http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
18 February
2008
MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate
Roy
Bennett was remanded in custody until 4th March, when he appeared at the
Mutare Magistrate's court on Wednesday. His defence team is expected to make
an urgent bail application in the High Court on Thursday.
The MDC
official had been slapped with treason charges, including illegal
arms
possession and of trying to leave the country illegally, the previous
day.
Magistrate Livingstone Chipadze ruled that there is enough
evidence on the
first charge of banditry and terrorism to face trial, but
cleared him on the
immigration offence because the State had no
evidence.
But the MDC said this was a political judgement and the charges
are not
sustainable, especially when several MDC officials, including the
new Home
Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa, were acquitted of the same charges
when the
allegations against Bennett were first made in 2006.
At that
time Bennett's other co-accused Peter Hitschmann, was acquitted of
the same
charges of terrorism. However he was found guilty and jailed for
three years
for possessing unregistered firearms
Meanwhile about 200 supporters
continued with their vigil in solidarity with
the MDC official, at the court
house on Wednesday. Soldiers are patrolling
the streets of Mutare and
tension in the city is said to be high.
The MDC has on numerous occasions
called for the immediate release of
Bennett and the other political
detainees saying "there is no basis at law
for charging and incarcerating
any of the political prisoners."
http://uk.reuters.com
Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:19pm GMT
By Philimon
Bulawayo
MUTARE, Zimbabwe, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A Zimbabwe court threw out
one charge
on Wednesday against a senior MDC party official accused of
planning
terrorism in a case testing the credibility of a unity government
with
President Robert Mugabe.
Roy Bennett, named to be deputy
agriculture minister in the new
administration, was arrested before
ministers were sworn in last Friday on
charges of illegally possessing
firearms for purposes of trying to commit
acts of insurgency, banditry and
terrorism.
He was also accused of violating the Immigration Act by trying
to leave the
country illegally.
Lawyers for Bennett had asked the
court hearing his case in the eastern city
of Mutare to drop the charges.
They said a court had thrown out similar
charges in a related case in
2006.
"There is reasonable suspicion that on the first count (of
insurgency,
terrorism) he committed the offence. He will be placed on
remand,"
magistrate Livingstone Chipadza ruled on Wednesday.
He
dismissed the immigration charge, however.
Long-time rivals Mugabe and
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai last week
formed a government, with Tsvangirai taking the
post of prime
minister.
Tsvangirai said Bennett's arrest undermined the government and
efforts to
stabilise the economy.
"We've told Mugabe that by doing
this, you are doing everything to undermine
this government. But undermining
this government is to undermine the
stabilisation programme," Tsvangirai
told MDC supporters at a dinner to mark
the party's 10th
anniversary.
"But we're on course. We have committed ourselves to a
road-map starting
with negotiations, a transitional government to produce a
new people-driven
constitution and then free elections."
Bennett
recently returned to Zimbabwe from exile in South Africa after
fleeing
nearly three years ago because police wanted to question him over
the
discovery of an arms cache.
The former white farmer is a founding MDC
party member who was one of
Mugabe's most outspoken
critics.
"ARREST UNDERMINES GOVERNMENT"
Zimbabwe is a country
in crisis because of soaring inflation, food shortages
and a cholera
outbreak that has killed more than 3,700 people since August.
On
Wednesday, striking teachers rejected foreign currency allowances offered
by
the government to state workers, vowing to press on with a boycott that
has
meant many schools have failed to open for the new year. Nurses and
doctors
have also walked out from state hospitals.
Newly appointed Finance
Minister Tendai Biti of the MDC told reporters the
government had revised a
plan to give all civil servants grocery vouchers
and would now pay each
worker $100.
Biti said government had started paying soldiers in the
barracks on Tuesday
and would pay teachers, who make up the bulk of
Zimbabwe's estimated 130,000
civil service, on Wednesday.
But Tendai
Chikowore, head of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, told
Reuters the
offer fell below expectations. A smaller teachers' group wants
as much as
$2,300 in salaries.
"I don't think a flat allowance for all civil
servants will be acceptable
without addressing the salary issue," Chikowore
said.
Biti said using multiple currencies would help drive Zimbabwe's
inflation
down from around 231 million percent. Figures were last published
in July
and he said release of the data would resume in March.
"Now
that the country has embraced the use of multiple currencies which are
relatively stable, government expects all businesses to act responsibly on
pricing of goods and services in order to create confidence in the economy,"
Biti said. (Additional reporting by Nelson Banya in Harare)
(macdonald.dzirutwe@reuters.com;
+263 4 799 112)
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
18 February
2009
The ZANU PF game on the issue of political detainees continued on
Wednesday.
Three activists, including Zimbabwe Peace Project Director,
Jestina Mukoko,
have been at the Avenues Clinic since last Friday and a
further two were
hospitalised on Monday. But on Wednesday the High Court and
the Magistrates
court postponed hearings on some of the activists mainly
because a police
report on torture allegations was not brought to the courts
on time.
Lawyer Charles Kwaramba said Zacharia Nkomo and Chiroto Zulu had
to be taken
to hospital by prison officials when their condition
deteriorated in jail.
They join Mukoko, MDC activists Ghandi Mudzingwa and
72 year old Fidelis
Chiramba, who are under armed guard by prison officers
at the hospital.
