VOA
By Blessing
Zulu
Washington
22 December 2005
Zimbabwe and
the United Nations looked headed for another potential showdown
with a
high-ranking political envoy set to visit Harare in January to
discuss
humanitarian relief for those displaced by the state's May-July slum
clearance drive.
U.N. Under Secretary General for Political Affairs
Ibrahim Gambari will take
his turn at persuading President Robert Mugabe and
his ministers to expand
cooperation with the U.N. on providing Zimbabwe's
homeless with shelter and
its hungry with food.
Mr. Gambari, a
Nigerian, was named under secretary for political affairs in
June after
serving as under secretary general and special advisor on Africa,
promoting
U.N. and international support for African development, including
through
the New Partnership for African Development, or NEPAD. He was
Nigeria's
permanent representative to the U.N. before joining the
Secretariat in 1999.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has made a number
of efforts to promote
a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis.
Mr. Gambari could require all of his
diplomatic skills. Mr. Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party resolved at its recent
annual congress not to entertain any
more "clandestine" U.N. envoys other
than Secretary General Kofi Annan - a
thinly veiled reference to special
envoy Anna Tibaijuka, author of a
scathing report on the government's slum
clearance campaign, and Jan
Egeland, who upon his return to New York
expressed perplexity at President
Mugabe's rejection of U.N. emergency tent
shelters.
Led by the United States, Denmark and Japan, the Security
Council
recommended that Mr. Gambari travel to assess the situation in
Zimbabwe and
ensure that dialogue continues between Harare and the world
body. A
spokesman for Mr. Gambari confirmed the interest among Council
members in
the Gambari mission.
How Harare will respond remains to be
seen. Reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to Irene
Petras, program coordinator of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, for
perspective on whether Harare might
seek to block the visit.
Reuters
Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:33 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Three brothers stormed a
church service and murdered a
fellow villager they accused of witchcraft,
attacking him with clubs and a
hammer in front of a stunned congregation in
rural Zimbabwe, police said on
Thursday.
The incident took place last
Sunday in Zimbabwe's southwestern Bulilima
district and police said the
brothers had killed the man at the open-air
church service before horrified
onlookers could intervene.
They were arrested later after fleeing the
scene, a police spokesman in the
city of Bulawayo said, confirming a local
newspaper account of the murder.
Belief in witchcraft is widespread in
rural Zimbabwe and the government has
imposed an "Anti-Witchcraft
Suppression Act" in an effort to stop people
making unfounded accusations
against their neighbours and enemies.
The Herald
Municipal
Reporter
THE commission running the affairs of the City of Harare would
second an
unspecified number of council staff to Moscow under an exchange
programme in
line with the twinning arrangement between the two
cities.
The personnel would be drawn from all departments and on their
return would
be expected to use their exposure in the Russian capital to
improve Harare's
service delivery.
The commission agreed to receive
staff from Moscow under the same
arrangement. Several members of the
commission and senior council staff
undertook a working trip to Moscow in
November, where they agreed to
co-operate with their Russian counterparts in
housing provision, refuse
collection, health, water supply, sewage treatment
and the establishment of
a joint company to engage in granite and marble
stone polishing. A cultural
exchange accord was also signed. As a result, a
Muscovite cultural ensemble
is due to perform in Harare early next year. In
the same spirit of
co-operation, Moscow has called on Harare to facilitate
the operation of a
direct flight between the two cities to boost cargo and
tourist movement.
Moscow mayor Mr Yuri Luzhkov said that Moscow was more
than willing to
assist in housing.
Moscow has over 40 000 blocks of
flats accommodating millions of the city's
workforce.
The Zimbabwean
BY A CORRESPONDENT
HARARE - Inexplicably, state-run ZBH simply ignored the
Mugabe regime's
latest manifestation of its loathing of dissent - the first
two seizures of
passports from critics under yet more repressive laws. The
state-run press,
however, gave the passport confiscations true-to-form
coverage, presenting
this as perfectly normal. The media watchdog, Media
Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe (MMPZ) in its weekly report covering Dec. 5 -
Dec. 11 noted that
the private media presented the seizures as part of a
continuing effort to
"curtail Zimbabweans' rights to freedom of movement and
a blatant attempt to
gag dissenting voices." SW Radio Africa and The
Standard reported that the
first two victims - publisher Trevor Ncube, who
subsequently got his
passport back, and Paul Themba Nyathi of the MDC - were
on a list of 64
targeted individuals. The Daily Mirror and Studio 7 said
that, in addition,
the Zanu-PF Central Committee wants the regime to silence
outspoken NGOs,
including the National Constitutional Assembly, Women of
Zimbabwe Arise and
Bulawayo Agenda. The Herald, naturally, approved of the
seizures, and for
good measure added menace. Its faceless columnist
Nathaniel Manheru said
that while Ncube would probably get his passport
back, he would feel "the
chill, certainly on behalf of those of his ilk who
may have to turn
themselves into foreigners, suffer travel restrictions they
invited for
others, or simply shut up." The visit of UN envoy Jan Egeland
and his
forthright criticisms of the humanitarian crisis triggered by
Operation
Murambatsvina gave the state media some problems - but they rose
to the
occasion with a mixture of lopsided coverage and lies. The MMPZ said,
for
example, that when the UN envoy disagreed with Robert Mugabe over tents
the
UN intended to provide for victims now living in the open air, ZTV
"tried to
criminalise Egeland's meeting with civic society representatives."
