http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha, Community Affairs
Editor
Monday, 15 August 2011 15:32
HARARE - Pressure from Zanu PF
top officials for President Robert Mugabe to
quit and allow a younger
generation to take over is mounting with the party’s
spokesman Rugare Gumbo
confirming that the issue of leadership renewal has
become
“pertinent”.
Zanu PF leaders have for long quietly grumbled about the
87-year-old
guerrilla leader’s insistence on hanging on despite old age,
failing health
and declining public support.
But they have upped the
momentum in recent days, amid indications that
betting on the man would be
fatal as Mugabe is unlikely to last the
distance.
Insiders said there
was realisation that Mugabe might lack the ability to
come back from his
March 2008 electoral loss to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai as he has
become increasingly unpopular throughout the country.
Gumbo told the
Daily News at the weekend that former information minister
and now the
party’s chief propagandist, Jonathan Moyo’s recent statements
agitating for
leadership renewal in Zanu PF were “pertinent”.
He said the Zanu PF
politburo should discuss the matter to come up with a
solution. The
politburo is Zanu PF’s highest administrative organ and makes
almost all key
decisions.
“Some of the issues raised by Jonathan Moyo are pertinent. It
is not
necessary that it be discussed in the public arena but should be
discussed
in the politburo,” Gumbo said, refusing to discuss the matter
further.
This is the first time that a Zanu PF spokesman has publicly
admitted that
the party should start debating
most senior people in
Zanu PF in terms of rank and history, was speaking in
reaction to a
newspaper article by Moyo querying whether Mugabe would have
the capacity to
run in an election held two years from now.
However, Moyo seemed to make
a climb down in the state media yesterday.
Mugabe has frequently called
for an election this year, a demand rejected by
coalition government
partners and regional Sadc leaders who are guarantors
and mediators to the
GPA.
Moyo, one of the most recognised political turncoats in the country,
suggested that geriatrics within the party, who have held onto power since
independence in 1980, should make way for a younger crop he termed
“Generation 40”.
Moyo suggested that it would be ridiculous to
present Mugabe as a candidate
in future elections because of the leader’s
ill health and advanced age.
This is not the first time that Moyo has
suggested that Mugabe retires. In
2008, he told journalists that Mugabe was
so unmarketable that if he stood
against a donkey, people would vote for the
donkey instead of him.
He later changed track and rejoined Zanu PF after
standing as an independent
candidate in the 2008 parliamentary
elections.
He appears to have revived his bid for leadership renewal in
the party in
recent days.
“Why is it that some comrades in the
nationalist movement in general and
Zanu PF in particular seem to be afraid
of change when it is a fact of
everyday life and is thus essential to the
survival of any living thing
whether biological, social, economic or
political?”
Moyo queried in a newspaper article that insiders said
represented popular
but muted thinking in Zanu PF.
Sources within the
party confirmed that there was indeed a leadership crisis
and a deliberate
move by Moyo backed by youthful officials to rid the party
of the old guard
was gaining momentum. The bid was likely to come unstuck,
however because of
Mugabe’s firm grip on the party.
“There is no question that the party
needs leadership renewal because
without it we can never win an election
against the MDC,” said a party
insider.
“But the problem is who will
succeed Mugabe? Mnangagwa has been tipped as
the heir apparent but does not
enjoy support among some members in the
structures and we also have Mai
Joice Mujuru on one end.
The biggest problem with these two candidates is
that none of them have
national appeal and they have been part of Mugabe
since the war so they don’t
bring much of a change.
None of them can
win a national election against Tsvangirai,” the insider
said.
Efforts at leadership renewal have been ruthlessly crushed in
the past.
In 2004, Mugabe fired several provincial chairmen and senior
officials who
had gathered in Tsholotsho, Moyo’s constituency, to plan
leadership changes.
Mnangagwa, who together with Moyo was reported to be
the brains of the plot
was never punished. Mugabe later described the
Tsholotsho meeting as a coup.
Mnangagwa is still in the running to take
over from Mugabe. But this can
only happen after the 87-year-old strongman
exits the scene, an unlikely
scenario given Mugabe’s repeated declarations
that he is fit to run for
another term.
“We all know that Mnangagwa
is the president’s blue-eyed boy despite the
Tsholotsho issue. It becomes
evident if you look closely at how Mugabe has
accommodated him over the
years,” said an insider.
“For instance, he (Mnangagwa) lost the
parliamentary elections in 2000 but
Mugabe gave him the powerful position of
Speaker of Parliament. He lost
again in 2005 and was appointed the minister
of rural housing which just
shows that Mugabe does not want him out of the
game,” the source said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
15 August
2011
Inter-party negotiators from Zimbabwe’s three political parties
failed to
reach agreement on any substantive issues at a meeting in
Johannesburg,
South Africa on Saturday. The meeting came as ZANU PF dug in
its heels ahead
of a SADC summit in Angola that is meant to deal with
Zimbabwe’s political
crisis.
Several reports are quoting sources who
say agreement was reached on
peripheral issues like voter registration, the
constitution making process
and the timeline towards elections. Analysts are
already predicting a ‘damp
squib’ summit, mainly because ZANU PF keep adding
more excuses to their
existing refusals to fully implement the 2008 power
sharing agreement with
the two MDC formations.
It’s being reported
Mugabe’s party has said it will resist attempts to
deploy a three member
SADC monitoring team to help the toothless Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC). It had been agreed to at
the last SADC
summit in South Africa, but ZANU PF are now claiming the
deployment of
foreigners will infringe on their ‘sovereignty’.
SADC Heads of State and
government will meet in the Angolan capital Luanda,
on Wednesday and
Thursday and unsurprisingly Zimbabwe is top of the agenda.
Pedzisai Ruhanya
from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition told SW Radio Africa,
some of the key
issues that need to be addressed include security sector
reform, political
violence, media reforms and purging the electoral body of
military and other
state agents.
Instead of these issues being the focus, ZANU PF is being
accused of
creating a side show by trying to have South African President
Jacob Zuma
removed as the chief facilitator. Mugabe’s party claims Zuma
cannot be both
facilitator and Chair of the SADC Troika at the same time.
The MDC-T however
say former mediator Thabo Mbeki was in a similar situation
and ZANU PF never
objected.
Last week ZANU PF also tried to use a
meeting of liberation war movements in
Namibia to try and soften the stance
that SADC will likely take at the
summit. The meeting was attended by the
African National Congress of South
Africa, Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania,
FRELIMO of Mozambique, MPLA of
Angola and SWAPO of Namibia among others.
Many analysts however believed
this would have little effect on the region.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa-AFP | 15 August, 2011
10:49
A summit of Southern African leaders this week is unlikely to have
an impact
on the political crisis in Zimbabwe given the lack of regional
consensus on
the issue, analysts say.
The fragile power-sharing
government between Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and rival Morgan
Tsvangirai is expected to feature prominently when
leaders from the Southern
African Development Community meet Wednesday and
Thursday in the Angolan
capital, Luanda.
But analysts voiced doubt the leaders would take
definitive action on
Zimbabwe, whose "unity government" has restored a
measure of stability since
violent elections in 2008 but is stalled over the
drafting of a new
constitution meant to pave the way to fresh
polls.
"I don't foresee the resolution of the Zimbabwe issue at the
Luanda summit,"
Takavafira Zhou, a political scientist at Masvingo State
University, told
AFP.
"To get all the leaders to agree on Zimbabwe is
impossible," he said, adding
that Mugabe has the support of fellow
liberation movement veterans who
fought the region's colonial
regimes.
The Zimbabwe crisis has divided the SADC between liberation
leaders who were
comrades-in-arms with members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and
a new generation
of politicians riding on the agenda of democracy and good
governance.
Those old friendships have complicated the SADC's efforts to
break the
impasse between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
The rivals remain at
loggerheads over new elections, with Mugabe insisting
polls go ahead this
year with or without a new constitution, while
Tsvangirai wants the reforms
agreed to in their power-sharing pact
implemented first.
