http://www.telegraph.co.uk
At least 120 white farmers in Zimbabwe have
returned to the land by setting
up farms under leasehold deals with the
black beneficiaries of Robert
Mugabe's land seizure policies.
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare 11:01PM GMT 03 Dec 2010
The emergence of a new
group of white farmers has drawn bitter criticism
from the victims of Mr
Mugabe's violent occupation of properties sold under
colonial era
leases.
"These farmers handed Mr Mugabe victory," said former Zimbabwe
Tobacco
Association president, Andy Ferreira.
In the ten years since
Mr Mugabe ordered 4,000 white farmers off their land,
Zimbabwe's economy has
collapsed. A recent revival in agricultural
production appears to have
resulted from younger white farmers restoring
fallow land to
agriculture.
Mr Ferreira has called on international traders to shun
tobacco grown on
contested land as "blood tobacco".
Mr Ferreira, an
evicted farmer, said this new generation of white farmers
did deals - often
with Mr Mugabes cronies in the ruling Zanu PF party
"because they like the
life" and rewards of farming in one of Africa's most
fertile
nations.
Hendrik Olivier, director of the Commercial Farmers' Union said,
in some
discomfort: "Yes it is happening. We advised these (white) farmers
not to
move onto land without permission from original owners" Some farmers
are
paying leases to the Zanu PF beneficiary and the original owner. Others
are
only paying the Zanu PF person who "acquired" the land and its
improvements
for free."
Trevor Gifford, a past president of the CFU,
who was forced off his farm in
eastern Zimbabwe earlier this year said: :"I
am relieved this is coming out.
Some of these white farmers are behaving
disgracefully."
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Saturday 04 December
2010
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s largest independent election monitoring
group says the
SADC and other organisations should deploy advance teams to
certify if the
present political conditions in the country are conducive for
the holding of
free and fair polls next year.
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Support Network (ZESN) this week said advance
monitoring teams should be
deployed “now to assess the political
environment” and should remain in the
country at least a month after the
polls to ensure there are no
post-election skirmishes as happened two years
ago.
The polls should
only go ahead after the advance parties have certified the
climate conducive
for the unfettered participation of all stakeholders.
According to ZESN,
the rest of the election observers should be deployed at
least three months
prior to the polls.
This is one of a set of “minimum conditions”
announced by ZESN for the
holding of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe
which are tentatively set for
next year.
Other conditions include the
need to have Southern African Development
Community (SADC) monitors compared
to the current situation where the
regional team’s role is limited to
observer status only.
Election monitors have the power to intervene and
rectify any shortcoming in
the electoral process while observers do not have
powers to intervene and
must only report what they have seen.
The
role of election monitors is critical in a highly polarized society like
Zimbabwe’s where there is a need for an independent voice to generate
consensus among political players on the rule of electoral game including
the acceptance of election results.
Zimbabweans go to polls in
mid-2011 in elections expected to be a two-horse
race between President
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the MDC-T led by
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Mugabe, who will turn 87 next February and the only leader
Zimbabwe has
known since independence from Britain 30 years ago, has in past
elections
disputed the reports of Western poll observers whom he accuses of
bias.
In their reports, the Western observers have cited cases of
political
violence against Mugabe’s opponents and widespread rigging of poll
results.
The MDC-T says at least 500 of its supporters were murdered by
ZANU PF
militias in the last presidential polls held in 2008.
ZESN
also called for a “fresh registration of voters” before the next polls
as
well as the removal of strict registration requirements such as proof of
residence.
An audit of the existing voters’ roll conducted by
pressure group Sokwanele
last year unearthed several anomalies in the
current roll maintained by the
Registrar General’s Office.
These
included a surprisingly large number of people aged 100 and above. The
audit
identified names of 74 021 voters aged above 100 on the roll used in
the
2008 harmonised parliamentary and presidential elections.
There were also
82 456 people registered who are aged between 90 and 100
years
old.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said it needs at least a year
to clean
up the existing voters’ roll, adding to the intrigue surrounding
the holding
of the country’s next general elections.
http://www.radiovop.com/
04/12/2010
13:35:00
HARARE, December 4, 2010 -The Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (ZESN), has
listed 'demilitarization' of the electoral body among
the minimum standards
that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) must deal
with for the country
to have a credible poll.
ZESN which has been
monitoring Zimbabwe elections since the year 2000 said
there must be no
violence or intimidation before, during and after elections
adding that
ordinary people must be allowed to move freely.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has said (ZEC) is full of state security
agents with links to
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party. The Prime
Minister demanded the
recruitment of electoral officials who will be
impartial when executing
state duties.The MDC has alleged that previous
elections especially in 2000,
2002 and 2008 were rigged in favour of the
President,s party.
Zimbabwe is
likely to hold elections next year.Mugabe has said he needed
early elections
as tensions in the unity government continue to rise due to
differences over
key positions such as provincial governors,
attorney-general and central
bank governor.
ZESN also wants a new voters roll to include Zimbabweans
in the diaspora and
prison inmates. The pressure group said the voters roll
must be made
available electronically and ready for inspection by any person
or party any
time.
The organisation also called on the government to
speed up the licencing of
independent radio and television stations to
ensure that all political
parties are given equal airtime during election
campaigning.
The election pressure group appealed to the unity government to
allow
foreign observers into the country when there is time and to make
sure
their security is guaranteed by the state.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Njabulo Ncube
3 December 2010
Harare
— PRESSURE is being brought to bear on Zimbabwe's top leadership to
reconsider the decision to go to the polls next year in order to give the
country's economy sufficient time to recuperate after a decade of a
record-breaking recession while at the same time nursing the polarisation
dividing its people in what has rendered the 2011 plebiscite
doubtful.
Leading the anti-election drive are regional leaders who are
leaning heavily
on South African President, Jacob Zuma, who took over from
Thabo Mbeki as
the point man on issues pertaining to the Zimbabwe crisis, to
drive the
point home.
Diplomatic sources told The Financial Gazette
this week that latest attempts
to stretch the life of the not-so-inclusive
government beyond the two years
agreed under the power-sharing truce signed
in September 2008 by the three
founding principals were informed by fears
that going to the polls without
upgrading Zimbabwe's lopsided political
environment could produce a disputed
outcome that might plunge the country
into a deep hole.
Rightly or wrongly, these concerns seem to resonate
with the dominant view
of the generality of Zimbabwe's
populace.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe's electoral outcomes have suffered a
credibility crisis
resulting in the country's isolation.
Analysts say
the economic crisis of the last 10 years was largely caused by
the lack of
confidence in Zimbabwe's political systems, which the previous
government
had tried to reverse through populist economic policies that
spawned more
problems for the nation.
Zuma, seen as wielding a greater say in the
course of action the country may
eventually take, was in Harare on Friday
last week in a desperate attempt to
iron out the differences between
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai -- the pillars
upon which the coalition is anchored.
He took the opportunity to impress
on the country's leadership the need to
draw a road-map that would result in
the staging of free and fair elections
to end the contestation for power
between them.
While President Mugabe has hinted that elections would be
held in June next
year, it would appear that the timetable for the polls is
now in disarray.