Several other civic and political activists are still
incarcerated at the
notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. They are
all accused of charges
relating to a plot to overthrow the Mugabe
regime.
One of the groups arrested, which includes Mudzingwa, Nkomo and
Zulu, had
two court hearings on Wednesday - one in the High Court for a bail
application and then a remand hearing at the Magistrates' court. The three
did not appear because they are in hospital but four others in the group
did. They were Chris Dhlamini, Mapfumo Garutsa, Regis Mujeyi and freelance
photojournalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere.
The last time they
appeared in court the Magistrate had requested a report
from the police on
their torture complaints. But on Wednesday the report was
not made available
at the time of the hearing, so the Magistrate postponed
the matter to
Friday. Their lawyers said this also affected their bail
application hearing
in the High Court, which led to the matter being
deferred to
Thursday.
Their lawyer said the police did finally make the report
available, but only
after the court appearances. Not surprisingly the report
exonerated the
police of any wrongdoing. Kwaramba said this shows how wrong
the Zimbabwe
criminal justice system is "because these police are the same
perpetrators
of the torture but what the court is basically doing is that it
is ordering
the same people to investigate themselves and expect them to
bring a
credible report to court. It doesn't make sense at all."
The
human rights lawyer said a parliamentary committee should have been set
up
to investigate the allegations. The inclusive government did set up a
Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to look into
complaints and
violations of the global political agreement. But Kwaramba
said lawyers
have not been given an opportunity to make presentations. "It
is a preserve
of politicians unfortunately," he said.
Meanwhile, the pressure group the
Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe
(ROHR) held a peaceful demonstration in
Harare on Wednesday, protesting
against the continued detention of the
prisoners of conscience at Chikurubi
and other places of detention. ROHR
Information Director Edgar Chikuvire
said police came soon after the
demonstration at the Rotten Row courts, and
the group was still trying to
investigate if anyone was arrested.
The Congress of South African Trade
Unions sent out a solidarity message on
Wednesday on behalf of the political
detainees, saying: "Their arrest and
detention prove that Robert Mugabe is
doing everything he can to destroy the
Government of National Unity. It
demonstrates the correctness of the joint
COSATU/ZCTU statement of 29
January 2009 which pointed out then that "the
police are still under the
control of ZANU-PF, abducting, detaining and
torturing political opponents
of the ruling elite."
"As the federations warned, the GNU will never work
while one party -
ZANU-PF - has sole control over the police and judiciary,
and uses that
control to frustrate the whole GNU project and retain power in
the hands of
the party who lost the elections on 29 March 2009."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
18 February
2009
Just a few days into his job as Finance Minister, Tendai Biti
convened a
press conference Wednesday to flesh out the new government's
proposal to pay
soldiers and civil servants in foreign currency. An
estimated 130 000 civil
servants will now be paid US$100 a month in tax free
allowances. When Morgan
Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister last week,
he pledged in his
inauguration speech to pay all civil servants in forex by
the end of
February. On Tuesday soldiers received foreign currency vouchers
that could
be redeemed at selected banks. Teachers and other civil servants
are
expected to receive their salaries on Wednesday and Thursday.
Biti
said; 'With effect from March 2009 payment to civil servants will be
done
directly into their bank accounts and therefore the voucher payment
scheme
will cease. We want to promote a savings culture again, that is why
we have
included the bank.' He said the new government had enough foreign
currency
reserves to pay February and March salaries, in what is seen as an
attempt
to get striking workers back to work. It's estimated the government
will
need close to US$13 million a month to keep up the commitment. Asked by
journalists who was in charge of the public funds, Biti said, 'It is a
constitutional provision that the Consolidated Revenue Fund is run by the
Minister of Finance and kept at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.'
There has
been speculation that Tsvangirai secured close to US$200 million
from 4
unnamed donors, who are willing to support the initiative to get
civil
servants working again. Crown Financial (UK) Chief Executive Lance
Mambondiani told Newsreel the measures by Biti were necessary as a
'stimulus'
plan to kick start the economy, but warned this had to be a stop-
gap
measure only. He argued it would be problematic to pay all civil
servants
the same amount of money, irrespective of productivity. Mambondiani
said the
previous budget presented by then acting Finance Minister Patrick
Chinamasa
had set aside US$482 million for salaries. According to
Chinamasa's budget
the government also hoped to raise an ambitious US$1,9
billion from
corporate tax, fuel and import duties, among other sources of
revenue.
Biti also said the country will revert back to the Zimbabwe dollar
in a few
months, when the economy has stabilized, and the forex payments are
a
temporary measure. Efforts by Newsreel to get hold of him on Wednesday
proved fruitless as both his phones were switched off.
Zimbabwe has
already been classed as a failed state with broken down
infrastructure and
almost zero industrial production. It remains to be seen
whether the
government can rely on its traditional sources of income to
sustain the
ambitious plans of the new finance minister.
Meanwhile striking teachers have
vowed not to return to work, saying US$100
fell far short of their demands.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,
Secretary General Raymond Majongwe
said, 'We have asked for US$2,000 and we
are getting US$100. It's
ridiculous. We are still suffering. We will not go
(back to work)." Teachers
have been on strike for the best part of 2008
stretching into 2009 demanding
better working conditions.
