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Mugabe scared of his sins: Mabhena

Zim Standard

      By Nqobani Ndlovu

      BULAWAYO - President Robert Mugabe wants to hang on to power to
avoid having "to pay for the crimes he committed" during his 26-year reign,
says former PF- Zapu secretary-general and provincial governor, Welshman
Mabhena.

      Mabhena becomes the second veteran of the struggle, after Edgar
Tekere, to publicly condemn Mugabe's "machinations" to extend his current
term beyond 2008.

      Mugabe claims the country would save money by "harmonisation the
presidential and parliamentary elections".

      Yet he seemed to betray his real intention when he told visiting
Canadian journalists that he would not leave as long as his party, Zanu PF,
continued to be plagued by disunity.

      He also confirmed he had initiated calls for the harmonisation
of the polls because this would enable him to avoid elections in 2008.

       Mugabe suffered a setback at his party's annual conference at
Goromonzi last week when the adoption of the controversial resolution was
deferred to the Zanu PF central committee after a number of provinces voiced
their discontent.

      An unimpressed Mabhena, at one time the right hand man of the
late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo during the struggle, warned that Mugabe's
manoeuvres could tempt Zimbabweans to revolt against him.

      Mabhena said: "Mugabe is trying the people's patience and what
he is doing now is trying to cover up for the crimes he committed. He now
wishes to die in power so that he would not account for his wrongdoing. The
long-suffering people of Zimbabwe will not let him go scot-free this time.

      "He is a monster and his fear of his crimes is now evident. He
should pay for the crimes he committed. The people of Matabeleland have not
forgotten and once he steps down he would have to pay for his crimes. That
is the reason he is refusing to step down."

      The veteran politician said Mugabe still had a chance to leave
office honourably, when his current term expires in 2008. But said his
attempts to hang on to power would tempt Zimbabweans to revolt against him.

      "Amending the constitution, through Parliament would not help
him. He is not wanted. He should leave before more damage is done to the
country and maybe Zimbabweans would forgive him."

       Mabhena noted that Mugabe had shown that he did not care for
Zimbabweans, by refusing to step down from power, though it has become
obvious that he has failed to rule the country.

      "Mugabe has killed everything in this country, Zimbabwe has been
reduced to a tuck-shop and if he does not leave office now he would go the
same way as other dictators. Zimbabweans have been patient for too long but
that does not mean that they are stupid," he said.

      Meanwhile, Gweru businessman and opposition MDC activist Patrick
Kombayi has added his voice to growing calls for Mugabe to quit.

      Kombayi said while he appreciated the idea of harmonising the
election, Mugabe, his former teacher, should retire in 2008 and allow a
provisional government of unity to take over. Kombayi said the provisional
government would draw a new constitution and prepare for 2010 elections
where a new government would be elected.

      "He (Mugabe) has played his part. He has to resign in 2008 and
enjoy his pension," said Kombayi who was shot and maimed by state security
agents while campaigning against Vice-President Simon Muzenda in 1990.

      Mabhena and Kombayi's comments come after reports that civil
society groups have resolved to lead protests against the postponement of
the presidential elections to 2010.


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Nkomo clears air on Mugabe term

Zim Standard

      By Foster Dongozi

      THE recent Zanu PF conference in Goromonzi did not adopt a
resolution allowing President Robert Mugabe to remain in office until 2010,
the chairman of the conference, John Nkomo, said in Harare this week.

      A resolution proposing the harmonisation of the presidential and
parliamentary elections has been widely recognised as a pretext to prolong
Mugabe's reign.

      That resolution, like all the others, was not adopted by the
conference, Nkomo said.

      In fact, no resolutions were adopted or passed by the
conference, said Nkomo, Zanu PF's national chairman.

      In an interview with The Standard, Nkomo, who is the Speaker of
the House of Assembly, said the resolutions would be passed on to the
central committee of the party for consideration.

      The conference in Goromonzi, he said, had taken note of the
resolutions. It had not adopted any of them.

      At the end of the proceedings, which were broadcast live on
state television, Nkomo announced the committee resolutions would be
referred to the central committee and provincial co-ordinating committees
for further discussion.

      The Standard reported last week the committee resolutions were
not finalised at the conference after senior Zanu PF officials revolted
against Mugabe's plan to prolong his stay in power by two years.

      Under the present constitutional arrangement, Mugabe would
retire in 2008. An election would follow. Under the proposal to "harmonise"
the two elections, the presidential election would be postponed to 2010, the
year in which the parliamentary election, held every five years, would be
due.

      What seemed to vex most of Mugabe's critics was whether, after
2010, he would retire, or would devise another strategy to prolong his stay
in power.

       After the conference in Goromonzi, Zanu PF delegates were left
dumbfounded, when it was announced that the resolutions of the conference
would be sent to them in the rural areas for further discussion.

      At previous conferences, resolutions have always been tabled and
adopted.

      Mugabe added to the confusion by misleading journalists at the
end of the conference, by announcing there was consensus over the
harmonisation of the elections, when his lieutenants were not singing from
the same songbook.

      Sources in the politburo and the central committee say Mugabe's
desire to cling to power beyond 2008 had seriously divided the party. The
effect was to unite a number of factions to prevent the party leader from
having his way.

       It turned out that while some committees endorsed harmonisation
of elections, they did not support Mugabe's stay until 2010.

       Last Thursday, Nkomo said: "There were no resolutions adopted at
the conference. The conference noted some resolutions by some committees but
because not all the resolutions were read out, they were referred to the
central committee and provincial co-ordinating committees.

      "After further discussions, then will come the implementing
process."

      Nkomo said it was not unusual to refer the issues to the central
Committee. "According to our constitution the central committee is the organ
mandated even to amend the constitution before it is referred to the
congress. It is normal."

       Mashonaland East and Harare provinces did not endorse Mugabe's
stay in power after 2008.

      Mashonaland West, Mugabe's home turf, and Mashonaland Central,
presidential aspirant Joice Mujuru's area, initially defied Mugabe's wishes
and reportedly changed their stance to avoid "embarrassing the old man",
conference sources said.


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Zisco probe crosses borders

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      THE government has taken its probe into the alleged looting of
steel production utility Ziscosteel by senior officials across the border
into Botswana and South Africa, a government minister has said.

      Anti-Corruption minister Paul Mangwana told journalists in
Chinhoyi that investigators had gone outside the country to investigate the
alleged looting of Ziscosteel by top politicians and government officials.

      Mangwana said the Ziscosteel case was still being probed and
heads were likely to roll.

      He was responding to questions on the progress of investigations
into the Ziscosteel scandal and the role his Anti-Corruption ministry was
playing in the case.

      "We are investigating issues where the management would sell our
steel below the cost price, and also the hiring of foreign companies to do
work that can be done by local companies and the purchasing of sub-standard
equipment from outside the country," said Mangwana.

      But he warned journalists not to write speculatively on
corruption cases, as this would scupper investigations.

      Mangwana, addressing journalists at the launch of the Chinhoyi
Press club, spoke of his ambitions in the ruling party's hierarchy. He said
he was comfortable as a central committee member, but would accept a
politburo appointment in the event that he was appointed.


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Soaring commodity prices dampen christmas cheer

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      RISING prices and shortages of basic commodities have taken the
cheer off Christmas, surveys by The Standard have shown.

      Most people interviewed this week in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare
and Masvingo, said considering the rate at which prices were rising, and the
hyperinflationary environment, this Christmas holiday spelt doom for most
consumers, who virtually have no money.

      They said Christmas was supposed to be a time for joy but was
fast becoming a nightmare for many families.

       Others said they could not afford the bus fare to travel to
their rural areas to see their loved ones, as they used to do in the past.

      School fees "headaches" appeared to afflict many parents.

      In Harare, scores were seen yesterday queuing for bread and
other basic commodities such as sugar and flour in the few shops open around
the city.

      The only people who seemed to be enjoying the season were the
free-spending Zimbabweans who had arrived from either Botswana or South
Africa where they are working.

       But for the majority, who have not been fortunate enough to find
work outside the country, the festive season has turned out to be more of
the same: a never-ending struggle to survive.

      People in Harare and Bulawayo said the sharp increase in prices
of basic foodstuffs had taken the cheer off Christmas as disposable incomes
have shrunk to amazing levels.

      Shop assistants at major retail outlets reported a marked
decline in business, compared with previous years.

       They said most shoppers were only on the hunt for scarce basic
commodities such as sugar, cooking oil and maize-meal than traditional
Christmas "goodies".

      Martin Ndebele said he had a tough time convincing his children
this year's Christmas would be like any other normal day due to the biting
crises.

      "Prices are increasing sharply," said Ndebele. "This Christmas
would be just like any other day for me and my family, with no luxuries as
life is difficult. Unfortunately children can't understand this but there is
nothing I can do."

      Nomalanga Marufu of Makokoba said she had set aside her whole
salary for the uniforms for her two children.

      "I can't afford to treat my kids this Christmas. I have no
Christmas to talk about and I have decided to buy uniforms which are also
very expensive."

      While many moaned that there was nothing merry about this
Christmas, others, with relatives working outside the country, sang a
different, joyous tune.

      Rhoda Moyo said: "I have two sons who work out of the country
and they have already sent Christmas groceries. I am lucky because I am not
going to miss anything."

      Residents of Masvingo, interviewed on their sentiments on
Christmas this year, said the economic situation had contributed immensely
to the "relegation" of Christmas Day to just another day.

      "For many of us, Christmas has lost its meaning," said Tinashe
Goronga.

