(AFP) – 11 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwean police have arrested the owner of boat which
capsized on
Christmas Day, killing 11 children, state media reported
Wednesday.
The state-owned The Herald newspaper said the boat's owner
Latif Ameer, 53,
along with captain Fadil Ramon Weale, 27, and mechanic
Enock Zulu, 36, had
been arrested over the accident in which 11 children
drowned.
"The three are helping police with investigations and are likely
to be
charged with 11 counts of culpable homicide," assistant police
commissioner
Canaan Mugumira told the newspaper.
The tragedy occurred
at around 7:00 pm Sunday on Lake Chivero, some 20
kilometres (12 miles)
southwest of Harare.
The paper said 17 people were in the boat when it
capsized and six people,
including the crew and the captain survived.
Earlier reports had said that
19 were on board.
The bodies were
retrieved Monday morning and some of the victims of the
tragedy have been
buried.
On Saturday, also on Lake Chivero, a National Parks game ranger
drowned
after his boat was hit by a strong wind while a friend who was with
him
survived.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Thelma Chikwanha, Community Affairs
Editor
Wednesday, 28 December 2011 12:50
HARARE - Fresh details
have emerged that the crew of the speed boat that
capsized and killed 11
children on Lake Chivero Dam on Christmas Day, swam
to safety and left the
children to die.
It also emerges that the accident was caused by a
combination of negligence,
greediness, drunkenness and human
error.
Survivors also told the Daily News about the strange behaviour of
the
skipper, who while in the middle of the lake, suggested to the petrified
children that the boat might capsize.
The Daily News had been told by
witnesses who encountered the crew before
the disaster that they were
clearly drunk and were after money even if it
meant risking the lives of
people.
The newspaper was also told of how the crew, all swam to safety
leaving the
hapless children at the mercy of the harsh
waters.
Speakers at a motive mass funeral held for Tanaka Ruzvidzo, 11,
Tatenda
Ruzvidzo, 5, Sharon Ruzvidzo, 11, and Angeline Kasitu, 16, in
Mungate
village in Domboshava yesterday said the tragedy could have been
avoided if
necessary precautions had been taken by the National Parks and
Wildlife
department, police and the boat owners.
The Daily News crew
arrived at the cemetery in Domboshawa and witnessed the
body viewing process
which touched the hearts of everyone present.
There was a lot of wailing
when the coffins were opened by the pall bearers.
Friends and relatives
could hardly contain the pain at the sight of four
coffins.
Heartbroken mothers had to be assisted by relatives to view
the bodies and
bid farewell to their deceased children.
Esther
Muronzi who survived the ordeal said the boat was so overloaded that
it had
to be pushed into the water because the engine could not sustain the
weight
of the load.
According to the 16 year old, who is a student at Queen
Elizabeth High
School, some people had initially suggested that they leave
some people
behind but the captain insisted it was not
necessary.
“When we got to the middle of the lake, the captain said;
“does anyone want
to die?” We were all shocked by the question and we were
scared. He then
asked if anyone could swim and I raised my hand,” Muronzi
said.
The traumatised teenager said the crew started laughing.
“He
then told us that the dam was over 30 meters deep. Just before the
accident,
the driver just made a U-turn and the said: “If you do not know
how to swim
then you can kiss goodbye to your lives because the boat is
sinking. I am
saving my life.”
“The crew then jumped into the water and started
swimming away and two other
adults also jumped into the water. The crew left
us to die and they didn’t
care about us.
“After the boat capsized
people were trying to swim but we could not get up
because the boat would
block our heads, we were all stuck under the boat,”
she said.
“When
the driver and his colleague jumped into the water, they swam to a
boat
which was nearby and returned to Fish Eagle where they had picked us
up.
They did not attempt to rescue anyone,” the traumatised teenager
said.
Muronzi who still cannot comprehend how she managed to escape the
ordeal
said she tried to save her sister Sharon but failed. She however
managed to
save a two year old child who held onto her hair extensions for
dear life.
Muronzi said she somehow managed to swim and was eventually
rescued by a
boat.
A distraught relative Melody Chirara could not
contain her disdain at the
manner in which the rescue operation was
conducted.
“There were no life jackets in the boat neither were there in
lifeguards on
stand-by and yet the boat was still allowed to go onto the
water with so
many people considering that Lake Chivero is such a big dam,”
Chirara said.
The village headman identified only as Murape said the
death of the children
was a painful one which members of the community would
never forget.
“Uku ndiko kunonzi kuparara kwemusha,” (This is like
destroying the whole
village) Murape said.
Traumatised father of
seven year old Rasim Jason, Napoleon said he would
accept the death of his
son.
“It is God who gave us these children and I just thank him for the
seven
years that I had with Rasim. I am not blaming anyone for his death
because
it will mean that I have not accepted his death and this goes
against my
religion as a Moslem,” Jason said.
Village elder Gwasira
called on the government to put in place stiff
penalties against illegal
safari and boat operators.
