http://www.independent.co.uk/
By Fiona Forde in
Johannesburg
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Robert Mugabe is set to
receive a blanket amnesty and a post as ceremonial
head of state followed by
a life term as "founding president" on his
retirement, under the terms of a
draft deal to set up a transitional
government in Zimbabwe.
According
to the proposed settlement, obtained by The Independent, Morgan
Tsvangirai
will take over the running of the country as the new executive
Prime
Minister in an interim administration that will pave the way for fresh
elections at a date to be determined in the future.
The detailed
draft of more than 50 pages has already been circulated between
the two
rivals when they bypassed talks in South Africa two weeks ago,
preferring to
liaise indirectly with one another in Harare via
intermediaries.
The
draft agreement, as yet unnamed, will also provide the basis of the
face-to-face meeting between the two men in the Zimbabwean capital tomorrow,
an encounter that will be facilitated by the South African President, Thabo
Mbeki.
Although there is still no final deal on the table, sources
close to both
sides of the talks say their respective parties are receptive
to the draft.
According to the document, the leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change,
will head the country through a period of transition, the
duration of which
is still to be negotiated. While the MDC is pushing for a
term of 24 or 30
months, Zanu-PF is negotiating for five years. A compromise
has still to be
reached.
The outcome of negotiations remains
uncertain and the draft could still be
rejected.
Should the document
become the basis for an agreement, Mr Tsvangirai would
appoint two deputy
prime ministers to his office, one from the ranks of
Zanu-PF and one from
his own party. Both deputies will also preside over the
strategic ministries
of defence and home affairs. It is widely anticipated
that Mr Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party will continue to control the Ministry of
Defence, while the
MDC will assume the control of home affairs, with
responsibility or
administering the police force and the prison services.
It also foresees
the immediate dissolution of the notorious Joint Operations
Command - the
military chiefs and Mugabe loyalists who have overseen the
campaign of
violence unleashed since the first round of voting in March. In
its place
would be a National Security Council, overseen by the prime
minister, his
two deputies and a cabinet minister.
Some of the country's most
politically tarnished authorities including the
Central Intelligence
Organisation, the head of the defence forces and the
commissioner general of
the police would all report to the NSC.
The security council would be
designed to ensure that neither of the two
parties could monopolise the
future general election which would be called
at the end of the transitional
government and immediately after the existing
constitution has been reformed
or overhauled.
With Zanu-PF stripped of its control of the police,
Zimbabweans could
anticipate a smooth election free from the intimidation,
fear and rigging
that marred the recent polls.
The remaining
ministries would be divided equally between the two parties,
with one
allocated to Arthur Mutambara's splinter MDC faction.
In a move to
appease the potential donors who needed to finance a massive
rescue package
for the economically crippled country a number of key
ministries would be
handed over to "independents" - skilled individuals
outside of party
structures but approved by the cabinet.
It is anticipated that the
Ministry of Finance and Investment would be one
such portfolio that would
reside independently of either party chief so as
not to deter the expected
and needed flow of money into the country during
the transition, which will
last for something in the region of two years.
The ministries of Justice,
Land Resettlement Implementation, Agriculture and
State Enterprises are also
tipped to fall under independent jurisdiction
during the transition
period.
As the incumbent head of Zanu-PF, "Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe
should
inaugurate the coalition government" by "formally summoning
parliament," by
"formally removing from office all those persons who
immediately before the
agreement date were vice-presidents, ministers and
deputy ministers" and
appoint "Mr Morgan Tsvangirai to be a senator", the
document says.
Under the draft agreement, the "functions and powers" of
84-year-old
incumbent "will be regulated and limited by transitional
constitution". Upon
his retirement he will be recognised as the founding
president, but will
undertake not to "seek to influence day-to-day
governmental decisions, nor
will he publicly criticise, expressly or by
implication, decisions made by
the government".
The most
controversial aspect of the draft agreement is likely to be a
blanket
amnesty for each and every Zimbabwean "who in the course of
upholding or
opposing the aims and policies of the government of Zimbabwe,
Zanu-PF or
either formation of the MDC, may have committed crimes within
Zimbabwe".
This would rescue Mr Mugabe and many of his senior aides
from prosecution
for gross human rights abuses and possible war crimes
including the
Matabeleland massacres of the 1980s and the recent political
terror campaign
which has killed some 120 opposition supporters.
The
amnesty is expected to be a tough sell for Mr Tsvangirai who would face
accusations from his supporters and human rights groups within the country
that he has sold out to his political rival.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3505
by
Cuthbert Nzou Wednesday 06 August 2008
HARARE - South
African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to travel to
Zimbabwe in the next
few days to finalise a power-sharing deal between
President Robert Mugabe
and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, diplomatic sources said.
They said Mbeki could arrive in
Harare as early as Thursday to facilitate a
meeting between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai to conclude a deal reached by ruling
ZANU PF party and MDC
negotiators currently in Pretoria, South Africa.
The sources, who spoke
on condition they were not named, said negotiators
have come up with two
power-sharing proposals that will be put before Mugabe
and
Tsvangirai.
Mbeki was in Zimbabwe last week where he reportedly told
Mugabe not to
insist on remaining an executive president if a pact was to be
reached with
both formations of the MDC.
"The two proposals outline
how ZANU PF and MDC should share power," one of
the diplomats told
ZimOnline. "It would be up to Mugabe and Tsvangirai to
decide which of the
two proposals they prefer."
ZANU PF and MDC officials resumed talks last
Sunday that had been called off
a week ago apparently after hitting deadlock
over what posts Mugabe and
Tsvangirai would take in the government of
national unity.
But Mbeki denied talks had hit deadlock and instead said
the dialogue was
still firmly on track and negotiators had only returned to
Zimbabwe to
consult their principals on the ground covered so
far.
"The talks have reached a level where the principals have to meet
face to
face and decide the course to take," the diplomat said. "Once they
reach a
deal, the agreement would be forwarded to legal experts to come up
with
legal niceties of the pact."
Talks had been initially scheduled
to end on August 4 but the deadline was
moved following last week's
break.
According to the sources one of the power-sharing proposals was
that
Tsvangirai becomes executive prime minister, while Mugabe remains
president.
There would be at least two or three vice-presidents and two
deputy prime
ministers drawn from the three negotiating parties.
The
sources said this structure was designed to accommodate Mugabe's present
vice-presidents Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru in addition to other top
officials of the negotiating parties such as MDC second-in-command Thokozani
Khupe and Emmerson Mnangagwa, a hawkish Mugabe's loyalist, who would become
deputy prime ministers.
The other alternative, the sources said,
proposes Mugabe staying at the top
with Msika, Mujuru and Khupe as
vice-presidents.