The road map alluded to by Zuma, the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, is
unlikely to be
accomplished within the next six months leading to the
make-or-break
elections that are likely to be fiercely contested between the
ageing
veteran nationalist and the former trade unionist.
For
instance, the drafting stage of the new constitution that must precede
the
polls is to all intents and purposes now off the rails.
The exercise has
been held back by insufficient funding with donors said to
be sceptical
about the unhelpful haggling and tussling that now characterise
the marriage
of convenience between ZANU-PF and the two formations of the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). The three parties have been at each
other's throats
over the so-called outstanding issues encompassing the
appointment of senior
government officials and a cocktail of reforms to be
implemented during the
life of the inclusive government.
But what may cripple the election call
more than anything else are
resources.
President Mugabe had tasked
Treasury to budget at least US$200 million for
both the referendum and
polls, which is proving to be a herculean task.
Finance Minister, Tendai
Biti, only allocated US$50 million for the
referendum and the elections in
his 2011 National Budget, a vote which
experts say is not enough to fund a
national poll.
The hiatus in the Upper House over the alleged unilateral
appointments of
provincial governors who seat in the Senate as ex-officio
members, has also
blocked the passage of crucial Bills, some of which are
meant to reform the
political environment, presently skewed in favour of the
incumbent.
The Senate is only expected to reconvene in February, a
setback to the
country's legislative agenda.
A catalogue of reforms
currently in the pipeline include media and security
sector reforms,
addressing the shambolic state of the voters roll,
conclusion of the stalled
constitution reform process and diffusing tensions
in the unity
government.
Ignoring these imperatives, according to diplomatic sources,
might
compromise the credibility of the elections, which the SADC leaders
would
want to avoid.
"All these issues, which were also raised by
Zuma are impossible to address
within the next six months unless President
Mugabe and Prime Minister
Tsvangirai were content with another sham poll,
likely to be rejected," said
one diplomat.
"Zuma has been told that
he has to realise that the last election was marred
by violence and so far
no meaningful effort has been relayed into the
creation of a peaceful
political climate. The Organ on National Healing,
Reconciliation and
Integration has been stuck in failure and stagnancy."
Legislators from
both ZANU-PF and the MDC factions have already voiced
concerns over early
polls. But analysts say these lawmakers could be easily
whipped into line
and made to tow their respective party lines, as they are
deemed not to have
the stamina to induce a political crisis.
A SADC Troika meeting is
expected to take place in Pretoria before the end
of this week to discuss
the way forward regarding the crisis in Harare.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 03 December 2010 17:28
Staff
Reporter
GOVERNMENT should brace up for crippling strikes next year as
civil servants
vent out their frustrations over the coalition’s failure to
meet their
salary demands in the 2011 National Budget unveiled by Finance
Minister,
Tendai Biti, last week. The public workers who number up to 200
000 have
been pressing for a salary of about US$502 per month for the lowest
paid
government employee since the inclusive government was formed in
February
last year.
In his budget statement, Biti increased the salary
bill to US$1,1 billion
from US$773 — an increase of about 30
percent.
Taken together with other employments costs such as pensions,
medical aid
and other allowances, the fiscus’ total salary bill will be
US$1,4 billion
next year.
The net effect of the adjustment is however,
still far short of the 100
percent salary rise that had been budgeted for by
unions.
Unions representing the civil servants were this week livid over the
issue.
Manuel Nyawo, the chief executive of the Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
(TUZ),
said the government should brace for civil unrest in January.
He
said the public workers were disappointed by the National Budget, which
maintained salaries at below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL), presently
estimated at US$500.
“We should send a clear message to them (government)
to say, enough is
enough. There is going to be civil unrest next year
because the Finance
Minister deliberately chose to leave us out of the
consultations as if we
are not an important stakeholder. As TUZ we dismiss
the budget as it does
not go along with our expectations,” he said.
The
Public Service Association said it will soon convene a meeting of its
membership to review the budget and map the way forward.
Jeremiah
Gwirinhi, the association’s deputy executive secretary said: “We
are still
to unpack and allocate the proposed pay packages. However, we are
not happy
at all as the government has again failed to address our issue.”
The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) has weighed in, saying the
budget left a sour
taste in the mouth.
Wellington Chibebe, the ZCTU secretary general, said the
union sees the
influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank in the
crafting of the budget hence the outcome is nothing short of
being
capitalist and therefore not pro-poor.
“The ZCTU is worried that
Value Added Tax and individual tax remain the
main sources of revenue for
the government.
“Instead of taxing businesses that are into business to make
profits,
government continues to hammer the workers with high taxes of up to
35
percent,” said Chibebe.
“The Minister is lying to the nation when he
says the measures he has
introduced will impact positively on the purchasing
power of tax payers.
This is because the tax bands have not been adjusted
and the highest taxed
worker is still being taxed at a punitive 35
percent.
“The ZCTU’s position is that bonuses should not be taxed at all and
consequently the adjustment of the tax free bonus to US$500 has little
effect on the pockets of workers,” he added.
Chibebe said the adjustment
of the tax free threshold from US$175 to US$225
was a slap in the face for
workers who were expecting it to rise to at least
US$400.
“We also take
note of the proposed increase in the remuneration of the civil
service but
labour is worried that there have been no attempts to flush out
the
thousands of ghost workers in the civil service.
“An audit did take place and
the Ministries that have the bulk of ghost
workers were identified and we
wonder what is stopping the authorities from
weeding out these
people.
“The proposed 100 percent salary hike for public sector workers is
sickening
when one takes into account the fact that it’s inclusive of all
other
obligations such as pensions,” he said.
Chibebe said the ZCTU
wants Members of Parliament to critically look at the
proposed budget and
not just rubberstamp the proposals as has been the norm
in the past.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha
Saturday, 04
December 2010 17:58
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) has called on the
Government to domesticate the International Labour
Act, desist from
interfering in the work of the union and come up with
policies that foster
economic growth in the country.
“Our labour
laws are skewed and are not compliant with ILO standards,” ZCTU
President
Lovemore Matombo told journalists at a meeting held at the Harare
Quill Club
on Friday night.
Matombo, who recently won an international award for his
sterling work for
workers under difficult conditions, said that there was
need for the
Government to move away from colonial laws if the economy was
to grow.
He said that 30 years after independence the Zimbabwean
economy was still
run in the along the colonial lines that favoured a few
people and left out
the majority.
The ZCTU President said the
Zimbabwe Political Economy was based on a
capitalistic system from the
settler regime meant to cater for 250 000
whites.
He lamented the
fact that there was no deliberate attempt by those in
positions of
influence to change the status quo and grow the inherited
economy which he
said catered for only 2O per cent of the formal economy
meant for
whites.
“Zimbabwe is one of the richest countries on the planet with the
poorest
people. Other countries rely on the minerals or tourism but Zimbabwe
has
everything,” he said.
Matombo bemoaned the fact that a worker in
1975 earned more money than a
worker in 2010 despite the fact that Ian Smith
was under sanctions.
He said that Zimbabwe at that time had a higher
Domestic Gross Product than
India and China.
ZCTU is not happy with
the recent 2011 budget presented by Finance Minister
Tendai Biti and
described it as a slap in the face of wokers whose tax free
threshold was
adjusted from US$ 175 to US$225 against a poverty datum line
of US$
496.