Last month
their parties agreed to an election "roadmap" that would put the
new vote in
2012 at the earliest, but Mugabe has undermined it by continuing
to call for
polls this year.
Independent political analyst Takura Zhangazha said the
Luanda summit will
not achieve a breakthrough unless Zimbabwe's leaders iron
out their
differences.
"I don't think anything will significantly
change unless if the principals
in the inclusive government were to issue a
public statement before the
summit, committing themselves to the election
roadmap," he told AFP.
But the parties are far from united going into the
summit.
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo sounded an optimistic note on the
meeting's
prospects.
"Our expectation is that the summit will come up
with a positive outcome for
Zimbabwe. The people of Zimbabwe seem to be
united now and the summit should
support them," he said.
But Douglas
Mwonzora, spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC),
said SADC leaders should pressure Mugabe to accept reforms,
including a
human rights bill and security sector reforms, and clear the way
for free
elections.
"There has not been any movement towards or implementation of
the agreed
reforms since the last SADC summit," Mwonzora said.
"SADC
has to act now. SADC has to help us address the outstanding issues and
put
pressure on ZANU-PF and Mugabe to do what is right."
http://www.iol.co.za/
August 15 2011 at
01:10pm
Peta Thornycroft
ZimbabweAN president Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu-PF is strongly resisting efforts
by President Jacob Zuma to deploy
officials from the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to help
monitor the implementation of
agreements among the parties within the unity
government.
This is one of several points on which the party is digging
in its heels
before next week’s SADC summit in Luanda, where Zimbabwe is to
figure
prominently on the agenda.
As a result of Zanu-PF’s resistance
few observers expect to move the country
towards early free and fair
elections.
Last week Zuma’s team of mediators on Zimbabwe met in Harare
with the three
parties in the unity government, trying to arrange for three
officials –
from South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique – representing the
SADC, to join
the multi-party Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(Jomic) which
is supposed to ensure that agreements among the parties are
observed.
SADC leaders decided at a summit in Joburg in June that the
three officials
should be stationed permanently in Zimbabwe because of
concerns that the
Zimbabwean parties were moving too slowly to implement the
changes needed to
ensure free and fair elections.
But Zanu-PF
immediately rejected the decision, saying it would infringe on
the country’s
sovereignty if non-Zimbabweans were appointed to Jomic.
Political
insiders in Harare said yesterday: “We are concerned Zanu-PF is
now putting
up a strong fight against this so we don’t know whether Jomic
will get some
help from the region.”
Zuma will urge his fellow leaders at the Luanda
summit to ensure the three
SADC officials go to Zimbabwe.
Last week
the six Zimbabwean negotiators from Zanu-PF and the two factions
of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spent the day haggling over
minor
points of disagreement in the roadmap to elections that they have been
trying to agree on for many months.
“There was some very small
progress,” said the source.
Most of the outstanding issues stem from the
refusal of Zanu-PF to implement
many of the agreements it signed in the
September 2008 Global Political
Agreement for the unity
government.
Zanu-PF, in turn, accuses Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC of failing
to implement
its own commitments.
l Representatives of several civic
organisations were refused entry to
Angola last week to cover the SADC
summit.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Nkululeko Sibanda and Xolisani Ncube
Monday, 15 August
2011 17:36
HARARE - Members of the public and leaders of civic
society organisations
have blasted government’s outrageous spending after
buying luxury vehicles
worth $20 million for ministers, deputy ministers,
and permanent
secretaries.
The shocking plunder was exposed by
the Daily News on Sunday yesterday and
it comes at a time when the majority
of people are battling to get a single
meal a day due to grinding
poverty.
Following the revelations, there has been widespread criticism
of the
government’s action, with most people arguing that there was no
proper
prioritisation of the country’s needs.
Angry Zimbabweans
yesterday jammed the Daily News switchboard expressing
shock at the
expenditure at a time when people have no water, access to
hospitals,
electricity and many other basic needs.
Most people said government must
show that government cared for the welfare
of its people.
Callers
described the “extravagant” use of tax-payer’s money, with some,
believed to
be civil servants, hitting out at government for misleading the
nation on
the country’s financial state.
“We have always been told that there is no
money from government. We are
told that government was operating on a shoe
string budget. But it is clear
that there is lots of money in government.
They say they don’t have money
for more important needs like boreholes,
medicines and food but they
suddenly have money to satisfy their personal
needs and their expensive
tastes,” said one caller.
Another caller
said the move to spend millions on vehicles to lead Hollywood
lifestyles was
one of the worst decisions ever made by the unity government
since it was
formed in 2009.
“We thought that we now had a government that cared for
the people. We pated
them (government) on the back when they managed to
bring back food onto the
table.
They rescued us from the throes of a
collapsed state but now I think they
have taken us for granted.
“How
do they explain a situation where they always say they do not have
money for
essential things needed for the social well-being of the people
only to
splash $20 million on luxury cars? This is abuse of taxpayer’s
money,” said
the caller, who identified himself as Fungai.
Fortune Mlalazi, a Bulawayo
resident added his voice.
“The ministers already had two cars that were
bought for them by the
government. The latest acquisition means that they
have three cars. What
other degree of greed can surpass the one we are
witnessing?” Mlalazi asked.
Rodrick Fayayo, the coordinator of the
Bulawayo Progressive Residents
Association (BPRA) said the actions of the
government and its statements
were not in sync.
“We have heard them
say they do not have the money. Then they then go ahead
and buy expensive
cars. What kind of double standards are these,” he asked.
“As advocates
of people’s empowerment, we believe that this is money that
could have been
used to upgrade roads, develop other things such as the
National
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP) and give the civil
servants
salary increments.
This is what a people’s government should do and not
self-aggrandisement
like we are seeing with these cars,” he
said.
Simbarashe Majamanda of Harare Resident Trust said the spending
spree
exposed that government’s priorities were misplaced.
“We
expected them to give us water and other basic services which will
improve
our standard of living. But this acquisition of vehicles tells a lot
about
the leadership crisis the country now has,” he said.
“It is worrying that
service delivery is declining with people dying from
poverty while some
people are empowering themselves like this,” said
Majamanda.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
15 August
2011
Another farming family in Nyazura has faced attack by a mob of land
invaders
this weekend, becoming the fourth family in the area to be forced
off their
farm since March.
Dolf and Alida du Toit from Excelsior
farm were on Friday night barricaded
in their home after a group of thugs,
led by self confessed CIO agent
Onisimas Makwengura, launched a violent
attack on them. On Friday night, the
couple faced an all-night siege, with
the mob smashing the windows of the
farm house in an effort to get inside.
On Saturday the mob then tried
getting into the house through the roof, and
Dolf was forced to fire warning
gun shots to keep them away.
The
‘jambanja’ then continued on Sunday, with the mob using a tractor to
pull
off the security gates barring their entrance to the house. Dolf was
then
hit in the head with a rock when he tried to stop the gang from
entering and
looting his home. Former Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth told SW
Radio Africa that
Dolf is not seriously injured.
Freeth explained that local police only
arrived on the property late on
Sunday, despite being informed of the
situation on Friday. But instead of
arresting the land invaders, the police
told the Du Toits that they could
not guarantee their safety, but were
willing to escort them off the farm.
An almost identical situation played
out at nearby De Rust farm last month,
when the Smit family was forced to
flee their property after days of
harassment and intimidation. They were
also under siege by Makwengura and
his gang from Mutare. The farm owner,
Koos Smit, ended up in prison on false
assault charges, while Makwengura and
his hired mob led a violent attack at
the farm. Koos’ wife and sons, who
tried to keep the invaders at bay, were
also told by police that their
safety could not be guaranteed and they were
escorted off the
property.
The Du Toits are the fourth family in Nyazura to be evicted
from their
properties in this fashion, and Makwengura has now warned the
final white
commercial farmer in the district that his farm is
next.
