http://www.iol.co.za
August 12 2012 at 01:10pm
By Peta
Thornycroft
Harare - Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF-controlled wildlife
ministry has handed out a
clutch of hunting licences to its cronies to shoot
game in several wildlife
conservancies.
The move has raised fears
among conservationists that the new hunters will
decimate the game and also
that the take-over by Zanu-PF cronies will deter
regular foreign
hunters.
The conservancies are mostly owned or managed by groups of
foreigners and
white and black Zimbabweans who control hunting and subsidise
the
conservancies from their other businesses to protect the animals. There
was
no tender procedure for the licences handed out this week and Zanu-PF
says
the new deal came about because the present conservancy owners and
managers
refused to “share”.
One of the conservancies, the Save
Valley in the lowveld, has now granted
hunting licences to 25 senior Zanu-PF
officials. Poaching is rife in Save
Valley, despite the best efforts by the
conservancy owners to combat it.
National Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority director general Vitalis
Chadenga issued the hunting permits to
the new black farmers, as they are
called, last week.
Chadenga said
the farmers who were issued with hunting permits had been
allocated 25-year
land leases.
He told the new farmers that his organisation expected
orderly hunting to
take place. He
said measures were under way to
bring to book those hunting without permits.
He expressed concern over an
upsurge in poaching, especially the black
rhino.
Wilfried Pabst, the
vice chairman of the Save Valley Conservancy, and a
German citizen, said the
new “partners” in the conservancies have neither
capital nor cash for
running costs to protect the wildlife and maintain the
infrastructure.
“The hunting community will shun Zimbabwe and this
will be a grave fallout
for tourism,” Pabst said.
He expects there
will be immediate travel warnings by the EU and US as many
regular hunters
will now be seen as hunting without permits. “What visitor
will come with
the threat of arrest?”
Weekend Argus
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, August 12, 2012 - Zimbabwe’s political
fallout is likely to be
discussed at next week’s Southern Africa Development
Community (Sadc) summit
in Maputo, Mozambique as the regional grouping
pushes for a resolution in
the Harare crisis ahead of the referendum and
harmonised elections.
Reports had indicated that the Maputo summit,
scheduled for 17-18 August,
will focus on hot-spots Madagascar and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
but sources last Friday said the Sadc
appointed facilitation team of South
African President Jacob Zuma , is
expected to present a report on Zimbabwe
in the wake of another stalemate on
the draft constitution.
A Zanu-PF marathon politburo meeting which ended
around 5am on Thursday
resolved to re-write the draft constitution despite
the document being
endorsed by its two partners in the Global Political
Agreement.
Zuma and his team are expected in the capital Harare early
next week before
the summit in Maputo which kicks off with the Council of
Ministers Meeting
to start on Wednesday.
Jameson Timba, the MDC-T
secretary for external affairs who doubles as the
Minister of State in the
Prime Minister’s office, said they had just
concluded a diplomatic offensive
in the region ahead of the summit.
“Zimbabwe like Madagascar will always
be on the agenda of the SADC troika
which in turn reports on progress to the
summit,” said Timba.
“At this juncture there is no serious matter that
would warrant Zimbabwe
having a specific and separate agenda item outside
the troika report to the
summit. Sadc and South Africa, in my view have done
their best to nurture
the fragile transition in Zimbabwe. A lot, however,
still needs to be done
to ensure that the country does not regress but
instead progresses to a
credible free and fair election. At the end of the
day the destiny of
Zimbabwe lies with Zimbabweans,” he said.
MDC-T
spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora said his party expected the summit to
carry on
discussions on Zimbabwe as that would be a normal procedure since
the last
summit in Angola had prescribed certain actions to be taken.
“Zimbabwe is
an outstanding issue. It must be discussed somehow We are
moving towards
elections and we have seen increasing chaos within Zanu-PF
which is being
exported to the state institutions such as that being
witnessed at the start
of the census involving the army,” said Mwonzora.
“These issues have to
be tackled by Sadc because if not, it will cause chaos
in the country. Our
position in the MDC remains the same; that the summit
must deal with the
issue of Zimbabwe. They must consider the few remaining
issues on the GPA.
They must push the country into having a referendum to
ask the people of
Zimbabwe to vote on whether they approve of the draft
constitution.
Our delegation will implore the summit that the draft
constitution is
complete and was completed by a multi-party team. The
parties have
negotiated enough, have fought enough and have bickered enough,
now the
people of Zimbabwe must have their chance. So the summit must
intervene and
push for progress,” he said.
The last summit in Luanda
pressured Zuma to push parties to the GPA to
implement agreed reforms,
finalise the constitution-making process and hold
a referendum to pave way
for elections next year.
Sadc said preparations for elections should be
done within the next 12
months after full implementation of outstanding GPA
reforms. The regional
bloc has struggled to unlock Zimbabwe’s political
stalemate as several
summits have made resolutions on the issue which have
not been fully
implemented.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Fungi Kwaramba and Farai Mutsaka
Sunday,
12 August 2012 13:59
HARARE - Events leading to the cancellation
of the training of census
enumerators have raised alarm that the country
could be sitting on a time
bomb.
Uniformed forces, poorly paid and
like any government worker desperate to
cash in on the extra allowance that
comes with participating in the census,
were livid at being left out of the
process.
So serious was the threat that it took a Cabinet sitting and
another special
meeting between acting Finance minister Gorden Moyo and
Security sector
ministers Emmerson Mnangagwa, Sidney Sekeramayi, Kembo
Mohadi and Theresa
Makone to diffuse the volatile
situation.
