The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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Daily News


Citrus farms under siege

4/25/02 12:36:47 AM (GMT +2)


From Chris Gande in Bulawayo

SEVERAL market gardening and citrus farms in Matabeleland have come under
siege from war veterans who have looted fruits and vegetables worth
thousands of dollars.

The farmers are under pressure to leave their farms. Some of the affected
farms are Twin River Ranch, Thandanani, Glenala Park and Umguzaan.

Eight farmers have been evicted from their properties in Matabeleland since
the March 9-11 presidential elections.

Reports received by the Commercial Farmers’ Union said that war veterans had
been issuing farmers eviction letters from the Zimbabwe National Liberation
War Veterans Association Secretary for Projects, Andrew Ndlovu.

Farmers are being advised to leave their farms as soon as they are issued
with eviction notices by Ndlovu.

Ndlovu is reported to have visited Gwanda and Beitbridge last weekend and
issued farmers with eviction letters.




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Daily News


Mudede releases altered figures for mayoral poll

4/25/02 11:37:21 PM (GMT +2)


By Luke Tamborinyoka Municipal Reporter

THE Registrar-General (RG)’s Office sprung another surprise last Friday when
it released altered figures for the Harare mayoral poll in which the total
votes cast have gone down to 285 767 from the 324 445 announced in March.

The difference between the figures announced in March and those released
last week is 38 688.

The new mayoral and council poll results were released to the MDC on Friday,
a month after the RG’s Office announced a different set of figures for the
mayoral poll at Town House on 14 March.

According to the latest results released to the contesting political parties
by Simon Muchemenyi of the RG’s Office, the votes polled by Elias Mudzuri,
the executive mayor for Harare, have now decreased by 40 761 from 262 275 to
221 414.

Efforts to contact the Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, or Muchemenyi to
comment on the latest discrepancies failed yesterday.

The total votes polled by the Zanu PF candidate, Amos Midzi, have now gone
up from 56 796 to 58 809, an increase of 2 013 votes. The votes won by
Billet Magara, who has since quit the National Alliance for Good Governance,
remain unchanged at 3 467. The number of spoilt papers is now 1 867, down
from the 1 907 announced in March, while 110 votes were not be accounted
for.

Mudede also released the full results of the council elections, ward by
ward, in an poll in which 285 374 people voted.

The MDC won 44 of the 45 wards, but the results in two wards were nullified
after Mudede’s office alleged the two MDC candidates were not Zimbabwean
citizens.

Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general, yesterday said the discrepancies
in the mayoral polls showed that the March election was run and won in
Mudede’s office.

“This shows it is not easy to cook up figures and when you are cheating, the
arithmetic will sell you out,” he said.

“Mudzuri’s votes have gone down by 40 000 and this is almost the number of
registered people in a single constituency. How can 40 000 votes that were
announced in March disappear from the face of earth altogether?”

Ncube said even though they had filed their application in court against
President Mugabe’s disputed win in last month’s election, the latest
discrepancies would also form part of their evidence in court.

The circus at Mudede’s office began last month when he announced new
presidential election results in which Mugabe’s total number of votes was
reduced by 4 000.

In the results, Mugabe’s votes stood at 1 681 212, down from
1 685 212 announced in March while Tsvangirai’s votes rose, from 1 2 258 401
to 1 262 403 votes.

The MDC has described Mugabe’s victory, which has been condemned
internationally, as “the biggest electoral fraud in history”.

Mudede only announced the new results in what he called the final report of
the presidential election following publication of a story by The Daily News
that the total number of votes he announced in a live broadcast on ZBC
television on 13 March was 700 000 less that the sum total.

Mudede said the total number of people who had voted in the presidential
poll was 2 298 758 when the total of the breakdown was 2 998 758.

The ZBC has not taken up the challenge by The Daily News to replay the tape
of Mudede as he announced the results.

In Harare, the Electoral Supervisory Commission announced that 439 656
people voted in the presidential election, against the 412 935 announced by
Mudede.

The figure represents about half the registered voters in Harare, where
thousands were disenfranchised when more impediments were placed even after
the High Court had allowed an extension of voting by two days.

The government, in disregard of the High Court ruling, extended polling by a
day only. Furthermore, polling stations were reopened late into the day and
closed well before the scheduled time with the police charging into
prospective voters in the queues.

