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- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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Daily News - Feature

We need leaders who can lift us out of the mud

12/4/01 10:31:00 AM (GMT +2)


Nungu @ large with W Bango

Zimbabweans, respected for their natural ability to win struggles, fine
mannered etiquette and honesty, have of late become a laughing stock in
southern Africa.

A visit to any of our neighbours will show how lowly we are now regarded as
thinkers, progressive fighters, ordinary nationals or simply as a people.

At home, many are confused by the goings on to a level where it is
difficult, entirely impossible, to forecast and plan for a new generation.

Faced with a crucial presidential election, the majority is unclear about
their choices, if there are any. What would drive any voter to cast a ballot
in favour of the ruling Zanu PF party, given the position that person is in
at the moment? Or the opposition MDC? What change will that bring to the
quality of life, respect in the community of nations or to our lost pride
and credibility?

Countrywide, there are serious questions being asked about the calibre of
our presidential candidates and how any of them might turn Zimbabwe's
fortunes around. President Mugabe has far less chances of pulling the
country out of this mess than Morgan Tsvangirai or any other candidate.

He is entering the election on a point of extreme disadvantage, being blamed
for the morass and loss of stature that has befallen us. He has lost all the
credibility he had internationally, especially in Sadc and in the West, and
that is a big dent to our attempt at meaningful economic recovery. We
desperately need the world, especially the countries nearer home, to
spearhead the formation of some kind of Marshall Plan to rehabilitate and
reconstruct Zimbabwe.

These countries are probably home to about half a million of Zimbabwe's
elite scrounging with trinkets or doing menial jobs to supplement meagre
incomes at their original base.

Mugabe - given his experience and ruthlessness - may be able to turn the
situation around. But the institution he has created around himself within
the government and his party is his biggest enemy and main saboteur. That
institution is feeding on his mistakes. In fact, it's very survival is
dependent on his weaknesses, ignorance of a changing world, intolerance and
sometimes outright carelessness in policy formulation.

Zimbabwe has lost the bulk of the gains it amassed in the past 21 years.
Zambians, Malawians and Mozambicans who used to flock here for our excellent
health services are now better off staying at home. The Batswana and
Namibians who used to enroll their children in our schools in Harare and
Bulawayo because of our fantastic education system, have stopped. Even
Nigerians, for whatever reasons, felt proud to hold a Zimbabwean passport,
if they could get one. At international conferences, Zimbabwe was seen as
the voice of wisdom. Things have changed, drastically. Recently after Mugabe
explained the "success" of his land programme to his Sadc counterparts, they
insisted that they wanted to come here to see it for themselves.

They called him to a meeting, together with Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Collin
Cloete, David Hasluck and many others. After three to four days or listening
to heated arguments about that "success" story, Presidents Bakili Muluzi,
Thabo Mbeki, Fetsus Mogae and Joachim Chissano ordered the government to
behave. They even set targets of what should be done and how. They further,
much to our embarrassment, advised Mugabe to talk to Tsvangirai for
Zimbabwe's sake.

The disadvantages and policy shortcomings are endless, making it extremely
difficult for Mugabe to present himself as a national saviour after 2002.

His advanced age, plus the abnormally long service at State House, further
complicates the issue.

That brings in Tsvangirai into the equation. The dapper, dimunitive
political new-comer has a tall order. Little is known about this former
trade unionist in as far as what he is capable of doing as a national
leader, especially for the majority in the rural areas. Those in urban areas
have no problem with him. In fact, he did the unthinkable: challenging
Mugabe in a direct and significant way.

But his organisation, the MDC, is terribly weak - both at the ideological
level and structurally. It is a loose coalition of disgruntled anti-Mugabe
forces without a common national plan. It is simply a movement. By the way,
you can't be fired from a movement. It represents such a diverse set of
interest groups which are likely to disintegrate as soon as Mugabe is out of
the way.

Think of Nelson Chamisa, that nice student, sitting in a Cabinet with
Professor Welshman Ncube, an advocate and senior counsel; or Gilbert Shoko,
former secretary of the Zimbabwe Domestic and Allied Workers' Union and now
an MP, working with businessman Eddie Cross or lawyer David Coltart?

The MDC is coming in after an impressive start in the June parliamentary
election where they scooped 57 out of the 120 elected seats. That margin,
for a party that was barely nine months old, unfortunately has thrown many
of its leaders into a siesta.