“The government should surely take action on
this matter because how can an
unregistered boat carry so many people. We
are also told that the driver in
question was not even qualified to drive
the boat,” an irate Gwasira said.
http://www.voanews.com/
December
28, 2011
Peta Thornycroft | Johannesburg
A legislator from
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change was released
from jail Wednesday
after being charged with accusing President Robert
Mugabe of being gay. She
had to spend Christmas in a police cell even
though she had been granted
bail last week.
There was jubilation at a crowded court in Mutare in
Zimbabwe’s eastern
Manicaland province, when the state did not file
arguments to prevent
lawmaker Lynette Karenyi from being freed from
jail.
She had been granted bail of $200 on December 20, but the state
invoked a
law, used frequently against MDC party members in recent years,
which allows
detention for up to seven days after bail is
granted.
Karenyi’s lawyer David Tandire explained to supporters outside
the court
this is not the end of the legal battle.
“So she can now be
released after paying bail," he said. "On 12 January that
is when trial
resumes.”
Karenyi is accused of undermining the authority of, or
insulting, the
president. She allegedly told party supporters at a rally
earlier in the
month that President Mugabe practiced homosexuality with a
fellow member of
the ZANU-PF politburo and a former president, Canaan
Banana, who was jailed
for two years for sodomy in 1997.
An MDC
supporter outside the court Wednesday said that Karenyi was treated
differently from other detainees for political reasons.
She says
since Karenyi’s arrest, the lawmaker was barred visitors even
though others
in the prison were allowed visits. The MDC supporter says she
is afraid that
with elections approaching, it will be difficult for women to
contest.
Homosexuality may end up being a significant issue in
Zimbabwe's next
elections.
The question of gay rights has been
contentious in drafting a new
constitution ahead of the elections, as
homosexual acts are now illegal in
Zimbabwe.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC party leader, has been careful to
make clear that he
does not support homosexual behavior but recognizes
homosexuals as human
beings.
President Mugabe, on the other hand, says gay people “destroy
nationhood"
and that allowing gay marriage as in some Western countries was
“insanity."
Zimbabwe’s Law Society says a new constitution should
recognize the human
rights of all people.
The issue is likely to be
raised again in a few weeks when lawmaker Karenyi
appears for her trial on
charges she accused the president of committing
illegal homosexual acts.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bikita-December 28,
2011 – Serious in-house fighting within Zanu-PF in
Bikita District
Coordinating Committee (DCC) has resulted in the warring
factions opening
two parallel party offices at Nyika Growth Point.
Investigations revealed
that the Mujuru faction which was always victimised
due to their small
numbers in the district had to finally open its offices
which are serving
the same purpose as that one from Mnangagwa-led faction
which was opened in
the area in 2002.
Reserve bank Governor’s adviser Dr Munyaradzi
Kereke’s father Tongai Kereke
who is also eying a senatorial seat in the
area is the one who is currently
in charge of the newly opened office
situated at Nyika Motor Sales garage.
Kereke confirmed opening an
office at Nyika but refuted to give further
details on the facts that led to
the split.
“I opened that office on my personal capacity. We had
serious problems with
some characters in the DCC who are anti-development.
The office is purely
there for the development of the party,” said
Kereke.
It is allegedly reported that Dr Kereke and gospel
musician-cum politician
Ellias Musakwa are sponsoring the Mujuru faction in
the district and they
had since pledged to pay the rentals for the newly
opened offices.
Musakwa is already campaigning to be a legislator for
Bikita West
constituency where he lost by nine votes to the incumbent Heya
Shoko in
2008.
Zanu-PF provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke said
corrective measures were
going to be taken in order to iron out the
differences in Bikita.
“The party does not condone such differences
and divisions of that
magnitude. We are going to attend to that problem as
soon as we receive
formal complaints from the concerned people in Bikita,”
said Matuke.
This is the first time for Zanu-PF to open two parallel
offices at the same
area in Masvingo province.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Wednesday, 28
December 2011 09:10
HARARE - While 90 percent of the population is
wallowing in abject poverty,
President Robert Mugabe is enjoying annual
vacation in the Far East with his
family where he is also likely to have
gone for medical reviews.
This year alone, Mugabe has been to the Far
East at least eight times where
he was believed to be seeking medical
attention.
The 87-year-old strongman, who during his absence has
transferred authority
to his Zanu PF deputy, Joice Mujuru is said to be
suffering with different
ailments associated with old age.
During his
absence, Cabinet cannot sit, the reform agenda is grounded and
everything
requiring presidential assent awaits his return late in
January.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba said Mujuru, Zimbabwe’s
first female
vice-president, has taken over as acting head of state during
Mugabe’s
year-end vacation.
An official said Mugabe left Harare late
last week for the Far East.
Mujuru, the first woman to hold the nation’s
highest office in Zimbabwe, is
in strong contention to succeed Mugabe as
party and state president but will
largely act as a titular head of state
with no real power during the former
guerrilla leader’s
absence.