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Daily News

Zanu PF orders expulsion of 50 teachers

4/25/02 11:40:10 PM (GMT +2)


Staff Reporter

ZANU PF has ordered the expulsion or transfer of at least 50 school teachers
in Makoni North and Chimanimani districts suspected to be Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) members.

In Makoni North, at least 47 teachers have been advised not to report for
duty when the second term begins next Tuesday.

A school teacher at Inyati Secondary School said he had been visited by two
Zanu PF members who told him to go to the Zanu PF district office in Rusape
when schools closed last month.

“I went to the Zanu PF office together with other teachers from around
Chiendambuya and Chinyudze,” the teacher said.

At the district office he said they were met by Timothy Kutadza, also known
as Mabhunu, two women and a war veteran identified only as Choko. He said
they were told to proceed to the district war veterans’ office where they
were informed of their dismissal.

An official at the war veterans’ office, who identified himself as Makonde,
banged the receiver down when he learnt that the call was from The Daily
News. James Kaunye, the district war veterans’ chairman, was said to be out
of the office.

Clara Dube, the Education Officer for Makoni North, could not be reached for
comment as she was said to be attending a meeting.

Sources said the education offices in Rusape had received several
applications for immediate transfers from teachers fearing for their lives,
amid persistent political threats from both Zanu PF supporters and war
veterans.

Affected teachers received threatening letters and ultimatums.

Some teachers at schools in Chiendambuya, Mayo and Tanda said they would not
risk returning to their schools under the current atmosphere.

They accused some rural district councillors in Makoni North of leading the
attacks and continued harassment of teachers suspected to be supporters of
the MDC.

According to the sources, a list of targeted school teachers has been drawn
and is being extended to include teachers in Makoni East and West
constituencies.

Victimisation of rural school teachers has been ongoing since the 2000
referendum.

Leonard Nkala, the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association,
condemned the attacks on teachers saying the situation was not conducive to
teaching and learning.

“Even students feel very frightened when these things happen in their
presence,” said Nkala.

In Chimanimani, Zanu PF officials have ordered the headmaster of Matendedze
Primary School to expel three teachers for allegedly backing Morgan
Tsvangirai, in last month’s presidential election.

On 25 March, Samuel Nkosi, Zanu PF chairman for Guhune Ward 4, wrote to
Cashel Semwayo, the headmaster, saying he should expel the teachers because
they were on the government payroll but supported the MDC.

The Zanu PF office in Guhune Ward 4’s Nedziwa in Chimanimani wrote a letter
dated 25 March to the headmaster of Matendedze school advising him that
teachers identified as Dube, Hokoza and Makaza should not report for duty at
the start of the second term.

The letter was signed by Samuel Nkosi, the Zanu PF Ward 4 chairman.
One of the teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said before and
after the presidential election teachers at the school had received death
threats
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Daily News

ZimRights extends rehabilitation programme

4/25/02 11:39:28 PM (GMT +2)


From Sandra Mujokoro in Bulawayo

ZIMRIGHTS have extended their community rehabilitation project to include
victims of political violence during the presidential election in the
Matabeleland North districts of Lupane and Nkayi.

Hundreds of people were assaulted, threatened or killed during clashes
between rival political parties in the area.

ZimRights has been working on a project dubbed Ukubambana Yinqaba (Unity is
Strength), since 2000. The programme is meant to assist communities
traumatised during the Gukurahundi period.

It involves traditional and community leaders who assist in identifying the
needs of the society and finding amicable solutions to disputes.

ZimRights regional co-ordinator, Tamsanqa Mlilo, said communities are more
important than any political party in rehabilitation exercises and
ZimRights, as a peacemaker, involves everyone regardless of their political
inclination.

“We are simply extending a project we have already been involved in and our
goal is to encourage communities to come up with amicable resolutions in all
conflict situations,” said Mlilo.

In Lupane, a highly volatile area during the run-up to the presidential
election, a Zanu PF activist, Limukani Ncube, was murdered and his body
burnt beyond recognition while Abednico Ncube, the MDC MP for Nkayi was axed
in the head while campaigning in the area.

“We want people to concentrate on the rebuilding process as we have done
with the Gukurahundi situation,” said Mlilo.







