The ZIMBABWE Situation
An extensive and up-to-date website containing news, views and links related to ZIMBABWE - a country in crisis
Please note: You need to have 'Active content' enabled in your IE browser in order to see the index of articles on this webpage
Gordon Brown declares Zimbabwe in state of international
emergency
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
December
6, 2008
Simon Alford
Gordon Brown has described the cholera outbreak in
Zimbabwe, which has
claimed almost 600 lives as an "international
emergency".
The Prime Minister said conditions in the African state had
deteriorated to
such an extent that the international community must stand
together and tell
Robert Mugabe "enough is enough".
The disease
epidemic has so far killed 575 people and left another 13,000
sick since an
outbreak in August. In a statement Mr Brown said there was a
duty to give
the Zimbabwean people a "better future".
The disease could spread to
other parts of Africa unless urgent action is
taken, he warned.
"This
is now an international rather than a national emergency," said the
Prime
Minister. "International because disease crosses borders.
International
because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken.
There is no
state capable or willing of protecting its people.
"International because
- not least in the week of the 60th anniversary of
the universal declaration
of human rights - we must stand together to defend
human rights and
democracy, to say firmly to Mugabe that enough is enough."
Harare, the
capital, has 179 deaths and has a further 6,448 suspected cases
according to
the United Nations 's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian
Affairs.
"The entire health system is collapsing, there are no more
doctors, no
nurses, no specialists," said spokeswoman Elisabeth
Byrs.
Britain has pledged an emergency aid package to help tackle the
spread of
the disease, a bacterium infection which leads to dramatic
dehydration and
can prove fatal within 24 hours if not treated.
Mr
Brown said a "command and control structure" needed to be put in place
quickly to allow international aid to reach people.
Further deaths
could be prevented by the distribution of rehydration kits
and cholera
testing packs.
The Prime Minister said he hoped the United Nations
Security Council would
meet urgently to consider the situation in Zimbabwe,
adding: "The people of
Zimbabwe voted for a better future. It is our duty to
support that
aspiration."
'The world must tell Mugabe that enough is enough,' says angry Brown as
Zimbabwe woes continue
By Daily
Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:11 PM on 06th December 2008
Gordon Brown has called on the international community to
do more to help the people of Zimbabwe
Gordon Brown has today called on the international community to tell
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that 'enough is enough'.
With the beleaguered African state now in the grip of a cholera epidemic, the
Prime Minister said the situation had deteriorated to the point where it
demanded an international response.
'This is now an international rather than a national emergency. International
because disease crosses borders,' he said in a statement.
'International because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken.
There is no state capable or willing of protecting its people.
'International because - not least in the week of the 60th anniversary of the
universal declaration of human rights - we must stand together to defend human
rights and democracy, to say firmly to Mugabe that enough is enough.'
Mr Brown added that the immediate priority was to prevent more deaths through
the distribution of rehydration and testing packs.
He called for the establishment of a 'command and control structure' in the
capital, Harare, to co-ordinate the work of donors and Non-Government
Organisations.
He said this would ensure that international aid reached the people who
needed it most.
Mr Brown has been in close contact with African leaders to press for stronger
action 'to give the Zimbabwean people the government they deserve'.
Zimbabwean children play alongside a stream in Harare as
the country is gripped by a cholera epidemic
He said that he now hoped that the United Nations Security Council would meet
urgently to consider the situation in Zimbabwe.
'The people of Zimbabwe voted for a better future. It is our duty to support
that aspiration,' he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the UN should now declare that
the use of military force by the international community was justified in order
to protect the people of Zimbabwe.
'The world has sat idly by whilst Robert Mugabe has brutalised his own people
for too long,' Mr Clegg said.
'Economic recession in the West has led the world to avert its gaze from the
suffering in Zimbabwe.'
Mr Clegg said it was vital that the UN declared that Mugabe will be indicted
in the International Criminal Court.
He also called on China to stop blocking international action through the UN
Security Council and for South Africa to abandon the 'softly, softly' diplomacy
of outgoing President Thabo Mbeki and take a tougher line with its
neighbour.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far.
Zimbabwe
sacks bankers as crisis deepens
http://africa.reuters.com
Sat 6 Dec 2008, 11:44 GMT
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank sacked
executives at four
banks accused of illegal foreign currency trading, state
media reported on
Saturday, as international criticism of President Robert
Mugabe's government
increased.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
added his voice to condemnation of
Mugabe, saying the world should tell the
84-year-old ruler "enough is
enough". He urged coordinated international
action to help Zimbabwe overcome
food shortages and a cholera
epidemic.
The southern African nation, isolated by Western countries
under Mugabe's
authoritarian rule, is on the verge of collapse. Food stocks
are running
out, official inflation is at 231 million percent and a cholera
outbreak has
killed 575 people and sickened almost 13,000.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been unable to print money fast enough to
keep
up with soaring prices, which double every 24 hours, and has tried to
stamp
out a thriving black market for U.S. dollars and other foreign
currencies.
This week it dismissed the chief executives and senior
managers at four
banks, state media reported, saying they diverted large
sums of Zimbabwean
dollars to the black market before the notes were
introduced.
"This is criminal because the money was not yet legal tender
when it was
released," central bank Governor Gideon Gono was quoted as
saying in the
Herald newspaper, adding the executives faced
prosecution.
Refering to past media reports that suggested the central
bank itself had in
the past purchased foreign currency from the black
market, Gono said: "We
are sick and tired of being labelled
crooks."
CLASHES
Zimbabweans have grown increasingly angry
over the government's failure to
tackle the crisis. Many are forced to line
up outside banks for hours to try
to get scarce banknotes, often coming away
with barely enough to buy a loaf
of bread.
Tensions flared in the
capital Harare last week when mobs and police clashed
with groups of unarmed
soldiers who had seized cash from foreign currency
traders and shops. Trade
union activists also took to the streets to protest
against the
crisis.
The central bank said it would soon introduce a Z$200 million
note (worth
$20 on the black market) after launching Z$10 million, Z$50
million and
Z$100 million notes on Thursday.
The economic meltdown
has led to the crumbling of basic services, including
health care and water
treatment facilities.
Cholera has spread to neighbouring South Africa,
Mozambique, Zambia and
Botswana and forced Mugabe's government to declare a
national emergency and
appeal for international assistance.
Western
nations as well as Zimbabwe's neighbours in Africa have pledged
humanitarian
assistance, while sharpening their criticism of Mugabe's
government and his
failure to establish a unity government with the
opposition MDC.
U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday it was time for
Mugabe to
step down, echoing a call on Thursday by Nobel laureate and South
African
Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
In a further sign of growing international
pressure, the European Union is
considering applying more sanctions against
Zimbabwe next week unless
progress is made in ending a political deadlock
over how to implement the
Sept. 15 power-sharing deal.
Mugabe and MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai have deadlocked over the control of
ministries in
the unity government. Negotiators from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
and the MDC
are scheduled to meet again with South African mediators in two
weeks.
(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London; Editing by Paul
Simao and
Janet Lawrence)
Huge
cholera rescue mission for Zimbabwe
http://www.sabcnews.com
December 06 2008, 7:30:00
A
huge rescue mission from South Africa into cholera-stricken Zimbabwe
is
underway this weekend. A convoy carrying vital water supplies and
equipment
has crossed the border. The latest death toll estimates put the
number above
570 with 13 000 more people infected.
For months hundreds of people
have been streaming into South Africa,
fleeing the country's meltdown under
Robert Mugabe. But for the past few
weeks it's been a killer virus they are
fleeing from.
There was a time when Zimbabwe could have easily
prevented an outbreak
of cholera or treated the victims, but not now, as
there's no provision of
basic services. South Africa is helping by supplying
water to Zimbabweans.
Nine trucks have already crossed the border and
managed to deliver just
enough to fill 9 000 cold drink
bottles.
The number of cholera patients in Musina has increased
dramatically
overnight, with hospitals admitting 67 new patients. And health
authorities
reckon the situation will get worse unless the problem is
treated at the
source.
Limpopo Health MEC Phuthi Seloba says
there's a need for
self-assessment but that will be a massive
job.
The sewerage treatment plant, vital to the water supply around
Beit
Bridge has been crippled for four months. A South African team is
working on
getting it running again. And the local dam, the key source of
water for the
region is yielding less than half the water tens of thousands
of people rely
on. The dam is said to be drying up because water from the
river that feeds
it has been cut off because it is contaminated.
Military doctors
fight cholera crisis in Zimbabwe
http://www.ctv.ca/
Updated Sat. Dec. 6 2008 12:00 PM
ET
CTV.ca News Staff
South Africa will deploy more military
doctors to its northern border to
help stem the tide of Zimbabwe's growing
cholera epidemic, a spokesperson
for South Africa's government has
announced.
South Africa, the region's major power, will also send clean
water and other
aid to Zimbabwe, said Themba Maseko, in a sign that leaders
fear the
outbreak will spread beyond Zimbabwe's borders.
Cholera, a
preventable intestinal disease, has killed nearly 600 people and
infected
almost 13,000 since August, according to United Nations
estimates.
However, aid agencies believe many more infections and deaths
have gone
unrecorded, as patients may have fallen ill and died at
home.
Cholera is contracted by consuming contaminated food or water, and
symptoms
include severe diarrhea.
The outbreak is largely blamed on
Zimbabwe's crumbling health-care and
water-treatment systems, which have
languished under the autocratic rule of
President Robert Mugabe.
On
Thursday, Zimbabwe declared a national health emergency, according to an
announcement issued by state media.
In addition to extra doctors and
aid, South Africa also plans to send a
fact-finding team to Zimbabwe on
Monday. The team will issue a report to
President Kgalema Motlanthe and his
cabinet ministers before more assistance
plans are announced, Maseko
said.
"We will continue to work with the World Health Organization's
representatives and other donor organizations to provide assistance to
medical facilities in Zimbabwe in order to manage and reduce the influx of
Zimbabweans into South Africa and other neighbouring countries," Maseko
said.
Health officials in Mozambique and Botswana, which border
Zimbabwe, are
assessing the risk of the epidemic spreading into those
countries.
The crisis has led the international community to call for
Mugabe to step
down.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said
Friday it was "well past time"
for Mugabe to relinquish power.
The
outbreak is an opportunity for the international community to put
pressure
on Mugable, Rice said, an effort that should be led by neighbouring
southern
African countries.
In a statement issued Friday, British Foreign
Secretary David Miliband said
the outbreak was "a further illustration of
the misrule of Zimbabwe's rogue
government."
On Thursday, Novel peace
laureate Desmond Tutu called for African countries
to use military force if
necessary to oust Mugabe from office should he
refuse to resign.
In
an interview with the Dutch current affairs program Nova, Tutu, the
retired
Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, said Mugabe "is destroying a
wonderful
country...a country that used to be a bread basket...has now
become a basket
case itself needing help."
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has
been trying to improve
Zimbabwe's fortunes through attempts to broker a
power-sharing agreement
between Mugabe and his main rival, Norman
Tsvangirai.
So far, those negotiations have proved fruitless, while
Mugabe blames
western sanctions for his country's deterioration.
With
files from The Associated Press
Motlanthe
to send food to Zim people
http://www.iol.co.za
Christelle Terreblanche
December 06 2008 at 11:40AM
President Kgalema Motlanthe wants any
food aid that will be provided
by South Africa to Zimbabwe to go directly to
the Zimbabwean populace and
not to be channelled through the Harare
government.
Motlanthe - according to a senior government source -
has put his foot
down and insisted that not a single cent should go to the
Robert Mugabe
government or the coffers of the ruling Zanu-PF.
Former president Thabo Mbeki had promised Mugabe's administration
R300-million in agricultural aid but Motlanthe froze this pending a new
power-sharing government.