In March Makwengura led the successful eviction of the Grobler
family,
before turning his attention three days later to evicting farmer
Tivi
Landos. He then tried to evict Landos’ elderly father, who managed to
negotiate his ‘voluntary’ move off the farm. The 80 year old farmer, rather
than fight his unlawful eviction, agreed to leave his farm within 30
days.
Makwengura is said to be working for ZANU PF ‘beneficiaries’ of
Robert
Mugabe’s destructive land grab campaign, and follows the same modus
operandi
for every eviction. In exchange for items like tractors and other
equipment,
Makwengura hires a gang of youths to help intimidate farmers,
until they are
forced to leave.
Many of the remaining white farmers
across the country are also facing
ongoing intimidation, in what some
observers have said is ZANU PF’s final
push to grab the remaining commercial
property in Zimbabwe. The attacks have
also intensified this year, after the
shock decision by the SADC leadership
bloc to close the regional human
rights court.
That court had ruled in 2008 that the land grab was
unlawful. But instead of
upholding those rulings which were publicly
dismissed by ZANU PF, SADC has
apparently moved to appease Mugabe by closing
the court.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Tobias Manyuchi Monday 15 August
2011
HARARE – Nearly half of the US$505 million Zimbabwe received
from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2009 remains with the global
lender for
safe keeping as national reserves, the Ministry of Finance said
on Monday.
The ministry that is headed by Tendai Biti, the secretary
general of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party, said it had also
set aside US$140
million to go towards settling Zimbabwe’s debt to the
fund.
The IMF, which cut balance of payments support to Zimbabwe 12 years
ago,
gave the money in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) under a special
programme to
help developing countries recover from the global financial
crisis of
2008-2009.
The SDR is the IMF’s currency issued to member
countries.
“An amount of Special Drawing Rights equivalent to US$150
million, in two
lots of US$50 million and US$100 million has so far been
converted to cater
for critical national expenditure,” said the ministry, in
a statement it
said it was issuing in order to set the record straight
following inquiries
by some stakeholders it did not name.
“Another
US$140 million has been earmarked towards the settlement of the
country’s
obligations to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
with the
balance of US$215 million being maintained at the IMF as national
reserves,”
said the ministry.
Some of the money already received from the IMF was
used for infrastructure
projects including rehabilitation of the country’s
biggest thermal power
station, Hwange Thermal Power Station and for
rehabilitation of the national
rail and road network.
Biti, who has
pursued frugal policies since taking over the finance
portfolio after
formation of a power-sharing government with President
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU
(PF) more than two years ago, has been under pressure
from many quarters
within the cash-strapped administration to tap into the
IMF
funds.
Zimbabwe’s government says it requires at least US$10 billion to
revive its
industry and restore health and education facilities that had
collapsed due
to years of economic recession.
But rich Western
nations and multi-lateral institutions have largely turned
a deaf ear to the
administration’s appeals for financial support, unhappy
about the slow pace
of democratic reforms and continuing human rights
violations in the once
prosperous African country. – ZimOnline.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Bulawayo, 15 August 2011-
Police on Monday interrogated Paul Siwela, the
leader of the Mthwakazi
Liberation Front (MLF) for about three hours in
connection with fliers that
were distributed on Thursday night calling for
an uprising against President
Robert Mugabe.
Siwela was summoned by the officers from the Law and Order
Section at the
Bulawayo Central Police Station on Monday morning and only
released after
12pm.
The MLF leader said Law and Order officers told
him that they were
interrogating him because the fliers had an MLF logo and
indicated that they
will summon him again during the week for further
investigations.
In an interview with Radio VOP, Siwela expressed disquiet
at the police
action, saying he found no reason why he should be
interrogated as police
confiscated all the MLF fliers in June.
“The
Law and Order officers were insisting that I authorised the
distribution of
the fliers but had no evidence to back their allegation.
“They only said
the fliers had an MLF logo and therefore, I knew about them.
I insisted on
my innocence and told them they are the ones who have the MFL
fliers since
they confiscated them in June,” Siwela said.
.
The MLF leader said:“I
suspect the police are the ones who were distributing
the fliers since they
are the ones who have them. I believe they want to
arrest us again to
silence once and for all the MLF.”
Bulawayo police spokesperson,
Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said “police were
interviewing Siwela in
connection with the MLF fliers.
“We want to interview the MLF officials
including Siwela. We want to
interview them to find out whether they knew
anything about the fliers.”
Fliers calling for an uprising against
President Mugabe to push for an
urgent setting up of a separate Matabeleland
state were found on Friday
morning at various suburbs in
Bulawayo.
The MFL leader was released in July from Khami Maximum remand
after spending
almost three months on treason charges for calling for a
separate
Matabeleland state.
Siwela was charged alongside John Gazi
and Charles Thomas. They are out on
US$2 000 bail each accompanied by
stringent reporting conditions.
MLF is leading calls for a separate
Matabeleland state saying the province
is being sidelined from national
development programmes leading to
resentment of central
government.
MLF – formed last year - says a separate Matabeleland state
is necessary to
put an end to the marginalisation of the region which lags
behind in
development.
http://www.radiovop.com
Micheal Maposhere, Chiadzwa,
August 15, 2011 - Business people in Chiadzwa
area are being forced to close
down their businesses by security agents that
are guiding diamond fields in
the area.
In an interview with Radio VOP, the business people said they
were losing
income as they as they were being forced to close down their
shops.
“Security agents in Chiadzwa are forcing is to close down our
businesses
citing that we are in a protected area and soon we are going to
be
relocated,” said Tonderai Tondoya a business person in the
area.
Tondoya said security agents are spending the whole day at the
business
centre chasing customers who want to come and buy from their
shops.
Tondoya said he has already shelved his plans on expanding his
business
empire in the area as their future is uncertain.
“I was in
the process of applying for a restaurant and butchery license but
I have
shelved all these plans because our future is uncertain in this
area,” said
Tondoya.
Shuah Mudiwa the Member of Parliament for Mutare West said he is
deeply
concerned by what is taking place in Chiadzwa.
The five mining
companies in Chiadzwa area have so far relocated about 50
families to ARDA
Transau in Odzi. The companies that are mining diamonds in
Chiadzwa are
Anjin, Pure Diamonds, Marange Resources, Mbada Diamonds and
Sainol Zimbabwe.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
15 August 2011
ZANU PF’s Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, has given
the European Union (EU) an
open invitation to tour the controversial
Chiadzwa diamond fields, a week
after the EU said it was considering lifting
a ban on Zim exports.
Last week the EU was reported to be mulling lifting
the ban, in place since
2009 over human rights abuses at Chiadzwa, saying
conditions at two mines
there had improved. The reports coincided with a
shock documentary by the
BBC’s Panorama investigative series, which exposed
the ongoing use of
torture camps in the Marange region, said to be used by
the military
controlling the diamond fields.
The Panorama
investigation also gathered hard evidence and testimonies of
brutalities by
the military at the diamond fields, including mass murder,
rape, torture and
forced labour. The BBC team also took this evidence to the
International
Criminal Court (ICC), which said the situation at Chiadzwa
could be classed
as crimes against humanity.
Mpofu has dismissed the documentary as
nothing more than British propaganda
meant to stop Zimbabwe from selling its
diamonds on the international
market. This weekend he told the state run
Herald that the EU was welcome to
tour the diamond fields, insisting that
there was “nothing to hide.” He also
warned that Zimbabwe could be forced to
stop any exports of diamonds to the
EU by international partners as “a
reciprocal measure” if the bloc does not
support Zimbabwe’s return to
trade.
The EU is now facing growing criticism for appearing to disregard
ongoing
human rights concerns at the diamond mines. Political analyst and
former
Zimbabwean diplomat, Clifford Mashiri, told SW Radio Africa that the
EU is
“trivialising” human rights abuses if they consider lifting the
diamond ban.
“Zimbabwe’s diamond civil society will be justified to feel
betrayed by the
EU and its partners if the ban is lifted without a serious
commitment by
Zimbabwe to demilitarise the diamond fields and probe the
massacres of 2008
and the torture camps,” Mashiri said.