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Daily News

Mutare police forbid Tsvangirai to use loudspeakers at rally

4/25/02 11:34:39 PM (GMT +2)


From Brian Mangwende in Mutare

THE police in Mutare have barred Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, from
using loudspeakers as one of the conditions for the opposition party to hold
its rally in Dangamvura suburb on Saturday.

The high-density suburb is in Mutare Central constituency, an MDC
stronghold.

Other conditions are that the MDC supporters should not sing or wear their
party’s regalia, or toyi-toyi to interfere with Zanu PF activities on that
day and not to say anything that may demean or be seen as insulting the
office of the President.

Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC’s spokesman in Manicaland, dismissed the
conditions as unjustified and discriminatory.

He said the MDC would disregard the rule.

Said Pishai: “We are not going to comply with their order. Why should they
deny us our constitutional rights to the freedom of expression, association
and movement?

“That is utter rubbish, nonsensical and ridiculous. Why are they applying
the law selectively?

“If those are going to be the conditions for holding rallies, then it should
be a blanket law, not for the MDC only.”

A senior officer at Mutare Central police station only identified as
Chituku, who set the crippling conditions, said yesterday: “What I told them
is final. They made their request and I complied.”

Earlier, the MDC notified the police who allegedly dragged their feet
prompting MDC officials to engage the services of a lawyer in Mutare.

Tsvangirai is expected to address the rally to thank the people of Mutare
Central for backing him in the presidential election controversially won by
President Mugabe last month.







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Daily News

Zanu PF says Moyo’s ministry liable for $400m campaign debt

4/25/02 11:31:55 PM (GMT +2)


From Brian Mangwende in Mutare

DR Nathan Shamuyarira, Zanu PF’s secretary for publicity and information,
yesterday said the Ministry of Information and Publicity was responsible for
purchasing the party’s campaign material worth about $400 million for last
month’s presidential election.

The future of various companies belonging to a group of Harare businessmen
is now uncertain as the ruling party has failed to honour payments.

Shamuyarira said: “Speak to Jonathan Moyo, the minister responsible, about
that one. His ministry is responsible for paying the businessmen. I am out
of it. The purchasing was done through his ministry.”

But, Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the
President’s Office, switched off his mobile phone immediately after the
reporter identified himself.

Shamuyarira said if Moyo refused to speak to The Daily News, then it was a
problem between the paper and the minister.

“I cannot get involved in that one,” he said.
The businessmen said they supplied Zanu PF with “Hondo Yeminda” and “Third
Chimurenga” T-shirts, caps, hats, flags and headbands for the campaign.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an affected businessman said: “Following
our meeting on 12 April which lasted only 20 minutes, they still have not
paid us. I do not understand how we wronged them. I may lose my property if
I do not pay back the bank loan. Even my business now faces closure.”

During the same meeting, the businessman said, a request was made for the
supply of material for the independence celebrations.

“We refused to do so until we had been paid. We simply don’t have the money
anymore even to properly conduct our day-to-day business,” said the
businessman.







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Daily News

Chigwedere denounces teachers for being drunks

4/25/02 11:30:55 PM (GMT +2)


By Precious Shumba

AENEAS Chigwedere, the Minister of Education and Culture, has accused
schoolteachers of being drunkards and the major culprits in making
schoolgirls pregnant.

The teachers, in turn, complained that government was marginalising them by
paying them unrealistic salaries, considering their specialised training.

They said government generally exposed teachers to public ridicule and
deliberately favoured soldiers and the police by paying them much higher
salaries than schoolteachers.

Leonard Nkala, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) president,
speaking at the association’s 21st annual conference in Bulawayo last week,
said: “Recent differences in remuneration awards have provoked, irked and
annoyed teachers in Zimbabwe.”

He said that despite their many years of academic education and professional
training, the teachers’ salary rate was falling back compared to other
members within the public service. Zimta has
55 181 members.

Nkala said the government awarded teachers a 55 percent cost of living
adjustment, citing its incapacity to pay more because of limited financial
resources, yet it went on to double the salaries of the uniformed forces and
health personnel, who were also awarded uniform allowances in addition to
their hefty salaries.

He said a solution had to be found soon because the discrimination against
teachers could not be tolerated beyond “this degrading and dehumanising
stage”.

Meanwhile, Nkala said thousands of teachers had been displaced by the
sustained political violence against them.