Now, as the humanitarian crisis
deepens in Zimbabwe, Motlanthe has
sent former director-general Frank
Chikane, now a part-time consultant in
the presidency, to assess how South
Africa could provide food aid - and not
cash - to
Zimbabweans.
Chikane - who was part of Mbeki's
facilitation team that promised
R300-million to Zimbabwe - will lead a
delegation to Harare on Monday to
assess the food shortage
problem.
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko on Friday emphasised
that food
should be distributed in a "non-partisan manner".
"Our interest as a government is to make sure that whatever aid we
provide
as the South African government on behalf of the people of South
Africa is
given to ordinary Zimbabweans, not to political parties," he said
yesterday.
The R300-million aid was supposed to go through the
controversial
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which is in dire need of foreign
currency to pay
civil servants.
But this now appears highly
unlikely to happen.
Motlanthe's tough stance comes as Archbishop
Emeritus Desmond Tutu has
called on African nations to use military force
against Mugabe if he refuses
to relinquish power.
Tutu said in
a television interview in the Netherlands that the AU and
southern African
nations have the military capacity to oust Mugabe. Another
option would be
to threaten the aged Zimbabwean leader with indictment at
the International
Criminal Court.
Maseko on Friday said South Africa found Zimbabwe's
international
appeal for assistance on Thursday significant as opposed to
its earlier
reluctance.
"We think that is a major breakthrough
and all indications are that
the Zimbabwean government is on board as is the
international community, and
that officials would welcome any form of aid,"
he said.
There is widespread starvation and a spiralling cholera
outbreak in
Zimbabwe where cash-strapped soldiers recently went on the
rampage.
Maseko said South Africa was "extremely concerned" and was
monitoring
the situation.
He said the impact of the starvation
and cholera crisis - which is
spilling into South Africa - was likely to put
additional pressure on the
opposing parties in Zimbabwe to conclude a
power-sharing deal.
"Our expectation is that any politician with
conscience, who sees
their own citizens suffering to the extent that
Zimbabweans are suffering,
should be able to put all political differences
aside and say let's bring
our country back on track," he said.
The delegation led by Chikane will consult Zimbabwean officials,
agricultural unions, churches, NGOs and the international donor
organisations on the country's humanitarian needs, and ways to ensure a fair
distribution process.
Other SADC neighbouring states have been
invited to join Chikane's
team which will depart for Harare on
Sunday.
"On their return from Zimbabwe, the team will make
recommendations to
the ministerial team that will be convened by President
Motlanthe during the
course of next week," Maseko said.
"The
president and the ministers will then decide on the humanitarian
aid that
will be provided by the South African government to the people of
Zimbabwe.
"An announcement will be made during the course of
next week."
The South African government will also provide R500 000
worth of
medical supplies for Zimbabwe.
This
article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on
December 06,
2008
The Beginning
http://www.hararetribune.com
Saturday, 06 December 2008 17:35 Hon. Eddie
Cross
Watching the media in recent days has convinced me that the press
does not
appreciate just what has happened over the past week. Unheralded,
there has
been a sea change in the approach by South Africa to the Zimbabwe
crisis. It
has been coming for some time, delayed by the Mbeki influence,
but once that
was swept away by the ANC, it has gathered
momentum.
You can see it in the way the SABC is reporting the Zimbabwe
situation, the
comments in public by senior figures and the growing chorus
of African
leaders who are calling for Mugabe to step down. Most
international media
are concluding that the Global Political Agreement is a
dead letter and that
it simply could not work.
In fact events are
slowly pushing Zanu PF towards acceptance of a deal that
will effectively
end their monopoly of power in Zimbabwe. The GPA is by no
means perfect -
but it is based on a reasonable democratic process and gives
the winners of
that process (the MDC) control of the main levers of
government.
Zanu
PF only appreciated this after they had signed the deal on the 15th of
September. How much trouble they are in, only became apparent when MDC
discovered that Chinamasa and others in the negotiation process had
surreptitiously altered the final version of the GPA that had been agreed at
the meeting on the 11th of September.
Since then they have been
desperately fighting a rearguard action to try and
limit the damage and claw
back some of the power and authority they in fact
surrendered on the 11th
September. For the military Junta that has run the
country for the past
decade and remains substantively in control, they are
fighting the deal with
every weapon in their armory.
MDC, for its part has simply stuck to its
game plan. In March 2006, at the
second Congress of the Party in Harare,
nearly 20 000 delegates agreed to
adopt what they called a 'road map' to a
new Zimbabwe. This was a peaceful,
legal programme of democratic resistance
to the regime leading to
negotiations. The negotiations leading us to a
transitional government and
the transitional government producing a new
'people driven' constitution.
Once this was enacted, new elections - perhaps
the first really free and
fair elections with all qualified citizens voting
and that would then give
rise to a new government - perhaps the first MDC
government.
Its now two years and 3 months since that Congress - not a
long time when
you think about it, and the MDC is close to securing its
first goal - a
transitional government brought about by negotiations. What
we have also
done since the negotiations were concluded on the 11th
September is to
insist, against all pressures from all sides, that the deal
stands as it is
and is implemented in full.
The significance of the
events in South Africa last Thursday is that the two
parties agreed to a
draft legal expression of the September 11th agreement.
The MDC being
satisfied that the draft reflected the content and meaning of
the GPA. We
wanted to go on and wrap up all outstanding issues but Zanu PF
asked for
some time out to consult their principals in Harare. This request
was
granted - but on the proviso that they get on with the task of preparing
the
draft legislation for publication in the Government Gazette.
It is
Saturday today - they failed to publish the draft last night in the
Gazette
as would normally be the practice and I think we can assume that
Zanu PF did
not want this document in the public domain in advance of their
annual
Conference which starts of Tuesday. Once this is over - by next
Friday, I
would expect the draft to emerge into the public domain and for
the
statutory 30 days period required by the present Constitution to start.
This
means of course that the changes to the Constitution will only come to
Parliament next year - in mid January.
We are totally distrustful of
the present regime and want to see the changes
to the constitution effected
before a new government is formed. But the one
thing that we should all
recognise - is that once the draft is published in
the Gazette - the clock
is ticking for this regime and all its cohorts. It
is the formal and legal
start of the transition to a Transitional Government
in which Morgan
Tsvangirai will be the new Prime Minister and head of the
new, powerful and
democratically elected Council of Ministers who will
assume full control of
the affairs of government in late January 2009.
The Prime Minister and
the Council of Ministers will be responsible for
government policy and for
execution of all government decisions. The Prime
Minister will also have
what is effectively a veto on all senior
appointments by the President. In
any normal democracy MDC would have
assumed unfettered control of the State
in the first week of April 2008. But
this is not a normal democracy - it is
in fact an autocratic regime, headed
by an unelected President and
controlled by a civilian/military Junta.
In other countries the overthrow
of this regime would have required physical
violence in one form or another.
The remarkable thing about this particular
transfer of power is that it has
been achieved without violence, by the
oppressed. The State has employed
violence against its opponents and
continues to do so - on a huge scale, but
this has not evoked a violent
response even though that is exactly what the
regime intended. It only
understands that 'power comes through the barrel of
a gun' - in their case
that is how they have tried to protect the power that
was already in their
hands as a result of the civil war in the
70's.
Just as in America where Obama is managing the transition into
government
and where Bush is accepted as a lame duck, Morgan Tsvangirai is
the new
Prime Minister and next Friday could be the start of his formal and
legal
transition into government. Just like Obama, Tsvangirai will face
unprecedented challenges - rampant inflation and a collapsed economy. A
dispirited and tired people suffering from food shortages and widespread
epidemics and an administration that is really at the end of their tether.
No money in the Bank - only debts, courtesy of Gono, the Gundwane.
South
African newspapers x-ray Zimbabwean crisis
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/
News - Africa news
Cape
Town, South Africa - With the South African government planning a
massive
humanitarian intervention in Zimbabwe as fears of total collapse
grow, South
African press believe things are getting out of control in the
southern
African country.
The Times reports that South Africa believes that
Zimbabwean President
Robert Mu gabe has lost control, quoting an
unidentified South African
government official as saying 'that is why we are
moving in - Mugabe has
lost control.
"He has lost power. It's just a
matter of time before the country implodes.
He cannot support his own people
and that is a danger for the region."
The Mail & Guardian says time
and again since the early 2000s, "that
tortured country" seemed to have
reached the bottom of the abyss, only to
fall still further.
"The
latest riots by soldiers have been widely read as marking the beginning
of
the end. The security forces are Robert Mugabe's only remaining source of
power.
If he can't keep them on his side, surely his days must be
numbered?
Alas, not necessarily. A fraction of Zimbabwe's 30,000-strong
army, mainly
junior officers, rampaged through the streets of Harare, and
there was no
evidence of an organised mutiny.
The top echelons of the
military remain loyal to Mugabe, as do the dreaded
military
police.
The disturbances seem to have been contained for now;
significantly,
soldiers did not join a protest against currency restrictions
by citizens."
The newspaper says the time has come for radical measures
by the region,
spearhe aded by South Africa.
"The bottom line must be
the imposition of smart sanctions against the
ruling clique, of the kind
already applied by the EU and the US, to sever
their lifeline to South
Africa.
"Zimbabwe must be suspended from the SADC and excluded from its
consultations. And as Botswana's foreign minister has proposed, the final
response to continued intransigence must be comprehensive regional
sanctions, which would block Zimbabw e 's exports and cut off fuel and
electricity supplies."
The Business Day says Mugabe appears to be
losing his 28-year iron grip on
the military, with protests by soldiers
raising fears that a revolt could be
brewing in the armed forces.
"Is
the sight of soldiers rioting in Harare an indication of a change in the
balance within the security establishment? We must be careful not to either
overstate or under estimate the significance of these riots. Rioting foot
soldiers are not necessarily a sign of rifts within the securocratic class
but are, at the same time, indicative of the possible emergence of a crisis
of legitimacy that might cause serious divisions within Zanu-PF and the
securocrats.
"But we must not rule out the possibility that Robert
Mugabe and the Joint
Opera tional Command will simply respond instinctively
in an attempt to
further impose the repressive capacity of the state on a
worsening economic
and political crisis.
"A collapsing state can have
as pernicious an effect as a military
dictatorship that is at the height of
its power. We must, therefore, not
rule out the possibility of gun battles
between soldiers and the police, a
generalised mutiny or battles between
different groups of soldiers."
According to the Institute for War and
Peace Reporting, military experts are
warning that the riots are a precursor
to mutiny, while pro-government
analysts say the disturbances were just a
simple case of indiscipline within
the ranks.
They say the bloody
rebellion of soldiers could lead to Mugabe's ousting.
The Times says the
South African government, once the agent of denial on the
severity of the
crisis across the border, has finally grasped the nettle.
"Former
president Thabo Mbeki, who helped drag out Mugabe's rule for a
decade, has
thankfully receded as a political force. In his place Kgalema
Motlanthe,
with a full mandate from the ruling ANC, has begun to deal with
the reality
of human suffering.
"After the shocking experience of xenophobic violence
last year, Zimbabwe's
collapse is an opportunity for South Africans to show
they are good
neighbours.
"We should embrace the health refugees,
give them the best treatment we can
offer and, in giving of ourselves, we
should find our humanity once more."
Cape Town - 06/12/2008
Zimbabwe
soldiers to appear before a court martial: police
http://news.yahoo.com
Sat Dec 6, 3:42 am
ET
HARARE, (AFP) - Zimbabwe police said soldiers arrested for looting
shops and
beating up people in central Harare would appear before a court
martial, the
state-run Herald reported Saturday.