Disciplined and internationally recognised for United Nations
peacekeeping
missions, “rag tag” would the last term to ordinarily relate to
Zimbabwe’s
rank and file uniformed forces.
Yet, time and again, they
have shown a disturbing streak.
Starved of quality food in the barracks
and pocketing wallets thin as they
come, Zimbabwe’s uniformed forces have
often gotten out of control when
politics of the stomach do not go their
way.
Last week’s run on the census programme is indicative of growing
frustration
by the military over their welfare, analysts and experts
say.
But Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantine Chiwenga yesterday
rushed
to defend the force, saying Zimbabwe’s military is one of the most
disciplined on the continent despite welfare challenges he said were caused
by sanctions.
“The principle of military subordination to civilian
authority, which is the
cornerstone of professionalism, was borne out of the
armed struggle and not
these theories, which are being talked about that are
very nonsensical,”
Chiwenga said in an interview with state
media.
Yet the behaviour witnessed during the census programme appears to
be a
familiar script.
A 2008 recall, maybe.
Uniformed forces
reportedly took control of President Robert Mugabe’s
campaign after a first
round presidential election defeat and deployed
thousands of junior soldiers
in urban and rural areas to orchestrate an orgy
of violence condemned by
civil society and African observer missions.
Once the work was done on
the political front, the poorly paid forces turned
to their own personal
welfare, which was lacking then.
As the country hurtled towards total
collapse with Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai failing to hammer
out a power-sharing deal, rank and file
soldiers took matters into their own
hands.
In November 2008, after banks failed to pay out their salaries on
time, they
ran riot on the financial institutions and spread into the city
where they
raided illegal foreign currency dealers who, unlike formally
employed
Zimbabweans, were making a killing through street
hustling.
Hordes of junior soldiers stormed out of barracks and ran riot
on banks and
the public they saw as better off than them.
Analysts
and security experts say, as the census chaos has shown, it could
be a rocky
road ahead as a constitutional referendum and a watershed general
election
loom.
They say while commanders live it up on lush farms, driving
state-of-the-art
vehicles, junior soldiers are roughing it up-often not
affording cheap
public transport fares to and from barracks.
Finance
minister Tendai Biti has also repeatedly refused to increase
government
workers’ salaries, citing low revenues.
Giles Mutsekwa, who is the MDC
secretary for defence and security and a
former soldier, said events of the
past week showed that uniformed forces
could easily get out of control if
their welfare issues are continuously
ignored.
“Zanu PF has always
relied on violence using unsuspecting soldiers and
nobody has called the
soldiers to order because it suits their needs. They
have been enjoying as
civilians are intimidated by soldiers, but now
chickens are coming home to
roost,” said Mutsekwa.
Three years after the formation of a coalition
government that promised so
much and delivered so little, the military is no
better off.
Despite being the pillar to Mugabe and his rich friends’
power, most
soldiers earn a monthly average of $300 against a poverty datum
line of $650
as recommended by the World Bank.
Mutsekwa said soldiers
in the lower ranks are also concerned with stalled
promotions.
“The
biggest headache in the defence forces is the widening gap between top
hierarchy and those in lower ranks. Within the army, there have not been any
promotions of significance in the lower ranks as Mugabe is busy promoting
those in the top ranks,” claimed Mutsekwa.
A commander during the
liberation war, Wilfred Mhanda, who leads the
Zimbabwe Liberation Platform
(ZIP) says treasonous statements that have been
made by army generals made
it difficult to control those in lower ranks when
they run amok.
“The
conduct of soldiers is now very unbecoming. This is about the rule of
law,
if junior soldiers see that their masters are disobeying the law and
getting
away with it, they will do the same,” he said.
Mhanda said in a country
where the “law is broken with impunity” it would
not be a surprise if the
rowdy behaviour that was demonstrated by soldiers
last week escalated into
chaos especially ahead of elections.
“They are living in poor conditions
when their superiors are living in
opulence. This triggers resentment and it
is natural for them to demand
recognition,” said Mhanda.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Dan Littauer - Gaystarnews 7 hours 44
minutes ago
Forty-four members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe
(GALZ) were arrested
yesterday and released today (12 August) without
charges.
Four Zimbabwe police officers attempted to gain entry to the
GALZ office in
the nation’s capital, Harrare on Saturday (11
August).
The police officers called for back up and around 15 riot squad
officers
descended on the office and effected arrest.
The riot squad
and police officers were reported to have assaulted most of
the members
using baton sticks, open hands and clenched fists before
detaining them
without charge.
One member was reported to be bleeding through the ear
after the assault.
Thirty-one men and 13 women members were detained at
Harare central police
station over night.
Zimbabwean human rights
lawyers were denied access to see them.
The arrests came following the
launch of the GALZ 'Violations Report' and
briefing on the second draft
Zimbabwe constitution.
GALZ reported that ‘all 44 members have now been
released and are we are
working with them to assess their condition and
well-being.’
Male homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe and in 2006 the
country’s
government amended the law which now states that sodomy is any
‘act
involving contact between two males that would be regarded by a
reasonable
person as an indecent act’, thereby criminalizing even holding
hands,
hugging, or kissing.
