The Associated Press
Sunday,
February 18, 2007; 11:46 AM
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Police
arrested dozens of people Sunday as they
used tear gas and water cannons to
break up a rally where Zimbabwe's main
opposition leader planned to launch a
presidential campaign, a spokesman for
the opposition party said.
The
spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, said the police prevented opposition
supporters
from attending the rally where Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, was to start the campaign.
Police had
tried to block the rally last week, arguing that they did not
have sufficient
manpower to guarantee law and order.
The Movement for Democratic Change
obtained a court ruling on Saturday
allowing them to go ahead, but police
ignored the ruling, Mr. Chamisa told
The Associated Press in a telephone
interview from Harare.
He said there were "serious skirmishes."
He
said the poor suburb of Highfields, where the rally was planned,
now
resembled a "battleground."
Shopkeepers closed their stores and
some people fled their homes, he said.
There were reports of children
fainting because of the tear gas, he claimed.
"It's turned into a
war-zone," Mr. Chamisa said. "This is a fully fledged
police
state."
There was no immediate word on injuries and no confirmation from
police
about the arrests.
President Robert Mugabe's opponents have
been incensed by the 82-year-old
leader's plans to defer presidential
elections by two years from 2008 to
2010.
Scores of women
demonstrating against the plans were arrested in protests in
Harare and the
second city of Bulawayo this week. And there were clashes
between police and
opposition supporters on Friday in Harare, prompting
authorities to issue a
stern warning over state radio that they would not
"accept anarchy."
A
senior opposition party official, Tendai Biti, and a second
opposition
lawmaker were reported arrested outside Harare's High Court
Saturday in
connection with the clashes.
Tension is rising in
Zimbabwe, where a six-year economic crisis is
worsening, with inflation at
around 1,600 per cent, unemployment at some 70
per cent, and critical
shortages of power, fuel, foreign currency and drugs.
This weekend, the
government announced it was hiking by nearly 100 per cent
the price of the
staple maize-meal, already in critically short supply in
southern areas of
the once-prosperous country.
The opposition blames Mugabe, in power since
independence in 1980, for the
crisis. His policies, including the seizure of
thousands of white-owned
farms, have seen agricultural production and
investor confidence plummet.
The state-controlled Sunday Mail said Sunday
that a civil servants strike
was looming after a leading trade union rejected
a 260 per cent pay offer as
it was still below the official poverty
line.
Doctors and nurses at four major hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo
have been
on strike since late December, leaving hundreds of patients without
adequate
medical care.
Teachers belonging to the militant Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
last week staged "staffroom sit-ins", refusing to
conduct lessons at schools
around the country. State media accused them of
sabotage.
Up to 40 students were arrested last week during countrywide
lecture
boycotts over high fees, independent reports say.
Yahoo News
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean riot squads fired teargas and water
cannon to
drive stone-throwing protesters off the streets of a troubled
township in
Harare on Sunday after preventing the main opposition party from
holding a
major rally.
The Movement for Democratic Change
said police had arrested more than 120
MDC members while blocking the rally,
which some government officials said
was to mark the start of a
foreign-backed challenge to its authority at a
time of deepening economic
crisis.
Armed police earlier sealed off the sports ground where the rally
was to be
held and arrested dozens of people, witnesses said, defying a
court order to
let the meeting go ahead.
The High Court ruled on
Saturday that the government must allow the MDC to
hold the rally, rejecting
the police argument that they needed more time to
find the manpower to
monitor it.
State media suggested President Robert Mugabe was worried
that the MDC
wanted to use the event to launch a wave of anti-government
protests.
Political tension is rising amid 80 percent unemployment,
nearly 1,600
percent inflation, widespread poverty and food shortages. Many
doctors,
teachers and university lecturers are striking to press for higher
wages.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's ruler since independence from Britain in 1980,
rejects
blame for the crisis, saying domestic and Western opponents are
sabotaging
the economy to try to oust him.
On Sunday journalists saw
riot police, some armed with rubber batons, guns
and teargas launchers and
some in armored trucks, converging on the Zimbabwe
Grounds in the volatile
Highfield township, arresting dozens of people who
had begun to gather for
the rally.
STONES AND BATONS
Violence erupted when small groups of
MDC members tried to march to the
sealed sports ground and some youths
pelted police foot patrols with stones
before being beaten away by
baton-wielding officers.