"We are still
investigating the case, but we expect the soldiers to appear
before a court
martial once investigations are completed," police
spokesperson, Wayne
Bvudzijena was quoted as saying.
"Police - in collaboration with the
military police - initially picked up 30
soldiers on Monday but released the
rest after screening except for 10. The
other six were arrested on Thursday
last week," the paper reported.
Dozens of soldiers stormed central Harare
last Monday beating up people,
looting shops and clashing with riot police
after they were unable to access
their wages from banks.
Defence
Minister Sydney Sekeramayi deplored the violence, describing the
soldiers'
acts as "reprehensible and criminal" while the army denied
approving the
attacks on ordinary citizens.
This was the first army protest against
President Robert Mugabe's government
as the southern African country's
economic woes continue to worsen with
record inflation of over 231 million
percent.
Zimbabwe is faced by a myriad of problems that include a cholera
epidemic
that has killed 575 people, according to the UN, while widespread
hunger is
afflicting the nation once seen as the region's
breadbasket.
Negotiations to form a government of national unity between
the opposition
and Mugabe's party are stalled over who should control key
ministries such
as home affairs which oversees the police.
Some
background information on the soldier riots this week
Photo Credit: Tonderai
X
I did a bit of investigation in an effort to get a clear picture of the
events behind the recent rioting by members of the Zimbabwe National Army.
I was told that on the 27th of November soldiers were supposed to receive
their ZW$42 million for their salary, and converged at a bank in town from their
places of work, One Commando and KG 6 respectively, on foot.
On arrival at the bank they learnt from the bank manager that their monies
had been transported in bulk to their places of work from where bank officials
were to issue it to them. It is reported that issuing of the money began in the
absence of the soldiers and higher ranking personnel where paid first before the
lower ranks, the bulk of whom were in town.
The monies sent by the bank were only sufficient to pay less than 20 of the
aforementioned ranks at either of the 2 bases before it ran out. By the time the
soldiers from town arrived at their bases the money had long run out and they
were told that no money for them had been delivered by the bank.
Empty-handed, angry and frustrated, they returned into town where they
confronted the bank manager, man-handling him and the bank’s employees. The
siege on the bank was cut short after the bank manager produced documentation
that indeed showed the soldiers that money intended for their salaries had
indeed been sent to their bases.
That was when all hell broke loose as the soldiers had discovered that their
seniors and the administration running the country was taking them for a ride,
and they then unleashed an orgy of violence and robbery on unsuspecting
black-market foreign currency dealers, accusing them of being collusion with the
RBZ’s Gono and being given money that should cover for their salaries to
purchase foreign currency.
The rioting on the 1st of this month was a spill-over occurrence, the actual
cause being the events of the 27th of November, as the soldiers continued
harassing and robbing the forex dealers at Eastgate Shopping Mall, ending up in
the looting spree.
There was more drama at Grants Shopping Centre in the early hours of the
evening of the 2nd of December, located in Milton Park when soldiers numbering
between 30 and 50 assaulted a woman, robbed her of cell phone and handbag,
before proceeding to break into a shop that sells clothing in foreign currency
and looting both.
The woman was assaulted using clenched fists and boots by the mob and left
lying on the ground, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and was identified by
onlookers as an acquaintance of a very, very senior and high-ranking army
official whose name I shall withhold for my own security.
A short while after the assault the injured woman requested that a bystander
call the official using her cell-phone, and within moments the place was swarmed
by senior army personnel, donning their fancy regalia and driving expensive
double-cab trucks and luxury cars. Within moments 2 truckloads of soldiers from
the military police descended on the shopping centre in an effort to track down
their counterparts and bring them to book.
It is reported that a senior lady official was directing operations and
called for the military police to scour the place and try to apprehend only one
soldier who was going to disclose the names of his counterparts.
It was at this moment that my source and witness to this incident decided to
depart from the shopping centre, fearing that he might entangle himself in the
mess as military police are known to carry out their business using a scorched
earth policy.
It is increasingly becoming clear that the events of the past week are not
random events and are beginning to show a certain degree of coordination. At
this rate, the country is in for very interesting times.
This entry was written by
Freedom Writer on Friday, December 5th, 2008
Hyperinflation
forces Zimbabwe to print $200 million notes
http://edition.cnn.com/
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) --
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe revealed plans Saturday to
circulate $200 million
notes, just days after introducing a $100 million
bill, Finance Minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi said.
After the $100 million note began circulating on
Thursday, the price of a
loaf of bread soared from 2 million to 35 million
Zimbabwean dollars.
Amid allegations of illegal foreign currency trading,
the government also
fired top executives at four major banks Thursday,
according to The Herald,
a state-owned newspaper.
Many anxious
residents of the nation's capital, Harare, have been sleeping
outside banks,
waiting for them to open so they can make withdrawals before
the
institutions run out of cash.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had capped
maximum daily withdrawals at 500,000
Zimbabwean dollars -- about 25 U.S.
cents, or about a quarter of Thursday's
price of a loaf of
bread.
Last week, restrictions on cash withdrawals -- due to severe money
shortages -- triggered riots.
Sixteen soldiers now face possible
court-martial due to alleged looting and
assaults on civilians and police
during the unrest, police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena told The Herald on
Saturday.
"We are still investigating the case," he said. "But we expect
the soldiers
to appear before a court-martial once investigations are
completed."
After spending several days waiting in bank lines, soldiers
rampaged through
downtown Harare, destroying shops and attacking riot police
sent to disperse
the protesters.
Cash shortages are not the only
crisis plaguing Zimbabwe.
The United Nations has said more than half of
Zimbabwe's population is in
dire need of food and clean water.
Acute
shortages of essentials such as fuel, electricity, medicines and food
are
key indicators of a failed economy, according to economic observers.
"The
(Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) is failing to deliver the demands of market,
prices are doubling daily, and that demands more cash," Zimbabwean economist
John Robertson said. "The huge price increases are resulting from severe
shortages of most goods."
The once-prosperous African nation is
facing its worst economic and
humanitarian crisis since attaining
independence from Great Britain in 1980.
Zimbabwe's official rate of
inflation is 231 million percent, the world's
highest.
Critics of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe link hyperinflation to his
policies on
land distribution and unbudgeted payments to war veterans.
Zimbabwe has
had no Cabinet since the March presidential election.
Its political
troubles have aggravated its humanitarian and economic crisis,
including a
cholera outbreak that has killed close to 600 people since
August
A
CNN journalist in Harare contributed to this report.
A month ago, the hospitals were overflowing. Now
they lie empty
Amid a cholera epidemic, people are
left to die after medical staff are driven out by appalling conditions and lack
of food
- Chris McGreal
- The Guardian, Saturday
December 6 2008
The signs are all around. In the spectre of cholera haunting the sewage-strewn
streets of Harare's townships. In the fading bodies of the hundreds of thousands
of Zimbabweans surviving on wild fruits because their fields are barren. In the
glass littering streets after embittered soldiers smashed their way into shops
that no longer accept Zimbabwe's near worthless currency as
the inflation rate surged through the billions and trillions.
But perhaps nothing is as disturbing a symbol of the
collapse of governance in Zimbabwe as the ghostly corridors of the country's
biggest hospital as patients are turned away from its doors to die.
Parirenyatwa hospital lies at the centre of a complex
of hospitals in the heart of Harare with 5,000 beds. It is named after the first
black Zimbabwean to qualify as a doctor, Tichafa Parirenyatwa, and was once one
of Africa's best with a large maternity hospital, a section specialising in eye
surgery and extensive paediatric wards.
Treatment was free. Zimbabwe's doctors and nurses
were well trained and renowned for their dedication.
Today the Parirenyatwa's wards have an air of hurried
abandonment. Get well soon cards are still pinned above the beds. Patients'
notes hang below. The paediatric wards are decorated with mobiles of dancing
animals and biblical drawings. But the absence of children creates a disquieting
sense of abnormality.
Water from a burst pipe drops through a ceiling in a
darkened corridor and forms a small lake in the general surgery ward. There is
no one to repair it or, apparently, even report it.
The outpatient section's doors are locked. The
operating theatres are darkened. The nurses' stations around them are abandoned.
"A month ago this was overflowing with patients being wheeled in and out of the
theatres. Now it is dead," said one of the few doctors still on duty, who did
not want to be identified for fear of retribution for criticising the
authorities.
"The staff just stopped coming to work because it was
impossible to work and their pay simply isn't worth anything. Nurses earned less
than the bus fare to get here. We've been subsidising the government for so long
now. The nurses feel abused, misused.
"But I'm surprised that the situation is now where
nobody cares. There are lots of people dying for lack of staff. People are
hungry. Their sense of public service has gone. There is a loss of
humanity."
Walkout
The staff at the Parirenyatwa muddled along for years
as the government's incompetence and greed bled the health service of funds and
hard currency was pocketed by the ruling elite, while hospitals struggled with
growing shortages of medicine, nurses worked to maintain hygiene standards when
the water was off for days, and surgeons operated in the midst of power cuts.
The doctors led the walkout, saying that it was
impossible to work in such conditions. The nurses quickly followed, driven to
the end of their endurance as their pay was consumed by hyperinflation while
Zimbabwe's leaders got rich on the back of the misery.
The maternity hospital stopped doing caesarean
sections and life-saving surgery. Harare general hospital is completely shut.
Parirenyatwa's casualty department is still open but mostly it turns patients
away as it cannot offer any major operations or treatment.
"We've been witnessing mothers just coming to die,"
said the doctor. "Complicated cases are brought to Pari. These patients have
been coming and the doors have been closed. So they sit outside and cry. We know
they are going to die."
Much of the paediatric ward is abandoned until, down
the far end of one corridor, there is the sound of cartoons on a television. Two
young boys beam from their beds.
"This hospital has an orthopaedic surgeon who said he
will never abandon his patients. He had these two children admitted," said the
doctor. "We wonder what happened to all the kids we used to see. Many came from
Epworth and Hatfield [townships] suffering from malnutrition and related
diseases. We suspect these kids are dying at home. Their mothers know nothing
happens at Pari now."
Another doctor said the decline in healthcare could
be seen in the statistics. The numbers of women dying in childbirth has doubled
and the number of newborns surviving has halved in recent years. "Cerebral palsy
births increased threefold in three years. That's a very good indicator of the
quality of maternity care," said the doctor.
Even before the hospitals closed, patients often had
to buy their own anaesthetic and medicine if they wanted an operation. But
pharmacies charged what it cost to import them from abroad, far beyond the reach
of most families.
Some doctors have been carrying out illicit
operations at the Parirenyatwa out of duty or because the patients can pay. But
often they are risky without the full complement of staff and in difficult
conditions.
The government has blamed the hospital crisis, like
the rest of the country's problems, on international sanctions, although the
measures imposed by western countries are targeted against Zimbabwe's
leaders.
Few Zimbabweans are taken in. They see the
Parirenyatwa's closure as further evidence of a collapsing state and the fact
that President Robert Mugabe no longer so much governs as obstructs.
Tichafa Parirenyatwa's son, David, is now Zimbabwe's
health minister. Where his father was honoured he is now scorned as in service
of a regime accused of killing its people through neglect and cynicism.
This week, doctors working at the hospital named
after his father marched to the building to present the minister with a
petition.
"We are forced to work without basic health
institutional needs like drugs, adequate water and sanitation, safe clothing
gear, medical equipment and basic support services," the letter said.
David Parirenyatwa, who was meeting foreign donors,
responded by unleashing the police on the protesters. Some doctors were badly
beaten.
The doctors also wanted to know when health workers'
pay would be restored to its former value. Salaries change by the month because
the Zimbabwe dollar loses value by the minute.
