The ZIMBABWE Situation
An extensive and up-to-date website containing news, views and links related to ZIMBABWE - a country in crisis
Return to INDEX page
Please note: You need to have 'Active content' enabled in your IE browser in order to see the index of articles on this webpage

Zimbabwe private schools may fail to open for new term

Zim Online

by Cuthbert Nzou Tuesday 11 December 2007

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s private schools may fail to reopen for the new term in
January because a state commission that regulates fees and prices has not
approved new fees.

Private schools are the surest source of a good education in crisis-hit
Zimbabwe where a once brilliant public education sector is crumbling after
years of under-funding and an acute brain-drain that has seen the best
qualified teachers leaving for better paying jobs abroad.

The Association of Trust Schools (ATS), a grouping of private schools, on
Monday said the National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) was yet to
respond to applications by the 62 private schools for permission to raise
fees in line with galloping inflation.

"Not even a single school is yet to get a response from the NIPC," said ATS
chairman Jameson Timba. "There is real danger that the schools may not open
next year if their fees are not reviewed upwards in line with inflation."

Inflation, a hallmark of Zimbabwe’s eight-year economic recession, is
officially estimated at nearly 8 000 percent as at the end of September but
independent analysts say the figure could now be anything above 15 000
percent.

Timba said more than 30 000 school children and nearly 7 000 teachers and
support staff would be affected in the event that private schools failed to
open for the new term that begins about two weeks after New Year’s Day.

"If the schools fail to open next year what will happen to the over 30 000
pupils enrolled, 1 800 teachers and the 5 000 supporting staff?" Timba
questioned. "We have no option except to take NIPC to court for them to be
compelled to come up with a fee structure before next year."

NIPC chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa sought to play down the matter
saying his commission was working on the fee structures for schools and
there was no need to panic.

“We are working on the fee structure," he said. "There is no need for panic.
Why should we hurry? We are still in December and the next term opens in
January."

The government, which does not fund private schools, last August banned the
schools from hiking fees without approval from the NIPC. Officials of
schools which breach the fee rule can be jailed for up to six months, fined
or the government simply forfeits the overcharged fees.

Analysts said the move was meant to curry favour with a restive population,
which has watched helplessly as the country’s economy slides. Zimbabwe is in
the grip of its worst ever economic crisis marked by hyperinflation,
deepening poverty, shortages of food and hard cash.

Zimbabwe’s education system is modelled along that of former colonial power
Britain and was rated among the best in Africa but critics say state
interference in the running of private schools, coupled with its failure to
adequately fund government-run schools threaten that legacy.

Private schools have the best academic and sporting facilities, with most of
the students excelling in both academia and sports.

Government schools and church-run schools enroll the highest number of
students and have recorded high pass rates despite dwindling resources, but
analysts question whether this is sustainable. - ZimOnline


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

ZANU PF invites China's Communist Party to congress

Zim Online

by Patricia Mpofu Tuesday 11 December 2007

HARARE - The Chinese Communist Party is invited to a special congress of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party, but not
surprisingly, no Western ruling party is welcome in Harare.

In a stark reminder of how Beijing's "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no
evil" policy was wining it the battle for the hearts and minds of Africa's
leaders, ZANU PF officials said the Communist Party and a pack of other
Asian ruling parties were invited because they were considered friendly to
Mugabe's party.

Ruling parties from European Union (EU) countries and other Western nations
that have criticised Mugabe's controversial human rights record are viewed
as "enemies' and were excluded from the four-day conference whose main
business is to endorse the 83-year old Zimbabwean leader as candidate in
next year's presidential election.

"We have invited those countries and organisations that have cordial
relations with Zimbabwe and ZANU PF," said Kumbirai Kangai, ZANU PF's
secretary for foreign relations.

He added: "We have relations with most of these countries' liberation
movements and organisations some of which date back to the days of the
struggle for liberation (from European colonial rule)."

The ZANU PF conference comes days after an European Union-Africa summit in
Lisbon that leaders from both sides said was held to promote a new and
stronger partnership.

However, EU officials and businessmen also admitted the summit was prompted
by fears that growing Chinese investment in Africa could displace Europe as
the continent's largest trading partner.

China has expanded economic links with Africa and last year held a summit
for African leaders, wooing them with multibillion-dollar trade investment
contracts.

Beijing, which is looking increasingly to Africa for raw materials to fuel
its economic boom, has however been accused of casting a blind eye to human
rights abuses by the rogue governments of Zimbabwe and Sudan in its bid to
gain access to their raw materials.

It has since 2000 paid particular attention to Zimbabwe, selling Mugabe's
government fighter aircraft and agreeing to a number of business deals in
exchange for mining and other concessions.

Mugabe has cultivated relations with Asian countries as part of his
government's "Look-East" policy since Western countries imposed targeted
sanctions on his government five years ago over his failure to uphold human
rights and democracy.