Tsvangirai would become prime minister with the other
leader of the MDC
faction Arthur Mutambara and ZANU PF chairman John Nkomo
as deputy prime
ministers.
Apart from that the parties, the sources
said, had also reached agreement on
how to share 20 cabinet
positions.
"The negotiators at the talks are now deliberating on the
outstanding issues
of their agenda, among them, how to deal with
perpetrators of political
violence and the land question," another diplomat
said. "The talks are
likely to end successfully by this
weekend."
Yesterday, the MDC acting spokesperson Tapiwa Mashakada
declined to comment
on the latest developments, but insisted the talks were
progressing well.
"The talks are on going and indications are that they
are smooth," Mashakada
said. "We cannot give details on what has been
achieved or not achieved."
Government deputy information minister Bright
Matonga also refused to
comment on the talks or confirm whether or not Mbeki
would jet into Zimbabwe
on Thursday. "I am not at liberty to speak on those
issues," he said.
The two power-sharing proposals, the sources said, were
hammered out after
the three parties expanded their
negotiators.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick
Chinamasa and
Public Service Minister Nicholas Goche represent ZANU PF at
the talks.
The pair has since been joined by ZANU PF national chairman
John Nkomo,
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Higher Education Minister
Stan
Mudenge. All are members of the ruling party's inner politburo
cabinet.
Secretary-general Tendai Biti and deputy national treasurer
Elton Mangoma
are representing the Tsvangirai-led MDC. The additional
members are the
party's national chairman Lovemore Moyo and women's assembly
chairperson
Theresa Makone.
Secretary general Welshman Ncube and his
deputy Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga represent the Mutambara-led MDC. Two
other senior
party officials Moses Mzila-Ndlovu and Miriam Mushayi are the
back-up
team. - ZimOnline.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
05 August
2008
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and founding president
Morgan Tsvangirai of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change will open
face-to-face
negotiations Thursday in what could be the closing phase of
power-sharing
talks, political sources said Tuesday.
Sources in
Harare and Pretoria said South African President Thabo Mbeki will
fly to
Harare to facilitate the dialogue between the two in his capacity as
Zimbabwe crisis mediator on behalf of the Southern African Development
Community since June 2007.
Sources privy to the negotiations still
under way in Pretoria said the two
leaders must settle two key issues. The
first is whether President Mugabe or
Tsvangirai as prime minister is to hold
executive powers in the proposed
government of national unity.
Also
on the table is the question as to who will appoint the governors of
the
country's 10 provinces, which include metropolitan Harare and Bulawayo.
The
two MDC formations want their members to be named governors in
Matabeleland
North, Matabeleland South and metropolitan Bulawayo, by virtue
of their
political dominance in the region.
But ZANU-PF negotiators have objected
that this would fracture the ruling
party given that officials drawn from
the independence-era ZAPU party of
Joshua Nkomo would thereby lose the
gubernatorial positions allocated to
them in a 1987 unity accord.
The
state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that both sides are
expanding their negotiating teams after extending the talks beyond a nominal
Monday deadline. ZANU-PF has sent party chairman John Nkomo, Higher
Education Minister Stan Mudenge and Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramai - all
three members of the ZANU-PF politiburo.
The MDC formation of Morgan
Tsvangirai dispatched Harare lawyers Innocent
Chagonda and Jameson Timba
along with International Affairs Secretary
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.
The
other MDC faction, headed by Arthur Mutambara, has bolstered its team by
adding national executive members Moses Mzila-Ndlovu and Miriam
Mushayi.
Political analyst and human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro told
reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that a power sharing
deal is
possible but will take compromise.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-06-un-envoy-in-sa-to-monitor-zim-talks
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES Aug 06 2008
07:05
United Nations troubleshooter Haile Menkerios flew
back to South Africa on
Tuesday to monitor the South African-mediated talks
on resolving Zimbabwe's
political crisis, UN spokesperson Michele Montas
said.
She told a press briefing that Menkerios, a UN assistant secretary
general
for political affairs, was first heading to Pretoria for
consultations on
the mediation process but also planned to visit Zimbabwe
before returning to
New York this weekend.
Power-sharing talks
between representatives of Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and of his
opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai resumed in a secret
location in South
Africa on Sunday after a nearly week-long pause to allow
negotiators to
return home and consult with their leaders.
The talks had broken up last
Tuesday amid suggestions from Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) that the two sides were deadlocked in
their bid to resolve the crisis
spawned by Mugabe's disputed one-man
re-election win in
June.
Menkerios is serving as the UN high-level representative on a
so-called
"reference group" -- which also includes the African Union and a
security
panel of the Southern African Development Community -- set up to
assist the
South African mediators and provide regular progress
updates.
The MDC had insisted on widening the South African mediation to
other
representatives after accusing Mbeki of being biased towards
Mugabe.
On Monday, a South African official said bargaining between
Zimbabwe's rival
parties was likely to stretch several days beyond the
two-week deadline,
which expired on Monday.
Deal 'not far
off'
Meanwhile, the Star reported on Monday that the two sides were close to
a
power-sharing deal that would turn Mugabe into a ceremonial
president.
The report cited unnamed sources close to the negotiations as
saying the
agreement would make MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai executive prime
minister.
Zimbabwean government and MDC officials were not immediately
available for
comment.
"They are down to detail now," the newspaper
quoted one source as saying.
"Although how long that will take is still
unclear. But a deal is not far
off. Not at all."
Mugabe won a one-man
presidential run-off last month, widely denounced as a
sham after Tsvangirai
pulled out of the race due to a wave of deadly attacks
on his
supporters.
The 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British
colony since
independence in 1980, has for his part insisted that the MDC
has to
acknowledge his victory in the run-off if there is to be any kind of
power-sharing deal. - Reuters
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2123
August 6, 2008
Jupiter Punungwe
TWO
events have left me even more convinced that little is going to change
in
Zimbabwe in the near future.
The first is the buying of lavish cars and
goods for judges by the Zanu-PF
government through the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe. To me this is plain buying
of loyalty. It is no different from
when a chief married off his daughter to
the greatest warrior living in his
kingdom. Or when various European
monarchies such as the English and the
French married off daughters to each
other to try and buy allegiances and
build alliances in medieval times.
The MDC has been basing their position
on judgements passed in the arena of
international media and opinion. They
have been arguing that Tsvangirai
should be the leader of any transitional
arrangement based on the results of
the March 29 election. On the other hand
Zanu-PF is adamant that the result
of the June 27 run-off election is valid,
as Tsvangirai discouraged his
supporters from voting voluntarily.