A much sterner test for the workability of the
new government is the arrest
of Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett.
Reports say Tsvangirai used
meetings with the Ministers of Home Affairs
(Kembo Mohadi), Defence (Emerson
Mnangagwa) and National Security (Sidney
Sekeremayi) to demand a return to
the rule of law. He is said to have called
for a halting of all farm
seizures and the release of political prisoners,
some of whom have been in
prison for nearly 4 months now. Based on the way
the state has dealt with
Bennett's case, and the continued incarceration of
Jestina Mukoko and 30
other political prisoners, Tsvangirai's plea looks to
be falling on deaf
ears.
On Tuesday Mugabe chaired the first cabinet
meeting of the new coalition
government, but no details were given on the
agenda items. Tsvangirai was
reported to have held a separate meeting with
Mugabe on that day, in which
he raised concerns about the credibility of the
new government and the need
to allow freedom of expression.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Feb 18, 2009,
14:25 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg - Striking Zimbabwean teachers on
Wednesday ruled out
returning to work, despite the country's new finance
minister Tendai Biti,
announcing he had begun paying civil servants in hard
currency as they had
demanded.
The Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said the 100 US dollars
that Biti had begun paying to civil
servants fell short of their demands.
'We have asked for 2,000 US and we
are getting 100 dollars. It's
ridiculous,' Raymond Majongwe, head of the
told Deutsche Presse- Agentur
dpa. 'We are still suffering. We will not go
(back to work).'
The PTUZ is usually supportive of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which joined President
Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF in a power-sharing government last week.
At
his first press conference, Biti said government had begun paying civil
servants in US-dollar food vouchers that could be redeemed for cash at
banks. The army had been paid on Tuesday and teachers were paid on
Wednesday, he said.
A lawyer by training and a fierce Mugabe critic,
Biti also said that he, and
not controversial central banker and Mugabe ally
Gideon Gono, was now in
control of government coffers and that he would
tabling a financial
stabilization plan in cabinet shortly.
Getting
striking doctors, nurses and teachers back to work is central to
MDC's
attempts to kickstart an economic turnaround in beleaguered
Zimbabwe.
Civil servants stopped working when hyperinflation of at least
231 million
per cent made their Zimbabwe-dollar salaries
worthless.
While Biti was announcing his first moves as minister, there
was bad news
for the MDC on the legal front.
A judge in the eastern
city of Mutare remanded the party's candidate for
deputy agriculture
minister, Roy Bennett, in custody for a further two weeks
after finding
there was enough evidence of his alleged involvement in an
insurgency plot
to warrant detaining him further.
The MDC was expected to appeal the
ruling to the High Court. No date has
been set for Bennett's
trial.
Bennett, a white farmer who has already served time in prison in
Zimbabwe
for an altercation with a Zanu-PF member, is accused of possessing
weapons
in 2006 for the purpose of insurgency and banditry.
He was
arrested on Friday shortly after returning to Zimbabwe after a
nearly-three-year absence in South Africa. He is also accused of trying to
leave Zimbabwe illegally last week.
Bennett denies the charges, which
the MDC sees as part of an attempt by
Zanu-PF hardliners to subvert the
fragile power-sharing deal. The party is
sticking by him for the agriculture
post.
http://www.iol.co.za
February 18 2009 at
09:56AM
By Stanley Gama
Three white Zimbabwean farmers and
businessmen accused of training bandits
to topple President Robert Mugabe's
government were yesterday denied bail by
the High Court in
Harare.
And stunning details emerged in court that the main witness in
the case
against them has been trying for years to seize the property of one
of the
farmers.
Maxwell Mavhunga, a lawyer representing John Vigo
Naested, Bryan Michael
Baxter and Angus John Thompson, said after the High
Court hearing that
Justice Alfias Chitakunye had ruled that the three should
remain
incarcerated at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, as they were likely to
interfere
with witnesses if granted bail.
They
are now expected to appear in the magistrate's court on March 3, but
the
lawyer said they would appeal to the supreme court.
The lawyer also
revealed that Naested, who runs a training facility for Boy
Scouts known as
Tree of Life Adventures, is seriously ill and is in the
intensive care unit
at the Avenues Clinic in Harare.
He is suffering from an undisclosed
illness and was said to have been
operated on yesterday to save his life
after having spent more than a month
in the notorious Chikurubi
prison.
The three, who own three small adjourning plots in the Ruwa area,
about 30km
from Harare, are being charged with recruiting or training
insurgents,
bandits, saboteurs or terrorists on Naested's plot.
At
the time of their arrest on January 5, they were accused of training the
bandits on behalf of the Movement for Democratic Change to topple
Mugabe.
But in court documents, the men have described a deadly plan to
plant
charges on the three by Joseph Banda, a well- connected former Reserve
Bank
of Zimbabwe security boss, who since 1996 has tried, but failed, to
invade
Baxter's farm.
Banda invaded the plot after the arrest of the
owner.
It has also emerges that before the three were arrested, Baxter's
plot,
which is opposite the training camp, had been raided five times by
police at
the instigation of Banda.
In the past Banda has even used
violence to try to oust Baxter from the farm
but has been barred by the
courts.