Minister Tendai Biti on the other hand, said his budget favoured the
poor
and also cited the need to amend the labour laws to make them investor
friendly.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by John Chimunhu
Saturday, 04 December
2010 13:39
HARARE - Zimbabwean farmers have moved a step closer to
seizing planes
belonging to the troubled state carrier Air Zimbabwe and
trains owned by the
National Railways of Zimbabwe in their efforts to get
compensation for farms
seized by President Robert Mugabe without
compensation since 2000.
In claims registered recently in New York, the
farmers have now been
empowered to attach planes, trains and any assets
belonging to quasi-state
corporations which they can identify outside
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe flies planes to various destinations around the world
and runs
trains into neighbouring countries.
“Every day we have a new
writ. The farmers registered an order in New York
and they can attach any
quasi-state asset owned by such organizations as NRZ
and Air Zimbabwe,” said
Finance Minister Tendai Biti during a post-budget
meeting with members of
the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) last
Friday.
The
farmers are also said to be identifying offshore financial assets owned
by
Zimbabwean parastatals with the intention of seizing them.
This would
make doing business virtually impossible for many state firms.
A South
African court last month ruled that three commercial farmers and a
German
bank owed money by the government could auction a building owned by
the
Zimbabwe government in Cape Town.
The farmers and the German Bank had
initially targeted to auction three
Zimbabwean properties but the South
Gauteng High Court ruled that they could
only sale the one building in
Kenilworth, Cape Town, because it was being
rented out to a third party for
commercial gain and therefore no longer
enjoyed diplomatic
protection.
Biti said other government buildings were only saved on the
grounds of
sovereign immunity (diplomatic immunity). But the finance
minister the only
way to resolve the problem was to pay compensation to the
farmers for
properties they lost in Zimbabwe.
“We have to solve the
issue of this debt,” the Minister said. However,
paying off the farmers may
prove difficult as the bankrupt Harare government
owes billions to other
lenders, including the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 03 December 2010 17:27
Staff
Reporter
THE government has been accused of conducting secret
diamonds sales worth
several millions of United States dollars outside the
auction system,
documents filed in the High Court show. As the diamond saga
deepens one of
the directors of Core Mining and Minerals Resources is
alleging that the
Ministry of Mines and Mining Development through its
companies — the
Zimbabwe Min-ing Development Corporation (ZMDC), Marange
Resources and the
Minerals Marketing Corpo-ration of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) — have
departed from the
usual sale of diamonds through the auction system.
This
is contained in court documents in which Lovemore Kurotwi, a director
of
Core, is seeking to be availed some of the proceeds from the opaque cash
sales of the gems.
Kurotwi, whose company had partnered Marange Resources
to form Canadile
Miners, kicked out from the fields recently on fraud
allegations, has
launched a bid seeking more than US$3,7 million from sales
of diamonds he
claims were conducted a fortnight ago and under a
cloud.
He alleged that underhand dealings were taking place in the handling
of the
precious mineral.
“. . . On 12th of November 2010, Govati Mhora
(ZMDC security officer)
attempted to airlift the diamonds from the Mutare
sorting house to an
undisclosed destination. The attempted removal was
stopped by Mutare police
who briefly detained (and) questioned Mhora and his
helicopter crew, which
included the first respondent’s acting deputy chief
executive officer,” said
Kurotwi in his application.
“I have been
informed by one international buyer who participated in
previous auctions .
. . that today (November 18 2010) he has been invited
and has been offered a
diamond parcel of 400 carats valued at US$2 million.
“. . . (The) third
respondent (MMCZ) has departed from the usual practice of
sale by auction
and has offered the parcels to cash buyers . . . There is
now one sale
underway. The nature of the transaction, (private treaty), has
the potential
of abuse.”
ZMDC is the first respondent in the matter.
The ZMDC has since
challenged the application saying the agreement that led
to the formation of
Canadile had been revoked and as such Core Mining cannot
claim any money
from diamond sales.
Kurotwi also sought the reversal of an instruction by the
Immigration
Department to cancel the work permits of Canadile directors and
employees
Aslanian Wiken, Yehudah Licht, Subithry Naidoo, Allan John Sawyer,
Karen
Mikirayen, Komalin Packirisamy and Marco Chiotti.
He further stated
that the directors be allowed to enter the country without
any
hindrance.
But ZMDC is challenging the credentials of the directors and
maintains that
some of them were convicted criminals, diamond smugglers and
money
launderers.
Kurotwi, Chiotti, Naidoo, Pacikrisamy and Naidoo have
been recommended by a
special ZMDC investigations report that they be
probed and prosecuted for
smuggling of diamonds and money laundering.
The
same report alleges that Licht was convicted and served a prison
sentence in
Angola; Taylor was an apartheid mercenary involved in African
“conflict
diamond” wars; Chiotti was a diamond smuggler operating from
Manica in
Mozambique; Naidoo was a South African drug cartel boss, notorious
diamond
dealer and smuggler in Mutare and Manica.
Kurotwi, who was released from
police custody last month, would be indicted
for trial on January 4, 2011
along with five ZMDC officials on charges of
fraudulently acquiring diamond
mining claims in Chiadzwa
The five are suspended ZMDC chief executive,
Dominic Mubaiwa, board member
Mark Tsomondo, former board chairperson Gloria
Mawarire, director Aston
Ndlovu and company secretary, John Tichaona.
The
damaging revelations came as the impasse between the government and the
Kimberly Process has escalated.
Last week, Zimbabwe abandoned a meeting
in Brussels, Belgium, that was meant
to discuss its diamond exports in
protest.
There have been concerns regarding the sale of Chiadzwa diamonds in
Marange
amid speculation that the precious stones were being abused by
senior
political figures to further their political interests.
Presenting
the 2011 National Budget last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti,
said
Treasury had receipted proceeds from only two diamond auctions and
still
awaited the revenue from the third sale.
“The first and second sales
conducted in August and September 2010 generated
gross proceeds of US$56 476
194,40 and US$29 914 788,86 . . . Out of this
amount accruals to government
were US$30 006 630,85 and US$11 932 557,79
respectively.
“Treasury still
awaits receipts from the third diamond sale for
incorporation into the
consolidated revenue account,” said Biti.
http://www.voanews.com
UN
Humanitarian Coordinator Alain Noudehou said one in three children in
Zimbabwe is chronically malnourished and that malnutrition is a factor in
nearly 12,000 child deaths a year in the country
Sandra Nyaira |
Washington 03 December 2010
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator
for Zimbabwe, Alain Noudehou,
has issued an appeal to donors for $415
million for 2011, saying an
estimated 1.7 million Zimbabweans face hunger
from January through March
when the annual maize harvest
begins.
Noudehou said one in three children in Zimbabwe is chronically
malnourished.
He said malnutrition is a factor in nearly 12,000 child deaths
a year.
Zimbabwe has experienced a decade of food shortages due to
drought and – say
experts – as a result of the land reform program launched
in 2000 by
President Robert Mugabe, which severely disrupted the
agricultural sector as
white operators were ejected.
