“Kill a Boer, kill a farmer”
As a National Liberation Movement, Mbeki’s party, the
ANC, has long advocated violence against civilians. On 20 May 1983 it planted
the notorious Church Street bomb in a busy Pretoria thoroughfare, which killed
19 people, and injured 219. After De Klerk’s hand-over of power to the ANC in
1994, it supposedly espoused Western-style democracy, just like Mugabe pledged
to do in 1980.
However, official party ideology sees the
transition to universal suffrage as the beginning of a “National Democratic
Revolution” which must culminate in a crypto-communist “Social Revolution” which
will remove the propertied classes from the scene.
Armed with an equally noble array of other slogans,
such as “transformation”, “black empowerment”, “non-racialisation”, etc.,
Mbeki’s government has been putting pressure on business to hand over huge
chunks of equity to so-called black-empowerment groups run by a nomenklatura
closely connected to a nepotist administration. Robert Price from Oxford
University notes the growing prominence of race in South African politics and is
concerned about "the increased reliance on group rather than individually based
notions of rights and rewards." (1997 'Race and Reconciliation in the New SA'
Politics & Society 25(2): 149 -178.)
Recently, the Minister of Mines indicated that no
new mining licenses or renewal of existing licenses will be granted in future
unless the applicant has a “black empowerment” shareholding of 30%, after a
leaked report that suggested 50% caused a melt-down in mining stocks. Whereas
listed companies can use some of their muscle and international clout to fight
off government advances, individual farmers living out in rural areas with their
families and workers are easy game for intimidation, violent attacks and, of
course, murder and ethnic cleansing.
The genocidal slogan “Kill a Boer, kill a farmer”
has been chanted at more than one ANC meeting, especially when ANC Youth League
leader, Peter Mokaba, was still alive. At the latter’s funeral on 15 June 2002
after he had succumbed to what was presumed to be AIDS (but hotly denied by
party members), a crowd of party youth chanted the words “Kill a Boer, kill a
farmer” in front of Mbeki and just about his entire cabinet, an incident which
was later relayed on television. When consternation broke out among farmers and
the rest of the Afrikaans-speaking community, it took Mbeki four days to
grudingly admit that Boers, Afrikaners and farmers “were Africans and welcome to
stay in South Africa.” Mugabe as it happens, has the same reassuring message to
white Zimbabwean farmers after every farm attack.
This was all the more unconvincing in the light of
Mbeki’s famous statement that “in our situation, because of the colonialism of
a special type, the victory of the national liberation struggle did not result
in the departure of the foreign ruling class.”
In short, Mbeki considers Boers, Afrikaners and
other whites who have lived in South Africa for 350 years, sometimes in areas
where there was no black settlement of any kind, as “members of a foreign ruling
class.”
Language
discrimination
The new South African constitution,
adopted in 1996, provides for an unwieldy eleven official languages. During the
time of the negotiations, the ANC was in favour of only one language, English,
which would exclude South Africa’s other major language, Afrikaans. The
eleven-language policy was therefore seen as compromise.
Since taking power, the ANC has simply ignored the
South African constitution, and imposed its original wish for a unilingual
country. The country has only 3 million mother-tongue speakers of English, out
of a total population of 42 million. However, even Parliament has only English
signs, and apart from odd snippets in other languages printed on coins for
example, one would be hard pressed to see official evidence of any other
language. As the Kenyan scholar, Ali Mazrui, has remarked, “With the end of
political apartheid in South Africa, the English language has made the clearest
gains. Although South Africa has declared eleven official languages
(theoretically reducing English to one-eleventh of the official status), in
reality the new policy demotes Afrikaans – the historic rival to English in
South Africa.” (The Power of Babel – language and governance in the African
experience, 1998, p. 205)
Wherever possible, the Mbeki government has been
waging a campaign against Afrikaans. Its zealous Minister of Education, Kader
Asmal, has on more than one occasion threatened Afrikaans-language schools and
universities, forcing them to adopt English as a medium of instruction in
technical subjects like medicine and engineering, for example. In a supreme act
of ethnic domination and humiliation, he compelled the rural Afrikaans
University of Potchefstroom to appoint the current President of the ANC Youth
League, the organisation that first expounded the “Kill a Boer, kill a farmer”
philosophy, onto its Board. A bit like Eichmann being appointed to the Board of
the University of Tel Aviv.
Elsewhere in the civil service, Afrikaans has been
eradicated, in some instances by means of death threats to those who tried to
continue employing the language in writing or in conversation at
work.
The point about language discrimination is that it
may function as an early-warning system against ethnic conflict. According to
the American expert on ethnicity, Ted Gurr, “the language and lifeways of a
minority in a society with a dominant, culturally distinct majority are
inevitably under pressure. Of the 275 groups included in my survey [on
minorities at risk], about half speak a common language different from that of
the majority. […] For all these linguistically distinct groups, and especially
those who speak a single language, its preservation is one of the keys to
maintaining the collectivity’s viability as a social entity.” Other
experts have contended that in over half of all ethnic conflicts some form of
language issue lies at the root of the problem.
The hostility of the Mbeki government towards
Afrikaans does not portend well for the future, and South Africa is entering a
rather grave period in its history. Instead of democratising, the country is
fast sinking into the quagmire of racial and linguistic polarisation, with the
potential of further sliding into ethnic cleansing and even
genocide.
Scenarios of what may lie beyond
“National Liberation”:
Rwandan-style
genocide
Over the past twenty years, the African
continent has seen at least two major genocides in which more than a million
people died in each instance. In 1985 under Mengistu Haile Miriam ethnic
minorities in Ethiopia were herded into camps where they were either killed or
died of starvation and disease.
The so-called “food gap” monitored by United
Nations officials in Harare, Zimbabwe currently stands at 70% in that country.
During the Ethiopian famine caused by Mengistu in the mid-eighties, the food gap
stood at only 10% in that country. The outlook for Zimbabwe’s population is
therefore severe. Many of the hungry will flee to South Africa, thereby adding
to tensions in the latter country. According to the SA Minister of Home
Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, there are already between 2 and 4 million illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe in South Africa, which means that up to 40% of
Zimbabwean citizens may already be living South of their own
border.
The most recent genocide in Africa started on 6
April 1994, when Rwanda’s Interhamwe consisting of Hutu extremists went on the
rampage and killed more than a million members of the Tutsi minority, using
appeals on the public radio to spur their followers on.
Mbeki and his party have effective control over
South Africa’s sophisticated public television and radio network and is
reinforcing that control by means of new legislation. Increasingly, the
remaining white journalists at the South African Broadcast Corporation are only
allowed to translate items written by black journalists sympathetic to the
régime, and may not contribute any editorial content themselves. In terms of
the ideology of “transformation”, or replacing whites with blacks, Mbeki has
also taken control of the South African Defence Force command structure. The
majority of soldiers now come from previous “liberation armies” trained by the
former East Germany and Soviet Union, such as Umkhonto we Sizwe and APLA
(Azanian People's Liberation Army), who are known for such military exploits as
spraying members of a church congregation at prayer with AK-47 machine gun
fire.
Using the public radio and TV, and backed up by its
liberation army, on which billions of dollars in new armaments are being spent,
any leader with less than benign intent could therefore easily incite the entire
black population to go out and avenge themselves on their white counterparts,
driving them off their land, out of their houses, where unsuspecting members of
a white minority could face a nasty end, similar to those of the
Tutsis.
The phrase “Kill a Boer, kill a farmer” might be
broadcast to millions of people, accompanied by suitable images of evil whites.
Hordes of “war veterans” were thus incited by Mugabe to drive white land-owners
off their property and to slaughter them.
Over the past few months, Mbeki has been issuing a
steady stream of presidential pardons for convicted murderers, rapists and other
violent offenders who are being released from prison. The release of over 600
such individuals in South Africa has fanned fears that these thugs might be used
to play the same role as Zimbabwe’s “war veterans” to invade farms and other
properties.
Ethnic cleansing of farmers
On the other hand, there may be “only” ethnic
cleansing of Afrikaner farmers which may cause the deaths of millions of people
through starvation as agriculture collapses, and famine ensues as is happening
in Zimbabwe right now. In a recent statement South African Director General of
Land Affairs declared that:
"We do have a target of redistributing 30% of
all agricultural land in the country by the year 2015." Gilingwe
Mayende, Business Report, 15 September 2002
The salient element here is that South Africa is
classed as a semi-arid country in which only 8% of all land is arable, with a
further 7% suitable for grazing. Farming in South Africa is dominated by ethnic
Afrikaners who over the centuries have developed ways of utilising land that in
other countries would be considered worthless, such as sheep farming in the
Karoo which resembles the Arizona desert. Depending on which 30% of the land
the Director General is talking about, this may result in driving all Afrikaners
off the land, and stopping commercial farming altogether.