A nurse's basic monthly pay at the end of November
was Z$120m. At the time it was worth about £40 if changed the same day with the
black market currency dealers on the street. By yesterday afternoon the same
amount was worth just £6, enough to buy 10kg (22lb) of maize.
Money is a complicated business in Zimbabwe even if
most people do not have much. Cash has been in desperately short supply because
the government cannot print fast enough to keep up with hyperinflation.
Officially inflation stands at 231m percent, but that was in July. Since then
the central bank has regarded economic statistics as a state secret.
John Robertson, one of Zimbabwe's most respected
economists, has accurately estimated the rate of inflation in the past. He says
it shot through the billions, trillions and quadrillions between August and
October until it reached 1.6 sextillion percent last month. A sextillion has 21
noughts.
Robertson says the number is almost meaningless.
"Inflation at the present rate is academic. Nobody says they'll increase
salaries on this figure. It's impossible to work with it."
As the government grappled with the cash shortage
caused by hyperinflation it severely limited the amount Zimbabweans could
withdraw from their bank accounts. Until this week it was the equivalent of 18p
a day. But after soldiers rioted in central Harare on Monday, looting stores
charging in US dollars and snatching money from the illegal currency traders in
an informal market known as the Copacabana, the central bank raised the
withdrawal limit to Z$100m - the equivalent of £5 a week - from Thursday, though
the real value was falling rapidly by the day. But, far from alleviating the
crisis, the extra cash in the system drove the Zimbabwe dollar to new depths. It
fell from Z$3m to the pound on Wednesday evening to Z$22m yesterday.
Prices went the other way, tripling on Thursday
alone. Robertson says it is further evidence of a government unable to govern.
"They issue these new notes thinking it will solve the problem and it just makes
it worse," he said. "You'd think that these numbers would cripple us, that we
might as well stay in bed. But people find other ways and the way is to sell in
US dollars."
Underground supermarkets
Mugabe's most dramatic recent concession to reality
was the recognition of the US dollar and South African rand as the real national
currencies of Zimbabwe these days.
The government spent months trying to suppress
trading in foreign currency but underground supermarkets sprang up in garages
and warehouses stocked with imports from South Africa.
Restaurants and shops took foreign money under the
counter. With rapid devaluation and the shortage of Zimbabwe dollar notes, the
middle-class began to pay their maids and gardeners in hard currency.
Eventually, the government faced the reality that
there was only anything in the shops at all beyond a few vegetables and eggs
because of trading in foreign currency - in part driven by the 3 million
Zimbabweans who have fled the country, mostly for South Africa, sending money
home. It legalised the use of US dollars and rand in September but the effect of
that has been to make it impossible to buy almost anything without foreign
currency.
So Parirenyatwa's nurses and doctors are forced to
swap part of their salaries - when they can get money out of the bank - because
it is the only way to buy most foods including the staple, maize.
That is not all they have to cope with.
One of Parirenyatwa's nurses who still goes to work
lives in Epworth, a poor township to the east without most basic services. It
has been hit by the cholera that has claimed about 600 lives across Zimbabwe and
infected more than 12,000 people, according to official figures, although
doctors say the death toll is probably much higher.
"I come to work out of duty. My country paid for me
to become a nurse, trained me for nothing, and so even if times are difficult
and I make no money, I have a duty to my country. But I cannot say I'm really
helping anyone. All the wards are closed. It makes me cry because I see the
people in Epworth who need help. Now there is cholera but there has been
sickness for a long time because there is no food," she said.
Although the cholera outbreak has added to the burden
it is a symptom, not a cause, of the collapse of the medical system. Instead,
the cholera is further evidence of the collapse of government.
Health workers have been warning about the risk of
cholera for more than a year. Parts of Harare and its outlying townships have
been without water for long periods over the past two years. People took to
digging shallow wells but they became contaminated by the sewage running openly
in the streets because burst pipes were not repaired and blockages were not
cleared.
Children grew sick from the filth. Some died for lack
of treatment. When cholera struck, it hit a hungry population reduced to one
meal a day at best. "We've gone from some of the best healthcare in Africa to
people dying because they are living in their own sewage," said the doctor at
Parirenyatwa. "And the people who run this country act as if it has nothing to
do with them or what they've done to this country."
Widespread collapse of social services creates 'twin disaster'
in Zimbabwe
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Date: 05 Dec
2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 5 December 2008 - After a widespread
breakdown in social
services, the Government of Zimbabwe declared a national
cholera crisis on
Wednesday. The country's health sector has collapsed and
hospitals are
closing, creating a 'twin national
disaster'.
Approximately 565 people have died from cholera since August,
with almost
12,550 cumulative cases nationwide. The increase of the outbreak
is
attributed to poor water and sanitation supply, the collapsed health
system
and limited government capacity to respond to the
emergency.
"Mainly, it's the lack of capacity for the municipal services
and the water
authorities to provide safe water and refuse collection," said
UNICEF
Zimbabwe Communication Officer Tsitsi Singizi. "At the same time,
there's a
collapse in the health services, which has made it impossible to
treat the
high number of infections."
UNICEF is currently the only
agency able to deliver supplies and equipment
in response to the cholera
outbreak in Zimbabwe, providing an average of
360,000 litres of safe water
every day.
Outlining urgent needs
Working with the government,
UNICEF has a response team dedicated solely to
responding to the
outbreak.
A 120-day emergency response is intensifying relief efforts by
increasing
health outreach services, providing nutritional supplements and
scaling-up
access to safe water.
UNICEF and its partners are also
providing essential items such as bars of
soap, latex gloves and water
treatment tablet to meet the needs of
approximatelty 3.5 million people over
the next six months.
Children 'on the brink'
"The outbreak is
really outpacing our response," said UNICEF Zimbabwe
Communication Officer
Tsitsi Singizi. "It's becoming endemic. Nine out of 10
provinces have
reported a cholera case."
Ms. Singizi noted that some Zimbabweans have
even travelled to neighbouring
South Africa for treatment.
The net
effect on Zimbabwean children has been no schooling, a serious
threat to
their life, lack of health care, safe water and a reduced number
of
meals.
"Children in Zimbabwe are on the brink, and everyone's focus must
now be on
their survival," said UNICEF Zimbabwe Acting Country
Representative Roeland
Monasch.
Kyria Abrahams contributed to this
story from New York.
Crisis Piles Pressure On Mugabe
6:18am UK, Saturday December 06, 2008
Emma Hurd, Africa correspondent
There is growing international pressure for Robert Mugabe to leave power as
the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe deepens.
Zimbabwean women and children fetch water from an
unprotected well
At least 575 people have died from the disease, which has infected 12,700
people since August.
The Zimbabwean
government has declared the epidemic a "national emergency" and appealed for
international aid.
Speaking in Copenhagen, US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said: "It is well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave."
She said the stalled power-sharing talks and the mounting "humanitarian toll"
in the country should spur international action and called on African leaders to
take the lead.
Her comments came as Nobel Prize winner Archbishop
Desmond Tutu declared that Robert
Mugabe should either resign or "be sent to the Hague" for the gross
violations he had committed.
Tutu, a one-time supporter of the Zimbabwean President, said Mugabe had
ruined a "wonderful country".
British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown also called on the international community to tell Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe that "enough is enough".
"This is now an international rather than a national emergency. International
because disease crosses borders. International because the systems of government
in Zimbabwe are now broken," he said.
"There is no state capable or willing (to protect) its people."
He is destroying a wonderful country. A country that used to be a bread
basket has now become a basket case itself needing
help.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Robert Mugabe
In another sign of mounting international pressure, the EU is considering
stepping up sanctions against Mr Mugabe and other key figures in his regime.
Cholera,
which is carried by contaminated water, has spread quickly in Zimbabwe where
years of neglect of the basic infrastructure have resulted in a collapse of the
water and sanitation systems.
Sewage is flowing in some of the streets in Harare, where
most of the cholera cases have been reported, and clean drinking water is in
short supply.
Hospitals across the country are struggling to deal with the influx of
patients because of a shortage of re-hydration drugs and fluids.
There is also a critical shortage of medical staff, many of whom have walked
out in protest at salaries so low that they do not even cover the cost of
transportation to work.
Their wages are paid into bank accounts by the government, but with cash
withdrawals rationed it is almost impossible to withdraw enough money to buy
even small items like a loaf of bread.
Sufferer in a South African clinic
South Africa’s government has agreed to send a crisis response team to
Zimbabwe to help with the cholera crisis which has seeped over the border.
Almost 500 patients have been treated at an emergency cholera clinic in the
town of Musina in the past two weeks.
Most of the patients are Zimbabweans who had entered South
Africa illegally to try to find work, carrying the disease with them
over the border.
South Africa’s leaders are still reluctant to bow to international pressure
and openly criticise Robert Mugabe over the spiralling decline of Zimbabwe and
the political paralysis in the country.
Former President Thabo
Mbeki, the official mediator, has instead blamed opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai for the impasse, accusing him of refusing to compromise over
the flawed power-sharing deal that would effectively leave Mr Mugabe in control
of the country.
Botswana says Mugabe would be gone in weeks without vehicle
fuel
http://www.africasia.com
LONDON,
Dec 6 (AFP)
President Robert Mugabe would be out of power within two weeks if
Zimbabwe's
neighbours starved his armed forces of fuel for their vehicles,
Botswana's
foreign minister said on Saturday.
Phandu Skelemani said
the outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe showed more
pressure should be put on
fellow members of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to stop
propping up Mugabe's administration.
He told BBC radio that the SADC's
support for Mugabe had allowed him to drag
his feet in discussions over a
government of national unity three months
after he agreed to share power
with the opposition.
"It is the SADC in my view which has enabled Mugabe
to be intransigent. More
pressure could be brought on these countries,"
Skelemani said.
He called on the international community to take urgent
action.
"The world together with SADC should be able to tell the
Zimbabweans, 'look,
this is going too far, we are now saying you are on your
own, you can't rely
on us to help you anymore' and really start refusing to
deliver those
necessities which keep Mugabe in power.
"One of those
is petrol. If you deny him petrol which is used by the armed
forces, which
is used by the police, I don't think he'll last two weeks," he
said.
The criticism from Botswana, which unlike Zimbabwe's other
neighbours has
been vocal in its condemnation of Mugabe, comes amid fresh
international
pressure over the country's collapse.
British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday the situation had
deteriorated to
such an extent it now required an international response,
adding "enough is
enough."
On Friday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was
"well past
time for Robert Mugabe to leave."
Paris
sends emergency aid to Zimbabwe to fight cholera
http://www.afriquenligne.fr
Paris, France - France
is sending specialists and 200,000 euros in emergency
aid to Zimbabwe to
fight a devastating cholera outbreak that has killed some
600
people.
In a communiqué made public in Paris, the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
said the money would be delivered to organizations in
Zimbabwe, particularly
to the Red Cross, "to enable them to intervene
immediately".
The French emergency aid would be used for prevention and
treatment through
the distribution of rehydration salt, kits to make potable
water and water
treatment tablets, the French ministry said.
"The
dispatch of the French personnel is also planned in coordination with
NGOs,
the Bureau of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (BCAH), the World
Health
Organisation, and our ambassador in Zimbabwe," the communiqué said.
About
12,546 people have contracted cholera that has already killed 600
people,
according to the latest count by the United Nations.
The epidemic has
spread to other countries in the region, especially South
Africa and
Botswana.
Paris - 05/12/2008
Norway
condemns the abduction of human rights defender Jestina Mukoko in
Zimbabwe
http://www.regjeringen.no
04.12.2008
"Norway strongly condemns the abduction of Jestina Mukoko. We
call on the
Zimbabwe authorities to do everything in their power to ensure
that Mukoko
is released and brought to safety. Those responsible for her
abduction must
be brought to justice," said State Secretary Raymond Johansen
of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Human rights defender Jestina
Mukoko, director of the organisation Zimbabwe
Peace Project, was taken from
her home in Zimbabwe by armed men early
yesterday morning. The organisation
she heads has received support from
Norway for a number of years, and
cooperates closely with several Norwegian
organisations on human rights
issues.