Christian Care
National Director Reverend Forbes Matonga said donor agencies
have already
started distributing food in parts of the country most prone to
drought.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Saturday, 04 December
2010 13:45
HARARE – Zanu (PF) has intensified the politicisation of food
aid and
farm input distribution as part of a wider campaign to victimise
and
intimidate opponents ahead of elections tentatively set for next
year.
According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), incidents of
aid
politicisation have been rampant in Lupane West, Hwange West and
Binga
South districts of Matabeleland North province.
“Matabeleland
North recorded cases of harassments mostly around the
issue of partisan
distribution of food and other forms of aid with
victims being denied access
to aid,” the group said.
The campaign to cow opponents ahead of polls
likely to take before
mid-2011 has also seen a spike in incidents of
political violence
across the country, with ZPP saying it recorded 896 cases
of violence
and human rights abuses – including assault, intimidation, rape
and
torture – in October compared to 869 such incidents recorded in
the
previous month.
The ZPP said Zanu (PF) militia have set up torture
camps in
Mashonaland Central province in a sign of worse things to
come.
“Torture bases have also been established in Mashonaland Central
in
the areas of Muzarabani and Bindura North constituencies
leaving
villagers terrified,” said the ZPP in its report on political
violence
and human rights abuses for the month of October.
The report
also showed the intensification of a terror campaign by the
army against
supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
supporters.
The ZPP
said soldiers are openly campaigning for President Robert
Mugabe, telling the
villagers they would be killed if they do not vote
for Zanu
(PF).
“Military presence in communities has been a source of constant
fear
for villagers, who anticipate a repeat of the 2008 electoral
violence
at the hands of the Zanu (PF) militias and serving members of
the
army,” the ZPP said.
In Mashonaland East province, soldiers at
Joko Army Barracks near
Mutoko have resorted to taking their training drills
to the villages
instead of their secluded military base in a move meant to
instil fear
among the hapless villagers.
The ZPP also said traditional
chiefs from Manicaland province were
summoned to a “indoctrination workshop”
where the Brigadier-General
Douglas Nyikayaramba told them to support Zanu
(PF) or they would be
deposed from their positions.
Zimbabwe is next
year looking to hold a referendum on a new
constitution followed by elections
that many analysts have warned
could see a return to violence without
political, security and
electoral reforms.
Zimbabwe’s elections have
been characterized by political violence and
gross human rights abuses with
the last vote in 2008 ending
inconclusively after the military-led campaign
of violence and murder
that forced then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
to withdraw from
a second round presidential ballot.
A power-sharing
government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai after the
flopped poll was tasked
to stabilise the economy, easy political
tensions and write a new and
democratic constitution that would ensure
future elections are free and
fair.
The coalition government has scored well on the economy but
has
struggled on the political front with constitutional reforms marred
by
reports of violence and intimidation, while security forces
have
continued to threaten the rule of law and human rights.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by John Chimunhu
Friday, 03 December
2010 10:56
HARARE - Zimbabwe has made some headway in negotiations with
the United
States for the provision of coins following the apparent collapse
of similar
talks with neighbouring South Africa.
According to Finance
Minister Tendai Biti, the US has indicated its
willingness to give Zimbabwe
much-needed coins to smoothen the flow of trade
in a country where consumers
are often forced to pay high prices and buy
things they do not need as there
are no coins for change.
The US currency is the number one medium of exchange
in Zimbabwe since the
government allowed last year the use of a basket of
foreign currencies that
includes the South African rand, Botswana pula and
British pound. “We’ve
opened negotiations with the US Treasury with regard
to coins. They said if
we can pay for shipping then we can have the coins,”
said Biti, who did not
give a timeframe for the availability of the coins
nor indicate how much
Zimbabwe would pay in shipping costs.
Zimbabwe
switched to the use of foreign currency following the collapse of
the
Zimbabwe dollar after an unprecedented economic meltdown that peaked in
2008
and is blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s controversial policies. Biti
said
the use of multiple currencies was going to continue for some time as
no
agreement had been reached with South Africa.
He talked down the possibility
of the SADC region currency being introduced
anytime soon, saying such a
currency would have to be linked to the proposed
SADC Free Trade Area that,
however, remains stalled because of South Africa’s
dragging of feet over the
trade arrangement.
http://www.voanews.com
Health
Minister Henry Madzorera said much more must be done to reduce the
new
infections that contribute to the so-called HIV prevalence rate, now
about
10 percent across Zimbabwe
Studio 7 Reporters | Washington & Chinhoyi
03 December 2010
Zimbabwean Health Minister Henry Madzorera said
Friday that 60,000 new HIV
infections have been recorded this year despite
efforts to boost public
awareness of the risk.
Madzorera told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Sandra Nyaira that much more must be
done to reduce the
new infections that contribute to the so-called HIV
prevalence rate, now
about 10 percent across Zimbabwe though less than half
where it stood
several years ago.
Though observations of World Aids Day on Wednesday
provided a boost for many
of those living with or fighting the deadly
disease, some HIV positive
Zimbabweans say they have little cause to
celebrate because surviving
remains a daily battle, as Studio 7
correspondent Arthur Chigoriwa reported
from Chinhoyi, Mashonaland
West.
In activities following up on World Aids Day, the Youth Forum met
with
members of the parliamentary committee on Women, Youth, Gender and
Community
Development for what the young activists called a no-holds barred
discussion.
Youth forum projects coordinator Wellington Zindove said
the organization
expressed its views on governments engagement of youth,
economic
disenfranchisement, political violence, proposed 2011 elections,
and youth
access to HIV testing and treatment.
Zindove told reporter
Tatenda Gumbo that the panel was very receptive.
Youth Fourm member
Tapiwa Mushati said he hopes Parliament and the
government will focus more
on the economic empowerment of young people.
http://www.apanews.net/
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) The
Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria
has rejected Zimbabwe’s
application for US$220 million to finance HIV and TB
programmes for the
coming year, threatening to derail progress achieved so
far towards efforts
containing the two diseases, the state-run Herald daily
reported on Saturday
in Harare the capital.
The Herald daily reported Saturday that the Global
Fund would not fund
Zimbabwe’s Round 10 application for programme financing
but did not give
reasons for the rejection.
Zimbabwe had applied for
US$170 million for HIV and US$50 million for TB.
National Aids Council
chief executive Dr Tapiwa Magure described the
development as
devastating.
"It means we have to re-prioritise and focus on a few issues
because the
budget has now been limited. This will make it difficult to
attain the
Millennium Development Goal of universal access to treatment,”
Magure told
the paper.
Zimbabwe’s adult HIV prevalence has been on a
downward trend, dropping from
18.1 percent in 2006 to 13.7 percent in
2009.
According to the government, about 343,600 adults and 35,200
children under
15 years urgently need anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment out of
1.2 million
Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS.
The government’s ARV
programme only caters for about 200,000 infected
people.
An estimated
3,000 people out of the total 12 million Zimbabweans die of
HIV/AIDS related
illnesses every week.
JN/ad/APA
2010-12-04
http://www.sabcnews.com
December 04 2010 ,
6:40:00
Defence
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu
South Africa will establish two new border posts
in Limpopo bordering
Zimbabwe. This was announced by Defence Minister
Lindiwe Sisulu in Durban
yesterday. Sisulu and her Zimbabwean counterparts
concluded a three-day
commission on defence and security.
