't ask me that. Go and ask our leaders. They are the ones who deployed
us here", added another Green Bomber.
Meanwhile, the opposition MDC is compiling a list of policemen, government
agents and militia members who it claims, have been torturing its
supporters.
MDC advertisements in the local press say all those who are supporting the
system by torturing innocent people will account for their actions the day
the present government collapses.
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VOA

Zimbabwe Strike Expected to Continue For 3rd Day Friday
VOA News
25 Apr 2003, 00:23 UTC


A general strike to protest a massive fuel price increase in Zimbabwe is
expected to continue for the third day Friday after paralyzing most of the
country for two days.

Most shops and businesses in the capital, Harare, remained closed on
Thursday although some observers reported slightly more activity than on the
first day.

Other cities including the second largest Bulawayo, are also hit by the
strike.

Transportation workers say the government has threatened to withdraw their
operating permits if they will not go back to work immediately. State media
reported that workers who want to go to their jobs are unable to do so
because the strike has shut down public transportation.

The government has declared the strike illegal. Police are patrolling the
streets and manning road blocks in the capital. But there have been no
reports of violence so far.

Zimbabwe's largest trade union, which called for the strike, says it is
pleased with the results.

A spokesman repeated a threat to extend the strike indefinitely if the
government does not reverse its decision to increase fuel prices. The
government nearly tripled the cost of fuel last week, saying its prices had
been among the lowest in the region. Union officials say the increase makes
it nearly impossible for the average worker to afford transportation.

Zimbabwe is facing the worst shortages of gas, food and hard currency since
gaining formal independence from Britain in 1980.
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There is More Than One 'African Story' to Be Told - President Thabo Mbeki

Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg)

April 23, 2003
Posted to the web April 24, 2003

Mondli Makhanya

Addressing a gathering of the continent's editors in Johannesburg earlier
this month, President Thabo Mbeki delivered a caustic analysis of the state
of Africa's media.

His primary target was the South African press, whom he charged with gross
ignorance on issues affecting the continent it operated in.

In a tone laced with scorn, Mbeki related the shock that he and fellow
exiles got when they returned to South Africa and "realised how little many
of our people knew about the rest of the continent".

South Africans, Mbeki said, were ignorant of the continent's great
civilisations and reputable centres of learning, of African artists and
writers, knew nothing about the sporting prowess of fellow Africans and had
an unwarranted superiority complex with regard to their peers.

"Over many years we [South Africans] had absorbed an image of the African
continent projected by a media that was relentlessly contemptuous of many
things African," said Mbeki.

The point that Mbeki was making was legitimate. Africans in different parts
of this land mass know very little about each other's worlds. And South
Africans are among the worst offenders on this front, having been fed the
tale that the "rest of Africa" was a wasteland of poverty, conflict and
disease. The Africa beyond our borders, we were taught, was a vast expanse
peopled by primitive tribes who had been prematurely abandoned by their
colonial masters before they could reach acceptable levels of
sophistication.

Furthermore, suggested the serving African Union chairperson, journalists
were doing their continent a disservice by not acting as bridges between
Africa's peoples.

"It makes no sense that they [Africans] should be separated from one another
by ignorance of one another. Indeed that dangerous state of unknowing, which
leads to prejudice and superstition against and about one another, would
make it impossible for us to achieve the goal of African unity."

Now it is very true that knowledge breeds greater understanding, spurs
economic development and is a bulwark against the prejudices that have
turned many of this continent's lands into killings fields and arenas of
warfare.

It is also a fact that Africa's media has many shortcomings when it comes to
fulfilling its role. But these shortcomings are by no means a reflection of
the ineptitude of Africa's journalists or an indication of a Pavlovian
addiction to the truth as seen through Western eyes.

There are reasons for these shortcomings, reasons that Mbeki should be well
aware of.

Surely Mbeki knew when he returned from exile that he was returning to a
country that had been isolated from the international community and that its
people had been cut off from African brethren.