However, analysts are skeptical over China's intentions, saying rather than
seeking genuine partnership Beijing looked more attracted to Zimbabwe's huge
platinum and uranium deposits it needs to keep fuelling its rapidly
expanding economy.

Other notable invitees to the Harare congress are the ruling parties of
Namibia, Angola Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and
Democratic Republic of the Congo - which are all allies of Mugabe and ZANU
PF.

Curiously, Zambia's opposition United National Independence Party is also
invited with ZANU PF officials saying this was because of the former ruling
party's strong ties with liberation movements when it was in government.

Critics say Mugabe has plunged Zimbabwe into disaster with controversial
policies that have led to an eight-year economic recession and isolated his
government from former Western donors, prompting it to scramble for aid from
the East.

The crisis has left Zimbabwe with severe foreign currency shortages and the
world's highest inflation rate at more than 8 000 percent, keeping the local
dollar a pariah on international markets. - ZimOnline


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Australia plans to open schools for Zim refugees in SA

Zim Online

by Ntando Ncube Tuesday 11 December 2007

      JOHANNESBURG - The Australian government is planning to set up two
schools to cater for hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees living in
Johannesburg, South Africa, ZimOnline has learnt.

      The idea to set up the schools has the explicit backing of Methodist
Church bishop Paul Verryn who has been at the forefront in looking after
Zimbabwean refugees at his Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg.

      A senior diplomat from the Australian embassy in Pretoria who
requested anonymity confirmed the plans to set up the schools for exiled
Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers.

      "The situation in Zimbabwe is critical with hundreds of students
leaving home to come here in South Africa where they are finding it
difficult to access education opportunities.

      "Given this crisis, our (Australian) government is planning to start
at least two schools for Zimbabweans especially asylum seekers and refugees
at Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg," said the diplomat.

      Bishop Verryn said there were hundreds of qualified Zimbabwean who can
offer their services to fellow Zimbabweans who have been finding it
difficult to find places in schools because they did not have proper
documentation.

      "At this moment all I can confirm is that the Australian government
has pledged to open two or three school for Zimbabwean asylum seekers and
refuges in South Africa," said Verryn.

      At least three million Zimbabweans are said to be living outside the
country, the majority of them in South Africa after fleeing hunger and
political persecution at home.

      The majority of them have however faced difficulties in to accessing
services such as schools because they do not have temporary residence
permits to allow them to enroll in South African schools. - ZimOnline


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

How to be a mad dictator

The Times
December 11, 2007

If Hugo Chavez was watching Robert Mugabe in Lisbon he may have foreseen how
his life would turn out
David Aaronovitch
Gordon Brown was right not to go to Lisbon at the weekend, but even so,
there was something marvellous about seeing Robert Mugabe being Merkelled in
the flesh by the German Chancellor. There, impassive, he was forced to sit
while Frau Angela told him, in front of 70 African and European leaders,
what a shower he was. Whether it improves anything or not, is another
matter, but it felt good.

Four weeks earlier there had been a rather similar moment during the
Ibero-American summit in Chile. Hugo Chávez, the populist President of
Venezuela, had been laying about him with his characteristic lack of
restraint. José Aznar, the former Prime Minister of Spain, was, according to
President Chávez, a fascist, and, he added, “fascists are not human. A snake
is more human”. When the current Spanish PM � an opponent of Mr Aznar's �
objected to this abuse, Chávez continued to shout. It was at this point that
the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, leant forward and told Chávez to shut his
big, fat, sloppy gob. My Spanish is poor, but it was something like that.
JC's admonition has become a popular ringtone around the world.

This symmetry appealed to me because, though Chávez's Venezuela is not yet
anything like Mugabe's Zimbabwe, I cannot help thinking that Mugabe is
Chávez's possible future, and that the 83-year-old former liberation fighter
is the former general's Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Mugabe, like Chávez, took power after elections that were widely agreed to
have been fairly conducted. Over time his governing philosophy came to
consist of an economic nationalism underpinning a state socialist system,
mobilised by exploiting resentment towards a privileged minority (the
whites), treacherous elites (journalists) and interfering foreign powers
(Britain).

Background
  a.. A fortnight full of shallow populism
  a.. I’m sick of fizzy populism
  a.. Voters snub Chavez bid to be life president
  a.. Mugabe isolated as European leaders attack
To varying degrees in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, the same national-Left
populism is today in power. Industries are nationalised, oligarchies are
excoriated, journalists are traitors and behind every reversal and problem
is the demonic power of the Great Gringo in the White House. Powers are
sought by the populist presidents, which, while they are argued to enhance
the power of the people, unarguably enhance the power of the president.