"The situation in Zimbabwe gives cause for deep concern. The
unwillingness
of Mugabe and the ruling party to cooperate with the
opposition has thrown
the country into an ever-worsening crisis. If the
parties fail to find a
solution to the protracted crisis of government,
there is a danger that
lawlessness will prevail and the people will lose all
their legal
safeguards," said Mr Johansen.
Zimbabwe's economy has
collapsed, there are widespread food shortages, and
the health system is
disintegrating. The outbreak of cholera in recent weeks
has exacerbated the
plight of the country's long-suffering population.
Netherlands
supports wider EU sanctions against regime Zimbabwe
http://www.minbuza.nl
05 Dec 2008 | Foreign
minister Maxime Verhagen and British foreign secretary
David Miliband are
urging the European Union to tighten sanctions against
Zimbabwe's regime. EU
foreign ministers will take a decision on Monday on a
proposal for stricter
travel restrictions for the country's rulers.
'The situation in Zimbabwe
is going from bad to worse', said Mr Verhagen.
'Mugabe and his clique
apparently have no intention of carrying out the
agreement on power-sharing.
I believe the European sanctions against
Zimbabwe's rulers need to be
stepped up as quickly as possible.'
The Zimbabwean opposition, led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, agreed last September
to share power with President
Robert Mugabe. But no progress is being made
on implementing the agreement.
In the meantime violence against the country's
population is continuing and
the humanitarian crisis is deepening. The
collapse of the healthcare system
is allowing a cholera epidemic to claim
more victims every day.
The
Dutch embassy in Zimbabwe recently uncovered evidence that poisonous
chemicals are being used to drive residents out of remote areas where mines
are being run by Mugabe supporters.
Mr Verhagen will meet with
Zimbabwean opposition leader Tsvangirai before
the foreign ministers'
meeting Monday in Brussels, to discuss how the
Netherlands and the EU can
support the opposition.
International Medical Corps Deploys Assessment Team Into Zimbabwe in
Response to Deadly Cholera Outbreak
06 Dec 2008 00:28:00 GMT
Source:
International Medical Corps (IMC) - USA
Stephanie Bowen
Website: http://www.imcworldwide.org
In
Los Angeles: Contact: Stephanie Bowen (310) 826.7800
sbowen@imcworldwide.org
International
Medical Corps is responding to a rapidly escalating outbreak
of cholera in
Zimbabwe that has killed almost 600 people so far, out of
nearly 14,000
suspected cases. Some authorities put the number of deaths at
over 1,000.
The World Health Organization called it the worst outbreak in
the country
since a 1992 epidemic that killed 3,000.
"We are extremely concerned at
how widely cholera has spread unchecked
through the population and the lack
of resources that exist to battle it,"
said International Medical Corps'
Patrick Mweki, who arrived in the capital
of Harare two days ago to assess
the need. "Nine of the country's ten
provinces have reported cases and
people are in desperate need of basic
medical care and clean water, in
particular."
A spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian
Affairs said: "The entire health system is collapsing, there
are no more
doctors, no nurses, no specialists." Many health workers are
reportedly on
strike because they have not been paid or have simply deserted
hospitals and
health centers as the crisis grows.
After previously
insisting there was no need for alarm over the outbreak,
the government of
Zimbabwe, which has been in the throes of a crippling
economic and political
crisis, made an urgent appeal Thursday for
international help and declared a
national emergency. The European
Commission responded with a pledge of more
than $12 million in aid; the
British have offered almost $15
million.
Meantime, hundreds of people each day have begun streaming into
neighboring
South Africa, sparking fears that the epidemic could spread
beyond
Zimbabwe's border. The World Health Organization says the average
death rate
among infected Zimbabweans was 4.5 percent in November, and as
high as 20-30
percent in remote areas. The normal fatality rate, where clean
water and
medication are available is below one percent.
Since its
inception nearly 25 years ago, International Medical Corps'
mission has been
to relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural
disaster and
disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on
training.
This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to
returning
devastated populations to self-reliance. For more information
visit our
website at www.imcworldwide.org
Mugabe to
bully a deal?
http://news.iafrica.com/
Article By:
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:08
Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe brandished the threat of fresh elections
in a bid to force
through a stalled power-sharing deal as the United States
called for him to
quit.
As a cholera epidemic in the crisis-wracked country worsened, a
defiant
Mugabe lashed the opposition Movement for Democratic for refusing to
join a
national unity government in which he would remain as
president.
Neighbouring South Africa meanwhile said it was time for an
end to
"political point-scoring" while US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said
the negotiations being conducted by Mugabe with the MDC were a
"sham".
"It is well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave," said Rice
during a brief
visit to Copenhagen. "I think that is now obvious."
No
mood for negotiations
In an address on Thursday night, Mugabe showed he
was in no mood to bow to
MDC demands to hand over control of the key
interior ministry, saying he
would call early elections if the two sides
could not work together.
"We agreed to give them (the MDC) 13 ministries
while we share the ministry
of home affairs, but if the arrangement fails to
work in the next
one-and-a-half to two years, then we would go for
elections," Mugabe was
quoted as saying by The Herald, a government
newspaper.
Zimbabwe has been in political limbo since elections in March
when the
opposition wrested control of parliament from Mugabe's party and
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place in a
presidential poll.
But Tsvangirai pulled out of a run-off poll in June
after dozens of his
supporters were killed in attacks blamed on Mugabe
supporters.
The two rivals signed an agreement in September to share
power, but it has
yet to be implemented after fierce disagreements over who
should control key
ministries.
Tsvangirai says he wants to join a
unity government but Mugabe must give up
the interior ministry after keeping
hold of the defence ministry.
In comments made to his Zanu-PF party's
politburo and reported by The
Herald, Mugabe accused the MDC of trying to
destroy the power-sharing
agreement.
"The MDC should say no if they
do not want to be part of the inclusive
government," said Mugabe (84) who
has ruled the former British colony since
independence in
1980.
Collapsing under cholera
While Tsvangirai and Mugabe at
loggerheads, the country has been steadily
collapsing amid an inflation rate
last put at 231 million percent.
With the government now unable to afford
the chemicals needed to ensure a
clean water supply, a cholera epidemic has
swept across the country and even
crossed the border into South
Africa.
In its latest bulletin on Friday, the UN's Office for the
Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs said the outbreak had now claimed 575
lives with a
total of 12—700 cases.
The capital Harare is the
worst-hit district with 179 deaths and 6448 cases
as of 4 December, it said
in a statement.
South Africa, whose former president Thabo Mbeki has been
trying to mediate
between Zanu-PF and the MDC, said it was sending a
high-level delegation to
Zimbabwe to assess how it can provide
assistance.
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the crisis had
reached such
levels that "the time for political point scoring is
over."
"I would be extremely surprised if the outbreak of cholera, the
death of
innocent Zimbabweans as a result of a failure of politicans to
reach an
agreement does not spur them to more urgent action."
South
Africa has expressed confidence a draft amendment to the constitution
paving
the way toward a new government will be signed in a matter of
days.
"Chances are the principals will sign this amendment as soon as
possible and
that parliament will be convened as soon as possible ... and
that the way
will be clear for a representative government to be established
as soon as
possible," Maseko told reporters in Cape Town.
Despite
being harshly critical of Mugabe's government, the former colonial
power
Britain has announced a £10-million ($14.7-million, €11.5-million)
emergency
aid package.
The United States also said it was providing $600 000 to
help fight the
cholera outbreak while the International Committee of the Red
Cross said
over 13 tons of medical supplies has arrived in
Harare.
AFP
Biti
still to answer to four original charges
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8395
December 5, 2008
MDC
secretary general Tendai Biti
By Raymond Maingire
HARARE - MDC
secretary general Tendai Biti still has to answer to all the
original four
counts in his treason case, contrary to last month's reports
the state had
given up on pursuing two of the charges.
Biti faces a treason charge and
three other offences all stemming from a
document entitled "The transition
document" he allegedly authored just
before the March 29
elections.
The state says the document outlines a plot to seize power
from President
Robert Mugabe's government. Advocate Lewis Uriri, Biti's
lawyer, told the
press last month the state had pledged to drop two
charges.
The decision to drop the charges was reached in Chambers during
Biti's
remand hearing on November 18, 2008 at the Harare Magistrate's
court.
This was after presiding magistrate Gloria Takundwa adjourned
normal court
proceedings when the defence counsel and the prosecution had
briefly excused
themselves to consult on the way forward.
According
to Uriri, the state had dropped a charge in which Biti allegedly
called
Mugabe "an evil man who should be taken to The Hague " for human
rights
offences, and that of "causing disaffection among members of the
defence
forces".
The state also amended the charge on "falsehoods inimical to the
interest of
the state" to read "falsehoods that might result in public
disorder".
The state, however, chose to retain the charge under which
Biti allegedly
made a false declaration of the March 29 harmonised elections
in which he
publicly suggested his party, the MDC, had won before the
official
announcement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
The
defence latter wrote to the Attorney General's office to ask the
prosecutor
Tawanda Zvekare to put on record what Biti had actually said.
The matter
was instead responded to by one Joseph Jagada, the director of
public
prosecutions in the Attorney General's office, who denied the state
had
dropped any charges.
Chris Mhike, the instructing attorney in Biti's
case, on Thursday accused
the state of backtracking on its indications that
it would not seek to
pursue the two charges.
"This is a sign that
this matter is purely political," said Mhike.
"This is a case of trying
to keep Biti on the leash so that when things do
not go in Zanu-PF's favour
in terms of the current talks, they still have
somewhere to get him. It is
also a case of trying to keep him busy with
matters of litigation as opposed
to his party's business."
Biti, a lawyer by profession, is the MDC's
chief negotiator in the ongoing
unity talks between Zanu-PF and the
MDC.
His remand hearing will open on February 4, 2009, pending the
outcome of
ongoing investigations by the state.
According to Mhike,
the state promised to update the defence on the status
of its investigations
by December 18.
The defence wants the state to come up with a trial date
for the MDC
legislator or to simply drop the charges.
They say there
is not justification for the state to keep remanding their
client as the
state bases all its evidence on a single document which the
state is already
in possession of.
Zambian cholera patients
to be evacuated from Zimbabwe
Xinhua News Agency
Date: 06 Dec 2008
LUSAKA, Dec 06, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX
News Network) - The Zambian
government said a team of health officials has
left for Zimbabwe to treat
and evacuate a Zambian woman and her child who
have contracted cholera,
Zambia Daily Mail reported on
Saturday.
Health officials feared that cholera may have broken out in
Gwembe in
Southern Province, where one person showed signs of the disease,
according
to the newspaper. If confirmed, this will be the first case of
cholera in
the province which borders Zimbabwe, where over 500 people have
died from
the disease.
Deputy Health Minister Mwendoi Akakandelwa was
quoted as saying that a
Zambian mother and her child are suffering from
cholera in Zimbabwe.
She is currently receiving treatment in that
country. There is also a report
of a Zimbabwean who died in Siavonga near
the border with Zimbabwe. Another
Zimbabwean is receiving treatment, the
minister said.
Akakandelwa said despite the seriousness of the outbreak
in Zimbabwe, the
Zambian-Zimbabwean border would remain open but there would
be strict
surveillance at the border and traffic would be
controlled.
He urged Zambians to observe high standards of hygiene to
avoid contracting
and spreading the disease.