Surely he remembers that there was once an ideology called apartheid, part
of whose devious mission was to foster ignorance. All South Africans were
victims of that system that taught whites that they were better than
Indians, who were better than coloureds, who were better than blacks, who
were in turn better than the natives of Black Africa - as the Nats liked to
refer to anything that lay north of the Limpopo and south of the Sahara.

South Africans, particularly black South Africans, lived a reality that no
other people in the world could imagine. That reality is not something to be
ignored.

But what really perturbs is the romanticisation of the notion of the
"African story", which Mbeki says journalists on the continent are failing
to capture.

What, one may ask, is this mythical African story and why are we as
journalists failing to tell it to Africa's people and to the world? Is the
story that the East African newspaper is telling an untruth? Is Nigeria's
The Guardian misleading its readers?

Is Noticias failing the people of Mozambique? Does Lusaka's The Post not
tell the people of Zambia about that country's realities?

Does South Africa's burgeoning tabloid industry not speak of the daily
struggles of this country's poor in the same breath as it celebrates
working-class icons such as Mzekekeze and Gift Leremi? Does Zimbabwe's
Independent not expose the excesses of the Mugabe regime in the same edition
that it records the resilience of indigenous businesses?

The African story is not just the story of those who preside over the
continent's 800-million people, some of them justly and some of them very
unjustly. And it is not just the story of the evolution of the New
Partnership for Africa's Development that - while deserving the unqualified
support of the continent's people - also deserves rational criticism.

Our story - this continent's story - is about millions of people who were
passed from colonial oppression to abuse by domestic rulers. They trusted
the Uhuru generation of leaders, hailing them as liberators and bringers of
good. Alas, they were betrayed when the erstwhile revolutionaries began to
mimic the departed colonial masters.

Now they are wary of the new wave of post-Cold War leaders, who also rode
into power promising a second Uhuru, but once ensconced in office began to
mimic the departing generation of betrayers.

These African masses, among whom Mbeki has urged the continent's journalists
to embed themselves, are a self-confident species who have grown sceptical
and cynical about official power. They now do things for themselves. They
are taking political power into their own hands, making decisions outside of
the formal structures. They are increasingly creating their own economies
and despise the cronyism and parasitism that characterise much economic
behaviour on our continent.

This is the story that thousands of journalists around the continent strive
to tell on a daily basis. They expose corruption, speak out against
repressesion, propose alternatives and make the nomenklatura uncomfortable.
While doing this they also celebrate the successes of their respective
countries' entrepreneurs, artists, civil society activists and those
government functionaries who take the term public service literally.

There are journalistic heroes on this continent, men and women whose courage
and tenacity put many of us in more developed circumstances to shame.

African governments could do a great deal to help the continent's
journalists tell our story better. This they can do by repealing repressive
laws, passing and enforcing legislation that protects basic freedoms,
opening up access to information, encouraging free debate in their countries
and adopting policies that expedite economic and technological development.

And, most importantly, they should stop harassing and incarcerating those
who wish to tell the story of the ordinary African.

For it is not easy to tell the African story from inside the walls of
Zimbabwe's Chikurubi prison.
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COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION
CLASSIFIEDS - TUESDAY 22ND APRIL 2003