The three also claim that police have not taken action for his
violence
against Baxter because of his connections in the country's top
security
structures.
According to the court papers, Banda took
advantage of the arrest of the
three to invade the plot, where his workers
are said to be harassing and
threatening Baxter's wife to vacate the
premises.
"It is incisive to note that all the five raids were at the
instigation of
Joseph Banda, who intends to take over the second applicant's
(Baxter) plot.
He has employed violent means in his bid to take over the
plot, but all have
failed.
"He has made several death threats to
Baxter and his family, and on one
occasion, he assaulted the second
applicant (Baxter) and damaged his car,"
reads the defence
outline.
The trio's lawyer has dismissed the state's case against his
clients as
"false and malicious" and argued that their arrest was initiated
only so
that Banda would take one of the farms.
"Right now, Banda's
people have invaded Baxter's plot, and it is disturbing
to find out that he
is the same guy who is the key witness. He is the one
who reported the
matter and he is also acting as an investigating officer.
"There is no
evidence whatsoever to link the three old men to banditry," the
lawyer
said.
He added that, so far, no other witnesses had been
identified.
Neighbours also said it was surprising to hear that the three
were training
bandits when they have never heard a single gunshot in the
five years the
Tree of Life Adventures has been in existence. - Independent
Foreign Service
This article was originally published on page 11 of
The Star on February 18,
2009
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
18 February
2009
There is a well coordinated plan by elements in ZANU PF to push the
remaining white farmers off their land, before this practice is outlawed by
the inclusive government, Newsreel learnt on Wednesday.
Gerry
Whitehead, a Chiredzi based farmer, told us police officers and
district
administrators have been visiting the remaining white farmers and
serving
them with eviction orders.
Whitehead explained that most of these farmers
had long stopped farming
operations, after losing their land during the
invasions, but had remained
stuck in their houses 'as they had nowhere else
to go'.
The Zimbabwe Times reported this week that least 140 commercial
farmers face
both prosecution and eviction from their land over the next two
weeks, as
government tries to grab the remaining farms.
It said
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) President Hendriek Olivier had told
them that
over one hundred commercial farmers had been summoned to various
courts
countrywide over the next two weeks, allegedly for defying government
directives to vacate their land.
But it's reported that most police
officers tasked with carrying out the
orders are reluctant to do so, now
that there is a new unity government in
place.
'Now there is no
atmosphere of fear, the farmers are not particularly
worried about it
because the police have shown reluctance to push them out
of their houses.
The police are actually telling the farmers they are being
pushed by their
people in Harare,' Whitehead said.
He added; 'It's clear the orders are
coming from the generals. They have
enjoyed the gravy train for a long time
and now they know it's coming to an
end. This is why they are throwing
spanners in the works.'
The move to grab the few remaining farms follows
recommendations of a
workshop convened in Chegutu more than two weeks ago and
attended by
officials from the Ministries of Lands, Justice and the
police.
ZANU PF apologist, Themba Mliswa, addressed the gathering and
ordered more
farm evictions then, saying this wouldn't be possible after the
formation of
an inclusive government.
On Tuesday Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai held a meeting with the country's
security ministers and
demanded from them an immediate return to the rule of
law. Tsvangirai also
expressed concern about reports of fresh farm
invasions.
But the
ministers denied any knowledge of new farm invasions, suggesting
rogue
elements in ZANU PF are determined to derail the unity government, by
going
against the provisions of the Global Political Agreement that calls
for an
end to all farm invasions.
Meanwhile the sincerity of ZANU PF' security
ministers in the new government
has once again come under test after three
white farmers and a businessmen,
accused of training bandits to topple
Mugabe, were denied bail by the High
Court in Harare.
John Vigo
Naested, Bryan Michael Baxter and Angus John Thompson own three
small
adjourning plots in the Ruwa area, about 30km south of Harare. Police
said
they were using the area to recruit and train bandits, on Naested's
plot.
Naested, who actually runs the facility as an outdoor
children's adventure
area, is now seriously ill after spending a month in
Chikurubi prison, and
is in the intensive care unit at the Avenues Clinic in
Harare. Reports say
he's suffering from an undisclosed illness and was said
to have been
operated on Wednesday to save his life.
Court documents
revealed a sinister plot by the key prosecution witness,
Joseph Banda, who
probably hatched the plan for the three to be arrested.
Since 1996 Banda
had tried, but failed, to invade Baxter's farm. But after
Baxter's arrest
Banda did invade the plot. His workers are currently
threatening Baxter's
wife to try and make her leave. Before the three were
arrested, Baxter's
plot, which is opposite the training camp, had been
raided five times by
police, at the instigation of Banda.
No action has been taken against
Banda by police because of his connections
with top security structures.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday, 18 February
2009
RUSAPE - The Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made, has been accused
of
stealing more than seventy tractors which are reportedly hidden at his
Headlands farm, near Rusape.
When RadioVOP visited
the area last week, they were informed by Made's
farm workers that the brand
new stolen tractors are hidden in a tent at his
farm.
Made was
reassigned to lead the agriculture ministry on Friday by
President Robert
Mugabe when he swore in cabinet.
He reportedly stole the tractors,
which were meant to benefit farmers
under the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe's
Mechanisation Programme. The farm
workers said Made also stole other
implements that include ox drawm ploghs,
scotchcarts, among other things -
which are also hidden at the farm.