Currently, about 30 000 commercial farmers with a
shrinking pool of labour as government has made it hazardous to employ farm
labourers without giving them rights as tenants - sometimes in perpetuity -
produce food for 46 million people in South Africa. Ethnically cleansing those
30 000 farmers will add many millions more to the 15 million people already
facing starvation in Southern Africa, mostly as a result of Mugabe’s own policy
of disrupting commercial farming by whites.
The South African Constitution guarantees property
rights. However, as in Zimbabwe, this is is subject to other principles, such
as “land reform”:
According to Gilingwe Mayende,
Director-General of Land Affairs, South Africa, on 13 September 2002:
"Property rights are protected by our constitution, but the constitution
says these property rights must be balanced against the public interest and the
nation's commitment to land reform."
Civil war
Mbeki is making a serious miscalculation in assuming
easy domination and ultimate expulsion of minority groups, as achieved by
Zimbabwe's Mugabe and Uganda's Idi Amin. Minority groups are far more numerous
in South Africa, organised as well as armed with more than two million licensed
small arms in the country. Current population numbers for the country are:
Presumably, non-black minorities will not
indefinitely adopt a friendly attitude to being driven off the land and out of
South Africa, as seems to be Mbeki’s intent. In Zimbabwe white farmers called
each other on two-way radios and urged neighbours to “stay calm and not to
provoke anyone”. This remarkable display of self-control did not prevent many
from suffering a dreaded end, sadly.
Since Independence in 1980, almost 300 000 whites
have left Zimbabwe for other countries, mainly South Africa, and only a few
thousand are left after this latest bout of ethnic cleansing. A persecuted
white in that country may still cross the border at Beit Bridge and arrive in a
country with a functioning economy, fully-stocked supermarket shelves, fuel at
the pump, etc. He may also still buy a ticket on the next available flight to
England or Australia. Once ethnic cleansing starts in South Africa, and some
people believe it has already started, there will be no way out as the two
countries to the North, Zimbabwe and Namibia are controlled by anti-minority
Presidents-for-life such as Mugabe and Nujoma who will not allow the quarry to
escape through their countries.
Either South Africa's non-black minorities will
accept having their assets confiscated without resistance like their Zimbabwean
counterparts, or they will fight, thereby triggering a civil and racial war that
may ultimately engulf the entire sub-continent as Nujoma and Mugabe may be
itching to enter the fray. Current newspaper reports of so-called “right-wing
plots”, discovery of arms caches and so on in South Africa are not indicative of
the presence of neo-Nazi or ultra-nationalist ideology among Afrikaners or white
farmers; rather such incidents point to defensive attempts to mobilise after
years of farm murders and extreme violence experienced by rural communities, to
which the Mbeki government has been turning a blind eye.
The result of a civil war in South Africa will
probably be a partition along racial and cultural lines, in which those of
African and European or other descent may still trade with each other, but will
live in separate territorial enclaves. Again, Ted Gurr lists South Africa as
one of the countries that is a "candidate for political fragmentation at the
onset of the twenty-first century." (Peoples versus States, 2000, p.
82)
Can conflict be
stopped?
Mbeki’s double game is becoming less and less
credible. While courting international investors, making pro-democracy
statements and propagating NEPAD, government spokesmen inside the country are
clearly advocating “land reform”, a Mugabean euphemism for forcing productive
commercial farmers off the land and replacing them with people whose interest in
farming is, at best, academic. A recent article in the liberal South African
Sunday Times focused on how available land held through the traditional communal
system in the Eastern Cape was being tilled by aged black women only, with their
children and grandchildren preferring to live in squatter camps on the outskirts
of towns and cities, finding farming unattractive. Since the days of
traditional subsistence farming in South Africa, the black population has grown
from about 2 million to 32 million, making it impossible for everyone to “live
off the land”. The massive migration to cities underscores this quite
spectacularly.
The aggressive “land reform” moves currently
planned for South Africa by Mbeki, as well as the continuation or escalation of
farm murders – being a farmer in South Africa is already the most dangerous
profession in the world – will engulf the country in a spiral of violence that
will inevitably lead to one of the three outcomes: genocide, ethnic cleansing,
civil war, or a combination of two or more of these.
Clearly, Mbeki, Mugabe and other radical
Africanists must be stopped from bringing further catastrophe to Southern
Africa. Fifteen million people are already facing starvation, and without South
African infrastructure to channel aid to them, not only will they perish, but
millions more will be placed at risk. More effective sanctions must be imposed
on Zimbabwe to force Mugabe out, and South Africa must be threatened with
sanctions as well if she continues her overt and covert support for his régime.
Amnesty International’s campaign against Mugabe is therefore a worthy one to
support.
Given the failure of a simple
one-man-one-vote-system to address South Africa’s ethnic and racial tensions,
which have steadily worsened under Mbeki, as well as his government’s disregard
for property and language rights enshrined in the Constitution, the
international community will have to press for a devolution of power to allay
minority fears of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Under the triumvirate of ex-communists turned
National Liberationists, Mbeki, Mugabe and Nujoma, Southern Africa is already
courting disaster as the Zimbabwean economy collapses, famine takes hold and
ethnic tension rises.
The writing is on the wall in Southern Africa. The
world must act now to prevent another African tragedy that so many will mourn
after the fact, as in Rwanda, Ethiopia and elsewhere.
Reply
 |
|
|
Mandela prejudges
alleged "Boer coup plotters" guilty -- can they still get a fair trial after
such prejudiced publicity?
- Mr Nelson
Mandela, an international media icon, should be the one legally-trained South
African who must be fully aware that anything said by this Nobel peace
laureate is blindly accepted as Wisdom and Truth spoken practically by the Lord
himself.
- As a lawyer
instead of an international saint, Mr Mandela clearly must also have been aware
that in most countries claiming the rule of law, for instance South Africa, all
people have to be treated as innocent until found guilty by a court of law.
After
Mandela's pronouncements were widely published by strangely uncritical news
media this week -- how can any of these arrested Boers still get a fair,
unprejudiced court hearing anywhere -- inside or outside South
Africa?
How can any
judge or magistrate remain uninfluenced by this public pronouncement by the
world's best known personality and international news media icon, Nobel Peace
Laureate Nelson Mandela?
- We don't
think any of these Boers can ever expect a fair trial -- anywhere. And if they
hadn't been plotting anything violent before, Mandela's actions have now added a
lot of fuel to the fires of Boer anger.
Human rights
clearly do not apply to Afrikaners or Boers in South Africa. When members from
this minority get arrested under clearly trumped-up charges, the police are not
questioned by the news media when they publish "documents of proof" -- and the
country's totally uncritical news media do not question the invective language
use by the police and politicians in regards to these Boers.
I questioned
the police official who described three empty mortar shells, saved as tourist
trinkets, and an old army truck with two hunting rifles and three bottles of
emergency petrol as "loaded with an arsenal of weapons including petrol
bombs..." the colleagues at the press conference laughed at me quite nervously
- as if my questioning the use of the word "arsenal" should be
unusual.
Neither dids
the news media question the South African police when they published photographs
and press statements naming and shaming Boer community
leaders in such language that it has become clear to everyone that these Boers
are getting their trial through the news media -- that the police
and the press have already judged them guilty of plotting what sounds like a
rather silly adventure -- long before these Boers had even been arrested or
questioned, long before all the police evidence examined in a law court, and the
witnesses cross-examined by qualified judges and magistrates.
Even Mandela
got better treatment under the apartheid regime -- although the farm he had been
arrested at, indeed did have a massive arsenal of useable weapons, in fact it
was such a huge, lethal arsenal that they could have destroyed all of Pretoria
and have plenty to spare... The court documents summarising this arsenal ran to
23 pages of testimony. That's a whole different ballgame from a few rusty, empty
mortar shells and a truck with a few binoculars, filled petrol cans and two
hunting rifles.
Governments like to create
enemies -- Pieter Mulder
South African parliamentarian Pieter Mulder,
leader of the Freedom Front, told Mandela he was viewed as a traitor and a
sell-out by the Boer community because he still remained in parliament. He also
said "governments always like to create enemies for themselves. America has
Saddam Hussein, Mugabe has the white farmers. South Africa's government must be
careful not to fall into that same trap." http://sa.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/2132.php
Only 49,000
hectares of 1,5-million ha State-land given to homeless poor since 1994...
Meanwhile,
the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, this week also exploded the
widespread myth created by the ruling ANC regime that it suffered "land hunger"
and thus needed to confiscate all commercially-owned farm land in order to
rehouse "landless peasants and emergent farmers".
Not true, said Deon -- the ANC had only distributed a mere 49,000
hectares of the available 1,5-million hectares of State-owned land.
"Boer coup"
allegations orchestrated to deflect media attention from the spreading
anti-Mbeki campaign
This entire "right wing coup" allegation is not only becoming a gross
travesty of justice and a vast invasion of the human rights of this Boer
minority -- it is also an artifically-created "crisis"-- merely another ANC
media ploy to draw attention away from the increasingly violent, countrywide
disruptions being caused by the growing anti-Mbeki crowd.