If
the sides fail to agree, then the only legal route available would be to
challenge the June 27 run-off in a Zimbabwean court. Obviously it wouldn't
hurt Zanu-PF's cause too badly if the judges hearing the case were driving
from their homes every-morning in Mercs provided by Zanu-PF, watching DSTV
every evening on plasma TVs provided by Zanu-PF, driving to their farms
every weekend in four-by-fours provided by Zanu-PF, that is not to forget
that the farms were allocated to them by the benevolent Zanu-PF.
Of
course, it also doesn't help the MDC's cause, in a Zimbabwean court, that
Tsvangirai is on public record as saying he was withdrawing from the run-off
and encouraging his supporters either not to vote or to spoil their papers.
In my view the withdrawal is the greatest legal impediment to any challenge
Tsvangirai may try to raise in the Zimbabwe legal system.
This leaves
international diplomatic pressure as the only tool the MDC have
in their
fight to have power transferred to themselves. Apart from getting a
few
governments to refuse to recognise Mugabe's authority, I don't see that
route achieving the actual transfer of power in Zimbabwe in the near future.
All I see coming is just another lengthy period of accusations, counter
accusations, grandstanding and throwing of insults at each
other.
There are rumours swirling around, claiming that Mbeki has
delivered all
kinds of ultimatums to Mugabe. Besides the fact that these are
unsubstantiated rumours, we should all be sufficiently informed at this
stage to realise that what Mugabe personally accepts may not be accepted by
the Zanu-PF establishment. The ongoing negotiations are not just about
Mugabe's fate but about the fate of Zanu-PF stalwarts as well, some of whom
are clearly harbouring ambitions of stepping into Mugabe's shoes. To them
limiting the ultimate power of the MDC actually improves their own chances
of overpowering that party in future.
Despite what their critics
would like to believe about their legitimacy or
even Mugabe's legitimacy,
these people still firmly have the reigns of power
in their hands. An
example of how they are using or abusing that power is
the lavishing of
goods on judges, obviously to curry favour.
The second event is the
lopping off of 10 zeros from the Zimbabwe dollar,
without any accompanying
economic policy shift to acknowledge that the
direction in which government
has been going all along has been wrong. I did
notice that, combined with
the original lopping off of three zeros, this
leaves us just one zero short
of a number often associated with dumbness in
Zimbabwe, 14.
If
anybody had any doubt that the bad old ways of economic mismanagement are
still around then Mugabe's threats to industry, to declare a state of
emergency, should have brought them to their senses. Zanu-PF is not going to
change their economic thinking, if we can call it that, in the near
future.
In short, political settlement between the main antagonists is
still
distant. Even if it happens there is no firm guarantee that the
critical
issue of economic mismanagement can be sufficiently addressed to
ease the
suffering of ordinary Zimbabwean people.
Also, judging from
campaign promises made in the run-up to March 29, both
the MDC and Zanu-PF
seem to share the belief that a government can always
pull money out of thin
air to lavish on people and buy their loyalty.
Tsvangirai promised the
people of Matebeleland that they would not pay taxes
for five years, while
Mugabe promised all villagers free scotch-carts and
ox-drawn ploughs, as
well as ridiculously cheap transport.
This is an indication that both
leaders either totally lack understanding of
how economies work, or are so
contemptuous of the intelligence of the
electorate that they believe they
can always sell them a dud. Neither
prognosis is healthy either for
democracy or for economic prudence in
Zimbabwe.
Without recognition
of the fundamental deficiencies in the way the economy
has been run, it is
very unlikely that issues fundamental to the recovery of
the economy such as
minimal government expenditure through a lean cabinet
and a lean civil
service will be pursued with the political vigour necessary
to ensure a
successful economic turn around.
In fact it looks like Zanu-PF is
pursuing the loyalty-buying tactic with the
MDC by offering them cabinet
posts and a vice presidency without making much
of an effort to change the
fundamental structural economic problems, that
have been the fertiliser
spurring the MDC's growth.
Without fundamental changes to economic
behaviour of government, it is very
unlikely the plight of ordinary
Zimbabweans will be eased to any significant
measure. Without the easing of
the economic plight of ordinary citizens,
Zimbabwe will continue to be a
potentially destabilising factor in the
region.
In short, until the
way Zimbabwe is being economically managed is addressed,
the problem of
Zimbabweans flocking to other countries will remain. Current
efforts to
resolve the Zimbabwe issue by President Mbeki seem to consider a
mere
political accommodation between the MDC and Zanu-PF as the solution to
Zimbabwe's problems. The real solution lies in addressing the economic
management issue. Not only do economic measures have to be in the best
interests of the ordinary people, but they have to be practical and viable
in the long term.
It should not be assumed that political agreement
by the leadership of MDC
and Zanu-PF means that they are going to
automatically agree on economic
management. Most likely those in Zanu-PF
will want to maintain and protect
their looting capabilities.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2114
August 6, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
RUSAPE - Militant Zanu-PF supporters have besieged a farm
house here,
trapping a white commercial farmer and his son inside for four
days up to
Tuesday.
While neighbours have attempted to persuade the
squatters to withdraw the
police have not intervened. The siege was laid on
the farm amid an
escalation in farm invasions especially in Manicaland by
self-styled war
veterans and senior government officials.
"It's a
tense and worrying situation," said a district Commercial Farmers'
Union
(CFU) official of the standoff on Tuesday.
About 40 Zanu-PF supporters
armed with an assortment of weapons, including
knives and clubs surrounded
the home of farmer Gavin Woest in the Rusape
farming area on Tuesday. They
have laid siege on the farm since Friday last
week, The Zimbabwe Times was
told.
Contact with the Woests has been lost, the union said, after
telephone
cables on the farm were vandalised. The area is out of reach of
mobile
networks.
The squatters - led by men claiming to be veterans
of Zimbabwe's war of
liberation - repelled a Zimbabwe Times news crew who
approached the farm
Tuesday, attacking their vehicle with sticks. No one was
injured in the
confrontation.
The CFU official said some members of
the gang were believed to have stolen
firearms from a detachment of six
police officers whom they surrounded and
overpowered Tuesday.
Woest
is holed up in the house with his son Kirk, The Zimbabwe Times has
been
told.
President Robert Mugabe has described the illegal occupation of the
280
remaining white-owned farms as a justifiable protest against the
ownership
of prime land by the descendants of British settlers.
The
police have refused to evict the invaders, despite worsening attacks on
the
few remaining white farmers and their workers.
In Burma Valley,
south-east of Mutare, deputy minister of Transport and
Communications,
Hubert Nyanhongo continued to lay siege on Gwindingwi Farm
after kicking out
white farmer Johan Vorster.