Nkala said Zimta believed that careless inflammatory statements made against
teachers and the indiscriminate labelling of teachers have exposed them to
abuse by their former pupils, local communities and some political
activists.

He said Zanu PF activists had unilaterally taken over the staffing of
schools, transferring and displacing teachers.

Nkala said teachers, as equal citizens, should have their human rights
protected and guaranteed under the Constitution.

Chigwedere criticised Zimta for not taking disciplinary action against
members who behave unethically. He said Zimta protected them, instead.
Chigwedere said Zimta members accounted for the largest number of schoolgirl
pregnancies, embezzled school funds and were the worst drunkards in the
rural areas.

He accused Zimta of focusing on its members and not on education.

“This is so because Zimta is a trade union and not a professional
organisation, like the Law Society of Zimbabwe or the Medical Professions
Council,” the minister said.


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Daily News

Chigwedere denounces teachers for being drunks

4/25/02 11:30:55 PM (GMT +2)


By Precious Shumba

AENEAS Chigwedere, the Minister of Education and Culture, has accused
schoolteachers of being drunkards and the major culprits in making
schoolgirls pregnant.

The teachers, in turn, complained that government was marginalising them by
paying them unrealistic salaries, considering their specialised training.

They said government generally exposed teachers to public ridicule and
deliberately favoured soldiers and the police by paying them much higher
salaries than schoolteachers.

Leonard Nkala, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) president,
speaking at the association’s 21st annual conference in Bulawayo last week,
said: “Recent differences in remuneration awards have provoked, irked and
annoyed teachers in Zimbabwe.”

He said that despite their many years of academic education and professional
training, the teachers’ salary rate was falling back compared to other
members within the public service. Zimta has
55 181 members.

Nkala said the government awarded teachers a 55 percent cost of living
adjustment, citing its incapacity to pay more because of limited financial
resources, yet it went on to double the salaries of the uniformed forces and
health personnel, who were also awarded uniform allowances in addition to
their hefty salaries.

He said a solution had to be found soon because the discrimination against
teachers could not be tolerated beyond “this degrading and dehumanising
stage”.

Meanwhile, Nkala said thousands of teachers had been displaced by the
sustained political violence against them.

Nkala said Zimta believed that careless inflammatory statements made against
teachers and the indiscriminate labelling of teachers have exposed them to
abuse by their former pupils, local communities and some political
activists.

He said Zanu PF activists had unilaterally taken over the staffing of
schools, transferring and displacing teachers.

Nkala said teachers, as equal citizens, should have their human rights
protected and guaranteed under the Constitution.

Chigwedere criticised Zimta for not taking disciplinary action against
members who behave unethically. He said Zimta protected them, instead.
Chigwedere said Zimta members accounted for the largest number of schoolgirl
pregnancies, embezzled school funds and were the worst drunkards in the
rural areas.

He accused Zimta of focusing on its members and not on education.

“This is so because Zimta is a trade union and not a professional
organisation, like the Law Society of Zimbabwe or the Medical Professions
Council,” the minister said.


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Things Fall Apart As Paralysis Grips Nation


Financial Gazette (Harare)

April 25, 2002
Posted to the web April 25, 2002


THERE is complete paralysis in this country and no one, not even the
government, clearly knows where we Zimbabweans are headed.

It is clear that there is no direction and that neither do those in
positions of power know exactly what they are doing, save for occasionally
coming up with crazy, high-sounding ideas on economic reform that are not
practical.

The crumbling economy does not need a 10-year plan or programme, as is being
espoused in government circles.

For a country that is virtually broke, what the economy needs are extremely
urgent measures now. Unfortunately, the present leadership does not seem to
have such plans.

How can a leadership bank on the immediate resuscitation of the country's
economy by a few thousand peasant farmers who have just been allocated land,
many of them just on paper, and who all are yet to be properly equipped with
finance, skills and inputs to farm productively?

Our much-vaunted agro-driven economic recovery programme under the
circumstances that we are currently in is a dream from people whose thinking
capacity has gone full circle backwards.

One step forward, two steps backwards is how Zimbabwe has been governed
since independence from Britain in 1980.

What is clear is that the country is falling apart while we all look, fold
our arms and pretend it is business as usual.