Mujuru was recently exposed by whistle blowing website,
WikiLeaks for
holding private talks with American diplomats while she was
acting
president.
Under a power sharing accord, during Mugabe’s
absence, he must temporarily
transfer his powers to the PM, who must chair
cabinet.
But Mugabe has consistently ignored this provision, and cabinet
cannot sit
during his absence.
Charamba said is a statement that
Mugabe was expected back at work at the
end of January. The Daily News could
not reach him for further comments
yesterday.
“President Robert
Mugabe has started his annual leave which will run up to
the end of January
next year,” Charamba said in the statement.
“The President will spend
part of his leave in the Far East together with
his family. Meanwhile, vice
president Joice Mujuru is the acting president.”
Whilst under the power
sharing accord the PM must attend to all official
duties requiring the
attention of the President, he has never been given
that
opportunity.
And each time during the three year lifespan of the GNU that
Mugabe has
proceeded on his traditional January leave, he has delegated his
Zanu PF
deputy to stand in for him.
Spokesman for Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, Senator Obert Gutu
said yesterday in typical
democracies there should be no interruption of
government business because
the President is out of the country.
Gutu said it means for the whole of
January when Mugabe is away, there will
be “no critical policy
decisions.”
“It’s a serious attack on the democratisation agenda,” Gutu
said. “It means
in 2012, we have already lost one month.”
The
troubled coalition government is expected to spearhead a reformation
agenda
expected to lead the country to free and fair general elections, but
Mugabe
is insisting on a snap poll early next year to retire the GNU
“chariot”
ostensibly because it has become dysfunctional.
There have been concerns
among Western officials that Mugabe might once
again try to wiggle out of
the reform agenda aimed at easing him out of
power in the resource-rich
southern African country but with one of the
region’s most declining
economies.
The Daily News understands a Zanu PF deal that was being
stitched by the
Mujuru faction leading to an early election, in which Mugabe
will not be
running, was strenuously rejected before it even reached the
official organs
of the party.
Mugabe emerged from a Zanu PF
conference three weeks ago with a ringing
endorsement from all his 10
provinces, even though his early election plan
has thrown Zanu PF MPs into
disarray.
The legislators insist they must see out their current terms of
office,
meaning they want elections in 2013.
But Mugabe says he has
no doubt there would be a fresh general poll before
June next year, though
his opponents, rights groups and diplomats warn that
the situation in
Zimbabwe was not yet conducive for a free and fair poll,
with calls for more
media, political and electoral reforms.
Observers say Zanu PF wants a
snap poll when its most eligible presidential
candidate still has some
little energy to campaign ahead of the crunch
ballot. Mugabe turns 88 in
February.
Mugabe’s officials have previously rubbished reports about his
poor health,
insisting that the President was “as fit as a
teenager.”
Mugabe’s health remains one of the most secretly guarded for a
head of state
anywhere in the world. His health has been the subject of
frenzied
speculation since leaked US embassy cables confirmed information
gleaned
from top Zanu PF officials that Mugabe was plagued by prostate
cancer.
However, according to WikiLeaks, serial political flip flopper
and the
United States’ useful messenger, Jonathan Moyo told the Americans
that
Mugabe had throat cancer.
Moyo has also made it clear that what
was quoted of him in the WikiLeaks was
true.
http://nehandaradio.com
December 28, 2011 2:28
pm
HARARE- Government made frantic efforts to pay off a US$1,5
million debt to
secure the release of an Air Zimbabwe plane impounded in
London mainly
because President Robert Mugabe wanted to use it on his
medical trip to the
Far East.
US firm American General Supplies
(AGS), which supplies the national airline
with the bulk of its spares,
impounded the Boeing 767-200ER at Gatwick
Airport. For nearly two weeks
hundreds of passengers were stranded at the
airport with government showing
no urgency to resolve the matter.
But Nehanda Radio.com has information
that Mugabe wanted to use the plane
last week Friday and was livid his plans
were delayed. Not only did the 87
year old dictator want to go for urgent
medical treatment he was determined
to attend the funeral of fellow
dictator, North Korea’s Kim Jong-il who died
last week.
The
government eventually bailed Air Zimbabwe paving the way for release of
the
plane which arrived back in Zimbabwe on Sunday. Even after payment was
made
aviation authorities in London refused to release the plane because it
had a
defective landing gear which they insisted should be fixed before
departure.
Mugabe was also unable to use Air Zimbabwe’s other
B737-200 aircraft because
it had no oxygen cylinders. Although Mugabe wanted
to travel to North Korea
it was looking more likely he would miss the
funeral of Kim Jong-il whose
father trained the notorious Fifth Brigade army
unit. Nehanda Radio.com
http://www.voanews.com
27 December
2011
The MDC
committee, expected to begin work in early 2012, is to probe
councilors
accused of abusing their positions to acquire residential plots,
business
premises and vehicles
Violet Gonda | Washington
Deputy Mayor
Emmanuel Chiroto of Harare, Zimbabwe, has described as
"unfortunate" a
decision by the Movement for Democratic Change formation of
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai to establish a committee to look into
corruption by city
councilors.