      "Hamheno kuti tichararama sei kusvika 2010 (I don't know how we
will survive till 2010)," said a forlorn-looking woman who was selling fish
at a supermarket in Mbuya Nehanda Street in Harare.

      Most people who used to travel to their rural homes indicated
they could no longer afford the ever-increasing transport costs. So they
would rather stay in the city, queuing for basic commodities.

      A visit to the Mucheke bus terminus showed very little activity
as many people had decided they could not afford the bus fare to their rural
homes.

      The Executive Mayor of Masvingo, Alois Chaimiti, lamented the
economic meltdown. "People really recognise Christmas here and they want to
engage with relatives but many are facing serious constrains due to the
continued economic demise in the country. A lot of people will not celebrate
much. Some will not be able to buy bread, cooking oil or even meat due to
the fact that they either can't afford or they will not find the commodities
in the shops," Chaimiti said.

      The Masvingo mayor disbursed $1,9 million from the Mayor's
Christmas Cheer Fund to more than 30 needy institutions in the province,
including the Mucheke Old People's Home, Alpha Cottages Orphanage, Copota
School of the Blind, among others.
      The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said things were getting
tougher for consumers.

      "As the year comes to an end, CCZ bemoans the fact that again in
2006 consumers endured untold suffering. The incomes of many consumers have
lagged behind, whilst weekly if not daily price increases wreaked havoc on
consumer pockets," said CCZ in a statement.

      The monthly cost of living as depicted by the CCZ for a
low-income urban family of six has risen from $208 714.84 in November to
$245 661.79 in December reflecting a 17.7% increase.


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Mapostori in trouble over toilets

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      BULAWAYO - The Bulawayo City Council announced last week it
would raid "open air churches", most of them featuring the white-robed
Mapostori sects, whose worshippers are accused of making "unbearable noise"
and "fouling the areas with human waste".

      The latest council minutes say the raids would be in accordance
with council by-laws barring people from congregating on open municipal
stands. The campaign would be to prevent a major health disaster, according
to the minutes.

      There has recently been a proliferation of religious sects, most
dressed in the white flowing gowns associated with the Mapostori. The
worshippers have always held their sermons in open spaces.

      According to a health, housing and education committee report,
the council had received complaints from residents near the places of
worship, expressing their fear of a health disaster arising from the unholy
conduct of worshippers at open spaces.

      "These worshippers were creating unbearable noise to the
residents, fouling the area with human waste and litter everywhere,
particularly on weekends," reads part of the council report.

      "Discussion ensued and councillors expressed concern on churches
worshipping on open council stands. They had sprung up all over and were a
nuisance to residents and a health hazard. By-laws needed to be enforced,"
say the minutes.

      The director of health services, Zanele Hwalima, warned the
council meeting "the matter has to be addressed before the situation
deteriorates into a health disaster".

      Phathisa Nyathi, the council's public relations officer, and
Moffat Ndlovu, the town clerk, could not be reached for comment. Comment
could also not be obtained from the worshippers who are normally seen during
the weekends.

      When a reporter visited some of the open spaces where they
conducted their sermons, neighbours said the worshippers only came during
the weekends.

      The planned council raids are likely to anger the Mapostori who
have gathered in the open spaces since before independence.


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White farmer arrested for resisting land grab

Zim Standard

      BY VALENTINE MAPONGA

      A white commercial farmer in the Midlands was arrested this week
for allegedly resisting government efforts to acquire his property under the
land reform programme.

      The move is forcing a number of the remaining white commercial
farmers to seek A2 farmer status.

      The unnamed farmer became the first victim of the recently
gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act, which became operational on
Thursday.

      The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban
Development, Ignatiuos Chombo, announced at the recent Zanu PF conference
that the new law would ensure that all white farmers with eviction orders
leave.

      The law also prohibits individuals from holding, using or
occupying gazetted land without lawful authority.

      It stipulates that anyone breaching a section of the Act shall
be guilty of an offence.

      Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) spokesperson, Emily
Crooks, told The Standard the farmer was arrested and immediately taken to
court. Farmers' organisations refused to reveal his name, saying this would
not be in his best interest.

      A Kwekwe court official identified the farmer as Robert Derrick
Swift but union officials would not confirm if he was the same farmer they
were referring to.

      "The case is a bit strange because he was arrested days before
the Bill came into effect. He was immediately taken to court and released on
bail," Crooks said.

      She said the farmer would be back in court again early next
year.

      The CFU vice-president, Trevor Gifford, said most of their
members had applied to the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Rural
Resettlement for A2 status.

      "Regrettably, most of our members have not been given the offer
letters. Currently, there are only 16 who have received the 99-year leases,"
Gifford said.

       He said the commercial farmers wanted to play an active role in
ensuring food security in the country. But as long as the chaos on the farms
continued, there was nothing they could do.

      "Agriculture is not something that can be done on and off. There
are a lot of preparations involved. A farmer should first get the security
on his land, so that he can prepare," Gifford said.

      Since the onset of the government's chaotic land reform
programme, over 140 000 black farmers have benefited under the A1 model and
another 14 000 under the A2 scheme.

      The land reform has, however, led to an economic meltdown and an
unprecedented loss of production in agriculture.


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'Zimbabwe now a police state'

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      POLICE brutality has grown to unprecedented levels during the
past six years, a study carried out by two non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) has revealed.

      Titled "Policing The State", the report by the Institute of
Justice and Reconciliation and the Solidarity Peace Trust says police in
Zimbabwe are increasingly resorting to violence to deal with demonstrations.
It provides detailed evidence to back up its claims.

      The findings of this report are based on lawyers' records from
38 legal firms in Zimbabwe who submitted data relating to 1 981 politically
motivated arrests.

      The reports show that "police routinely pick up activists ahead
of planned actions, knowing that they neither need, nor intend, to prove
that the arrestee has committed a crime".

      The report released in Johannesburg last week noted:

      "Police brutality is routine, with torture of arrestees
occurring in 33% of cases. Cell conditions are shocking, and defending
lawyers run the risk of assault, harassment or incarceration."

      It warns that the Zimbabwe government has reverted to "patterns
of State control established under colonialism, including mass arrests in
terms of repressive legislation, combined with brutality against civilians".

      Speaking at the launch of the report, Archbishop Pius Ncube said
Zimbabwe had become a police state.

      "The police act as Zanu PF's minions. They do what the party
says."

      An October 2006 Political Violence report released by the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum also slammed the police, saying they were
beating up innocent demonstrators. It cited as examples, the arrests of
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Women of Zimbabwe Arise
demonstrators recently.


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War veteran Mhanda denies theft as trial opens

Zim Standard

      BY VALENTINE MAPONGA

      THE trial of a war veteran known during the struggle as Dzinashe
Machingura on a charge of theft by conversion opened in Harare this week.

      The former director of the Zimbabwe Liberators' Platform (ZLP)
is appearing under his real name, Wilfred Mhanda.

      He resigned as the director of the ZLP in July 2004.

      He is jointly charged with Wilson Nharingo, the organisation's
former programmes co-ordinator. They appeared in the magistrates' court on
Wednesday.

      Mhanda is accused of withdrawing money from an offshore account
of the organisation in Botswana in 2003 without the approval of the board.

      Mhanda and Nharingo are alleged to have bought five motor
vehicles, inflating the prices to US$29 400.

      But the ZLP, led by Wabata Munodawafa alleges the organisation
was prejudiced of US$15 500 in the process.

      Munodawafa, the current ZLP director, and Celestino Gavhera, the
chairman of the finance committee, testifying in court on Wednesday, said
the two former leaders had converted the foreign currency to their personal
use.

      Munodawafa said from his experience in buying cars for sale, it
was clear that the vehicle prices were inflated.

      "When we discovered two invoices for one vehicle, we strongly
felt that an offence was committed and reported the matter to the police
since they are better investigators. There were receipts or invoices for
some of the cars," said Munodawafa under cross-examination.

      He said an audit conducted by KPMG had revealed irregularities
in the purchase of the cars.

       Munodawafa said they had documentary evidence to prove that the
organisation was prejudiced.

      "From the available evidence, ZLP was prejudiced of US$12 100 in
respect of four vehicles. Our estimates on the fifth vehicle would be at
least US$3 400, bringing the total to about US$15 500," he said.

      Under cross-examination, Munodawafa was forced to admit that he
was not an expert in the sale of motor vehicles and was therefore not better
placed to talk about vehicle prices.

       Gavhera, Happy Mariri and Ishmael Dube also testified as State
witnesses, with two more State witnesses expected to join them.

      Mhanda and Nharingo are represented by Selby Hwacha of Dube,
Manikai and Hwacha.

      They have both pleaded not guilty.

       The case was adjourned to 16 January next year.


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AirZim's MA60 fails to take off

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      BULAWAYO - One Air Zimbabwe's Chinese MA60 planes recently
failed to take off from Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo after
developing a technical fault.

      Passengers in the 7:15am Tuesday domestic flight to Harare were
forced to disembark after the MA60 started coughing smoke.

      For 30 minutes, The Standard was told, the plane failed to take
off, prompting the flight attendants to announce that the plane had
developed a technical fault.

       David Mwenga, the airline's public relations manager, confirmed
the MA60 plane scheduled to fly to Harare, failed to take off due to a
technical fault.

      The Standard learnt that passengers were delayed for nearly six
hours as engineers attended to the fault.

      The Chinese-made planes have encountered a host of technical
problems since their acquisition under the government's Look East policy
over a year ago.

      Mwenga recently said there was nothing peculiar about the planes'
technical problems as they were recently introduced into the aircraft
industry.