It said
he had held "private marathon meetings" with church leader. The
Chronicle
was also upset that Egeland insisted on speaking to people
privately. As the
hostility rose, The Herald and The Chronicle passively
reported Mugabe
calling Egeland a "hypocrite and liar" and threatening to
bar further visits
by envoys who were not the UN Secretary-General's "own",
but "agents of the
British." Again, the private media handled the story far
more
professionally. The MMPZ said there was clear coverage of Egeland's
concerns
about the humanitarian crisis. The Gazette also noted that Mugabe
wrongfully
charged Egeland with waiting until he had left before saying
"nasty things"
about the regime. He had actually said them while in the
country. The
country's economic crisis, the hyperinflation, shortages and
the rest were
covered by the state-run media in isolation instead of being
part of the
general mismanagement, along with treating meaningless rhetoric
from Mugabe
and his officials as if this were a solution. The MMPZ cited,
for example,
ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe quoting Zanu (PF) MPs as saying Mugabe's
State of the
Nation address "set the tone for social, political and economic
development."
The Zimbabwean
What is it like to leave home -
Zimbabwe, the place that grew us - and
settle in a distant land? Is it
simply a question of exchanging one
geographical location for another,
consigning the past to treasured memory,
and embracing change? Or does
nostalgic comparison, and a continued sense of
displacement, prevent us from
seeing new surroundings through anything but
our own culture-coloured lens?
MICHELLE BURTON looks at the paradox between
leaving behind the old, and
striving to find place in the new. LONDON - It's
Christmas, a season of joy
and glad tidings, and yet all the more poignant
for its reminders of home.
When I left Harare Airport in July 2001, I did so
with resolve - determined
not to look back as I shuffled through the
boarding gates with luggage and
children and high hopes for a better future.
With that conviction firmly
rooted, I arrived at Heathrow in high spirits
the following morning - to be
met with a glorious summer sky, and the
efficient frenzy of first-world
utopia. Two hours, and one sleepy village
later, I opened the door to my new
home in England. Four long years on,
bright anticipation has evolved into
dulled acceptance that although there
are many similarities between the two,
the differences inherent in my two
continents divide loyalties as cleanly as
the oceans that separate them. On
the one hand, I am grateful for the
opportunities afforded this new life's
tenure - on the other, I long for my
country with the same intensity as an
October veld yearns for the first of
the season's storms. And the culture
shock that was, still is. Some aspects
of life on what I fondly call l'Isle
de Gris (the Isle of Grey) are so
similar to Africa; some quite glaringly
different - and it seems natural,
somehow, to compare everything in England
with its counterpart 6000 miles
away. Not only the cold, and its icy
tendrils of discomfort - although I
have become accustomed to central
heating, and the need to wear 12 layers
outdoors - but the rain. It cascades
softly - almost apologetically, here.
Falling consistently throughout most
of the year, it lacks the formidable -
the great, rolling drumbeats of
thunder and lightning sound that epitomise
the purple skies of home. And
things are always wet. Everywhere you look,
moisture clings tenaciously;
except in summer, when heat mirages float above
the horizon to produce an
almost tangible sense of home, and driving along
sunny, suburban scrub
feels, magically, the same as winding Mazvikadei's
contours. Except that
there is no dust - no acrid smell of dry-earth atrophy
to tease your
senses - only sea-breeze humidity, and the taste of nearby
MacDonald's. That
said, the seasons change wondrously here - from golden,
sensuous warmth to
russet-coloured autumn - from dark, depressing winter to
vibrant
spring-filled energy. And I love that. The people, too, are
different. When
I first arrived, I spent most of my time smiling at
everyone. More concerned
with decorum than window-shopping, I missed most of
the local bargains in my
quest to appear friendly, eye-contact approachable,
and accepted. As the
years have worn on, I realise that eating a cream
doughnut - noisily - on a
crowded, anonymous coachful of travellers is more
acceptable; better, even,
than trying to make non-verbal contact with
passers-by, who find the mores
of social niceties implicit in our African
culture suspicious - and
irritating. I have not yet conceded to spitting in
the street, or hurling
abuse at those older than myself. I have not yet
acquired the expletive code
of language more readily understood than the
English of yesteryear. But, I
do find myself walking the streets of local
Wiltshire with an acquired air
of casual disdain. And when someone smiles at
me, I find myself wondering
why! I miss the slow-paced lifestyle of our
third-world roots. Given a
choice between the bumper-to-bumper Bristol
traffic that turns a 30-mile
journey into tedious expedition, and pushing my
car along a relatively
empty, pot-holed road to find petrol, I might choose
the latter. Faced with
the dilemma of how large a suitcase I'd need to carry
worthless millions to
Bon Marche for a week's shopping, or the glossy,
over-filled counters of
luxury goods once only imagined, I'd probably choose
the former. Last week I
met a fellow Zimbabwean; someone with whom I might
have had no contact once
upon a yesterday. But distance is a great leveller,
and displacement the
unifying force that binds more effectively than
politics. He was a kindred
spirit - of different race, culture and language,
but at once familiar. And
between us lay the unspoken; the question we all
ask, as Zimbabweans cut off
from our birthright - will we ever be able to go
home? It's Christmas - the
shops are filled with lights and trees and
decorations that shout the
season's greetings. But, oh, how I long for the
scent of a real fir, its
improvised 40-gallon container brimming with garden
cones and last year's
re-cycled tinsel. And on Christmas Eve, I don't want
to watch tradition's
latest horror flick; I want to weep at the story of
Jesus.