The committee, expected to begin work in early 2012, is to
probe councilors
accused of abusing their positions to acquire residential
plots, business
premises and vehicles.
Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo told Newsday that the decision
vindicates him of accusations
he has a habit of meddling in the operations
of councils.
But Chiroto
told VOA reporter Violet Gonda the probe is driven by MDC
legislators
fearful of competition from some of the councilors in the next
round of
national elections.
"Unfortunately councilors are not well represented in
the National Council
hence decisions against them can easily be passed,"
Chiroto said.
Some legislators "do not feel safe because quite a number
of councilors are
so much visible on the ground and very close to the
electorate," he said.
Harare Residents Trust Coordinator Precious Shumba
welcomed the probe,
charging that councilors including Chiroto have
accumulated wealth in three
years in office.
He said Harare residents
are concerned at a lack of accountability on the
part of elected councilors
focused on accumulating wealth instead of
improving public
services.
Such accumulation of wealth has remained unexplained,
"including the deputy
mayor who has hidden behind the death of his wife to
justify the kind of
wealth he has accumulated within the short period that
he has been the
deputy mayor," Shuma said.
http://www.voanews.com
27 December
2011
President Robert Mugabe has said no observer invitations will be
issued to
countries that have imposed travel and financial sanctions on him
and many
of his ZANU-PF party associates
Ntungamili Nkomo |
Washington
The European Union’s ambassador to Zimbabwe says the EU
will respect the
outcome of the next election even if it is won by President
Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party – provided the vote is held in a free and fair
environment.
In an end-of-year address, Ambassador Aldo Dell'Ariccia told
reporters that
the EU wants the inclusive government to end all forms of
violence and
implement broad political reforms before heading to the
polls.
He also urged the governing partners to achieve closure on the
many sticking
points in the 2008 Global Political Agreement and
elsewhere.
Addressing the issue of international election observers, he
said the EU is
interested in observing the vote, but will only do so if
invited by Harare.
President Robert Mugabe has said no observer
invitations will be issued to
countries that have imposed sanctions on him
and many of his ZANU-PF party
associates.
But Dell'Ariccia said the
EU will be content to rely upon observation by the
Southern African
Development Community and the African Union, both
guarantors pf the Global
Political Agreement which underpins the
power-sharing
arrangement.
ZANU-PF Member of Parliament for Mwenezi East, Masvingo
province, Kudakwashe
Bhasikiti, commented that the the European Union has
come to realize that
his party is more popular than the former opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change.
Spokesman Nhlanhla Dube of the MDC
formation of Industry Minister Welshman
Ncube told VOA reporter Ntungamili
Nkomo that the European Union's position
shows it now respects the right of
Zimbabweans to choose their leaders.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior
Writer
Wednesday, 28 December 2011 09:06
HARARE - High Court Judge
Justice Francis Bere will make a ruling tomorrow
on the application made by
the Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma to stop
Parliament from debating a
motion calling for his dismissal.
In court papers filed by the Speaker of
Parliament Lovemore Moyo and Deputy
speaker Nomalanga Khumalo together with
MDC members of Parliament Brian
Tshuma, Shepherd Mushonga, Willis Madzimure
and Lynette Karenyi they are
arguing that a court application cannot bar the
parliamentary proceedings on
the matter.
“The court of law cannot
properly be used to control the debate in
Parliament. The sub judice concept
is totally irrelevant in the present
case. Ist Respondent (Zvoma) had no
right to stop members of Parliament
from moving motions, seconding and
debating them on December 14, 2011 and
thereafter. There was nothing at law
to stop Parliament from carrying out
his duties," said Moyo in the court
application.
Zvoma lodged an urgent court application seeking to bar
Parliament to debate
on the motion.
MDC legislators namely Mushonga
and Tshuma introduced a motion in Parliament
asking for Zvoma to be
dismissed for being unprofessional.
The motion recommended that a
committee of five members be set up to
investigate Zvoma’s
conduct.
They also argued that the doctrine of separation of powers
dictates that the
organs of state — the executive legislature, and the
judiciary should be
independent of each other so that parliamentary issues
should not be
subjected to a judicial process in the same way the executive
should not
interfere with the legislative or judicial
proceedings.
Moyo also stated that the debate in Parliament is part of
the normal duties
and obligations of Parliamentarians.
He also issued
a certificate of privilege in terms of the Privileges,
Immunities and Powers
of Parliament Act.
The MDC MPs said the debate in Parliament is part of
the normal duties and
obligations of Parliament and to try and bar MPs from
debating would amount
to interfering with the operations of Parliament and
hindering the proper
functioning of the legislature.
Such an attempt
is clearly not supported by the Zimbabwean laws and the
general principles
of sound governance.
“The remedy sought by the Applicant, (Zvoma) is
incompetent. Any order to be
delivered by this Honourable Court in terms of
the draft could not be
effected at law given the status of the subject
matter at Parliament now,”
said Moyo in the court application.