Even political activism from our once vibrant civic society has all but
crumbled as well. Where is the National Constitutional Assembly? The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions or Crisis in Zimbabwe group?

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is now even more duty-bound to
stop Zimbabwe falling apart rapidly as is happening now.

Practical solutions are needed from Morgan Tsvangirai and his team to stop
the rot because it is clear Robert Mugabe and his administration are all out
at sea.

What we are witnessing in Zimbabwe is a scenario where people who just want
to make do would rather live with the abnormal.

We are normalising the abnormal while the country is falling apart as
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo once said a long time ago.

In fact, such is the confusion in Zimbabwe today that Mugabe cannot even
reshuffle his own Cabinet.

That might be understandable when one takes the view that Mugabe might feel
his job is insecure, what with his re-election being challenged in court and
the developed world deciding to completely not recognise but isolate him.

Honestly, how can we Zimbabweans or anyone else for that matter expect
Mugabe to fire or appoint anyone when even his own job is on the line?

It is a over month after the election and we now live for the day and the
situation is getting worse.

In the world of global politics and economics, how can we have a leadership
that can only roam freely on a poor continent like Africa and is barred from
multilateral or bilateral relations with the rich West and most of the
world?

Things have indeed fallen apart. What should be clear to all of us
Zimbabweans is that nobody is in control of the ship of state.

The same disease has even affected the churches, where some of them have
become conduits to perpetuate ZANU PF's message of oppression.

Some church leaders have deserted the pulpit and can be seen gracing ZANU PF
occasions. They have become the voices of oppression and, to make it worse,
they are using God's name in vain.

Such church leaders cannot even condemn state-sponsored brutality against
its own citizens because they are now dining and wining with the ruling
elite.

It is high time that Christians and congregations chase away pastors,
reverends and priests who bless and speak well of the state-sponsored evil
being encouraged by Zimbabwe's ruling class.

Men of God who grace ZANU PF occasions for their own selfish ends should be
chased away from the churches.

These are indeed abnormal times when so-called men of God turn out to be
supporters of such devilish acts as being perpetrated by the state today.

It is time that right-thinking Zimbabwean Christians say "to hell with these
fake men of God who preach the word according to ZANU PF".

It is also clear that those who we have allowed to govern us no longer
practise the rule of law and do not care less.

So-called war veterans have virtually become a law unto themselves, moving
around commercial farms and other properties and giving individuals
ultimatums and taking over their properties and personal belongings.

Things have indeed fallen apart.

As for ordinary Zimbabweans, the fact that the election is over does not
mean people should fold their arms and pretend that things are normal, as is
happening now.

We should be the last ones to normalise the abnormal, even if we are living
in these abnormal and trying times.







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Government Policies Threaten Black Business

Financial Gazette (Harare)

April 25, 2002
Posted to the web April 25, 2002

Nqobile Nyathi, Assistant News Editor


ANELE Ngwenya apologises that some of the prices in his small cafe have
almost doubled in the space of two weeks.

Pork has become especially expensive, he tells a customer, adding that a new
delivery often means another price increase.

"Sometimes we can't find the ingredients we need for our dishes and we have
to keep increasing our prices because everything is expensive now," the
middle-aged former headmaster explains to the Financial Gazette.

"I've had to let people (the workers) go because we don't have as many
customers as we used to. Now only my wife does the cooking and my daughter
and I man the cafe. It's an impossible situation and I don't know how long
we can keep going."

Ngwenya launched his operation in 1995. He is one of the black entrepreneurs
to go into business after the liberalisation of Zimbabwe's economy in 1991
and who, according to economists, have been hit hardest by the government's
policies ostensibly aimed at empowering the majority blacks.

Analysts this week said although government-imposed price controls, the
invasion of farms by ruling ZANU PF supporters and the government's land
reform programme were supposed to benefit blacks, they were instead
threatening to reverse some of the gains made in turning the control of the
economy over to blacks.

"You can say the government is wielding a double-edged sword," a commercial
bank economist said.

"On the one hand, it says it wants to take economic control away from whites
and empower blacks, but black companies are the worst affected by these
policies," the economist said, preferring not to be named.

This is because many of the fledgling companies came into being in the
1990s, which means that they are still fairly new and small, making them the
most vulnerable to Zimbabwe's economic crisis.