The Zimbabwean
BY ZAKEUS CHIBAYA MUSINA - The
South African Rand is still going strong
against the ailing Zimbabwe dollar
on black market despite many Zimbabweans
returning home for the festive
season and flooding the market with Rands. An
informal survey by The
Zimbabwean revealed that the currency is trading at
R1 to $13 000-$15 000 in
border town of Beitbridge and there are signs that
it will be even stronger
in January as people return to work in South
Africa. The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's flexible foreign exchange rate which
was introduced recently
fixes the Rand at $9 000 to one. But this rate is
clearly unrealistic. .
Reports from Roadport in Harare, 'World Bank' in
Bulawayo and Wimpy in
Masvingo reflect that the Rand is trading at $14 000-
$16 000. And it is
likely to shoot up early in the new year as many people
will be hunting for
hard currency. More than four million Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora have
shunned RBZ CEO Gideon Gono's Homelink initiative, which
sought to encourage
them to send money home via the central bank. As they
use the black market
link to send money home for the festive season, more
Rands will coming into
the market and are expected to stabilise the dollar
for at least three
months. "It's surprising. We were expecting the Zim
dollar to gain during
the Christmas period, but it seems it will drop.
People are clinging to
their Rand and they are not willing to exchange to
the dollar," said Mhlaba
Hlungwani, a foreign exchange dealer based in
Beitbridge. Black market
foreign exchange brokers in Beitbridge and at Park
Station in Johannesburg
attributed the stronger Rand to the fact that many
Zimbabweans are buying
basic commodities in South Africa to send home -
rather than sending money.
Basic commodities are in short supply in the
country or they are sold at a
black market rate which is exorbitant and most
people prefer to buy their
goods in South Africa.. Esther Mlambo, who trades
in Lutumba about 20km
along the Beitbridge road said: "Even border jumpers
who usually frequent
the black market during the festive season are nowhere
to be seen. They are
just changing small amounts to cover their bus fare and
the Rand is likely
to trade at $20 000 early next year as more people will
be heading for South
Africa to look for greener pastures."
The Zimbabwean
LONDON - Santa visited the Vigil
today. Dozens of Father Christmases swamped
us on their way down the Strand
to wherever Santas go a week before the big
night. They were part of a
regiment of red-robed revellers who brought a
blaze of colour to a cold day.
They signed our petitions, played our drums
and joined in the singing and
dancing. Many passers-by commented on a recent
BBC Newsnight report (see
P12), which went further than anything else in
showing the desperate
situation at home. Video link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
Well done to the
small group of supporters (from as far afield as Sheffield
and Birmingham)
who braved the freezing weather - our coldest Vigil so far
this winter. We
meet again tomorrow - Christmas Eve, all thinking of loved
ones back in
Zimbabwe. FOR THE RECORD: about 25 supporters came today. Next
Central
London Zimbabwe Forum - Monday, 9th January 2006 at the Theodore
Bullfrog
pub, 28 John Adam Street, London WC2.
The Zimbabwean
BY MAGUGU NYATHI JOHANNESBURG
- Lost in the bustle and bright lights of
Jozi, Tambudzai Masenyani (17),
who ran away from Robert Mugabes economic
mismanagement, looks totally
confused at Park Station. She has nowhere to go
and no relatives in the big
city. She is desperately looking for the sound
of Karanga accent to approach
for assistance. She falls prey to a young man
hovering at Park Station
looking for stranded ladies for robbery and sex
abuse. Tambudzai has been
brutally raped, infected with gonorrhea and robbed
of the only jacket she
has by the Good Samaritan who has promised to take
care of her until she
gets proper accommodation. Bruised, abused, her
dignity lost, she has
resigned herself to a life on the streets. The influx
of Zimbabwean young
women escaping from Mugabes mismanagement has left
young girls vulnerable
to all the social ills of Johannesburg. We thought
we were coming to
Paradise because life in Murehwa was unbearable. I was
looking to support my
siblings left orphaned by my late parents. I have no
relative in
Johannesburg and I thought I was going to be employed as soon as
I arrived.