Made was the Minister of Agriculture
before being moved to the
position of Minister of Agriculture Mechanization,
with Rugare Gumbo
replacing him as Minister of Agriculture. Made has been
accused of
overseeing the destruction of the agricultural sector in
Zimbabwe.
He was nominated as ZANU-PF's candidate for the House of
Assembly seat
from Makoni West, a constituency in Manicaland, in the March
2008
parliamentary election. He was defeated by Webber Chinyadza of the
Movement
for Democratic Change, receiving 2,585 votes against 6,187 for
Chinyadza.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30346
Dear Prime Minister,
Reporters Without Borders would
like to congratulate you on taking office on
13 February as Prime Minister
of Zimbabwe's new government of national
unity.
As you know, our
organisation is very concerned about the many violations of
human rights and
press freedom that have taken place in Zimbabwe in recent
years.
Reporters Without Borders therefore calls on you as Prime
Minister to
demonstrate a genuine political will to restore the rule of law.
We think
that the Zimbabwean government currently being formed should, as a
matter of
urgency, take the following three measures.
Firstly, we
urge you to take effective action to obtain the release of all
political
prisoners, including journalist and human rights activist Jestina
Mukoko and
press photographer Shadreck Manyere. Your government should
guarantee that
no journalist is henceforth imprisoned in connection with
their
work.
Secondly, we ask you to adopt thorough reforms that guarantee press
freedom
and commit Zimbabwe to democratisation. We think that it is
essential that
your government should repeal that press law known as the
Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which was
adopted in
2002. The Interception of Communications Act should also be
repealed in
order to guarantee Zimbabweans' civil and political freedoms.
Adopted on 3
August 2007, this law allows the government and the police to
tap phone
calls and intercept email messages and faxes without requesting
permission
from a judge.
Finally, we urge you to do everything
possible to ensure that the Daily
News, which was Zimbabwe's leading
independent newspaper, is able to resume
publishing. The previous
authorities always managed to prevent this, despite
several court rulings in
its favour. This newspaper's reappearance on the
newsstands would send a
clear signal of the government's determination to
promote media diversity
and independence. Reporters Without Borders stands
ready to make its
expertise available to the Prime Minister's office in
achieving these
goals.
We thank you in advance for giving our requests your careful
consideration.
Respectfully,
Jean-François Julliard,
Secretary-General
Source: Government of Zimbabwe; World Health Organization (WHO) Date: 17 Feb 2009 ** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result A. Highlights of the day: - 1232 cases and 24 deaths added today (in comparison 1523 cases and 69
deaths yesterday) - 52.5% of the districts affected have reported today (31 out of 59 affected
districts) - 90.3 % of districts reported to be affected (56 districts/62) - Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate 1.876% - Daily Institutional Case Fatality Rate 0.90%
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers. Any change will then be explained.
http://www.ipsnews.net/
Stanley Kwenda
interviews TENDAI BITI, Zimbabwe's finance minister
HARARE, Feb 18 (IPS)
- Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe last week presided
over the formation
of a new unity government. Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) secretary
general Tendai Biti was appointed to the post of finance
minister.
Biti faces the difficult task of transforming a moribund
economy riddled
with the following problems: a virtually dead manufacturing
sector, a
collapsed agricultural sector, a world-record inflation rate, a
soaring rate
of unemployment and mounting poverty levels. But Biti, a
firebrand critic of
Mugabe's economic policies, is profoundly aware of the
mammoth task that
lies ahead of him.
Though he doesn't possess any
qualifications in finance and economics, he
has a reputation for being a
voracious reader with a penchant for quoting
from sources ranging from Greek
classics, through Shakespeare and Dickens to
popular contemporary books like
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.
The tough commercial lawyer spoke to IPS
reporter Stanley Kwenda following
his appointment and offered some of his
thoughts on how he intends to fix
the Zimbabwean economy.
IPS: What
are your impressions of your new challenge?
Tendai Biti: The job is the
worst in the world but I will have to look it in
the eye and I have no doubt
that I will be equal to the task and will
prevail.
IPS: How are you
going to get the country's economy out of the mud?
TB: The first thing is
that we have to get the country out of the mess that
Mugabe has got it into
by putting in place sound measures to stabilise the
economy and create an
investor-friendly climate.
IPS: How do you plan to do this?
TB: We
have to fix the supply side of industry. It has to graduate in the
first six
months from the near zero percent capacity to at least 60 percent
capacity.
This will be done by offering packages and incentives to the
industrial
sectors.
We will also need to change the mining policy and come up with
an attractive
market structure which will offer local miners international
prices for
their production. Mining royalty percentages will also have to be
looked
into, as well as creating an investor-friendly environment by
removing
various impediments.
IPS: You describe your new job as the
worst in the world. There were reports
that you were at some point reluctant
to participate in this new government.
What persuaded you to finally take
the job?
TB: Just the fact that somebody had to do it.
IPS:
Zimbabwe's economy is largely agriculture-based but this sector is far
from
its full potential. What measures are you going to put in place to
revive
the sector?
TB: We are going to invest a lot in this sector, particularly
during the
2009-2010 agriculture season.