The week before last, by a small margin, the people of Venezuela refused
Chávez the extension to his powers that he had sought. Encouragingly, Chávez
seemed to concede with good grace. Impeccable grace, actually, saying: “I
recognise the decision a people have made.” A week later and more ominously
the President was describing the people's decision as “a shitty victory, and
our � call it, defeat � is one of courage, of valour, of dignity,” adding:
“We haven't moved a millimetre and we won't.” Several times now he has
seemed to suggest that the proposals, in some form, will return. “This
Bolivarian Republic will keep getting stronger,” he predicted.

Incidentally it is almost always bad news when the word “Republic” is
preceded by an adjective. Ask those who have dwelt in Democratic, People's
or Islamic Republics.

Before the Venezuelan vote there had been a convocation of British
Signaturistas lining up behind Citizen Chávez. Exuding a reflexive sigh of
admiration for the Bolivarian Revolution were the inevitable Pinters and
Loaches, as well as Jon Cruddas, MP, who ought to know better, and Ken
Livingstone, who never does. Anticipating a “Si!” vote, however, and
demanding that the international community live with it, these progressives
now contemplate the possibility that its is Chávez who cannot live with the
result.

Of course, this may turn out to be wrong, but Mugabe suggests the
trajectory: start with foreign sequestration, use the proceeds for internal
bribery, watch the economy collapse and blame first the outsider and then
the traitor. Finally, watch your people starve.

And Mugabe also suggests the trajectory of the apologists. There's a new
dawn, shiny new clinics, optimism in each eye, power to the people and
expropriate the expropriators. And if there are problems, such as a shortage
of powdered milk in Caracas, then, according to Richard Gott, of The
Guardian: “No one knows for certain if this is the result of opposition
manoeuvre and malice, or of government incompetence.” Seventy years on and
the class traitors are still putting glass in the worker's butter. Possibly.

But, as Julia Buxton, of Bradford University, reminds us, we must not judge
Bolivarian democracy by our own lights. According to her there is a
difference between “popular perceptions of democracy on the ground in
Venezuela, and �elite' perceptions, articulated by the media and US
�democracy-promotion' groups”. “Venezuela,” she explains, “cannot be
understood through the lens of liberal democracy,” because democracy itself
cannot be “judged through reference to the procedural mechanics of liberal
democracy.” The implication here is the superior development of some other
kind of democracy.

So Professor Buxton might have added that: “It is the people themselves, who
are incessantly called upon to participate personally in the decisions, not
merely by expressing opinions about them in innumerable popular meetings;
not merely by voting for or against their exponents at recurring elections;
but actually by individually sharing in their operation.” In fact this was
Sidney and Beatrice Webb on the Russia of 1936, headed by a Stalin who, in a
familiar inversion, the Webbs regarded as being more collegiate than the
British Prime Minister. “A shrewd and definitely skilful manger,” as they
described him. Or was that Gott on Chávez?

The other day I was asked if, given what had happened since, it had been
wrong to support the Lancaster House agreement that led to majority rule in
Zimbabwe. The problem was, of course, that it came too late. Mugabe was
partly made possible by the conditions that created him: racism, colonialism
and tribalism. So in South America the conditions for Latin Mugabeism were
partly created by rampant exploitation, racism and the support given by the
US to “our bastards”.

The alternative to Mugabeism will not be a return to the status quo ante,but
, as in Chile, the painful and compromising development of good old, boring
old, liberal social democracy. You know, with votes and MPs and stuff.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Africa must drop the guilt card to strengthen its hand

The Times
December 11, 2007

Bronwen Maddox, Chief Foreign Commentator
The row over the presence of Robert Mugabe at the weekend’s EU-Africa summit
served only to conceal the other bitter divisions between the two
continents. Most serious is the failure of their five-year attempt to agree
rules for trading with each other.

This summit, the first in seven years, was suppposed to put colonial history
firmly in the past. On that, it was a sour disaster. Some African leaders
persisted in blaming former colonial rulers for all the ills of the present;
many demanded special terms of trade; all had an eye on China as a more
attractive partner.

There is a chance to repair the damage, at least in relation to new trade
deals, at the European Union summit on Friday, although that will be
consumed by members’ own rifts over the EU constitution.

The EU-Africa row over trade has been five years in coming and is no easier
to solve. At the moment, Britain, France, Belgium and Portugal give former
African and Caribbean colonies privileged trading terms, granting them easy
access to European markets while letting them shield their own. Under World
Trade Organisation rules, these deals become illegal on January 1, when a
waiver allowing special treatment expires.

The EU has proposed a patchwork of replacements, called Economic Protection
Agreements (EPAs). They offer African, Caribbean and some Pacific countries
full access to EU markets while allowing them to protect about a fifth of
their own industries, including some of the most vulnerable. Exposure to
competition from Europe would be phased in only gradually. It would be a
gentle introduction to the world of free trade, said the EU.

No way, said African leaders: too much, too fast. President Abdoulaye Wade
of Senegal said: “It’s clear that Africa rejects the EPAs.”

They have some good points. South Africa and others, objecting to the
opening of services markets, can argue that they simply cannot compete. They
are justified in saying, too, that their agriculture could not compete
against grotesque EU subsidies.