Please note that the classifieds will go out every Tuesday.  Payment is
required upfront and all adverts to be in by 0900 hrs every Tuesday.  This
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Ø      ACCOMMODATION / PLOTS / PROPERTIES
URGENTLY REQUIRED TO RENT.
3 bed roomed house with cottage.  Secure property.
Contact Fiona 011 204 536.
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TO RENT.  UPMARKET HOME IN MILTON PARK.
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Available end of May.  $100 000/month.
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SOUTH AFRICAN FARM WITH TOURISM FOR SALE IN THE DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS :
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Tel +27 31 561 1011
Fax +27 31 561 1059
Cell +27 83 407 6203
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NW [15/4, 22/4]
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KARIBA: house for occasional letting. Consists of 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.
Fully furnished and equipped, swimming pool and double lock-up garage,
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#BK []
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Upmarket two bed-roomed garden flat with courtyard, self-contained garage,
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Please contact Carrie Wilson on 747935 (evenings).
#CW []
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Phone: Ben on 309800 (Bus) or 498121 (Home).
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* trouble shooting
* repairs
Please call Gus McTiernan at RD Computers on 091 347 961 or email
rdc@zol.co.zw for further details.
#GM []
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Ø      FOR SALE
3 PLATE KELVINATOR STOVE $180 000.00.
Phone Michelle Bragge 04-309845 (w), 04-883069 (h)
MB [1/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE:
COMPLETE 2HA HYPERICUM SHADEHOUSE SETUP, LIGHTS, DRIP
IRRIGATION/FERTIGATION, PUMPS, FILTERS, COLDROOM EQUIPMENT, TABLES/BUCKETS
ETC.
P.O.A. PHONE 011 214 167, 091 253 976, 04-336669.
NP [22/4, 29/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOYS 4 AFRICA.
Times are hard and money's tight,
Kids requests are never light.
Parties and toys, school stuff, Mum,
Are all the requests in the name of fun.
Toys 4 Africa have decided to come,
And ease the burden of all the glum.
Kids will be over the moon,
And Mum's purse will not be doomed.
Come and see, bring all your friends,
And let's all hope the fun never ends!
Visit Lee at 2A Wallshill Close, Glen Lorne.
E-mail toys4africa@hms.co.zw
Tel 499518,  Cell 091 262 759.
NP [22/4, 29/4, 6/5, 13/5]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
50KG POLYPROPLENE EMPTY GRAIN BAGS FOR SALE
DIMENSIONS                              105 GSM X 60CM X 90CM
QUANTITY AVAILABLE            8 000 000
TRUCK LOAD                             250 000 BAGS
UNIT PRICE INCLUDING DELIVERY TO HARARE AND DUTY: Z$385.50 OR ZAR2.30
IMPORTED- NEW
CONTACT SAM
TEL: 263-4-369015-7
FAX:263-4-369253
EMAIL- birdsongzim@yahoo.co.zw
Please phone in or fax us for any orders to include in our truck loads.
AG42 [15/4] NP [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE:
3300m of 35mm 3 Core SWA Cable:
3000m of 35mm Aluminium Conductor:
6278m of 16mm Bare Earth Copper Wire
1100m of 9/12 Stay Wire:
All new brought in from SA - Offers?
Contact Andy Hardcastle on 011-405129 or tech@interagric.co.zw
NP [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE -
CROP CHEMICALS - WDECANOL (DEKA) 260L, TABAMEX PLUS 444L, FLEXW 11L.
AVERY PLATFORM SCALE.
BATTERY CHARGER 6-12 VOLT.
15 HP 3 PHASE STARTER.
MOTOROLA GP900 MIDBAND & MAGNETIC AERIAL.
PHILLIPS PRM8020 MIDBAND & ALL FITTINGS.
MOTOROLA GP300 HIGHBAND (2 X 2 CHANNEL, 1 X 8 CHANNEL). MOTOROLA RADIUS BASE
SETS (2 X 2 CHANNEL HIGHBAND).
PHONE 04-336360, 011 604 321 OR hunter@mweb.co.zw
AG44 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FARMING EQUIPMENT.
Tractors for Sale - 2 x MF375, 2 x MF290, 1 xMF265, 1 x MF135, 1 x URSUS
4512, 1 x URSUS 2812.  3 x A.4.248 Perkins motors, 1 x NJ122 2 fur rev
plough, 1 x 2 wheel 3 ton trailer, 1 x Howard slasher mower.
All equipment in excellent condition.  Price of tractors ranging from $5m to
$14m.
Reply to e-mail jpostles@telco.co.zw
AG30 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FARMING EQUIPMENT.
Tractor spare parts for sale - range of fast moving new MF spare parts for
sale.  Half price of new.
Reply to e-mail jpostles@telco.co.zw
AG30 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE :
Ideal for flowers or vegetables.   3 x Steel Tunnels 30m x 10m x 4.5m high,
plus 1 x Steel Tunnel 21m x 8.5m x 3.5m high.   Good condition - still
erect, no plastic.
PLEASE PHONE 073-2570 or 3270 or e-mail at romany@africaonline.co.zw.
AG49 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUCHS & RED HEART OILS.
For more details of our full range of automotive, gear, hydraulic and
compressor oils.
Contact 011 216 707 or 011 416 668.
AG14 [8/4, 15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JD'S CLOTHING - CONTACT LISA ON 011 410 638
Stunning, latest fashions in girls and ladies wear.
Variety of sizes and styles at very competitive prices.  Open 7 days a week.
AG17 [1/4, 8/4, 15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hino 8 tonne lorry for sale.  Bulk sides.  Motor is sound.  Contact :
334802-4.
CC []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
25000 tobacco clips for sale.  Contact : 023 782 824 or 496672.
CC []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ø      WANTED
WANTED:  MATHS BOOK - IGCSE EXTENDED MATHS FOR Ó'LEVEL BY DAVID RAYNER.
Please contact Rob van Vuuren at the NADF Office, 309861/011 203 822.
RVV [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. S. LEON TRUST need a wooden hut 2m by 2m by 2m.  They will pay something
towards it.
Please contact Reg Griffiths on 336504 ext. 32 or write to him at Box A80,
Avondale.
AG55 [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED:
Trailed Arbus 1000 Spray  Machine.
Also 2 x Specialised 2000litre chemical mixing trailers, pto driven with
delivery hoses.
Please contact Andy Hardcastle on 011-405129 or tech@interagric.co.zw.
NP [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOYABEANS WANTED.
Z$400 000 per metric tonne.
Contact 091 268 869.
NC [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED: 7 - 12 TON LORRY.
Low mileage.
Phone: 091 251 525
AG22 [15/4, 22/4, 29/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED - A FEMALE RIDGEBACK PUPPY.
EXCELLENT HOME.
LEN - CELL : 011 602 462 OR HAYLEY - CELL: 091 311 694 OR HOME - 369203.
AG40 [15/4, 22/4, 29/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED :
2 x 50kg Gas Cylinders (full or empty).
1 x Electric Floor Polisher.
1 x set of children's encyclopaedias.
PLEASE PHONE 073-2570 or 3270 or e-mail at romany@africaonline.co.zw.
AG49 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FARMERS