He added:
“Any premature lifting of the Marange gems ban would be a big slap
in the
face of human rights organisations which are calling for justice and
the
upholding of the rule of law as a pre-condition for exports from the
controversial sites.”
http://www.iol.co.za/
August 15 2011 at
12:04pm
.
The department of livestock and veterinary
services in Zimbabwe has lifted
the ban on the importation of cloven hoofed
animals such as cattle, sheep,
goats and pigs from South Africa, Zimbabwe's
Herald Online reported on
Monday.
The ban was effected in March this
year, following a foot-and-mouth outbreak
in the KwaZulu-Natal
province.
Acting principal Director of Livestock and Veterinary Services,
William
Shereni, said Zimbabweans could now import animals originating from
zones or
compartments declared to be free of foot-and-mouth
disease.
“The department of livestock and veterinary services will
provide conditions
under which the animals can be imported.
“The
animals should, however, be kept under quarantine in South Africa prior
to
export and the same procedure will also be done in Zimbabwe,” he
said.
South Africa announced the foot-and-mouth outbreak earlier this
year.
Zimbabwe subsequently banned the importation of all hoofed animals
and their
fresh products and livestock feeds intended for use in cloven
animals from
South Africa was suspended.
Foot-and-mouth Disease is an
infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease
that affects cloven hoofed
animals, including domestic and wild bovids. -
Sapa
http://www.swradioafrica.com
15 August 2011
Over 500
victims of the 2008 political violence are still missing, a civic
organisation has stated, and it is feared the figure could pass 1,000 in the
ongoing search for the victims.
The Director of Community Tolerance
and Reconciliation Development (Cotard),
Gamuchirai Mukura, recently told a
workshop that his organisation was
undertaking research to ascertain the
actual number of people missing as a
result of the political
violence.
He said there could be over 1,000 in the Masvingo province
alone and so far
they have managed to identify about 500 people who are
still missing.
Cotard says some of the missing people were abducted by
ZANU PF militia who,
with the assistance of state apparatus, waged an orgy
of violence across the
country, which eventually forced MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, to pull out
of the presidential runoff.
“We have been
compiling the statistics and the exercise is still on. What we
have
established in areas we have covered so far are about 500 missing
victims,
most of them MDC activists,” Mukura said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior
Writer
Monday, 15 August 2011 16:52
BULAWAYO - Bulawayo urgently
needs to find fresh sources of water as the
current water levels are
critically low, leaving the city facing a desperate
water
crisis.
Council has an option of re-cycling the water it collects
from residents
although officials claim this is a costly exercise given the
expense of
water recycling and purification chemicals.
This emerged
during a meeting between Bulawayo City Council officials and
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai in the city at the weekend.
The meeting was part of
Tsvangirai’s tour of Matabeleland Province where he
also visited the site
where the laying of a pipeline linking Bulawayo and
Mtshabezi dam is
underway.
Addressing the meeting, Bulawayo mayor Thaba Moyo said in the
event there
was little rainfall activity in the country during the rainy
season, the
city could be forced to ration water to residents.
The
rationing, he said, would also hit an already reeling industrial
sector.
“The water supply situation still remains below critical
desirable levels.
As at the end of July 2011, the five water supply dams had
a combined
capacity of 226 million cubic metres of water against a potential
capacity
of 263 million cubic metres, representing 62,3 percent of total
capacity,”
Moyo explained.
“Should there be a failure in the coming
rainy season, the city will be
faced with water supply interruptions,” said
Moyo.
Bulawayo, the country’s second biggest city, requires about 150 000
cubic
metres of water a day to service its residents, whose population is
estimated to be around 800 000 people.
Moyo said the council hopes
that the project to draw water from Mtshabezi
dam to Bulawayo would come in
handy to alleviate the water challenges faced
by the city at the
moment.
“Therefore, the anticipated commissioning of the
Mtshabezi-Mzingwane
pipeline is greatly appreciated. However, should we have
a bad (rainy)
season, the capacities of Insiza and Mtshabezi link will still
not be
sufficient,” Moyo added.
Responding to the matter, Tsvangirai
said government was seized with the
concerns of the Matabeleland region,
especially the water problems facing
the city and the region.
“The
water crisis facing Bulawayo and the Matabeleland Province as a whole
is a
matter that is top of the government agenda,” Tsvangirai said.
“The
precarious situation in this part of the country is a solvable one. One
would say the implementation of projects such as the Mtshabezi pipeline is
part of the short-term positive responses that we are making as government,”
he said.
He said government would ensure that the National
Matabeleland Zambezi Water
Project came into life as it was the main answer
to the water crisis facing
the region.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Nkululeko Sibanda
Monday, 15 August 2011
16:47
BULAWAYO - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says politicians
encouraging the
public to default on public service bills have left entities
such as
parastatals and councils in the red.
Most local
authorities and service providers have resorted to disconnecting
services to
clients who would have failed to settle debts.
This has however, seen the
service providers losing huge sums of money in
unpaid debts, thereby
crippling service delivery, said Tsvangirai.
Politicians hunting for
cheap mileage were at the forefront of urging the
public not to pay
bills.
Addressing councillors and senior Bulawayo City Council (BCC)
staff during a
visit to the city at the weekend, Tsvangirai said there was
need for
politicians to desist from populist statements that had a negative
impact on
service provision.
“Politicians are good at saying some
things without even considering the
effects of what they have,” Tsvangirai
said.
“You hear some senior politician telling people not to pay rentals
and
service charges to council because of the belief and long-held notion
that
things are difficult.
“Some of us even go to the extent of
claiming that the economy is not
performing well, hence ratepayers should
not pay their levies. These are
reckless statements that we need to stop
making as they are having telling
effects on the services delivered by local
authorities. If we are not
careful, we will realise later that we were
digging our own graves through
those populist statements,” Tsvangirai
said.
He urged local authorities to demand their pound of flesh from
consumers.
“At times, there is need for one to be tough in order to be
kind. It is high
time that you need to demand what is yours from those that
consume your
service. The era of thinking that someone will pay for you or
subsidise what
you need to pay is over."
“Everyone has to pay. It
does not matter how much you pay, but the bottom
line is that you will have
paid something.
“Those that want to enjoy free things should know that the
time for that is
long gone,” he said.
Turning to a request for
funding of the city’s programmes by Bulawayo mayor,
Thaba Moyo, Tsvangirai
said the fiscal space that government was operating
from was too tight for
such unbudgeted expenditures. “I have heard your
requests for assistance for
funding. We will make the representations to
cabinet.
“But this is
not to say there is a guarantee that those requests will be
acceded to at
the soonest opportunity,” he said.
“It has to be borne in mind that
government is currently operating on a
tight and limited fiscal space. In a
situation where 60 percent of the
revenues realised by government goes
towards civil service salary, there is
little that is left to cover some
other needs of this country,” he said.
Tsvangirai said there was need for
government to ensure that the civil
service wage bill was managed in a way
that would allow the government to
fund other programmes requiring
funding.
“The government is seized with a lot of things that it needs to
look at. We
have to ensure that there is food, water, electricity,
transport, and a
whole lot of things."
“The space we have does not
allow us to effectively deliver on all these. As
government, we will try by
all means to deliver where we can so that we can
all enjoy a better life,
one that we all desire as a people,” said
Tsvangirai.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa-AFP | 15 August, 2011
10:55
Zimbabwe's electricity authority is to hand out 5.5 million
energy-saving
fluorescent bulbs to its consumers in a bid to curb
consumption.
"We will give the compact fluorescent lamps for free in
exchange for
incandescent bulbs which we will destroy," Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply
Authority (ZESA) spokesman Fullard Gwasira was quoted as saying by
The
Herald newspaper.
"This is an immediate term response to relieve
our clients from
load-shedding."
Gwasira said the compact florescent
lamps to be distributed by year-end at a
cost of $12 million will save 200
megawatts of electricity.
He allayed fears that the energy-saving bulbs
have health side effects as
they contain mercury saying "there are no
adverse effects if properly used."
ZESA will also introduce a new billing
system for consumers who have been
paying bills based on
estimates.
"The prepayment metering system will enable customers to
manage their own
consumption of electricity," Gwasira said.
Zimbabwe
has been battling to produce enough electricity at its main power
stations
Kariba Hydro and Hwange thermal power stations resulting in massive
powercuts lasting up to 10 hours in some cases.
The country requires
2,200 MW per month but it can only produce 1,300 MW,
topping up with imports
from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
MISA-Zimbabwe
Media Alert
15 August 2011
Rainbow
Tourism Group tries to silence The Sunday Mail
The Rainbow Tourism Group
Limited (RTG) company management on 10 August 2011
allegedly attempted to
‘gag’ The Sunday Mail from publishing the remarks by
major shareholder Mr
Nicholas van Hoogstraten querying a $20million debt
that the company has
accrued over the past two years.
According to The Sunday Mail of 14
August 2011, RTG Corporate Communications
Manager Ms Eltah Nengomasha
allegedly requested and failed to turn up for a
meeting with The Sunday Mail
editor to ‘discuss issues’ following the
publication of a business story
quoting Van Hoogstraten’s questioning a
number of debts totaling $44million
that the RTG had incurred.
Instead the company lawyers, Scanlen and
Holderness, delivered a letter to
Zimpapers Editor-in-Chief Pikirayi
Deketeke seeking to bar the publication
of a question and answer article
with Van Hoogstraten alleging that his
remarks were ‘ false, defamatory,
abusive and manifestly scandalous’ and
aimed at destroying the image and
integrity of the clientele and officers.
Mr Hoogstraten, who owns 36
percent equity in Rainbow Tourism Group Limited
is vying to become the
largest shareholder at 53,5 percent if he wins a
legal dispute with the
company in court.
MISA-Zimbabwe position
MISA-Zimbabwe strongly
condemns this attempt by RTG to muzzle the press on a
story that was not
only already in the public domain but is of public
interest. The alleged
RTG’s conduct, which comes barely a week after Econet
tried to gag Alpha
Media Holdings from carrying stories that reflected badly
on the mobile
service provider, is unacceptable in a democracy as it
violates the freedom
of the press and citizen’s rights to access information
on pertinent issues
and events around them.
While RTG as an interested party has a right to
take action to protect its
reputation, there are a number of options
available that the company could
have taken without seeking to muzzle The
Sunday Mail from reporting on the
subject and citizen’s freedom to access
that information as protected by
Section 20 of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe.
RTG has a right of reply and could have given its side of the
story to The
Sunday Mail or alternatively filed a complaint with the
Voluntary Media
Council of Zimbabwe regarding the manner in which the story
was written or
published. If the RTG prefers the legal channel, then it
could have
approached the civil court for damages for defamation or for any
other
injury or loss suffered.
MISA-Zimbabwe therefore contends that
the actions by RTG are highly
detrimental to freedom of expression, the free
flow of information and the
operations of a free and independent press. The
press should be left to
discharge its fourth estate role without any form of
interference from any
source.
For questions, comments or queries
please contact;
Koliwe Majama
Programmes Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
MISA-Zimbabwe
is concerned by the deafening silence surrounding the
processing of
applications for the two commercial radio broadcasters by the
Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) advertised on 26 May 2011.
15.08.1101:09pm
by
MISA
Since the submission of applications by 14 aspiring broadcasters
and the
subsequent publication of the applicants’ names in the media, there
has been
no update on the progress of the adjudication process. To date, BAZ
has not
published a comprehensive list of the applicants.
Neither has
it furnished the public with useful details of directorship and
ownership of
respective companies that applied, which would have assisted
the public in
making objections as required under the broadcasting law.
Although BAZ has
no legal obligation to do this, the issue is of public
interest of which it
should apprise the nation to ensure transparency and
build public confidence
in the whole licensing process.
What makes it more imperative for BAZ to
keep the nation updated on this
matter, is the fact that there are no clear
timelines stipulated in the
Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) under which the
regulatory board should
shortlist successful applicants; conduct public
hearings on their
applications and finally license them.
It is
entirely up to BAZ to determine the time within which these processes
have
to be completed. In the absence of legal timeframes within which BAZ
must
conclude the licensing process, there is no enforcement mechanism to
ensure
the regulatory board speedily issues licenses.
MISA-Zimbabwe also notes
that even if the new broadcasters were to be
eventually licensed, this may
not necessarily translate to the provision of
alternative information to the
citizenry due to the stipulated content
restrictions in BSA.
By their
very nature private broadcasters are profit oriented and therefore
need to
structure their programming in a manner that attracts listenership,
thereby
drawing advertising revenue. Therefore, they need to operate within
a
framework that accords them considerable editorial autonomy for their
sustainability.
However, the current operating framework as
stipulated under the repressive
the BSA imposes content requirements that
interfere with their independence.
Among these are the compulsory 75% quota
for local content; the allocation
of an hour of broadcasting space per week
to government and the stipulations
on airing of political and electoral
matters.
For example, in terms of Part II of the Fifth schedule of the
BSA a
broadcaster is required to report to BAZ and keep records of any
broadcast
of a political matter. According to the interpretation clause, a
political
matter is “any political matter, including the policy lunch of a
political
party”.
This definition is so vague to the extent that it
can cover a broad spectrum
of the broadcasters’ content. Restrictions such
as these are bound to
compromise private broadcasters’ role as independent
sources of alternative
information.
It is for this reason that
MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates its calls for the repeal
of the BSA and its
replacement with a democratic law that will ensure
transparency in the
licensing process as well as promote the establishment
of a three-tier
broadcasting system, which will allow Zimbabweans to freely
express
themselves and access information of their choice.
Global
child rights development organization Plan International wishes to
clarify
and correct gross inaccuracies and misconceptions in a story
published on
August 12, 2011 entitled: Mutare based NGO ‘campaigns’ for ZANU
PF governor”
See original
We wish to respond to the issues point by point, for the
benefit of the
reading public, as follows:
1.The story alleges that
Plan is a Mutare based NGO – this is not true as
Plan is an international
development agency with offices in 60 countries
globally. Its head office in
Zimbabwe is based in Harare. In Zimbabwe, Plan
operates in 8 program units
of which Mutare is one.
2.The story also erroneously states that Plan
openly campaigned for one of
the political parties in Zimbabwe, namely Zanu
PF. This is not true. Our
philosophy which dates back more than 70 years is
that we have no political
or religious affiliations.
3. Plan’s
mandate in Zimbabwe is clearly spelt out in its registration
certificate
under the Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Act which is to
“enable
deprived children, their families and communities to meet their
basic rights
and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit
from their
societies”.
4.The story makes reference to a handover of a project at
Karirwi Secondary
School in Mutare to which one of a Member of Parliament of
the Constituent
was allegedly not invited. The truth of the matter is that
the event was
organized by the community of Ward 18 Mutare West and Plan was
itself one of
the invited organizations.
5.It is true that the Member
of Parliament referred to in the article
approached our Managers in Mutare
requesting to be invited to the event, to
which he was advised that Plan was
not the convener of the meeting. He was
referred to the community in Ward 18
Mutare.
6.Information at hand is that the Community of Ward 18 in Mutare
invited the
MP to the meeting, which was officiated by the Provincial
Governor.
7.We also want to categorically refute that the Plan built a
classroom block
at the school and 'named it' after the Provincial Governor.
The school was
officially opened by the provincial governor in 2008 as the
senior most
government official in the province. This is a normal practice
in many parts
of the world where the person who officially opens the school
is recorded as
having done so.
8.We also want to make it clear that
Plan has a clear policy of remaining
apolitical in all its operations and
this also extends to all its members of
staff who are bound by the
policy.
On behalf of:
Else Kragholm
Plan Zimbabwe, Country
Director
August 12, 2011
http://www.newstimeafrica.com/
Published
On: Mon, Aug 15th, 2011
By Vladimir Mzaca
Mark
Zuckerberg could arguably be a modern day Albeit Einstein because of
his
revolutionary project- Facebook. Over the years Facebook has become one
of
the most influential factors in grassroots socio-political mobilization
worldwide, in fact the January 25 2011 Egyptian revolution could be credited
to Facebook as it captured global attention. When the Egyptian revolution
gained momentum the government tried without success to contain the social
networking site by blocking it. Social media became a big player in
politics. Bosmol- a social media marketing news website wrote: “Social media
makes social organization easier and effective. Social media used by
Egyptian protesters brought together individuals who shared common goals and
ideas, but also offered a medium for planning. In the case of Egypt, social
media forced the government to take accountability. Transnational social
networks made it very difficult for governments to lie and hide from their
citizens.” The Egyptian scenario is just one of many the world over that has
social media networking sites such as Facebook playing an integral part in
shaping history.
In Zimbabwe, Facebook is as popular and essential as
water. People cannot
imagine life before facebook. With mobile internet most
people use it to log
in to facebook to connect into a society that is free
to speak its mind out
without physical intimidation or confrontation. This
“free” world is the
best bet to get people’s uncensored views on
socio-political issues. Because
of the power Facebook holds in Zimbabwean
communities, it has become
necessary for politicians to also engage
themselves getting connected to
Zimbabweans all over the world. Naturally
facebook has become a political
constituency. The major players involved are
the dreaded Central
Intelligence Organisation, politicians, the masses and
yes the journalists
who now get leads for stories as well as exclusive chats
with politicians.
Zimbabwean journalist, Nqaba Matshazi, wrote that
politicians have taken to
social networking in the hope of gaining an extra
edge over their rivals.
“With the growth of internet penetration and the
advent of mobile internet
access in Zimbabwe, observers maintain that social
networking may one day
define the next Zimbabwean leader,” he wrote in The
Zimbabwe Standard.
Zimbabwean politics is largely dominated by old school
politicians who can
be traced to more than 30 years back. However, the few
new school politians’
have seen the importance of social networking sites.
MDC politicians like
David Coltart, Nelson Chamisa, Obert Gutu, Gorden Moyo,
Welshman Ncube,
Tendai Biti and Jameson Timba are among a host of
politicians with Facebook
pages, while Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai has
a fan page.
From Zanu PF, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Walter
Mzembi and
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
minister Saviour
Kasukuwere are the only ones who maintain regular presence
on the world’s
largest social networking site. Even political parties now
have facebook
pages.
Their regular interaction on facebook makes the
work of journalists more
efficient. The Deputy Prime Minister Professor
Arthur Mutambara always
answers questions from journalists whenever he is
online- at times when he
is busy he just replies by saying. “Busy lets chat
later.” When he does that
Facebook may become invaluable for a journalist.
But the bigger picture is
that facebook gives reporters an access to
communities involved in
newsmaking. In this way journalists find leads and
develop sources. However,
newspaper companies are still lagging behind in
understanding what Facebook
is all about. There was a time in the state
controlled Herald and Chronicle
when a move to block the use of Facebook
during working hours was mooted.
The argument brought forward although met
with heavy resistance was that it
diverted the attention of reporters. This
is a lie because reporting is all
about communicating and interacting with
society.
Online news sites such as The Zimbabwe mail, Newzimbabwe.com
have got
regular posts on Facebook pages because they understand that for
journalism
to fulfill its mandate reporters and the publications they write
for can
connect on facebook to engage with their readership and sources to
build
their brands. Perhaps the most imperative skill for a journalist on
facebook
should be finding sources on the site and using them to full
effect. Mxolisi
Ncube a freelance journalist says he uses facebook with
caution. “I am not
that much into checking other people’s profiles because
some of the
prominent names are just fake identities, but I do get direct
mail to my
inbox that give me tips and others from organisations,” he said.
The issue
of facebook use in Zimbabwean media brings about the questions of
basic
ethics. Facebook can be a great source of news and ideas but no news
story
should be entirely sourced via social media. This is so because it is
very
easy to lie or misrepresent on a social networking site and no credible
journalist wants to be taken for a hoax.
Zimbabwean journalism needs
social networking just like any proggressive
newsroom anywhere in the world.
The use of social media tools like facebook
cannot be ignored even though
they are a sudden phenomenon. There is need to
teach on ethics and use of
social networking tools for practicing
journalists. The popularity that
facebook is getting in media circles has
propelled the launch of
“Journalists on Facebook” a page entirely dedicated
to the used of the
social networking site by journalists. The forum gives
hints on how
journalists can best use facebook to make their jobs easy and
exciting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Sanctions, when portrayed by Zanu-PF as
imperialism, provide a convenient
excuse for the mismanagement of
Zimbabwe
Conor Foley
guardian.co.uk, Monday 15
August 2011 19.01 BST
Two years on from the signing of a
power-sharing agreement between President
Robert Mugabe and his main
political opponents, Zimbabwe faces a crunch
meeting at a summit in Angola
this week.
The leaders of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) have
demanded a "road map" for the implementation of the agreement,
including
timetabled commitments for human rights and rule of law reforms
and the
adoption of a new constitution. This should pave the way for
elections next
year which could mark the country's return to democracy after
decades of
authoritarian rule and economic disarray.
I visited
Zimbabwe last month, as part of a delegation from the
International Bar
Association, and we met a range of civil society
activists, senior lawyers
and government ministers, including the prime
minister and leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
It was clear to us
that the transition towards a fully democratic state
continues to be
piecemeal and painfully slow. Virtually everyone we met from
civil society
and the MDC had been arrested, some quite recently, and many
of these had
been badly tortured.
Yet the mood we encountered was cautiously
optimistic. Mugabe is now 87
years old and visibly weakening. Even members
of his own Zanu-PF talked
openly about the future when he steps down from
power, with some
acknowledging that he should not lead the country into the
elections next
year. There is a strong desire to avoid a return to the
violence that has
accompanied previous elections – in which hundreds of
people have been
killed – and a real hope that the international community
could help to
ensure a peaceful transition.
Zimbabwe has clawed
itself back from almost total economic collapse over the
past two years
under its power-sharing government. There have been some
tangible advances,
such as an increase in media freedom, although police
harassment remains
routine. The MDC government ministers we met are working
hard to try to turn
some state institutions around, getting children back to
school and
encouraging donors and foreign investors to re-engage with the
country.
Unfortunately the current policy of western governments,
such as Britain,
the United States and the EU, means they cannot
reciprocally engage.
An end to western sanctions has become one of the
last rallying calls of
hardliners within Zanu-PF. They are determined to
cling to power, not least
because they fear prosecution for their many
crimes of violence and
corruption in their years of misrule.
The
sanctions referred to are a series of measures implemented by the US and
EU.
The most direct of these are visa restrictions against a group of named
Zanu-PF leaders and their wives, and a freezing of their foreign bank
accounts. They also include the ending of all grants and loans to Zimbabwe's
government on a bilateral or multilateral basis.
Although western
donors assured us these measures were not intended to hurt
the ordinary
people of Zimbabwe, they admitted this was how they had been
presented. They
provide a convenient excuse for Zanu-PF's disastrous
mishandling of the
economy over the past two decades and allow Mugabe to
continue to portray
himself as a victim of "western imperialism".
Significantly, both SADC and
the African Union have repeatedly called for
all sanctions to be
ended.
The discovery of a large field of diamonds in Zimbabwe in 2008 has
actually
reduced the practical significance of these measures still further.
As China
continues to expand its economic influence into Africa, the
leverage of
western donors is growing correspondingly
weaker.
However, SADC has an opportunity to show real leadership to
improve the
human rights record of its member states – where developments in
Malawi,
Angola and Swaziland should also be cause for concern. Western
governments
should focus their efforts on engaging with the new diplomacy
that is
emerging on the continent.
http://www.kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=6628
I see there is a lot of heat concerning the
questionable “spending habits”
of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and
other senior MDC officials in
government and how they are abusing public
funds. And heck, they are being
investigated by “the law,” and they well
could find themselves behind bars
where they previously have been guests and
would no doubt not relish a night
at Matapi!
While of course one
cannot afford the luxury of ignoring politicians
bloating their faces with
money meant for the poor, building humongous
manors when across the road are
hovels housing dirt poor families, or
travelling by air first class when the
ordinary Jack has to travel in those
ramshackle death-traps called long
distance buses they already know will
falter, veer off the road and plunge
into a ditch, one still has to question
this rather apocryphal due diligence
of the public defenders who have taken
these coalition partners to task
about how they are spending public funds.
And this is in a country where we
have folks who have been in government for
barely three years being
investigated for alleged fiscal malfeasance when we
have men and women who
have been at it for three decades exhibiting an
indefatigable streak of
kleptocracy still holding their heads high and with
no lawman daring to
throw the book at them.
That is why it has been fairly easy for MDC
officials and supporters to
dismiss the investigations on the USD1,5 million
for the PM’s house and the
foreign trips of the FM’s staffers as part of a
grand plot that no doubt
will unravel as we head for the next polls. We are
obviously watching
closely how this will pan out, yet I can see a flood of
“sympathy votes” in
the offing! But it is something to imagine how resources
to investigate the
abuse of government resources have never been diligently
spread to challenge
over the decades on anything from the 85 percent
disability gratuity claims
by men and women who “died for the country” but
still walk the earth,
housing funds meant for poor civil servants looted
without batting an
eyelid, tender scams from as far back as the 1980s that
remain unpunished,
the bankrupting of Roger Boka – we could go on and on and
on, but then the
hypocrisy of the founding fathers has become legendary.
Remember the old man
frothing about corrupt colleagues and threatening the
wrath of the gods on
offenders long before anyone imagined he rule “his
Zimbabwe” with anyone? We
are not asking that these people not be
investigated, we are asking that
there be consistency.
Great ain’t
it?
This entry was posted on August 15th, 2011 at 3:17 pm by Marko
Phiri
My
two recent postings – the first on why I would invest in Zimbabwe and the
second titled “Marvellous Zimbabwe” caused quite a stir in the Diaspora.
Many people attacked me for presenting a misleading picture of life in
Zimbabwe. They are quite happy to get a steady stream of miserable stories
from Zimbabwe, but the small snippets of good news are not that welcome. But
I stick to my guns – both are accurate views of Zimbabwe.
We have
achieved a great deal since we went into the Transitional Government
under
the GPA. It was a deliberate decision – we in the MDC felt that even
though
it was a lousy arrangement and that we had been short changed by both
South
Africa and the SADC region as a whole, we had to do something to save
the
country from complete collapse.
Let me just remind everyone of the
situation at the end of 2008: inflation
was doubling prices every day – our
money was worthless, a billion dollars
would not buy you a loaf of bread.
All State schools were closed and had
only functioned for 23 days in the
year. All hospitals were just glorified
mortuaries – without electricity,
drugs, cleaning materials and basic
services. Despite good seasons we had a
near total crop failure and the
majority of the population (eventually over
70 per cent) were in need of
food aid.
Revenues to the State had
fallen to 4 per cent of GDP – a mere $200 million
a year – civil servants
were earning less than $20 a month and were unable
to get to work or feed
themselves. 150 000 people had Cholera which was
sweeping through the urban
areas where water supplies had failed and
sewerage systems were in a dire
state. The railways had collapsed, power
supplies were down to a few hours a
day and most of it was imported. Shops
were empty, we were buying bread and
milk in South Africa and fuel was in
short supply everywhere.
At the
same time a small minority with access to foreign exchange through
the
Reserve Bank was living the life of a multimillionaire – shopping sprees
to
Dubai and other glamorous destinations were weekly events, luxury cars
could
be purchased for the price of a packet of cigarettes. Diamonds at
Marange
had been discovered and a diamond rush was on with fortunes being
made on a
daily basis – but only by the criminal and the connected.
All savings were
wiped out; the total stock of cash in the country’s
financial system was
worth $6 million by the end of the year. A total
collapse of the Zimbabwe
economy and society as we know it was imminent.
Since that time the MDC
in Government has achieved the following:
Stabilised the economy, stopped
inflation which is now averaging about 3 per
cent per annum, ring fenced the
Reserve Bank and stopped the wholesale theft
of State resources that was
taking place through the Bank.
We have restored water supplies and waste
disposal systems in all urban
areas, halted the spread of Cholera, got over
105 000 teachers back into the
classroom and over 3 million children are
back in school, got all hospitals
and clinics – 1700 institutions in all,
open and functioning normally. We
have got all power stations back into
production and ZESA now delivers at
least 1400 megawatts to customers in
Zimbabwe from local sources.
Food is in free supply and all supermarkets
and other stores are fully
stocked – we now operate in one of the most open
and free economies in the
world. Exports rose 56 per cent in the first six
months of 2011, GDP has
doubled from $4,7 billion in 2008 to $9 billion this
year, tax revenues have
risen to 32 per cent of GDP and now yield $2,7
billion dollars a year in
revenue, civil service salaries have risen for $20
a month in 2008 to their
present level of some $285 – with senior staff now
receiving a near liveable
wage.
Where the dead hand of Zanu PF
remains in control we have seen no progress –
Air Zimbabwe is bankrupt and
no longer flies to many destinations and even
then is unreliable. The
National Railways have made no recovery, cannot pay
their staff and have no
plan as to how to get themselves back on their feet.
The Justice system is
still totally subverted, the Police still ignore their
responsibilities and
fail to protect private property rights and human
rights violations.
Agricultural output is still in decline and we are
importing 70 per cent of
our food needs, including 120 000 tonnes of grain a
month.
Politically inspired violence, much of it state sponsored is
widespread and
deadly. The GPA is some two years behind schedule – because
of Zanu PF
deliberate delaying tactics. Although we are in a commodity boom
with record
prices for gold, platinum, nickel and food products –
international
investors who want to make substantial investments in all
fields to take
advantage of the high prices, are gun shy and threatened by
Zanu PF in the
form of indigenisation and nationalisation
threats.
Despite the efforts of the region to get us back into the world
community,
we remain a pariah State with our diamonds banned from formal
markets and
many of our leadership subjected to travel restrictions and the
threat of
prosecution in the Hague for human rights abuse and
violence.
In this situation we have islands of excellence – our private
schools, our
sports teams, our young people still striving to excel. We have
many new
medical care facilities now offering a world class service,
organisations
like MARS now meet our needs in an efficient and cost
effective way without
subsidy. I take pride in all of this and in what we
have done despite the
dead hands of Zanu PF on our daily lives. We are
winning this struggle and
eventually we will throw off the mantle of despair
and failure that Zanu PF
has thrown over all of us.
When we do, it
will be our own achievement – the quiet efforts of ordinary
men and women in
Zimbabwe, working in their small patches, striving for
excellence in what
they do and seeking to change the situation in the rest
of the country to
everyone’s advantage.
Eddie Cross
Harare, 16th August
2011
Hi Eddie
I am actually quite
shocked by this article below. It does not take into
account the total
collapse of our public services, the on-going battle with
ZESA and council
rates. The total collapse of the government school system,
and in fact
totally ignores the fact that the major private schools are in
collapse mode
as well. St. John's College is a perfect example. There are
things happening
there that as, having been described to me, are little
different to the
scenario that has led up to the anarchy going on in the UK
right
now.
Staff are leaving in droves, or, if staying, have to sell their
properties
and move into sub-standard digs just to survive. The pupils are
no better
than in the UK, as they have long lost the concept of decency or
rule of
law. Having witnessed the lack of respect for staff by pupils at St.
John's
first-hand, I know what I am talking about.
But it is not the
pupils at St. John's that are finally ruining the
school...It is the school
development council that are committing
educational suicide, by not letting
the professionals get on with the job,
and instead enforcing their own
idiotic concepts. It would seem that a
professional Headmaster at a private
school in Zimbabwe has to accede to the
whims of the parent body and
therefore is in a no better position than a
Head Teacher in the UK...an
invidious position.
It may be a different story in junior schools (doubt
it), but not in
secondary level, and in neither as far as the Government
sector is
concerned. The education system here is gangrenous with corruption
and
self-interest still, and it doesn't seem to be getting much
better.
It also strikes me, as I drive through Harare, that there are a
huge number
of “schools” popping up all over that advertise themselves as
primary and
secondary centres of education. Are they licenced? Are they
legal? They seem
to be centred on private properties...what are their
“curriculums” What
examination boards are they associated with? I shudder to
think!
As far as the health sector is concerned, we all can only afford
to get ill
if we can afford Medical Aid. I certainly can't! My wife, who is
a
professional singer, is faced with a US$ 3000 dental bill, and simply
can't
afford it! Get real, Eddie! It's all very well trumpeting the private
hospital facilities if you can afford them, but if you can't, you might as
well curl up and die! At least in the UK, you have the NHS, who will at
least try to save your life without immediate up-front payment! The people
who left citing fears over health and education maybe should have stayed to
ensure that it did not happen. However, I don't think they should have, as I
seriously doubt they would have made any difference! Our recent dealings
with medical aid societies have revealed nothing but total incompetence and
corruption.
You mention the new supermarket "The Bridge"...yes, it's
not bad, pretty
good by African standards, but it is about the fifth of the
size of the
local Tesco store we used to shop at in Hove, Brighton, and
there is no
comparison for quantity or quality, except, I do admit British
meat products
are appalling compared to those in Southern Africa. What you
need to
remember, however, is that none of the produce in that store, or any
other
here now, (including the meat) are locally produced, they all come
from
South Africa! In fact, I fully believe that the shop referred to is a
subsidiary of SPAR South Africa! When we have proper power supplies and then
water 24/7 365 per year, industry operating at 100 %, then is the time to
boast about a new supermarket!
Finally, I would like to reply to your
continual reference to sport as a
high-light of of the excellence of what is
on-going in this country.
Through-out the Rhodesian years, and
post-independence, sport was the be-all
and end-all of the education system
here. One could fail O' Level three or
four times and still be kept on for
the equivalent number of years in the
First Fifteen Rugby as long as one was
a good forward or prop. Same thing
applied to every other sporting
discipline.
Never was there enough emphasis on real academics. Little
world class
science was apparent in Rhodesian days, and much of the
scientific world
in-put took place on a "informal" level by individuals who
were
self-trained...especially in the field of astronomy, which is my area.
It
was done by private societies that operated on an Honorary basis. The
same
prevailed after independence until these bodies collapsed and
dissolved.
Today, Zimbabwe stands as a intellectually, scientifically
bereft country,
with our technology very far behind that of most of the
world. I blame both
the Rhodesian and Zimbabwe regimes for this, but the
second much more than
the first. If this country is to move forward after a
new dispensation, then
the whole concept of education, values, and
discipline in this country must
be re-evaluated, just as it now has to be
addressed in the United Kingdom
and indeed in the whole First
World.
MB
-
Eddie Cross: Marvelous
Zimbabwe
Marvelous Zimbabwe
For all our troubles this is a great
place to live and raise children. I was
attending a birthday party for my
grandson who has just turned 8, he had
invited 29 little boys of his own age
(no girls) and they had a “Pirate
Party” organized by my daughter. Those boys
had a great evening and some
stayed over to sleep in tents on the
lawn.
One of the parents, sitting on the stoep coined the phrase
“marvelous
Zimbabwe” as it was a beautiful evening, blue skies, about 25 c
and no
humidity. Nearby the national cricket team was busy beating Bangladesh
in a
5 days test at the Harare Sports Club – a great Dutch style complex of
green
grass and bars in the center of town, next to the magnificent Royal
Harare
Golf Course. I recalled meeting a businessman in London who said to me
(we
had just won the ICC Trophy) “there is nothing wrong with a country that
can
play first class cricket!” In a way he had a point.
My one nephew
is coaching the Zimbabwe team, another is coaching the English
team and he
has transformed that team since he took charge. My grandson
attends a local
private school where for $4000 a year he is getting a
world-class education
without government subsidy. Our private schools are
really first class,
somehow the kids come out of those schools well rounded,
achievers and hard
working.
At Independence people who were leaving the country said to me
that their
great fears were health and education – I said that if that was
the case, we
should stay and make sure that our needs were met in both areas
through
private enterprise. The private schools that have mushroomed in the
country
since then have fully supported my views. Last week I got
confirmation of
the same for health services. My wife had a severe pain in
her stomach and
we suspected an ulcer. My daughter suggested we try a new
facility near
where we stay in Harare when I am there for
Parliament.
She went to this new private clinic and when I got home from
Parliament she
said that I should accompany her to see this place. We arrived
at nearly 6
pm and it was humming. She saw a doctor in 5 minutes and was
referred to a
specialist after some tests and scan. Fast, efficient,
courteous, modern
equipment, beautiful surroundings – world class in every
sense and our
medical aid paid for it in full, there were no charges. It was
black funded,
managed and staffed with only one of the doctors who were white
on the
staff. Once again, the private sector at work.
Then there is
our medical aid societies – we belong to one, totally local,
pay $50 a month
and in return get $60 000 of emergency medical insurance
cover, ambulance and
air ambulance services on call 24 hours a day, cover
for doctors visits,
dentist and optician services and if the service we
require is not available
locally – access to the best in South Africa. When
I had a stent inserted in
the back of my brain three years ago it was at a
private hospital in South
Africa, local specialists but they held a
videoconference with a specialist
in Texas and Paris while I was on the
operating table. Medical aid costs as
little as $6 a month and gives you
various stages of cover. It is just
amazing – no government involvement,
private capital, private investment and
management, all world class, all
African.
Marvelous Zimbabwe does it
again and again. We have yet to fix the main
problem, but that is work in
progress. It may look a mess right now but we
are working on this in our own
way and gradually a new society is emerging.
Near to where we live in Harare
is a new supermarket, the “Bridge”. I want
to tell you that not many people
anywhere in the world would have access to
a store of such modern and
sophisticated design. It’s new, it’s locally
designed and constructed,
locally managed and owned and it’s world class.
Can we do it? Yes we can and
are, and all those skeptics out there who
thought otherwise must come and
take a look.
We have the best climate in the world, do not have
earthquakes or tornados
and are so far out of the mainstream of world
financial affairs that we do
not matter and Wall Street is a curiosity. Our
Polo Crosse team just came
second in the World Championship – all
dispossessed farmers who decided that
while the farm situation is being
sorted out, they would play Polo. Now we
watch the Yobo’s of London and
Liverpool trash their cities and burn their
future while the Police seem
totally incapable.
We have made sacrifices by staying in Zimbabwe and
joining in the fight for
a better world for our grandchildren to live in but
it has been worth every
thing and more and the fact that we are in fact
winning is just a bonsela.
Just come and sit on the sidelines of a school
rugby match and watch the new
generation setting the standards for a new
world. They play hard and they
work hard, they are the kind of kids that will
make us all proud.
Just to return briefly to the global financial crisis.
The public debt of
China is 150 per cent of their GDP – the same or worse
than Greece, in the
USA its nearing 100 per cent of GDP – ours is about 90
per cent. It is all a
question of perception and confidence, smoke and
mirrors. The US Congress
did nobody any good quibbling over an issue that was
clear from the start.
The private sector may be doing marvelous things in
Zimbabwe, but let me
tell you, no country can afford to take on the markets.
If you do dumb
things you pay the price and the first black President of the
USA is not in
anyway responsible for the loss of confidence in the US
financial system.
That lies squarely with the House and the Senate and I hope
they are duly
warned.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 10th August
2011