Zanu
PF MPs refused to debate the motion and walked out of the Parliament
arguing
that the matter was before the court as Zvoma had already lodged an
urgent
application at the High Court seeking to stop MPs to debate the
matter.
MDC MPs debated the motion and passed it in
Parliament.
Zvoma is represented by Advocate David Ochieng, while Chris
Mhike of
Atherstone and Cook represented the MDC MPs.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Everson Mushava, Staff
Writer
Wednesday, 28 December 2011 07:12
HARARE - For many vendors
plying their trade within the city of Harare, this
year’s festive season
preparations turned out to be a nightmare.
The City of Harare’s municipal
police blitz on Christmas Eve shuttered plans
by many families who survive
on vending as their wares were either destroyed
or confiscated.
The
Daily News witnessed vendors’ problems as they spent the whole day
playing
cat and mouse games with the municipal police.
The vendors were angry
that the municipal police confiscated their goods
which they said is shared
among the officers at the end of the day.
Those that were lucky managed
to bribe the municipal police so as to retain
their goods.
Abigail
Mahlamvana, 31, from Epworth did not only lose her wares but fainted
while
running away from the police in the Avenues area.
Mahlamvana is diabetic
and could not stand the marathon run as the municipal
police were hard on
her heels.
She fell three times before finally falling unconscious, with
the police
seizing her wares and leaving her “to die”.
A taxi driver,
who had also escaped a blitz in the city centre on kombis and
taxies
together with other passers-by, came to her rescue.
The good Samaritans
fetched water at a nearby burst pipe and poured on the
woman who luckily
gained consciousness.
Speaking to the Daily News, the woman said she had lost
wares worth $17 and
that she was left with no cheer for Christmas Day which
came the following
day.
“I was only hoping to raise money to buy
bread and drinks for my children on
Christmas Day,” said Mahlamvana, a
single mother of three, shivering and
unable to carry her body.
She
said she hardly remembered much of what transpired except the sight of a
municipal blue tractor that carried the policemen who raided them under the
guide of their leader she only identified as Bvuma.
Another vendor
said the municipal police were heartless.
“They are only interested in
the goods that we will be selling. Why did they
leave her unconscious and
take away her stuff. They never tried to find out
what had happened to her
or even try to take her to hospital. They did not
even care if she was dead
as long as they had taken her wares. They are
ruthless,” retorted
Christopher Chitate, a father of two who is also
supporting his family
through vending.
He castigated the government for not intervening. He
said they should have
been allowed to sell and raise money to buy goodies
for the families for the
festive season.
“We are all educated, we
were once employed but because the industry is not
performing well, we have
nothing to do than vending. It is not by choice
that we are doing this and
the government should intervene. We also have a
right,” he
said.
According to Chitate, vendors lost their wares that day while
others paid
bribes ranging from $3 to $5 so that they could be
released.
Another vendor who claimed to have been once arrested said it
was unfair to
them because the municipal police are of the habit of sharing
their loot.
To him, Zimbabweans behaved like “animals” as depicted in the
popular novel,
The Animal Farm, where some animals are more superior than
others.
He said the municipal police force had become law unto themselves
and was
breaking the law at will to suit their circumstances while the
majority
suffered. Chitate said the same was happening to the transport
industry
where the police were cashing in on kombis.
“There is too
much corruption even within the police force,” he said adding
that he had
never had such a chaotic festive season.
http://www.mineweb.com
In a bid to force miners to set
up refineries in Zimbabwe, the country is
considering a ban on raw platinum
exports but, officials say the move won't
take place over
night.
Author: Nelson Banya (Reuters)
Posted: Wednesday , 28 Dec
2011
HARARE (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe is considering a ban on raw
platinum exports in a bid to force
miners to set up refineries in the
country, but this move will not take
place "overnight", a government
official said on Wednesday.
The southern African country has the second
largest known platinum reserves
in the world, after neighbouring South
Africa, and the top two global
producers, Anglo American Platinum and Impala
Platinum, have operations
there.
Both Amplats and Implats currently
send platinum concentrate from their
Zimbabwean mines to South African
refineries but the Zimbabwe government has
over the years tried to encourage
the firms into processing the metal
locally.
Deputy Mines Minister
Gift Chimanikire told Reuters that the government,
which restored a ban on
raw chrome exports earlier this year to promote
local smelting, was now
focusing on platinum producers.
"They need to start investing in a
refinery in Zimbabwe. We need
value-addition for our minerals here, we
cannot keep exporting jobs,"
Chimanikire said.
"We're not saying it's
going to be overnight. We're ringing the alarm bells
to show we're not
sleeping."
Platinum producers have said Zimbabwe's current production is
insufficient
to sustain a viable refinery. Implats' Zimplats operations
currently
operates the largest mine in the country, with production capacity
of
180,000 ounces annually.
Mimosa, Implats' 50:50 joint venture with
Aquarius, accounted for more than
20 percent of Aquarius's total
attributable output of 487,404 PGM ounces for
the full year, while Amplats'
Unki mine produced 22,000 ounces in the first
half of 2011.
Industry
players have talked up the possibility of a refinery being set up
in the
country five years from now, when the major producers are expected to
have
ramped up output.
Chimanikire says the government would want to see
definite steps towards
that target.
"I'm not arguing with that. Let
them demonstrate to us that in five years'
time, that will happen."
http://www.voanews.com/
27 December
2011
Insiders said Rainbow's board and shareholders agreed to raise US$15
million
through a US$10 million sale and leaseback of Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel
to NSSA
and a US$5 million rights issue
Gibbs Dube |
Washington
Zimbabwe's Rainbow Tourism Group, unable to service a
US$15 million credit
line and declared technically insolvent by a private
financial advisory
firm, has resolved to sell one of its top properties to
the National Social
Security Authority.
Insiders said Rainbow's board
and shareholders agreed to raise US$15 million
through a US$10 million sale
and leaseback of Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel to NSSA
and a US$5 million rights
issue.
They said the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development
Bank - also
known as the Preferential Trade Area Bank - has threatened to
take the
Rainbow Group to court if it does not pay the debt in
full.
Rainbow management could not be reached for comment.
Ibbo
Mandaza, a former Rainbow chairman, said the group is financially
solid,
contrary to a recent report by analytical firm Corporate Excellence,
that it
is technically insolvent.
“I am sure that the company is not broke and
indications are that the deal
with NSSA will take care of the debt,” said
Mandaza.
Economic commentator Masimba Kuchera said the hotel group is in
a crisis due
to government interference in its operations.
The group
owns top-class accommodations including the Rainbow Towers and New
Ambassador hotels in Harare, and the Rainbow Hotel in Victoria
Falls.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti recently said the tourism sector is
expected to
record annual growth of 13.7 percent in 2012 compared with 10.3
percent in
2011.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Wednesday,
28 December 2011 08:58
HARARE - As the year 2012 beckons and its rays
shine on the horizon, Harare
residents have vivid memories of the year gone
by.
Residents endured for days on end without water, electricity and some
without both at the same time as Harare City Council and Zesa authorities
failed to meet expectations.
Like a curse, the two public
institutions’ systems collapsed under their
noses and it took ages to sort
out the mess, thereby disenfranchising
ratepayers who have had to pay
through the nose for the poor services.
While everyone is busy making New
Year’s resolutions, Harare City
councillors were throughout the year passing
resolutions that had nothing to
do with bringing back the glamour once
associated with Harare.
Their resolutions ranged from allocating
residential stands to themselves,
their kith and kin, and also to some
connected council workers.
The councillors also treated themselves to
tenders where they supplied
products and services to council and even small
items such as rims of
stationery.
They also made headlines for
clandestinely increasing council’s sitting
allowances while spending little
time on discussion of water and refuse
collection issues.
Full
council meetings were reduced to mere talk shows and a display of the
councillors’ latest fashion.
In 2011, two councillors were dismissed
while another is serving suspension
after local government minister,
Ignatius Chombo used the Urban Council Act
to banish the MDC councillors
from council chambers.
Indeed 2011 had little joy for Harare residents as
the much publicised land
probe which was supposed to investigate the alleged
parcelling out of land
to business mogul and President Robert Mugabe’s
nephew, Phillip Chiyangwa
and Chombo himself failed to take off.
The
land investigations were brought to the public in 2010 by a special
council
committee which implicated the two as having helped themselves with
council
land without following proper procedures.
In 2011, Harare’s housing list
continued to balloon with no solution in
sight.
Council appears to be
groping in the dark in search for an answer which is
proving very
elusive.
Even the idea of housing co-operatives has suddenly died a
natural death,
leaving the embattled Harare City Council in a quandary as to
where the
answers for the housing backlog would come from.
While the
sad memories of the 2008 cholera epidemic seemingly have
slipped-out so fast
on the minds of most councillors, discussions during
council meetings were
characterised by political ideologies that have little
chances of turning
around the fortunes of the generality of Harareans.
Despite all the
glaring evidence of the council’s poor service delivery to
its ratepayers,
some councillors believe the local authority performed above
average.
Some vouch that council had failed dismally in its
programmes.
Special interest councillor, Charles Nyachowe described 2011
as a failed
year for Harare council singling out the recent typhoid
outbreak, continued
water cuts and uncollected garbage as reasons for his
critic.
“We have failed as a team and we must do better next year,” said
Nyachowe.
Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto agreed with Nyachowe that his
council could
have done better on water and sanitation but failed on
garbage.
“We have achieved a lot as council especially when it came to
water issues,”
Chiroto said.
“We have managed to clean the water
purification tanks and processing unit
which were dysfunctional,” said
Chiroto.
He however, said council failed to protect residents from
water-borne
diseases.