      Recent reports suggest Air Zimbabwe has resorted to stripping
grounded planes of their parts to fix the troublesome MA60's.


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Zimbabweans in Diaspora:

Zim Standard

      THE BBC News website has been speaking to Zimbabweans who have
left the country in recent years about their reasons and the risks they
took. Justin Pearce looks at the reality behind the emigration figures.

      Emigration has become a way of life in Zimbabwe - so much so
that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has started a
campaign specifically to advise and help those considering to migrate.

      Significantly, the IOM has done so with the co-operation of the
Zimbabwe government, which tacitly admits that its citizens are leaving en
masse.

      So where are all the people going?

      Figures published by the IOM suggest that the largest group of
legal emigrants - 36.8% of the total - go to the United Kingdom, while only
4.8% go to South Africa.

      These figures represent the numbers of people who have emigrated
from Zimbabwe using official channels since 1990. In total, the figures
suggest about 500 000 have left in 15 years.

       But anecdotal evidence and common sense indicate that these
figures for legal migration give a skewed idea of the whole picture.

      The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said 1.2 million Zimbabweans had
gone to South Africa since 1990.

      A South African government minister recently said there were two
million Zimbabweans living in South Africa - Joyce Dube of the South African
Women's Institute for Migration Affairs estimates the figure to be even
higher, around three million.

      "Go from the Limpopo to Cape Town, and you will find Zimbabweans
in numbers," she says.

      Other observers cast doubt on these figures - after all, South
Africa's population is around 40 million, so two million Zimbabweans would
mean five percent of those people were actually Zimbabweans. Still others
prefer not to fix a number.

      "We'd hate to quantify, because of the xenophobia caused by talk
of opening the floodgates of immigration," says Abeda Bhamjee, a refugee
lawyer at the University of the Witwatersrand Law Clinic in Johannesburg.

      However unclear the numbers, what is clear is that Zimbabweans
who go to South Africa or neighbouring Botswana are much more likely to
disappear from the official statistics.

       Rather than seeking a work permit and getting on a flight to
Europe or North America, they simply slip across the border - often doing so
again and again after being caught by the South African authorities. "They
are deported, then the next day they are back," Joyce Dube says.
"Deportation is a waste of money."

      Why are Zimbabweans leaving in such numbers?

      Until recently, one important reason has been that there is more
money to be made elsewhere.

      Skilled public servants in Zimbabwe have seen their wages
rendered almost worthless by runaway inflation.

      The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) did a study on
health professionals leaving Zimbabwe in 2002, and found that economic
factors were cited by the greatest number of migrants (54% of the
interviewees) as their reason for leaving Zimbabwe.

      Around 30% pointed to professional reasons such as inadequate
working conditions, and a similar number said political considerations had
been a factor in prompting them to leave Zimbabwe.

      Since 2000, a further economically important group of migrants
has been white farmers - government policy changes led to the seizure of 4
000 white-owned farms, and many who lost land sought new opportunities
elsewhere in Africa or overseas.

      But far greater numbers of Zimbabweans felt the heavy hand of
government with the launch last year of Operation Murambatsvina, the urban
clean-up that the UN says left 700 000 people homeless.

      Joyce Dube confirms that Murambatsvina has been a further reason
for Zimbabweans to flee to South Africa - and she believes that these days,
around 80% of the Zimbabweans who come to South Africa are leaving their
country for political reasons.

      For Zimbabweans who lack the professional qualifications that
would secure them a ticket and a visa to get overseas, South Africa and
Botswana are the obvious choices.

      While these neighbouring countries have absorbed a number of
Zimbabwean professionals, the majority of cross-border migrants are
unskilled labourers.

      "The official policy is that no one should be denied the
opportunity to apply for asylum," Abeda Bhamjee points out, but adds that
there are "internal and external pressures" on South African officialdom to
keep Zimbabweans out.

      The ease of access from Zimbabwe to South Africa makes officials
wary of setting a precedent in granting asylum to Zimbabweans.

      Moreover, acknowledging that Zimbabwe's internal problems
warranted granting asylum to its citizens would contradict President Thabo
Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards his northern neighbour.

      Attempts to number the new arrivals are further complicated by
the fact that, as far back as colonial times, there has always been a flow
of people between Zimbabwe and its neighbours.

      "With migrant workers there has always been a relationship,
especially with southern Zimbabweans," recent migrant Mlalumi Nkomo points
out. "Zimbabweans have always been part of South African life."

      Will the Zimbabwean diaspora ever go back? SAMP's research
indicates that Zimbabweans are reluctant to cut ties with their homeland.

      A study of final year students in Zimbabwe revealed that while
many were considering seeking employment abroad, less than one-third would
give up their homes in Zimbabwe, and barely a quarter would be prepared to
renounce their Zimbabwean citizenship.

       Those who fail to secure legal status and decent employment
abroad are most likely to return to Zimbabwe as soon as circumstances there
improve.

      Those who have already established themselves professionally
seem more ambivalent.

      "I want to retire in my early 50s - when I am still strong
enough to go back and reintegrate into society," one Zimbabwean health
professional, now working in the United Kingdom, told the BBC News website.

      "Until then we will continue to go home on holiday every two
years, to keep the ties alive and so that we remain recognisable to those we
left behind," he added.

      But for those who have legalised themselves in other countries,
the longer they stay, the more entrenched they will become in their adoptive
homes.

      "There's nothing compared to being back at home but for now it
is the last place I could think of being," says Constantine Mkinya, a lawyer
who has settled in the United States. - BBC NEWS


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Mnangagwa alleges smear campaign

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      BULAWAYO - Zanu PF politburo member, Emmerson Mnangagwa, says he
is aware of attempts by a number of former freedom fighters in the Midlands
to soil his political image.

       Reports suggest the Zanu PF succession issue has split the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association into two camps.

      One camp supports Vice-President Joice Mujuru, the other
Mnangagwa, the Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities.

      Mnangagwa made the comments in an interview last week after
learning that war veterans reportedly aligned to Mujuru recently wrote to
President Robert Mugabe, claiming he was fuelling factionalism in the
province.

       Zanu PF sources said the Midlands' war veterans'
secretary-general Shadreck Makombe and Godfrey Pambuka, the association's
leader in Kwekwe district, wrote asking Mugabe to intervene by reining in
Mnangagwa.

       The two alleged Mnangagwa was victimising members of the
pro-Mujuru camp.

      Pambuka confirmed in an interview his group had appealed to
Mugabe "to stop Mnangagwa from sowing seeds of division in the province". He
said he would be forced to approach the President personally if nothing was
done.

      "With Mnangagwa we have different interests, but if he continues
with his bad manners, I will personally approach the President," Pambuka
said.

      "Every leader is liable to criticism and I believe that we had
and we continue to have a right to do so. I don't want to talk much about
the letter we sent to the President."

      Mnangagwa accused the war veterans of tarnishing his political
image.

      He said: "These are people among the war veterans' association
and in the party in the Midlands vanoda kusvibisa zita rangu mupolitics (who
want to tarnish my image). Where do they get the powers?"

      Mnangagwa would not shed more light on the issue or entertain
any other questions from The Standard.

      Another faction of the war veterans led by Harris Ncube, the
chairman of the Midlands provincial association, said Pambuka and Makombe
were waging "a personal war" against Mnangagwa.

      Ncube said: "The letter has nothing to do with the Midlands war
veterans. It's the opinions of those two guys. They also had no legal
authority to write the letter. I should have signed the letter as the
chairman of the province."

      The Midlands, like many other Zanu PF provinces, has been rocked
by factionalism, condemned by Mugabe at the recent Zanu PF conference in
Goromonzi.

      Mujuru and Mnangagwa are considered the leading contenders in
the succession battle.

      Mugabe, who is pushing for the harmonisation of the presidential
and parliamentary elections, has indicated the he will not leave office in
2008, as previously suggested.


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Dabengwa evidence in Moyo defamation case set for May

Zim Standard

      BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

      BULAWAYO - The Bulawayo High Court has adjourned to May next
year the $200 million defamation lawsuit in which former minister of
information, Jonathan Moyo, is suing two senior Zanu PF officials.

      The presiding judge, Justice Francis Bere, has set 8 May 2007 as
the date for the continuation of the trial.

      Bere said the courts were facing a serious backlog and needed to
clear the cases.

      Moyo is suing Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo, and the
party's politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa, for defamation.

      The case was initially allocated nine days but the days were
exhausted before the second respondent, Dabengwa, could give his evidence.

      Dabengwa is expected to take the stand when the case resumes in
May next year.

       The defamation case has so far exposed a number of Zanu PF
skeletons. For example, Nkomo, the national chairman, revealed that the
politburo had no power to amend the constitution, but still did, paving the
way for Vice-President Joice Mujuru, to ascend to her position.

       Confidential documents, including Zanu PF politburo, district
and provincial co-ordinating committee minutes, are to be presented as key
evidence.

      This is probably the first time in Zimbabwean legal history that
both plaintiff and defendant's legal teams have used confidential documents
from the ruling party's organs as evidence in a court of law.

      The case hinges on the confidential party documents now being
closely analysed by the two sets of lawyers.

       Moyo alleges Nkomo and Dabengwa defamed him when they allegedly
told a party meeting that he plotted to topple President Robert Mugabe.

       Both men deny the charges.

      Nkomo in his evidence-in-chief said Moyo was suing them in order
to frustrate them.

       Among key party figures due to testify are government ministers
Patrick Chinamasa, Abednico Ncube, Andrew Langa, Francis Nhema, Flora Bhuka,
former minister July Moyo and war veterans' leader Joseph Chinotimba.


