http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
February
16, 2009
Jan Raath in Harare
Zimbabwe's fledgeling power-sharing
Government staggered into its fifth day
yesterday as fears grew that a
shadowy cabal of President Mugabe's top
security bosses are edging towards a
military coup.
Roy Bennett, nominated by Morgan Tsvangirai as his choice
for Deputy
Agriculture Minister, was seized and detained by state security
agents on
Friday - an act seen widely as an attempt to sabotage the
coalition of Mr
Mugabe's Zanu (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), led by Mr
Tsvangirai.
Yesterday charges against Mr Bennett
were altered from treason to plotting
"insurgency, banditry and sabotage" by
allegedly funding the MDC to buy arms
in 2005, supposedly with the intention
of destroying a telecommunications
station outside Harare. The charges
appear to have been brought under the
Public Order Security Act, which
carries a maximum penalty of ten years in
prison. He is expected to appear
at Mutare Magistrates' Court today for a
bail hearing.
The arrest of
Mr Bennett, who was still in detention yesterday, has raised
fears of an
impending coup to prevent Mr Tsvangirai from wielding power. The
MDC is
blaming the Joint Operational Command (JOC), a powerful group of
military,
police and intelligence chiefs who it said had "planned, directed
and
operationalised" the arrest to force the MDC to withdraw from the
Government.
"For now, the major challenge is to get Mr Bennett out,"
Tendai Biti, the
MDC secretary-general and the new Finance Minister, said.
"If that fails, we
will have to meet and review everything." Mr Tsvangirai,
now Prime Minister,
proposed a meeting with Mr Mugabe about the arrest but
this did not take
place. At the weekend Mr Tsvangirai said the arrest
"undermined the spirit
and credibility" of the agreement to form a new
administration.
The JOC has been in de facto control of Zimbabwean politics
almost
throughout the country's existence. A leftover of the former
white-minority
Rhodesian government, it includes General Constantine
Chiwenga, commander of
the defence forces, Lieutenant-General Phillip
Sibanda, head of the Army,
Perrence Shiri, head of the Air Force, Happyton
Bonyongwe, the director of
the Central Intelligence Organisation, Augustine
Chihuri, the police chief,
and Paradzayi Zimondi, the prisons commissioner.
Mr Mugabe is its chairman.
In the 1990s the JOC was amalgamated into Mr
Mugabe's administration and
grew to have subcommittees in every province,
district and town. It is
served by numerous covert branches of the security
services. Its remit is to
undermine all individuals or organisations
suspected of being opposed to Mr
Mugabe. Their methods range from
assassination, abduction and torture to
bugging, disinformation and framing
operations.
"It appears that a distance is growing between Mugabe and the
generals," a
Western diplomat said.
MDC lawyers saw Mr Bennett in
custody on Saturday and released a statement
from him. "Whatever these
challenges, if we remain unwaveringly dedicated we
will achieve peace,
freedom and democracy in our lifetime, believe me," he
said.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Clara Smith Monday 16 February 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe's
unity government begins work today to rebuild the
shattered country, but the
arrest of a top ally of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and continued
imprisonment of scores of activists from his MDC
party have cast fresh doubt
on the durability of the new administration.
Mugabe's decision to appoint
old guard allies and hardliners from his ZANU
PF party to work with the MDC
in the new power-sharing Cabinet was as much a
sign he was yet to fully
embrace change as it was a recipe for friction
between his ageing team and
the young new comers from the MDC, according to
analysts.
"Mugabe's
actions show that he is still insincere. The MDC will try to fuse
in new
ideas but Mugabe has picked an old guard that will try to safeguard
its
territory," said Gabriel Shumba, a lawyer and political commentator, who
fled Zimbabwe to South Africa after he was severely tortured by state
security agents.
"It is certainly not the new era that Tsvangirai has
been talking about,"
said Shumba, referring to both Mugabe's selection for
Cabinet and the move
by police to arrest Roy Bennett who is treasurer in
Tsvangirai's MDC party.
Bennett, who fled Zimbabwe three years ago
fearing arrest by the police and
only returned to Harare a few days ahead of
Tsvangirai's inauguration, was
arrested as Mugabe swore in the new unity
Cabinet. A top farmer, Bennett is
his party's choice for deputy agriculture
minister in the new unity
government.
Under the power-sharing
agreement brokered by the Southern African
Development Community last
December, Mugabe remains an executive President
while Tsvangirai also enjoys
executive powers as Prime Minister.
The unity government deal that was
clinched after several months of tense
and sometimes acrimonious
negotiations says that Tsvangirai will be in
charge of the day-to-day
running of government business. But the former
trade unionist is required to
keep Mugabe, who still chairs the Cabinet,
"fully informed".
There
will be a National Security Council to oversee the military and
security
agents but Mugabe will still retain total control over these
important
institutions that are also staffed with hardliners several who
have vowed
never to salute Tsvangirai.
Top army generals did not attend Tsvangirai's
swearing in ceremony on
Wednesday, a sign analysts said showed that security
agents were yet to warm
up to the former trade unionist's ascendancy to
power.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist and a long time Mugabe
critic,
John Makumbe said it was not only military generals keen to wreck
the unity
government but there were several influential people in ZANU PF
who wanted
to see the administration fail.
He said: "There is still a
key component of ZANU PF that is against this
unity government, obviously
because they stand to lose after years of
patronage. Security chiefs are
part of the component.
"Mugabe is not keen to retire them so they will be
around and they are
taking every opportunity to wreck the new government's
chances of survival.
Mugabe himself has also acted in ways that show he is
not sincere."
Some of Mugabe's behaviour that have led many to question
his commitment to
genuine power sharing was on display the same day the new
Cabinet was sworn
in.
Instead of sticking to the number of ministers
allocated his ZANU PF under
the power-sharing agreement, Mugabe attempted to
appoint an additional five
people from his party into the new government
without consulting his Prime
Minister or Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara of the smaller MDC
formation.
The swearing in ceremony had
to be delayed by several hours as the parties
bickered over the attempt by
Mugabe to unilaterally give his party
additional ministerial posts before he
later relented.
Shumba said Mugabe appeared determined to show Tsvangirai
that he was the
junior in the partnership, adding the MDC leader - who
insists there is no
viable option to power-sharing - is going to struggle to
make the unity
government work.
He said: "Tsvangirai will have a
tough time making this work. Mugabe is
already showing that he is in charge
and Tsvangirai is the junior partner.