The poorest countries have a powerful case, backed up by many development
academics, that their markets should be protected until they are better able
to compete.

The excuses have come too fluently, however, and from the biggest and most
competitive, not the poorest. The EU argues that some African governments
are shielding their own big businesses — and are blocking services, such as
cheaper mobile telephones, or transport — which could help Africans
enormously.

The deadline is not a real one. There is the option to strike an interim
agreement while working on a more solid deal; a dozen African countries have
already done just that. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, hinted that
there might be room for improving Europe’s offer on Friday. The EU meeting
must at least decide whether to impose punitive tariffs on some African
countries, or to keep talking.

But there is a contradiction in the position of some African leaders:
wanting, in spirit, for Europe to treat Africa as an equal, yet wanting
anything but that when it comes to formal trade deals.

Post-colonial rancour was a running theme of the summit, with Europe blamed
for Africa’s underdevelopment and thus for the current wave of migration
northwards. President Wade also warned Europe that it was in danger of
losing the competition for the new Africa to China, which is rushing to pour
billions into resources deals, no strings attached.

Guilt and fear: African leaders may extract something from the EU by pulling
those strings. But they would do better with an argument based on the
economics of trade and development — and only the poorest among them can
make that.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Rice slams Zimbabwe rights record, honors lawyers

Reuters

Mon 10 Dec 2007, 22:14 GMT

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Monday denounced Zimbabwe's human rights record while honoring a lawyers'
group for fighting government repression in the southern African country.

"In Zimbabwe, civil society remains under siege amid a political and
economic crisis caused by the irresponsible policies of the regime," Rice
said at an award ceremony to mark International Human Rights Day.

Rice gave the State Department's annual Freedom Defender Award to the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that has
given legal help to activists who oppose President Robert Mugabe.

"Over the past several months, the authorities have engaged in an
intensified campaign of repression, characterized by harassment,
intimidation, arrests and violent assaults against peaceful opposition
activists, professionals, independent labor leaders and other members of
civil society," Rice said.

She said the lawyers' group, represented at the ceremony by its president
Arnold Tsunga, had taken on the dangerous task of defending those persecuted
by Mugabe's government.

"We thank you and your colleagues for your courage," Rice told Tsunga as she
handed him the award, which is symbolic and has no monetary value.

The United States says this year is the worst on record for human rights in
Zimbabwe, with about 6,000 instances of abuse and over 90 politically
motivated kidnappings and abductions.

Last week, the United States imposed travel and financial sanctions on about
40 more people with ties to Mugabe, who has been in power since independence
from Britain in 1980.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Remarks At the 2007 International Human Rights Day Awards Ceremony

US Department of State
 
 
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
December 10, 2007

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Thank you very much, Jonathan. It�s a pleasure to be here. And I am especially to be joined by Senator Lugar, who is a tireless defender of human rights and I might say also a tireless defender of diplomacy. Thank you so much for being here, Senator.

This week, we join in solidarity with nongovernmental groups and other human rights defenders across the globe in making the 59th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As President Bush has said, �Respect for the inherent right of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.�

Today, on every continent, men and women are working, often against great odds and at great risk, to secure their fundamental rights. Regrettably, some governments have responded to growing demands for personal and political freedom not by accepting their obligations to their people, but by oppressing those seeking to exercise fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. If the great promise of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to be fulfilled, the United States and other democratic nations must align ourselves with those who defend human rights and advocate for peaceful democratic change.

To that end, last year, in commemoration of International Human Rights Day, I announced the creation of a set of annual human rights awards. The Freedom Defenders Award goes to a foreign individual or nongovernmental organization that has shown exceptional courage and leadership. The Diplomacy for Freedom Award goes to a U.S. Chief of Mission who has shown exceptional ability in promoting democracy and working to end tyranny.

I now have the privilege of presenting the awards to our first recipients. The honorees were chosen out of an impressive group of nominees across the globe. The recipient of the 2007 Freedom Defenders Award is the NGO Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. In Zimbabwe, civil society remains under siege amid political and economic crises caused by the irresponsible policies of the regime. Over the past several months, the authorities have engaged in an intensified campaign of repression, characterized by harassment and intimidation, arrests and violent assaults against peaceful opposition activists, professionals, independent labor leaders, and other members of civil society.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has worked tirelessly and fearlessly to advance democratic principles, and in particular, it has taken on the dangerous task of providing legal representation to persecuted human rights and democracy defenders. Mr. Arnold Tsunga, the current President of this organization, has traveled from Harare to accept the award on behalf of his fellow members. Mr. Tsunga, we thank you and your colleagues for your courage, your commitment to securing the rights of your fellow citizens.

(The Award is presented.)

(Applause.)