He has defied two High Court orders
instructing him to leave the property,
where he has harvested 100 tonnes of
bananas, after seizing six tractors, a
Mazda pick up truck, a seven-tonne
Nissan CK 10 lorry and 45 tons of
fertilizer.
Farmers accuse Mugabe
of allowing squatters to remain on white farms as a
political ploy to shore
up his defeated party's waning support.
Mugabe is driving a populist
programme in the rural areas, including the
distribution of food hampers to
desperate villagers, who rejected his
continued rule in the March 29
poll.
The populist posturing, fed by belligerent rhetoric by the veteran
ruler,
has sparked the new round of farm invasions.
Caught in the
middle are the nation's farm workers, who say they will lose
their income if
the invaders force out the few remaining commercial farmers.
http://www.radiovop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3445&Itemid=171
HARARE, August 6 2008 -
Churches are now involved in feeding school
children at most boarding
schools around the country as shortages of basic
commodities
continue.
Most boarding schools around the country were
reportedly facing
closure at the beginning of the year because of basic
commodities shortages.
"I think the government should assist
institutions like schools,
hospitals and orphanages in the procurement of
basic commodities especially
from suppliers such as the Grain Marketing
Board," said one parent, Josphat
Sithole.
However, some churches
have since the beginning of July, been
supplying these schools with basic
commodities, which they source from
neighbouring countries. Most boarding
schools in Zimbabwe are mission
schools, which are run by churches such as
the Church of Christ, Lutheran
Church of Zimbabwe, Roman Catholic Church,
Presbyterian among others.
Boarding schools, which are
reportedly being bailed out by the
churches, include Dadaya High School in
Zvishavane, Marist Brothers in Dete,
Chegato, Masase, Munene and Musume High
schools in Mberengwa.
Schools are expected close this week but
since the beginning of the
year, parents have been asked to pay top up fees
every month as the fees
have been eroded by hyperinflation
Meanwhile Matopo boarding school in Matebeleland North has asked
students to
bring their own groceries when schools open for the third term.
Parents who spoke to Radio VOP said they had been told by school
authorities
to bring two packets of rice; two 750 ml bottles of cooking oil,
2kgs of
sugar beans and 40 kgs of roller meal per student as part of
third-term
school fees.
"The groceries are also part of the school fees
because the school
authorities are saying they are failing to source
adequate food for our
children from shops," said Talent Sinyoro, a parent at
the school.
Although the arrangement is said to have been
agreed by both parents
and school authorities at a recent school development
committee meeting,
parents who spoke to Radio VOP said the arrangement was a
heavy burden to
them as they are affected by the same scarcity of basic
commodities in the
country.
Another school, Inyathi
Secondary in Matebeleland North, is also
reportedly asking boarders to bring
their own sleeping beds as part of
school fees payment. Most boarding
schools in the country are reeling under
severe food shortages and lack of
money, which has affected the quality of
education.
The
food crisis has also hit colleges and universities where in some
instances
female students have resorted to prostitution in order to survive.
Many
schools in Zimbabwe have already closed before the official closing
day,
which is Friday because of lack of food.
The government has
however said secondary schools would benefit from
its basic commodities'
supply intervention scheme, which is being
spearheaded by the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2139
August 6, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - About 3 000 Zanu-PF supporters, allocated plots
illegally on a
council farm just before the June 27 presidential election by
a Zanu-PF
official, now face eviction.
The desperate home seekers
were allocated plots on Bellevue Farm, east of
Emganwini Suburb by a Zanu-PF
Women's League official, only identified as
Kandemiri, apparently with the
tacit approval of her superiors.
She parcelled out the so-called
agro-residential plots, measuring about 1, 5
hectares to people who paid
$500 million (now 5 cents after the revaluation
of the currency.) The
settlers, mainly Zanu-PF supporters and civil
servants, named the settlement
Emganwini East.
Soon after allocation, they started to clear their plots
and to build huts.
But yesterday, Bulawayo Metropolitan Resident
Minister, Cain Mathema said
his office did not recognise the land
allocations.
He said Bellevue Farm was part of municipal land and the
Bulawayo City
Council was the only lawful authority that could allocate
residential stands
in the area.
"The government does not recognise
the settlement you are referring to,"
said Mathema.
"We know that
there are people who are claiming to be allocating people land
in the name
of Zanu-PF but what they are doing is illegal. There are normal
ways through
which land is allocated. Action will be taken."
The government acquired
Bellevue Farm from its previous owner, a commercial
farmer, in 2005 and
allocated it to the Bulawayo City Council for its future
expansion
programmes.
Sources say the farm was supposed to be used for organised
peri-urban
farming. But before the local authority could move in to survey
and
sub-divide the plots and allocate them, Zanu-PF grabbed it.
The
farm lies some seven kilometres southwest of Bulawayo on the Plumtree
Road,
opposite Emganwini high-density suburb.
But in a dramatic turn of events
the ruling party provincial executive in
Bulawayo, sensing the direction in
which the wind was now blowing, has now
effectively distanced itself from
the goings-on on the farm.
Effort Nkomo, the provincial spokesman, was
quoted in the media as saying
Zanu-PF was not involved in the distribution
of land on the property. He
described Kandemiri and her colleagues, who were
parcelling out the land, as
mischievous.
The allocation raised a
storm, not only because it was illegal, but also for
its timing just ahead
of the June 27 presidential election.
At the time, Zanu-PF was on the
campaign trail in support of President
Robert Mugabe who faced Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai before the later withdrew
citing violence.
Observers saw the hasty land allocations as a
vote-buying ploy by Zanu -PF
in a bid to dilute the MDC's traditional
stranglehold on Bulawayo.
Tsvangirai later withdrew from the run-off,
leaving Mugabe to stand alone in
what was widely condemned as a sham
poll.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
05
August 2008
The food security situation in Zimbabwe is
deteriorating rapidly, according
to the top disaster relief official for the
U.S. Agency for International
Development, whose assessment based on a
recent visit to the country
informed an appeal last week by USAID
Administrator Henrietta Fore to the
Harare government to rescind its ban on
food distribution by aid groups.
Fore also called for the Zimbabwean
government to communicate to authorities
at all levels that the ban has been
rescinded, and to guarantee the safety
of humanitarian
workers.
Though the Zimbabwean government this week announced a
partial lifting of
the ban imposed June 4 on food distribution by
non-governmental
organizations to permit the resumption of feeding programs
for HIV/AIDS
patients, the wider NGO distribution ban remains in effect and
continues to
block the flow of food aid to an increasingly distressed
population.