The meeting
aimed to improve relations between the two countries,
particularly on issues
of safety and security. It is said that vehicle
smuggling, human trafficking
as well as drug trafficking pose serious
threats to both countries due to
the single border between the two
countries.
Now South Africa plans
to ease congestion at the Beit bridge border by
introducing two new border
posts which will be built at Mapungubwe and
Chikwarakwara in Limpopo. Both
new border posts will link the Trans-frontier
parks. Sisulu also maintains
that the situation has improved significantly
since the defence force
returned to the borders.
Both countries have pledged to apply stricter
border control measures. The
commission plans to draw up similar legislation
for both countries in an
effort to curb rhino poaching. The migration of
illegal Zimbabweans into
South Africa will also be closely monitored. A
memorandum of agreement was
signed.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by JUSTICE ZHOU
Thursday, 02
December 2010 16:36
Relief efforts a drop in the ocean
HARARE -
Unemployment continues to wreak havoc in Zimbabwe, amid a deepening
power-sharing row in the unity government (GNU) which analysts say could
derail the country’s recovery from 10 years of political instability and
economic decline.
“Serious political challenges continue arresting our
country…structural,
social and economic problems remain,” Finance Minister
Tendai Biti told
parliament while unveiling the 2011 national budget
recently. These include
political disputes in the GNU, poverty and
unemployment among others, Biti
said.
Although prices of goods and
services have dropped since he took control of
the finance ministry in 2009,
life remains unbearable for Zimbabwe’s mainly
young citizens, who endure a
chronic lack of jobs. “The livelihoods of
Zimbabwe’s population are under
threat. Unemployment rates of 85 percent and
reduced earning opportunities
are forcing many people to resort to selling
their assets to survive,” says
humanitarian body, Oxfam.
Lloyd Gumbo, a 27-years-old marketing graduate from
rural Gokwe who has been
jobless since he left college in 2006, said:
“Sourcing money to set up a
business is the way to go now. As for the dream
of getting a job, I have all
but given up hope.”
Simmering political
tensions and the looming 2011 elections have raised
fears of government’s
attention being subsequently turned away from the
ordinary
populace.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
has described his turbulent alliance with President Robert
Mugabe of Zanu
(PF) which started in 2009 as “an unworkable combination”,
saying it should
end once the pact expires next year.
Analysts say
Mugabe’s reluctance to allow for economic and other reforms has
resulted in
lower investment inflows trickling into the country and
international
moneylenders holding back credit assistance, making it
difficult for the
economy to grow faster towards creating jobs.
“The current unemployment
crisis depends on the political landscape and
whether the government is
willing to persuade foreign investors into the
country. More credit
facilities for income-generating projects are required
as well, thus
creating more job opportunities,” Tafadzwa Muropa, a
Harare-based political
economist, told The Zimbabwean.
Citing a drop in economic freedoms, the World
Bank downgraded Zimbabwe in
November on the Doing Business Index to157th
position in 2010, from 156th
last year. Despite interventions by donor
agencies, relief efforts have
proved to be a drop in the ocean as a larger
section of the jobless have
since turned to unlawful means such as
prostitution, crime and illegal
mining of precious minerals, while others
migrated to foreign countries.
Even as industrial capacity has improved
significantly, several firms still
lack capital and are either reluctant to
employ new staff or ceasing
operations due to high labour costs. In his
budget speech, Biti expressed
concern about the “labour market’s
inflexibility” in relation to salaries
and wages that do not match
industrial productivity, warning that labour
laws and the arbitrator’s role
would be reviewed.
But the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has hit
back at the finance
minister, arguing that his US$2.7 billion budget
excluded submissions by
labour unions and has continued to rely on workers
as a main source of
fiscal revenues. ZCTU secretary general, Wellington
Chibebe, said: “Instead
of taxing businesses that are into business to make
profits, government
continues to hammer the workers with high taxes.”
A
September 2010 World Bank economic review noted that factors such as
political uncertainty and labour costs stand in the way of economic growth
in Zimbabwe. “There is now a need for deeper reforms focused on economic as
well as sector policies to consolidate recovery...and put the economy on a
path to higher growth and employment,” the bank said.
The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) last month called for more reforms,
saying political
stability was vital to “consolidating gains in
macroeconomic performance”.
Biti has promised to revive the collapsed
Micro-Finance Revolving Fund by
providing US$15 million worth of support to
small and medium-scale
enterprises and the self-employed, as part of
addressing poverty and the
unemployment crunch.
This newspaper reported in November that he has also
allocated US$40 000
each for all the country’s provinces towards youth
projects. Recently the
government launched a loan scheme to help the jobless
in small business
ventures. However, the scheme has come under criticism for
being mired in
corruption and political interference.
A youth project by
the International Labour Organisation (ILO) also got
underway last year. The
YES-JUMP project aims to create1000 jobs in poor
communities. “This is being
achieved through the facilitation of
entrepreneurship, technical, vocational
education and life skills training
and boosting small enterprise and
cooperative development with access to
microfinance for pilot projects,” the
ILO office in Harare said.
According to a recent report by the United Nations
Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Zimbabwe had
just 480 000
formally employed people in 2008, compared to around 3.6
million in 2003.
Nearly a third of the country’s labour force is estimated
to have left to
seek work abroad as the impact of the decade-long crisis
caused scores of
companies to shut down, while Mugabe’s former government
had struggled to
pay its employees.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Staff Writer
Saturday, 04 December 2010
17:47
HARARE - A report just released by Amnesty International says
the Zimbabwean
government should urgently investigate the high level of
deaths of newborn
babies at Hopley settlement, just outside the
capital.
The settlement was created to give shelter to thousands of
people made
homeless by the ill concieved Murambatsvina forced eviction
programme
launched by the government five years ago.
The report
titled, No Chance to Live, Newborn death at Hopley Settlement,
found that at
least 21 newborns had died at Hopley within a five month
period indicating a
very high level of newborn deaths within the settlement.
"When people
were settled in Hopley, the government promised them a better
life but
things have gone from bad to worse," said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty
International's Deputy Africa Director.
"Many of the women we spoke
to felt that their minimal access to healthcare
contributed to the deaths of
their babies. Others suspected that their
babies died of cold because they
live in plastic shacks."
"The government must ensure these women have
access to maternal and newborn
healthcare in order to prevent further
avoidable deaths."
The government justified its 2005 mass evictions
program, Operation
Murambatsvina, by claiming that the communities evicted
were living in
deplorable conditions.
But the truth is that the
government was angered that most of the urban
population had voted for the
opposition MDC in national elections held that
year and so the their
eviction their punishment.
Government set up a housing scheme named
Operation Garikai (Better Life) to
re-settle several thousand of the victims
of the eviction program promising
them better access to
services.
Hopley - located about 10 kilometres south of Harare - was one
such scheme.
"The victims of Operation Murambatsvina have been forgotten
by the
government and, five years after losing their homes and livelihoods,
their
situation continues to deteriorate," said Michelle
Kagari.
Women in Hopley told Amnesty International that they were well
aware of the
importance of maternal and newborn healthcare, and many had
received such
care during previous pregnancies before the government moved
them to Hopley.
All said they wanted to give birth in a hospital or with the
assistance of a
trained health official.