In 1995, the country’s president, Robert
Mugabe, came across a GALZ stall in
an international book fair in Harrare
and stated: ‘I find it extremely
outrageous and repugnant to my human
conscience that such immoral and
repulsive organizatio
Since then,
President Mugabe has increased the political repression of
Zimbabwe’s LGBT
community. GALZ hans, like those of homosexuals, who offend
both against the
law of nature and the morals of religious beliefs espoused
by our society,
should have any advocates in our midst and elsewhere in the
world.’
Two weeks later during Zimbabwe's annual independence
celebrations Mugabe
proclaimed: ‘It degrades human dignity.
'It's
unnatural, and there is no question ever of allowing these people to
behave
worse than dogs and pigs.
‘What we are being persuaded to accept is
sub-animal behavior and we will
never allow it here. If you see people
parading themselves as lesbians and
gays, arrest them and hand them over to
the police!’s been repeatedly
subjected to harassment.
Members of the
Zimbabwe’s LGBT community have been repeatedly detained,
beaten and
sometimes even raped by the authorities. - Gaystarnews
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
GALZ deplores the arrest
of 44 members of GALZ who had attended the launch
of the GALZ Violations
Report and a briefing on the Second Draft of the
Zimbabwe Constitution on 11
August 2012 at the GALZ offices. Four police
officers attempted to gain
entry into the premises before calling for back
up where about fifteen riot
squad members descended on the office and
effected
arrest.
12.08.1201:09pm
by Staff Reporter
Thirty one men and
thirteen women members were detained overnight at Harare
Central Police
Station on 11 August 2012. Police, some of them visibly
drunk, assaulted
most of the members using baton sticks, open hands and
clenched fists before
detaining them without charge. Such use of force is in
direct contradiction
to the Global Political Agreement.
Denying Zimbabweans the right to
participate in processes that compliment
National efforts is an infringement
of the right to freedom of assembly and
association. It is the
constitutional obligation of state agencies to uphold
all the rights of
citizens under the Declaration of Rights. GALZ calls on
the state to
immediately refrain from the use of any form of organised
violence and to
refrain from utilising violence of any sort in the pursuit
of their
political interests.
GALZ does not condone violence and we are not a
threat. Those who cause
violence are a threat to public safety and security
and we ask that they
stay away from our premises.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
By The Independent on August 10, 2012 in
Business
AGRICULTURE remains the key component in the performance of the
economy and
should be the basis for any recovery programmes that might be
adopted by
government, economist Brains Muchemwa told an Ernst & Young
Tax and Economic
seminar in the capital this week.
He attributed
Zimbabwe’s slump in economic growth this year to the poor
agriculture season
and lack of investment in the sector. The 2011
agricultural season was
characterised by lower than expected maize and
tobacco output and revenues,
resulting in the downward revision of the
growth of the sector.
Last
month, the ministries of Finance and of Economic Planning revised the
Gross
Domestic Product rate downwards to 5,6% from 9,4%, citing poor
performance
by the key agricultural sector and low revenue collection.
The majority of
developing economies still heavily depend on primary
commodities from
agriculture and mining. In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture
generates at
least 30% of GDP, 40% of exports and more than 70% of
employment.
Economists say increased agricultural production leads to
increased demand
for processing facilities, giving the industry a high
multiplier effect.
Figures from the International Food Policy Research
Institute show that the
multiplier effect of agricultural growth in Africa
ranges from US$0,60 in
non-agricultural income for every US$1 increase in
farm income in Niger, to
a near doubling effect in Burkina Faso of US$1,88
in additional income
outside the sector for every $1 increase in
agricultural income.
In Zimbabwe the impact of a poor agriculture season has
been strongly felt
in the retail sector. OK Zimbabwe CEO Willard Zireva
recently told an annual
general meeting that consumer spending will most
likely decline owing to the
generally poor harvest and delays in the
commencement of the cotton
marketing season. The same sentiments were echoed
by Delta CEO Pearson
Gowero who said that the decline in cereal output had
resulted in a marginal
decline in volumes for sorghum beer.
Muchemwa has
disputed official GDP figures, saying his own calculations
showed the size
of the economy was 30% less than has been officially given.
He said GDP was
US$6,9 billion in 2011 and would only rise to US$7,2 billion
this year and
not from US$10,1 billion (2011) to US$10,6 billion as has been
officially
stated. The country’s Medium Term Plan sets a 7% growth rate,
which is
expected to lead to a US$9 billion economy by 2015.
The growth rate is
expected to slow down to levels of between 3 to 4% next
year because of
elections, which are traditionally characterised by low
levels of
investment, and due to policy misalignment within the GNU.
According to the
African Economic Outlook, Zimbabwe’s GDP will decelerate to
4,4% this year
from 6,8% in 2011, owing to challenges facing the economy,
which include
lack of liquidity.
The decline in growth is attributed to the high cost
of capital and
inconsistencies, especially on the indigenisation
regulations, the report
said.
It also said obsolete technologies as well
as power and water shortages
militated against the growth of the
economy.
“These downside risks are further exacerbated by the disputes among
the
government partners on the new constitution, the pending national
referendum
and national elections,” the report said.
The International
Monetary Fund recently said the country would register
real GDP growth rates
of 4, 7% and 6, 3% this year and 2013 respectively. —
Staff Writer.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
11/08/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has
warned that power
supply interruptions will increase over the next three
months due to
maintenance work at Hwange thermal power station.
The
power station generates about 500MW but maintenance work to increase
capacity would temporarily result in the loss of 160MW over the next three
months, ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira.
“Zesa Holdings would like to
advise all its customers countrywide that
Hwange Power Station will be
undergoing its scheduled mandatory statutory
maintenance to ensure the
continued operational efficiency of that
generating asset,” Gwasira
said.