"In any economic situation that is not good, the marginal players are the
ones who go first, followed by the ones with a small capital base," Kingdom
Financial Holdings' economist Witness Chinyama noted.

"Many black businesses are not large companies with a big capital base and
enough experience and contacts to access foreign markets. They are actually
operating from a disadvantage."

Experts said the problems faced by these companies had been worsened by the
impact that the land invasions, the fast-track land resettlement programme
and price controls had had on Zimbabwe's economy.

Thus small black-owned companies have had to contend with lack of capital as
well as the instability spawned by the land seizures on the agricultural
sector, the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy.

The invasions have triggered food shortages, reduced the output of foreign
currency-earning crops like tobacco and hit firms which rely on the sector
for raw materials and markets.

Price controls aimed at protecting the poor, the majority of them black,
have worsened commodity shortages, reduced profit margins and forced some
companies to scale down operations.

"The newest companies are the most vulnerable. That would be the same even
in a healthy economy," economic consultant John Robert told the Financial
Gazette.

"A more critical issue under our conditions is that they also face new
problems such as a shrinking economy and foreign exchange shortages."

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce economist James Jowa said: "A lot of
the indigenous companies are restricted to the domestic market and have not
been able to get the forex so that they can import essential inputs and
capital goods.

"They are weaker because some of them are still starting out and they don't
have international exposure. That's why they are struggling."

Although no studies have been undertaken, most analysts estimate that at
least 60 percent of the companies on the verge of collapse because of these
problems are black-owned firms that sprang up in the 1990s.

"That wouldn't surprise me," said Robertson about the estimates. "The black
population being 99 times bigger than the white population, it makes sense
that most of the businesses started in the last few years would have been
started by blacks.

"Because new companies are usually the most vulnerable at times like this
and because of the racial balance, that tells me that (estimate) could be
true. I think they (government) didn't think this one through. They don't
appear to have realised that the conditions that sweep across the full
spectrum of business would affect everyone."

The analysts said sectors where a large number of black operators were under
threat or had been forced out of business in the last three years included
tourism, manufacturing, milling and baking, which saw a large number of
black entrants in the early 1990s.

"Tourism and manufacturing immediately come to mind because a lot of
indigenous guys have gone into business there," Jowa said.

An official in the baking industry, which lost 90 operators last year alone,
added: "About 80 percent of black-owned bakeries are going to the wall
because of price controls. They just can't cope."

Experts predict that problems faced by black entrepreneurs will only worsen
if the government does not adopt sustainable economic programmes and
introduce a comprehensive indigenisation policy to replace official
rhetoric.

Jowa pointed out: "We don't have a comprehensive indigenisation policy.
Indigenisation is always talked about but little has been done. There needs
to be a policy on the ground first."

A commercial bank economist said: "It's been said before, but we need to get
our house in order. That's the only way we can have true empowerment in this
country. We have to stop destroying agriculture, tourism and manufacturing
by letting people run amok in a lawless society.

"As long as that's allowed to continue, most black businesses will continue
to struggle and won't thrive. You can't talk about empowerment in a
situation like that."






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Zim's CommonWealth Ban Has an Effect On Us - Levy


The Post (Lusaka)

April 25, 2002
Posted to the web April 25, 2002

Sheikh Chifuwe


ZIMBABWE'S ban from the Commonwealth has a direct effect on us, said
President Levy Mwanawasa yesterday.

Leaving for Harare at Lusaka International Airport, President Mwanawasa said
Zambia and Zimbabwe had a lot of trade links. "The hardships faced by
Zimbabwe affect us because there is a lot of trade between Zambia and
Zimbabwe," President Mwanawasa said.


"We are very hopeful that this will be waived quickly." Zimbabwe was banned
from the Commonwealth grouping last month for alleged violation of the
electoral process in the March 11, 2002 presidential elections.

President Mwanawasa was expected to hold bilateral talks with Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe yesterday before opening the Zimbabwe International
Trade Fair tomorrow. President Mwanawasa is today also expected to visit the
Heroes Headquarters and leave for Chiredzi where he will visit an irrigation
scheme.

On the manufacturers' concerns over trade imbalances in the region,
President Mwanawasa said the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA) had set up a mechanism to ensure that everyone was treated fairly.
Mwanawasa is expected back on Saturday.