“We have failed to deal with errant council
employees who are either
fingered in corruption charges or have acted to
sabotage council,” said
Chiroto.
http://www.iol.co.za/
December 28 2011 at 09:14am
By NTANDO
MAKHUBU
Human Rights issues were put under the spotlight this year
when Refugee
Week, in June, revealed the existence of unregistered and
undocumented
communities of immigrants, including women and children, who
arrived in the
country in search of economic opportunities, but struggled to
survive in SA.
Later on in the year the discovery of the lost community
of Verdwaal 2 in
Itsoseng in the North West Province, brought to light the
shortcomings of
government’s promises to fight poverty and prevent deaths
from hunger. Four
children aged two years to nine died one hot summer
morning after they had
walked for hours in search of their mother and food.
Their situation
uncovered a community steeped in poverty and helplessness,
and indifference
as the villagers sat back and watched the world pass them
by.
When Refugee Week rolled around in June a community of boys continued
to
exist in the border town of Musina close to the border between SA and
Zimbabwe, having slipped through the system which seeks to have on its
database the details of all who live in the country - nationals and
immigrants. The boys have lived in that place for many years and they have
kept well under the radar as efforts to round up illegal migrants and get
them legally documented carried on around them.
The boys told the
Pretoria News they had arrived in Musina from Zimbabwe,
Zambia and other
neighbouring countries and, after failing to make it beyond
that small town,
they settled in to make a living from whatever came their
way.
Comfortably living with no adult supervision, some of them, the
older ones,
looked after the younger ones. They “protected” each other from
“bad people”,
including the police who occasionally tried to round them up
and take them
to shelters in Musina. They are also often suspected of
committing petty
crimes like handbag snatching, but, they insisted, they
were not criminals.
Some said they did not know their ages; others said
they had come to SA to
look for jobs. Others said they had come because
older siblings, mothers and
other relatives had said they were working in
SA. They had not found them
and had opted to stay in Musina where they made
money by washing trucks,
guiding them into and out of the truck stop and
keeping their eyes on
vehicles while drivers rested.
IOL news dce 28 SA
PN musina 4
A donated container, lined with donated blankets and
mattresses, is their
home. The youngest are about 12 years old, the older
ones around 18, and
they all live to dodge law enforcement and aid
organisations who would take
them to shelters. They prefer to make their own
rules and said they feared
the shelters because of stories of bullying,
where they would have eating
and sleeping time dictated to
them.
These boys depend on donations of tinned fish and beans for lunch
between
Monday and Friday. Weekend meals are scarce: they beg at local
restaurants
or scavenge. Most dream of better lives and jobs, of moving
inland to
Johannesburg or Pretoria, and of one day being able to return home
to
improve the lives of their families.
One said his dream was going
to school one day; another of earning a good
salary and having a family of
his own.
In Musina, shelters set up mainly by religious organisations are
crammed
full of women and children in a sad state of existence. Also having
left
their countries for various reasons, most of them because of the
economic
lure of SA, find themselves stuck in that town with nowhere to go.
They have
no money and cannot apply for political asylum.
Barely out
of childhood herself, Polite and her babies - one two and the
other younger
than that - live every day hungry, exhausted and very
desperate.
She
said she wanted to go back home, but because she had come in illegally
and
had no documentation or money, she was stuck there. The women around her
said her situation was bad - her children were always naked, she had no
nappies for the baby and they spent the day walking the streets and picking
food out of dustbins.
In the evenings the women and children are
given a plate of porridge and
beans.
Some lie in their beds, sick and
unable to eat. Others go out and look for
jobs during the day but they have
no luck. They sit around and hope for some
form of luck to come their way,
but always fear the threat of being deported
and taken back to their country
where, they say, there is nothing to go back
to. The SA Constitution is
obliged to protect the human rights of every
person in the country after
signing the UN Refugee Convention in 1951 and
other
conventions.
Immigrants have also been promised protection by the state,
which is obliged
to provide them with avenues to apply for asylum and
temporary assistance,
like the three-month relief of food and accommodation,
and allow them to
apply for social grants in instances where they need
them.
In Verdwaal the tragic story of the four Mmupele children who died
of
starvation and dehydration opened up to scrutiny the lives of former farm
dwellers and their ability to exist independently of farm life. It also
brought to the fore the reach, or lack of it, of government’s fight against
hunger.
Visits to the community found whole families - sometimes up
to 30, living in
a three-room house - dependent on hand-outs for farm hands.
Most family
members have no birth certificates, identity documents and are
unable to
access social grants. Families survive on a bowl of porridge each
a day and
were described by a Cape Town researcher as having a “learned
helplessness
syndrome”, borne of the fact that they had not been required to
think beyond
their duties on the farm.
Social workers said the people
were unable to adjust to a life where the
provision of bare necessities
rested on their shoulders and even they had no
idea of how they could make a
living, staring blankly when asked of
intentions to find work.
Their
plight brought out the humanity in people of SA, who made donations to
Verdwaal, with the Gift of the Givers Foundation taking over R1 million
worth of emergency food aid to the area.