Wanted:
SOYAS
GRASS SEED
BARLEY

MARKETING your crop effectively is becoming increasingly more important in
modern farming.
Contact us for the best advice.

Zim Agri Consultants
Building 5 Arundel Office Park
P. O Box MP1407
Mt Pleasant, Harare
Tel: + 263 4 369962, 369963, 369131 Fax: 369139  Email: caron@zimagri.co.zw
Derek Mason - 091 90 7940
Christopher Hinde- 011 207 604
AG11 [8/4, 15/4, 22/4, 29/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED - FORKLIFT.
1 x 3 to 4 ton capacity Manitou All Terrain Forklift, in good running order.
Contact Dave Bell or Pete Froggatt on 020 22208 - 020 22237 or 011 610 231.
AG26 [8/4, 15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED:  CELLPHONE - NOKIA 5110 or similar.
Phone: 496174 (a/h) or e-mail cfuaccounts@cfu.co.zw.
LJ []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAPRIKA WANTED

Capsicum (Pvt) Ltd are paying good prices
and are keen to talk to you about buying your crop.

Contact Michal Slawski 011 200 830
or
Zane Sivertsen 011 631 638
or
Tony Wright 011 606 004
or
Contact the office on 369143/198/257,  shipping@capsicum.co.zw.
AG15 [1/4,  8/4, 15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wanted:  Second hand swimming pool fence.  Telephone Jo on 301289 or 011 412
901.
BK []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wanted:
1.        Old solid wood furniture e.g. Oak or Teak items.
2.        Portable car port, preferably 2 car size with shade cloth cover.
3.        Old Belgian or Persian carpets.
4.        Old silver plate tableware e.g. candelabra and old brassware.
Phone Ben Kashula on 309800 (Bus) or 498121 (Home) or Sheila Mumford on
495699.
#BK []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wanted:
Second Hand Asbestos Roofing Sheets, Wheat straw delivered to Harare (a
couple of truck loads). Please Phone Nick on 011 213 188 / 304310
#KP []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any old camping equipment e.g. paraffin pressure lamps, folding chairs etc.
Phone Ben on 309800 (Bus) or 498121 (Home).
#BK []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ø      HOLIDAY & TRAVEL
Kariba - Warthogs Bush Camp. . Simple self cater accomm nestled in Mopane
bush on lakeshore for up to 20 people. 'A' frame bashas and a family dorm.
Splash pool, bar. Boat launching nearby. 3km from Kariba shops and fuel (!!)
From $1,000 p.p or have the whole camp to yourselves for $18,500/night.
Tel 011 201 733 or email relax@warthogs.co.zw .
AF26 [25/2, 11/3, 25/3, 15/4] NC [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AHOY THERE!
DISCOUNTED RATES ON SELECTED BOATS ON LAKE KARIBA.

Contact Rhino Rendezvous
745644-8 rhino@mweb.co.zw
AG47 [8/4 - 27/5]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "THIS IS IT" HOUSEBOAT FOR CHARTER
12 Passengers. 3 Crew.  2 Tender boats.
Splash pool on top deck.  Phone / Fax 066 7315 or 72942.
E-Mail:thisisit@mweb.co.zw
www.breakawaysholidays.com/houseboats/thisisithouseboat.htm
AG51 [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three bedroom luxury thatched house, bathrooms on suite open plan kitchen
upstairs bar with magnificent view, comes with a domestic, lock up garage,
sleeps maximum 8.  Bookings can be made direct with Eve at Lomagundi Lake
side on 061-3037/39 bookings confirmed on payment.
#BK[]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ø      POSITIONS OFFERED
URGENTLY LOOKING for a dynamic reliable middle age couple to manage a farm
in the northwestern part of Botswana, close to the Caprivi strip.
Preferably no young children still in the house, due to the distance from
schools.
Experience: Farm management & general farm equipment maintenance.
Crops:  Vegetables under irrigation - drip & Pivot irrigation.
Contact Johan Boshoff
Tel (+27) 15-5751425
Fax (+27) 15-5751580
Cell (+27) 82 822 6310
E-mail Minds, ratho.pburg@minds.co.za
NP [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOB OFFERED.  5 mornings a week.  Bookkeeping etc.  A little knowledge of
art would be an advantage, but not essential.  Start beginning May.
Tel: 091-381803.
AG55 [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHOP MANAGERS/HELP REQUIRED.
ELEMENTS HOME AND LINEN, Avondale and Doon Estate branches require full time
and part time staff. Salary plus commissions and benefits... and lots of
FUN!! Please reply to Sian Edwards 011 609960, or Tarryn 252710-3 mornings,
elements@zol.co.zw.
NP {22/4, 29/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSONAL ASSISTANT
A vacancy has occurred for a Personal Assistant to the General Manager and
Sales and Marketing Director of Copperwares Pvt Ltd. in Msasa.  An owner run
manufacturing company.  Duties to include office administration, filing,
book keeping, secretarial, minute taking, event organising etc.  Applicants
must be computer literate - Excel and Word etc.  Experience with Pastel
would be an advantage.  Must have initiative, be self motivated and capable
of working unsupervised.  Part time or full time.  Salary negotiable.
Contact: Nicola Johnson Tel. 04 486255/840/140
E mail coppware@mweb.co.zw
NP [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO LEASE OR MANAGE a Tobacco/Paprika section.  E-mail
contact details to aisd1@cfu.co.zw.
AG50 [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex Farmer now in Harare seeks good, honest, reliable COOK, preferably
recommended by an ex farmer or with traceable references.  A similar
GARDENER also wanted.
Telephone Fiona 011 204 536.
BK [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DTP/TYPESETTER required for busy PR agency/production house.
Knowledge of Corel Draw 9, scanning photos and preparing jobs for
origination is necessary.
If you want to join a young, dynamic team mail us at corporatex@zol.co.zw or
send your CV to P O Box MP1336, Mount Pleasant.
We'll offer the right package for the right person!
AG43 [15/4, 22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ø      SERVICES OFFERED
BR TOYOTA for friendly, efficient attention to your service and parts
requirements specialising in Toyota.  Please call Godfrey on 302027, 304059,
304650, 304659.  New and second hand vehicle sales, call Glen or visit us at
7 Brickfields Road, turnoff 15,5 km peg Lomagundi Road.
See you for your "May Day" surprise!
AE69 [22/4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUPA INTERNATIONAL
- the world health service -