The sector forms the basis
of the country's manufacturing sector and it
contributes about 90 percent to
the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
In short we want to establish a
transformation regime in all sectors.
IPS: The country's currency is now
equated by many as good as toilet paper
as a result of the hyper
inflationary environment. What measures are you
going to take to reverse
this tide?
TB: We will introduce participatory democracy to tap into
various ideas as
opposed to the centralised command system.
On the
micro side of things, we will have to move to save the Zimbabwean
dollar by
floating it on the market so that it finds its natural value. In
the interim
we will use it side by side with the South African rand but the
solution
lies in it retaining its true value rather than the randisation of
the
economy.
IPS: What about the accusations that the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) has
caused inflation by continually printing
notes?
TB: The role of the RBZ in the economy is going to be minimal,
returning it
to its core functions of managing the country's monetary policy
and
establishing a real interest regime and encouraging savings in the
country's
foreign currency reserves.
The printing of money will have
to be stopped through the establishment of a
strict fiscal discipline
regime. We will only spend what we have.
IPS: What are the prospects of
the much needed financial injection from the
West to kick-start the economic
revival?
TB: No doubt the country will need financial injections from the
west and
there are concrete promises to this effect but these can only be
realised
after the satisfaction of certain benchmarks, such as the
establishment of
democracy, respect for human rights and for property
rights. (END/2009)
BULAWAYO, 18 February 2009 (IRIN) -
President Robert Mugabe's 29-year rule in Zimbabwe has been punctuated by
treason cases involving his political opponents. It is a charge that can carry
the death sentence. IRIN looks back at some of the key cases.
Photo:
IRIN
President
Robert Mugabe
March 1982: Dumiso Dabengwa, former intelligence chief
of ZIPRA (the armed wing of ZAPU, political rival of Mugabe's ZANU party), and
Lookout Masuku, deputy commander of the new integrated Zimbabwe National Army,
are arrested and charged with treason. They are cleared by the courts a year
later, but are detained under Section 17 of Emergency Powers regulations.
1982: ZAPU leader and veteran nationalist Joshua Nkomo
is charged with plotting a coup against Mugabe. Nkomo is sacked as home affairs
minister and flees the country in 1983, remaining in exile for four years.
October 1995: Ndabaningi Sithole, leader of the
opposition ZANU Ndonga party, is arrested with two others for allegedly plotting
to assassinate Mugabe. Sithole is sentenced to two years in prison but dies
while appealing the sentence.
February 2002: Morgan
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube, and senior official Tendai Biti are arrested
and charged with treason. The state alleges they enlisted the services of a
shadowy Israeli "consultant", Ari Ben-Menashe, in plans to "eliminate" Mugabe.
Tsvangirai is cleared by the courts in 2004; the charges against the other two
men were dropped earlier.
March 2006: Arms dealer Mike
Hitschmann and seven others are charged with terrorism and an alleged plot to
assassinate Mugabe after an arms cache is discovered. Then MDC treasurer Roy
Bennett is implicated in the case. Hitschmann is eventually jailed for firearms
offences.
June 2008: MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti
is arrested on his return home from South Africa. The state alleges Biti
committed treason in a document he authored, outlining his party's post-Mugabe
transition strategy. A separate charge of "communicating falsehoods" stems from
a statement he made after the controversial 29 March elections. The treason
charge is finally dropped in February 2009.
February
2009: Senior MDC official Roy Bennett is arrested and charged with
terrorism, on the day he was to have been sworn in as deputy agriculture
minister in the new power-sharing government. A terrorism conviction can carry a
life sentence.
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
February 18th,
2009
The Save Zimbabwe Now Campaign and the Revolutionary Youth Movement
of
Zimbabwe, along with other civic groups, will be holding a picket outside
Union Buildings in Johnnesburg tomorrow. A petition will be handed over for
President Motlanthe, calling for the release of all political detainees
immediately and unconditionally.
Please spread the word and join in
if you're in Johannesburg.
Date: Thursday 19 February
Time:
10h30; petition to be handed over at 11h30 for President Motlanthe
as chair
of SADC
Venue: Outside Union Buildings
Co-ordinators: Save Zimbabwe
Now Campaign, Revolutionary Youth Movement
of Zimbabwe,
etc.
Posted by Sokwanele
ROHR Press Release — The images [on this post] tell the tale of ROHR Zimbabwe members who today demonstrated their anger in a protest against the unresolved crisis of unjust arrests and detentions of human rights and political prisoners in Chikurubi Maximum Prison and other places of detention. The demonstration was also aimed at reminding the new political establishment that the release of the prisoners of conscience should be priority.
ROHR has not been able to get confirmation of the number of arrests that resulted from the action. We needed lawyers accompany ROHR members to the Central Police Station to get the actual details but coordination with lawyers was unsuccessful by end of day today.
Close to fifty of our members gathered at the Rotten Row Courts in Harare where they heeded the call for protests, where the symbolic act itself is a clear statement to the Inclusive government that the detainees should be released unconditionally. Although the act was short, the message is clear and the morality of our call for true justice to prevail over any form of political agenda is legitimate. It is morally incorrect, that the inclusive Government should continue as if it is business as usual when obviously the skeletons of the previous regime have not yet been buried.