The police also mounted roadblocks in the
township, searching cars and
questioning motorists.
Harare's
state-controlled Sunday Mail said the planned MDC rally was part of
a
British-sponsored drive "to galvanise the regime change lobby" and
embarrass
Mugabe, who turns 83 this week and will celebrate with a huge
party on
Saturday.
"The MDC rally slated for this weekend was meant to provide
impetus to the
'final-push' (massive street protest campaign)," the paper
said, quoting
unnamed government officials as accusing former colonial power
Britain of
trying to overthrow Mugabe.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa
said the party had not officially called off
the rally, but accepted it
could not take place because of the police
action.
He said MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai had driven to the venue and tried in
vain to persuade the
police to let the rally go ahead. "We have not canceled
the rally. It was
canceled by the police in defiance of the court order," he
said.
Tsvangirai stopped and talked to a group of MDC supporters
during his brief
trip to Highfield. "The president simply told them 'the
struggle
continues,"' Chamisa said.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
was not available for comment. But state
radio said police had "stopped the
rally for political reasons" and that
details of people arrested and
property destroyed were still being worked
out.
MDC national
organising secretary Elias Mudzuri said around 200 young people
who had been
on security duty at the Zimbabwe Grounds overnight had been
attacked and
either driven away or detained by the police.
The MDC had said it planned
to use the rally to launch its presidential
election campaign. The election
is due in March 2008 but the ruling ZANU-PF
party plans to put it off until
2010 and to hold it at the same time as
parliamentary elections.
Yahoo News
by Godfrey Marawanyika
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai has cancelled
a mass rally in Harare after police
used teargas and water cannon to
disperse supporters in defiance of a court
order.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai did
arrive at the
venue, a sports field next to the sprawling Highfields shanty
town. But he
decided not to proceed with plans to address the crowd after
security forces
began their attack on his supporters, an AFP correspondent
reported Sunday.
"The rally has been cancelled for now," said MDC spokesman
Nelson Chamisa.
"The sad thing is that police failed to respect the court
order."
Tsvangirai himself said that "the struggles continues" before
leaving the
venue with his security personnel.
Police had failed to
have the rally blocked by the high court at a hearing
on Saturday. They had
argued that they had been given too little notice, but
judges ruled it could
go ahead.
As thousands of supporters began converging on Highfields in
the late
morning they were confronted by police who first used water cannon
and then
tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Roadblocks were also set up
on highways leading to the area, a traditional
MDC stronghold.
"What
has happened is a clear sign of the collapse of rule of law and,
tragically,
of the police force," said Chamisa. "Many people have been
injured, the
crisis is spreading to other locations."
He added: "So far 122 people
have been arrested and many of our supporters
have been injured, but this
gives us the perfect opportunity to break the
dictactorship."
There
was no immediate confirmation from the police of how many people had
been
arrested.
Asked why the police did not respect the court order, Home
Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi told AFP: "I have no comment on that or the
rally."
Tsvangirai had been planning to use the rally to launch his
latest campaign
for the presidency of the troubled southern African
nation.
The next presidential elections are meant to take place in 2008
but veteran
leader Robert Mugabe is trying to delay them to 2010 in order to
coincide
with parliamentary polls.
The ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has
given a provisional green light
to the move but it still needs approval from
parliament.
The MDC has
promised to resist the delay to the elections. They say that
with inflation
at nearly 1,600 percent and food shortages increasingly
widespread, the
country cannot afford any more of Mugabe's rule.
The MDC once posed the
most serious threat to Mugabe's 27-year rule but has
been hamstrung by
infighting. Nearly half its MPs joined a splinter group in
late 2005 because
of a row over whether to contest senate elections.
But Mugabe is coming
under increasing pressure over the meltdown of the
economy, with doctors and
teachers striking over pay demands.
Some 80 percent of the population is
now out of work and those who still
have jobs often have to walk or cycle to
their offices as a result of fuel
shortages. Few people can still afford to
eat three meals a day.
Despite this, ZANU-PF is planning a mass party to
celebrate Mugabe's 83rd
birthday on February 21 and is trying to raise 300
million Zimbabwe dollars
(1.2 million dollars) to fund the event in the
central city of Gweru.
Yahoo News
Sun Feb 18,
10:10 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Three people have died after an outbreak of
cholera in a
suburb of Zimbabwe's capital Harare.