The Landless Peoples' movement is mounting increasingly violent property
invasions and protests actions targetting ANC-structures all over the country.
This weekend's violence already claimed the life of at least one security
guard in Sebokeng. See http://www.apf.org.za
and http://sa.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/2132.phpOnly 49,000 hectares of
1,5-million ha State-land given to homeless poor since 1994...
Meanwhile, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, this
week also exploded the widespread myth created by the Mbeki regime that the
country suffered "land hunger" and thus needed to confiscate all
commercially-owned farm land in order to rehouse "landless peasants and emergent
farmers". The Mbeki government has thus far distributed only 49,0900hectares of
the available 1,5-million hectares of State-owned land.
Alienation of
one-million+ hectares of commercial farm land caused drop in food
production:
- Mbeki's government has however already alienated one-million hectares of
commercial farm land and is thus removing South Africa's last remaining 45,000
excess-food producers and replacing them with millions of subsistence
peasants.In the former South African homelands, where traditional tenant farm
families raise subsistence crops, they only manage to produce 5% excess food for
sale to the rest of the population as long as the weather cooperates -- whereas
South Africa's commercial farmers have been selling an average 98% of their
crops to the market for the past 150 years, even under the worst weather or
agricultural conditions.
SOARING FOOD PRICES --
WIDESPREAD MALNUTRITION -- The resulting rather dramatic drop in food
production over the past decade now forces South Africa to not only import huge
quantities of grains for the first time in its entire agriculural history -- the
soaring grain prices are also causing widespread malnutrition among some
22-million poor South Africans, with the Eastern Cape''s 1.2-million people thus
far hit the hardest, with at least 600,000 children reported surviving on the
edge of malnutrition. 160 small children have already died in 11 hospitals in
the past six months in this region:
Toeing Mbeki line
is "a threat to democracy" warns Tutu
The growing anti-Mbeki sentiment
in South Africa does not express itself in the violence-driven campaigns
conducted by the country's millions of poverty-stricken, angry squatters wanting
housing: another Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu, even warned on September 6
at a University of Pretoria function that "anyone toeing the Mbeki government
line is a threat to democracy".
The Emeritus-archbishop of South
Africa's Anglican community has called on all South Africans to take the Mbeki
regime to task on the great many issues which are causing great damage to the
country:
- Mbeki's self-destructive Aids- and antiretrovirals policy;
- Mbeki's clear approval of his friend Mugabe's Zimbabwean land progroms;
- The ANC's high-level frauds such as its shady multibillion-rand military
arms deal.
- Mbeki's own lavish lifestyle and graft and corruption at the highest level,
apparently including Mbeki's own wife -- this from a man who is publicly
advocating "honest governance" through the Nepad programme of the African
Union, which this week was adopted by the United Nations as its new policy
towards Africa.
http://www.news24.com/Die_Burger/Nuus/0,4140,4-75_1259020,00.html
OUR DUTY IS TO OPPOSE
MBEKI -- Tutu has made it clear that all South African citizens --
including Boers and most certainly all parliamentarians -- have a duty to
oppose Mbeki's poor and increasingly suppressive governance -- which was
recently described by the well-known liberal political observer Robert Kirby in
the Mail and Guardian as "very dangerous and just like
Mugabe's". |
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
November 18th- November 24th 2002
Weekly
update 2002-43
CONTENTS
* GENERAL COMMENT
*
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: DIPLOMATS ATTACKED
* RENEWED ATTACK ON THE
JUDICIARY AND THE AG
1. General comment
The Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) notes with concern the
continued harassment of The
Daily News by ZANU PF supporters and state
agents. The paper (20/11) reported
that its reporters were detained when
they
were covering a demonstration
by pupils and civic organizations against a
deputy headmaster who allegedly
raped a 13-year-old schoolgirl at Marimba
Park Primary school. The
journalists were later released without charges
being preferred against
them.
In another incident, The Daily News (22/11) reported that ZANU PF
youths,
allegedly under instructions from a senior party official, destroyed
copies
of
the paper valued at $51,000 in Masvingo. No arrests were made
despite the
fact that the police reportedly witnessed the incident.
These
blatant acts of intolerance ultimately violate the public's right
to
access
information through media of their choice and grossly undermine
their
constitutionally enshrined right to freedom of expression.
MMPZ
calls upon government to create an enabling environment in which
journalists
can practice without victimization and guarantee the unimpeded
circulation of
papers throughout the country.
Meanwhile, in a week where media practitioners
were supposed to have
tendered their application forms to the Media and
Information Commission
appointed by government to regulate the media, The
Herald (21/11) found
itself peddling falsehoods. The paper alleged that the
United States embassy
had apologized to the Zimbabwean government for
violating a regulation
requiring diplomats to inform government of their
intention to travel beyond
a
40km radius of Harare. This followed an
attack on US staffers at Melfort.
The
article relied only on an unnamed
government official thereby compromising
its credibility.
The next day
(22/11), The Daily News quoted a US official denying that his
embassy had
apologized to government.
Such fabrication of stories is a punishable offence
under the draconian
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA), yet no arrest
was made.
The story is but one example of how the
public media have violated the law
with impunity.
No journalist from the
public media has ever been charged under a law that
has already seen 12
journalists, including a foreign correspondent, being
charged for allegedly
breaching its provisions.
It is this selective application of the law that
defeats the purpose of
regulating
the media and further exposes
government's intention to muzzle the private
media on the specious grounds
that it is upholding the rule of law.
MMPZ calls on government to treat all
media alike to avoid suspicion among
media practitioners and the public at
large.
In fact government should repeal this law, which has been widely
condemned
as eroding constitutional guarantees.
According to The Daily
News (22/11), even the Supreme Court judges queried
the constitutionality of
some provisions of AIPPA during the hearing of a
legal
challenge by the
Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ)
seeking to invalidate
some provisions of the law. While ZTV (21/11 8pm) used
one of the judge's
criticisms of the Attorney-General's office for its
failure to
draft
sections of a law in compliance with the provisions of the
constitution,
it
did not actually report the queries raised by the judges. ZTV's
reporter
capitalized on the criticism, accusing the Attorney-General's office
of
"sabotaging the government through bungling". And The Herald's
report
of the court proceedings (22/11) simply censored the judges'
queries
altogether.
2. International relations: Diplomats
attacked
The on-going public media campaign against Britain took another
dimension
during the week with the government-controlled media accusing the
country of
fanning tribalism in Zimbabwe. They based their argument on a
document
detailing a plot allegedly hatched by the Shona to exterminate the
Ndebele.
It
was alleged that British intelligence, working in
collaboration with the
MDC,
was using the document to divide the country
on tribal lines. The Herald (19
&
20/11) and the Chronicle (20/11
& 21/11) serialized the grossly inflammatory
contents of the document,
accusing the British intelligence of writing it
(The
Herald 20/11) and
circulating it (19/11) to mobilize international pressure
against the
government.
ZBC (ZTV 8pm; Radio Zimbabwe 1pm & 3FM, 6am, 21/11) also
broadcast
excerpts of the document alleging that the British, through the
London-based
Zimbabwe Democracy Trust (ZDT), "have already capitalized on
the
contents of the document and are presenting it as evidence
against
President Mugabe at international meetings".
Not a shred of
evidence was produced to establish these serious allegations
against the
British and the MDC, and nor were they asked to comment,
although The Herald
(21/11) did publish a denial from the British High
Commission on its letters
page.
ZANU PF's secretary for publicity and information Nathan Shamuyarira
also
dismissed the document as "totally false and. a shameful fabrication
by
former Rhodesians", adding that they were a "heap of lies drawn from
the
closets of the former colonialists", The Herald (22/11).
However, The
Sunday News (24/11) maintained that Britain was behind the
document saying:
"It exposes British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
incurable racist arrogance
and his lack of interest in the truth".
The public media were so engrossed in
vilifying Britain that they risked
fanning ethnic strife.
Meanwhile, The
Herald and The Daily News (19/11) broke the news of the
detention and assault
of American embassy employees by war veterans in
Melfort, barely a week after
police shot dead an American citizen in unclear
circumstances. Predictably,
the two dailies presented the detentions
differently.
The Herald, 'War
vets detain US trespassers', blamed the attack on the
victims, presenting
them as having been in Melfort illegally. The paper
stated
that the
employees were "briefly detained . after they allegedly threw
food from a
moving vehicle to farm workers whom they filmed as they
jostled for the
food", as if that was a criminal offence.
And to lend credibility to this,
the paper linked the incident to remarks
made
by the US Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs Mark Bellamy,
that
his country was
considering "interventionist" measures to ensure non-
politicization of food
aid.
This assertion was given more ammunition by Information Minister
Jonathan
Moyo, who said the incident was "rooted in intrusive and
interventionist
behaviour by some US embassy personnel who have been
trespassing
onto some farms."
This was despite the fact that the US
embassy protested against the
incident,
which it described as
"symptomatic" of lawlessness in Zimbabwe.
However, Moyo parried such
accusations with observations that: "Everyone
knows that the US is the
citadel of mafia conduct and racist vigilante
groups. So will America restore
the rule of law by controlling the mafia
and the Ku Klux Klan?"
By
contrast, The Daily News of the same day restricted itself to a
statement
released by the embassy after the incident. It quoted the US
embassy as
having said their staff were "going about their normal diplomatic
work"
and "were conducting a survey of displaced farm workers in order
to
assess the needs for humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe" when
they
were attacked.
However, The Herald (21/11) would not relent. It
continued to blame the US
embassy saying its officials had defied a
government order "requiring
diplomats travelling more than 40km outside
Harare to notify it in
advance". An unnamed Foreign Affairs Protocol Officer
was extensively
quoted claiming that the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Joseph
Sullivan, had
"apologized to the Government over the behaviour of his
officers after
he was reminded of the regulation".
No comment was sought
from the embassy, leaving the job to The Daily
News (22/11). The paper quoted
the embassy spokesperson, Bruce Wharton
saying they " will never apologise
for doing what we are supposed to be
doing".
The paper also reported that
Melfort was actually within 40km of Harare.
However, the exact location of
Melfort got confusing as The Herald's story
of
the same day,' Government
summons diplomat', maintained that it was
beyond the 40km mark.
While
government, through its media, accused the US of defying its order,
SW Radio
Africa (21/11) quoted a US state department spokesman as saying
Zimbabwe had
breached the Vienna Convention, whose signatories should
guarantee the
security of diplomats.
Meanwhile, The Daily News and The Herald (20/11)
reported that two
government officials on the European Union's (EU) blacklist
had been granted
visas by Belgium to attend the EU and African-Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP)
countries' Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA).
While The
Herald simply reported the move as an "opportunity to clarify the
situation
in the country.to EU parliamentarians", The Daily News rightly
predicted that
their travel would spark "heated debate in the European
Parliament". The
paper added that there were already reports from Brussels
that two British EU
MPs, Glenys Kinnock and Geoffrey van Orden were
"leading a campaign" to bar
the two ministers, Paul Mangwana and Chris
Kuruneri, from attending the
meeting.
However, the rift between the private media and the public media was
further
exposed in The Herald and The Daily News's (23/11) follow-up on the
issue.
In its editorialised AFP story, 'ACP mulls boycott- Nations challenge
EU's
ban
of Zim officials', The Herald focused on the threatened boycott
of the joint
meeting by ACP countries, while The Daily News' s Reuters'
article, 'EU bars
ministers', emphasized the banning of the Zimbabwean
ministers.
The Herald article was heavily dependent on comments from the
ACP
parliamentarians, and Mangwana in particular, who acted as a reporter
for
the
public media in Brussels. Mangwana predictably described the
impasse as a
"diplomatic victory against the machinations of the
British".
The Daily News article on the other hand, was equally biased by
failing to
report the position of the ACP and confining itself to quoting van
Orden
saying: "as a body that upholds the democratic ideal and the rule of
law,
the European Parliament must not play host to people who use
murder
and intimidation to maintain their grip on power".
ZBC (ZTV, 23/11,
8pm; Radio Zimbabwe, 24/11, 1pm) pursued the angle
taken by The Herald. It
quoted Mangwana as saying the ACP
parliamentarians made it categorically
clear that the EU does not "have sole
right on their own to decide who should
constitute the Zimbabwe
delegation" and viewed the decision to allow an MDC
delegate to attend the
meeting as a "deliberate attempt to divide Zimbabwe
and recognise the
MDC as if it's a government in power".
Those who rely on
the broadcast media only heard the side of the EU from
SW Radio Africa
(22/11). The short wave station quoted Kinnock as saying
the EU decision was
"based on the need for consistency on the part of
the EU parliament in terms
of the resolutions of the EU."
However, if ZBC was guilty of heavily relying
on Mangwana for comments,
then SW Radio Africa was equally guilty of only
using MDC and EU sources in
its bulletins.
Just like its public media
counterparts, The Sunday Mail (24/11) narrowly
interpreted the ACP stance to
support Zimbabwean delegates as a "major
victory" for Zimbabwe.
The Sunday
Mirror (24/11) concurred, saying "analysts" had seen this as "a
renewed sense
of solidarity".
However, the impression that developing countries were
staunchly behind
Zimbabwe was belied by Botswana President Festus Mogae, who
told a
London magazine that "the crisis Zimbabwe was facing was difficult
to
solve because it represented a drought of good governance",
The
Zimbabwe Independent (22/11).
Nonetheless, no media critically
explored the conflict between travel
sanctions
and international law,
which stipulate that blacklisted individuals can
attend
international
conventions.
3. Renewed attack on the Judiciary and the AG
The
decision by a Harare magistrate to acquit MDC legislators Tafadzwa
Musekiwa
and Job Sikhala on November 15th of alleged fraud charges
apparently incensed
ZANU PF officials such as Jonathan Moyo, who called
for an overhaul of the
judicial system.
The public media's treatment of the issue exposed
government's attempts to
cow the judiciary into making political judgments,
as it openly admonished
the
courts for failing to convict MDC
suspects.
For example, The Herald (16/11), MDC legislators Sikhala, Musekiwa
set free,
quoted Moyo subjectively criticising the attorney general's (AG)
office for
"bungling" in cases involving the MDC. Moyo also claimed that
the
magistrates' courts are "seemingly ready to find an excuse,
however
lame, to let MDC accused persons off the hook".
Although the
article did not quote ZANU PF saying it would challenge the
outcome, its sub
headline, 'Zanu-PF to contest court ruling', exposed the
party's intention to
openly politicize the country's criminal justice
system.
Taking a cue from
Moyo, The Herald (18/11) comment, 'Restore confidence in
justice system',
called for an inquiry into "the entire justice system and
identify where the
problem lies".
It lamented what it interpreted as preferential treatment of
MDC officials
and
members by the courts, and added: "In the absence of any
convictions, the
questions of victimisation being raised by the MDC will seem
valid".
ZBC followed suit. It reported (ZTV, 18/11, 8pm; Radio Zimbabwe &
3FM,
19/11, 6am) that the AG's office had been hit by "a fresh wave of
criticism"
for acquitting MDC MPs and relaxing retired Justice Fergus
Blackie's bail
conditions without informing the police. Blackie is facing
charges of
obstructing the course of justice for allegedly improperly freeing
a
convict.
ZTV stated that "evidence at hand" suggested that the
prosecutor the AG
assigned to Blackie's case had "developed cold feet and
showed a lack of
commitment in dealing with the case". It also alleged that
the AG's office
was sympathetic to the MDC and its sympathizers whose cases
were "easily
dismissed by the courts".
Without furnishing its audience
with the evidence, ZTV merely cited the
postponement of the treason trial of
MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai,
Welshman Ncube and Renson Gasela and the
disappearance of Tsvangirai's
docket.
But in the same bulletin, ZTV also
gave the AG, Andrew Chigovera, the
opportunity to explain the legal
procedures involved in criminal cases.
Similarly, The Daily Mirror (19/11)
also quoted Chigovera defending his
office.
Other private papers viewed
this latest attack on the judiciary as
politically
motivated.
For
example, The Daily News (20/11) quoted Sikhala and Musekiwa, saying
Moyo "was
grieved" because of the cases he had lost against them, and that
he was
"trying to influence the courts to make political judgments".
In its comment
in the same issue, the paper observed that Moyo's criticism
of
the
judiciary highlighted the manner in which the executive had encroached
into
other arms of government, adding that Moyo had "overstepped his
bounds" and
his criticism "only strengthened the case for those who say
government is out
to remove from parliament as many MDC legislators
as possible".
The
Financial Gazette (21/11) quoted a constitutional law expert,
Lovemore
Madhuku as saying: "The AG's office is being viewed as
politically
ineffective, hence efforts are being made to politicise the
office and
force it to make political decisions that will lead to
political
prosecution,
no matter how impossible".
Earlier, The Daily
Mirror (20/11) quoted ZANU leader Wilson Kumbula
defending the AG and blaming
government for appointing "some police
officers who are Zanu PF apologists,"
who "arrest members of the
opposition and just push cases to the courts
without adequate
evidence".
The Standard (24/11) observed that the AG's
office should not yield to
political pressure to prosecute cases that had no
legal merit, if it wanted
to
avoid criticism.
Ends
The MEDIA
UPDATE was produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring
Project
Zimbabwe,15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4
703702,
E-mail: monitors@mweb.co.zw; monitors@mmpz.org.zw
Feel free to
write to MMPZ. We may not able to respond to everything but we
will look at
each message.
For previous MMPZ reports, and more information about the
Project, please
visit our website at http://www.mmpz.org.zw
Zim Independent
ACP MPs slam Zimbabwe
Mthulisi Mathuthu
CONTRARY to
official reports that the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
states
unanimously agreed to boycott the just-aborted European
Union/ACP
parliamentary assembly in protest against Zimbabwe's exclusion, it
has
emerged that MPs from Botswana, Mozambique and Ghana distanced
themselves
from the ACP's position and condemned Zimbabwe for scuttling
investment
initiatives.
The Zimbabwe Independent has learnt that MPs
from the three countries on
Monday afternoon strove to persuade other members
of the ACP to accept the
EU's decision to bar two Zimbabwean ministers from
entering the EU
parliamentary complex for the meeting. But South Africa,
Cuba, Sudan and
Haiti led the move to back Zimbabwe.
Sources said
while MPs from countries like Uganda, Ivory Coast and Senegal
also criticised
tyranny, it was those from Botswana, Ghana and Mozambique
who were most
forthright.
According to the sources, delegates from the three
countries reacted angrily
to the 78-member ACP assembly co-president Adrien
Houngbedji's call to have
Zimbabwe's ministers allowed into the EU
parliament.
Sources in Brussels said there was drama on Monday at the
EU parliament with
MPs from Ghana, Mozambique and Botswana lashing out at
Minister of State for
Enterprises and Parastatals, Paul Mangwana for
provoking a confrontation.
Ghana's Osei Prempeh spoke strongly
against Zimbabwe and mocked its
"anti-imperialist rhetoric" imploring it to
"put your house in order" amid
protests by Mangwana and MPs from South Africa
and Cuba.
Prempeh strove to convince other ACP countries to endorse
the EU's decision
arguing that from the inception of the Lomé Convention to
the Cotonou
Agreement, ACP countries had refused to discuss human rights and
democracy
issues.
Prempeh asked fellow ACP members not to "bury
our heads in the sand".
Botswana's head of delegation, Mrs Segogo, upheld
the EU's decision and
lashed out at President Robert Mugabe's regime for
throwing spanners into
the works of co-operation with the
EU.
"Botswana, Mozambique and Ghana all gave Zimbabwe a severe
tongue-lashing,
arguing that they were losing opportunities in multi-lateral
bodies because
of its misrule," said a diplomatic source from Brussels
yesterday.
"But Segogo was the most forthright as she wondered why
Africans always
waited to be reminded by Europeans of human
rights."
Botswana has of late been liberal with home truths, accusing
President
Mugabe's regime of playing the spoiler in the
region.
Segogo blamed the deluge of Zimbabwean immigrants in her country
on misrule
in Zimbabwe.
Sources yesterday said delegates were
appalled by Mangwana's conduct as he
repeatedly interjected, accusing Segogo,
whites and Prempeh of ganging up
against Zimbabwe.
Segogo and
Prempeh's comments, however, did not go down well with the South
African
delegation led by MP Rob Davies which issued a statement saying it
was
"strongly opposed to the EU's attempts to exclude certain members of
the
Zimbabwean delegation" because such action flew in the face of the
Cotonou
Agreement.
However, it is understood Davies was
subsequently disowned by South African
diplomats for associating South Africa
too closely with countries like Haiti
and Sudan.
Prempeh this week
confirmed his stance but referred the Independent to the
EU for his exact
remarks.
Zim Independent
Zim's bid to host Cricket World Cup under
threat
Vincent Kahiya
CIVIC campaigners advocating a boycott of matches
and a hostile stance by
the Department of Information threaten to bowl out
Zimbabwe's hosting of the
Cricket World Cup scheduled to be played here early
next year.
As the countdown begins for the hosting of the international
event with a
huge television viewership and a money-spinner from TV rights,
there is a
spirited move by civic groups here and abroad to get cricket fans
to boycott
matches.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) stands to
realise over US$6 million from
television rights alone.
Civic
campaigners say allowing the games to go ahead would be tantamount
to
endorsing the misrule of President Robert Mugabe who is patron of the
ZCU.
This week the Department of Information put the World Cup in
further
jeopardy by barring two British sports writers from accompanying a
12-man
delegation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) which arrived
in
Harare on Tuesday to inspect the match venues and assess
security
arrangements.
Government sources yesterday said the
government was wary of sports
journalists coming into the country and then
wandering off to write about
human rights issues, famine and the absence of
the rule of law.
A meeting between Education, Sports and Culture
minister Aeneas Chigwedere
and the ICC delegation on Wednesday sought to
thrash out the problem of
accreditation of journalists.
Government
sources said the ministry made a commitment to allow journalists
into the
country as long as they stuck to reporting on cricket. But the
Information
ministry appears to be taking a tougher line. By the time of
going to press,
the visiting ICC delegation had been unable to secure a
meeting with minister
Jonathan Moyo.
Press reports this week said one of the men denied a
visa, Owen Slot, the
chief sports reporter for the Times of London, said he
had been asked to fax
a statement to the Department of Information saying
that he would only write
about the ICC delegation's visit and nothing
else.
He said he was specifically barred from writing about famine,
the plight of
white farmers and the suppression of political
opposition.
A large contingent of journalists, mainly from England,
South Africa and
Australia, had been expected in the country to cover the
matches which begin
in February.
The government has over the past
two years developed a distaste for foreign
journalists who together with the
local independent media have been accused
of tarnishing the image of Zimbabwe
by painting a picture of strife.
One cricket commentator said
Zimbabwe was losing ground in its quest to host
the event.
"By
barring the two reporters, Zimbabwe is sending a signal that foreigners
who
do not toe the line are not wanted in the country," said
the
commentator.
"Zimbabwe needs the media on its side and not
against it. You do not get the
media behind you by displaying this kind of
paranoia."
ZCU chief executive, Vincent Hall, was this week quoted by
BBC Radio 5 as
saying the treatment of the media was
disappointing.
"We were very disappointed with that," Hall said. "I
cannot understand the
reason why the two journalists were turned
down.
"We are making sure that for the World Cup the press and media
are going to
be able to report on the games," he said.
British
sports minister Richard Caborn said after the barring of the
journalists the
ICC "should consider whether this (Zimbabwe) is a fit and
proper place in
which to run international matches".
While the ICC has said the
current political climate in the country is not a
deterrent to the hosting of
the event, there is a real threat from civic
groups which have threatened to
disrupt the event.
"We believe that our campaign will be very
successful, particularly because
we're encouraging people to start engaging
in collective action," a
spokesman for the civic campaigners said in a
statement to the Independent.
"Organised resistance ... lots of us in
different ways all over Zimbabwe.
Yes, our aim is to have all World Cup
qualifiers moved from Zimbabwe. And we
have enough support to ensure that
this will happen," he said.
An ICC spokesman yesterday declined to
say whether they had sought a meeting
with Moyo. "The minister (of Education,
Sport and Culture) was the right
person to talk to," was all he would
say.
But at a press conference on Tuesday the delegation head Malcolm
Speed said
they had hoped for a meeting with Moyo.
AIDS pandemic threatens world stability: UN
official
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
29
November 2002
The AIDS pandemic, which now claims some 42 million
victims, is one
of the greatest threats to world stability, Peter Piot, the
head of
the United Nations agency devoted to the ailment
said.
"There's definitely a case for increasing awareness in the
developed
countries that the AIDS epidemic, even far away in Africa or in
India
is affecting stability in the world," Piot told a London
news
conference to launch a report on the disease by the UN and the
World
Health Organisation (WHO).
"There is a responsibility of
governments and therefore of the public
in countries of Western Europe to
contribute to the fight against AIDS
in developing countries," he
said.
Piot, who heads the UNAIDS agency, said the epidemic must be
tackled
not ony because of the moral responsibility "but also because this
is
becoming one of the greatest threats to stability in the
world".
Five million people will have become infected with the
human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) this year alone at a rate of 14,000
a
day, according to the latest research.
The report was published in
Geneva and presented in London by the
Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and WHO ahead of
World AIDS Day next Sunday.
The
pandemic will amplify the impact of a famine threatening southern
Africa and
is poised to scythe through the complacent republics of the
former Soviet
Union and Asia's big-population countries, it said.
This year, the
disease caused by HIV, acquired immune deficiency
syndrome, will claim 3.1
million lives, the highest annual total in
the 20-year history of the
disease.
In 2001, the number of people then living with HIV/AIDS was
estimated
at 40 million, and AIDS killed three million that year.
The
worst-hit region remains southern Africa, where the pandemic will
magnify the
effects of a famine threatening 14.4 million in Lesotho,
Malawi, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the report said.
These countries have
primarily agricultural economies, which means
that rural households
struggling to cope with the loss of an
income-earner through AIDS are dealt a
double blow when crops start to
fail.
In 2001 alone, AIDS killed
nearly half a million people in the six
famine-threatened countries, most of
whom were in their productive
prime.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for
more than two-thirds of HIV infections
and AIDS deaths worldwide.
But
the document also issues a stark warning about Eastern Europe and
the Central
Asian republics, where HIV infection, propelled by shared
use of drug
syringes, makes it the fastest-growing region in the
global pandemic. The
HIV/AIDS numbers there rose by some 250,000 to
1.2 million.
In Asia,
hopes of combatting HIV at an early stage are diminishing
rapidly as the
infection rate rises in the big-population countries of
China, India and
Indonesia.
An estimated 7.2 million people in Asia and the Pacific have
HIV, a
million more than a year ago, and that figure could soar to more
than
18 million by 2007 unless "concerted and effective action" is
done,
especially in prevention.
"We know there is a point in every
country's AIDS crisis where the
epidemic breaks out from especially
vulnerable groups into the wider
population," WHO Director General Gro Harlem
Brundtland said.
"This is a critical moment of opportunity and danger.
Unless we see
national prevention initiatives championed by the highest
levels of
government, the growth in infections can be
unstoppable."
The picture is not entirely bleak, though.
The
report, entitled AIDS Epidemic Update 2002, praises South Africa
and Ethiopia
for awareness campaigns and prevention programmes that
are at last starting
to brake the inroads of HIV among their young.
Piot made a fresh appeal
for funds to fight the pandemic.
His organisation estimates the needs, in
low- and middle-income
countries, to be at least 10.5 billion dollars (10.6
billion euros)
per year by 2005.
By 2007, the contributions would have
to rise to around 15 billion
dollars, and keep at that level for at least a
decade thereafter.
Zim Independent
Resettled farmers in trouble
Vincent Kahiya/Augustine
Mukaro
THE first rains which have fallen countrywide have not stirred
resettled
farmers into land preparation and planting, raising fears of
another serious
famine next year.
The government has been upbeat about
the resettlement programme, calling it
a success of unparalleled proportions.
But evidence on the ground suggests
otherwise.
The Zimbabwe
Independent this week visited Mashonaland West, the country's
prime farming
area where in normal years the early irrigated maize crop is
knee-high and
the dryland crop would be at germination stage. But
there is no such
evidence this year.
Weather experts have indicated that the El-Niño
threat and the continuing
rainfall deficit this season are getting stronger
but there does not appear
to be a plan by the government to mitigate the
effects of the drought by
putting a large maize crop under irrigation. Such a
crop should mature with
or without good rains.
Crop experts this
week said the absence of a large irrigated crop was
telling insofar as it
revealed the government's lack of planning.
"It does not make sense
for the government to give farmers in dry areas bags
of seed and fertiliser
when there is a real threat of a drought," said an
agronomist with a seed
company.
"The government should instead have moved in around
September to ensure that
a large maize crop was planted under
irrigation.
"There has been talk of a large maize crop to be
harvested in February and
then dried in kilns but where is the action?" he
asked.
Areas which normally produce an early maize crop such as
Makonde, Mazowe
Valley and Enterprise do not have any crop in the ground as
this has either
been looted or removed by farmers for safe
keeping.
The area between Mapinga and Chinhoyi along the Chirundu
highway does not
have any meaningful maize crop as vast stretches of land are
either
overgrown with weeds or have been ploughed but not
planted.
Last week, Mashonaland West provincial governor Peter
Chanetsa was quoted in
a local daily pleading with those allocated land to
move in quickly and
begin ploughing.
Land experts say about 40% of
acquired land would be put to productive
agricultural use while the rest was
being held for speculative purposes.
The total area that has been
planted with maize from seed acquired by the
government and donor agencies
and that sold directly by seed houses to date
will provide for about 1,2
million hectares. The initial production estimate
at a yield of 0,6 to 0,8
tonnes/hectare would yield between 720 000 and 960
000 tonnes of
maize.
This falls far below the national requirement of about 1,8
million tonnes,
excluding the strategic grain reserve
requirements.
l Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme
yesterday said the
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe was "deteriorating at a
dangerously rapid
pace".
The WFP said reports of children dropping
out of school and families
resorting to ever more desperate coping mechanisms
were increasing
alarmingly. At the same time, there is a growing concern that
food imports
by both the government and aid agencies are falling far short of
the amount
required to feed people up until March.
"We are
approaching the very worst period of the crisis, when 6,7 million
Zimbabweans
will need food aid and yet WFP does not even have the resources
to meet our
target of three million beneficiaries in November. It is an
extremely serious
situation and it is only going to get worse," said Kevin
Farrell, WFP
representative in Zimbabwe.
Zim Independent
Visa fees up as Zim dollar plummets
Loughty
Dube
ZIMBABWEANS intending to travel to the United Kingdom will now have to
fork
out $81 300 in visa application fees as a result of the free-fall of
the
Zimbabwean dollar against the British pound, the Zimbabwe Independent
has
heard.
The visa application fee to the UK was set at $72 000 when
the visa
requirement was introduced at the beginning of the
month.
However, two weeks ago the unrefundable application fee shot up to
$81 300.
The total includes $2 300 charged by FedEx, the official
courier contracted
by the British High Commission to handle visa application
documents.
A FedEx official confirmed the new fee when
contacted.
"The fee has gone up in the last two weeks and from the
total of $81 300
that is paid by applicants, FedEx gets $2 300 in
transportation fees while
the rest goes to the British High Commission," said
the official who
preferred to speak on condition of anonymity.
The
previous visa application fees were set at £36 at an exchange rate of
$2
000:£1 and the current fee of $79 000 translates to a rate of $2
200:£1.
British High Commission spokesperson Sophie Honey, explaining
the recent
increments, told the Independent that visa fees were set by the
British
government in pounds sterling on a worldwide basis.
"For
instance the current cost of a six- month multiple visa is £36," Honey
said,
adding: "We are required by parliament to recoup this cost and our
fees are
set in Zimbabwe dollars on that basis and are subject to review to
ensure
that we continue to meet our parliamentary obligations."
The British
introduced visas for Zimbabweans earlier this month and in a
retaliatory
move, Harare introduced visas for British nationals.
The country's
artificial exchange rate fluctuates up to $2 500 against the
British pound on
a daily basis.
Honey said the High Commission has processed over 2
300 visa applications
since the visa programme began and is currently
receiving around 200
applications a day, the majority of which are
successful.
The Age
Cry, beleaguered country
December 1
2002
South Africa is home to more than one in 10 of the
world's 40 million people
living with HIV/AIDS. Yet there is still hope,
reports Sarah Lowe.
Lillian rubs her hands together, then clasps them
between her knees. She
looks over at her children, her voice softening. "That
one," she whispers,
indicating the youngest, "I do not know if she is
positive. She was born
negative, but because I had no information, I
breastfed her for two years."
It has been four years since Lillian first
learnt of her own HIV status. She
had gone to find her husband, who was
working in Johannesburg, and
discovered he had another partner and child in
the city. The child had died
of AIDS, so he made Lillian take the test,
abandoning her when she told him
the result. "I couldn't take it," says
Lillian. "I took all the sleeping
pills. When I woke up I was feeling so
sick."
Now she sits outside her mud-walled home, high on a hill in the
rolling
Thoyandou Valley, describing the struggle to care for herself and
four
children. "Lillian is brave," says Mama Cecelia, the care worker who
has
supported her for the past two years. "Some people, when I talk to them
they
start to cry, but Lillian is very strong."
Lillian met Mama
Cecelia after confiding her troubles to a woman at church
who worked for
Tivoleni, a local AIDS organisation supported by development
agency Oxfam
Community Aid Abroad. Lillian was very thin then, and sick with
stress. "She
was thinking a lot about her children," says Mama Cecelia,
"thinking she is
going to die, and who will look after them? We encourage
her not to be
ashamed with other people. She has to mix with them and live
happier, instead
of suffering very much."
Mama Cecelia helps Lillian fetch water, wash and
cook, sometimes buying food
with her own money, or just sitting and talking.
This support has changed
Lillian's life. She has told few people she is
positive, fearing
discrimination against herself and her children. Yet
because of Tivoleni she
no longer feels alone. "I love them," she says
simply. "Sometimes I feel
like even maybe when I'm gone, my children will
still have a family."
This is the story of South Africa's HIV/AIDS
epidemic: of poverty and
survival, ignorance and compassion. There are now
4.7 million South Africans
living with HIV/AIDS. The epidemic is slowing in
some areas, but is now 36.5
per cent and rising in the worst-hit provinces.
Apartheid laid the economic
foundation for this disaster, when industrial
zones were established outside
major cities. Workers from the homelands were
housed in overcrowded hostels,
which remain the primary accommodation for
workers today. These men cannot
have their families with them, but "still
have their sexual needs", says
Mpume Zama from YMCA's HIV/AIDS Outreach
Program in KwaZulu Natal, supported
by Australian Volunteers International,
"so they go into neighbouring
townships looking for women".
With
HIV prevalence among sex workers around 60 per cent, the men often end
up
taking the virus back to their rural villages. The situation is worse in
the
informal settlements that spring up around the industrial areas. If
men
partner, they must leave the hostels, often to live in flimsy shacks
that
afford no privacy. Sexual violence is common. Some effort is being made
to
provide crisis centres and female police, but the legal system is
often
unsympathetic and convictions are rare.
South Africa's role as
the region's economic hub is a significant factor in
its disastrous infection
rate. Commercial sex flourishes in the industrial
and mining areas, around
the ports and along the highways that link them to
the rest of Africa. Along
one such highway near the Zimbabwe border, young
sex workers are being
recruited to help fight the epidemic. "I think sex
workers are the most
powerful women in any community - the way they
negotiate," says Mashudu
Madadze, of the Centre for Positive Care. The
centre insists that the workers
educate by example, promoting safer sex
through community theatre at clinics
and in the townships. Having stood up
against stigma and denial in their
communities, these women are now seeing
real change in attitudes, including
increased acceptance of condoms, even
among once-hostile
churches.
Government attitudes present a challenge. Much has been made of
President
Thabo Mbeki's statement that poverty, rather than HIV, causes AIDS.
"It does
our work so much damage," Madadze says. Mpume Zama agrees, although
she
welcomes the recognition of poverty as a major factor. Ultimately, she
says,
people's socio-economic and medical needs must both be tackled. "At
present
they are not doing either. For most people in South Africa, if you
are
HIV-positive it equals death."
Zama is especially frustrated with
Mbeki's refusal to call a public health
emergency, which would open up access
to cheaper antiretroviral drugs under
a World Trade Organisation declaration
hammered out at Doha in November last
year. The declaration was a victory for
AIDS activists and international
non-government organisations such as Oxfam;
Mbeki's reluctance to use it
raises the question, Zama says, of where his
priorities lie.
There is a real sense of urgency among AIDS workers, and
with good reason.
Adult infection rates now top one in three in the worst-hit
areas, and
future predictions are dire. Even if the epidemic can be slowed,
half of all
15-year-olds are expected to die of HIV/AIDS. Yet there are
glimmers of
hope. Many programs involve young people, determined to stop the
epidemic
stealing their future.
Andile Sithole, 15, is educating his
fellow students about HIV/AIDS in a
program run by Targeted AIDS
Interventions in KwaZulu Natal. Andile and his
friends are challenging Zulu
cultural taboos by talking about HIV/AIDS
prevention. "At home, if you talk
about sex, it's like 'shhh', it's
something scary," he says. "But they must
not run away from it now. Kids
feel that this thing is killing. They also
think we must not discriminate
against people who are HIV-positive." Andile
has high hopes for his classmat
es' future. "I think our lives will change
and go back to normal," he says.
"Maybe in the future we can live a better
life."
Sarah Lowe is a freelance writer and editor for Oxfam Community
Aid Abroad.
She travelled to South Africa for the agency earlier this
year.
Guardian
Ex-Ohio Rep. to Push Biocrops at U.N.
Friday November 29,
2002 7:40 AM
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Former Ohio congressman Tony Hall
says his initial goals
as a United Nations ambassador will be to promote
bioengineered crops as a
solution to famine, and to encourage European
nations to increase food
donations.
Hall, who left his House seat in
September to become the U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations for food and
agriculture agencies, said concerns overseas
are unfounded that American food
donations are unsafe because of pesticides
and genetic
modification.
``It doesn't make sense,'' he said in an interview
published Thursday in the
Dayton Daily News. ``You don't have this kind of
argument (about food) when
people are starving to death. And it's only going
to get worse.''
Droughts and floods in six southern African countries
have left more than 14
million people on the brink of starvation, according
to the United Nations.
Hall recently met with agriculture and social
welfare officials in Zimbabwe,
where more than half the population is in
danger of starving to death. But
tens of thousands of tons of U.S. crop
donations sit undistributed in depots
because authorities believe
bioengineered food is poisoned.
``I said, 'You know, with your action,
you're going to kill your people. You
don't have any other food in this
country,''' Hall said from his office in
Rome.
Hall will travel to
Brussels, Belgium, next week to share his concerns with
European Union
leaders, many of whom are openly critical of
American
agriculture.
Hall said Europeans grow mostly organic foods
without pesticides or genetic
modification.
``It does taste good,''
Hall said. ``The problem is, because it's so
expensive, you can't buy enough
of it and you can't grow enough of it to
feed hungry people in the
world.''
The United States provides 50 percent of the world's donated
food, and the
rest of the world supplies the other 50 percent, Hall said. He
will ask the
European nations to increase their share.
Hall, 60, has
been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his
work against
hunger, and he went 22 days without food in 1993 to protest the
loss of
funding for a House committee devoted to the cause. He was the
Democratic
congressman in the Dayton area's 3rd District for 24 years.
November 29, 2002
London
outpost spreading the word back to Harare
By Owen
Slot
|
 |
| THE ICC delegation sent to Harare is today
completing its inspection tour from which it will decide whether it is safe to
stage part of next year’s World Cup in Zimbabwe. It is to be hoped that the
delegates are not being given too one-sided a glimpse of reality, but if they
are struggling to get the picture beyond the red carpet that their hosts have
rolled out for them, they should tune in to Short Wave Radio Africa. This is an
independent station with uncensored views. It started life in Harare and was
closed down by soldiers after six days on air. So now it broadcasts from North
London.
Georgina Godwin, like Tony Blair, Jack Straw and company, is now banned from
the country, but she broadcasts to her nation for an hour a day, and one of her
specialities is cricket. It is Godwin who informed Zimbabweans that the British
media were banned from reporting on the ICC trip. It is she who tells them of
the plan for cricket fans to rebel passively by boycotting the present one-day
series against Pakistan.
And it was in a telephone interview with Godwin that Heath Streak, the
Zimbabwe captain, first made his startling observation that “there are no
problems in Zimbabwe; security is fine”. Given that, four days earlier, Streak’s
father had been imprisoned for disobeying instructions to vacate his farm, this
is a comment that few have forgotten.
“He is a hero,” Godwin said, “and he’s divided people enormously.” Some still
deify him, others believe he has sold out by pandering to the government line.
Godwin shows me a graphic, heavily circulated on e-mail, which quotes Streak’s
famous words and underneath “what a load of” and underneath that two cricket
balls. “This is the joke that’s been going round Zimbabwe, Heath and his balls
and the fact that he doesn’t have any,” Godwin said.
Yesterday Godwin was trying to organise an interview with a Zimbabwean human
rights group based in London and she thrust down the phone to them in
disappointment when informed that they were not prepared to go on record. And
yet this is the problem with a news medium that does not show President Mugabe
in a particularly good light: even in London, people are scared to talk. SW
Radio Africa keeps its address secret, its name does not appear on the wall of
its building along with the other businesses based there and it does not want to
be found.
Which brings us back to Streak, the culture of fear in Zimbabwe and the
invidious position in which the cricketers find themselves. While many opposed
to Mugabe are desperate for the World Cup to be taken away from Zimbabwe, the
cricketers want to keep it. Robert Mugabe is patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket
Union, so by playing for his team, the cricketers are further endorsing his
regime. If they were to say anything critical, they would be out of the team.
Far worse is Henry Olonga, who is hip, black and another icon in the team,
who has brought out a song called Our Zimbabwe, the lyrics of which talk
of “a land of peace”, “harmony” and “pride in our hearts”. “The night has gone,”
he sings, “and with the morning come rays of hope”.
But the Zimbabwe cricketers are not completely in Mugabe’s pocket. There is a
biography of one of the team that contains revealing opinions and revelations
and which has been sitting in cold storage until more sane times prevail. If it
came out now, the player’s future would be jeopardised.
So Godwin can understand Streak’s stance. “I think Heath had no option but to
say what he said,” she said. “I don’t think he meant it. It’s very hard to tell
the story of Zimbabwe because people are frightened. They generally don’t want
to go on record because they’re afraid they may jeopardise their own future.
“In a way it’s very unfair to ask the cricketers to comment. It’s their job
and you’re asking them to commit professional suicide. Some of them do talk off
the record but publicly it’s very hard for them. The bottom line is that Mugabe
is patron of the cricket union and if boycotting the cricket highlights the
problem, then it must be done.”
The first day of the Harare boycott was Wednesday’s match. E-mails went out,
SW Radio Africa spread the word, but the result was hardly revolutionary. The
ground was one-third full, but apparently that is all they would expect on a
Wednesday.
Maybe this reflects fear, maybe it reflects political apathy in the capital.
It may even be that the outcome will be different in the two weekend games. But
as Godwin said: “Self-preservation, ultimately, is what it’s all about. It’s
easy for us to sit here in London telling people to stand up for their
rights.” |
Daily News
Government asked to reconsider
11/29/2002
1:19:30 AM (GMT +2)
By Colleen Gwari Business
Reporter
THE Bureau de Change Association of Zimbabwe (BDAZ) has
appealed to
the government to reconsider its position on the banning of
foreign exchange
bureaus by the end of this month.
In a Press
release, BDAZ said: "The association has written to
government asking for a
review of the decision to close bureaux de change at
the end of this
month."
Presenting the 2003 National Budget a fortnight ago, Dr
Herbert
Murerwa, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, said
abolishing
bureaux de change was part of government's efforts to alleviate
the dire
foreign currency shortage that has hit the country over the past
three
years.
However, economic analysts said the closure of the
bureaus would
worsen the foreign currency shortage in the long
run.
They urged the government to work towards resuscitating
the
manufacturing sector and urgently restore relations with both donors and
the
international community.
Aid to Zimbabwe has become scarce,
while most countries have suspended
major capital projects, citing
lawlessness and the chaotic land reform
programme.
President
Mugabe's government has insisted the reforms were meant to
correct colonial
injustices.
As the curtain comes down, most bureaux de change in
and around Harare
had by Tuesday stopped operations.
Reduced
money supply, coupled with the pending closure of the bureaus,
brought panic
to the market, leading to the decline of major currencies
against the
Zimbabwean dollar.
The United States dollar tumbled to Z$800
yesterday from Z$1 500,
while the pound sterling declined to Z$1 500 from Z$2
500.
While the government had expected the public to dispose of any
hard
currencies they held, the majority of the people said they would hang
onto
their foreign currency for a while in the hope that rates would
rise
significantly in the near future.
Among the proposals BDAZ
had presented to government was remittance by
every bureau de change of at
least 25 percent of its foreign currency
purchases.
BDAZ
justified its position saying: "This will contribute to foreign
currency
reserves held by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe."
The balance was to
be sold by the bureaux de change in accordance with
their
mandate.
In addition, the BDAZ pledged to comply with regulations
governing
their operations and the new exchange control regulations on
holiday and
business allowances.
The association proffered to
work with the government in curbing the
black market
Zim Independent
Mbeki's nemesis: Mugabe and Nepad
Dumisani
Muleya
DESPITE indications South Africa is ready to offer Zimbabwe an
economic
rescue package as part of its diplomatic efforts to resolve the
seemingly
intractable local crisis, opinion in Pretoria remains deeply
divided over
how to tackle the meltdown unfolding north of the
Limpopo.
Last week the Zimbabwe Independent revealed details of an aid
package
involving seeds, fertiliser, fuel and
transportation.
Political analysts say there are at least four
overlapping camps duelling
over Zimbabwe ahead of the ruling African National
Congress's crucial
national conference at Stellenbosch next
month.
Analysts say the ideological and political divisions within the
ANC are
widening as South Africa finds itself sucked into the vortex of
Zimbabwe's
problems.
This development, they say, explains why
Pretoria's foreign policy and in
particular its "quiet diplomacy" towards
Zimbabwe has been largely
incoherent and sometimes plainly
contradictory.
South Africa's Institute of Security Studies director
Jakkie Cilliers said
there were sharp contradictions over Zimbabwe within the
ANC and its
alliance partners. These differences, he said, have become
evident and more
distinct of late due to changing internal and external
political dynamics.
"There are clear and sharp divisions within the ANC
and government," he
said. "There are also differences between the ANC and the
Congress of South
African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on the issue."
Broadly
speaking, the leftists - which South African President Thabo Mbeki
and his
supporters now call ultra-leftists - include leaders of the ANC
alliance
partners, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
This camp
encompasses Cosatu secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi and SACP
deputy
secretary-general Jeremy Cronin. Vavi has consistently criticised
President
Robert Mugabe's political repression and economic mismanagement,
while Cronin
recently complained about "Zanufication" of the ANC.
Other gladiators who
fit in this group by virtue of their political
backgrounds are Trade and
Industry minister Alec Erwin, Safety and Security
minister Charles Nqakula,
Local Government minister Sydney Mufamadi, State
Public Enterprises minister
Jeff Radebe, Water Affairs and Forestry minister
Ronnie Kasrils, and veteran
politician Pallo Jordan, among others, who are
both SACP and ANC
members.
They are inclined to regard themselves as part of a historic
tradition that
included ANC/SACP heavyweights such as Joe Slovo, Harry Gwala,
Chris Hani,
Govan Mbeki, Oliver Thambo, Nelson Mandela, Braam Fischer, JB
Marks, Moses
Kotane and Ray Simons.
Members of the leftist camp have
expressed outrage at events in Zimbabwe,
something which Mbeki and his more
Africanist adherents have not only
refused to do but sometimes
opposed.
The leftists are not afraid of being labelled anti-African by
Harare's stone
throwers because they do not subscribe to blind African
revolutionary
solidarity.
Besides the leftists, there are also
political moderates who are clear on
the issues. These include ANC barons
like Defence minister and party chair,
Mosiuoa Lekota, secretary-general
Kgalema Motlanthe (despite some naïve
earlier statements) and Reserve Bank
governor Tito Mboweni.
Lekota and Mboweni have condemned events in
Zimbabwe in compelling but
measured terms. This group appears anxious to let
Mugabe know that they will
not support him if he continues clinging to his
scorched-earth policies.
Also in this camp are civic activists of the
1980s who are not prepared to
indulge Mugabe's authoritarian claims. ANC
business magnates such as Cyril
Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, Matthews Phosa, and
Jay Naidoo are seen as aligned
to this group.
Mbeki is currently
waging a war of attrition against the leftists, blaming
them for opposing his
liberal economic policies. He is arguably the leader
of the Africanists on
the Zimbabwe issue who see Mugabe as a respected elder
statesman who has gone
off the tracks and needs helping back on. This
influential group includes
Mbeki loyalists such as Foreign minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her
deputy Aziz Pahad, Minister of State in the
President's Office Essop Pahad,
and Mbeki's advisors such as Professor
Wiseman Nkuhlu, Reverend Frank Chikane
and Communications chief Joel
Netshitenzhe.
Although this group agrees
- just like most ANC and alliance partners
officials - that quiet diplomacy
has failed, it remains committed to
dialogue.
Mbeki has denounced his
critics claiming they wanted his government to
invade Zimbabwe, while Finance
minister Trevor Manuel has asked if people
wanted Pretoria to behave like
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by
deploying tanks to Zimbabwe to deal
with Mugabe and "kick butt".
But as John Kane-Berman of South Africa's
Institute of Race Relations
recently said, Mbeki and his followers are
hawking "red-herrings" to avoid
action to contain Mugabe.
Other
analysts say Mbeki and his Africanist group were not just avoiding
direct
action against Mugabe, but actually supported him.
Former Oxford
University professor of politics, Bill Johnson, who is
familiar with the
Zimbabwe situation, thinks Mbeki supports Mugabe.
"Astonishingly, Mbeki
has succeeded in passing off this policy of de facto
support for Mugabe as
'quiet diplomacy'," Johnson said.
"By definition, because it is private,
we are never told what Mbeki is
saying to try to curb Mugabe and we only have
his word that he has made any
such effort at all," he said.
"The facts
of South African support, on the other hand, are there for all to
see. In
effect, Mbeki is on Mugabe's side because he is a black liberation
leader,
because his enemies include whites, and because it dovetails with
Mbeki's
'two nations' approach domestically."
Analysts say Mbeki is reluctant to
tackle Mugabe because he is beholden to
the African solidarity agenda. He
also fears that confronting Mugabe could
give the opposition Pan Africanist
Congress (PAC), which has been trying to
revive itself around a land claims
campaign, a hostage to fortune. The PAC
and other political opportunists have
been trying to steal a march on the
ANC on a number of issues. Mbeki is
constantly having to look over his
shoulder to see what these interests are
planning next to discomfit him -
with a little help from their Zimbabwean
friends. He is only too aware that
a tougher line on Mugabe would play into
their hands.
Western countries have not made the situation any easier for
Mbeki. They
have cornered him around the New Partnership for Africa's
Development
(Nepad) by tying their support for the continental recovery plan
to
democracy, good governance, human rights and accountability.
G8
leaders, who in June endorsed Nepad, want Mbeki to deal with
African
dictators like Mugabe through Nepad's peer review mechanism. But
the
delicate balance between enforcing the political check-over system
and
avoiding being seen as pandering to donor interests has not been easy
for
the South African leader. Analysts say this is where Mbeki's
dilemma
apparently lies.
However, Mbeki and his Africanist camp appear
convinced that yelling - as
they call sharp and forthright criticism - at
Mugabe would harden the
Zimbabwean ruler and diminish prospects of a
negotiated settlement in the
country.
Diplomatic sources say despite
this, Mbeki's office is becoming firmer in
its approach with the aim of
bringing Mugabe to the negotiating table with
the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
While many observers say labels can be unhelpful
in so far as they fail to
note the overlapping currents at work in South
African politics, including
growing international pressure on Mbeki to
produce results, the fact remains
there is no single coherent policy on
Zimbabwe in ruling circles and the
Stellenbosch conference is likely only to
expose the differences, not
resolve them.
|