That snooze has taken with it the 2002 enthusiasm and made the party a
complacent lot. Power struggles are creeping in and the mood is that they
have already captured State House. Really? Tsvangirai is being denied access
to the public media, especially radio which reaches about five to six
million people daily. So his thoughts, views and policies remain distorted
in the eyes of the majority consumers of radio messages.

If you are a simple, patriotic Zimbabwean voter, relying on your valued 1950
wireless set for your news, you will be expected to know Tsvangirai as a
terrorist, a puppet of Rhodesians and a confused challenger. He cannot work
freely in the rural areas, nor does he possess the resources to repair
damaged clinics or school buildings or do any projects. Even if he gets the
money, the government, war veterans and Zanu PF won't let him do it.

Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the MP for Glen Norah, failed to get access
to public officials, council schools, clinics and creches in her
constituency. A directive was issued from some head office barring civil
servants from showing her any records or merely discussing their problems
with her.

The government has refused to recognise the MDC, even in Parliament. MPs are
brutalised by known criminals. They are raided at dawn or midnight and
attacked by thugs in army or police uniforms as in the case of Justin
Mutendadzamera in Mabvuku. Voters do not need all this. They want jobs, a
good education for their children, a sound health service, peace, prosperity
and the Zimbabwe they once knew. They require leaders who can lift the
country from the mud, nothing else. Will Zimbabwe manage to regain its lost
self?

With these two candidates, what choices do our voters have? Retain Mugabe,
warts and all? Or change and test new ground?

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Daily News

Sanctions targeted at Mugabe

12/4/01 9:42:23 AM (GMT +2)


Staff Reporter

GREGORY Simpkins, the vice-president of the United States-based Foundation
for Democracy in Africa, yesterday said the imminent sanctions against
Zimbabwe were targeted at President Mugabe, his family and other senior
government officials, whose attention is needed in ensuring a transition to
democracy, peace, good governance and economic recovery.



Simpkins, who is visiting Zimbabwe said: "We are trying to target sanctions
against those whose attention is critical in bringing Zimbabwe back to its
feet again. This is a cry for dialogue. The sanctions are not meant to ruin
the economy because we know that it is easier to ruin the economy than to
build it." Simpkins, an expert on African policy matters, spoke as the US
Congress is today expected to pass the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Bill into law.
The Bill will pave the way for a travel ban on Mugabe and members of the
government.

He said the US government asked him to come to Zimbabwe to talk about the
Bill and the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which seeks to stimulate
trade among African countries and to ensure that developing countries become
self-dependent and not donor-driven.

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Daily News

Hospital take-overs worry social workers

12/4/01 9:50:49 AM (GMT +2)


Staff Reporter

THE National Association of Social Workers has expressed concern over the
take-over of major hospitals by management boards. Douglas Machiridza, the
publicity secretary, said the move would result in the further deterioration
of the health delivery services. Machiridza said: "We are going to see an
increase in the number of deaths because of ill health."



An adult patient at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals pays about $21 000 and
children $10 600 as deposit before admission.
"Where do you really expect retrenched people and vulnerable groups to get
that amount of money for medical treatment?" asked Machiridza. He said his
association wanted to know the intervention strategies that would be
enforced to protect and ensure that patients without money would not be
dumped because they could not to afford the treatment costs.

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Daily News

Cain Nkala murder case takes new twist

12/4/01 9:43:21 AM (GMT +2)


From Chris Gande in Bulawayo

THE medical report on Khethani Sibanda, a suspect in the Cain Nkala murder,
has revealed that the scar on his wrist was caused by a sharp instrument,
not Nkala's teeth.


Bulawayo police took Sibanda to Mpilo Hospital last Wednesday, a day after
he told the Bulawayo High Court that he was bitten by the late war veteran
leader, as "they" abducted him.
The report said the scar, a solid semi-circular line "slightly bigger" than
a one dollar coin with small marks underneath, was not consistent with teeth
bites.

This development is likely to affect the course of the bail application of
one of the defendants in the case, Simon Daren Spooner, when it resumes in
Bulawayo this week.
The report says the scar was caused by a sharp instrument.
In forensic medical terminology, teeth are considered to be blunt
instruments.
Giving evidence in the bail application for Spooner, Sibanda, 25, said he
was bitten by Nkala during a struggle while "they" were kidnapping him.

Justice Lawrence Kamocha postponed judgment on the ball application
indefinitely to this week.
The judge is expected to go through all the evidence that was given by
Sibanda and his co-accused, Remember Moyo, 27, and Spooner's defence
counsel, led by Advocate Tim Cherry nstructed by Ndabezinhle Mazibisi of
Calderwood, Brice and Hendrie.
On his first appearance last Monday, Sibanda told the court he had been
forced to confess that he was involved in the Nkala murder.