“The scheduled maintenance will commence on Saturday 11 August
2012
(yesterday) and be completed in November 2012. During this period, a
total
of 160 MW will be lost to the national grid.”
Gwasira said the ZESA
was working to step up imports from the region to
mitigate the supply
interruptions.
Zimbabwe needs about 2,200 megawatts of electricity at
peak consumption but
generates just below 1,300 megawatts, while efforts to
plug the gap with
imports are often undermined by non-payment for
supplies.
Supplies are currently being rationed between both commercial and
domestic
users.
Although the government is planning various projects
to step up power
generation a senior official recently warned that the
shortages would likely
continue for another ten years.
"By 2022
that's when we will be able to generate enough power for domestic
and
industrial power. (But) most of our woes in terms of blackouts will end
in
2015," Patson Mbiriri the permanent secretary for the energy minister
told a
recent industry conference.
Legislators recently expressed concern over the
impact of power supplies
shortages on the country’s struggling
economy.
“We have failed to come up with indicators just to say there
will be
something in two years and in two years this country will have
enough
energy. Yet Cabinet meets every week, Ministers are in their offices
every
day and one wonders what is really happening,” said Goromonzi North MP
Paddy
Zhanda.
“How do we turn around the economy with energy
shortages? Mining,
agriculture . . . all need energy. We are dealing with an
economy that
hinges its turnaround on agriculture and mining all need energy
yet this was
not addressed.”
http://nehandaradio.com/
August 11, 2012 10:43
pm
After weeks of dithering, Zanu PF on Thursday finally made its
position
clear that it wants to rewrite the draft constitution produced by
Copac last
month.
Zimbabwe draft constitution is taken to parliament. In
this picture is
Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T co-chair of COPAC), Edna Madzongwe
(Senate President
from Zanu PF), Lovemore Moyo (Speaker of Parliament from
MDC-T) and Paul
Mangwana (Zanu PF co-chair of COPAC)
Zimbabwe draft
constitution is taken to parliament. In this picture is
Douglas Mwonzora
(MDC-T co-chair of COPAC), Edna Madzongwe (Senate President
from Zanu PF),
Lovemore Moyo (Speaker of Parliament from MDC-T) and Paul
Mangwana (Zanu PF
co-chair of COPAC)
Copac is made up of the three parties in the inclusive
government who spent
over three years negotiating the draft constitution
that will replace the
Lancaster House Constitution already amended 19
times.
Initially the Zanu PF politburo had indicated that it had endorsed
97% of
the draft after most of its members felt the country had invested too
much
in the process to justify throwing away the baby with the bath
water.
But it later turned out that the position did not receive the
endorsement of
elements in Zanu PF who have sworn that the draft
constitution will not see
the light of day. Their gripe is that the Copac
document whittles down
presidential powers and they see it as a way of
ensuring that President
Robert Mugabe loses the next elections.
The
Zanu PF hardliners, represented by Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo and
former and serving security chiefs, are only interested in protecting their
interests at the expense of Zimbabweans who have suffered from the
long-running political stalemate.
Mugabe has also allowed the circus
to go on because he stands to benefit
from the confusion. It is clear that
Zanu PF is not incapable of thriving in
a normal environment.
The
party chose to ignore the advice of its experts such as Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa and Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, who have worked with Copac
from its inception, and opted instead to listen to those who have an obvious
agenda to collapse the process.
If Zanu PF had genuine concerns it
would have taken them to the Second
All-Stakeholders’ Conference where there
is room to perfect the draft. After
that conference, the document would be
taken to Parliament and subjected to
further scrutiny.
Zanu PF has
enough representation in the House to articulate its position on
the new
constitution and push through its amendments if they are genuine.
What is
clear is that the anti-reform elements in the party want to collapse
the
process so that we go to the next elections using the same instruments
that
made the sham June 27, 2008 presidential runoff poll possible.
Zanu PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said as much when he told NewsDay that:
“If they
(MDC formations) want a new constitution, they should be willing to
engage.
Otherwise we will have no option than to go back to the Lancaster
House
Constitution.”
Anyone who knows Zimbabwe’s political landscape would know
a constitution is
impossible to produce without a compromise in the
environment. Even the
parties in the inclusive government hardly agree on
anything and for Zanu PF
to pretend that it can impose its views is
insecurity at its worst.
The position the politburo took to rewrite the
draft constitution is very
counter-productive and threatens to reverse all
the gains made since Mugabe
decided to swallow his pride and form an
inclusive government in 2009.
NewsDay
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Own Correspondent
Sunday, 12
August 2012 14:11
HARARE - Nearly 300 families face eviction as a
chief intensifies efforts to
drive out migrant people he describes as
foreigners in Chundu area.
Acting chief Picture Chundu alleges that the
“foreigners” corruptly received
plots from “unscrupulous” headmen in his
area.
“I want to get rid of foreigners from Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique
who did
not get citizenship as required by the law. Furthermore headmen
allocated
them land behind my back and I will have them evicted as soon as
possible,”
he told the Daily News on Sunday.
“They are not my
subjects, they must move out,” he said.
Hurungwe Rural District Council
(HRDC) has already issued the villagers with
notices of
eviction.
“You illegally occupied a piece of land in Chundu Ward 8
without the consent
and authority of HRDC in terms of Section 8 (1) of
Council Land Act number
20. No permit has been issued to you to occupy the
said piece of land.