One of the victims
of the outbreak at Epworth was a 75-year-old woman who
died after being
admitted to hospital on Sunday.
Residents of Harare's teeming suburbs are
known to go for lengthy periods
without clean tap water, often turning to
other sources prone to
contamination.
An outbreak in two Harare
suburbs last month which infected 10 people was
caused after a breakdown in
local water authority services.
Zimbabwe has had almost annual cholera
outbreaks from around November to
March during the country's peak rainy
season.
News24
18/02/2007 08:08 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe, long regarded as a pariah by the United
States and
Britain, has found some its closest allies turning their backs in
recent
weeks as the country's political and economic crisis
escalates.
While most of Africa's leaders spent the weekend in the French
riviera at
the invitation of President Jacques Chirac, Zimbabwe's veteran
President
Robert Mugabe was forced to kick his heels back home after being
left off
the Cannes invitation list.
The snub was in stark contrast
to the pleasure Mugabe was able to derive
four years ago when he was invited
to the last France-Africa summit in spite
of a European Union travel ban on
him and his entourage.
Zimbabwe has bitten its lip in response to the
diplomatic setback from Paris
which came days after Chinese President Hu
Jintao steered clear of a country
which has made relations with Beijing a
cornerstone of its foreign policy.
But it has served to highlight the
isolation of a leader whose last state
visit was back in November to Iran,
another country in the diplomatic
doghouse which was bracketed along with
Zimbabwe as an "outpost of tyranny"
by the US.
Even South Africa,
while still reluctant to put the boot in, is becoming
less circumspect with
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota referring to Zimbabwe
last week as "a
problem" that needs to be addressed by the whole of the
region.
"Zimbabwe is not gaining friends and those friends it had are
becoming
lukewarm," said Eldred Masungure, a professor of political science
at the
University of Zimbabwe.
"A typical example is South Africa ...
They are very cautious to condemn but
not forthcoming in offering support.
Zim is increasingly isolated, and
certainly not gaining mileage out of its
rigid policy."
Mugabe first fell out with the US and former colonial
power Britain after
thousands of white farmers lost their property as part
of a controversial
land reform programme at the turn of the decade and was
then accused of
rigging elections.
Since then, the economy has been
unable to break out of recession and annual
inflation has reached a scarcely
believable 1 593 percent.
China
After being shunned by the US and
EU, Mugabe has been pursuing a 'Look East'
policy aimed at forging close
ties with the likes of China and India.
However, while Hu found time to
pop in to both Namibia and Zambia as well as
South Africa on a trip this
month, Zimbabwe was kept off his destination
list.
According to the
Harare-based political commentator Chaumba Alois, Hu's
decision to avoid
Zimbabwe had highlighted the limits of the bilateral
relationship despite
the importance attached to it by Mugabe.
"If we say Chinese are our best
friends and we have looked East, I think the
first port of call should have
been Zimbabwe, but we have discovered that
our relations with China are at
the periphery."
Other analysts however believe the government should not
be unduly worried.
Godfrey Chikowore, director at the Institute of
Development Studies, said
Chirac's decision could be explained by "the
influence of the British
hegemony" and pointed out that many other countries
missed out on Hu.
"What we have with China are permanent interests and
they are permanent
friends," said Chikowore.
Denunciations of British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George
W. Bush have long been a
regular theme of Mugabe speeches.
But he even began last year to snipe at
South Africa, with comments
referring to "reactionary elements outside our
borders" interpreted as a
swipe at Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour.
The
veteran analyst Erich Bloch said Mugabe was paying the price for failing
to
understand that "friendship is a two-way process".
"Zimbabwe has very,
very few friends left. It lost friends from the Western
world when it was
not prepared to interact constructively, but merely to
throw insults at
them," said Bloch.
"It tried to make new friends (through Look East) but
Zimbabwe's sort of
friendship is that it must get all what it needs, and not
give them back in
exchange and for that reason each one of them is losing
interest in
Zimbabwe."
About 50 MDC polling agents were chucked out
of the polling stations in
Chiredzi South and voting kicked off this morning
without them in what is
yet again another predetermined outcome-thanks to
the Zanu PF rigging
machinery.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
refused to accept our polling agents
arguing that they had not seen a
published list of their names as required
by law. This is despite the fact
that the agents' names were published in
The Daily Mirror of Friday, 16
February 2007 and it is the duty of ZEC to
make sure presiding officers at
polling stations get the list. When voting
kicked off this morning, most of
our polling agents had been ordered to stay
200 metres away from the polling
stations.