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MSNBC

Zimbabwe's MDC warns it might pull out of talks



HARARE, April 25 — Zimbabwe's main opposition group has threatened to pull
out of talks with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF over disputed elections
unless the ruling party halts a ''terror'' campaign.

        Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai warned in an
interview published on Thursday his party would find talks difficult in a
climate of ''banditry, lawlessness and terror.''
       Zimbabwe is reeling from a political and economic crisis that has
deepened since Mugabe was re-elected in disputed March 9-11 polls which
opponents and some international observers say the 78-year-old leader
rigged.
       Zimbabwean human rights groups say up to 54 people have been killed
in political violence this year.
       ''In the light of the state-sponsored violence and campaign of
retribution being waged and sustained by ZANU-PF, we now find it difficult
to resume talks under a climate of banditry, lawlessness and terror which is
being left to flourish,'' Tsvangirai told the private-owned weekly Financial
Gazette.
       ''How can you talk when people are being tortured, harassed,
displaced daily through elements being sponsored by the state?''
       Tsvangirai said the MDC would hold an emergency meeting early next
month to discuss its response to the violence ahead of the scheduled
resumption on May 13 of talks with ZANU-PF aimed at exploring ways of
healing the rift between them.
       But analysts and the MDC hold out little hope for progress in the
talks, which began on April 8 under the chairmanship of mediators from South
Africa and Nigeria.
       ZANU-PF has flatly refused to re-run last month's presidential poll,
while Tsvangirai says he will discuss nothing but a new election under
external supervision. The MDC also insists on an end to political violence.

IRON FIST
       The MDC accuses the government of taking an iron-fisted approach to
opposition groups while allowing pro-government militants to continue a
reign of terror in the countryside.
       Police on Thursday raided the offices of the pro-democracy National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), which staged street protests this week
against Mugabe's election and a constitution it says entrenches his rule,
the organisation said.
       ''We are being raided by police right now and they are searching our
offices. We are not being allowed to talk on the phones,'' National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) spokesman Maxwell Saungweme said in a hurried
phone call to Reuters.
       The NCA is a coalition of political parties and civic groups that was
set up in 1998.
       A police spokesman said he did not know of the raid. ''These are the
operations of Harare province and we at headquarters wouldn't know what's
going on at the moment. They do whatever they do and then inform us,'' he
said.
       On Tuesday riot police arrested 38 NCA activists after breaking up
nationwide protests against the constitution, which critics say Mugabe has
amended several times to tighten his 22-year grip on power.
       On the same day, opponents accused Mugabe's supporters of beheading a
woman whose family supported the opposition. Police said they had no
information on the incident.
       On Wednesday a Harare magistrate dismissed charges against NCA
chairman Lovemore Madhuku and two colleagues, saying ''conspiring to commit
public violence'' by arranging the march did not constitute a crime.







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ZBC Now Grouped With Political Parties

THE widely publicised attacks on the news crew of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) at political rallies by political party supporters and by soldiers at demonstrations bring yet another chance for debate on the role of the public broadcaster in Zimbabwe.

Without doubt any attack on any media personnel from anywhere for whatever reason is totally abhorrent and unacceptable.

The Zimbabwe situation is however gaining some form of peculiarity in that the public broadcaster is always under attack from certain political groups and is indeed always praised by the ruling party and the government.

The role of the ZBC as a public broadcaster has never been subjected to public debate in Zimbabwe since the country's independence in 1980.

What is becoming clear from the physical attacks being perpetrated on the ZBC crew is that there are certain political and social groups that see the public broadcaster as an active political player or, in other words, a mouthpiece for the ruling party. This means that the ZBC is being grouped together with political parties and activists.

From its reports and programming, it is clear that the public broadcaster has fallen into the hands of political spin-doctors and these people ultimately decide the structure of broadcasting Zimbabwe currently has.

Being the only broadcasting station in Zimbabwe and supported by taxpayers' money and using taxpayers infrastructure, there is need for the ZBC to enforce impartiality and serve the interests of the nation.

This cannot, however, be achieved under the current regulations, be it that which governs the ZBC or the Broadcasting Services Act 2001. These laws stifle free expression by the ZBC and ultimately affect fair coverage of issues.

The violent attacks on the ZBC crew are as a result of the anger in some quarters that the public broadcaster has not been fair in its coverage of national issues and events.