He said he was told by the police what to say in court. If he betrayed them
his parents would be killed, he told the court. He said he believed the
threat because the police gave him convincing details about his mother. They
also gave him information about his movements in the two days before his
arrest, allegedly to intimidate him.
He described to the court how police had allegedly tortured him and written
him a statement which he was forced to memorise as if he had written it
himself.

The following day Sibanda, who had denied under oath that he knew Nkala,
stunned the court when he said he had been bitten by Nkala. He showed the
court the alleged wound.
Some doctors, asked to give a medical opinion on the alleged tooth bite,
said such wounds were likely to get infectious and take a longer time to
heal.

Sibanda was arrested on 12 November and by the time he appeared in court two
weeks later the wound appeared to have healed. He was not asked to elaborate
on how he sustained the wound because the hearing centred on Spooner's ball
application. The State counsel, led by Mercy Moya-Matshanga, had requested
that only details which could be used to grant or deny Spooner's bail were
to be discussed.

Sibanda, however, maintained that most of the MDC members who have been
arrested in connection with the murder were innocent.
Moyo, who was alleged to have been driving the car used in the abduction of
Nkala, told the court he too was forced to admit involvement in the murder.
Sikhumbuzo, Nkala's wife who, according to the police, was the only person
to have seen the kidnap car, was not called to testify in court.

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Attacks on Farm Workers Condemned in Zimbabwe

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Xinhuanet 2001-12-04 17:02:42

HARARE, December 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union
(ZCTU) has expressed concern over the escalation of violencetargeted at farm
workers in the west of little town of Blackmorevale, local media reported on
Tuesday.

The ZCTU said in a statement Monday that they were concerned that farm
workers had become ready targets for torture and harassment, losing property
worth thousands of Zimbabwean dollars in the process.

The weekend attacks at Blackmorevale farm in Chegutu, where 20 workers
sustained burns after their homes were torched by alleged war veterans, was
an affront to the Abuja agreement.

The Abuja agreement brokered by Nigeria on September 6 this year
compelled Britain to avail funds for the land resettlement program being
undertaken by the government.

Britain has reaffirmed its commitment to the success of the pact within
the framework of the blueprint of the United Nations Development Program.

"It is unfortunate that workers are being persecuted for their political
beliefs which they have under the constitution of Zimbabwe," said the ZCTU.

The ZCTU urged the government to restore the rule of law, ensuring that
civilians were not subjected to inhuman treatment and torture, especially at
the time towards elections.

The police were urged to do their job by protecting farm workers and
prosecuting perpetrators of violence irrespective of their positions in
society.

It was reported that about 300 war veterans stormed the farm last Friday
and burnt 42 houses, accusing the owners of supportingthe opposition party
of the Movement for Democratic Change.

The workers were ordered to leave their homes because most of the farm
in now occupied by the war veterans.

A farm owner in the area said the invasion of Blackmorevale wasintended
to flush out all white people in the Chakari, and the matter was reported to
the Chegutu police but no arrest was made.

The farm owner said the displaced workers were now in dire needof food
and shelter, adding that the 4,000 hectares of farm has been occupied by
invaders since February last year.

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Zimbabwean Companies Urged to Work for Sustainable Export Success

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Xinhuanet 2001-12-04 17:00:30

HARARE, December 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Joseph Malaba, consultant of
Zimbabwe's International Consultative Division of the BeB Management
Training, has said that Zimbabwean companies need to make more efforts to
achieve sustainable export success, local media reported Tuesday.

Noting that most local organizations had not put in the required effort
to achieve set export objectives, he said Monday:"Market research and
information gathering are the key building blocs for any successful
marketing plan. Companies need a clear strategy to adopt, and need a vision
of what they want to attain in a chosen export market."

Local companies, especially big ones, need to have an export ofmarketing
department and the staff need to be aware of the variousmarkets the company
operated in.

Malaba said continuous monitoring and evaluation of markets andthe
companies had to contact with various institutions like the Export Credit
Guarantee Corporation and Zimbabwe Trade Union on available program for
exporters.

Local companies need to do their own company profiles as buyersneed to
know who they are, he said.

"Zimbabwean products have been accepted in the countries on theregion of
Southern Africa, however, many of our organizations failin packaging, which
ensures that the product is attractively displayed," Malaba added.

Zimbabwean companies have long been accused of lacking aggression,
especially in exploiting the regional marketing.

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