The Department of Home
Affairs called it an injustice to live in SA for so
many years and have no
documentation, yet people were turned back when
mobile units were sent out
there, because they had no money and had not been
notified of what documents
they had to bring.
Local ward councillor Aobakwe Matshogo started a
process of profiling
community members, a process also adopted by the
Department of Social
Development to establish the levels of poverty among
the community members.
This process resulted in the launch of the Food for
All campaign last week,
which is set to benefit seven North West communities
identified as hungry,
poverty- stricken and malnourished.
Minister
Bathabile Dlamini said the campaign would reach out and help those
communities access social grants and they would also be equipped with
farming skills and provided with livestock to launch the project. - Pretoria
News
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7228
December 28th, 2011
When my
friends and I watched the Heroes Day “celebrations” we sighed with
resignation when ZanuPf did their normal abduction of our national holidays,
arriving in full party regalia and shouting their party slogans. Since we
watched this Zanu stolen celebration we have gotten more and more angry
about the party of thieves, ZanuPf.
We are sick to death of ZanuPf
behaving as if they own everything in this
country and they forget one very
important thing – they no longer control
all information in Zimbabwe, for
we, the younger generation, know exactly
how to get on to the internet, how
to use Facebook and how to get and send
real news, not just Zanu
news.
The Liberation struggle of Zimbabwe was fought by Zimbabweans from
all walks
of life, not just one political party. But Zanu continuously and
foolishly
personalise the Liberation Struggle as if their party members are
the only
ones who fought for democracy and freedom, neither of which any of
us common
people actually has today.
When the army generals announced
they would not salute anyone without war
credentials, it clearly showed they
have forgetten that during the war the
people were the water and those
carrying the guns were the fish, the fish
cannot survive where there’s no
water. One day, soon, ZanuPf are going to
be the fish out of water, gasping
for breath and struggling to survive, just
like the ruling elite in Libya
have had to face.
No party can claim ownership of everything that has a
Zimbabwean flag on it;
whether it is National Days, banks, schools,
hospitals, land, businesses,
diamonds or anything else that actually belongs
to the people, not the
party.
But let me tell these thugs, you can
fool some of the people some of the
time, but not all of them all of the
time. The new generation, with the
help of the world wide web, will not be
fooled any longer.
This entry was posted by Bob Gondo on Wednesday,
December 28th, 2011 at 6:24
am
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 28 December 2011
With Robert Mugabe already
abroad, it is unclear if he will heed Pyongyang’s
appeal that foreign
delegations would not be allowed to attend the funeral
of the late North
Korean “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang, Wednesday
28 December
2011.
It would not be Mugabe’s first odd presence abroad, having been the
sole
foreign head of state at the swearing-in ceremony of Joseph Kabila as
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). And he had a shocking
surprise for those present.
Amid the disputed DRC vote, Mugabe
promised Joseph Kabila that Zimbabwe
(maybe he meant Zanu-pf) will help him
(Kabila) fight off any interference
by presumably Western
outsiders.
In July 2011, Robert Mugabe had another surprise for the whole
world by
being the only head of state attending a two-day youth conference
at the
United Nations under the theme: “Youth: Dialogue and Mutual
Understanding”.
As usual, he was accompanied by a huge
delegation.
But, despite Pyongyang’s ban and the prohibitive cost to the
struggling
Zimbabwean taxpayer, the Head of State and Government and
Commander-in-Chief
of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the First Secretary and
President of Zanu-pf
Robert Mugabe, may produce another surprise by showing
up.
While Mugabe may be keen to pay his respects to Kim Jong Il, the sad
memories associated with North Korea in Zimbabwe date back to 1981 when 106
North Koreans arrived in Zimbabwe to train Mugabe’s Fifth
Brigade.
After its training, the elite unit drawn from 3500 ex-Zanla
troops committed
the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands
during which an
estimated 20 000 suspected sympathisers of Pf-Zapu were
killed.
This analyst believes that Mugabe as the Commander in Chief of
the Armed
Forces was solely responsible for the Gukurahundi genocide and
subsequent
state-sponsored bloody electoral violence in the country hence
his reported
reluctance to handover power during his lifetime fearing
retributive
justice.
Like paranoid Mugabe who has warned against a
Libyan style revolution in
Zimbabwe, North Korea has gone a step further by
banning its own 200
citizens working in Libya from returning home,
apparently out of fear that
“they will reveal the extent and final outcomes
of the revolutions that have
shaken the Arab world,” (Telegraph,
27/10/11).
Reports say North Korean nationals had been left in a limbo,
joining their
compatriots who were stuck in Tunisia, Egypt and other
countries with orders
not to return home.
Zimbabweans await Mugabe’s
next surprise after learning that there will be
no cabinet meetings for the
entire month of January as the geriatric tyrant
relaxes lavishly in the Far
East courtesy of the released Air Zimbabwe
aircraft.
Clifford Chitupa
Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com