SECRETARY RICE: The recipient of the 2007 Diplomacy for Freedom Award is Karen Stewart, our Ambassador to Belarus. Ambassador Stewart inspired her entire embassy to provide encouragement to embattled defenders of freedom. The Belarus regime has stepped up persecution of the opposition and ordinary citizens pressing peacefully for change. Karen has ensured that U.S. assistance is targeted to democracy initiatives, and she has found innovative ways to bring the message of U.S. support for freedom directly to the people of Belarus. Ambassador Stewart, you and your dedicated embassy team exemplify what transformational diplomacy is meant to be. Last week, I had the honor to receive several Belarusian human rights and democracy advocates, who were greatly heartened by the efforts of the United States, represented by our Ambassador there, Karen Stewart. Thank you for your outstanding leadership in this important cause.

(The Award is presented.)

(Applause.)

SECRETARY RICE: Ladies and Gentlemen: I have no doubt that the brave men and women around the globe who are working for the cause of freedom will prevail, as the Havels and the Mandelas did before them -- for the great mover of history is the power of the human spirit. So as we join men and women throughout the international community in marking the anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we resolve to work with other free nations worldwide to defend the defenders of human dignity and democracy. Thank you for joining us. (Applause.)

2007/1116



Released on December 10, 2007


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Mugabe's apologists

moneyweb

They hail from both Africa and Europe.

Marian L. Tupy, Wall Street Journal
11 Dec 2007 01:56

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe -- Robert Mugabe's participation in the European
Union-Africa summit in Lisbon over the weekend was a triumph of Zimbabwean
diplomacy. Both African and EU leaders must share the blame for this farce.
Zimbabwe's foreign ministry managed to portray the octogenarian dictator,
who has presided over widespread violations of human rights and an
astonishing economic collapse, as the victim of a Western conspiracy.

The once charming town of Victoria Falls, which used to hum with travelers
from around the globe, is now derelict and largely empty of tourists. About
half of the shops in town are either empty or closed altogether. The fear
among ordinary Zimbabweans is palpable. Few people in this police state will
talk about politics, and no one does so without looking nervously for the
dreaded agents of Mr. Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organization.

The response of the African leaders to this man-made catastrophe has been to
close ranks around Zimbabwe's leader. Some have publicly agreed with Mr.
Mugabe's claim that his country's economic woes are due to (targeted)
Anglo-American sanctions, rather than the government-sponsored destruction
of Zimbabwean commercial agriculture. Of course, supporting Mr. Mugabe does
not further the cause of African brotherhood; most of the victims of his
disastrous policies are black Zimbabweans.

Then there is the shambolic negotiation between Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan
Tsvangirai. The talks, which are supposed to pave the way for free and fair
parliamentary and presidential elections in March 2008, take place under the
auspices of South African President Thabo Mbeki. Zimbabwe is economically
dependent on South Africa, so Mr. Mbeki is in a position to force change or
end Mr. Mugabe's reign overnight. Unfortunately, Mr. Mbeki has done more
than any other African leader to help Mr. Mugabe hang onto power. It was Mr.
Mbeki whose back-room meddling split the MDC and whose "election observers"
declared two stolen elections in Zimbabwe as free and fair.

Mr. Mbeki claims that the negotiations between ZANU-PF and the MDC have made
much progress. He hopes to have them successfully concluded by this
Saturday, but that is unlikely to happen. The MDC representatives I met two
weeks ago in Johannesburg, though, do not believe that Mr. Mugabe will allow
a free and fair election. The U.S. State Department echoes this pessimism,
saying the human-rights situation in Zimbabwe is "becoming worse every day."
Washington last week imposed financial and travel sanctions on 38 Mugabe
cronies.

Sadly, EU officials succumbed to the blackmail of African leaders who
threatened to boycott the Lisbon meeting unless Mr. Mugabe was invited as
well. The EU officials should have called their bluff: From trade to foreign
aid, Africa depends on Europe far more than Europe needs Africa. Refusing to
budge would have forced African leaders to make a very public choice between
going to Lisbon in order to negotiate pressing issues, such as further
opening Europe's markets to African goods, and self-defeating "gesture"
politics by staying away in solidarity with a tyrant. In the event, the
trade talks broke down anyway. Some African leaders felt that gradual -- in
some cases, decades-long -- opening of African markets to EU goods in
exchange for immediate duty-free access of African goods to the EU was too
high a price to pay. They chose instead to walk away with nothing.

In fairness, some EU leaders broke ranks over Mr. Mugabe's presence in
Portugal. The British and Czech prime ministers didn't attend the summit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that "the current state of Zimbabwe
damages the image of the new Africa." Unfortunately, African leaders don't
seem particularly worried. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade noted that
"Zimbabwe is not in the process of collapsing, nor is Mugabe in the process
of collapsing." He continued: "Who can say that human rights are being
violated more in Zimbabwe than in other African countries? No one can say
that."