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MDC says going ahead with preparations for 2008 poll

Zim Standard

      By Foster Dongozi

      THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society say
they are preparing for presidential elections in 2008 because they believe
President Robert Mugabe cannot remain in office until 2010.

      Mugabe's handlers in the military and other security organs
reportedly want him to be life president.

      But the plan appeared to hit a brick wall at the Zanu PF annual
conference when other leaders blocked Mugabe's bid to bring this about. The
conference ended in chaos as no resolutions were adopted, forcing the
leaders to refer the issue to the central committee which is expected to
endorse his wishes.

      The anti-Senate MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has begun
its campaign for the 2008 presidential election with all posters at their
rallies with messages to vote for Tsvangirai.

      An official in an alliance that groups the opposition and civic
society, said in an interview: "There is a big section within the
pro-democracy groups that is suspicious they may be lulled into a false
sense of security by Zanu PF's apparent confusion over Mugabe, and relax
until 2010.

      "Some people feel that with the opposition comatose, confused
and divided, Mugabe could still pull the rug from under their feet by
calling for surprise presidential elections in 2008 and still win a mandate,
no matter how flawed."

       Others thought by 2010, Mugabe may not be around and this would
force the opposition to challenge Mugabe's replacement.

      Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the Tsvangirai faction, confirmed
their suspicions on the apparent uncertainty about Mugabe's term of office.
"As the MDC, we have always been and are prepared for an election and we are
currently mobilising our members to prepare for the presidential election in
2008."

      Chamisa said they were actively campaigning for the creation of
a free electoral environment in 2008. "Participating in the 2008
presidential elections is premised on the need to have a new people-driven
democratic constitution and to have non-partisan electoral bodies because
under the present set-up, no political party, no matter how organised, can
win an election in Zimbabwe."

      Chamisa said the recent call by electoral bodies that elections
should be harmonised was a clear indication that even organisations
responsible for running elections were under the control of Zanu PF.

      On Wednesday, the Save Zimbabwe campaign, which groups more than
30 opposition political parties, the Church, non-governmental organisations,
students and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions declared they would
resist all efforts to postpone the elections.

      A statement issued after their meeting said: "Save Zimbabwe will
do all that is permissible in a democratic society to challenge the ruling
Zanu PF party's intentions to refuse the people of Zimbabwe the right to
select leaders of their own choice under a democratic constitutional
dispensation."


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Guards pictured in the act

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      SECURITY guards and soldiers on duty at ZBC studios at Pockets
Hill in Harare were taught a lesson they should have learnt in training
school: you can't cheat the camera.

      Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) exposed them as the culprits
who stole speakers and microphones from the studios.

      Both were on duty to guard against such thefts.

      Pockets Hill sources said police investigations have implicated
security guards and the soldiers who man the premises as the thieves.The
sources said the soldiers' identities were established after investigators
checked the CCTV footage.

       "The CCTV has revealed that the soldiers and the guards are the
chief culprits in the alleged thefts," said a source.

      The source said the CCTV was only switched on last Sunday and
the theft was perpetrated in the evening of the same day.

      Contacted for comment last week ZBH chief executive officer
Henry Muradzikwa said he was attending the Zanu PF national conference in
Goromonzi.

      "I have not been informed about that," Muradzikwa said.


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Hitler jibe lands teacher behind bars

Zim Standard

       BY OUR STAFF

      FOR two days a 35-year-old secondary schoolteacher shared a
Masvingo police cell with ravenous lice after she remarked that it was as if
Zimbabwe was ruled by the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler.

      Letwin Matereke of Mucheke Secondary School was arrested for
allegedly denigrating President Robert Mugabe.

      Matereke appeared before a Masvingo magistrate, Caution
Nyamukondiwa, on Tuesday last week on charges of undermining the authority
of the President or insulting him.

      The prosecutor, Felix Charomwe, told the court that on 17
December 2006, Matereke was travelling on a commuter bus along the
Nyika-Masvingo road.

      She allegedly denigrated the President by saying that "Hitler is
ruling the country".

      The court heard she was contributing to a discussion among the
passengers on the economic hardships most people were facing. It was alleged
that, at this stage, the passengers started blaming their plight on
corruption, referring in particular to the drama in Marange, Manicaland,
where the discovery of diamonds has led to what has been a "diamond rush".

      The State alleges Matereke intervened during the discussion to
say it was as if the country was ruled by Adolf Hitler.

      A soldier sitting quietly in the bus dragged Matereke to the
police station when the bus reached Masvingo.

      The soldier, identified as Sgt Obert Shaika, based at 4 Brigade,
was cited as the complainant.

      Matereke was subsequently locked up in the cells where she said
the lice feasted on her for two days before she was hauled to the Masvingo
Magistrate's Court.

      She was remanded out of custody to 31 January next year.


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MP turns his back on MDC councillors

Zim Standard

      BY GODFRY MUTIMBA

      MASVINGO - The Zanu PF legislator for Bikita West , Claudius
Makova, has allegedly refused to recognise four MDC councillors who were
recently elected into office, saying that he was not prepared to work with
opposition members in his constituency.

      The ruling party lost four wards in Bikita West during the 28
October Rural District Council elections. The development has pushed Makova
into a corner as he is reportedly underfire from party officils and war
veterans who closed Zanu PF offices accusing him of contributing to the
party's loss.

      Makova allegedly told the councillors that he would not work
with opposition councillors and preferred to work with former councillors
who lost in the elections, in a bid to appease the angry party officials and
war veterans.

      The development came to light when Makova refused to work with
Ward 14 councillor, Elisha Manyadze, who was barred from attending a
function where the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF)
donated mosquito nets to vulnerable children under the age of five in his
Ward recently.

      Manyangadze told The Standard that he was invited by UNICEF
through the Ministry of Health to attend the meeting as the representative
of his Ward and had been tasked with drawing up names of vulnerable children
from his Ward so they would benefit from the distribution of the mosquito
nets.

      Manyangadze said he was shocked when the same officials who
invited him rejected the names the councillor had compiled when he submitted
them before the function. He was informed, he said, the instruction not to
accept his list was from Makova.


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Curtain down on a 'nerve-racking' year for business

Zim Standard

      BY NDAMU SANDU

      ANNUS Horribilis! Executives will be heaving a sigh of relief
when the chapter on the tumultuous year closes on Sunday next week.

      Indeed this was a nerve-racking year in which only the die-hards
managed to pull through, while the faint-hearted were left with dejection
written on every line of their faces.

      For the first time since Independence from Britain in 1980,
business executives were arrested for allegedly increasing the prices of
commodities without the consent of the Ministry of Industry and
International Trade.

      In October, Mohammed Mussa Wholesalers general manager Sharif
Mussa, was jailed for 30 days, while his employer was fined $590 000 for
repackaging sugar and failing to produce invoices for bags of cement he was
selling.
      He spent four days in prison before being released on $1.5
million bail by the High Court, pending his appeal against both conviction
and sentence.

       Early this month Lobel's CEO Burombo Mudumo and his operations
manager, Lemmy Chikomo, were jailed for an effective four months for
increasing the price of bread without government's approval. The duo spent a
weekend in prison before being granted a $20 000 bail each by High Court
Judge Charles Hungwe. Lobel's was separately fined $10 000 for raising bread
prices without government approval.

      The arrests also claimed an official in the Ministry of Industry
and International Trade, Norman Chakanetsa, who was nabbed in October for
allegedly increasing the price of bread without government consent. But the
government was left with egg on its face after the State withdrew the
charges last Monday - another own goal by the government!
      The Pricing and Incomes Commission Bill, which calls for a
five-year jail term and cessation of business by violators, is in the
pipeline. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), president Callisto
Jokonya, and his Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) counterpart,
Marah Hativagone must know their members have to brace themselves for a
tough 2007.

      The arrests offer lessons to Zimbabwe's business executives:
when the labour unions say the government is bad, they have no intentions to
unseat the government: they are just stating a matter of fact.

      Another economic blueprint, the National Economic Development
Priority Programme (NEDPP) was launched in April, promising Zimbabweans El
Dorados: US$2.5 billion within nine months. As the year drew a close, there
was not a success in sight.

       Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi sent shivers
down the spines of mining executives by proposing that the government would
take over 51% shareholding in all mines in an ill-timed amendment proposal
in March. The proposed amendments came shortly before the IMF Executive
Board meeting.

      When the Board met, it did not restore Zimbabwe's voting rights,
notwithstanding the fact that the government had cleared its arrears under
the critical General Resources Account. The IMF Executive Board meets early
next year to decide Zimbabwe's fate.

       Red Star, which de-merged from the then ZSR, ended months of
drought by listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in January.

      The rebranding craze took ZSE by storm. ZSR rebranded into
starafricacorporation, Finhold into ZB Financial Services while CBZ became
CBZ Holdings.

      Renaissance muscled its way into First Mutual Limited, assuming
over 30% shareholding in the composite group. Renaisance group CEO Patterson
Timba was elected chairman of the life assurer, replacing David Murangari
who "resigned" from the group.

      FML group CEO Douglas Hoto, vocal in resisting Renaissance bid
to control FML, is leaving at the end of this month "to pursue other
interests" amid revelations that he was pushed out.

      In what could be the most historic event of the year, three
zeros were slashed and a new family of bearer's cheques introduced in
August, giving holders of the old bearer cheques a 21-day change-over
period. Of the $45 trillion in circulation of the old bearer's cheques, $35
trillion was returned in the money change-over period while $10 trillion was
nowhere to be seen.