Starting with this election, the regime has started using
erasable ink as
opposed to indelible ink. As a result, Zanu PF supporters
have been voting
more than once in Chiredzi and the election cannot be said
to be free and
fair. In Manicaland, the provincial spokesman, Pishai
Muchauraya, was
arrested for voicing his concern over the use of erasable
markers' ink in
the Rusape ward elections.
Zanu PF is plodding yet
again in its familiar path of chicanery and wanton
disregard of the people's
wishes. There cannot be a free and fair electoral
process when we have such
an impartial body as the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission running the show.
There cannot be a free and fair election when a
public broadcaster such as
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is openly
campaigning for Zanu PF and
blacking out the opposition in wilful violation
of the SADC guidelines on
the conduct of free and fair. There cannot be a
free and fair election in
Chiredzi South when the army is actively
campaigning for Zanu PF and army
trucks are ferrying food and distributing
it to Zanu PF supporters. Surely,
it cannot be an open contest when the
President of the chiefs' council
openly tells chiefs in the constituency to
deny opposition supporters food.
It is already a predetermined outcome when
a governor addresses civil
servants in the constituency and tells them to
actively support Zanu PF if
they are to keep their jobs.
The MDC believes that the solution lies in
creating impartial institutions
that run elections. The solution to the
national crisis lies in a new,
people-driven Constitution, free and fair
elections under international
supervision, reconstruction and stabilization
in post-transitional era.
Otherwise, if we continue to run elections the
Chiredzi way, we will remain
stuck in this unmitigated crisis. A new
Zimbabwe is our mandate.
Ian Makone
Secretary for
Elections
Dear Family and Friends
Early these mornings the mist lies in thick
blankets across the vleis,
giving a surreal, dreamlike start to the February
days. The tops of the
Msasa trees with their twisting branches and low,
spreading canopies are
first to emerge from the mist as the sun comes up.
Then the grassland, tall
and gold now, with heavy, bursting seed heads comes
into sight and the
first birds appear. At this time of year the Paradise
Whydahs are about
early and the breeding males are wonderous to watch. Their
flight is
frantic and laboured, it has to be to carry their magnificent black
tail
feathers which are longer than their bodies. Tails which stream behind
them
in a spectacular display. Just spending a few minutes looking out at
the
beauty every morning has to be enough to give strength and courage to
face
another day in the disaster that has become life in Zimbabwe.
For
a long time the analysts and commentators have been saying that it will
be
the economy that eventually brings an end to the situation in the
country. I
don't know if most of us ordinary Zimbabweans have understood
what this would
actually entail but recently we have all started learning
very
fast.
This week it was officially announced that inflation in January
soared to
1593%. This staggering rise of over three hundred percent in one
month,
from December to January, has crippled us all and has made the
situation in
the country completely unsustainable. On Monday a friend priced
a pair of
work overalls and they were forty thousand dollars. On Wednesday,
when he
went with the cash to buy them, the price had gone up to seventy
five
thousand dollars.
None of us are able to cope with these sort of
price increases and so we go
without. We put the little money we have back in
our pockets, not yet
really understanding that we must spend it when we have
it as its buying
power is shrinking every day. It is a lesson we are
learning fast and it
is hard one because it contradicts principles of saving,
careful spending
and budgeting.
As the days pass and the deprivations
increase, the discontent is rising
and so too is the presence of police, army
and Border Gezi youths on the
streets. The air of intimidation and control is
all around us. In just five
blocks of a small town this week. I counted
twenty eight police and army
personnel in uniform. They stroll and patrol, on
foot, bicycles and in open
pick up trucks. At one supermarket there were
between 250 and 300 people
queuing for sugar. The line did not go to the
front of the shop but to a
back door where all these multitudes of people
were being controlled by two
scruffy youths wearing Zanu PF T shirts, two
policemen and one soldier in
army camouflage.....
From the sugar
queues the police, army and Gezi youths go to the road
blocks and from there
to the scramble for fertilizer or the lines for maize
meal. And everywhere
you look the feeling is of the increasingly fragile
hold on control. In this
one week over 170 women from Woza were arrested
for Valentine protests;
teachers union leaders were arrested and 14 student
union leaders were
arrested. Seven years of misery are coming to a head.