Many women described how
they could not afford the US$50 required to
register for ante-natal care.
While this cost is applied to all pregnant
women in Zimbabwe, Hopley
residents are particularly unable to afford the
costs because many lost
their livelihoods during the mass forced evictions
when market places and
other informal businesses were destroyed.
Expecting mothers at Hopley are
also affected by the lack of transport when
they go into labour. The nearest
maternity clinic is in Glen Norah, 8km
away.
Harare City Council
only has three functioning ambulances which service a
population of about
two million. Many private ambulances and transport
operators will not go
into Hopley settlement for fear of crime, especially
at night.
On 19
February 2010, Megan (40) gave birth to twin boys prematurely at
around
midnight and could not get transport to the maternity clinic.
The babies
were delivered in her shack. Both the babies died while she was
on her way
to the clinic the following morning. This was her fifth
pregnancy. She has
four surviving children who were all born before the
family was settled at
Hopley by the government.
Fadzai (25) went into labour on 26 February
2010 and gave birth to a baby
girl who died the same day. She thinks her
baby died because she could not
keep it warm.
"Limited access to
health services is one of the causes of the high levels
of newborn deaths at
Hopley," said Michelle Kagari. "Low cost interventions
and basic healthcare
could save young lives as well as those of their
mothers."
It appears
that the newborn deaths at Hopley have largely gone unnoticed by
the
authorities. A Harare City Council official told Amnesty International
that
the council and the government did not have demographic information of
the
population at Hopley, which they felt was necessary to plan health
interventions.
No public official figures exist but the Zimbabwean
government estimates
that a national average of 29 neo-natal cases per 1000
live births. Hopley
has approximately 5,000 residents.
"The
Zimbabwean authorities have failed to monitor the health situation at
Hopley. They must act immediately to combat the rate of newborn deaths
revealed by Amnesty International's investigation," said Michelle
Kagari.
Amnesty International has called on the Zimbabwe government to
urgently
address the threats to the health and lives of newborn babies by
immediately
putting in place all necessary measures to ensure pregnant women
and girls
at Hopley settlement, and other Operation Garakai settlements,
have access
to maternal and newborn care.
The organization said that
the government must also address as a matter of
urgency the appalling living
conditions which expose newborns and pregnant
women and girls to risks of
ill health and death.
A health surveillance system to monitor the overall
health situation in
Operation Garikai settlements, including Hopley is also
urgently needed;
with a specific focus on maternal, neonatal and infant
mortality and
morbidity.
Most of the people who now live at Hopley
were forcibly moved there by the
government. They had been living at Porta
Farm, a settlement on the
outskirts of Harare.
The government had
moved people to Porta Farm following forced evictions
from Harare precincts
in preparation for the 1991 Commonwealth Heads of
Government
Meeting.
Porta Farm was destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina in spite
of three
court orders barring the government from removing the community
without
adequate alternative accommodation.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Thursday, 02
December 2010 17:35
Historical memory traces the process of
reconciliation in Zimbabwe to 1980
when the then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe extended a hand of
reconciliation to the main rival political
party, the Rhodesia Front, that
was involved in the war of liberation.
As
such, it can be argued that the notion of reconciliation is not new to
most
Zimbabweans, as the process began in 1979 with the Lancaster dialogue
between all conflicting parties writes Pamela Machakanja:
Having won the
elections in April 1980, Robert Mugabe extended a hand of
reconciliation to
the white settlers in exchange for positive peace and the
promise of
external foreign aid to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
Since then, the
process has gone forward through a number of contested
political
‘nationalist encounters’ at critical turning points, most notably
the
signing of the historic Unity Agreement between the old Zanu (PF) and
PF-ZAPU into (today’s united) Zanu (PF) in December 1987, and now the Global
Power-Sharing Agreement between the Zanu (PF), the MDC-T and
MDC-M.
joshua_nkomo2
(Pictured: Joshua Nkomo – Signed Unity Accord
with Mugabe)
These negotiated peace processes were couched in reconciliatory
amnesty
measures. One is reminded of the Clemency Order of 1988 following
the Unity
Accord of 1987, which pardoned all human rights violations
committed by
political parties between 1982 and 1987.
This was followed
by the 1995 presidential amnesty, which pardoned all
politically- motivated
violence perpetrated during the 1995 general
elections. This set further
precedent for the Clemency Order of 2000, which
pardoned
politically-motivated violence and human rights violations
committed during
and after the parliamentary elections of June 2000.
Those opposed to these
amnesty policies argue that they are political acts
which negate the
achievement of durable peace through justice. However, one
key question that
arises from these peace and reconciliatory efforts is the
extent to which
these amnesty policies and reconciliation processes
constitute a cumulative
movement toward national cohesion, national healing
and unity.
In the
context of Zimbabwe, reconciliation would need to be broadly
conceptualised
as a dynamic, inclusive, multi-dimensional adaptive process
aimed at
rebuilding and healing society; a process of change and
redefinition of
social and political relationships.
However, because reconciliation in
Zimbabwe resonates with the dissolution
of conflicting identities, rule of
law and the guarantee of human rights
grounded in racial divisions and
political polarisation, some people are of
the view that insisting on
repentance and amnesty alone would encounter
difficulties. Opponents claim
that amnesties encourage a culture of impunity
and revenge that undermines
the rule of law.
The framework
The first question that needs to be
asked is what and who needs
reconciliation and healing? Whilst wrongdoers
and victims or survivors will
have different answers to this question, this
paper argues that
reconciliation should aim at addressing the most obvious
human rights abuses
and the root causes of the conflict, focusing on land
rights, property
rights and civil and political rights.
Arguments are
that the success of any reconciliation and national healing
model would
depend on the extent to which it is inclusive and consultative
of all key
stakeholders at all levels of society. Related to this question
is whether
reconciliation and healing are the best ways to address the human
rights
abuses, or whether other means such as legal action should rather be
adopted.
One possible answer is that the choice between pursuing justice
and opting
for reconciliation is not an easy one, as this depends heavily on
circumstances. For example, the Zimbabwean situation where some of the
people perceived to be perpetrators of human rights violations continue to
hold power or are in strategic positions that obstruct the advancement of
the envisioned reconciliation and national healing process.
Given this
situation, though deeply regrettable from a moral point of view,
restorative
reconciliation may be the only realistic option. Those who
support this view
argue that in such contested situations, reconciliation
processes can help
society to turn the page and bring people closer together
as the justice
system might not be able to deal impartially with the gross
human rights
violations.
The third question is why reconciliation and healing are
needed.
This requires an understanding of the underlying causes of the
conflict and
the violence that manifest from it, the means used to resolve
the conflict
and whether the process was viewed as political or judicial.
How did people
react to these means? Were there feelings of suspicion that
something was
missing?
One fundamental aspect required under this rubric
is an assessment of the
conditions under which a fractured society like
Zimbabwe can opt for trials
and prosecutions by a truth
commission.
Prosecution
counter-productive
mutambara_tsvangirai
(Pictured: Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara (L) and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai – Signed global
political agreement with Mugabe)
To answer these questions in the context of
political polarisation, one is
cautiously tempted to argue for restorative
justice over retributive
justice, on the basis that prosecutions of the
gross human rights violations
could seriously jeopardise the fragile GPA
and, most importantly, the
reconciliation and healing at individual,
community and national levels.