      The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had to extend the period to
accommodate people in the rural areas who had not been successful in
changing money in the window period.

      Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa tried, with little success, to
assert his authority by announcing the quasi-fiscal expenditure would be
accommodated in the budget in an apparent attack on RBZ chief Gideon Gono
who was using the quasi-fiscal method as ammunition to rein in ministries
and parastatals. While Murerwa celebrated what was a phyrric victory, Gono
hit back with such aplomb it was Murerwa who was cut down to size. The spat,
though providing comic relief for the year, was ill-timed as the duo was
fiddling while the proverbial Rome was burning.

      Denys Denya will reflect on 2007 with pride. The former MBCA
boss was elevated to head of Nedbank Africa. Other movers of the year
include Mberikwazvo Chitambo who replaced Denya as MBCA boss and Hwange boss
Godfrey Dzinomwa who left the coalminer to pursue other opportunities in the
region.

      Franky Kufa paved the way for Nigel Chanakira at Kingdom
Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL).

       Death robbed the business community of Chris Gomwe and Mario dos
Remedios - reputable characters who walked tall in their careers. Gomwe
played a crucial role in the integration of SARE into FBCH while Mario was a
symbol of hope at Unity Court building. REST IN PEACE candles in the wind.


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River Ranch to export diamonds

Zim Standard

      BY OUR STAFF

      RIVER Ranch Limited says it will start exporting diamonds
following the conclusion of discussions with the Ministry of Mines and
Mining Development and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe
(MMCZ), executive director George Kantsouris said this week.

      "Exports can be expected to begin once we finalised discussions
with the ministry and the MMC."

      He could not give a time frame.

      At a press conference on Wednesday, River Ranch legal advisor,
retired Justice George Smith said River Ranch was the lawful holder of the
Special Grant 1278, giving it the greenlight to mine and export the
diamonds.

      The Special Grant 1278 is at the centre of a dispute between
River Ranch and Bubye Minerals.

      Early this month High Court Judge Lawrence Kamocha threw out an
application by Bubye to compel the Minister of Mines and Mining Development
to reverse his decision to cancel a special grant to the mine on the grounds
that it had not been properly ceded to them by the owners, River Ranch Ltd.

      But Bubye has since filed a notice of appeal in the Supreme
Court. Bubye owners are arguing that despite an Interim Order granted by
Justice Bharat Patel, upholding Bubye Minerals' right to Special Grant 1278,
both the Ministry of Mines and the police have failed to implement that
Order, condoning the illegal exploitation of the mine by River Ranch
Limited.


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Interest rates shoot up

Zim Standard

      marketwatch by Deborah-Fay Ndlovu

      INTEREST rates shot up last week, signalling a temporary
recovery from the jitters fuelled by the Christmas holiday fever.

      Investors were jostling to get into the money market after the
severe liquidity shortages, peaking up to $54,1 billion on Wednesday,
sparked an increase in short term rates.

       Deposit rates were averaging 300% for 7 to 14 days up from a low
of 50%. Banks were quoting 250% for 30 days, 60 days and 91 days.

       Analysts said such deficits were last experienced when the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the financial sector stabilisation bond.

       "The last trading week before Christmas is being characterised
by shortages of magnitudes last experienced when the RBZ issued financial
sector stabilisation bonds (fssb) a couple of weeks ago," said a dealer with
a Harare discount house.

      He said the shortages had been fuelled by corporate tax
payments.

      "The primary cause of the shortage was the corporate tax
payments that were due this week. Cash withdrawals by commercial banks also
contributed significantly to the liquidity deficit."

      The central bank, on the other hand, continued to issue 365-day
Treasury Bills that however failed to attract the interests of the investor.

      The equities was undeterred by the upward trend in interest
rates with the industrial index shooting up 1.39% points to close Wednesday
at 529 165.28 points.

      Gainers included PPC which upped $5 000 to $160 000. Hippo added
$200 to $1 150 while Meikles and Natfoods gained $100 each to $3 000 and $1
000 respectively.

      Losses were in BAT which eased $500 to $6 000.

      The mining index gained 5.59% points to close at 339,316.66
points. Halogen was up a significant $11 000 on Wednesday to $16 000.
Falgold recovered $10 to $140 while Rio Zim eased $200 to $5 800.


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The champs and chumps of 2006

Zim Standard

      By NDAMU SANDU

      THE year 2006 comes to an end on Sunday next week.
Standardbusiness names the champs and chumps for the year.

      Champs

      These distinguished themselves in a tough environment for
business. The winners are . . .

      Marah Hativagone and Callisto Jokonya (Business leaders)

      The duo fought tooth and nail against the government's move to
arrest business leaders. Thrust into office as Presidents of the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
respectively during the course of the year, Hativagone and Jokonya acquitted
themselves well, demystifying the notion that business leaders were
spineless, by rubber-stamping what had been said by the government.

      Patterson Timba (Renaissance group CEO)

      The soft-spoken Timba has proved to all and sundry that it is
the brains that matter, not the brawn or size. By orchestrating Renaissance's
acquisition of a 30% stake in First Mutual Limited, Timba showed the
intertwining of vision, brains and capital, earning himself his place in the
sun.

      Karikoga Kaseke (ZTA CEO)

      The ZTA boss acquitted himself well where other heads of
parastatals feared to tread: identifying journalists from the private media
as allies, not enemies.

      It was refreshing to note that Kaseke was honest in his
assessment of the need to attract tourists to Zimbabwe. ZTA will hold
roadshows in Canada next year, an indication that the West is still a factor
in tourism.

      The Portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International Trade chaired by Chipinge South legislator Enock Porusingazi.
The committee acquitted itself well by cutting Industry and International
Trade Minister Obert Mpofu down to size. Standar business wishes all the
parliamentary portfolio committees were the same.

      As a result of the committee's probing, Mpofu now faces
impeachment for taking parliamentary business for granted.

      Chumps

      This category was so tightly contested that candidates had to be
separated after a re-run. Those who lost by a single point are Mines
Minister Amos Midzi and his proposed mining amendments; the Ministry of
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare for failing to ensure that a
substantive head is appointed to head the National Social Security Authority
six years after the departure of a substantive general manager; and
parastatals for failing to wean off their dependency syndrome. The winners
are . . .

      Obert Mpofu (Industry and International Trade Minister)

      Mpofu stunned Parliament when he said that Ministers and MPs had
looted the coffers of troubled steelmaker ZISCOSTEEL. Mpofu later made a
sensational U-turn, saying he didn't mean that ministers and MPS had looted
the parastatal, but their companies were making profits while Zisco was
making losses. The august House didn't take it lightly and Mpofu faces
contempt of Parliament charges.

      David Scott (ex- FNBS provisional liquidator)

      The Guinness book of records should consider Scott as the
longest serving curator- provisional liquidator of financial institutions.
Scott, in office at First National Building Society (FNBS) since 7 February
2003 was finally shown the door at a stormy creditors', depositors' and
contributories' meeting in September, bringing to an end a 40-month
flirtation with the society.

      National Economic Development Priority Programme

      Here was an economic model that promised Zimbabweans heaven on
earth. It was a model that ignored the political environment prevailing in
the country. The 64 million dollar question is: Where is the US$2.5 billion
it promised to raise between six and nine months in the form of cash or
investments? With the deadline fast approaching, NEDPP backers have no
option but to apologise for misleading Zimbabweans into believing there was
light and the end of the tunnel.


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Goromonzi Indaba: An opportunity squandered

Zim Standard

Comment

      THE majority of Zimbabweans this time last year genuinely
believed that they would by now be significantly better off than during the
previous five years. The outcome of last week's Zanu PF annual conference
held in Goromonzi promises more of the same hardships they have endured
until 2010.

      In a matter of days the ruling party politicians have
successfully quashed prospects of a turnaround arising from opportunities
associated with the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

      If the 4 000 delegates and their leaders cared much for Zimbabwe
and its people and were committed to improving the lot of the citizens of
this country, then they would have seized the opportunity the conference
offered to signal to the international community that Zimbabwe was ready for
re-engagement.

      If the people who feasted on the best this country has to offer
in Goromonzi are determined to ignore the growing impoverishment they have
progressively subjected this country to, their grip on power is turning out
to be very costly.

      It is unwarranted for Zimbabwe to continue on the same
disastrous path that now forces Zimbabweans to cross borders in order to
shop for basic commodities or indeed find work.

      Anyone who has ever bothered to find out how the majority of
Zimbabweans are coping will realise that most of the citizens of this
country will not be able to afford the same Christmas they enjoyed last
year. And that was another lesson in increasing deprivation.

      It is common cause that even the ruling party's fat cats no
longer enjoy the same lifestyles they were used to more than half a decade
ago. Only a select few profit from the misery of the majority, but they
cannot buy security in their lavish existence if the majority around them
wallow in abject poverty. Those who are deprived will soon listen to their
stomachs and their hungry families. No amount of force will stop them. The
Goromonzi Indaba should have been a landmark conference in seeking to build
bridges with the rest of the world and setting this country on a new path,
promising the bright future it rightly deserves.

      Now more Zimbabweans will continue to flee the country in search
of greener pastures, while threats against the mining and manufacturing
sectors will result in heightened insecurity of private property that will
see a marked decline in investment levels, and employment creation. We
shudder to think what levels unemployment is going to scale between 2007 and
2010.

      The Goromonzi Indaba indicates the direction in which Zanu PF's
penchant for asset-grabbing will move next year. For those exposed to the
trauma of the farm seizures - the message is very clear: bale out fast
before Hurricane Zanu PF catches up with you.