ROHR Zimbabwe Harare field officer addressed the public. He pointed out that the action should be a clear message for the new Cabinet that convened for the first time on Monday 17 February that the suffering of the detainees is central to the people’s heart and should be one of the priorities that need urgent attention if the positive hype of the inclusive Government is to be sustained.
As ROHR Zimbabwe we reiterate that all human rights and political detainees must be released immediately. We condemn the arrest of Roy Bennett and the 10 WOZA activists who are being denied lawyer access. This kind of orchestration on civilians transmits wrong signals to the world about Zimbabwe’s that cast doubt upon Zimbabwe’s capacity and readiness to practically handle the current human rights and economic challenges of today.
18 February 2009
JOMIC DISTANCES SELF FROM THE
CIRCULATING FLIER.
A flier entitled
ZIMBABWE IS OUR ZIMBABWE has been
circulating in some parts of the country. The flier purports to emanate from the
Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(JOMIC).
We wish to advise
the public that, this flier does not emanate from JOMIC. We have no knowledge
who the authors and distributors are. We wish to distance ourselves as JOMIC
from both the content and the principles behind this
flier.
JOMIC will
continue to attend to the difficult issues under its mandate to the best of its
ability under these difficult times.
We urge
Zimbabweans to bear with us.
Professor Welshman
Ncube
Chairperson, Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee
JOHANNESBURG, 18 February 2009 (IRIN) - An
oversight committee - deemed crucial to the success of Zimbabwe's power-sharing
deal - is struggling to hold meetings because of a lack of money.
Photo:
Flikr/Umsoto
Done
deal? President Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai
The
Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) was constituted on 30
January 2009 by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Facilitation
Team, to ensure that the signatories abided by the terms of Zimbabwe's Global
Political agreement, signed on 15 September 2008.
Ronnie Mamoepa, South
Africa's foreign affairs spokesman, told IRIN that JOMIC was "up and running".
Its guarantors are the African Union and SADC, and its facilitator is former
South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Elton Mangoma, a JOMIC
co-chairperson, painted a different picture. He told IRIN the oversight body was
being stifled by cash shortages, which meant it did not have a permanent office
to hold meetings, and had no administrative staff or travel expenses.
The function of JOMIC, according to SADC negotiators, was "to ensure the
implementation, in letter and spirit, of the Global Political Agreement",
consider steps to ensure "full implementation", act as a conduit for complaints,
and serve to promote "an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between
the parties".
JOMIC was established in the wake of 15 September, when
the political rivalries between Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) refused to subside and threatened to
scupper the power-sharing deal.
The signatories to the deal - ZANU-PF,
the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai and a break-away MDC party led by Arthur
Mutumbura - each have four representatives in the 12-person oversight forum.
The members
Among each party's representatives
there is a "co-chairperson", who chairs the oversight body every three months on
a rotating basis.
Mutumbura's representatives are Welshman Ncube
(co-chairperson and current JOMIC chair), Frank Chamunorwa, Edward Mkhosi and
Priscilla Misihairambi-Mushonga.
Tsvangirai's representatives are
Mangoma (co-chairperson), Elias Mudzuri, Tabita Khumalo and Innocent Changonda.
ZANU-PF is represented by Nicholas Goche (co-chairperson) Patrick
Chinamasa, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Oppah Muchinguri.
Mangoma said the
"three or four meetings we have had" were held in "good spirits", and sought
resolutions on "flashpoints" such as the continued detention of MDC activists -
including the recent arrest of deputy minister designate Roy
Bennett - fresh evictions of white farmers, and hate speech in the media.
He said apart from the cash shortage making it difficult for JOMIC to
travel to areas to investigate allegations such as violence, Khumalo and Mkhosi,
who live in Bulawayo, had been unable to attend meetings in Harare because of
the travel costs, as was the case for Muchinguri, who lives in Mutare.
http://www.voanews.com
By Scott
Bobb
Musina, South Africa
18 February 2009
The
crisis in Zimbabwe has driven millions of its citizens to seek refuge in
neighboring countries. Many are fleeing political repression, while others
are escaping the effects of the collapse of the economy and public services.
This has created headaches for South African officials who must cope with
the influx.
It is morning at the Musina town showgrounds, a cluster
of brick buildings
and sheds on a sprawling field meant to host agricultural
fairs. Shelters
made of cardboard and plastic sheeting are scattered across
the grounds.
Food in tin cans simmers over cooking fires.
Thousands
of people have gathered at a fence behind which stand a group of
vans, a
mobile registration center set up by the South African government.
This
is the first stop in South Africa for many of those fleeing the crisis
in
Zimbabwe.
Mike Dziva, a 23-year-old mechanic, has made it inside the gate
and is in
line to register for political asylum.
"I left Zimbabwe
because there are some hard conditions," Dziva said. "One
is due to
political violence, political instability. And then health care is
very
poor. People are dying of cholera. Even education. The schools are
closed
until now."
Many refugees arrive with few or no possessions. They often
are attacked by
gangs, called gumaguma's, who roam the border area robbing
and sometimes
raping refugees.
Seventeen-year-old Ray Shumba is one
such victim.
"I was with my brother. So we went through the river and
when we were coming
through in Musina, we met some of the gumaguma's,"
Shumba said. "And they
took all of our clothes and money, everything we
had."