The bipolar nature of trials that
distinguishes the innocent from the guilty
makes them not only inappropriate
for redressing the systemic human rights
abuses, but also controversial. In
this regard, what is of importance is
ensuring the existence of an inclusive
and consultative approach which
allows all segments of society to take part
in the process. Such a process
should also be seen as a way of helping
people come to terms with the
traumatic past.
International
assistance
In Zimbabwe one critical factor which comes into play when
considering
issues of sovereignty and non-interference is the role of the
international
community in facilitating transitional justice.
In the
absence of a broad-based international involvement, the parties to
the
conflict may be limited to the option of trading justice for
reconciliation
and peace as a way of avoiding continued violence. Those who
support the
discourse of non-interference argue that in most cases,
international actors
do not speak with one voice as they have their own
interests and agenda
regarding transitional justice processes.
In the case of Zimbabwe, those who
oppose the involvement of the
international community in the transitional
justice process argue that their
agenda is limited to regime change by
undemocratic means. There is also the
view that long-lasting reconciliation
and peace needs to be home-grown in
the sense that every stage of the
reconciliation process should reflect the
will of those who are directly
concerned with regards to participation,
decision making and the
implementation of the reconciliation and national
healing project.
Whilst
such questions are open to debate, past cases have shown that the
involvement of the UN or SADC has been successful in cases where social and
political spaces are constrained and world concern over the situation of
human rights violations and human security were high and
persistent.
Conditions for successful reconciliation
For national
healing and reconciliation to achieve the desired objective of
uniting the
fractured social and political groups, certain factors must be
present.
(1) Legislative Reform: This would ensure that the concerns
of all
Zimbabweans are assuaged. The process of recommending specific
services to
deal with the particular and extensive effects of trauma and
grief requires
secured legislative backing through the setting up of the
National Healing
and Reconciliation Commission.
The National Healing
and Reconciliation Commission would have to be secured
by a bill passed
through Parliament and enacted into an act of law.
Such an act would
allow the commission the discretion to: establish the time
periods to be
covered by the Commission’s investigations; determine the
nature of human
rights abuses to be investigated; determine the social and
economic effects
of the abuses including recommending preventive and health
promoting
approaches, assessment, counselling, healing programmes and
community
interventions.
(2) Political will: Raking past atrocities and human
rights abuses is an
excruciating exercise. If badly managed, the exercise
could backfire, and
further widen the chasm in an already
politically-fractured nation.
Indeed, this fear often deters the introduction
of ‘just’ reconciliation
processes where victims feel a genuine sense of
satisfaction over the
claimed entitlements. Hence, the political will to
promote genuine
reconciliation is paramount.
(3) Transformative and
restorative justice: This is based on a theory that
emphasises healing and
the transformation of harm to the wholeness of people’s
lives. Emphasis is
on repairing harm caused or revealed by criminal
behaviour and is best
achieved through cooperative processes that include
all stakeholders.
The
fundamental principles are that justice requires that different
categories
of people work to restore those who have been injured and that
those most
directly involved and affected should have the opportunity to
participate
fully in the response programme.
The role of government would be to preserve
a just public order as well as
secure and safe social and political spaces,
while the role of the community
would be to build, nurture and maintain a
just peace.
Such collaborative encounters would create opportunities for
victims/survivors, offenders and community members to discuss their personal
experiences of atrocities and their impact and opportunities for meaningful
contribution in their own lives and society.
(4) Civil society
engagement: A successful national healing and
reconciliation process
requires meaningful engagement of civil society and
the public at large.
This is because a process aimed at responding to people’s
needs must
necessarily involve
the people affected by the conflict, especially at
grassroots level.
In this context, civil society organisations can play a
vital role in
monitoring the implementation of the reconciliation and
healing processes.
In this way, their work can give greater legitimacy to
the healing process,
thereby reinforcing the principle of bottom-up
approaches which guarantee
sustainable and transformative peace.
(5)
Consensus building: It is essential to achieve widespread agreement on
all
aspects of national reconciliation. The process must be devoid of
partisanship with those favouring and opposing a formal reconciliation
process exhibiting political tolerance.
Consensus and legitimacy of the
outcome of the national reconciliation
exercise will be enhanced where the
government, human rights organisations
and other interest groups work
together to develop the framework and other
key aspects of the
national
healing and reconciliation project.
(6) Truth-telling: True
reconciliation cannot occur when the truths about
past wrongs are not told.
Truth-telling encourages the verification of past
repressive actions and
incidents by individuals and government. The process
may also challenge
stories
widely, but inaccurately, circulated in the public domain as
rumour.
Knowledge of the truth helps to set the record straight and creates
an
environment where forgiveness may occur. As the South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission revealed, the value of telling one’s traumatic
story to a supportive audience provided a significant sense of healing to
the survivors of apartheid.In this sense, the right to be heard and
acknowledged with respect and empathy can contribute to a process of
healing.
(7) Education for national healing and reconciliation: There
is a need to
educate the general Zimbabwean community about the experiences
of trauma and
grief as well as their extent and effect on women, men,
children, the
elderly and the disabled.
There is also a need for
re-education on how communities that have
experienced violent conflicts can
coexist in peace and harmony. Educational
programmes should be linked to
processes of trauma-healing and
reconciliation and should be acknowledged by
the wider community, as
affirmation of a public commitment to the broader
healing process agenda.
(8) Counselling for trauma and grief: The
availability of counselling
services to help Zimbabwean people deal with
their experiences of trauma and
grief as well as specific counselling to do
with particular situations is
important.
Examples of such situations
include those that are consequent upon abduction
and disappearances, deaths
in custody as well as forced separation of
children from parents and
guardians. Counselling formats would need to be
specifically developed in
holistic and culturally appropriate ways to deal
with longstanding, past or
profound traumatic experiences.
(9) Special healing places and community
intervention programmes: It is
suggested that there could be value in the
development of special places of
healing such as trauma healing centres and
special nature parks where people
can visit as part of the relaxation and
therapeutic process.
It is proposed that people could visit and stay at such
recreational places
as part of the healing process. These recreational
healing places could be
developed with supportive programmes where people
undertake community-based,
skills-orientated training programmes relevant to
the development of their
communities.
Such promotional projects would
strengthen sustainable peace by furthering
social investment and the
unification of the social fabric of society. Thus,
peace through community
reconciliation, engagement and empowerment can yield
powerful
results.
(10) Memorialisation and ritualisation: Taking cognisance of
the cultural
context of the Zimbabwean setting, memorialisation of the past
is important.
This would require physical reminders in the form of
monuments, ceremonies,
memorials or other ritual occasions aimed at
contributing to the
acknowledgement as well as the setting of a general
ethos of healing.
(11) Funding: One factor that often hinders the
progress and success of
reconciliation and national healing projects is
funding. Reconciliation
exercises are not only expensive, but
time-consuming, emotional ventures
that demand patience and
resilience.
Furthermore, apart from the operational budget, reconciliation
must also
have a human face. Words must be accompanied by actions such as
restitution
and compensation, but failure in most national healing and
reconciliation
projects has been attributed to lack of resources.