Mugabe has refused to meet
Tsvangirai's demands for the release of
imprisoned activists, and now he has
even gone further to arrest Bennett." -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Sebastian
Nyamhangambiri and Simplicious Chirinda Monday 16
February
2009
HARARE -- An international media rights watchdog has
urged Zimbabwe's new
unity government to act urgently to scrape repressive
media laws and lift a
ban on several newspapers including the Daily News
that was the country's
largest daily when it was forced to close six years
ago.
In a letter to new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the Committee
to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) also urged him to ensure a free lance
journalist
and a former state broadcaster were freed from jail.
The
CPJ reminded Tsvangirai -- who last week joined President Robert Mugabe
in
government under a power-sharing deal brokered by the regional SADC
loc --
that he and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party had long
campaigned for a free press and should live up to their promise.
"The
current media environment remains hostile to the independent press and
will
ensure partisan press coverage of any future developments made under
the
auspices of the new power-sharing alliance," CPJ executive director Joel
Simon said in the letter dated February 13.
"CPJ calls on the new
unity government to move swiftly to free the media
from control by the
ruling party," Simon added.
Simon said the government should free the
media from state control, repeal
prohibitive media taxes and allow the
return of exiled journalists among a
list of measures to ensure a vibrant
media in Zimbabwe.
"The government of national unity should take
immediate steps to abolish
laws that require licensing of newspapers and
journalists, allow the banned
Daily News to recommence operations, end
jamming of foreign radio stations,
permit all local and foreign journalists
who have been deported, banned, or
forced into exile for security concerns
to return safely and without
harassment," the CPJ said.
The letter to
Tsvangirai was copied to the Zimbabwean Ambassador to the
United States,
Machivenyika Mapuranga, key officials in the MDC, Mugabe's
ZANU PF party and
several influential bodies and people.
Simon urged the new government
that formally begins work today to encourage
the setting up of community
radio stations which are allowed in terms of
existing law although none have
been licenced to date.
Zimbabwe has some of the world's most repressive
media laws such as the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) which requires
journalists to register with the government's media
and information
commission in order to practice journalism in
Zimbabwe.
Newspaper companies are also required to register with the
commission with
those that fail to do so facing closure and seizure of their
equipment by
the state.
AIPPA is set for significant changes under
the political agreement singed by
ZANU PF and the two MDC formations. --
ZimOnline
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Mutare Central Police station is a pretty colonial
era building with a clock
tower which doesn't keep time and a line of tall
palm trees at its front.
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated:
9:53PM GMT 15 Feb 2009
Mutare is surrounded by ranges of mountains, in
the north to Christmas Pass,
named by British Empire builder, Cecil John
Rhodes and to the east heavily
wooded ranges of hills which spread to where
they sky ends over Mozambique.
The police cells where Mr Bennett is being
kept are tiny, about 10' x 6'
with high concrete ceilings. They have a tiny
window at the top of the back
wall which lets in a little light and with
just the cement floor on which to
sleep on and smeared graffiti on filthy
walls to read.
In cells reserved for men, there is usually no room to lie
down as most
water facilities are broken so warders concentrate as many as
possible into
one or two cells where there is working tap which occasionally
dribbles a
drop or two.
Sometimes there is an ancient threadbare red
blanke but they are so covered
in lice and excrement, that detainees try
never to have to use them, even in
cold winter months.
Most of the
lavatories - holes in the ground in the corner of the cell - are
only
flushed from the outside when a passing warder feels so
inclined.
Prisoners are woken for line up and inspection just after dawn.
They are
allowed into the small shabby courtyard for a few minutes and are
then
locked up for the rest of the day with a few minutes out at mid day and
before supper. Food is brought in by relatives as the prisons department has
no food.
Mr Bennett will be held in one of these cells in the
courtyard, overlooked
by detectives in their offices on the floor
above.
After detainees are locked up for the night, before sunset, the
men begin
the long uncomfortable lock up with noisy conversations, and then
as the
hours drag they begin to sing, sometimes familiar Christian hymns,
sometimes
folk songs from tribal areas, sometimes with additions about
current events,
but it seems, no matter who the occupants, the music
spreading throughout
the line of cells is hauntingly tuneful with harmonies
developing through
each song until the grande finale when all voices join
together. Then
quieter melancholy songs begin and the volume decreases as
prisoners begin
to fall asleep.
They are woken through the night by
rats and bites from an appalling range
of lice, bed bugs and
spiders.
Sometimes one outside light is on in the courtyard, but usually
the bulb is
broken, but through the tiny grille in the iron door, in the
clear bright
nights over Mutare the stars are there and many prisoners
waking from fitful
sleep take turns to look out at the world above.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=11756
February 15, 2009
By Tafadzwa Leslie
Mubango
THE soon to be defunct Joint Operations Command is showing the
deadly kicks
of dying horses as they try to scuttle the unity government in
Zimbabwe.
News that all five members of the JOC boycotted the swearing in
ceremony of
the Prime Minster Tsvangirai is not only worrying but
significant. Obviously
they met and agreed on the boycott strategy. Now even
more worrying are the
acts of provocation against the MDC- arrest of Roy
Bennett, arrest of WOZA
members on valentine demonstrations, and the refusal
to release political
prisoners. Remember the same men have openly declared
they would never
salute Tsvangirai!
I deduce the JOC are sending a
message that they want no part of this unity
government. Parliament has
instituted a new security council, and this
council should dismiss or
pension those officers unwilling to serve the new
unity government. Not so
easy some people will say. In the current
constitution power to appoint or
dismiss these men lies with the President
and not with
Parliament.
And we all know these men are not acting in defiance of
Mugabe but probably
he has no power over them or worse still he is
encouraging them. I
understand the new Security Council will be meeting
every fortnight. I
suggest they meet daily to counteract the machinations of
the JOC aligned
officers.
Instead of critics blaming the MDC for
joining government before resolving
these issues, let us offer solutions.
Every power transition always comes
with a fair amount of disgruntled
insiders. Remember how much the Rhodesian
forces tried to scuttle the
elections in 1980.
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Moses Mudzwiti
Published:Feb 16,
2009
The MDC-T will this week press for Zimbabwe's maverick central bank
governor
Gideon Gono to be sacked, The Times has
learnt.
Before the MDC-T joined the unity government it demanded
Gono's removal, but
President Robert Mugabe, 84, insisted on saving his
friend's job.
a..
Gono has often made references to the close personal
relationship he has
with the Mugabes. "Mugabe is my friend," Gono proudly
told guests to his
birthday bash.
He even claimed former US
president George Bush had offered him a job at the
World Bank - a claim the
US embassy in Harare refused to dignify with a
response.
However,
matters are expected to come to head for Gono after MDC-T
secretary-general
Tendai Biti takes over as finance minister tomorrow
(Monday).
Biti said at the weekend that the central bank was at
the heart of the
country's economic meltdown.
Gono, who recently
slashed 12 zeroes from the decimated Zimbabwe dollar in a
crude attempt to
raise its value, started his banking career as a tea maker.
He has
also presided over the country worst recorded inflation - last
estimated at
more than 231 million percent.
Biti has been telling anyone who cares
to listen, that Gono must shoulder
the blame for the country's banking and
currency crisis.
Gono the author of "Zimbabwe's Casino Economy"
appears to have gambled on
the wrong horse this time.
He once
infamously declared he would never stop printing money because the
country
needed it to feed itself and maintain its infrastructure.
But with
the new finance minister set to revoke the budget issued last month
by
Zanu-PF stalwart Patrick Chinamasa, who was acting finance minister, Gono
is
exposed.
Banking insiders blame Gono's policies for the current
crisis they are
facing.
Of late Zimbabweans have turned their
backs on the local currency making
banks irrelevant. To survive some banks
placing staff on forced unpaid
leave.
Income from mortgages and
loans dried out years ago amid galloping inflation
galloped and a rapidly
devaluing dollar.
One ambitious building society has been trying to
revive mortage loans by
accepting "groceries, cows and anything of value" as
a down payment
The Zimbabwe stock exchange has also buckled under the
weight of a dead
currency and rampant corruption.
Gono recently
gloated about how he "didn't care" what happened to the stock
exchange. It
could remain closed forever as far as he was concerned.
However, Biti
the new finance minister is unlikely to take kindly to Gono's
continued
presence at the central bank.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=11751
February 15, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and
Prime Minister,
Morgan Tsvangirai is said to have lined up a group of four
international
donors represented in Harare to fund ambitious plans to pay
all civil
servants in United States dollars at the end of
February.
Tsvangirai promised to pay the civil service in hard cash
starting this
month when he delivered his maiden speech after his
inauguration as the
country's Prime Minister last Wednesday.
His
statement prompted an outcry among critics who dismissed his promise as
nothing but hollow politicking with potential to prematurely undermine both
his political fortunes and his political stature just as he assumed
office.
Critics said Tsvangirai's statement was ill-conceived and uttered
without
proper consideration.
"He was just excited by the fact that
he has just assumed the hot seat of
the country's Prime Minister and thus
failed to see the bigger picture,"
said a Harare political commentator who
asked not to be named.
"Such a decision on whether to pay civil servants
in foreign currency or not
is arrived at through certain government
protocols such as cabinet
consultations and are not just unilaterally made
by one person whatever his
political position."
Many of the critics
are not convinced that Tsvangirai possesses the capacity
to source in such a
short period of time the funds required to pay the huge
civil
service.
But a highly placed MDC source told The Zimbabwe Times over the
weekend that
at least four international donors with representatives in
Zimbabwe had
already been approached and had made firm commitments that the
money to pay
government workers would be available.
"The plan has
been put in place, I can tell you that the statement was well
thought out
and the money to pay civil servants is available," said the
source, speaking
on condition his identity was not disclosed, as he was not
authorised to
make the disclosure. "Four international donors have already
been identified
and approached. They have agreed to fund this exercise
He did not reveal
the identity of the four donors either. But a group of
international donor
organisations including the United States Aid Agency
(USAID), United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), UK's DFID and other UN
organisations held a
meeting with Prime Minister Tsvangirai at his
Munhumutapa Offices on his
first day in office.
"There is a firm commitment from the donors," said
the source.
No source within government could be identified over the
weekend to confirm
this commitment or to explain the logistics of making
such payments to the
civil service at short notice..
Tsvangirai also
held meetings on his first day in office with various other
labour based
groups such as the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) and
the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) during which he made
assurances that their members would be paid in foreign currency.
The
ZCTU said it is now trying to workout the country's Poverty Datum Line
(PDL)
in United States dollars to determine what civil servants should be
paid.
The country's biggest workers representative group last
calculated the PDL
some time last year and abandoned the exercise altogether
because it had
become impossible to do so as a result of the
hyper-inflationary environment
in the country.
Many civil servants
particularly teachers and nurses who had left employment
in search of
greener pastures were seen this week thronging government
offices seeking
re-admittance into their previous professions.
It remains to be seen
however if Prime Minister Tsvangirai's promise will be
fulfilled when civil
servants receive their salaries this week.
President Robert Mugabe's
government had planned to pay civil servants using
the US dollar food
voucher system which was however roundly rejected by all
civil servants who
said they preferred to be paid cash.
Teachers and the army are supposed
to be paid this week on Tuesday and
Thursday respectively.
Many other
government workers will be paid next week and activity at the
country's
banks has increased as workers seek to open Foreign Currency
Accounts (FCA)
in anticipation of the US dollar disbursements.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8669
By staff
writers
16 Feb 2009
Catholic bishops marked yesterday as a special
'Zimbabwe Sunday' to
encourage prayer and solidarity for the beleaguered
people of the Southern
African nation, as its new unity government
emerges.
Zimbabweans are suffering from hunger, cholera and an endemic
economic
crisis which has made unemployment and homelessness rife. New Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai faces a massive task in getting his erstwhile
enemy
President Robert Mugabe to take effective action.
Promoting the
Catholic initiative this weekend were the Bishops of South
Africa, Botswana,
and Swaziland (the three countries that form a part of the
Southern African
Bishops' Conference), who at Sunday services encouraged the
people to
collect food and medicine to be distributed to those in need
through the
network of Caritas Zimbabwe.
Caritas Internationalis Secretary General
Lesley-Anne Knight also sent a
message of solidarity to the people and
Church of Zimbabwe, on behalf of all
162 national Caritas
members.
"Half of Zimbabweans rely on food aid to survive, a cholera
epidemic has
killed 3,500 so far out of 71,000 cases, and the country's
economic, health,
educational infrastructure has collapsed," Caritas
Internationalis, the
global catholic development network, said in a
statement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Tsvangirai's Presence In Government
Inspires Dreams Big and Small
By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Foreign
Service
Monday, February 16, 2009; Page A10
HARARE, Zimbabwe, Feb. 15
-- Some sound like lofty dreams: a liver
transplant at the fading government
hospital. Most sound like simple wishes:
Valentine's Day dinner at a
restaurant. Paint for the peeling walls. Beef
for the butcher
shop.
In collapsing Zimbabwe, they sound like miracles. But many people
here
appear to expect the new prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, to deliver
what
three destructive decades under President Robert Mugabe have taken
away.
By next year, "you'll be seeing clear, positive signals toward the
better,"
said a jolly Justius Rushwaya, who does not anticipate re-creating
the days
when he vacationed in London, but simply supporting his family on
his day
job heading a microfinance institution, rather than on the chicken
farm that
scarcely pays the bills. "Then I can take my darling wife for
dinner and
coffee," he said.
During this country's slow slide from
economic dynamo to economic disaster,
Zimbabweans' optimism has ebbed and
flowed with each election, negotiation
and protest, sustaining a minimum
level of hope that some observers say has
kept the nation from civil war.
Now, many Zimbabweans are dreaming again:
Could the new unity government
spark a turnaround?
"There's light at the end of the tunnel," Themba
Singana, 29, said this week
at a rally celebrating Tsvangirai's
inauguration, which Singana said he was
sure would boost sales at his
boutique.
Even the cautious say the new administration, which begins work
Monday,
brings with it the most tangible promise of change in recent times.
Tsvangirai, who won the first round of presidential elections last year but
withdrew from a runoff following attacks on his supporters, is in government
after years of leading the opposition. Unlike Mugabe, he might be able to
secure donor funds that could revive Zimbabwe's cornfields, factories,
hospitals and sewage services.
Tsvangirai has made little attempt to
temper those hopes. He vowed this week
that public workers would be paid by
March in foreign currency, not the
ruined Zimbabwe dollar, but provided no
specifics. Baffled economists wonder
where he will find funds estimated at
upward of $40 million a month, and
many civil activists and political
analysts say they doubt that Mugabe
loyalists in the security forces --
already accused of undermining the deal
by arresting a top official in
Tsvangirai's party Friday -- will let the
prime minister accomplish
anything.
"People have to be realistic with what can be done with the
limited space of
opportunities, with the limited resources available,"
Tsvangirai said in an
interview Friday. "But there's nothing wrong with
having high expectations.
It sets the bar very high."
Rushwaya, for
one, harbors no doubts that his life and Zimbabwe have
embarked on a
rebound, recalling the times when his agency readily issued
loans to small
businesses and he could buy new furniture every few
years.
Hyperinflation, he said at his sunny downtown office, has rendered
loan
funds worthless, so now the agency mostly offers training in
bookkeeping and
other skills. And it has pushed the price of a can of paint
to $40, he
added, pointing to his peeling ceiling and walls.
But the
economy has also led to Mugabe's downfall, he declared, pointing to
a
newspaper article about prison guards who could not afford fuel to
transport
inmates to court hearings. Mugabe must share power, Rushwaya said,
because
the country is on its knees, and eventually he will retire and his
party
will implode.
"I don't think he has any choice. I even foresee him giving
more power to
this man, yes, I do," Rushwaya said of Tsvangirai. "The
greatest enemy for
Mugabe is not Tsvangirai. It's the economy."
A few
blocks away, up a narrow staircase and inside the small textiles
factory he
runs, C.K. Zunze concurred. He said he has had to pare his staff
by half in
recent years as sales dropped, but he expects an uptick as soon
as
March.
"This is better than new elections," the small, bespectacled man
said.
Elections might generate fear among the people, he said, and deliver a
landslide for Mugabe.
He was referring to last year's polls, which
initially sparked jubilation
among opposition supporters. It looked as
though Tsvangirai might defeat
Mugabe. Then a runoff was called, followed by
a bloody state crackdown, and
Tsvangirai pulled out. Optimism rose again in
September when Tsvangirai and
Mugabe signed a power-sharing deal. Then their
parties negotiated over the
details for five months, and Zimbabwe's economic
and humanitarian crisis
worsened.
In those months, said Amon
Siveregi, 27, a young doctor interning at
Harare's main government hospital,
physicians and nurses have stopped
collecting their monthly salaries; in
December, his was worth 5 U.S. cents.
Those who go to work practice what he
called bush medicine, with broken
heart monitors and expired anesthetics.
They are counting on Tsvangirai's
promise of pay in foreign currency --
though they worry that hospital
administrators aligned with Mugabe's party
might pocket it, he said.
"A lot of people believe Tsvangirai," said
Siveregi, who chairs a health
workers' union and said he aspires to become
Zimbabwe's third neurosurgeon.
"It seems he is the only
hope."
Siveregi said he wants to see the hospital revive plans to offer
liver
transplants. He would also not mind being able to treat his girlfriend
to a
vacation at Victoria Falls or to dinner on Valentine's
Day.
"She's a lawyer," said Siveregi, 27, sitting in the faded common
room at the
hospital's shuttered medical school. "Sometimes she's the one
who's taking
me out. In our culture, that's a bit embarrassing."
Much
of Zimbabwe's revival will depend on keeping well-educated Zimbabweans
and
luring back the millions who have emigrated, people here agree.
Tsvangirai
said in the interview that those who left have a "duty" to help
rebuild the
nation. "Personally, I think this should inspire Zimbabweans to
come back
home," he said.
Sydney Shenje, 57, said he hopes his three children, who
live in South
Africa and Australia, will come back to take over the township
butcher shop
he owns. These days, it stocks just beer and pork -- beef is
poor quality,
and chickens are too expensive.
But he is not sure how
soon change will come, pointing inside his shop to a
man sitting on a
Coca-Cola crate. Most of his customers think the new
government represents a
new dawn, Shenje said, but that man was a soldier
during Zimbabwe's
liberation struggle, a die-hard supporter of Mugabe's
party who thinks it
"should go on ruling this country and not change
anything."
Those
people and the generals who advise Mugabe despise Tsvangirai, he said.
"How
are they going to interpret their relationship with the prime
minister?"
Shenje asked. "The gap between them is so wide."
Shenje said that a
power-sharing government was the best option but that it
seems to him to be
too large and too undefined.
"My hope is because Robert Mugabe is 85 now.
I think he's going to retire in
two years' time," Shenje said. "That's when
we expect things will get
better."
A short drive away, a pastor sat
under the trees outside his church. Jim
Musaaka, 57, said members of his
congregation had prayed for Zimbabwe's
political parties to reconcile. They
are sure it has happened, he said.
He pointed to a large stack of gray
bricks. Soon, he thinks, they will
become the new sanctuary they were
intended for, before money disappeared
and stores ran out of construction
supplies.
"We are expecting now that we should rebuild our country,"
Musaaka said. "So
that we can be like other countries. So people can get
employment. . . .
Then, we start to build."
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
THE
MUTUMWA MAWERE COLUMN
Posted to the web:
15/02/2009 23:32:37
ROY Bennett is not just another ordinary Zimbabwean. He
is after all the
treasurer general of MDC-T, a position he acquired through
an electoral
process.
His recent arrest at a defining moment in the
history of the country exposes
the lack of investment at independence in a
social contract that would have
assisted in defining the kind of Zimbabwe
that people wanted to create and
see.
Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister,
Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday blamed Bennett's
arrest on minor Zanu PF
elements and defiant small pockets of resistance who
want to destroy the
country's coalition government.
Is he right in concluding that Bennett is
a victim of defiant forces? To
what extent is Bennett's problems related to
the colour of his skin?
The arrest is not accidental but goes a long way
to highlight the unfinished
business of the colonial era that regrettably
was not addressed at
independence. Beneath the veneer of reconciliation,
President Mugabe has yet
to accept that white people can be full citizens
with the same rights and
obligations as the majority black
citizens.
When he makes the statement that "Zimbabwe will never be a
colony again", he
is clear that post-colonial Zimbabwe has no obligation to
white people and
as such they should know their place. He simply sees
Bennett as a nuisance
and his presence in the senior ranks of MDC-T confirms
Mugabe's position
that a party that can accommodate a person of Bennett's
background and
worldview cannot be considered as a legitimate political
actor.
At independence, no discussion on race and its place in
post-colonial
Zimbabwe took place among Zimbabweans. It was left to
political actors to
assimilate the few white people they deemed to be
patriotic but in doing so
they were clear that it was not part of the
project to confer rights on
white people equivalent to the rights of
blacks.
By adopting a republican constitution, Zimbabweans accepted that
civil
rights were open to all irrespective of the past. The democratic
constitutional order compelled all citizens to be afforded the same
rights.
Bennett, by deciding to remain in post-colonial Zimbabwe at
independence,
gave his consent to be governed like any other citizens and
such consent
gave legitimacy to the government.
Unlike the colonial
state, the post-colonial state had legitimacy in that it
was a creation of
all the citizens rather than a select few. All Zimbabweans
expected to be
treated equally under the law. Many white people who believed
in Zimbabwe
and its new social contract took citizenship after independence
and some of
them decided to engage in agricultural activities without the
knowledge that
their rights were perishable.
Part of the social contract at independence
was that the state of Zimbabwe
being a collective project was the sovereign
over the land and, therefore,
the true owner of all the resources. What
President Mugabe may not
understand is that the theory of law for real
property in every country even
where freehold title is applicable is that
what individuals can own is not
the land itself but an estate in the land,
that is, a transferrable right to
use and exclude others from use. Human
beings die after all and, therefore,
it would be nonsensical for a concept
of permanency to take root in terms of
land ownership. What should be
critical is the access to land by all and its
productive use.
At all
material times, the true owner of land is the sovereign because it
can make
and enforce laws that restrict what one can do on one's estate.
However, the
Zimbabwean constitution has been amended to treat land as a
different asset
class. For the past 29 years, President Mugabe has been at
the helm and,
therefore, had instruments at his disposal to transform the
agricultural
industry with minimum disruptions and a diminishing white
population need
not have posed a threat to an organised majority with clear
thinkers at the
top.
Even the power sharing agreement has recognised the irreversibility
of the
land reform programme and to some extent Bennett's problems may stem
from
his decision to visit his former farm. By claiming that Zimbabwe will
never
be a colony again, President Mugabe has accepted that the right to
land will
be reserved for blacks that he regards as the true sons of the
soil.
President Mugabe and his colleagues in Zanu PF hold the view that
white
people's constitutional rights must be waived on the question of land
and
his decision to remain in power may be motivated by a desire to
frustrate
any white person who may believe that the inclusive government
will change
the land policy framework as well as compromise the intended
indigenisation
programmes.
I have no doubt that when President Mugabe
learned that Bennett was MDC-T's
nominee as the Deputy Minister of
Agriculture, Joseph Made's name must have
been the first one to come to
mind. Made has done a good job at destroying
commercial agriculture and
there could be no better person to counterbalance
Bennett than Made in
President Mugabe's mind.
President Mugabe has not shifted in his thinking
that MDC-T is a surrogate
of the West and, therefore, his cabinet selection
was primarily informed by
this worldview. Prime Minister Tsvangirai may hold
the view that Mugabe is
not the problem but part of the solution but the
reality is that it is
unlikely that President Mugabe will change his views
on citizenship and land
ownership.
Bennett's case raises more
fundamental issues than the allegations of
treason. To President Mugabe, any
white person who believes he is a full
citizen and, therefore, entitled to
the same economic rights like his fellow
black citizens is guilty of
treason.
It is obvious that President Mugabe believes that the votes
garnered by
MDC-T do not reflect the genuine will of the people of Zimbabwe.
Rather, it
reflects the manipulation of the West through the use of
financial resources
as well as the sanctions regime. Bennett has been
credited for raising funds
for the election and it will take sometime for
President Mugabe to forgive
him for what he regards as the execution of an
almost successful regime
change project.
At the core of Bennett's
problems is that he has refused to be cowed down.
He remains defiant and he
recognises that without a change of policies, it
is unlikely that Zimbabwe's
future is secure.
Bennett's case is a test case and the mere fact that
his arrest has
dominated the airwaves goes a long to show that the
credibility of the
inclusive government is on the line. It is unlikely that
sanctions will be
lifted if senior politicians of MDC-T continue to be
harassed.
The change that people can believe in will be evident when the
state ceases
to be an agent of oppression. Through democratic means, the
MDC-T is now
part of the government and to the extent that Bennett is a
nominee to join
the very government that he is now alleged to be trying to
overthrow through
unlawful means is laughable to say the least.
If it
were someone other than Bennett then it would be believable. Bennett
was one
of the advocates for proceeding with the inclusive government and
yet finds
himself accused of undermining it.
There is no doubt that President
Mugabe will try to prevail on Tsvangirai to
distance himself from Bennett.
he problem of Bennett cannot be blamed on
junior officers when it is
accepted that President Mugabe is yet to be
convinced that his
administration's failure to deliver was a consequence of
bad
policies.
President Mugabe will no doubt take the position that as the
Executive, they
cannot and should not be seen to be interfering with
Bennett's matter and
this should be left to the judiciary and he was not
responsible for
arresting him.
He will no doubt make the point at the
first cabinet meeting that the
separation of powers doctrine should be the
guiding principle. It is
unlikely that he will be persuaded to change his
mind and seek to do the
right thing for the country by releasing Bennett so
that he can focus on the
peoples' agenda.
The assault on Bennett is
no different from the treatment that some of us
have been subjected to. We
have no choice but to follow the Bennett matter
with concern and interest.
Its resolution will have a material bearing on
the credibility of the
government as well as in inspiring confidence.
President Mugabe believes
that people opposed to Zanu PF are automatically
enemies of the state. It is
important that with the advent of the inclusive
government a distinction be
made between the state and political parties.
Without such distinction, the
future is less secure. President Mugabe must
know what time it is and surely
it is time to advance the interests of
Zimbabwe rather than protect and
promote partisan agendas using the state.
Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column
is published on New Zimbabwe.com every
Monday. You can contact him at: mmawere@global.co.za
http://www.mg.co.za
MGCINI NYONI - Feb 16 2009 06:00
Boarding a bus from
Bulawayo to the eastern town of Mutare, I was at first
confused. The bus was
filled to capacity with people lugging box upon box of
televisions, DVD
players and lots of other bits and pieces -- very expensive
bits and
pieces.
From the passengers' conversations, I gathered that they had all
been to
Botswana on a shopping trip. But how on earth were so many people
affording
shopping trips there -- and from as far away as Manicaland,
Zimbabwe's most
eastern province?
I got the full story when we
arrived in Mutare, Manicaland's capital. Almost
all able-bodied males were
flocking to the diamond fields of Chiyadzwa,
about 100km from Mutare.
Illegally, they were digging for diamonds -- and
were almost getting rich in
the process.
Almost, because it's a rare individual who puts the money to
good use: after
finding a diamond worth say $5 000, most youngsters camp in
bars, buy beer
and party up a storm.
So out of curiosity I decided to
visit Chiyadzwa. With a brother-in-law and
some friends I boarded a bus
bound for a small shopping centre about 70km
south of Mutare called Chakohwa
-- about 20km from the diamond fields at
Chiyadzwa.
There are buses
that travel straight from Mutare to Chiyadzwa, but diamond
diggers don't use
these because of the numerous roadblocks along the way:
police try to stop
people from getting to Chiyadzwa. So from Chakohwa the
journey is completed
by several hours of serious walking.
The moment we got to Chakohwa, I
became a gweja (diamond digger). There is
no recruitment process; you just
decide to do it and join a group with
experienced diggers. In the scorching
heat we started off towards Chiyadzwa
at a blistering pace.
The wide
path is constantly busy. Some coming from Chiyadzwa are drunk to
the point
of stupidity, shouting "Yafa mari [We have struck it rich]." Those
of sober
habits are carrying wares such as DVD players and thick winter
blankets that
they've bought from enterprising people who consider digging
too risky and
so trade these goods at the diamond fields.
Some of those from Chiyadzwa
are looking forlorn: they are the unlucky ones
who have stayed in the bush
for weeks without striking it rich and have
decided to go back
home.
We walked for about three hours and, along the way, the leader of
our group
of four constantly greeted those coming back from Chiyadzwa,
asking "Kurisei
[How is the situation at the diamond fields]?" The responses
varied:
"Kuribho [It is okay]."
"Chakabhiridha, nhasi chaiye kwarumwa
vanhu eight nembwa [It is tight --
today eight people were mauled by police
dogs]."
"Go ariko, ndakudzokera kumba", meaning "Gohwa is there, I am
going back
home" -- Gohwa being a senior police officer notorious for
arresting and
shooting diamond diggers.
We arrived at the base camp
where diggers rest and cook before going to the
fields, at about 4pm. After
we had rested for a while, our leader decided we
should proceed. One hour
over mountainous and rocky terrain to get to the
diamond fields, and we met
hundreds of people coming from the fields, still
with varying stories about
the situation there.
About 100m from the fields we sat down until it
became dark. Then we
approached cautiously. There is a firebreak surrounding
the diamond fields
and we could see police officers patrolling the
area.
One of the officers started walking towards us and most of the
diggers fled,
but since our group leader stayed put, we didn't move. About
5m from us, the
police officer stopped and shouted:
"Gweja."
"Officer," replied our leader. "Huya tinzwe," the police officer
said,
meaning, "Come, let us talk."
Our group leader went down to
meet the officer and they conferred for a few
moments. He hailed us and we
went to meet them. We were told that the
officer wanted Z$10-trillion per
person to allow us into the fields. (Do not
bother trying to figure out the
value of Z$10-trillion as this changes on a
daily basis: what buys a car
today will not buy a loaf of bread next month.)
We paid and got
in.
The diamond fields are full of ditches ranging from 1m to 5m deep,
and the
experienced diggers know which are full of riches. So we wandered
about the
fields looking for the so-called "paying" ditches. We had to tread
carefully -- it's easy to fall into one of the ditches and crack your head
open on a rock or break a limb.
When we had located a promising ditch
we got to work, first clearing the
rocks that had fallen into the pit -- or
more likely been thrown there by
other diggers to "protect" the ditch. When
we had finished one guy got into
the ditch and started digging, using a
sharpened metal rod.
We poured the dug-up soil into hessian sacks,
shaking them to separate out
small stones. We would be carrying mapagamaga
(heavily loaded sacks) to
increase our chances of finding a
diamond.
When we were about finished the alarm was raised with shouts of
"Gweja
nyumwawo" -- beware of danger. This was followed by the sound of
gunfire;
police officers were close by. We shouldered our pagamagas and
rushed out of
the fields.
It is not easy going, walking over rocky
and mountainous terrain while
carrying about 40kg of dirt that could be
worthless. As sweat drips down
your face you wish you could come across the
guys who stand along the path
selling drinking water. But the hope that the
dirt you are carrying is worth
a lot of money keeps you going. We arrived at
base camp totally exhausted
and slept in the open.
At first light we
bought some water and washed our small stones. Piling them
into a heap, we
started looking for the precious stones. We were almost
through the entire
heap without finding anything. But just when everyone had
almost given up
hope, we found a diamond that the experienced diggers said
was about six
carats and could fetch US$2 000.
We rushed to the "market" -- an open
field a few kilometres from the diamond
fields. The buyers include
Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Nigerians and Zambians,
and everyone there keeps
an eye open for the police, who are liable to raid
at any given
moment.
After much haggling with a Nigerian buyer, we were paid US$800,
which we
shared.
I was satisfied with my share and declared that I
was going home. Although
the prospect of instant riches was tempting, I
wasn't prepared to risk my
life for money.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
Monday 16 February 2009
Lance Guma speaks to Dr Simba
Makoni
Broadcast 12 February 2009
This week on Behind the
Headlines Lance Guma speaks to former Finance
Minister Simba Makoni in a
wide-ranging interview. Lance asks Makoni for his
views on the unity
government currently being put in place and whether he
thinks they can
deliver. Does he feel bitter that he was excluded from the
process despite
coming third in presidential elections last year? Does
Makoni agree with
Dumiso Dabengwa's claims that he acted as a spoiler in
last years elections
to create conditions for a run-off? Makoni is also
questioned on allegations
by his colleagues in the Mavambo Movement who
claim he still has links to
ZANU PF and that he misused party funds.
Lance: Hello Zimbabwe and
welcome to another edition of Behind the
Headlines. My guest this week is
former finance minister and leader of the
Mavambo Movement Dr Simba Makoni.
Dr Makoni thank you for joining us on SW
Radio Africa.
Makoni: It's a
pleasure, thank you good afternoon.
Lance: Right, starting point is we've
had a new unity government put in
place this week. Morgan Tsvangirai was
sworn in on Wednesday and as a
prominent leader yourself in Zimbabwe, the
starting question has to be what
is your view of this recently installed
government.
Makoni: Well first we must place the facts on record and say
the government
is not yet fully installed as you know cabinet ministers have
not yet been
appointed and taken oath, but yes the leadership of the
government in the
sense of the Presidency and the Premiership is now in
place. We welcome it.
We welcomed the Global Political Agreement. It was and
still is an imperfect
agreement but it's the best on offer for the people of
Zimbabwe at the
moment and we wish that they will work well together to
serve the people of
Zimbabwe.
Lance: Now those who have been very
skeptical of this arrangement have
pointed to the lack of sincerity which
they seem to be picking up from Zanu
PF. Do you see this as a major
stumbling block? Are Zanu PF sincere in this
arrangement?
Makoni:
Well I think it is quite clear that all the partners in this
arrangement are
there for convenience. There is no commitment, there is
mistrust, there is
suspicion and so people are justified to be skeptical
because the motivation
is not commitment to service and therefore we also
have expressed our
reservations about what motivated the three of them to
come together. But
let's be generous, let's be optimistic, let's be forward
looking and wish
that they will work well together for the sake of the
people and the
country.
Lance: If it had been left up to you Dr Makoni, what would you
have proposed
as a way forward in terms of? I mean you have just pointed out
that this
agreement is imperfect. How would you have suggested a way forward
for the
country?
Makoni: Well its not, how would I, you know that I
was the first proponent
of a government of national unity at the time when I
launched my
presidential campaign. I maintained that stance up to now. We
would have
offered a leadership that was motivated to service and committed
to serving
the people rather than to acquiring and spending power and
control. The
major misgiving we have about the Global Political Agreement is
that it was
motivated by power and control and that is why people set out in
a country
in dire straits as ours to set up a huge administration. Six
people in the
Presidency and the Premiership, 31 ministers, 11 Deputy
Ministers. We cannot
afford that. And so we would have sought to set up a
compact, technocratic,
competent based national authority that was committed
to taking Zimbabwe out
of the crisis it is in.
Lance: Now do you
think then given those hurdles that you are pointing out,
can this
government deliver?
Makoni: Well it can if they commit themselves. It's
not impossible for
people of different political persuasions to work
together to a common
purpose. A lot of Europe is run by coalition
governments from extreme right,
extreme left centers. So it's not a new
thing. But it depends on commitment,
honesty trustworthiness and those
elements are not there in the parties to
this Global
Agreement.
Lance: Last year in the presidential elections you came third
and a lot of
people were rather surprised that you did not play a very
prominent role in
the negotiations that followed those disputed elections.
Are you some how
disappointed you were somehow excluded from this
process?
Makoni: Well I have two feelings and views about that. Yes
indeed I was
disappointed, not just for myself, but more for the people who
are committed
to the vision and mission that I set out to promote because we
are confident
that we would have made a meaningful contribution to those
negotiations. We
would have influenced the negotiations away from power
control and command
to service. So from that point of view, we are
disappointed. That I am not
there personally, I am not disappointed, because
participating in this
process that has led to this imperfect outcome would
have discredited and
compromised some of our principles and
values.
Lance: Now Dr Makoni, do you see a role for yourself under the
current set
up, I mean have you been approached about doing
anything?
Makoni: No, I haven't been approached by anyone. I don't see a
role for
myself in the so-called inclusive government. But I do see a role
for myself
and for colleagues in our movement and the population of Zimbabwe
that
subscribes to the values and principles that we stand for, in that with
the
creation of MDC T-F, we now become the sole voice of the people. We will
be
watching this so-called inclusive government step by step. We will be
monitoring their every action. And we will be keeping them under close
monitor to ensure that what the people yearn for is voiced. And that voice
now is ours.
Lance: Some analysts had actually pointed that same fact
you are talking
about Dr Makoni that the MDC which was the only credible
opposition to date
has now joined the government and that has now created a
vacuum were the
likes of Mavambo and maybe the recently re-launched ZAPU can
take up space,
so I mean this is a bonus for you.
Makoni: Well I
wouldn't say it is a bonus, it is what we created. When I
moved in to join
the presidential race, we offered the people of Zimbabwe an
alternative to
Mugabe and Tsvangirai. We offered the people of Zimbabwe an
alternative to
Zanu PF and MDC. And we are continuing to offer the people of
Zimbabwe that
alternative, so is not a bonus, it's our creation.
Lance: Several weeks
ago I interviewed former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso
Dabengwa and he said
the decision and the project to support your
presidential candidacy was
meant to stop an outright winner developing
between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
Do you subscribe to this summarization of the
scenario that you basically
acted as spoilers?
Makoni: Well I do not subscribe to it and I can tell
you that is not what
motivated me to stand. I don't know if Dumiso actually
said that. I stood
genuinely and honestly to offer Zimbabweans an
alternative leadership. I
wanted to win in order to serve the country, not
to spoil for anyone. I was
convinced so were many Zimbabweans in Zanu PF, in
MDC and those outside
politics that neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai were the
best leader for
Zimbabwe at this time and I believe the large majority of
Zimbabweans still
believe that to date. And I set out to offer to
Zimbabweans an alternative
to Mugabe and Tsvangirai not to spoil for
anyone.
Lance: Going to another issue Dr Makoni, much closer to your own
movement. I
believe last Wednesday several members of the National
Coordinating
Committee of the Mavambo Movement led by retired Major Kudzai
Mbudzi,
convened a press conference at which they announced the decision
that they
had deposed you as leader of Mavambo and several accusations were
made. What
is the current position regarding the leadership of the Mavambo
Movement?
Makoni: Well I can tell you that I am talking to you from my
office at our
movement offices. I am functioning normally, so are all the
other colleagues
who are involved with us in leading the movement towards a
political party.
We've heard of this political development but it has not
affected our
operation. The people you mention are disaffected by the fact
that they
failed to achieve material gains they set out to achieve in
rallying behind
me. Let me say that when I announced my candidacy, all kinds
of characters
joined the movement with all kinds of agenda's, objectives and
ambitions.
Many of them have fallen by the way side because they have
realized that we
are not mercenaries, we are not wicked, we are not crooked,
we are not
criminals, we are not greedy, we are not dishonest, and because
they cant
fit into an honest set up of integrity and service they have
decided to take
their way and we say goodbye.
Lance: Its interesting
Major Kudzai Mbudzi pointed to one issue which a lot
of people have raised
in various forums. He alleges that you still have
strong links with Zanu PF
and that you still have clandestine meetings with
several senior Zanu PF
officials. I don't know if we can maybe talk about
this. Is that a correct
representation of the situation?
Makoni: No it is not. Remember that one
of my key platforms in the election
campaign was I was a unifier. I don't
want to divide the people of Zimbabwe.
I can confirm to you that I continue
to relate to people who are members of
the MDC and some are members of Zanu
PF, some are members of other political
parties some are not in any
political party. I meet with all those
Zimbabweans as Zimbabweans not
clandestinely but quite openly in broad
daylight. It is curious that Mbudzi
decides to point to my relations with
Zanu PF members and not with MDC
members, with members of the labour
movement, with the Christian leadership.
I relate normally with all
Zimbabweans because I quest for unity and
commitment to service. I am not a
factionalist.
Lance: Let me also
touch on another issue. Mbudzi also claimed that you
promoted the system of
patronage and division and ethnicity and he says out
of a total 10 members
of the management committee 7 could be traced to your
tribal roots and
village of origin. Would you maybe want to address those
claims?
Makoni: I think that kind of trash is belonging to Mbudzi, I
do not discuss
those terms, I relate to Zimbabweans of all walks of life. I
relate to
Zimbabweans from all stations of society, from all regions of the
country. I
am a national leader; I am not a village leader.
Lance:
And maybe before I move on to another subject, one more claim that
Mbudzi
made were he is saying you withheld donations that were made to the
movement
and the figures quoted there are from US1,5 million to about US$3
million.
The financial issues, how was that laid out in terms of the
movement, were
these donations that were made towards your presidential bid
or to the
movement?
Makoni: All I can say is that those who are in the movement,
know how we are
operating, are not raising those questions and I won't
dignify Mbudzi by
answering that kind of question. The movement is
functioning normally,
openly, transparently and genuine and committed
activists of the movement
are not asking Mbudzi's questions. Mbudzi was with
us until September, left
us of his own volition and therefore it's no longer
of his interest since
September when he bade us farewell, to be raising
those issues. But movement
activists are working normally to create the
party that will work for the
people of Zimbabwe.
Lance: Dr Makoni
when I interviewed Dumiso Dabengwa I asked him why he had
in a sense left
the Mavambo Movement to reform PF ZAPU and asked whether you
two had fallen
out. He sort of refused to answer the question. I don't know
if I can pose
the same question to you and say how are relations between
yourself and Mr.
Dabengwa and did the two of you fall out that caused him
maybe to leave the
movement?
Makoni: Well our relations are normal. The last time I had a
discussion with
Dumiso it was cordial, it was normal, it was rational. I
have followed
developments involving him in the media and in public
discourse. I haven't
had the opportunity to discuss with him how he went
that direction. But
again that is the essence of democracy. People choose
associations of their
own free will and Dumiso is at liberty to do that, I
don't begrudge him and
I wish him well.
Lance: My final question to
you Dr Makoni, you are obviously former finance
minister, Morgan Tsvangirai
in his inauguration speech spoke about paying
all civil servants in foreign
currency. We've also seen the appointment of
Tendai Biti as the country's
new finance minister, what do you make of those
developments? Firstly do you
think its practical to pay all civil servants
in foreign currency and what
do you make of Biti's appointment as finance
minister?
Makoni: Well I
would like to say that it is not appropriate to assess an
individual, I
would like to see the whole government team in place. So I am
waiting with
bated breadth for the appointment and installation of ministers
tomorrow
(Friday). When we see that total line up behind 3 Presidents and 3
Prime
Ministers, which is such a cumbersome and clumsy arrangement for a
country
like ours in its current state we will then be able to make a read
of
whether that set up can deliver or cannot deliver and so I would seek
patience on your part, lets have this conversation tomorrow (Friday) or the
day after tomorrow when the full government team is in place and we can
begin to read the potential of its delivery or non-delivery.
Lance:
And what about the issue of paying civil servants in foreign
currency, what
do you make of that?
Makoni: Well I actually haven't seen the actual
statement to read what the
Prime Minister is said to have said. But what it
begs at face value is where
will the money come from? Because Zimbabwe under
current circumstances I don't
believe is in any position to pay all civil
servants in foreign currency
unless they are being paid a pittance. So it is
a very curious question, but
Morgan Tsvangirai is now the Prime Minister,
probably he has a little pot of
gold somewhere that he will reveal to the
nation.
Lance: That was Dr Simba Makoni, former finance minister and
leader of the
Mavambo Movement joining us on Behind the Headlines. Dr Makoni
thank you so
much for sparing us your time. - ZimOnline
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
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1.
Jerry Erasmus -
I am looking for Gary & Sonja Ervine or Irvine. Not
sure which. Used to
farm west of Harare Mt Hampden way. Met a kiwi here who
spent time with
them in the 90s & wants to contact them. My email address
is
jocandjerry@slingshot.co.nz.
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2.
Paul Johnstone -
Dear Jag
I wondered if you may be able to help
me. My sister Niall was married to a
Zimbabwean farmer - Anthony Millar. They
were married in 1986 and then Niall
developed an illness and sadly passed
away 6 months after the marriage. Our
families remained in contact until my
family all left Zimbabwe and now we
have
no contact at all. I spent many
wonderful days on the Millars' Mazowe farms
when I was a teenager - hunting,
fishing etc. With all the horrendous goings
on in the farming community in
Zimbabwe I have often wondered what happened
to
the Millars. I know that
their farms were listed and I can only imagine what
trauma they would have
gone through in losing the farms. They were good
farmers and incredibly proud
of what they had achieved.
If you have any contact details for Stuart or
Colleen or any of their sons -
Anthony, Andrew or Robert, I would be most
grateful. I am not sure what I
could say to them that could help with their
loss but they should know that
memories of their farms and the beauty that
they created, comes to me often
when I think of my childhood.
Many
thanks,
Paul Johnstone
Bristol, England
talipaul21@htmail.com
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All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
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