·         Are you concerned about increasing medical costs and treatment
which may not be available in Zimbabwe?
·         Would you like your own choice of country and hospital for your
treatment?
·         When a medical emergency arises, do you want the security of
knowing that evacuation will be dealt with professionally and speedily?

If so, why not join 8 million others and subscribe to the world's biggest
international healthcare provider, BUPA.  Depending on which scheme you
choose, you could enjoy an annual overall maximum cover of up to £1 000 000!

On all schemes, BUPA provides a "full refund" for all in-patient treatment,
outpatient surgical operations, MRI and CT scans and cancer tests, drugs and
consultants' fees for oncology.  No tariffs - no shortfalls!  No extras for
sports injuries or travel - it's all covered.

Would you like a free quotation for your family or company?  Would you like
a brochure with full details of all the schemes?

If so, please e-mail the following information by return to bupa@zol.co.zw:
individual names and dates of birth of all potential members and their
families.
We will e-mail you a quotation and offer to meet to discuss things further.

Call:    John Ford 091 499 485 or
Dee Connolly at BUPA Adviser Office, Tel:  862265 Harare
AF12 [18/2-22/4] NP [29/4-24/6]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC SALES
 in conjunction with
TORTOW (PRIVATE) LIMITED
IN CHINHOYI
OFFER AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT SALES FROM OUR YARD,
OR COMPLETE DISPERSAL SALES BY AUCTION.
PHONE GEOFF OR ROD ON 067-23047 OR 067-22421.
AE95 [18/2-6/5]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
STRESSED OUT
Pam Mullins is offering her services as a stress management consultant.
Please call her on 741498
PM []
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ø      GENERAL

For Your Information....
CFU Classifieds via email - plain text format every Tuesday
Costs: -
Up to 30 words             $750/wk
31 - 50 words               $1000/wk
51 - 75 words               $1500/wk
76 - 100 words             $2000/wk
300 words MAX          $6000/wk
Please send advert to aisd1@cfu.co.zw by Tuesday 9:00 am and send PROMPT
payment with a copy of your advert to CFU, Agricultural Information Services
Department, Box WGT 390, Westgate, Harare.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:
Unless specifically stated that this is a Commercial Farmers' Union
communique, or that it is being issued or forwarded to you by the sender in
an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein are private.
Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any organisation not
directly affiliated to the Union.  The CFU does not accept any legal
responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender and
transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or to
external addressees.
Back to the Top
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The Herald

President very secure

President Robert Mugabe this week spoke in a wide-ranging televised interview. He took questions and commented on a variety of pertinent issues including the issue of succession, engaging MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai in dialogue, the land and how secure he feels as President. The MDC responded the next day. MOSES MAGADZA analyses the President’s and the MDC’s responses and their implications for the nation.

Contrary to beliefs in some quarters, President Robert Mugabe is very secure in his position as head of State as his recent televised interview revealed.

Shortly before the interview, Doris Lessing, author of The Grass Is Singing, had lampooned the President as a "scared little man" in an article published in the opposition-aligned Daily News.

President Mugabe’s responses proved that he does not have dictatorial tendencies as claimed in some sections of the media.

The ease and relaxed disposition with which he responded to issues of succession, democracy and the Constitution depict a degree of personal security absent in dictators. Such issues would naturally cause an authoritarian ruler to become uneasy.