      There are many explanations why President Robert Mugabe decided
not to relinquish power. They had nothing to do with serving the best
interests of the majority of Zimbabweans and the welfare of this country.

      When a country has lost more than a quarter of its productive
population and some of its best business minds to the rest of the world, it
is time for soul searching.Zimbabweis helping the region and the world to
develop by creating an environment the majority of its people is desperate
to escape.

      Zimbabwe's escalating economic crisis, which has exacerbated
food shortages, and those of fuel, basic consumer goods and essential
agricultural inputs, demanded weighty attention by the Goromonzi Indaba. But
in the greatest betrayal of the majority of the citizens of this country,
delegates refused to confront the causes of our crisis. Their actions
condemned us to new depths of impoverishment. Goromonzi was an opportunity
squandered.


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A warped definition of patriotism

Zim Standard

       sunday opinion by Mutsa Murenje

      RECENT utterances by Zanu PF Secretary for Youth, Absolom
Sikhosana, at the just-ended Zanu PF National People's Conference left me in
a complete delirium.

      The utterances did not only reveal Sikhosana's remarkable
ideological and political underdevelopment but also that the man is
sometimes prone to foolish jokes. Sikhosana called for the recruitment of
patriotic lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe largely because, in his
own words, "some of them were a bad influence on students".

      Doctors Lovemore Madhuku and John Makumbe were cited as some of
the lecturers who were a bad influence on students.

      Sikhosana said: "Our children are put in the hands of Madhuku
and Makumbe where they're taught to hate themselves."

      It is in light of this revelation that I want to give Sikhosana
the benefit of the doubt and accept that he is sincere in calling for
patriotic lecturers to teach at the University of Zimbabwe.

      But he is sincerely mistaken. This is so, ostensibly, because he
appears to be ignorant of what patriotism is.

      I have never been in Madhuku's class but I have had the
propitious opportunity to listen to him speak at various forums organised by
civil society organisations in Harare. But I have been in Makumbe's
Democracy and Human Rights class and I also had the rare opportunity to hear
him speak at various forums also in Harare.

      The inescapable conclusion that I have reached from my encounter
with the two lecturers is that both of them are not only patriotic but are
also nationalistic in outlook. It is therefore quite nightmarish and
horrific for me to be told that these two men are unpatriotic as Sikhosana
would want us to believe.

      My humble submission is that Madhuku and Makumbe are patriots.
The men are champions or lovers of their country, Zimbabwe. Whatever they do
they do it in the national interest. They are patriots and nationalists at
the same time. It is for this reason that I am convinced that the two
lecturers are not a bad influence on students. They teach students to love
themselves, their neighbours as well as to love their own country.

      Patriotism is not an exclusive property of Zanu PF. In actual
fact, it goes beyond party politics. One does not cease being a patriot just
because he/she is opposed to a particular party. Sikhosana is a party leader
and not a national leader.

      We live in a society where there should be tolerance of
different points of view - a society where laws provide a framework for
peaceful disagreement. We want a society that is characterised by free and
equal citizens, a society in which citizens have sovereign power, that is,
they can choose a government or dismiss it, a society characterised by
regular free and fair elections, a society in which the country is governed
according to the laws and a society where no leader is above the law.

      What we want is transparency on all aspects of government,
accountability, respect for human rights and free flow of information. I
believe this is exactly what Madhuku and Makumbe are fighting for 26 years
after independence!

       Given all this, I ask our leaders to start taking us seriously
and stop the patriotic nonsense they always use at their convenience.
Patriotism is not for people like Sikhosana. Madhuku and Makumbe are not
"known rabid critics of the government". They are known patriots who are
fighting for a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe. Oh judgement, thou art
fled and man is left without reason!

      Sikhosana's utterances are anathema and detrimental to unity,
peace, progress and development. They justify poverty and tyranny in the
most vulgar manner.

      The two lecturers have taught us the way to go. They have taught
us to promote respect for human dignity and pursue social justice. It is
through their teachings that I have come to the realisation that the dignity
of a person is the basis for human rights. The question for reflection
directed at all Zimbabweans as we enter 2007 is: Do we, as a nation, see a
human person as an object which can be used and discarded at will, or do we
see a person as someone whose dignity inviolable and stands at the centre of
everything we do?

      My contribution is not politically motivated; rather it's
motivated by a desire to begin to reclaim our dignity as individuals living
for and with the truth.


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Introducing a new column in The Standard

Zim Standard

      Whatever happens here has happened elsewhere

      Reflections with DR Alex Magaisa

      THIS is my attempt to introduce you, Reader, to this new column,
which will appear each Sunday in this great paper from the start of 2007.
Some of you may have come across my work elsewhere and it is a pleasure to
have been invited to write this column.

      Ever since I was able to read, I have always been attracted to
newspapers and magazines. Even when the language was too hard for me to
understand, I was happy enough to figure out the story from the pictures.
During my youth, I became an ardent reader of numerous columns written by
prominent writers of the day. One particular column I liked most was called
"As I see It", which appeared in a national Sunday newspaper at a time when
professionalism had its way in the state media. My dream was to appear in
that column one day when I grew up. I do not know if "As I see it" still
exists but I am not sure that if it does, it still inspires a similar dream
in young kids of today.

      Going to buy the paper from Mdhara wemaNewspaper at Greencroft
Shopping Centre or stationed somewhere along Lomagundi Road, was a chore I
quite liked and even looked forward to - because it always gave me the
opportunity to read the paper before everyone else at home.

      I used to read them all - Parade, Prize, Moto, Horizon and from
South Africa, the likes of Drum, Readers Digest, etc. I used to devour
newspapers and magazines.

      I have recounted this to show that my affection for the
newspaper and the written word goes back a long way. I like to think that if
I had not been lured into Law, I would have gone to journalism school. I
have managed however, in the last few years, to satisfy my passion for
writing and the dream of writing in a newspaper, by taking on a role as a
columnist.

      My first big break came at The Daily News. At that time, Davison
Maruziva, the current Editor of The Standard, was part the editorial team at
the great daily paper, which succumbed an untimely but well-calculated
demise. I became a regular contributor and I am proud to have been
associated with the paper, which made great headway at a very difficult but
important time in the country's history. I was terribly disappointed when it
all fell apart and in particular at the Supreme Court judgement delivered on
11 September 2003, in which, with all due respect, the Court made a farce of
misapplying the "Clean Hands" doctrine. Whatever the politics surrounding
the closure of the paper and the tactical errors of its management team,
writing as a lawyer, I still think that the reasoning behind the judgement
was incorrect and flawed.

      One of my personal highlights is a critical article I wrote on
that judgement, which was widely circulated and well-received. I was told
that it even appeared in Parade, which even though I did not know about it,
still satisfied one of my childhood dreams of appearing in the great but now
defunct magazine, which was an institution in our urbane cultural life.

      I later established presence at The Independent, writing a
column for the business section, which focussed a lot on the then topical
issues of corporate governance and banking regulation which coincided with
the heady days of the banking crisis in 2004. This was a beautiful time
because it enabled me to share with fellow Zimbabweans, much of the stuff
that I was researching and teaching during my time as a lecturer at the
University of Nottingham in the UK.

       During the period that I have been a public writer I have learnt
that placing one's views in the public domain requires both confidence and
courage. It calls to mind the old Shona proverb that ateya mariva murutsva
haachatyi kusviba magaro, that is, one who embarks on an exercise must be
prepared to take the risks and hazards that come with it. While one must
necessarily develop a skin thick enough to withstand critical and sometimes
vitriolic reaction, it is also necessary to maintain an open mind and accept
that criticism is part of the trade. After all as a writer, one is often
criticising the performance of others and must not therefore cry foul if the
others choose to critically assess your performance.

      The underground miner goes into the mine shaft each day
expecting to do his work and make a contribution and come out after his
shift to live another day. Yet surely, it never escapes him that there is a
risk that a rock might fall on him or the earth above might just give way. I
do not for a moment suppose that public writing comes any close to the
hazards faced by brave men and women who engage in this and other far more
hazardous challenges. Yet it is important to bear this in mind because it
puts everything in perspective.

      Personally, it helps me never to over-estimate the importance of
my writing and therefore never to believe the hype, whatever plaudits come
my way and never to despair, whatever the amount of criticism is directed at
me, because I realise that there are many brave men and women out there who
do far more important work, which also carries many grave risks. The miners,
the soldiers, the nurses, the peasants, foot-warriors in the struggle for a
better country.

      So far I have not viewed my writing as a commercial venture,
which probably says something about my limited business acumen. So far
however, I have written in order to satisfy a personal passion and also to
make contributions on issues whose value I believe can never be properly
measured in commercial terms. Perhaps I need a manager - maybe one day, I
will seek to derive commercial value out of writing. I have never demanded
payment for making contributions in the various media. What I have been
offered, I have decided to put to charitable causes.

      Part of my childhood was spent in the villages, and I have many
vivid memories of young boys and girls who sometimes could not afford to
wear shoes or uniforms to school, little kids who would come to school in
the chill of the winter, only to be turned away when the head-teacher called
out the names of those that had not paid what was known as "Building Fund".
So I have made a commitment that whatever comes out of this writing goes to
the few in my village. It is very hard out there and whatever little income
families can get makes a difference. So I like to think that even if someone
considers what I would have written to be crap, they may derive comfort from
knowing that the economic value thereof is at least going to a worthy cause.
As others do sponsored walks, I like to think this may be called sponsored
writing!