Still, the EU leadership cracked and overturned their travel ban on Mr.
Mugabe, who was only too happy to confront in person what he called his
"irrational" and "stupid" critics. Africa's leaders have, once again,
successfully exploited Europe's guilt over its colonial past. Europe's
leaders have, once again, failed to hold African rulers up to universal
standards of human rights.

Mr. Tupy is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Global
Liberty and Prosperity, and author of the April 2007 study "Troubling Signs
for South African Democracy under the ANC."

Source: Wall Street Journal


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Zimbabwe Activists Given 20 Minutes To Observe World Human Rights Day

VOA

      By Irwin Chifera and Carole Gombakomba
      Harare and Washington
      10 December 2007

Police in Harare, Zimbabwe, allowed activists of the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Association to observer International Human Rights Day on Monday - but only
allowed them to assemble for 20 minutes in Africa Unity Square in the city
center.

Correspondent Irwin Chifera of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported from the
scene.

In a related development, the South African-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum
issued a statement calling on the international community to stand behind
Zimbabweans facing human rights violations which it accused the Harare
government and state agents of committing on a regular basis. It expressed
the hope that a political accord emerging from South African-brokered crisis
resolution talks will usher in a new Zimbabwe in which the rule of law,
democracy and human rights are fully respected.

Elsewhere, the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a leading human rights group, said it
has documented an upsurge in internecine violence within both the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change and the ruling ZANU-PF party.

In a report on political violence in October, the Peace Project said it
recorded one case of politically inspired murder and a number of cases of
assault, intimidation, harassment and unlawful detention. It cited two cases
of politically-motivated rape in Harare and the Midlands. It said an
opposition member in Kambuzuma, a suburb of Harare, raped a girl because her
mother belonged to the ruling party.

Zimbabwe Peace Project Director Jestina Mukoko told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that despite such evidence the
government refuses to acknowledge the rise in rights violations across the
country, including the denial of food aid to political opponents at a time
of widespread food shortages.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Implementation Schedule Latest Sticking Point In Zimbabwe Crisis Talks

VOA

      By Blessing Zulu
      Washington
      10 December 2007

Talks between Zimbabwe's ruling party and its opposition were said to be
hanging in the balance with President  Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF formation,
having made some key concessions, insisting the accords be signed only after
March 2008 elections.

Sources close to the South African-brokered talks said ZANU-PF officials
have asked President Thabo Mbeki to consider the talks a work in progress so
the elections can go ahead in March, insisting time is too short for
implementation by then.

The sources expressed confidence that Mr. Mbeki would be able to resolve the
latest impasse in the talks. Parties to the talks have set Dec. 15 as a new
target date for completion of the negotiations, which have been in progress
for eight months.

Negotiators said they may push the date back again if agreement eludes them.

Tapera Kapuya, a fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in
Washington, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe he
believes Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party was never negotiating in good faith in
the first place.

ZANU-PF agreed to the talks under pressure from the Southern African
Development Community, which called an extraordinary summit after an upsurge
of political violence in Zimbabwe in March in which one opposition activist
was shot to death and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai was severely beaten in
police custody. The regional organization at that summit handed Mr. Mbeki
his brief to mediate the talks.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

MDC, Zanu PF clash over new constituencies

New Zimbabwe

By Albert Makoni
Last updated: 12/11/2007 11:42:19
A SHOWDOWN is looming between Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party over the drawing up
of new constituency boundaries.

The opposition party this week rejected new constituency demarcations
announced by the government-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The electoral commission last Thursday announced new boundaries for
parliamentary constituencies for the country’s 10 provinces, openly
disregarding demands by MDC to suspend the exercise until the conclusion of
ongoing talks between the two parties under South African President Thabo
Mbeki’s mediation.

Giving the clearest signal that the opposition party and the electoral
commission are on a collision course, MDC spokesman and Kuwadzana MP Nelson
Chamisa distanced the opposition party from the delimitation exercise by the
ZEC, describing it as a scandal.

“What we are witnessing from ZEC right now is a major scandal that has
shocked all Zimbabweans who are looking forward to a free and fair election
next year. These are senseless shenanigans by Zanu PF in its attempt to rig
next year’s harmonised elections”, said Chamisa.

Zimbabweans vote in key presidential and parliamentary elections next March.
The elections will be held concurrently for the first time in the country’s
history after both the MDC and Zanu PF voted for a constitutional amendment.
The amendment also increased the number of parliamentary seats from the
current 120 to 210.

Chamisa vowed that his party will not recognise the new demarcations
announced by the illegitimate electoral commission.

“As a party we maintain that the commission is biased because its
composition does not accommodate the spirit of the current inter-party
talks. Because the commission has refused to recognise our concerns, it
remains an illegitimate commission and as a result its actions and
pronouncements will also be treated as illegitimate”, said Chamisa.

The ZEC said last Thursday that according to its newly collated figures, the
total number of registered voters in Zimbabwe now stands at 5 612 464.