A clear example of a leader with dictatorial tendencies is that of Napoleon Bonaparte of 19th century France who is quoted as having once blurted: "I am the revolution."

This remark shows that Bonaparte viewed himself as the embodiment of French revolutionary ideals, a position which would naturally make him think more highly of himself than others.

This is clearly not the case with President Mugabe.

Some people have claimed that President Mugabe is "clinging" to power because he fears reprisals and "judgment" should he retire.

However, from his own perspective, the major consideration for him staying in office is the genuine concern that unless there was economic emancipation, the blood of the gallant sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who vanished into the mists of the Second Chimurenga would have been in vain.

In the interview, President Mugabe said: "It was mainly the land issue actually that needed to be addressed before getting to a stage where we say fine, we have settled this matter and people can retire. But when one looks ahead and starts clandestinely to organise in groups, on tribal lines or on personal lines that bring conflict in the party system, then the idea loses its sound basis. We would encourage open debates rather than meetings endowed in secrecy."

Zimbabweans will forever rue having despised this illustrious son of the soil who has the rare guts to stand up to imperial detractors and bombard them with concrete Pan-African positions on land.

His concern for stability and general welfare of the nation will forever stand as a towering memento of his patriotic self-effacement and nationalism as indicated by his distaste for clandestine organisation of groups to discuss succession on tribal or personal lines that bring conflict.

The same motivation was behind the Unity Accord of December 1987, signed between Zanu-PF and PF Zapu, which was represented by the late Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Nkomo. Through it, rapport was forged that rehabilitated a nation that was beginning to writhe under the anguish of ethnic and tribal clashes.

Of course, thoughtless elements within the country have attempted without success to retrogressively drag the nation back to the pre-Unity Accord era, all with a twisted objective of inducing cataclysm.

The history of Zimbabwe would be incomplete without celebrating the triumph of unity against the tremendous odds impersonated by Western leaders and their local fronts.

Looking at things through Western spectacles, it would indeed seem dictatorial and autocratic for an African leader to push for reallocation of vital resources, more so when such assets have been under the sinful ownership of white minority settlers.

In the same breath it is important to remember that whatever salvation — economic or otherwise — Zimbabweans hope to get from supposed Western sympathisers will amount to 30 pieces of silver.

The nation has come this far not through the goodwill of the West but through the struggles of the local population.

Western institutions, for all their feverish machinations to oust President Mugabe’s Government, are to a large extent responsible for creating the economic malaise that has been obtaining in Zimbabwe.

In January 1991 Zimbabwe adopted the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme which was designed primarily by the World Bank. The programme called for neo-liberal steps to economics including privatisation, deregulation, a reduction of government expenditure on social needs and budget deficit reduction.

User fees were instituted for health and education and food subsidies were removed.

Esap also saw measures protecting local industries from foreign competition withdrawn. While pleasing western investors, the programme was a cocktail for disaster.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was naïve to adopt Esap, for such an adoption represented amnesia. This forgetfulness took the form of turning the national back on the writing on the walls of history, which testified that history repeats itself.

For the same nations and wolves that yesteryear advocated slavery, colonial subjugation, oppression and the dehumanisation of black people were coming to the Third World dressed in sheepskin.

For all the unfortunate implications of embracing these hypocrites, it has been a blessed eye-opener for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to play the political truant that he did.

Today Zimbabweans will lament hardships but all those who are called by the national name should espouse the optimism of President Mugabe’s interview. The hardships have produced an unprecedented degree of business acumen and entrepreneurial genius.

On streets the proliferation of the informal sector is indeed a blessing. With time one sees this major economic player finding its way into the fold of the formal economic spectrum with pleasant consequences for the nation.

Those who look up to the West for salvation would do well remember that International Monetary Fund and World Bank structural adjustment programmes left the rubble of decimated economies strewn all over the global landscape.

This shows that only home-grown solutions must get everlasting preference over exotic blanket prescriptions.