The official said in
Zambia from the time the disease broke out in
September, 1,129 cases had
been reported while eight people had died because
they sought medical
attention late.
Akakandelwa said to manage cholera and its effects, the
Health Ministry had
in place a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral
prevention, preparedness and
control committee which was also duplicated at
district and provincial
levels, adding that the Ministry of Local Government
and Housing was one of
the main stakeholders.
Water
Bills To Be Charged In Forex
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE - The Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA) will next
January start issuing water bills in foreign
currency, a government minister
has said.
Water
Resources and Infrastructural Development deputy minister Walter
Muzembi
said this week the under-performing parastatal will start charging
for water
usage in US dollars.
"We are also aware of that as from next year
the reserve bank is
shedding off its quasi-fiscal activities so we must
begin to evolve
strategies and solutions to revive the water sector that go
beyond the
interventions of the reserve bank.
"Part of that
would be dollarisation. We think that beginning next
month, we should be
able to issue water bills in US dollars."
This he said was the only
available model to sustain the operations of
ZINWA, which has depended
largely on the central bank for sustainability.
Central bank
governor Gideon Gono last month pledged to abandon its
controversial
quasi-fiscal policies that saw all government entities
depending on it to
sustain their operations.
"The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe , through
their quasi-fiscal activities,
has supported our efforts to make sure that
chemicals are there on time,"
Muzembi said.
"We are aware the
size of the cake is too small while the
responsibilities are too
many.
Government says it has no foreign currency to import water
purifying
chemicals.
Most suburbs in Zimbabwe have gone for
months without any water
forcing residents to depend on already contaminated
shallow wells to source
for the necessity.
This has given rise
to a severe outbreak of the deadly cholera disease
that has claimed nearly
600 lives and left thousands hospitalized.
Nearly 300 000 are still
vulnerable to the disease. Government has
since declared the cholera
outbreak a national disaster.
Meanwhile, government's plans to peg
water tariffs in forex have
attracted criticism from the largely poor Harare
residents who still do not
have formal means of acquiring foreign
currency.
Most Zimbabweans toil every day to source for foreign
currency on the
illegal but thriving black market to try and keep with the
pressures of
living within a hyper inflationary environment, the world's
highest,
officially pegged at 231 million percent.
They
need a police presence because their promises are all lies
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/2772
Yesterday
was another day of chaos in Zimbabwe. Riot police were present
from early in
the morning, with their water cannons (hopefully cholera
free!) at the
ready.
Yesterday was the day that the daily withdrawal limit was
increased from
$500,000.00 per person per day to $100,000,000.00 per person,
per WEEK.
Obviously, there was not enough cash to go around, and the
regime knew that
beforehand, hence the presence of the police. They were
expecting unrest. As
usual, they were unable to fulfill the promise that
they had made. They came
prepared.
My friend Simon spent Wednesday
night in a queue. He arrived at the bank at
6pm and was handed his number -
120 in the queue.
He said people did not leave the bank after being
handed their numbers
because if they left, shenanigans took place and they
would come back to
find new numbers had been issued in their absence (bank,
police & security
staff are renowned for taking bribes to allow people
to the front of the
line).
People slept on the sidewalk, on the sides
of the road, in the parking bays,
and under trees and shrubs of neighboring
areas. There are no toilets. There
is no running water. This, when we are in
the midst of a cholera epidemic.
By mid-day, and after waiting in line
for 18 hours, the bank had run out of
cash. In total, they served 70
customers. As I write this, Simon is still in
line. He was forced to go home
in the evening, as he had no food or water.
He had arranged with the person
next to him that they would hold each others
place in line so that they
could both take a break.
A work colleague was in the same line. She was
number 743. She told me that
there were over a hundred people behind
her.
At a rate of 70 customers per day, that bank would take 12 days to
serve the
initial queue. By that time, the first customers would have
returned as the
withdrawal is per person, per week. The story is the same at
every single
branch of every single bank, country wide. Empty promises. This
is why the
police need to be there.
And today the
powers-that-we-don't-want-to-be have stated that on Monday the
limit will be
further increased to $500,000,000 per day. More empty
promises.
This entry was written by Chipo on Friday, December
5th, 2008
BAE accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal
David Leigh and Rob Evans
The Guardian, Saturday December 6
2008
More than £100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell
warplanes
to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police
dossier seen
by the Guardian yesterday.
The leaked evidence from
South African police and the British Serious Fraud
Office quotes a BAE agent
recommending "financially incentivising"
politicians.
In the arms
deal, the new ANC government in South Africa agreed to spend a
controversial
£1.6bn buying fleets of Hawk and Gripen warplanes.
Critics said the
country, beset by unemployment and HIV/Aids, could not
afford it. The Hawks,
rejected by the military, cost twice as much as
Italian
equivalents.
But the then South African defence minister Joe Modise and a
key official,
Chippy Shaik, insisted on the purchase.
BAE is accused
in the reports of corrupt relationships with an arms tycoon,
John
Bredenkamp, recently blacklisted in the US for his links with Robert
Mugabe
of Zimbabwe. Bredenkamp's blacklisting freezes his assets in the
US.
BAE's former marketing director for southern Africa, Allan McDonald,
has
been speaking to police, the leaked files say. He allegedly told them
Bredenkamp "gave progress reports directly to Mike Turner". Turner, who has
been interviewed under caution by the SFO, stepped down last year as BAE's
chief executive.
Bredenkamp-linked companies were paid £40m by BAE to
promote the arms deal.
According to McDonald, "Bredenkamp suggested
identifying the key
decision-makers, with a view to 'financially
incentivising them' to make the
right decision".
The Bredenkamp team
claimed he said, "We can get to Chippy Shaik". A seized
memo also referred
to "third world procedures". An SFO affidavit says: "I
believe that a
reference to 'third world procedures' is a veiled reference
to the payment
of bribes."
Offshore financial advisers of the Thatcher family are also
named as
potential witnesses in affidavits. Jersey accountant Hugh Thurston,
who
advised the former Conservative prime minister and her family, has given
information to SFO investigators.
He was involved, according to the
police report, in setting up offshore
companies for a South African
politician's aide. The aide, Fana Hlongwane,
was adviser to Modise.
Hlongwane's cash was allegedly covertly distributed
to accounts offshore and
in China.
Another member of the former Thatcher circle, and a potential
witness, named
in the files is businessman Alan Curtis. Curtis, sometime
chairman of Lotus
Cars, was a business associate of the late Denis Thatcher
and his son Mark.
A British Virgin Islands-registered, Swiss-based, offshore
company linked to
him received £8.5m, the report says, for its part in
helping promote the
1999 arms contract.
Curtis, at home in Farnham,
Surrey, yesterday denied to the Guardian that he
operated Brookland
Management, the company concerned. He said he was only
involved in promoting
"social programmes and job creation".
A lengthy affidavit from the SFO in
London, leaked to the Mail & Guardian
newspaper in South Africa, accuses
BAE of "covert" behaviour and of
withholding information.
SFO
principal investigator Gary Murphy says in the affidavit, sworn on
October
9: "I believe that BAE have sought to conceal from the SFO the
involvement
of [Joe Modise aide] Fana Hlongwane."
BAE is also alleged to have drawn
up an untruthful "line" about Hlongwane
for its press office in 2003. A
seized document says that if asked if BAE
had ever had any relationship with
Hlongwane, it was to say: "No, never - we
knew him only as a member of the
minister's entourage."
It is alleged that in fact, the company was paying
him millions of pounds,
through a variety of secret routes. A Swiss bank,
HSBC in Geneva, has now
frozen $11.4m of Hlongwane accounts and sums of
£400,000 and €3m controlled
by him at Liechtenstein banks have also been
discovered and frozen.
A letter from a Leichtenstein judge is quoted in
the dossier, saying: "It is
suspected that frozen assets belonging to
Hlongwane ... are linked with
active and passive bribery and corruption by
the company operating as BAE
Systems PLC, using a system of international
representatives."
The contents of all these documents have surfaced after
being presented to a
South African judge as grounds for issuing search
warrants on seven premises
last week. The Scorpions, the special police unit
working on the case in
South Africa, currently faces disbandment because of
political hostility to
their work. This follows the closedown of the SFO's
own inquiry in London
into BAE's multimillion pound payments to members of
the Saudi royal family.
Tony Blair, as prime minister, forced the SFO to
call off the inquiry on
alleged grounds of "national
security".
Bredenkamp has denied all wrongdoing. BAE would not respond to
the specific
allegations, but said: "We continue to support the SFO in its
inquiries,
with access to people, information and premises whenever
requested and
wholeheartedly support a rigorous approach, in the hope that
it brings to a
conclusion inquiries which are now in their fifth year."
Can Ghana trounce the bad news?
By Komla Dumor BBC
News, Accra | Considering all the bad news about recent
elections in Africa - rigging, violence and bogus power-sharing agreements - one
may be tempted to expect more of the same from Ghana.
The West African nation is going to the polls on Sunday to elect a new
president and 240 members of the parliament.
|
A mouth-watering windfall of billions of dollars awaits the next
administration
| Its
western neighbour Ivory Coast has yet again postponed its election to 2009
because of difficulties in compiling a national register.
Nigeria, to the east, held one of the continent's most badly flawed elections
in April last year.
Rigging was rife and the legitimacy of President Umaru Yar'Adua and several
governors is still being challenged in court.
Violence ripped through Kenya after the ruling party proclaimed a dubious
electoral victory last December.
And Zimbabwe continues to spiral into an abyss of poverty and disease as the
ruling party refuses to relinquish its grip on the state in spite of a
power-sharing arrangement.
Highly contentious
So why should Ghana be any different?
The capacity for violence and electoral malpractice exists in Ghana, as it
does in any country in the world.
But democracy is still making progress in Africa and there have been
successful elections in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Senegal and Zambia to name a
few.
That is not to say the run-up to this election in Ghana has not been
contentious.
Ghana has recently discovered oil: a mouth-watering windfall of billions of
dollars awaits the next administration.
Though not on the scale of Nigeria or Angola, oil has the potential to
transform this nation of 20 million people.
But there is good reason to be cautiously optimistic.
Ghana was sub-Saharan Africa's first nation to achieve independence, from the
UK in 1957.
In post-independent Ghana, civilian rule was truncated repeatedly by a series
of military coups until a return to democracy in 1992.
For the past 16 years, things seem to have gone well for Ghana's democracy.
'Skirt and blouse voting'
There are multiple political parties and the two main ones have both held the
reigns of government.
|
Both parties have tasted victory and defeat at the feet of the
Ghanaian electorate
| The
ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been in power for the past eight years
under the leadership of President John Kufuor.
The NPP has chosen former Foreign Minister Akufo-Addo for its ticket.
Before he became president in 2000 and won re-election in 2004, Mr Kufuor's
NPP lost two polls - in 1992 and 1996 - to Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawling's
National Democratic Congress (NDC) which is fielding his former Vice-President
John Atta Mills as its flagbearer.
Both parties have tasted victory and defeat at the feet of the Ghanaian
electorate.
Unlike the case of Kenya, for example, both parties have considerable support
that cuts across ethnic divisions in all 10 regions of the nation.
Though it is true that the ruling NPP dominates in the Ashanti Region of the
country and the NDC has massive support in the Volta Region, Ghanaians have been
known to vote against candidates who share their ethnicity but do not share
their political values.
A phenomenon Ghanaians themselves call "skirt and blouse voting".
Intermarriage
In fact, one factor attributed to the defeat of Mr Atta Mills in 2000 and
2004 was the refusal of voters from the Central Region, from where he hails, to
vote for him.
Ghana has a vibrant press and scores of radio
stations |
Several members of parliament in Ghana have been elected by constituencies
who voted for a different party in the presidential race.