The U.S. government among others deplored the ban on aid
distribution when
it was imposed and has been calling for it ban to be
lifted. But the latest
appeal from Fore was informed by a direct assessment
by Ky Luu, director of
USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance.
Reached early this week on another assignment in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo, Luu told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that "the situation is extremely alarming and it is
deteriorating by the
day."
Luu reported "an atmosphere of
desperation" as consumers struggle to feed
themselves and their families
amidst hyperinflation that has driven the
price of a loaf of bread from 20
U.S. cents in May to US$1.70 recently, when
the average Zimbabwean makes $4
a month.
http://www.radiovop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3446&Itemid=755
MUTARE, August 6 2008 -
Mozambiquan police officers are reportedly
ill-treating Zimbabweans crossing
into their country to shop for basic
commodities or conduct
business.
This follows the significant cutting down of the
quantity of
foodstuffs that Zimbabweans can buy from the neighbouring
country.
"I lost thousands of Mozambiquan Meticais and
groceries to the police,
after being arrested on flimsy grounds and others,
especially women, have
had to offer sexual favours to some male police
officers to escape the ill
treatment," said a Zimbabwean who fell victim to
Mozambiquan police.
Tawanda Madondo, a Harare resident, said
the police are arresting
Zimbabweans on flimsy charges such as being falsely
accused of being drunk,
even when they are not driving.
Tonderai Sithole, another Zimbabwean said he was suspected of being a
diamond dealer searching for buyers in Manica town and was
searched.
He said when the police failed to find diamonds on
him, they took away
thousands of Meticais he had on him.
Beer lovers have also fallen prey to the police who seemingly become
thirsty
each time they see a Zimbabwean carrying a crate of beer.
Beer
is in short supply in Zimbabwe and where it is available, prices
are far
beyond the reach of many.
A beer now costs about US$10 in most
hotels, which is enough to buy
two six packs in Mozambique.
Officials from the Mozambiquan consulate in Mutare refused to comment
saying
they needed to investigate the claims first.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2132
August 6, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwe could continue to grapple with a severe
grain shortage as
the government has only secured 60 percent of the seed
maize requirements
for use in the next farming season.
Agriculture
Minister Rugare Gumbo made the chilling revelations when he
addressed
farmers at the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) annual congress in
Harare
Tuesday.
With less than two months before the start of the 2008-09
growing season
which gets underway in October Gumbo disclosed that the
government had
secured only 30 000 tonnes of maize seed out of a requirement
of 50 000
tonnes.
Gumbo said the government had committed scarce
foreign currency resources to
import the bulk of the 30 000 tonnes of maize
seed. He said only 11 300
tonnes of maize seed was sourced from local seed
houses while the balance of
18 700 tonnes was imported from neighbouring
countries.
"We are intensifying our farming preparations and so far we
have bought 30
000 tonnes of maize seed out of the 50 000 tonnes required to
plant two
million hectares of maize," said Gumbo.
He said the
government would move with haste to import the remaining 20 000
tonnes of
maize seed before the start of the planting season. The season
could turn
out to be another disaster if government's last minute initiative
is not
successful.
Critics, among them the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organisation
(FAO), have blamed government's poor preparations in sourcing
critical
inputs such as seeds and fertiliser before each farming season for
the
current grain shortages.
Zimbabwe's seed houses, among them
Seedco and Pioneer, have in recent years
failed to produce enough maize seed
owing to reduced hectarage after most of
their seed-producing farms were
seized by veterans of the liberation war and
supporters loyal to President
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party under a government
backed land redistribution
programme.
Since the widely condemned commercial farm invasions, which
President Mugabe
defends as being aimed at correcting colonial land
ownership imbalances,
which favoured white commercial farmers with the most
fertile soils at the
expense of the black population, Zimbabwe has grappled
with severe food
shortages. Zimbabwe, once a self-sufficient producer and
exporter of food is
now forced to commit scarce foreign currency to the
importation of maize and
seed-maize to close a growing food deficit in the
country.
At the end of the 2007-08 farming season Zimbabwe harvested only
850 000
tonnes of maize against an annual domestic consumption of 2 million
tonnes,
resulting in severe food shortages across the country.
Owing
to the perennial food shortages western countries among them Britain
and the
United States, which President Mugabe frequently lashes out at have
helped
alleviate massive starvation through food handouts to the troubled
country.
During the run-up to the March 29 elections government
outlawed the
operations of foreign aid organisations on suspicion they were
aiding and
abetting the election campaigns of the opposition.
http://www.radiovop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3444&Itemid=171
HARARE, August 6 2008 - The Zimbabwe
National Students' Union (ZINASU)
has petitioned the Botswana government to
deport former Herald political
editor, Caesar Zvayi, who recently quit the
State-controlled publication to
work as a lecturer at the University of
Botswana.
Zvayi, a former geography teacher accused of
promoting hate language
on behalf of the President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF
party, quit The Herald
last month. He was reported to have landed a job as a
media lecturer at the
University of Botswana.
In a petition to
Botswana President Ian Seretse Khama on Tuesday,
ZINASU called on the
Botswana government to continue piling the pressure on
Zimbabwe, by standing
against Mugabe and expelling his lieutenants such as
Zvayi.
"Your Excellency, we salute and commend your efforts in not
recognizing and
condemning the 27 June one-man election in Zimbabwe," reads
the petition to
Khama.
In the petition, the students' union said Zvayi propagated
hate among
Zimbabweans and should not be accommodated in
Botswana.
"Your country is a good model of a democracy and good
governance in
Africa and people like Zvayi should not be accommodated as
they propagated
hate among Zimbabweans because of his vitriolic writings in
the daily
newspaper," adds the statement.
Two weeks ago, Zvayi
and his former colleague at the Sunday Mail,
Munyaradzi Huni, were included
in a revised list of targeted sanctions by
the European Union and the United
States government.
http://www.nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe/arts/protest-music-rise060808.html
06 August 2008
Fungai
Kanyongo
As Zimbabwe's economic meltdown continues unabated since the
past ten years,
protest music has become popular in the country as people
are now speaking
against the status quo through music.
Protest music
has been on the rise especially in the run up to Zimbabwe's
historic
harmonized elections. The proliferation of protest music has become
a
topical issue, considering that there are a number of suppressive laws
such
as the Criminal Law(codification and Reform) Act, Access to Information
of
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA) which protect the reputation of the person of the
President.
Because of human rights violations, Zimbabwe remains an unsafe
environment
for protest musicians who are perceived as enemies of the state.
Quite a
number of these protest musicians have been subjected to assaults,
death
threats, and being forced into hiding from the marauding Zanu PF
thugs.