It is this realisation that explains the composition of the National Economic Revival Programme by President Mugabe’s Government. The programme, enunciated by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Herbert Murerwa, is set to revive the economy in a big way, being the first new economic policy after the fast-track land reform programme and the first truly home-grown economic blue print involving wide consultation.

Alien elements have no room to sabotage the economy using it. The new economic revival programme revolves around the Government’s policy of an agriculture-led economy, which is outright defiance of bookish economics advocated for by the West.

Under the land reform programme 11 million hectares of land have been made available to at least 350 000 families, raising prospects of empowering vulnerable villagers, while decongesting communal areas and de-racialising commercial agriculture.

That the programme is irreversible has become clear even to Mr Blair, hence the shift from fighting Zimbabwe on the land issue to raising allegations of human rights abuses and the alleged breakdown of the rule of law.

Asked if he would be willing to meet Mr Tsvangirai to discuss the country’s challenges, President Mugabe said he had no problems with that. But first Mr Tsvangirai had to wake up to the fact that he (President Mugabe) is the duly elected leader of this country.

The President sounded quite reconciliatory and accommodative in his response to that question.

Indeed, if Mr Tsvangirai is not ready to accept the fact that President Mugabe has the people’s mandate to rule Zimbabwe, and chooses the fruitless path of pretentious knuckle-headedness, he stands to find himself in the political garbage can.

Zanu-PF has by no means exhibited hostility towards dialogue. It is a democratic party as illustrated in the many elections held since independence. What is unacceptable, however, is for Mr Tsvangirai and his hangers-on to impose an imperial straight jacket over Zimbabwe’s hard-won independence and sovereignty.

Mr Tsvangirai responded the next day, basically saying that he was not willing to discuss any other issues with President Mugabe save a re-run of the poll.

There are various reasons why the MDC in general and Mr Tsvangirai in particular do not want to engage President Mugabe and the Government in dialogue.

Firstly, MDC is bankrupt in terms of ideas. This is evidenced by its recycling of tactics — calls for economically senseless stay-aways and continuously demonising the President. The MDC lacks that co-operative spirit which would enhance national development. It is bereft of concrete policy mechanisms and modalities to effect positive economic growth and change.

Some people have said that Mr Tsvangirai’s intellectual shortcomings could also be standing in the way. They have said that a man of Mr Tsvangirai’s skin-deep academic background would have problems discussing any matters of national development with a man of President Mugabe’s erudition.

It is clear from the way Mr Tsvangirai has repeatedly misfired and shot himself in the foot that intelligence, political ingenuity and academic acumen were denied him. His lack of sophistication puts him in a compromising position where he cannot defend his party’s direction.

The MDC and Zanu-PF have totally different objectives. Zanu-PF is a people-centred party, while the MDC strives to protect the interests of capital. The sooner Mr Tsvangirai and his party’s top brass realise that neo-liberal economic models favour a few and hurt the majority, the better for Zimbabwe.

The MDC has, through Mr Eddie Cross, openly declared its allegiance to the free market economy, seen world-wide as the embodiment of capitalist thought.

One other important thing that emerged from the President’s interview is that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. Western countries are for westerners.

President Mugabe was asked to comment on American Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Walter Kainsteiner’s statement that America — still drenched with the blood of the Iraqis — wanted him to hand over power to a transitional government.

He did not mince his words and said: "Nonsense. He can go hang. I was elected and there were teams that observed here . . . Who is Kainsteiner to dispute the validity that has been pronounced by all people of Africa?"

It is an internationally recognised fact that leaders in Third World countries do not influence policies in the so-called developed world.

The recent US-led invasion of Iraq shows this. The world gazed in consternation as the US and its accomplice, Britain, pounded Iraq, callously murdering thousands of innocent civilians including defenceless women and children despite world-wide demonstrations against the invasion.

An American soldier quoted shortly after the fall of the Iraqi capital clarified the US’s motive in toppling President Sadam Hussein and presiding over the subsequent looting of the country. He bragged that America had imposed its will and shown that it could go where and when it wanted, or words to that effect.

Talk about the breakdown of the rule of law!
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