Years of intermarriage have lessened the impact of ethnicity, even though it
still plays a role in the politics of Ghana.
Another factor that suggests that Ghana democracy is sustainable is the
Electoral Commission of Ghana.
It has been under the leadership of Kwadwo Afari-Djan for the past four
elections.
He was appointed by the then-incumbent NDC government and oversaw two of
their electoral victories.
He was retained by the current NPP administration and has supervised
electoral victories and defeats under their incumbency.
Thus the electoral commission has both the appearance and credibility of an
organisation that is able to conduct free and fair elections.
Free media
Perhaps of equal importance is the media. Ghana has one of the freest medias
in Africa.
People hope that future oil revenue will bring improvements to
all |
There are scores of radio stations dotted around the country.
During elections radio stations like the capital's JoyFM dispatch staff armed
with mobile phones around the country.
The correspondent gives continuous live updates and reports by mobile phone
to their media "election headquarters".
Once results are collated at the constituency, in the presence of party
officials and electoral officers, the radio stations rapidly compile the
results, broadcast them and a clear picture of the outcome is available within
24 hours.
The process has become too fast for old-fashioned election shenanigans.
JoyFM takes this a step further and publishes the results on the internet,
thereby making it virtually impossible for a government to fiddle with results
during a deliberate delay in their release by a government-controlled electoral
commission as is the case elsewhere in Africa.
Politically aware
The only difference between the coverage on Ghanaian radio stations and those
in first-world countries is the technology but in this case a simple mobile
phone and basic web publishing software arguable works even better.
|
Ghanaians have hosted refugees... do not want to end up as unwanted
guests in neighbouring countries
| This not to say
problems do not exist.
There have been cases of some individuals attempting to register more than
once.
And it is clear that both the ruling NPP and NDC exploit any advantage they
have to win.
But Ghanaians have clearly become too politically aware to be taken for a
ride.
All the presidential candidates participated in a number of nationally
telecast debates, fielding questions on healthcare, education and the economy.
The political process is not foolproof and democracies can disintegrate under
the pressure of politics but Sunday may be the final consolidation of the basic
structures of democracy for Ghana.
Ghanaians have made it clear that they prefer democracy with all its flaws to
military rule or anarchy.
Ghana has hosted refugees from civil crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone and
Ghanaians do not want to end up as unwanted guests in neighbouring countries.
However more work needs to be done for ordinary citizens to feel the impact
of democracy's dividends where it counts most.
Any improvement in their living standards.
|
Five-member Zimbabwe delegation to observe Ghana presidential polls
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe has sent a five-member parliamentary
delegation to observe Sunday's presidential elections in Ghana, the
state-run Herald newspaper reported here Saturday.
The team
forms part of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission led
by Mauritian
legislator Sunil Dwarkasing.
The Zimbabwean delegation comprises
two lawmakers each from the ruling
ZANU PF and the main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) led by
Morgan Tsvangirai and one lawmaker from a
breakaway MDC faction.
Ghanaian President John Kufuor steps down
this year after serving the
maximum two term limit in office.
The ruling New Patriotic Party's Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta Mills
of the
main opposition National Democratic Congress are the main contenders
for the
December 7 polls.
JN/daj/APA
2008-12-06
React to this story
ZCTF Report: Charara Party
ZIMBABWE CONSERVATION
TASK FORCE
5th December 2008
CHARARA NEW YEAR'S PARTY
2008 is now drawing to a close and one
cannot help but bitterly remember the tragic shooting of Tusker, aka
Dustbin after the last New Year's Party in Charara, Kariba. Thousands of people
around the world mourned the death of this very special elephant.
TUSKER AKA DUSTBIN
For those who do not know, he was teased and
tormented mercilessly by drunken youths and when he retaliated by turning a
couple of cars over, he signed his own death warrant. We found out later that
fruit had been thrown under the cars "to see what the elephant would do". The
authorities decided that even though he had never killed anyone during his 30
years in Charara, it was only a matter of time before someone was hurt and he
was shot on the 6th January 2008.
In an effort to stop any further New Year
parties from taking place in Charara, which is a National Park area designated
for wildlife, we presented the Chairman of Charara with a petition signed by
over 1600 people.
We now believe our petition has been ignored
by the National Anglers' Union, who are the organizers and the party is going to
take place this year as usual. We would like to issue a warning to parents that
this party is not a legal gathering and judging by reports from previous
parties, drugs and alcohol will be readily available. We would also remind
parents that 2 girls were raped last year after drugs were slipped into their
drinks. One of these girls had a bad reaction to the drug and narrowly escaped
death. The nearest medical facilities are 40 km away.
There are still some elephants in the
Charara area and it is very likely that they will walk into the camp during the
party, looking for food, as in past years, the organizers have made no attempt
to prevent this. These elephants are not as good-natured as Tusker was. Several
elephants have been shot in the area this year and those remaining are skittish.
We can guarantee that if they are subjected to hairs being pulled out of their
tails, fireworks and beer cans being thrown at them, cigarettes being stubbed
out on them, headlights being flashed in their eyes and cars being rammed into
their legs as Tusker was, they will do more than just turn over a few cars. The
youngsters will be lucky to escape with their lives.
We strongly urge all parents to think very
carefully before allowing your children to attend this party, which is just a
tragedy waiting to happen.
Comment from a correpondent
THE STRUGGLE
FOR REAL CHANGE IN ZIMBABWE: The challenges and the solutions.
The biggest
challenge that we face as champions and agents of social and economic change is
that of building a coherent set of ideas that are timeless, pragmatic,
sustainable and achievable. These ideas should reflect the perpetual endeavour
by humankind to be free and equal. In this article, I will try to examine this
challenge and also postulate some solutions.
A
lot of demonisation has gone around the world about ZANU PF's behaviour in
Zimbabwe but at the same time it seems as if it is only ZANU PF that owns the
good ideas about how life ought to be in my country. We have a situation where
ZANU PF does horrible things in the name of Pan-Africanism and Socialism. At the
end of the day Zimbabweans have begun to associate these ideas with the tainted
image of ZANU PF to the extent that they are willing to settle for anything
outside of this as an alternative.
Is there
anything bad about Pan-Africanism and Socialism? To me, these ideas are
constants which we need as yardsticks for human evolution towards an ideal and
civilised society. However, because of a variable in the form of ZANU PF, many
of us have become paranoid of the concepts much to the detriment of the struggle
and to the advantage of the capitalist vampire. So, how do we extract the ideals
of the struggle from the grip of ZANU PF, spruce them and again sell them as the
rallying point of our struggle for emancipation?
This is where we
need to expose the intricate hand of the capitalist in turning us from an
enthusiastic, dedicated and united people to a withdrawn, sombre, resigned and
careless people. Is it practical that Zimbabweans who bravely fought the longest
and bloodiest struggle against colonialism could so suddenly turn into cowardly
servants of dictatorship? No, Zimbabweans are not cowards but there is nothing
for them in this power struggle – so why fight?
The U.S as
part of the problem
The biggest
blame that I lay on the United States is its treacherous and coercive behaviour
when dealing with Africa. The desire of the U.S in Zimbabwe which of course is
consistent with its capitalist objectives has never been to see the social or
economic development of ordinary Zimbabweans, rather its intentions were meant
to entrench and sustain a capitalist hegemony in Zimbabwe especially led by big
American corporations.
Firstly, a
closer analysis of the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (1991-1994) would
reveal the conspiracy between the Zimbabwe Government and the World Bank to
undermine the livelihood of general Zimbabweans. Although the package came
veiled under the cosy intent to promote higher growth and to
reduce poverty and unemployment, it was the strategy that raised more questions
than applauses.
- How does
retrenchment of civil servants result in increased employment?
- How on earth
can removal of maize subsidy to the generality of the people be expected to
increase their standards of living?
- How does the
reintroduction of health and school fees help develop the disadvantaged
child?
Since the World
Bank is (by default) owned by the United States and also since US has the
biggest quota in IMF I find the United States equally responsible for the
mismanagement of the Zimbabwean economy and for dehumanising the poor of
Zimbabwe.
Secondly, the
other excuses by the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development for stopping financial support to Zimbabwe in 1999 raise more
questions than answers:
- Undemocratic
tendencies by the Mugabe regime – Since independence has Mugabe
ever been democratic in his rule? Where was the IMF when the Matebeleland
massacres occurred? Where was IMF and the World Bank in 1990 when ZUM was
brutalised and the likes of Patrick Kombayi were shot? If this isn't pure
hypocrisy, where did the WB get the guts to approve the US$125 million loan to
Zim in 1992?
- Zimbabwe's
involvement in Democratic Republic of Congo- I do not justify the reasons that
I gather Mugabe entered DRC for but it has been common knowledge that Zimbabwe
had been on many peace-keeping and other military operations in Africa before
the DRC. Why was DRC that important? I guess this question is beyond the scope
of this article but suffice to say Mugabe tampered with the long-standing
interests of the American capitalists which dated back to the days of Mobutu.
Why hasn't Angola been punished by the IMF or WB despite its continued
involvement in DRC?
I am of the
conviction that these were just excuses to punish Zimbabweans for choosing the
path of social equality at the expense of the capitalist interests.
Lastly, after
carefully studying the excerpts of declassified CIA material, I cannot help but
be convinced that the complexities of our struggle in Zimbabwe have been brought
about by a clear American hand that would rather have a docile, pro-American
party ruling Zimbabwe instead of a truly revolutionary and people-oriented
alternative to ZANU PF. I will dwell more on this.
I find it
worthwhile to refer to the Memorandum Prepared by the Joint
Chiefs of Staff on the COURSES OF ACTION TO COUNTER
COMMUNIST PENETRATION OF GHANA, GUINEA AND MALI (31 January 1962). I will
particularly, concentrate on the recommendations:
"The following courses of action, lying primarily outside
of the capabilities of the US Military Establishment, would enhance our position
in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, and would contribute to the success of the courses
of action listed in paragraph 8 which utilize primarily the resources of the
Military Establishment.
a. Expose by all means [less than 1 line of source text
not declassified] Communist Bloc activities in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, which
are inimical to the rights and aspirations of the individual. (This program
should be carried on not only by the appropriate US agencies, but by the use of
the third party principle.)
b. Discredit [less than 1 line of source text not
declassified] Communist oriented or Communist trained governmental personnel.
(The third party principle should be used to the fullest extent.)
c. Assist [less than 1 line of source text not
declassified] pro-Western opposition parties, individuals, or refugee groups in
gaining prestige and in building a strong opposition movement to Communism.
d. Assist pro-Western groups in gaining control of news
media by [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] providing funds and
assistance.
e. Assist personnel in categories c and d above, in
gaining prestige by orientation visits to the United States."
By carefully
studying the implications of the above prescriptions one cannot help but wonder
whether the same strategies are not being applied today in Zimbabwe. Whilst, I
do not have anything against the exposure of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, I
find it rather fishy that there is a constant and unrelenting coverage of only
the bad in Zimbabwe and never the good. This program is clearly being carried
out by the now so ubiquitous civic organisations that are directly linked to the
US agencies that operate in the country.
The huge media
coverage and the open carpet that exist for Movement for
Democratic Change makes it quite impossible for one not to suspect that as was
the resolution in 1962, there could be a direct symbiotic relationship between
this party and the US. Many radio stations have also erupted notably the VOA's
Studio 7 and SWRadioAfrica which for all the good they say they are doing never
beam any positive news about Zimbabwe.
There are many
Zimbabweans who have been invited to the US for prestigious awards and other
program including the current president of the MDC, Mr Tsvangirai. The purpose
of these people is to spur others into activities that necessitate the removal
of the current regime in the hope that they too may also be recognised by the
US. However, only those that prop up the ideas of the capitalist get
recognition; the same reason why people like Munyaradzi Gwisai of the
International Socialist Organisation Zimbabwe would find it difficult to get
American recognition despite his gallant stance against the regime.