The duo of Dread Reckless and Sister Fearless, one of the best
protest
musicians ever to emerge out of Zimbabwe after Cde Chinxs of the
Maruza
fame, have had a brush with the repressive laws after their music was
perceived to be anti-Mugabe.
However, the two have said they sing
protest music as they want to expose
the truth that, under the Mugabe
regime, Zimbabweans have been reduced to
beggars and a poor lot."In our
music, we will be trying to counter what the
Zanu PF leadership is always
saying in the public broadcasting stations and
all the state papers.
Zimbabweans today, just like during the days of Ian
Smith, are not allowed
to voice their concerns, hence our venture into
protest music," said their
manager.
Dread Reckless and Sister Fearless were arrested in February and
have a
criminal case still pending in the courts, after the government said
their
music had insulted Mugabe.
"The Zanu PF regime is aiming to destroy
us because our music is pro-MDC. We
sing about the heroics of Morgan
Tsvangirai and are part of his election
campaign strategy," said
Reckless.
"There is nothing wrong with spreading the message. Let the
people refuse to
accept the message if it is wrong but the people l sing for
have really
accepted my music and they are playing it in their cars, homes
and even
public places" he also said. The group released the hit Nhare
Mbozha and
Tiriparwendo na Tsvangirai which have all sold more than 200 000
copies
each, a feat which even reputable Sungura musicians have failed to
achieve.
The two albums would have definitely become Albums of the Year
in a free and
fair environment. Both albums have songs that attack the
status quo and call
for change and good governance in Zimbabwe. They also
sing about people's
concerns over the manner in which the Mugabe regime has
failed the nation.
Another protest musician, Viomak who has so far
recorded three albums, said
protest music was functional in any society as
it encouraged the masses to
speak against repressive governments such as the
Mugabe regime. Viomak
however said although protest music had taken the
nation by storm, musicians
remained unrecognized since the annual Zimbabwe
Music Awards did not cater
for them.
"I am initiating a musical award
programme called the Zimbabwe Protest Arts
Awards(ZIPPA) that will recognize
protest artists for their work" she said
adding that protest musicians
risked and sacrificed a lot to be the voice of
the voiceless in an
environment infested with Zanu PF 'lions' bent to
destroy all those in
search of justice and truth to prevail in the country.
Viomak's latest
album Garai Makagadzirira reminds all those working hand and
glove with
Mugabe to be prepared for his departure from State House. Another
protest
musician, Raymond Majongwe who has made himself a household name in
Zimbabwe, also said protest music was a critical component of resistance to
any form of bad governance and oppression.
He said protest music will
remain vibrant because it unearths the unseen
that may be swept under the
carpet. Majongwe has released Dhiziri
KuChinhoyi, an album which invokes
memories of the infamous incident in
which an unsophisticated Grade 3 drop
out, Nomatter Mavhunga, duped the
whole cabinet of the Mugabe regime into
believing that refined diesel was
oozing out of a rock on the outskirts of
Chinhoyi town.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
6 August 2008
Posted to the
web 6 August 2008
Harare
GOVERNMENT has banned the importation of
drugs and other medical supplies
through all border posts around the country
except for two designated
points - Beitbridge and Plumtree.
The ban,
effected on July 1 this year, is meant to curb the prevalence of
counterfeit
drugs, which had flooded the market through various entry
points.
Speaking during a tour of the Medicines Control Authority
of Zimbabwe
laboratory by the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr
Edwin
Muguti, in Harare yesterday, the authority's director general, Mr
Mafios
Dhauramanzi said a number of unlicensed indigenous suppliers were
importing
counterfeit medicines mainly through northern border
posts.
He said many medicines were coming in from Zambia and Nigeria
through
Chirundu, Kazungula and Nyamapanda border posts yet Zimbabwe's main
drug
suppliers are in South Africa.
"Many dealers are taking
advantage of the shortage of medical supplies to
bring in counterfeit drugs
into the country. We have since confiscated a
number of medicines that were
already on the market but were not registered
by us. Most of the medicines
are not in compliance with our standards," Mr
Dhauramanzi said.
The
authority is also closely monitoring pharmaceutical companies selling
unregistered or expired medicines purchased through these unlicensed
dealers.
A number of pharmaceuticals have since been nabbed and MCAZ
has confiscated
the unlicensed drugs while the involved pharmaceuticals had
their licences
revoked.
"We sought permission from the courts to
destroy expired drugs we
confiscated from pharmacies and to stock our public
institutions with drugs
confiscated from unlicensed dealers. The paper work
is almost complete," Mr
Dhauramanzi.
MCAZ is currently in possession
of a consignment of sodium chloride
(intravenous fluid) that was confiscated
from an unlicensed dealer in
Harare.
The fluid was however tested for
effectiveness and was found below standard.
Despite the enormous task
being done by the authority to protect consumers
from counterfeit drugs and
ensure drug effectiveness, quality and safety, Mr
Dhauramanzi said the
authority receive little financial support from
Government.
"As a
quality control organ, we should also provide quality services to our
clients through well functioning equipment and motivated staff," he
said.
He said currently, the institution is finding it difficult to cope
with
increased pressure from clients mostly from the non-governmental
organisations versus obsolete equipment.
"Most of our equipment have
never been replaced since the 1980s and they are
always down from time to
time.
"The Ministry of Health seem to have forgotten that we exist
because we have
been left out on a number of issues. We last received
financial assistance
in 1997," Mr Dhauramanzi said.
MCAZ is involved
in quality assurance of all medical supplies manufactured
both locally and
outside the country.
Addressing officials from MCAZ during the tour, Dr
Muguti assured the
institution that he will take their concerns and promised
to return with a
feedback.
He encouraged the institution to carry on
with the tremendous work it was
doing saying controlling and monitoring
selling of drugs would help many
people from buying counterfeit
drugs.
"When doctors use these counterfeit drugs, they won't be effective
and the
end result is a patient's death. The work you are doing is very
important
and need to be complimented," Dr Muguti said.
Alert
Update
5 August 2008
Former ZBC bureau chief granted longer
remand
Mutare Provincial Magistrate Chipadze on 4 August 2008 refused to
remove
former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) bureau chief for
Manicaland
Andrew Neshamba from remand on charges of abuse of office as a
public
officer but allowed for a longer remand period to January
2009.
The magistrate granted the lengthy deferrement of the matter
following an
application by the defence to remove the accused person from
remand pending
the finalisation of an appeal which is pending in the High
Court. Chipadze
concurred with the prosecution on the grounds that the
matter had not been
finalised to warrant removing Neshamba from
remand.
Neshamba will therefore be back in court on 12 January 2009. Cris
Ndlovu and
MISA-Zimbabwe Legal Officer Wilbert Mandinde appeared for
Neshamba while
Nelson Makunyire appeared for the state.