Addressing a Law Society public meeting in Harare, the chairperson of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, acknowledged that the ZBC had not covered the elections fairly and that the observations of the commission were in a report to be presented to President Robert Mugabe. The Commonwealth observer team also made similar observations.

The use of inflammatory language by the ZBC even on fellow media houses and journalists is well-documented. Such words as "stooges", "unpatriotic", "racist", "oppositional", "puppets" and "terrorists" have become trademarks of the ZBC. Such inflammatory language has the effect of inciting political party supporters from both divides to carry out acts of violence.

This violence cannot be far from what has been happening to the ZBC when it tried to cover certain political rallies.

In terms of the use of hate speech and inflammatory language, the ZBC is in clear breach of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, violence or hostility.

The use of hate language, many will remember, contributed to the Rwandan genocide. Contrary to the statement made by one government minister arguing against the freeing of the airwaves, that a private radio station had contributed to the genocide in Rwanda, the truth is that the "private" radio station, Radio-Television Libre Des Mille Collines (RTLM), was an offshoot of the government.

This was so because the Rwandan government had come under pressure to stop the use of Radio Rwanda to promote hate speech after the earlier genocide that took place in March 1992, hence the formation of RTLM. The Rwandan situation, many will agree, must never be tolerated or allowed to take root in Zimbabwe.

The dominance of the ZBC in terms of reaching out to a wider audience cannot be disputed. This is so because of its broadly spread infrastructure.

This advantage can indeed be used to promote peace and development in Zimbabwe rather than violence that can ultimately catch up with its advocators. Peace and development is not only harping on about certain economic programmes like the land reform but also giving a voice to those with critical and differing views.

Any public broadcaster worth its salt must have a commitment to balanced scheduling and political content. This, as mentioned earlier, cannot however be achieved without a change of the legislation governing broadcasting in Zimbabwe. New regulations are needed that require the ZBC to provide reasonable access to differing points of view on public issues.

The opening up of the airwaves is not enough to guarantee a plurality of voices on the airwaves. This is so because the ZBC, unlike private players, is obliged to reach out to anyone in spite of economic considerations. Private stations might decide to reach out to particular groups and concentrate on limited programme issues.

At a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation conference held in Namibia in 2001 to celebrate 10 years of the Windhoek Declaration, which seeks to promote a free Press, delegates came up with an African Charter on Broadcasting. In terms of public broadcasting the charter calls for:

All state- and government-controlled broadcasters to be transformed into public service broadcasters that are accountable to all strata of the people as represented by an independent board that serves the public interests, avoiding one-sided reporting and programming in regard to religion, political belief, culture, race and gender.

The charter also calls for public broadcasting to be governed by bodies that are legally insulated from interference and that their editorial independence must be guaranteed.

The ZBC is under the yoke of the government through the appointment of a board by the minister of information. But the need for an independent body accountable to the people and not the minister is gaining wide acceptance all over the world.

There is therefore need for an independent board and Broadcasting Regulatory Authority in Zimbabwe if broadcasting is to be truly free and representative. Regulatory bodies, though largely the creations of politicians, are still expected to operate with a degree of independence and to be appointed transparently.

The attacks on the ZBC crew will not be solved by simply controlling political party thugs; these attacks mirror serious underlying problems that need to be solved through a broad and all-inclusive reform programme at Pockets Hill.

Rashweat Mukundu is a research and information officer with the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

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ZIM - sprout those shoots

Dearest fellow Zimbabwean, I don't know who you are, but no doubt I know you
as I am an ex WPO in the BSAP in the lowveld in 1974-75.  If it is any
consolation, we (white and black Zimbo's) are here today because we love our
country, love our people and were prepared to change with change in 1980. We
made a commitment and for 22 years we have built on that commitment.  We are
feeling the pain of being felled, like an old Msasa/Mopani tree, deeply
rooted in the home we love and revere, wantonly being felled without reason,
without feeling. However, have you seen those trees, sprouting those
amazingly strong little green shoots/leaves from the amputated trunk?  You
have !!  We all have!!  We are all tired so take a little time off to build
up the energy to nuture those new shoots, they ARE sprouting,,, so let's
grow them together.  United we stand, divided we fall.
with much love for Zimbabwe, K.
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