Finally on this
note, I want to affirm the point that the 1960s strategy is still being used in
Africa, including the laws that were passed then for the purposes of curtailing
the spread of communism. It does not need a divine stimulus for one to see the
similarities between the above and the contents of ZIMBABWE DEMOCRACY AND
ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2001 (ZIDERA):
"Sec
5: Support for democratic institutions, the free press and
independent media, and the rule of law.
(a) IN
GENERAL.—the President is authorized to provide assistance under part I and
chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to—
(1) Support
an independent and free press and electronic media in Zimbabwe;
(2) Support
equitable, legal, and transparent mechanisms of land reform in Zimbabwe,
including the payment of costs related to the acquisition of land and the
resettlement of individuals, consistent with the International Donors'
Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe,
in September 1998, or any subsequent agreement relating thereto;
and
(3) Provide
for democracy and governance programs in Zimbabwe.
(b)
FUNDING.—of the funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out part I and
chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for fiscal year
2002—
(1)
$20,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in
subsection (a) (2); and
(2)
$6,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in
subsection (a) (3)."
America as
part of the solution
America can
still be a valuable positive asset in our struggle only if becomes pro-people
and allow for the people of Zimbabwe to choose a path for their own freedom
without coercion or duress.
Sustainable
change in Zimbabwe can only come if the people choose to move in tandem not only
united by a common enemy but also by a common goal and vision. The only way we
can build a common goal and vision is when we cease to be survival scavengers.
Right now it is a matter of priorities; people simply have to choose between
"politics of the stomach" and "national politics", the former obviously taking
precedence.
Although USA
would want to hide behind a finger and proclaim that there are no blanket
sanctions against Zimbabwe it is clear to all and sundry that this is not the
case. To prove this point, I will quote the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James
Mcgee when he was asked by Violet Gonda of SWRadioAfrica about the removal of
sanctions against Zimbabwe:
"The financial
sanctions that have been brought against Zimbabwe are there for a good reason
and the good reason is the fact that Zimbabwe has refused to pay back the loans
outstanding to this country. They have refused to service their debt and that is
why there are financial sanctions against Zimbabwe. You are not going to find
any international lending institution willing to lend money to Zimbabwe because
Zimbabwe has a long track record of not paying this money back."
By
extrapolation; indeed the sanctions are there, and also the US is using its
muscle in international financial institutions to deny Zimbabwe access to loans.
So, dull as we may be, it is clear that the US, has been acting as the saviour
on the public arena yet behind the scenes is busy cooking us (the general
Zimbabweans) in a hot pot.
It is this
nicodemus behaviour that has been retrogressive to our struggle. I therefore
urge the Americans to lift these sanctions so that Zimbabweans can have food and
other social services. This would allow for soberness of the brain and a clear
conscience which are both important in building consciousness and commitment to
the struggle.
We are also
encountered by a dearth in leadership simply because of the American strategy of
assimilating all potential revolutionaries into its system by the lure of the
dollar. This is typified by the fact that nearly all former radical student
leaders are employed by various civic organisations which are funded by USAID or
other American institutions like NED. This has stifled intellectual discourse as
most of them lose their innovative conscience and begin to echo
counter-revolutionary and structuralist ideas consistent with where their bread
is buttered.
I believe the
liberation of Zimbabwe can be spurred by the intelligentsia of the society which
at this point is being uprooted in its infancy.
America should
provide unconditional support to the struggle as a matter of moral commitment to
the liberation of Zimbabweans regardless of our ideological differences. This
contemporary analysis applies also even to other Western countries especially
United kingdom.
Having said
this, I doubt that America as harsh and ruthless as it is can be that generous
or benevolent to this struggle; rather, we are on our own and only our faith and
commitment will free us.
Extracting
the values of the struggle
Yes, like the
Movement for Democratic Change correctly points out; our struggle is for
democracy but which kind of democracy? We are fighting for a democracy that
understands our values and foundation as a people, a democracy that appreciates
our history as a people and also commits to our vision as a people.
These values are
stated below:
- Zimbabwe is a
sovereign state whose independence shall never be tempered with.
- Zimbabwe comes
first, Africa second and the World third
- Zimbabwe is for
Zimbabweans, everyone else is a brother
- Zimbabwe is
Zimbabwe by virtue of its boundaries, history and culture.
- The voice of
the people of Zimbabwe is the voice of God.
Having
understood these, the democracy that we are fighting for would then appreciate a
number of facts that exist in our society. These facts include, tribal and
linguistic diversity, poverty, racial diversity, colonialism and its legacy,
religious multiplicity and a lot others. This democracy should therefore be able
to address these without bias, vengeance or fear guided by our general vision of
a free, united and prosperous Zimbabwe that exists based on principles of
egalitarianism. Pragmatically, this democracy should be in a position to build a
united movement of all Zimbabweans and then weed a path that this movement would
follow, confident of the fact that that path would lead them towards their
collective destination!
Am I not echoing
a lot of things that ZANU PF has used against us? Indeed I am, but the fault is
ours; we are the ones who have allowed ZANU PF to bastardise our values. We
allowed ZANU PF to define to us what patriotism is, we allowed it to monopolise
the liberation struggle, and we allowed it to own our heroes and our history. It
is a shame that even MDC has been caught up in this maze of ignorance to the
extent that it views anything that extols our anti-colonial liberation struggle
as detrimental to its struggle.
Defining the
Democracy
What type of
government do we need?
1)
The government
should be a reflection of the wishes and aspirations of the people
of Zimbabwe
2)
The government
should be a true representative of the people of
Zimbabwe
3)
The government
should be one that is directly accountable and answerable to the
people of Zimbabwe
4)
The government
should be elected by popular vote
5)
The government
should be appointed by the people and be removable by the wishes of the
people.
What type of
governance do we need?
If the government
of Zimbabwe is defined within the above confines, then how should it govern the
country?
-
The distribution
of Zimbabwean resources should be a true reflection of the demographic
distribution of the people of Zimbabwe. (More resources should go to where more
people are settled.)
-
Priority should
be given to uplifting the lives of the majority of the people of Zimbabwe. In
this respect, the government should give priority to provision of basic needs
before thinking of profit.
-
The transactions
of the government with the people of Zimbabwe should not be aimed at making
profit but to provide for them- profit comes from foreign
interactions.
-
It is the
obligation of the government to ensure the protection of the poor from the
machinations of the rich.
-
The government
should have an obligation to reduce the gap between the rich and the
poor.
-
The government
should only be a trustee and steering committee to administer the country's
resources and diligently and impartially distribute them to the people in a
manner transparent and acceptable to the people.
The seven
policies we need
-
One man one
vote
-
Multiparty
democracy
-
Free
education
-
Free
health
-
Free access to
land
-
Equal access to
employment
-
Workers should
benefit from their labour.
How would the
government implement these?
One man, One
vote
-
There would be
representation of the people from the village committee up to the national
structures.
-
The parliament
should be made up of people chosen by the people of a given
constituency
-
The drawing up of
constituencies should be based upon the following
·
Common
neighbourhood
·
Common
lifestyle
·
Common
welfare
·
Common
beliefs
-
Elections are run
by an independent commission that is funded from the coffers of the government
and made up of respectable people/individuals of good moral and social standing.
All classes of people should be represented and the choices should be endorsed
by the people through their representatives at microcosm level.
-
Every man's vote
would be counted as equal to everybody else's.
-
Representation of
the people would be ultimate and by popular vote, this would mean;
·
A minimum of
66.6% of the electorate should vote in any election; if less than that this
number turns out for any election, then the result would be null and void a
rerun would be done after further education and lobbying of the
electorate.
·
The winner of an
election should be a convincing representative of the people of his
constituency. In this case he/she should garner more than 50% of the cast
votes. If there is no one with a simple majority then the
elections should be rerun between the top two representatives.
Multiparty
Democracy
-
There would be no
repression or suppression of political views, ideas or beliefs in which every
citizen would be allowed to participate politically in any national agenda as
allowed by agreed laws of the country.
-
Every party would
be granted equal access to state facilities like media, security etc
-
Every party would
be allowed unreserved access to the people as is acceptable by commonly agreed
laws of the country.
-
Every party would
be allowed access to state resources based upon the percentage of the electorate
it represents.
Free
education
-
there would be
free access to basic education
-
The government
would subsidize secondary and tertiary education; the amount of subsidy should
be such that every child who wishes to continue with education would do so
without stress.
Free
health
-
There would be
free access to health facilities
-
Every person
would be granted specialized health care at a cost that would be sustained by
the government of Zimbabwe. ( Every Zimbabwean has a right to the resources
of the country, when the government sells the country's gold; there is a
percentage of it for everybody thus this percentage should go towards sustaining
the livelihoods of the people of the country)
Free access to
land
-
Every Zimbabwean
citizen would have access to land depending on the type of lifestyle of that
person. In this regard, those in the urban areas would be given building stands
free of charge, which shall be theirs and for their families. Those in rural
areas whose life is sustained by agricultural activities would be given land to
farm on reasonably fertile lands which can sustain them and the nation
too.
-
The purpose of
the government is to oversee that the land is equitably distributed based upon
need and to ensure that no one owns benefits at the expense of
others.
-
Commercial
agriculture would be encouraged and the lands reserved for such would not be
interfered with in the process of land redistribution.
Equal access to
employment
-
Every Zimbabwean
who has reached the age of majority and wishes to be employed would be employed
based upon his/her ability and qualifications.
-
People of the
same qualifications would have equal opportunity for any job.
-
People doing the
same job at the same establishment with the same qualifications would be
entitled to the same treatment.
Workers should
benefit from their labour
-
The government
would put policies that ensure that workers benefit from the profits of their
labour. This particularly includes:
·
Gazetting from
time to time realistic minimum wages in line with the costs of basic
needs.
·
Stipulating a
certain percentage to be shared from every company's annual profits by its
workers.
-
There would be
laws enacted by common agreement to protect the workers from abuse and
misuse.
How do we
organize ourselves towards this type government?
-
A movement of the
people should be formed
-
it is the
responsibility of the intelligentsia of the society to strategize and educate
the people on what needs to be done and why it is supposed to be
done.
-
The people should
own the revolution and through public agreement choose their own
leaders.
-
The leadership of
the movement should abide by strict conduct and seek to uphold the values and
principles of the revolution
-
Education is the
greatest weapon against the facets of oppression; therefore in the anticipation
of the revolution the movement should put more effort on educating the people of
Zimbabwe.
-
Every Zimbabwean
has a responsibility to sustain the revolution.
-
The power of
persuasion rather than the power of coercion should be used in all the
engagements of the Movement.
-
Violence should
not be tolerated within and without the movement: We have more to lose in
hostility than in diplomatic engagement but ……...
Conclusion
I have sought to
unravel the complexities that we face within the struggle for total emancipation
in Zimbabwe, I have also tried to extract and compact our values as a people and
finally to postulate a way forward. It is not my wish to demoralise those who
are fighting today nor is it my wish to alienate anyone from his supporters;
however it remains my humble conviction that the path that the current players
are taking leads nowhere but to doom and the sooner we, together with the
international community realise it the better.
The struggle
continues…!
Freeman
Forward Chari
Secretary
General
Zimbabwe Youth
Movement
http://freemanchari.blogspot.com
freemanchari@gmail.com
Personally I couldn't care less about Zimbabwe as long as we don't start taking "refugees" from there because the way this Country is going under ZanuLabour we'll be in as much of a mess ourselves before too long!
- Andrew, Portsmouth, UK, 7/12/2008 1:05