Pamela
Machakanja is with the Institute of Peace Leadership and Governance
at
Africa University. The article above is taken from a paper by Machakanja
on
prospects for national reconciliation in Zimbabwe titled: “National
healing
and reconciliation in Zimbabwe: challenges and opportunities”.
Friday December 3rd 2010.
Julian Assange’s name probably doesn’t mean
much to Zimbabweans but he’s the
man behind the Wikileaks that have been
creating such a storm here in the UK
and in the US.
‘Where is he, what
does he want and what will he do next’ were the questions
posed on the front
page of the UK Independent on Thursday. Meanwhile the
Guardian in the UK,
the New York Times and other European papers continue to
publish the leaks;
they may be profoundly embarrassing for diplomats and
their embassies but do
not as far as one can judge constitute any real
threats to individuals or
states. In the case of Zimbabwe, for example,
Wikileaks revealed the opinion
of a former US ambassador, Christopher Dell,
about Robert Mugabe and his
regime – none of which came as any great
surprise to Zimbabweans. Another
leak told of South Africa’s partiality for
the Zimbabwean dictator, no
surprise there either for Zimbabweans who are
well-used to South Africa and
SADC’s support for Robert Mugabe. Analysts who
have attempted to understand
the reasons for South Africa’s continuing
support have concluded that their
only motive is Mugabe’s status as a
‘Liberation hero.’ No matter how despotic
his regime now, no matter how much
he wages war on his own people, his past
history as a ‘liberator’ excuses
all present crimes - or that seems to be
the thinking within the region.
Assange’s motive in releasing this flood of
leaked diplomatic cables is not
so clear but on the face of it, it is in
line with democratic principles.
His mission statement reads, “Transparency
creates a better society for all
people. Better scrutiny leads to reduced
corruption and stronger democracies
in all society’s institutions.”
Assange’s critics have commented angrily
that his revelations are simply
designed to humiliate the US and Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF have been quick
to launch another of their vitriolic
attacks on the west. Speaking in Libya
at the Africa/EU Summit Robert Mugabe
seized the opportunity to repeat his
claim that Blair and Bush should also
have been indicted for war crimes for
the war against Iraq which killed
thousands of innocent Iraquis. It was
classic Mugabe-speak; distracting the
world’s attention from the suffering
that Zanu PF’s policies have caused and
are still causing for innocent
Zimbabwean citizens.
Mugabe’s own motives in calling for early elections are
also open to
question. Is he just grandstanding to intimidate the
opposition, is it just
his ego at work or has he finally accepted that time
is not on his side?
Whatever his motives, Mugabe’s call for early elections
has inspired his
fanatical followers to echo almost word for word his
constantly repeated
references back to past glories. The Police Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri
told young police cadets this week that, “This country
came through the
barrel of a gun and it will never be re-colonised through a
simple pen which
costs as little as five cents.” No doubt there as to
Chihuri’s motive: vote
Zanu PF or you will be ‘dealt with’. Another Mugabe
supporter was even more
specific. “Election is a declaration of war, blood
must spill like in any
war situation – even if it means killing those who
are against Zanu PF.”
As the annual conference of Zanu PF draws closer,
soldiers and police openly
demonstrate their support for the former ruling
party in mindless attacks on
teachers and journalists . The theme for the
conference we are told will be
“Total control of our resources through
indigenisation and empowerment.”
which means of course more jobs for the
boys, more businesses and farms for
Mugabe to reward his supporters; this,
despite the fact that Mugabe and his
allies now own more than 40% of the
land seized from whites with Mugabe and
wife owning 14 farms between them. A
CZI survey this week shows a mere 4% of
Zimbabwe’s industry is actually
viable. Business people tell Mugabe’s
deputy, in no uncertain terms that
they do not want elections now. No one in
the party heeds their warnings;
unlike the Wikileaks man, Robert Mugabe’s
motivation is very clear. It is to
stay in power at all costs.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH. aka
Pauline Henson
Dear Family and Friends,
Before dawn the sound of wheelbarrows fill my
suburban neighbourhood. Around
the craters which once were potholes, through
cavernous gullies which are
consuming the tar and around the muddy swamps
where vehicles have skidded
and got stuck. The wheelbarrows are negotiated
through the deep sand drifts
which have gathered on corners, in dips and at
the bottom of hills; sand
that the rain has scoured off our un-repaired
suburban roads; sand that once
held our roads together but now engulf the
storm drains. In the wheelbarrows
are the water containers: white, yellow,
blue, green; twenty litre bottles –
chigubus- we call them, a most precious
possession.
Around the piles of sodden, festering, dumped
garbage, uncollected for over
two years, the wheelbarrows find and make
their own paths – the shortest
route to the nearest water. This is usually a
shallow hole in the bush, an
open well or seepage in a wetland. Or rather
what’s left of our precious
urban wetlands which have gone unprotected for
over a decade as dirty,
greedy political power struggles have ignored
everything else in Zimbabwe.
Wetlands which until recently were filled with
wild herbs, flowers, reeds
and sedges; home to colonies of nesting Weavers,
Red Bishop birds, Herons,
Hammerkops and Whydahs. Wetlands that are now a
maze of illegal cultivation
and are carved up into little strips containing
a few mealie plants or sweet
potato ridges, climbing beans or creeping
pumpkins.
Amongst this ‘allotment gone mad,’ our urban population
have no choice but
to dig holes and collect water. As I write this letter
our town has just
survived ten days without a drop of water coming out of
our taps. Every day
the municipality had another excuse as they kept on
promising: “tomorrow”.
Our brand, spanking new pump which worked for just a
week suddenly stopped
working and for ten days an honest explanation never
came to light. The need
for new valves was one story; sabotage was another;
a worker who hadn’t
filled the oil and therefore seized the engine was
another story that was
muttered. On Thursday, eight days into the hell of
empty taps, smelly
toilets and bucket-baths in under 5 litres of swampy
water, the municipality
came around, door to door. Not to offer their humble
apologies,
explanations, promises or to deliver a bowser of water; oh no,
they came
only to bring their monthly invoices.
Walking in
town the following morning an unkempt man wearing blue overalls
and red
plastic slip slops came up to me. Clutching a bible he said to me:
“We are
in hell Mai.” Ten days without water, electricity only in the
middle of the
night, a town strewn with litter and everyone talking about
the rat
explosion, I looked at the man and said: “I Know.” He was delighted!
“She
knows!” he shouted to anyone who would listen, and kept on shouting as
he
walked away, laughing, turning back, pointing to me and calling ” She
knows!”
That night I went to a Christmas Carol service with
the words of the
disturbed man still in my head. The service ended with
Silent Night and
verses were printed and sung in German, Shona, English and
Afrikaans. As I
sung I knew that 83 WOZA activists had been charged with
‘criminal nuisance
for holding a peaceful protest on International Peace
Day; that journalists
and newspapers are under renewed threats and that
political tension is
gathering momentum everywhere. How Zimbabwe longs for
and deserves a Silent
Night, a new era and a bright
horizon.
I end this letter with the news that after a gruelling
two month journey and
a 12 day stop at Beitbridge border, my books on Norman
Travers/Imire have
arrived. Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy
Copyright © Cathy
Buckle. 4 December 2010. www.cathybuckle.com