On 2 June
2008 the defence made an application that Neshamba who faces
charges of
abuse of duty as a public officer in contravention of Section 174
of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act was not a public officer
as
envisaged by the Act. The defence argued that under the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (Commercialisation) Act, Neshamba was working for a
company duly incorporated in terms of the Companies Act.
The
application was dismissed on 5 June 2008 and the defence applied to stop
proceedings so that they could appeal to the High Court against the
magistrate's decision which they argued was a gross misdirection on the part
of the Magistrate Court.
Background
Allegations against Neshamba
are that on 4 February 2007 he and William
Gumbo facilitated the entry of
Peter Moyo, an unaccredited South African
based journalist with E-TV into
Chiadzwa diamond mining fields in
Manicaland.
End
For any questions, queries or
comments, please contact:
Nyasha Nyakunu
Research and Information
Officer
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3506
by Own
Correspondent Wednesday 06 August 2008
MEXICO CITY -
Zimbabwe's caregivers form the backbone of the country's AIDS
care and
support system and urgent steps are needed to recognise and support
the
vital role they play, a report released on Wednesday at the
international
AIDS Conference in Mexico City said.
According to the report compiled by
the Southern Africa HIV and AIDS
Information Dissemination Service
(SAfAIDS), Health & Development Networks
and Irish Aid, volunteer
caregivers are at the fore front of home-based care
(HBC) services in
Zimbabwe, especially in communities where anti-HIV drugs
are not
available.
"Despite the burdens being faced by caregivers in Zimbabwe,
HBC is still one
of the most cost-effective ways to deal with illness in the
context of a
crumbling health system," states the report titled: Caring From
Within.
Caregivers provide basic first aid and counselling to HIV/AIDS
patients, as
well as training family members on how to provide that care.
Often they
perform household chores such as fetching water, doing laundry or
collecting
firewood, all aimed at lightening the burden of disease on the
client.
The report called for more international donor support to reach
community
level care workers so that they have access to basic resources
such as
simple medications, soap or even gloves so that their role is not
limited to
providing psychological support.
"HBC activities need to
be adequately resourced so that timely and high
quality care is delivered to
those in need," says David Parirenyatwa,
Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and
Child Welfare in the foreword to the
report.
"That is why it is
vitally important for the government, the private sector
and funding
agencies to partner with civil society and to provide
significantly more
funding to these projects."
The report added that programmes that
integrate health, economic and social
services, including water and
sanitation facilities, were required to
respond to the needs of infected and
affected people.
Home-based caregivers - most of whom are volunteers who
are themselves
living with or directly affected by HIV/AIDS - play a vital
role in propping
up an overwhelmed Zimbabwean public health system that is
failing to cope
with the demands of the epidemic.
However, much of
their work remains unpaid, unaccounted for and undervalued
in economic terms
despite its critical contribution to the overall economy
and society in
general.
"The documentation of home based care work in Zimbabwe is a
significant step
in sharpening our programming priorities in the country,
and possibly
elsewhere," said Peter Power, Irish overseas development
minister.
Irish Aid, Ireland's official programme of assistance to
developing
countries, funded the project and has supported 15 HBC
initiatives in
Zimbabwe since 2005.
"Reducing the impact of HIV and
AIDS on communities in developing countries
is a priority for Irish Aid and
documenting lessons learned is an essential
component to shaping effective
responses," Power said.
The report urged international donors to
acknowledge the success that has
been registered by HBC projects in Zimbabwe
under very difficult conditions
and be prepared to channel much needed funds
to community-level home-based
care work.
According to UNICEF,
Zimbabwe has nearly 2 million orphaned children, mainly
due to AIDS. -
ZimOnline
IOL
August 06 2008 at
07:01AM
By Alex Eliseev
Police are investigating how a
controversial Zimbabwean politician -
hell-bent on stalling the
power-sharing talks - has come into possession of
a R1,4-million armoured
Mercedes-Benz allegedly registered with the South
African government's VIP
protection unit.
The explanation lurks somewhere between Justine
Chiota's claims that
the car legitimately belongs to him, the vehicle's two
different number
plates linking it to the VIP fleet and the police's case of
suspected stolen
property.
One thing is certain: when complex
maintenance man Craig Bezuidenhout
opened a garage for a new tenant at an
upmarket complex in Sandton, he had
no idea he was unlocking a Pandora's box
and letting loose an cross-border
mystery.
On Saturday, Bezuidenhout was
working at Balgowan Estates when he was
asked to help open a garage that had
been left locked by an old tenant.
Homes in the estate sell for as
much as R3-million, and Unit 10's new
tenant had obtained permission from
the owner to use the garage. The lock
was cut and the black Mercedes-Benz S
600 was discovered.
Last night, Bezuidenhout said what struck him
immediately was the
car's bullet-proof windows, blue sirens behind the front
grill and an
internal camera by the rear-view mirror.
"The dust
(covering the car) was thick," he said. "And the licence
disks expired last
year."
Feeling that "something wasn't lekker" and suspecting the
car was
government owned, he called the police and detectives arrived at the
scene.
More phone calls and the owner was eventually traced - "His
excellency" (as his party's website states) Justine Chiota.
Chiota is a Zimbabwean politician and businessman.
He founded the
Zimbabwe Peoples' Party (ZPP) and has two cases in
court to contest his
exclusion from the March elections and to halt the
crisis talks taking place
in South Africa.
The latter was filed at the Johannesburg High
Court this week and
names Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe and MDC
leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara as respondents.
When The Star asked Chiota about the car, his response was: "That's my
car.
Period."
Speaking from SA on Tuesday night, he said he had left it
at the
garage of his girlfriend's home for two months while he travelled to
Zimbabwe.
Describing it, he said: "It's just a full
bullet-proof vehicle".
He would not explain whether he had bought
it in Zimbabwe or in SA or
whether it had been given to him.
The bullet-proof armour could boost the price of the vehicle to close
to
R2-million and it is unclear at this stage whether the number plates and
registration are real.
Two independent sources ran checks on
the customised number plate "GP
GP" - and the car's individual engine number
- and confirmed it was
registered as a state-owned car belonging to the "VIP
government protection
unit (diplomatic)".
The car's windscreen
also displayed a second number plate number on a
separate licence disk - and
that, too, was registered to the government.
Provincial police
spokesperson Captain Julia Claassen said that when
the number plates were
tested, they checked it out with the VIP protection
unit.
This
is not yet proof of the car's real ownership and a case of
suspected stolen
property is under way.
"Currently the vehicle is in our SAP 13
store," Claassen said. "We're
investigating."