Many applicants are desperate to get inside the fence and begin
their
registration. People caught without documents are picked up by the
roving
police vans and deported.
The manager of the mobile
registration center, Sakhile Dlalisa, says his
staff can only handle 300
applications per day.
"We are under pressure because we are having nine
officials working here,"
Dlalisa said. "If we had more capacity, having
additional staff members and
also resources, trucks and additional computers
or work stations, we could
process more."
His staff has registered
more than 60,000 people, mostly Zimbabweans, since
the center was set up six
months ago. But more than 2,000 applicants are
still waiting to file and
more arrive each day.
Dlalisa says 95 percent of the Zimbabwean
applicants are rejected because
the South African government considers them
to be economic migrants looking
for a better life, rather than political
refugees fleeing a repressive
regime.
But this does not deter them
because they know that the rejection can be
appealed.
Many people,
once they receive their papers, move on to major cities or
farms in the
interior. Often they seek relatives or friends who can help
them.
One
of the most graphic signs of the Zimbabwean crisis is the epidemic of
cholera, an easily preventable and treatable disease that has killed several
thousand people in Zimbabwe in recent months.
The disease has spread
across the border with the refugees, infecting
several thousand people in
South Africa and killing more than 50.
The Doctors Without Borders
charity this week warned that the epidemic could
spiral out of control in
Zimbabwe. One of its physicians in Musina, Fabrizio
Ferli, says cholera is
still a threat in South Africa.
"The epidemic is not finished in Zimbabwe
and it should not be considered
finished in this area," Ferli said. "We are
still seeing cholera cases here.
We are taking samples and considering as
cholera patients all the acute
watery diarrhea we are finding here at the
moment."
He says cholera is the most visible sign of Zimbabwe's failed
health
services. There are also many cases of malaria, tuberculosis, and
HIV/AIDS.
Some refugees cross the border looking to further their
education because
most of Zimbabwe's schools are closed.
Aid groups
have placed 250 school-age children in local schools, but most go
to
informal classrooms in the camp with volunteer teachers.
Aid workers say
they are worried about 1,500 unaccompanied children with no
family who are
considered especially vulnerable to exploitation as child
laborers or sex
slaves.
Relief workers say they are surprised by the number of mothers
with small
children fleeing Zimbabwe. They care for these tiny refugees in
special
drop-in centers that are off-limits to others.
Agnes Moyo has
been bringing her six-month-old baby to the center after
crossing the border
with her husband and two other children. She says she
left home after
supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF Party badly
beat her
father.
"I cannot go back to Zimbabwe because I cannot. I cannot because
I have seen
so many consequences, so I cannot go there," Moyo
said.
There is little food and most refugees sleep out in the open. It is
a tough
existence. But they get by on hope and survival skills. Whatever
their
reason for leaving home, virtually no one plans to return.
From a
correspondent:
Have you seen your latest ZESA bill? We just got ours --
698 US dollars for
Dec/Jan! And this on estimated consumption.
But
never mind that the estimates are wildly wrong. The fixed charge is
US$98
per month! This alone is far higher than the highest total
electricity bill
I have ever had anywhere in the world. In addition to
consumption charges,
the development levy is US$31 and the rural
electrification levy is
US$38.
And then there is the interest rate on overdue amounts -- 41.67% a
month on
US dollars -- the same rate as was charged on the hyperballistic
Z$. And
this at a time when the global interest rate for the US dollar is
around one
percent -- per annum!
And our meter has not been read
since 2006.
These madmen are clearly trying to recoup decades of
underinvestment by the
Zanu-PF mismanagement team in a very short time.
Either that or generate the
funds to import power (from where?) so they
don't look quite so bad. But
they clearly don't know the value of the US$
... they just know they want
lots of them.
Ok, I have vented. But is
there a strategy for dealing with this repricing
lunacy? TelOne is doing
the same -- our bill from them this month was
US$193!
-------
More from ZESA
The latest news today is hopeful on one front. There
is a sign on ZESA's
door saying 'Closed -- All accounts are now US$10 until
further notice.'
It seems someone has finally realised the idiocy behind
their accounts.
Now let's see if the light begins to shine in other dark
corners.
Mr Tendai Biti you're a wonderful
man but walking a very dangerous road to
allow US dollar vouchers!
Effectively you are printing money and exactly the
same thing will happen as
what happened to the Zim dollar. Only this time,
worse, as we will end up
with rampant USD inflation, as opposed to Zim
dollar inflation. To have USD
inflation will mean that our labour wages in
real terms will grow to be
astronomical levels. This will kill exports
(compounding the shortage of
foreign currency), fuel imports (already
relatively high) and destroy mining
(costs will be too high) and destroy
tourism totally (too
expensive).
Printing money vouchers in hard currencies, not backed by hard
currency or
gold, is far, far worse than printing Zim dollar money. Please
rethink and
learn from past experience or you will add more devastation ot
the
destruction we are facing. While you are busy trying to get some sort of
santity back into the country, including getting those unfairly jailed
released, please spare a thought for us white farmers. We have had our lives
shattered and farms stolen. I have been punished for crimes and events which
took place by unknown parties before I was even born. What justice is there
in this? Please help us.