      This column is called "Reflections" for a simple reason - it is
my attempt to demonstrate that whatever happens in one place, it is hardly
new, partly because it has happened before or it has happened or is
happening elsewhere. I do think that if we observe and listen carefully, we
can take lessons from what happens elsewhere or has happened before and also
that we can learn from others' mistakes in order to avoid repeating them.
This column will touch on all manner of issues and try to show their
relevance to the Zimbabwean context. It is part of my lifelong attempt to
make relevant to my own people's context, things that I observe and
experience wherever it may be in the world.

      * Dr Magaisa is contactable at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk


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Looking back at the trials and tribulations of 2006

Zim Standard

      sundayview by Trudy Stevenson

      Another difficult year is coming to a close. Like you, I wonder
whether next year will start to improve, and I agree that it may not, for
all the reasons we know. But strangely, the bad times help us to appreciate
all the blessings we do have, and life seems all the richer for it.

      Who would want to be so bored that they would go to ridiculous
extremes to get a thrill, when we can get a greater thrill just finding fuel
at the filling station or affordable cooking oil at the supermarket!

      For the entire year our Murambatsvina victims in Harare North
have been trying to re-establish their homes and their livelihoods. Worst
affected was Hatcliffe Extension, where some 4 000 homes were destroyed last
year - that translates to roughly 24 000 people without proper shelter in
one small area. They had been re-allocated their stands last August, and had
a year to get their building plans approved and start building their
permanent houses.

      They got busy, and now there are quite a few completed houses
and nearly everyone has made a start. It is exciting to see them digging
their own foundations, making their own bricks, etc. Concerned people both
locally and internationally have been fantastic in assisting in various
ways - UNICEF with water, the Catholic Church with temporary shelter, etc. -
and we thank you all for that!

      What is life without a few celebrations among the work and
worry? Hatcliffe residents decided to hold a Mid-Winter Celebration, to
brighten up dull winter days and to remember Murambatsvina, which happened
in mid-winter last year. It was great fun, they composed poems and songs and
dramas, and danced and sang and laughed - and cried - and thoroughly enjoyed
themselves!

      The ladies of both Hatcliffe and Hatcliffe Extension are now
organising regular Tea Parties, where they bring and exchange sugar, soap,
cooking oil, etc, and at each party a few selected ladies get the
allocation, the following party another batch of ladies, and so on. This is
also great fun, as they gossip and joke and sing and dance, and share food
and drinks - and invite some interesting guests. The parties are so
successful that the agents of repression in Extension tried to ban them, and
made all sorts of difficulties, but the ladies just carry on and have fun!

      Now some of the youths are starting teams for volleyball,
football, etc, and the chairperson - Bernice Stewart - "started the ball
rolling" (Sorry!) with a couple of balls. Any more donations gratefully
received - please look out your departed children's sports gear and toys!

      Parliament was quite dull early in the year (well, it wasn't
sitting, most of the time!) but now it is positively lively, with the
portfolio committees showing their teeth at last! They have lifted the lid
on corruption and scandals at ZUPCO, ZISCO and other parastatals,
highlighted lack of accountability across the board, presented shocking
reports about lack of resources in the police, prisons, etc, and generally
revealed some of the many hitherto hidden goings-on in government.

      Currently Minister Obert Mpofu is being investigated for
impeachment - this would have been unheard of last year! I only wish there
were such a branch of government at local level - then we might be able to
deal with Sekesai Makwavarara and cronies!

      The MDC year began with us organising our "faction's" congress
in February, after the traumatic split after 12 October last year. We
elected the youthful and energetic former student leader Arthur Mutambara to
be our new leader, and have since been busy re-orienting our structures
towards a more informed and principled approach to politics.

      And so to 2007. It is certain that our suffering will continue
until each one of us who is well off despite everything forgets our own
personal ambitions, opens our electric gates and gets out of our 4x4's to
talk to each other at all levels! Likewise each of us who is destitute or
struggling to survive needs to decide not to be a slave any more, but to
remember that God created each of us in His image, and that each of us has
purpose and dignity as a human being. Let us find that purpose and claim
that dignity.

      * Trudy Stevenson is the MP for Harare North (MDC -Arthur
Mutambara).


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Zim Standard Letters



Patriots must resist these machinations

      THE talk about there not being a vacancy within the Presidency
of this troubled nation of ours should be dismissed as it is myopic and
motivated by a self-serving and parochial agenda of wanting to cling to
power at all costs by the President.

      Surely the hallmark of an effective leader, not ruler, is the
realisation that for mortals leadership is a relay and not a marathon. As
our learned professor pointed out the incumbent Head of State must not be
allowed to succeed himself.

      It is time that true patriots stood up to this fraud being
peddled as a cost-saving exercise. We should now all wake up to these
machinations. Please give the long-suffering and peace-loving people of this
country a break and avoid pushing them to the wall. If this supposed
electoral harmonisation is meant to save money, then the parlous nature of
our economy dictates that the elections should be brought forward to 2008
and not be delayed by two years.

      I find the argument for a postponement of the Presidential polls
repugnant and irrational and just some gimmick to buy time and similar to
the Sekesai Makwavarara model. The only time that people are "consulted" is
when this useless and partisan public broadcaster conducts some
stage-managed or pseudo- surveys where every interviewee agrees with
everyone on every official line being peddled at that point in time. So much
about holding of so-called "people's conferences"! So much about one having
fought for democracy.

      For the people of this troubled nation to have expected anything
better than an endorsement of such a fraud from the so-called people's
conference would have been to expect too much from those in attendance. What
with the rehabilitation of one Dzikamai Mavhaire and his subsequent
appointment to this archaic body called the Politburo. Already we have seen
him exhibiting fanatical advocacy and zealotry in driving this nauseating
agenda. Surely if Namibians, Zambians, Mozambicans and Malawians could tell
their respective leaders their time was up, are all these mandarins in the
people's party so fearful of the President they cannot advise him likewise?

      Remember Margaret Dongo's words not so long ago? The President
now believes that he is the party and consequently personalising an
institution. No. Zanu vanhu, vanhu iZanu. Zanu is not an individual. I think
great revolutionaries like the late Joshua Nkomo, Leopold Takawira, Jason
Moyo, Tongogara, Herbert Chitepo and others must be turning in their graves
at what is happening in this people's or is it person's party.

      The truth is in spite of the rantings and pontifications of some
mandarins who are beneficiaries of this patronage, largesse or gravy train,
this country can no longer afford to have this CEO at its helm for a second
longer and consequently there is a vacancy in the Presidency. Generations
and generations of Zimbabweans cannot be condemned to perpetual suffering
just because of one's insatiable appetite for power. We speak about
sovereignty as if we are the only sovereign nation in the global community
of nations.

      If our President is such an intelligent and highly effective
leader, surely would he need close to 30 years at the helm of his party to
resolve its internal problems? Put differently the question becomes: why is
his party in shambles when he has been at its helm for close to 30 years?
Whose fault is that? Is it not that he has been telling us that there is
unity in the people's party?

      Days are gone when we used to have true representatives of the
people like Mike Mataure, Patrick Marime, the late Sydney Malunga , the late
Lazarus Nzarayebani and of course Mavhaire himself before his conversion
along the "road to Goromonzi".

      With this Parliament people are going to be whipped into line to
vote for this fraud. Coupled with a divided opposition the outcome of a
constitutional amendment will be foregone. By the way, we were told the
creation of a Senate would enhance the quality of debate in the august
House. What nonsense! It's just patronage - pure and simple!

      One tends to observe some pathological symptoms of passive
acquiescence on the part of many leaders within the party who are hell-bent
on pleasing the leaders at the expense of those they are supposed to serve
and represent. This is due to the politics of patronage.

      How many of those people's representatives have consulted their
constituents on the issue of harmonisation of elections? Is a referendum not
called for in this case? Are we not governed by the same constitution the
President told the church leaders was sacrosanct? How soon we forget when it
conveniently suits us!

      Will true patriots please stand up and fight to bring an end to
these ill-advised machinations! God is for us all and indeed there is a
vacancy at the apex of our political structures in our troubled land.

      Dzinashe

      Harare

--------
      Your coverage failed to address crucial issues
            I write to express my disappointment with The Standard
over the coverage of the intention of mandarins in Zanu PF to extend Mugabe's
term to 2010.

            For us who rely on your paper for comprehensive coverage I
was particulary shocked by your choice of an editorial issue, which
addressed Makwavarara and city council issues instead of the imminent
challenge to our struggle that we faced that dark weekend.

            The City council issues are in fact at the periphery of
the challenges we face and Makwavarara is a product of Mugabe's policies and
unlikely to go if Mugabe and the Minister of Local Government, Public Works
and Urban Development, Ignatious Chombo remains till 2010.

            I am equally disappointed because the issue of Mugabe
seeking to extend his rule through the back door until 2010 issue made
headlines internationally and made it to editorials of even The Nation in
Kenya but not in our own paper. Please let us improve on this.

            As your readers, short of newspapers to read, we read each
and every inch of The Standard more than twice every time.

            Chipo

             London

      ---------
            Chegutu water crisis even more desperate
                  THE report by your paper about Kadoma running dry
the other week has prompted me to write this letter.

                  The situation in Chegutu is even more appalling. We
were duped by the President into voting for the current Mayor because he
highlighted these problems during his campaign in the run up to the
election.

                  Some sections of Chegutu such as Hintonville have
never received a drop of water. The water pipes are yet to be laid, more
than eight years after the stands were sold. The houses at the end of the
Pickstone Road share a communal tap and we hear the Engineering Dept is
planning to draw raw water from a nearby dam and connect it straight to our
taps. Please come and see this for yourselves as we are really desperate.

                  While we understand the council's limited resources,
we feel the council should take immediate measures to ensure that the little
potable water they provide is shared equitably. Suburbs on higher ground
rarely get any water for weeks on end. The surprising thing is that council
does not even ban use of hose pipes for watering gardens.

                  ZMDC houses and central high-density areas almost
always have water and they can afford to water their gardens with treated
water. Council must immediately ban use of hose pipes and limit the amount
of water used per household and charge hefty penalties for exceeding the
limit.

                  We are even billed for non-existent water supplies
and services which are never provided. Refuse is blocking roads in the
high-density suburbs and never collected in some sections of the town. Maybe
the mayor is still waiting for instructions from the powers that put him
into office.

                  If that is the case, then we implore the President
to tell the Mayor to run council properly and not in the same way he ran his
beerhall along Chakari Road.

                  Always short-changed

                   Hintonville

                  Chegutu

             ----------
                  Why not hold poll in 2008 ?
                        FROM a cost effective point of view, it's
laudable that we hold parliamentary, presidential and mayoral elections at
the same time. But why should harmonisation come in 2010? Why not 2008?

                        The first reason they want 2010 not 2008, is
to protect President Robert Mugabe and not Zanu PF or Zimbabwe. The year
2008 is too early for him because he has not found a good enough successor.
This kind of successor should be an individual who can hold Zanu PF together
and also protect Mugabe himself.

                        This problem is self-inflicted because he
should know that there comes a time and day that we will have a life without
him.

                        L Mhaka

                        Harare


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Released MP narrates ordeal in remand prison

From SW Radio Africa, 22 December

By Lance Guma

The dispensary at Harare's remand prison is stocked with expired medicines
and these are being administered to sick prisoners. Adding to the crisis is
serious overcrowding inside the cells. This was the damning narration of
Glen View MP Paul Madzore a day after being released on bail by the High
Court. The legislator was arrested and made to spend 8 days in custody over
allegations he incited people in his constituency to block roads and prevent
others from going to work. He told Newsreel the police did their best to
harass and intimidate him but he left prison a much more determined 'soldier'
in the struggle. Madzore told Newsreel that disgruntled youths in Glen View
burnt tyres and blocked roads protesting the high cost of living. Soon after
the police arrested him for allegedly inciting the protests. As soon as he
went into custody various prison officers verbally abused him while others
accused him of trying to 'out do the government.' Several others declared
they would make him suffer during his time inside. Madzore said he was moved
around in tight leg irons which caused his legs to swell and all the time he
wore torn shorts revealing his entire backside. Madzore told Newsreel the
food is terrible and 'there is lice all over eating into the skin of
prisoners.' Pellagra, a vitamin deficiency disease caused by a dietary lack
of vitamins and proteins, is also quite prevalent amongst prisoners in the
cells. The disease has the potential to kill within 4 or 5 years if
untreated. Madzore told us that judging from the state of the dispensary a
lot of prisoners are dying from the disease as there are no medicines. The
drugs in stock expired a long time ago. The MP thanked party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai for visiting him whilst in custody saying, 'it made me feel I was
a necessary soldier in the struggle and I felt re-invigorated.'


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Outside Christmas Tree

http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml

Saturday 23rd December 2006

Dear Family and Friends,
This December, for the second year in a row, my Christmas Tree has remained
outside in the garden. This tree began life as a seedling amongst the fir
trees behind our house on the farm. Just a couple of inches tall I planted
the seedling in a black plastic bag when we were being evicted from our farm
just before Christmas in 2000. Every year at Christmas time I dragged the
pot inside, covered the tree with bits and pieces, starved it of water for a
week and then back outside it went. As the tree grew I transplanted it into
ever bigger pots and the Christmas tree has survived but not really thrived.
Two years ago my son and I planted the Christmas tree in the garden,
agreeing that it would stay there until there was a change in the situation
in Zimbabwe. At first when I took the tree out of it's pot it stood there in
the rich earth in a state of shock. For months it did nothing, did not seem
to grow or lift up its branches or show any sign of life. Then suddenly as
if it finally realised it was free of the restrictions on its roots, my
little Christmas tree began to grow. Now it is over six feet (two metres)
tall and is alive and well and growing on the front lawn.This week, standing
on tip toes I have put a small silver star on top of the Christmas tree in
the garden and it stirs gently in the breeze of our hot and humid December
days.

Having my Christmas tree outside in the garden is symbolic of the state of
affairs in Zimbabwe. Christmas is not completely cancelled but it is not far
off. All the usual traditional Christmas trappings are just not possible
anymore. The traditional Christmas meal is off the menu, unaffordable by
almost everyone. Most families are again separated by borders, countries and
even continents as almost a quarter of our population remain in exile across
the world. Christmas gifts are this year sparser than ever before -
restricted almost entirely to just the children.

I thought how I could best describe the atmosphere of this Christmas to
people outside of the country and all week have added words to a list. This
is December in Zimbabwe:
Two inch long Msasa beetles armed with fierce nippers;
Great fat sausage flies everywhere telling us the rain is near;
Flame lilies - scarlet and yellow in the jungly green bush;
Paradise flycatchers trailing exquisite long orange tail feathers;
The bubbling call of the Coucal and the mocking warnings of the Go Away
Birds Big, orange, sticky mangoes
Towns seething with people and monstrous queues - not for presents or treats
but queues for money, for petrol and, longest of all, queues for sugar.

This is Christmas in Zimbabwe in December 2006. To all my family and friends
and to Zimbabweans wherever you are in the world, I send love and thanks for
everything you all to do help this wonderful country.
Until my next letter in 2007, have a peaceful and happy Christmas and New
Year, love cathy.


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$800m deal signals new era for investment in Africa

Sunday Herald, UK

LARRY YUNG Chi Kun, son of former Communistvice-presidentofChina Rong
Yiren, slapped $800 million on the table in November to buy a slice of the
South African resources group Anglo American, the mightiest mining company
and industrial conglomerate on the African continent.

In one swoop, the chairman of Citic Pacific, a Chinese state-backed
investment company with interests from steel to property, aviation, power
generation and telecommunications, became the fifth richest man in South
Africa.

Itwasalandmarkdealbecause YungboughtthestakefromNicky Oppenheimer,
great-grandson of Sir ErnestOppenheimer,aBritonwho founded Anglo American in
1917.

continued...

A few years ago, the very suggestion that a leading Chinese communist
would buy into Anglo American would have had jaws dropping. The company was
a symbol of British imperialism, and its products shored up apartheid for
decades.

"For China to take over from what symbolisesoldcolonialcapitalis
extraordinarily significant," said Nic Borain,aCapeTown-basedpolitical
analyst, whose clients include HSBC Securities. "It's the end of an era and
the beginning of a new one in which China will have a much bigger role in
Africa."

The Chinese are indeed Africa's new pioneers. Scarcely noticed until
recently by aid planners and Western foreign ministries, they are changing
the face of the continent. Still branding themselves as communists, they are
the most voracious capitalists on the continent and trade with Africa is
doubling every year.

"In key countries, China is becoming the new International Monetary
Fund of Africa without the strings, or at least tied only to strings that
relate to Chinese nationalandcommercialinterests,"
saidMartynDavies,directorofthe Centre for Chinese Studies at South Africa's
Stellenbosch University.

The Chinese go where Western companies dare not tread. As part of
their investment packages, China sends large numbers of Chinese experts and
workers. About 30 Chinatowns, each housing 2000 or more Chinese workers,
have been established in parts of Africa.

But if one country can be branded as China's number one neocolony, it
is the central African state of Angola, a treasure trove of resources that
has just emerged fromacivilwarthatspannedthree decades. Oil-rich Angola, six
times the size of the UK, is central to China's strategic African plans; a
country to be flattered and indulged through aid and cheap loans in exchange
for oil and minerals. Angola is now China's largest supplier of crude oil,
surpassing even Saudi Arabia.

The Chinese in Angola are building a massive new international
airport, having beaten off a bid by BAA. Chinese enterprises are also
rebuilding the city of Luanda and three ruined railways.

While Angola is the diamond in China's Africa crown, similar
large-scale developments - about 900 at the latest rough count - and trade
deals are happening throughout the continent. China is about to begin
building a $8.3 billion railway to connect the northern Nigerian city of
Kano to the port city of Lagos - the state-run China National Offshore Oil
Corporation having paid $2.3bn this year for a 45% stake in Nigeria's Akpo
oilfield, 200 kilometres offshore.

But Africa's love-in with China can be sour as well as sweet. Africa
has lost nearly 500,000 jobs in its textile factories over the past decade
as a result of cheap Chinese imports. In Zambia, only 20 textile factories
remain out of 250 just 20 years ago, with unions accusing China of dumping
cheap textiles and electronic goods at below the cost of production.

The situation in Sudan, where China isdevelopingoilfields,isthemost
perniciousexampleofthenegative consequences of a foreign investor insisting
that business and politics do not mix. By refusing to press Sudan's
government toaccepttheUNSecurityCouncil mandate to deploy a peacekeeping
force in Darfur, where mass killings of up to 400,000 people have been
carried out by Sudanese forces, Beijing is condoning crimes against
humanity. In Zimbabwe, Beijing's economic largesse is propping up Robert
Mugabe's oppressive regime.

Britain's Institute for Public Policy Research says in a new report on
China's African adventure: "Managed well, China could bring real development
benefits to Africans. Managed badly, China's role
mayleadtoworseningstandardsof governance and more corruption. As a one-party
state, China's foreign policy is not driven by a concern to promote human
rights, in Africa or elsewhere."

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