Chiota,
meanwhile, described the police arriving at the Sandton estate
as "stupid"
because the car had not been reported stolen and he would have
come to pick
it up.
"The only mistake I made was I could have parked it at the
airport,"
he said confidently.
Chiota also claimed he was in a
position to speak personally to Mbeki.
In news reports, he has been
called a "high-flyer" who owns various
business interests, including some in
SA.
Locally, he is registered as the owner of two businesses - in
film
production and property - but his ID numbers in both cases are labelled
"invalid".
This article was originally published on page 1
of The Star on August
06, 2008
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTM4Mzc1NjIw
Published Date: August 06, 2008
By Jabu
Shoko
As the Movement for Democratic Change begins talks about a
power-sharing
deal with the Zimbabwean government, analysts are cautioning
the opposition
party not to allow itself to be co-opted and compromised. At
an
unprecedented meeting in mid-July, President Robert Mugabe and his chief
opponents, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambare, representing various
factions of the MDC, agreed to conduct formal negotiations to create a
transitional administration to lead the country out of its current political
and economic crisis.
The agreement to conduct talks was a startling
reversal of both side's
previous positions. Mugabe has insisted that he is
the head of government.
He's hinted in the past, however, that he might
appoint some opposition
politicians to government posts. Tsvangirai, on the
other hand, has insisted
that he should be the head of state, resting his
claim on the fact that he
received the most votes in the first round of
presidential balloting held
earlier this year.
Observers say that if
Tsvangirai needs a lesson in the dangers of
negotiating with Mugabe, he need
only look at history. Back in 1980, Joshua
Nkomo emerged as a credible rival
to Mugabe. In response, Mugabe and his
ZANU party launched a substantial
military action to eliminate Nkomo's base
of support in the Matabeleland and
Midlands provinces. At least 10,000 are
thought to have been killed in what
became known as Operation Gukurahundi.
With its supporters either killed
or threatened by violence, Nkomo and his
PF party had little choice but to
sign up with Mugabe's superior forces.
Nkomo was appointed vice president, a
position he held until his death in
1999, but wielded little real
power.
Eldred Masunungure, a politics lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe, says
the current situation and that of the 1980s are "very close."
Currently,
"ZANU-PF has resorted to using the powers of the incumbent for
leverage in
the intra-party talks," Masunungure said. "What's going on in
terms of the
security situation is typical of what happened in Matabeleland
and the
Midlands during the late 1980s." Tsvangirai and his MDC party say
that over
100 supporters have been killed since the first round of voting
i
n March.
Gorden Moyo, executive director of the Bulawayo Agenda
group, agrees that
Mugabe's tactics are similar to those he unleashed in the
80s. But he
insists that Tsvangirai and his MDC faction are well aware of
the pitfalls,
and will take care to avoid them.
Tsvangirai has tried
to behave differently. The MDC is trying very hard not
to be ensnared by
ZANU-PF, because ZANU-PF wants history to repeat itself,"
said Moyo.
"ZANU-PF's strategy is, and has always been, to use 1/8its
experience
with3/8 ZAPU as a model." For example, Moyo said, Tsvangirai has
said he
will not sign anything until the violence against his supporters
stops and
the mediation team is expanded to include an envoy from the
African Union.
The MDC is "refusing to walk into the lions' den willi
ngly", said
Moyo.
NOTE: Jabu Shoko is a reporter in Zimbabwe who writes for The
Institute for
War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that
trains journalists in
areas of conflict - MCT
In a replication of the failed policies of price controls, the
ZANU-PF govt., through the ZTA, is set to introduce price controls in the
tourism sector. Harare -- The ZANU-PF government,
seeming never to learn from its mistakes, indicated Monday that it will foist
price controls on the tourism sector through the Zimbabwe Toursims Authority
(ZTA). In introducing price controls in the
ailing tourism sector, where numbers remain
dull, the goverment seems not to remember that the economic crisis in
Zimbabwe, in part, was caused by its introduction of price controls which led to
the growth of the black market and the shortage of commodities. Now, almost
everybody buys their food from the black market, thanks to the government's
price controls instituted in the past. As was the norm back when price
controls were first introduced, hoteliers, restaurant and lodge operators will
be required to freeze price increases until they get approval from the pricing
commission through the ZTA. Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive
Karikoga Kaseke said he met with leaders in the tourism industry together
with National Incomes and Pricing
Commission chairperson Goodwill Masimirembwa to "strategize" Masimirembwa said the decision to re-introduce
price controls was muted after realising that most hotels and restaurants were
charging prices based on the illegal RTGS rate. He said they had also introduced
a three-tier pricing model with a cheques, cash and RTGS rate. Tourism operators said the
introduction of price controls in the tourism industry will deal a sucker punch
to their preparations for the 2010 World Cup. ZANU-PF policies, like condoning
violence, failure to procure fuel, have seen tourism decline over the past
decade. In its heyday, the tourism sector was one of the highest foregn currency
earning sectors, behind mining and agriculture. -- Harare Tribune
News
"We want
each operator to take responsibility of what they charge so we are going to
force them to give us the names of their suppliers because most of them blame
their suppliers for the increases. Business must complement government to bring
stability to the economy because if their behaviour continues the new currency
will soon lose value," Masimirembwa said.
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/08/06/16921_opinion.html
Extract
from:
HAMBER:
August 6th,
2008
George Orwell, in his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, talks about `B
vocabulary', that is, language ``deliberately constructed for political
purposes'.
Robert Mugabe has been using B vocabulary of a sort for years
now. In the
mid-1980s, he deployed the Fifth Brigade, euphemistically known
as
Gukurahundi, meaning `the wind that sweeps away the chaff before the
rain'.
The Fifth Brigade killed thousands of Zimbabwe's minority Ndebele
speakers.
In Zimbabwe, the doublespeak continues. Following the election
of Mugabe as
president for a sixth term, in June, a spokesperson for UN
secretary-general Ban Ki-moon had this to say: ``The secretary-general has
said repeatedly that conditions were not in place for a free and fair
election, and observers have confirmed this from the deeply flawed process.
The outcome did not reflect the genuine will of the Zimbabwean people or
produce a legitimate result.''
This was welcome but I think it
warrants a more honest translation. What Ban
Ki-moon meant to say is: ``The
secretary-general is sick and tired of saying
that Mugabe's thuggery has
turned the elections into a sham. The election
process is damaged
irreparably. The people want Mugabe out and the election
outcome is corrupt
and criminal in the extreme.''
Need I say more?
Dr Brandon Hamber is
research co-ordinator of INCORE, a UN Research Centre
for the Study of
Conflict at Ulster University.