Many Zimbabwean young women join us in the streets and some end
up in
prostitution. I am afraid to go for HIV/AIDS testing after I was
treated for
sexually transmitted disease at Hillbrow Clinic, said
Tambudzai. A survey
carried out at Hillbrow, Park Station and Braamfontein
revealed that on
average one can meet 10 stranded young Zimbabwean women per
day. Some sleep
overnight at the station, some are used as sex slaves by
Nigerians and the
lucky ones meet honest well wishers who accommodate them.
The exodus of
young women has led to the collapse of households back home as
they run away
from hardship in Zimbabwe. Some married women have even chosen
to divorce in
search of greener pastures. I have been married since I was
18, but there
comes a time in life when one realises that as much as they
want their
marriage to last for ever they can not afford to go on empty
stomachs. I am
fed up with having to beg for everything in my life, said a
49-year-old
woman. Another, identified only as Sarah, echoed these
sentiments, saying:
Im not saying prostitution is good but its better
than being miserable
your whole life and your children failing to go to
school. I loved my
husband. He was a degreed teacher in Zimbabwe, but made a
pauper by the
government who once invested in him. The situation is
pathetic back home
its better here though little the money can at least
afford my children a
decent meal per day . For Sibusisiwe life is not any
better and she loathes
the day she ever thought of crossing the border. She
is being used by a
Nigerian pimp in a hotel in Hillbrow. Im being forced
to have sex with any
man who can afford to pay for the services. What pains
me most is the fact
that the Nigerian who owns me gets the bigger part of
the payment. I dont
want what is happening to me but where will I go if I
leave this place? she
said. I remember with nostalgia how I kept my self
pure. I always hope I
dont meet my friend or relative along the way because
I feel like a misfit
in the society, lamented Sibusisiwe. However, for
Ayanda Jozi life is a bed
of roses. Having escaped from a destitute Zimbabwe
she now runs a marketing
company and employs five people. I was born on the
wrong side of the border
but I dont regret ever coming here. South Africa
has opened doors for me. I
have my own businesses and soon I would run my
own Magazine. Really what
more do I want, boasted Ayanda. At least four
million Zimbabweans, a
quarter of the countrys population of 12 million,
are living outside the
country, the majority of them in South Africa, after
fleeing home because of
economic hardship and political persecution.
The Zimbabwean
BY MAGAISA IBENZI WARD 12,
PARIRENYATWA HOSPITAL, HARARE - My old friend
Storm has sent me his
highlights of 2005. What a year it has been! To recap,
2004 ended with the
Minister of Public Services publicly stating that
national unemployment
stood at 9% (read 80% for a more accurate figure), the
Minister of Education
(Chigwedere) being taken to court by the Private
Schools, and the flamboyant
parliamentarian Philip Chiyangwa being arrested,
amongst others, over the SA
spy scandal. January dawned with the news that
Parliamentary Elections would
take place in April. The MDC were divided on
whether to participate or not
whilst a war vet in Gwanda stated that only
ZANU PF card holders would be
allowed to vote. The food situation was
beginning to bite and Reserve Bank
Governor Gono stated in desperation that
property rights were sacrosanct.
All this whilst the settlers on 'Little
England' farm, just west of Harare
below the Great Dyke, were being kicked
off their recently acquired land to
make way for yet another of Mugabe's
relations. The Weekly Times was
launched in Bulawayo and then promptly
closed 2 weeks later under POSA. US
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
branded Zimbabwe as an 'outpost of
tyranny'. February brought another visit
by COSATU, now with the backing of
the SA government. However they were
promptly put on a bus and returned from
whence they came by our scared
officials. After pressure from SADC the MDC
agreed to participate in the
parliamentary elections and Margaret Dongo
returned from America to contest
the Harare Central seat as an independent.
March started with a new, but
shambolic, voters roll. MP Tendai Biti
presented us with a copy of our
Harare East constituency roll, which we
endlessly checked for duplicate
voters names and ghost voters. The Chinese
continued to influence our day to
day life, their jets having replaced the
British Hawks and their low slung
buses plying the urban bus routes. April
brought the elections which went
off relatively peacefully, but massive Zanu
rigging and fraud soon became
apparent. Voter numbers did not match the
number of ballots cast. Over 50%
of constituency results had been announced
before this became glaringly
apparent and the ZEC then stopped recording the
number of voters. Later that
month the Pope died. Who should attend his
funeral at the Vatican and shake
hands with Prince Charles? Dear old Bob who
jumps at any opportunity to
travel and open his mouth......... "Charles
Windsor, I presume!" Zanu (PF)
election retribution began in May with the
army raiding Charleswood (Roy
Bennett's farm) supposedly looking for arms.
This heralded the start of
Operation Murambatsivina (Clean up Rubbish). A
friend was caught filming the
destruction in Mbare and ended up in hospital
having been beaten up by CIO
agents. At this stage, Bob admitted that we
needed food aid and attempted to
persuade some ex white farmers to return.
They weren't that stupid. June saw
the demolitions and destruction continue
leaving thousands homeless and with
no means of making an honest living.
Both the EU and UN slammed the
government for this evil and Labour MP and
human rights stalwart Kate Hoey
slipped into the country to see the horror
for herself. July. Further
condemnations flowed in after the Tibaijuka
report was tabled at the UN.
These came from all members of the G8, the
(new) Pope and the SA churches.
This didn't discourage our government, as
they staged midnight raids on
families who had taken shelter in churches.
Constitutional Amendment N-17
was gazetted towards the end of the month.
Fuel at this time, when
available, cost Z$12 000 per litre and a parking
fine was Z$5.2 million. By
August the country's sugar production had hit
rock bottom and coal shortages
were blamed for the constant power outages.
The Minister of Health was
threatening doctors with arrest if they continued
with industrial action for
a livable wage and the housing demolitions
continued. The SA Council of
Churches had collected food and blankets for
the victims, but Bob refused
them entry to the country whilst Zanu (PF) set
up yet another holding camp
at Hopley Estate on the outskirts of Harare.
Operation Garakai (renew) was
meant to have started but there were no plot
services in place, never mind
building materials. In September the Senate
Bill (Constitutional Amendment
17) was passed and included the erosion of
all rights to agricultural land,
the removal of permanent residents from the
voters roll (that includes us)
and a travel ban on 64 Zimbabweans who are
deemed as saying 'bad things'
about the country and it's leadership.
Meanwhile Didimus Mutasa, our
Minister of Security, threatened to evict ALL
white farmers whilst Gono was
frantically condemning land grabbers as common
criminals. Air Zimbabwe broke
all international records by flying three
passengers on its Bangkok to Dubai
run. Tsvangirai walked to work in support
of the workers as fuel now cost
Z$20,000 a litre, when available. October
began with American Ambassador
Christopher Dell being arrested in the
Botanical Gardens for 'spying' on
Bob. A major split erupted in the MDC over
participation in the Senate
Elections. Tsvangirai stood up against the
academic contingent stating that
these elections were a waste of time and
money. At last we had some
leadership! This wrangle continues today with an
expos- that the rebels,
along with CIO, had been planning Tsvangirai's
ouster for some time.
November heralded the official inflation rate soaring
to 411% and an Air
Zimbabwe fare to London rose to Z$141 million government
fuel was now being
sold on the black market and a further 250 squatters were
made homeless in
Mbare ahead of UN envoy Jan Egeland's visit. The Chinese
were ceded more
land and Bob announced his proposal to construct a nuclear
power station
with the Chinese mining uranium concessions. December brings
another crazy
year in Zimbabwe to a close. The Zim Dollar has devalued from
6700 to 85 000
to $US 1,00 in the past 12 months. Fuel is now unaffordable
and unavailable
at Z$120 000 per litre. At least we have plenty
rain.........no fertilizer
or seed, but plenty rain. Magaisa wishes all his
readers a Happy Christmas
and a Zanu (PF)-free New Year!
The Zimbabwean
BY LITANY BIRD Dear Family
and Friends, I think if you could ask any
Zimbabwean what three things they
most wanted for Christmas in 2005, the
answers would be the same in almost
all households. Firstly we want food
security in all areas: we want food
growing on our farms, food stacked in
silos and warehouses and food in our
pantries and on our tables. After 70
months of turmoil, food security would
be a blessed gift for every
Zimbabwean. Secondly this Christmas we want our
families. I don't think I
know a single family which does not have some or
most of its members living
outside of the country. Siblings, parents,
children and grandparents are
separated - we are a nation whose families and
extended families have been
torn apart. Over three million Zimbabweans
(almost a quarter of our
population) have left home in the last seventy
months and they are sorely
missed. Thirdly this Christmas we want fuel.
Shops, businesses,
transporters, schools, institutions and ordinary families
- we want to be
able to go to a filling station and buy fuel. Ever since the
elections in
March, the vast majority of Zimbabweans have been unable to buy
fuel
anywhere except on the black market. The nine month unavailability of
fuel
affects every single Zimbabwean as black market fuel prices are now
tagged
onto everything from bread to bus fares, shoes to sugar and
everything in
between. We long to travel in our own country again, to see
our friends in
other towns and to go to Zimbabwe's beautiful places again,
what a gift that
would be this Christmas. Seventy months - it is hard to
believe that this
has been going on for so long and that we have endured so
much. The gap
between the very rich and the desperately poor continues to
widen. The
extravagance of the Zanu (PF) annual Congress last weekend was
appalling.
Three thousand delegates for four days were fed with: 50 cattle,
48 goats,
11 kudu, 5 reed buck, 17 impala, 5 buffaloes and 60 chickens. This
was
accompanied by 1.19 tonnes of rice, 50 kg of wheat and 11 tonnes of
maize.
Also on hand were 250 bags of oranges, a tonne of tomatoes, 400
cabbages and
60 litres of ice cream. And, all this in a country in which
THREE MILLION
Zimbabweans are eating world food aid. And freedom, that
flimsy concept
taken for granted by so many, seems as elusive as ever for
Zimbabweans this
Christmas. Darker days are already upon us as 2006
approaches. This week
passports of outspoken government critics were seized
and the Minister of
Information said that journalists were "weapons of mass
destruction." The
excesses and traditions of Christmas are cancelled for
most Zimbabweans this
year and we are left hoping and praying for an end to
the hardships, turmoil
and struggle of living like this. Ndini shamwari
yenyu
The Zimbabwean
SAVIOUS KWINIKA OF CAJ NEWS
JOHANNESBURG - About 150 copies of The
Zimbabwean were confiscated and torn
to pieces by a bearded man, identified
as Oliver Chiruka, in an incident in
Braamfontein last Friday witnessed by
several people. Chiruka, the Zanu (PF)
provincial secretary for youth for
Manicaland, grabbed the newspapers from a
vendor in full view of other
street vendors and passengers boarding buses
from Johannesburg to Harare at
the terminus on the corner of Wolmarans and
Harrison Streets for the
Christmas holiday. He accused readers of The
Zimbabwean of teaming up in the
diaspora to work with the Zimbabwean
government's enemies, such as the
country's main opposition MDC and the
British government, to impose "illegal
economic sanctions" on Zimbabwe.
"Whoever brings copies of The Zimbabwean
here will never ever board the bus
to Harare. I am not going to allow
British-sponsored newspapers to be read
here at the terminus. You forget
that Zanu (PF) gave every Zimbabwean free
land, offered free education, free
health and free food during times of
drought, so why are you betraying your
own country when you are abroad?"
fumed the man, himself an economic migrant
from Mugabe's disastrous economic
policies. Chiruka even boasted that he had
been given farming land measuring
495 hectares, free farming inputs, a gun
and draught power for tillage by
the ruling party. "Why is he then down here
doing menial work as a loader
for a bus company (name supplied)?" queried an
observer. After confiscating
the newspapers at the Tudor Hotel bus terminus,
Chiruka went to a nearby
fast food outlet where he seized another 48 copies.
A student from the
university of Wits condemned the thuggish behaviour in
the strongest terms.
"Zanu (PF)'s foolishness and barbarity amuses me. Even
when people are in a
foreign land, the party always wants to bully, dictate,
and impose its own
views upon ours. Right now we are being denied the right
to read the
newspaper of our choice. It is time we joined hands to deal
ruthlessly with
such misguided people," he said. The publisher of The
Zimbabwean, Wilf
Mbanga, said the incident did not surprise him, given the
intolerance of
alternative viewpoints evidenced by the party at the highest
level. "This
incident is a microcosm of what is wrong with Zimbabwe today.
This sort of
intolerance and violent behaviour characterises Zanu (PF) from
the top down
and is at the root of the Zimbabwean tragedy," said Mbanga.
The Zimbabwean
So Zanu is now resorting to sending
thugs to South Africa to destroy
newspapers it doesn't like. We condemn this
dastardly act in the strongest
of terms. It is the work of enemies of the
truth. This kind of thuggery, as
reported on the front page of this week's
issue, is to be expected inside
Zimbabwe, where the rule of law is whatever
Zanu (PF) wants it to be.
Fortunately, in South Africa, that is not the
case. The Zimbabwean, as a
duly-registered company, is a corporate citizen
of South Africa. As such, we
are entitled to enjoy the protection of the law
against the actions of hired
gangsters, who boast openly that they have been
rewarded by Zanu (PF) with
farms, food and stolen agricultural equipment.
This newspaper is available
for those who believe in access to information.
Our readers need not
necessarily share our views. Our mission is to provide
alternative
viewpoints for open-minded people to ponder - Zimbabweans and
others. We
offer a platform for debate, for the exchange of ideas and
opinions - a far
cry, sadly, from what is allowed in Zimbabwe today. Space
in our columns has
been offered to both the ruling party and the opposition
MDC as well as many
civil society groups and organizations. Zanu (PF) has
chosen not to take up
this opportunity, while MDC and others have availed
themselves of the
proffered platform. The Zimbabwean operates from South
Africa simply because
of the Zimbabwe government's intolerance of
alternative voices inside the
country. The government has an atrocious
record of banning independent
newspapers - five in the last two years. It
has recently begun confiscating
the passports of its opponents. It regularly
arrests and harasses
independent journalists, and in the case of Mark
Chavunduka and Ray Choto,
tortured them for several days. Its agents have
bombed printing presses and
independent media houses. Recently it has
confiscated equipment from the
office of the Voice of the People and locked
up its staff for days before
taking them to court. But if the government of
Zimbabwe thinks that sending
its hired thugs to destroy copies of our
newspapers in South Africa will
force us to stop publishing, they had better
think again.
Mad at ZESA
EDITOR - I am writing about the
state of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority. I am not the only person
in Zimbabwe who has at least one power
cut every week. Sometimes, we have as
many as eight power cuts in five days,
and some power cuts last up to three
days. Granted, the three-day power cut
was because of a line down, and thus
not ZESA's fault, but I think three
days is an excessive amount of time to
wait for a fault to be fixed. At
other times, when I call the faults line
(04704233, if you live in the
northern suburbs), I am rudely told that it is
because of load shedding and
not a fault. That is, if I can get through to
the faults line, because
recently it has been permanently engaged. As I pay
my bill regularly, I do
not see a reason for my power to be disconnected. If
they publicised a
schedule of load-shedding power cuts, it would not be so
bad, but as it is,
my computer and other electrical appliances are regularly
switched on when
the power goes out. This has had several repercussions. For
example, the
thermostat on our geyser was blown in a power surge, our house
alarm battery
was irreparably damaged due to repeated running down through
power cuts,
and, the most recent, the hard-drive of my computer had to be
wiped clean
because it was on when the power cut out (and I'm sure everyone
reading this
can empathise with my frustration at having to reconstruct five
years' worth
of work). As a result of the hard drive incident, I am going to
send ZESA a
bill for the repairs that I am having to do, and the time and
information
lost in the crash. I doubt that I will get any response from
them, let alone
the new hard-drive needed to fix the problem, but at least
they will know
the damage that they are doing. I am not the only person who
has had
electrical appliances break down due to ZESA's lack of a maintenance
schedule, bad management, and general apathy towards us as the customers. I
suggest that, as people of Zimbabwe, we stand up and make ourselves heard.
If you lose an appliance, the use of hot water, information from your
computer, pool or borehole pumps, or anything else through ZESA's
inefficiency, please take the time to send them a bill for it and a letter
explaining why you want compensation. I don't hold out hope that we will see
any fruits, but if enough of us speak up, maybe something will change.
ANGRY, Harare
-------------
Unity our only weapon
EDITOR - I still
remember well the day workers and students packed Rufaro
Stadium in Harare.
There was a visible excitement in the stadium. When a
white Mazda drove into
the stadium, we all chanted "Tsvange, Tsvange." Here
was a man who was ready
to ask us publicly the question we had been waiting
for. The question was
"Toitaa bato revashandi here?" Can we start the
workers' party? The answer
was a deafening Yes. MDC was formed with the
backing of the masses.
Tsvangirai was still leading the ZCTU then, therefore
Gibson Sibanda became
a caretaker President of MDC (I stand to be corrected
if I am wrong) for a
period. Then Tsvangirai was chosen as the President of
MDC, the only party
showing signs of removing Robbie from power. Where did
this leave Sibanda?
Vice President Second in charge. OOCH By the way, Canaan
Banana was also a
caretaker president before the real president took over.
Father Zimbabwe,
Joshua Nkomo, was a Vice President, second in charge to
Chatuu. Where does
all this leave Sibanda? Yes I am talking tribal. Why do
we try to avoid
saying the truth, Mr. Gibson Sibanda, Mr. Paul T. Nyathi,
Professor Welshman
Ncube and Mr. Job Sikhala are playing a tribal card. They
know Bulawayo and
Matebeleland are MDC strongholds. Former ZAPU supporters
are anti-Shona rule
over the strong-witted Ndebele tribe. So being anti-
Mugabe (I am too but
not tribal, who is not anti Kariganyika?) a Shona
Dictator, therefore
finding fault in another Shona leader Tsvangirai, is in
their eyes an
opportunity or a right recipe for an Ndebele Leader to take
over, If I am
wrong, then why is it that 85% of those in favour of
destroying (Yes I said,
destroying, what else is being pro-Senate mean?) MDC
are our MDC leaders
from Ndebele tribe? I know the Ndebele people, or should
I say the
Matebele-Zimbabweans, are not fools. They can see where all this
is leading.
Khonte Mhlanga tried it with Super ZAPU, where is he now? Please
let us not
give credit to Zanu and the CIO, but let the boos and thumbs-down
go to
Gibbie and his men who want to divide our country when unity is the
only
weapon we have to remove the present regime. Before I go kushift,let me
advise Mr. Sibanda and his Bafanas, please leave MDC alone, and form your
own party called GI (Gibson) NYA (Nyathi) BE (Ncube) Khala (Sikhala ,
pronounced GINYABEKHALA Party because what else do you want from taking part
in the senate? Yes! You are right, Lifuna ukugiya thina abanye sikhala
ngehlala. Lastly, by the way did you (Zimbabweans, Shona and Ndebele) know
that the First Chimurenga was not started by Mbuya Nehanda but by the
Ndebele people. A messenger was sent from Matebeleland to inform the Shona
that an uprising had started in Matebelelend. The likes of Mbuya Nehanda
were the first to receive the message and started the Shona side of the
Chimurenga, but history does not reflect this. May be this is what is
worrying Sibanda and his friends. If he becomes President, the truth will be
revealed. Keep your fingers crossed Sibanda, if MDC wins, your party (GP)
will be in opposition one day. Anonymous, UK
-----------
Influential
help needed
EDITOR - Zimbabwe is in a mess, and described by a senior
official of the
United Nations just the other day as being in a state of
"melt down". Few in
the country, irrespective of social status, will argue
with this rather
horrifying description. In consequence of this UN
investigation it is just
possible now that food may be forthcoming to help
feed the masses
approaching near starvation levels in most regions and in
some urban areas
where conditions have been aggravated by untimely
destruction of "illegal"
living quarters. Many more, therefore, can be
expected to survive if the
sticky hands of politicians and their hangers-on
can be kept away and the
proper and equitable sharing of any aid to the
needy be permitted to be
made. If the regime in power today with its diehard
leader, long past his
"shelf life", is to be replaced by a true and proper
democratic process,
much help is going to be needed from those with
influence in the western
world. Southern Africa in colonial times was much
aided by the efforts of
Jewish families who had emigrated to that somewhat
remote part of the world
to seek a living as a result of persecution of
their people elsewhere in the
globe. Not many would contest their biblical
description as "God's chosen
people". The latent talents they possess in
many fields and their energy has
helped Zimbabwe reach the relatively high
state of development reached in
1980. Not many Jews are left in Zimbabwe
today but many are still in a
position of influence and affluence south of
the Limpopo River. It should
not be forgotten that Robert Mugabe's chosen
physician was a Jew. The
influence of Jewish people throughout the western
world is well known and
there are some of us who believe this may well have
been used in the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein when his regime in Iraq posed a
most serious
threat to Israel's existence. It would be nice to see this
power and
influence directed against the Mugabe regime. Jewish people have
never been
racist at heart and many who came up with the Pioneer Columns to
Rhodesia in
the century before last may have fond memories of the happy and
peaceful
peoples with whom they are no longer in contact. It would be nice
to see in
North America and other countries where Jews have settled
successfully the
forming of something like a "Jewish friends of Zimbabwe"
society by those
with Zimbabwe or Southern African connections. Only, it is
felt, by support
of such an organised body, with the wealth and influence
they possess, can
sufficient pressure be put to bear on western politicians
to do something
really effective to restore democracy to the suffering
Zimbabwean people.
JIM PASQUALE, London
The Zimbabwean
Remember when Christmas
was a time of excitement in the household. Preparing
and consuming our
favourite foods and drinks! Shouting "Christmas box" at
whoever came through
the door! Parading our new clothes in town. Going out
to celebrate at
midnight on New Year's Eve. Without the snow associated with
Christmas in
Europe and America, we in Zimbabwe had our own associations -
like the
Jacarandas flowering just before the season itself, the heavy rains
that
started in Nov and the national flower, the Flame Lily, which blooms in
December. Visit the zimdays website to see more...
http://www.zimdays.com/zimdays002.php
Across many towns the start of the
festive season was heralded by the
Christmas lights across our streets;
attending the school Nativity play; and
listening to Carols sung by
candlelight. In Harare the Christmas lights on
First Street heralded the
hustle and bustle of the shopping that until the
1990s was all concentrated
in this one main shopping street. It is hard to
remember now but throughout
the 1960s, 70s and 80s most shopping was carried
out in town centres -
usually on the 'Main Street'. We always used to buy
new clothes at this time
of year. And then there were the festive meals. In
the 1970s the foods we
now take for granted were thought of as special
Christmas 'treats'. Those
were the days when rice and chicken was really a
special meal for this was
the only time of year you could have a full
portion as a kid. I remember my
Mum used to order a dozen loaves of bread
from the local shops just for
Christmas. After lunch we would then take time
to bath, stretch our hair
with hot comb/stones and then wear our new clothes
and then set off to the
shops to show off. In the 1960s and 1970s Christmas
meant slaughtering an ox
for the celebrations. There would be enough for the
whole family gathered in
the rural homestead over the celebrations and a
hind or quarter each to take
back to the city after the event.