Until next week,
thanks for reading, love cathy. Copyright cathy
buckle17 February 2007.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
The Raw Story
dpa
German Press Agency
Published: Sunday
February 18, 2007
Harare- Zimbabwe's 180,000 civil servants look
set to go on
strike this week after they turned down a more than 250-per-cent
pay
rise offered by President Robert Mugabe's government, reports
said
Sunday.
Civil servants, represented by the Apex Council had given
the
government until Friday to meet their demands for a minimum wage
of
450,000 Zimbabwe dollars (1,800 US dollars).
The authorities have
only been able to offer a minimum wage of
200,000 Zimbabwe dollars, up from a
minimum of 30,000 Zimbabwe
dollars, the state-controlled Sunday Mail
said.
Tendai Chikowore, the chairperson of the Apex Council,
was
reported as saying that the council would hold another meeting
this
week to come up with a concrete position.
"The workers' side did
not accept the (government's) offer as it
fell far below the Poverty Datum
Line," Chikowore said.
The Sunday Mail said a decision on possible action
would be taken
by Tuesday.
Civil servants, like most professional
Zimbabweans, are struggling
to make ends meet amid the country's worst ever
economic crisis,
marked by inflation of more than 1,500 per cent, and
shortages of
basic commodities.
Already doctors and nurses at four
major hospitals and some
teachers and university lecturers have gone on
strike this year.
The authorities are reacting angrily to the latest
strike threat,
accusing civil servants of teaming up with the
opposition.
An unnamed government source told the Sunday Mail that it
was
unfortunate that the Apex Council had agreed to be used as
"an
instrument of the opposition by forces bent on promoting
civil
disobedience in Zimbabwe."
The source claimed the strike was
intended to coincide with
Mugabe's birthday celebrations to portray the image
that the
president is unfeeling and insensitive as he can afford to
celebrate
his birthday lavishly while civil servants suffer.
Mugabe
turns 83 on Wednesday. His supporters are trying to raise
300 million
Zimbabwe dollars to fund a party for the veteran leader
in the central town
of Gweru at the weekend.
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
Zimbabwe Standard
(Harare)
February 18, 2007
Posted to the web February 18,
2007
Caiphas Chimhete
Harare
THE government on Friday offered a
basic salary of $180 000 to teachers in a
last-ditch attempt to stave off a
looming strike.
But the disgruntled workers dismissed the increment as a
"mockery" to the
negotiations they have been holding with their employers
for the past two
weeks.
Despite the disgruntlement, the Civil
Service Staff Association Apex
Council, which appeared militant and ready to
confront the government last
week over poor salaries, yesterday appeared
cowed and unsure of its next
move.
The Apex council represents all
government employees.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the
chairperson of the Apex
Council, Tendai Chikowore, said the increment
offered by the government was
way below the workers'
expectations.
"The workers' side did not accept the offer as it fell far
below the Poverty
Datum Line (PDL). The least paid worker would earn much
less than 50% of the
PDL as declared for January 2007," said Chikowore,
refusing to divulge the
exact figures offered by the government.
But
sources told The Standard the government had proposed a basic $180 000 a
month, way below the PDL. The highest earning teacher would get $240 000,
excluding allowances.
This pay scale would apply to other
professionals in the same grade as
teachers, sources told The Standard
yesterday.
The least-paid civil servant receives $30 000 a month while
teachers earn
$84 000 before their allowances are added.
The PDL is
pegged at $566 000 but projections by economists indicate that it
would have
topped $842 000 by the time the new salaries would be paid in
March.
Rampant inflation, nearing 1 600%, and the escalating cost of
services have
turned most civil servants, numbering 180 000, into
paupers.
Chikowore, the president of Zimbabwe Teachers' Union (Zimta),
said the Apex
Council would again meet government representatives this week
to further
"beg" for government mercy.
"A follow-up meeting is
scheduled for Wednesday 21 February 2007 with the
hope of agreeing on a
better package for the workers. Meanwhile, we are
giving feedback to our
membership and stakeholders," she said.
Meanwhile, the radical
Progressive Teachers' Union (PTUZ) has vowed to
continue with its teachers'
strike, which started two weeks ago, saying the
proposed figures were
"baffling".
PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said setting a new
date by
government was a deliberate attempt to buy time and confuse
teachers.
"The Apex Council is the real enemy of workers," he said.
"Where are they
getting the mandate to represent the people? This offer by
the government is
an insult to the dignity and integrity of the Zimbabwean
teachers."
Majongwe urged all teachers to join the strike to press for
better salaries
and allowances.
The radical PTUZ is demanding a
monthly salary of $540 000, transport and
housing allowances of $100 000 and
$150 000 respectively for the least paid
teacher.
Mariyawanda Nzuwah,
the chairman of the Public Service Commission, could not
be reached for
comment yesterday.
Zim Online
Monday 19 February 2007
By Regerai
Marwezu
MASVINGO - At least 22 police officers based at Masvingo Central
Police
Station stunned their superiors last week when they refused to sing
the
national anthem in protest over poor salaries, ZimOnline has
learnt.
According to highly placed sources within the police, the
disgruntled
officers, who include two inspectors and five members of the
Criminal
Investigations Department, staged the protest for almost an hour
arguing
that singing the national anthem "will not bring money into their
pockets."
The protest by the uniformed forces is the first of its kind
since the
country's independence from Britain in 1980 suggesting that all
was not well
within the country's security forces.
Sources within the
police said a shaken Officer Commanding Masvingo
Province, Assistant
Commissioner Charles Makono, initially "fired" the
police officers over
their "near mutiny."
Senior police officers in Masvingo are said to have
since written a letter
to Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri seeking
guidance on how to handle
the crisis.
The Officer in Charge at
Masvingo central police station, Inspector Kenneth
Kondo would neither
confirm nor deny the incident telling ZimOnline to ask
his superiors as they
had "all the information on the matter."
Police spokesman for Masvingo
province, Phibion Nyambo, refused to comment
on the matter referring all
questions to Makono.
"Even if it happened, it is a police internal issue
which has nothing to do
with the media," is all what Makono could say when
he was approached for
comment at the weekend.
Morale within
Zimbabwe's security services is said to have hit rock bottom
over the past
few months forcing security chiefs last year to tell President
Robert Mugabe
to hike salaries for security forces ten-fold to boost morale
among the
security forces.
In a clear sign that all was not well within the
security services, the
government last month began giving out food rations
to junior officers in
the army and police contain rising discontent within
the army and the
police.
The lowest paid junior officer in the army
and police earns about Z$75 000
per month, an amount that is way below the
Z$460 000 that the Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe says an average family of
five needs per month to
survive.
Hundreds of soldiers and police
officers have resigned or deserted over the
past few years disgruntled by
poor pay and working conditions.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst
ever economic crisis that has seen
inflation close to 1 600 percent and
spawned severe shortages of food, fuel,
electricity, hard cash and just
about every basic survival commodity. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 19 February 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - European and American firms are for the
sixth year running
boycotting the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF),
the southern
African nation's premier business event which begins in two
month's time.
ZITF board chairman Nhlanhla Masuku told ZimOnline at the
weekend that no
participants from Europe or the Americas were lined up for
the trade
showcase that begins on 21 April.
"There are no Western
companies coming for the ZITF as a result of the
economic sanctions their
countries imposed on Zimbabwe.
"And even if they were to come they would
not be allowed by their countries
to do bank transfers and other trade
issues with some Zimbabwean companies,"
said ¯Masuku.
The trade fair
will be held under the theme, "Zimbabwe brands, Africa brands
and Global
brands."
Western countries have since 2001 shunned Zimbabwe accusing
President Robert
Mugabe of violating human rights and failing to uphold
democracy and the
rule of law.
Mugabe, who denies the charge, has in
turn responded by pursuing a "Look
East" policy through increased ties with
China, Malaysia and other Asian
nations.
This year's trade fair takes
place amid a worsening economic crisis that has
seen inflation shooting
towards the 1 600 percent mark. The economic crisis
has also spawned
shortages of fuel, essential medicines and basic
commodities. -
ZimOnline
The Vigil was happy to host
WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) in launching its
people's charter in the UK.
We had an enthusiastic turnout for the occasion
and were blessed with benign
weather. Among those with us was a new Nigerian
friend, Tokunbo Oke of ALISC
(African Liberation Support Campaign). He was
full of praise for WOZA and
said its type of action was a way forward for
Africa. He added that what
was happening in Zimbabwe epitomised the
problems of Africa. Lois Davis,
co-ordinator of WOZA Solidarity UK,
outlined the aims of WOZA's people's
charter
(http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/peoplescharter071206.htm),
which was
drawn up after consulting people in meetings throughout Zimbabwe.