The commission said following the signing of Constitutional Amendment No 18
last October, the country has now been divided into 210 parliamentary
constituencies -- 90 seats more than the current 120 elected parliamentary
seats -- for the House of Assembly.

As a result of the new demarcations, the ZEC announced that Bulawayo
Province now has 12 constituencies invariably making it the smallest
province in Zimbabwe in terms of registered voters.

Matabeleland North Province now has 13 constituencies, Matabeleland South
13, Mashonaland West 22, Midlands 28, Manicaland 26, Mashonaland East 23,
Mashonaland Central 18, Masvingo 26 and Harare 29.
The MDC elections directorate says the new demarcations show a deliberate
bias against the opposition with Zanu PF strongholds gaining more
constituencies as compared to traditional MDC strongholds, mainly urban
centres and Matabeleland.

MDC officials protested that its major stronghold, Bulawayo Province, had
been delimited to become the smallest province in the country because of “a
fictitious voters’ roll being used by ZEC”.

The MDC secretary for elections, Ian Makone, claimed that vote rigging by
Zanu PF and its arms is now in full swing as evidenced by the allocation of
constituencies which “demonstrates a trend of bias towards the ruling
 party.”

The MDC official says most of the 90 new constituencies have been allocated
to rural provinces which are traditional strongholds of the ruling party
giving Zanu PF an unfair advantage ahead of the crunch plebiscite.

According to the new allocations, Harare and the three Matabeleland
provinces which are regarded as traditional MDC strongholds have gained a
paltry 28 of the 90 new constituencies while 62 have been taken up by the
rural Mashonaland provinces.

The MDC elections directorate noted that of the 210 constituencies, 143 were
rural constituencies (Zanu PF strongholds) while only 67 were urban or
peri-urban (MDC strongholds) which automatically gave the ruling party a
technical two-thirds majority.

The commission says it is forging ahead with the controversial exercise of
delimitating constituency boundaries.

ZEC chairman Justice George Chiweshe on Thursday said the delimitation of
constituencies and ward boundaries had already started adding that the
commission had set up provincial and district committees to spearhead the
process.

“The process of demarcating constituency boundaries has started in earnest
and the commission has set up provincial and district committees to
spearhead the process. ZEC is the authority of the delimitation exercise
with a specific mandate to demarcate constituency boundaries”, said
Chiweshe.

The Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction of the MDC wrote a letter to ZEC last week
demanding that the delimitation exercise be stopped in order to allow for
the conclusion of the inter-party talks.

The protracted talks which are aimed at creating common ground between the
political parties and springing permanent solutions to the country’s
political and economic crisis are scheduled to wind up by 15 December.

The MDC has demanded the dissolution and the demilitarization of the
electoral commission.

The MDC is calling for the appointment of an independent electoral
commission to preside over the demarcation of constituency boundaries
charging that the current body is staffed with former military personnel,
Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) operatives and Zanu PF
functionaries.

Commission chairman, George Chiweshe, is a former military lawyer having
served the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) as a court marshal judge.

The opposition has also called for the establishment of a new voters’ roll
insisting that the ZEC is using a flawed voters’ roll to delimit
constituency and ward boundaries.

But Chiweshe says the commission will not be bogged down by the MDC
protestations suggesting that the opposition party is playing to the gallery
of the international community by making scurrilous allegations against his
commission.

“The MDC has written to us raising its concerns on the composition of the
commission and the voters’ registration exercise and we have responded to
them in confidence. We know that there will be complaints and compliments
along the way, some valid and some not valid,” said Chiweshe.

The ZEC chairman accused the MDC of making specious allegations “without
giving facts and evidence.”

Observers say the MDC and Zanu PF are headed for collision as they approach
the last stretch of the inter-party talks with opposition demanding
“tangible deliverables” while the ruling party is bent on making minimum
concessions.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

60 houses of Zimbabwe immigrants set on fire in South African riots

Monsters and Critics

Dec 11, 2007, 6:14 GMT

Johannesburg - South Africans rioted in a squatter camp near Pretoria,
setting about 60 shacks belonging to Zimbabweans on fire, police said
Tuesday.

Residents of the Mooiplaas squatter camp who were responsible for the
rioting Monday night accused the immigrants of being involved in crime,
police said.

At least one Zimbabwean was attacked before police arrived and dispersed the
rioters. No fatalities were reported.

The number of people who have left Zimbabwe - whose president, Robert
Mugabe, has been accused of abusing human rights and destroying the
economy - and are now living in South Africa has been estimated at 2 million
to 2.5 million.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Silence and fear have replaced dialogue in Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean

 Monday, 10 December 2007 21:51

BY TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU
There is sense in which writers and artists in Zimbabwe have resigned their
creative energies to the whims of politicians. Several European and African
writers have been lobbying other African governments to 'raise their heads'
in condemning the Zimbabwe crisis while local writers are taking the back
seat. In breaking the silence, Cont Mhlanga has teamed up with other local
artists in establishing Voices For Change a movement that is aimed at taking
political theatre to a new level and is open to every artiste in the country
He said: "People no longer have a voice in Zimbabwe. Media is tightly
controlled by the government. The weekly independent papers are
prohibitively expensive, while the national television station is controlled
by the government. Silence and fear have replaced dialogue and discussion in
Zimbabwe. A new movement is needed to restore a voice to the people of
Zimbabwe."
Voices For Change will give artists the platform to reflect on people's
daily struggles, and inspire them to speak out against oppression without
fear. "Fear in Zimbabwe has risen to alarming proportions to the benefit of
the government. It is a way of suppressing the majority to organize
themselves to change the difficult conditions that the government has
created for them," he said in a written overview of the movement.
"The voices, or shall I say the whispers, of those who have a different
thought or a different opinion to that of government is not allowed to
access daily newspapers or 24/7 radio and television channels. No one in my
country is allowed by the state to access mass media to talk about and
express the conditions in which they live in, let alone discuss the causes
of the conditions."
Mhlanga, a veteran playwright and artist, has been at the forefront of
fighting for a just society. Several of his productions have been banned for
performances in Zimbabwe.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Shocking child mortality revealed

The Zimbabwean

 Monday, 10 December 2007 21:17

BY CHIEF REPORTER
HARARE - Babies are dying in Zimbabwe hospitals at an alarming rate every
day because of an acute shortage of health staff, medicine and medical
equipment.
Investigations by The Zimbabwean have revealed the grim reality of shocking
child mortality rates at children hospitals and wards in Harare.
It is hard to believe, especially because the young resident doctors who are
talking about the problem in the small, shabby common room at the Harare
Children's Hospital are smiling and chuckling.
For a moment their laughter stuns us into silence. A small TV flashes in the
corner with a music video that zooms in and out gospel sensation Mercy
Mutsvene.
A half-broken fan whirls drowsily above. The faint wailings of infants from
the wards down the hall echo as if they are coming from a deep well. Finally
someone speaks.
"There are so many disasters," says a junior doctor whose lab coat looks a
size or two too large. "We must laugh, because it is better than crying."
During the junior doctor's shift the day before yesterday at Harare Children
Hospital, two kids died because he lacked the right supplies to treat them.
One had septicaemia; the other died of respiratory failure. The junior
doctor told The Zimbabwean he had no luminal to treat the septicaemia
patient.
"The baby's seizures worsened and it died," he said. "I had no ventilator
machine for the child whose lungs had given out. I also did not have any
surfactant to help get oxygen into the child's arteries."
The junior doctor and his peers gathered in the common room for lunch say at
least one baby dies in the hospital every day, but they can't estimate how
many of those die because of the lack of drugs. "Many," is all they can say,
shaking their heads, smiles lingering on their lips.
Basic medicines are missing, the doctors tell us.
"In the case of newborns, whose immune systems are still weak, these
medicines can mean life or death," says the doctor.
The Zimbabwean was shocked with the story of Sarudzai Gumbo, an innocent HIV
positive child whose face is being devoured by cancer. She cannot access
health care because of shortages at the hospital. Sarudzai is currently
reeling from diarrhoea. But she is failing to access medication.
The doctor tells The Zimbabwean it is the height of diarrhoea season, a
common ailment during summer because of the blistering heat and lack of
clean water cause by ZINWA's incompetence.
"It is the worst possible time to run out of ringer lactate, a fluid to
revitalize severely dehydrated babies, but that's what is happening here,"
said the doctor. "We are giving the children a much less effective saline
solution as a substitute."
One doctor called it "show business" to fool parents into thinking they were
doing something to address their child's ailment. They've watched scores of
children die of diarrhoea, some of it HIV-related.
"I have seen 20 die with my own eyes," says another doctor. "You ask another
doctor, you get a different number."
He said children in Zimbabwe's hospitals were dying of highly curable
ailments such as diarrhoea because of the Mugabe regime's corrupt,
bureaucracy-plagued, crime-ridden healthcare system - and its failure to
address continued isolation from the community of nations, cutting off
crucial medical assistance.
Hospitals sources said health staff, choked by appallingly low remuneration,
have been pilfering the medicines to sell on the black market - and
government has failed to stem the rot.
In the meantime, children continue to die needlessly every day. Many die
because there is no medicine or equipment. Premature newborns die, the
doctor says, because frequent electricity blackouts cut off power to their
incubators.
Some children get renal failure and die because there are no dialysis
machines. At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the country's largest referral hospital,
not a single dialysis machine is working.
"This is the life," said the doctor.
The last donation this hospital received was in May when President Robert
Mugabe's Health advisor, Timothy Stamps, donated Z$25 million. - *Anybody
wishing to help Sarudzai may get in touch through
gift@thezimbabwean.co.ukThis e-mail address is being protected from
spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 0912594770

Back to the Top
Back to Index