Therefore, you are given notice to vacate the place by
July 21, 2012 to
August 22, 2012 without any further notice,” reads one of
the notices to
affected villagers.
“The notice advises the villagers
to return to their places of origin. You
are advised to go back where you
have been before you illegally occupied the
said pieces of land. Any costs
that may be incurred by council on your
eviction after refusal shall be
borne by you,” reads part of the notice.
Four headmen targeted include
Chikura, Masawi, Tugwe, and Nyakasikana, all
who came into Chundu area in
1936.
“We are surprised with council action as one headman we know has
been in the
area since 1936 and his subjects were allocated land with the
blessing of
Chief Chundu’s forefathers,” said one headman who preferred
anonymity.
Documents show that in 1999, council unsuccessfully tried to
evict the
villagers.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Written by Wendy Muperi, Staff Writer
Sunday, 12
August 2012 14:06
HARARE - In yet another desperate move to
increase its revenue streams and
ensure its viewers pay, ZBC Holdings is
engaging television and radio
dealers so they force viewers to buy licences
at point of sale.
ZBC has been facing serious resistance from its viewers
who are refusing to
pay for viewers’ licences saying the public broadcaster
is giving them a
shoddy deal.
ZBC corporate secretary Norman Mahori
confirmed the development saying it is
a traditional provision that had only
been suspended during hyperinflation.
“That has always been provided for
by the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA)
where people had to pay for their
licences at the point of sale.
“We had only stopped when the country was
experiencing high inflation rates.
Such arrangements are there in other
countries like South Africa,” said
Mahori.
He added the provision was
mandatory to both retailers and buyers.
“The arrangement is binding. It
is a process of updating our database,” he
said.
ZBC charges $20
annually as radio fees and $50 for television per household.
However,
Media institute of Southern Africa (Misa) advocacy officer Thabani
Moyo
argued that BSA should be repealed as it was a colonial and repressive
piece
of legislation that had no place in this era.
“The starting point of the
crisis and chaos is BSA which demands that when
you buy a television or
radio you have to buy the licence too.
“This restrictive legislation does
not belong to the 20th century. It should
be repealed with a democratic law
that is in sync with the benchmark African
Charter on Broadcasting,” he
said.
Moyo emphasised that a new democratic law will transform ZBC
programming and
automatically compel viewers to pay.
“A new act that
transforms ZBC from a state to public service broadcaster
will improve its
quality of programming. Zimbabweans will voluntarily pay
like they are doing
with DSTV,” he said.
Outlet Centrale Auto owner Yves Kengne said the
provision would be difficult
to enforce and also reduces the retail sales as
people will resort to buying
from unregistered cross border
traders.
“We know this regulation but it has its challenges. People will
always take
advantage of the loopholes that exist within the system. They
can easily
evade the payment of licenses by buying from cross borders,” said
Kengne, a
Harare-based retailer.
The court challenge came after Afro
Lodges, represented by Joseph Mandenga
was summoned to stand trial at Harare
Magistrates’ Courts after being found
in possession of 10 television sets
without licences in February.
However, the broadcaster has chosen to
engage retailers confirming it’s the
failure of its concerted efforts to
force viewers to pay licences.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara filed the
application at the Harare Magistrate’s
Court on 27 July 2012 for Afro Lodges
challenging the compulsory payment of
licences to ZBC by holders of such.
The court challenge came after Afro
Lodges, represented by Joseph Mandenga
was summoned to stand trial at a
Harare magistrate’s court.
But the trial could not commence after
Zhuwarara filed an application
seeking permission to approach the Supreme
Court to challenging the trial.
“The pillaging of ordinary Zimbabweans’
funds by the state-run Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation could soon come to
an end after Harare Magistrate
Don Ndirowei granted an application to have
the state-run broadcaster’s
licencing provisions scrutinised by the Supreme
Court,” ZLHR said in a
statement.
Magistrate Ndirowei last week
referred to the Supreme Court, an application
filed by the human rights
lawyer.
The law, which Afro Lodges is, accused of violating, forces every
Zimbabwean
with either a television or a radio set to obtain a
licence.
ZLHR declared that: “If the Supreme Court determines and grants
the
application in favour of Afro Lodges, the matter could have some serious
ramifications for ZBC.”
Listeners and viewers have constantly
complained that the fees do not tally
with the poor programming by the
national broadcaster, vowing they will not
pay the licence fees.
Due
to the poor programming on ZBC, many have resorted to alternatives like
free-to-air decoders such as Wiztech, Philibao, Fortec Star and Vivid for
better programming.
Zimbabwe has the highest broadcast piracy rate in
Africa of 92 percent, as
people use Wiztech and Philibao decoders to decrypt
South African signal
career, Sentech’s signals.
The 13th and the 14th of August 2012 mark the commemoration of Zimbabwe’s Heroes and Defence Forces Days. This is a time when the nation celebrates and remembers the selfless dedication of our heroes and heroines who toiled and moiled for the Liberation of Zimbabwe.
Click here to download Crisis-Report-10-08-2012.pdf
These include Edgar Tekere, Ndabaningi Sithole, Josiah Tongogara, Jason Moyo, Hebert Chitepo, Lookout Masuku, Joshua Nkomo and all other luminaries of the liberation struggle who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and independence. Yes, they did it for Zimba
Strong run ... Nyasango and Juwawo
race past Buckingham Palace on
Sunday
| 12/08/2012 00:00:00 | |
|
by Sports Reporter |
THE curtain came down on Zimbabwe’s Olympic medal effort in London on Sunday with Cuthbert Nyasango providing a little glimpse into the future of Zimbabwean athletics.
The two Zimbabweans’ biggest cheerleader was swimmer, Kirsty Coventry, whose own efforts in the pool ended in disappointment last week.
Coventry used her Twitter account to describe the two men as “incredible” after they endured the baking sun to finish the 42,1km marathon on the streets of London.
Kiprotich joined twice world gold medallist Abel Kirui and London marathon champion Wilson Kipsang – both of Kenya – at the 30km mark.
Six kilometres later Kiprotich pounced and held on to win in two hours eight minutes one second, 26 seconds ahead of Kirui with Kipsang a further 1:10 behind.
Kipsang made an early break, splitting the field and passing through the halfway stage in 63 minutes 15 seconds. He was gradually reeled in and joined by Kiprotich and Kirui in a three-man race for the gold.
Nyasango crossed the line in two hours, 12 minutes and eight seconds, some two minutes ahead of Juwawo whose two hours, 14 minutes and nine seconds was good enough for 15th.
The race, past some of London's most notable landmarks, started and finished in the Mall near Buckingham Palace. It comprised one short and three longer circuits through the heart of London.
Zimbabwe took a small team of seven athletes to the Olympics.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/
RW Johnson
12 August 2012
RW Johnson on the
motives behind Zanu-PF efforts to steal the census in that
country
Readers of PoliticsWeb may perhaps have read my recent piece
on Zimbabwe's
farmworkers and the (sometimes) interesting correspondence
which it
provoked. Two issues of significance which surfaced were the
importance of
the new census and the extent to which it might reveal a
genocide during the
last twelve years.
The issue of genocide is
difficult, partly because of the official
definition of that term.
Originally the term was coined by the Polish (and
Jewish) legal scholar,
Raphael Lemkin, in his book Axis Rule in Occupied
Europe (1944). Once the
Holocaust was revealed Lemkin and others campaigned
for genocide to be
declared a crime, which it was by the UN Convention on
the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, passed on 9 December
1948 and which
came into practise on 12 January 1951.
The CPPCG defines genocide as
follows: "...any of the following acts
committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical,
racial or religious group, as
such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in
whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children ofthe group to another
group."
There are several points of interest here. First, anyone who has
read much
classical history will realise that similar practises quite
normally
obtained in the age of the Romans, Gauls and Carthaginians. Similar
examples
can also be found in both pre and post colonial Africa - and, of
course, in
Bosnia and Cambodia. Thus, rather as with the use of torture, one
of the
reasons why genocide is so shocking to the modern conscience is that
it
represents the recurrence in modern times of inhuman practices associated
with the earlier stages of human development, "the bad old
days".
Second, in its first draft the CPPCG contained reference to the
destruction
of political and social status groups. However, this was
fiercely opposed by
members of the Soviet bloc because of Soviet sensitivity
that the Convention
might be used to investigate the deaths of millions of
political or "class"
dissidents in Stalin's purges. The Soviet
representatives argued that
political groups were temporary and unstable and
in general rather vaguely
conceived - and they anyway argued that the UN
should not become involved in
limiting or regulating political conflicts
since this would cause the UN to
interfere far too much in the domestic
affairs of nations.
Since it was clear that this was a deal-breaker for
the Soviet bloc and
since its backers wanted the widest possible consensus
behind the
Convention, the reference to political and status groups was
dropped. This
has led to considerable subsequent criticism, as has the
omission of the
forcible removal of population groups - a phenomenon which
is always
attended, in practice, by increased mortality among the groups
subject to
removal.
What has happened under Mugabe since 2000 throws
up another problem, for so
much of the mortality has been casually,
coincidentally or indirectly
afflicted. True, a considerable number of
people have been murdered outright
by Mugabe's thugs, starting with the
massacres in Matabeleland in the 1980s
and continuing to this day in
continuing low-intensity campaigns of
assassination, torture and beatings of
MDC and human rights activists.
In all this probably accounts for over
20,000 deaths. But far, far more have
died through more indirect
consequences - from starvation, from exposure,
from an acceleration of death
from Aids due to deprivation of drugs, food
and care, from death during
migration (not just crocodiles in the Limpopo
but from a plethora of causes,
for the migration is typically very stressful
physically) and simply from
the collapse of almost everything else.
Whenever I am in Harare or
Bulawayo I always make it my practise to give
lifts to a lot of people - not
just because there are now so few buses but
because it's a useful way of
meeting, quite literally, the man in the
street. I am always struck, during
the conversations which ensue, at the
huge number of deaths caused by events
which would never normally be mortal.
Such-and-such cut herself with a
kitchen knife, it turned septic and with
the hospitals having collapsed, she
died of it.
So and so's children are terribly sickly because they can't
get enough to
eat and he is selling bits of furniture to get money to feed
them and he
says "God knows what I'll do when the furniture's gone". The
murambatsvina
saw an explosion of stories of "accidental" deaths in a great
variety of
situations among those whose houses were destroyed and who were
simply
thrown upon the mercy of the elements.
In Bulawayo Archbishop
Ncube told me that they had long had to resort to
mass, anonymous burials in
a pit since so many were dying of all causes, but
almost always in part
through lack of food and care. Everyone you meet has
lost a brother, a wife,
a husband, a child. By 2006 life expectancy had
collapsed to 37 years for
men, 34 years for women - the lowest in the world.
Most of these deaths
would escape the CPPCG definition of genocide because -
as with those killed
by Mbeki - they were not members of any groups being
specifically targeted
by anyone but because those in charge simply couldn't
give a damn about such
deaths. Similarly, the collapse in both the South
African and Zimbabwean
rates of life expectancy were not policy outcomes
that Mbeki or Mugabe had
planned: they simply didn't care in the slightest
about such things, in just
the same way it simply would not have occurred to
medieval rulers or tribal
leaders of old that they ought to feel
responsibility for the mortality
rate.
But, certainly in Mugabe's case, the leader's general purpose is
nonetheless
served by such deaths for his entire aim is to reduce the
population to a
state of utterly dependent peonage, from which they are
bound to support the
powers that be, as their only means to survival. The
fact that life in
Zimbabwe is so obviously nasty, brutish and short does
indeed unnerve,
frighten and discourage the population from dissent of any
kind: the thought
that "there but for the grace of God go I" can never be
faraway in such an
environment.
In a sense the model goes all the way
back to the villagers mobilised by
Zanla guerrillas in the 1970s, where
fearsome punishment would be visited
upon dissidents so that the survivors
would embrace the Zanu cause, singing
its songs and praising it, in a weird
mixture of nervy support and pure
terror. Morgan Tsvangirai once said to me
"Mugabe wants to reduce us all to
helpless peasants. He started off as a
Marxist but he lost all interest in
socialism once he realised that workers
were sturdy independents with a mind
of their own, who might march or
strike."
The truth is that the African nationalist elite is in that sense
lordly, and
what it wants is not support so much as fealty. (Mbeki was, in
the same way,
distinctly lordly, denied that he knew anyone dying of
Aidseven when one of
his own assistants was virtually on his deathbed - an
act worthy of a Borgia
prince - and was never comfortable with the
independent power of the trade
unions.)
No wonder there are reports
that the new, Zanu-PF farm owners treat
farmworkers as virtual slaves. For
there is a world of difference - a whole
epoch of human development -
separating the worker experience under
commercial farmers and the
quasi-feudal peonage which the new elite expects
and demands.
Now,
however, comes the long-promised Zimbabwe census. Cathy Buckle
describes -
in her blog post "Cold Shivers down our Spines" of 11 August
2012 - what has
been happening this last week:
"Only in Zimbabwe could an ordinary
population census be turned into a
political bun fight.
Schools
around the country were ordered to close a week early to enable the
co-ordinating, registration and training of civil servants who will be
conducting the August population census. Parents re-arranged their lives and
changed their work schedules, holiday bookings were disrupted and tourists
suddenly found that they couldn't get a hotel room or hire a car anywhere.
When the national count was less than a fortnight away we suddenly started
seeing very belated census adverts in the press and then the mayhem
began.
With utter disbelief we watched as soldiers hijacked the census
preparations. At centres around the country soldiers arrived in numbers and
demanded that they be registered as enumerators despite the fact the
positions had already been allocated and the teachers were about to be
registered and trained for the task. For days the reports got worse and
worse: soldiers refused to go away; refused to let enumerators into training
centres; confiscated clipboards, training material and foodstuffs and
prevented training workshops from being held; journalists were
harassed.
Riot police arrived at one centre in Harare and they wouldn't
let government
officials, organisers or enumerators in. Government ministers
waded in and
the registration process was announced as having being
postponed for a day,
then another day. Then what was openly being called
‘anarchy' was taken to
Cabinet. They said that only the pre-agreed 1,500
soldiers would be
accredited to take part in the census and they would count
people at
prisons, police and army bases, as has always been the practice.
This was a
far cry from the 10,000 places the soldiers had been demanding in
the census
counting.
We're not sure what happened behind the scenes
but next came a statement
from the Acting Finance Minister saying the
training of census enumerators
had been cancelled but that the census would
not be affected as most of the
enumerators had been trained and undertaken
previous census counts. A day
later this changed again and census
enumerators were told to report to their
centres, the training was back on.
Confusion reigned.
And the unforgettable quote in the midst of the mayhem
came from the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces spokesman. Contacted for comment by
News Day
newspaper about soldiers disrupting census registration, the
Colonel said:
"Were they wearing uniforms? I am not aware that such a thing
has happened."
All this might seem absurd to outsiders, but to Zimbabweans
waiting for a
constitutional referendum and an election within the next few
months, we
dread to think what lies ahead for us; this has sent cold shivers
down our
spines."
What this is about, without much doubt, is the
realisation somewhere within
the Zanu-PF camp, that the census is a very
dangerous exercise indeed.
First, it will, if honestly done, reveal just how
poor a reflection of human
reality the current voters' roll is, setting of
fresh demands for the
drawing up of an entirely new roll, something which
Zanu-PF very much wants
to avoid. It will also determine constituency
boundaries, which could also
upset Zanu-PF plans.
Secondly, such a
census would reveal the huge gaps in the nation's
demography and thus will
begin to reveal the full dimensions of population
loss. And one has to
remember to remember that genocide is, amazingly, quite
easy to hide, easy
enough so that many will attempt to hush those who talk
of it, suggesting
they are alarmist and irresponsible. Thus it was even with
the Holocaust
which remained more than half-hidden until the Allied armies
blundered upon
the Nazi death camps. Until then the voices raised in the
Jewish communities
of the UK and USA, attempting to bring this horror to
public attention, had
been dismissed as alarmist in the usual way.
It is the same now with
Zimbabwe. But once the dreadful secrets which that
census will lay bare
become public knowledge there will be renewed cries for
Mugabe and his
cronies to be led before the International Criminal Court.
And their
judgement at Nuremberg, while it may be delayed, cannot in the end
be
denied.
RW Johnson
I was awoken by the sound of a herd of large bull elephants destroying the trees outside the room of my hotel the first night in Zimbabwe. Photo: Author
WHEN I WAS ASKED TO SPEAK at the 37th World Congress of the African Travel Association, hosted this year in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the preconceptions I had about the country began to run wildly through my mind. Here are a few that I was dead wrong about, and one that I wasn’t.
1. Zimbabwe is dangerous.At Matador, we believe most travel advisories and American perceptions of overseas destinations being ‘dangerous’ are way overblown. I enjoy visiting places that some consider dangerous, so I was interested to see how Zimbabwe stacked up to others that struggle with this stigma — Brazil, Colombia, Iran.
The big cities are where most violent crime is concentrated. It wasn’t a surprise then that Victoria Falls, as well as the couple national parks we visited, felt just about as safe and friendly as a place can get. In fact, Vic Falls has such a small town feel that other journalists joked it had the vibe of a US National Park in the off-season.
2. Zimbabwe’s wildlife has all been wiped out.This was a big one for me since I love seeing wildlife, and it was my strongest misconception going in. I’d read well-documented reporting that, following the fast-track land reform program Robert Mugabe instituted in 2000 targeting political opponents and white farmers, many of the well-protected wild areas and national parks had fallen victim to unchecked poaching, and that much of the country’s wildlife had been completely wiped out.
I was relieved to see troops of baboons and packs of warthogs trotting along the road from the airport after we flew in, but nothing could prepare me for getting woken out of a dead sleep at 3am on the first night in Victoria Falls, to the sound of four bull elephants destroying trees outside my hotel room at the A’Zambezi River Lodge. This herd of wild elephants wandered right into the garden of our hotel to gorge on all the tasty things planted there. The hotel manager wasn’t pleased the following day, but I was beyond stoked to spend over an hour that night following them (very cautiously) around the grounds and watching them destroy the hotel’s landscaping.
Having one final beer under the stars and listening to lions roar in the distance after a five-star dinner at The Hide. I could have stayed at this place for a week at least. Photo: Author
Keep in mind this encounter wasn’t even inside a nature reserve — once we made our way to protected areas like Hwange National Park, the numbers of elephants we saw increased dramatically, and we also spotted lions, hippo, water buffalo, hyena, kudu, zebra, and water buck. I was thrilled with the amount of wildlife we were able to see in a short period of time, and after speaking with different naturalists we ran into, it seems like the wildlife in most places is on the road to a full recovery.
3. Hyperinflation will make buying things a total hassle.After seeing years of news coverage on the hyperinflation of Zimbabwe currency, I was expecting that money would be a pain in the ass and I’d have to carry around bricks of 10 billion dollar notes to buy a beer or some lunch.
But the currency of Zimbabwe has become so worthless they’ve retired it completely, and the country now operates on a mix of foreign currencies, including the South African rand, the GBP, the euro, and most commonly the US dollar. It’s difficult to assess how this transition has affected prices for ordinary Zimbabweans, and although some things are more expensive now, it’s nice not having to do insane math to convert currency. There are a couple ATMs in Vic Falls, but I’d recommend bringing a decent amount of US dollars to get you started. The only Zim dollars you’re likely to see are those sold by kids in the street as novelty souvenirs. They got me…I paid $5US for a stack of worthless old Zim notes. I just had to own a real 10 trillion dollar bill.
4. Beyond the wildlife, there’s not much to see/do in Zimbabwe.If I were Zimbabwe, I’d brand my country as a destination for adventure travel in addition to safaris. Here are a few options that stand out:
From the A’Zambezi River Lodge, where wildlife mills around the garden 24 hours/day, and the more upscale, colonial-style Victoria Falls Hotel (great for evening cocktails), to the over-the-top luxury of a tented safari in the bush at The Hide in Hwange National Park — you’ve got a wide range of high-end resort and hotel options.
6. Given the repressive regime of Mugabe, border crossings will be difficult and expensive.It always seems that the shadier a government is, the more difficult its country will be to pass in and out of — especially overland. I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to cross the border to Zambia for the day and come back to Zimbabwe that afternoon.
Big Brother is watching: the ubiquitous portrait of Zimbabwe’s ruthless dictator, Robert Mugabe. Photo: Author
When we did the bungee jump/rope swing off the bridge (the operation is technically in Zambia), we weren’t even required to buy a visa, and when we drove over the bridge later that week to spend a full day in Zambia, we were only in line for about 5 minutes at the crossing.
7. Robert Mugabe is still running a full-blown dictatorship.This is the one thing I had correct going in. It’s great to see a country recovering, but very sad and disheartening to see one that’s a shadow of its former self, where political opponents die in “fires” and “car accidents” on a regular basis, or just disappear altogether.
As a tourist, you’ll be far from the crosshairs of Mugabe’s henchmen. But I felt really bad for all the amazingly friendly Zimbabweans I ran into, who were either ignorant of Mugabe’s ways or too scared to talk about it openly. At the end of the day, it’s easy to feel conflicted. Part of me wanted nothing to do with a country run by such a government, and part wanted to enjoy this amazing country and not punish its citizens for the mistakes of its government by avoiding travel there. I’d encourage you to pick the latter and go enjoy Zimbabwe.