She
updated everyone on the bravery of the WOZA activists, some of whom were
again arrested in Zimbabwe this week. WOZA supporters in the diaspora
inundated the Zimbabwean police with phone calls resulting in them giving up
answering their phones. The Vigil offered two extra petitions to be signed:
one for Zimbabweans subscribing to the Charter and another for passers-by
supporting it. We had many signatures to both, drawn by the exuberant
dancing and singing of our supporters.
Among them was the Vigil
child, Tinotenda Muzuwa, brought down from
Birmingham by her mother Bernita
to mark her third birthday. Tinotenda's
second name is Vigil. What a joy it
was to see her again. Dumi was up again
from Southampton - father of our
second Vigil baby, Zizi. We also had
Addley (sitting on a drum) and Julius
with us - their baby is due on
Thursday - Vigil baby number 3! With us also
were people from Liverpool,
Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Wolverhampton,
Luton, Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent
and many other places. We were a large crowd
by the close and when we
joined hands to sing the national anthem we spread
far beyond our 4 maple
trees.
The Vigil was pleased that the French
government decided not to invite
President Mugabe to the French / African
summit in Cannes. We can now
reveal that the French Embassy in London gave
us assurances of this some
months ago after our lobbying. We are happy that
their assurances were
genuine and that they are working with us in demanding
democracy in
Zimbabwe. We are already involved in engaging Portugal about
their apparent
intention to invite Mugabe to the AU / EU summit which we
understand will be
held in Lisbon in October (not April as one source
suggests). With the
support of our trade union friends - both in the UK and
now in France - we
have hopes of similar success. We know this is a small
matter in the
backdrop of the great tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe but we
feel it is one
small way we can help to make the world aware of the
Zimbabwean holocaust.
VIgil supporters were interested to hear that
Zimbabwean diplomats have not
been receiving their pay so we posted the
following notice on the Embassy
for them "Embassy Staff join the striking
workers in Zimbabwe. Demand an end
to crazed dictatorship. Mugabe must go."
They seem to have responded very
quickly to our comments on their Victoria
Falls poster (see Vigil Diary of
18/11/06). The poster has gone - the
Victoria Falls are on holiday again.
Are they hungry enough to join the
Vigil? The Zimbabwean singer Viomak has
offered to feed them next Saturday
(see diary).
Last Sunday Vigil supporters attended a special service for
Zimbabwe at the
beautiful St Mary's Church in the pretty village of
Speldhurst in Kent
organised by our faithful English supporters, Sue and
Francesca Toft. One
of the speakers was Vigil leader Ephraim Tapa who spoke
movingly of his
awful experiences before he had to flee from Zimbabwe. He
said "Zimbabwe is
a house on fire". He certainly touched the hearts of the
congregation who
gave generously to a collection for Zimbabwean charities
which raised in
excess of £1,000.
PS We are all cheered to hear that
Dorcas, our faithful supporter from
Liverpool, has got her papers. It means
so much, allowing people to work and
giving them security.
For this
week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 99 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
- Monday,
19th February, 7.30 pm. Central London Zimbabwe Forum.
Lois Davies, WOZA
Solidarity UK will be giving an update on WOZA action and
show us a short
film on the last demonstration. Upstairs at the Theodore
Bullfrog pub, 28
John Adam Street, London WC2 (cross the Strand from the
Zimbabwe Embassy, go
down a passageway to John Adam Street, turn right and
you will see the
pub.
- Saturday, 24th February - Special Vigil to mark the release of
Viomak's Album "Happy 83rd Birthday President R G Mugabe (bones of a 30 year
old)".
- Saturday, 24th February - 11 am - 3 pm. The Bristol
Vigil meets
under the covered way, just near the Watershed, Canon's Road,
Harbourside.
- Saturday, 10th March, 1-4 pm - ACTSA rally for
Zimbabwe in
Trafalgar Square. The Vigil will still be manned during the two
hours the
rally overlaps with the Vigil. Mass toyi-toyi to the Vigil planned
at the
end of the rally.
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday
from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by
the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will
continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held
in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk