Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 01 2006 @ 12:05 AM
GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono is headed for a showdown with
State Security minister
responsible for Land Didymus Mutasa over the
latter's apparent disregard for
the central bank chief's impassioned plea to
end farm invasions. Although
Gono warned last week that the continued farm
occupations would scuttle the
agricultural sector where the RBZ and other
financial institutions had
pumped large chunks of funds, an army of top
police and CIO officials
invaded Watermount Farm, situated about 40
kilometres east of Harare
Monday.
Reports also suggested that war veterans and senior
police
officers looted farm equipment in Masvingo province worth billions of
dollars this week. Zimdaily heard that the police officers who looted
Watermount Farm were armed with an offer letter signed by Mutasa. Senior
police officers who are said to be directing the new farm invasions are
Assistant Police Commissioner Mugumira, Assistant Police Commissioner
Nveremwe, Assistant Superintendent Murambwa, Superintendent Mandanda,
Assistant Commissioner Munzvenengwi, Inspector Mbaringa of Highghlands
Police Station. Zimdaily heard that Senior Assistant Commissioner Vetterai
and Deputy Commissioner Matabiri complete the list of the police officers,
who were also instrumental in the invasion of Gletwyn Farm just outside
Harare.
Gono last week warned: "The Central Bank has
invested seven
trillion dollars in the agricultural sector to build the
capacity of
identified farmers and we get distressed with every story of
equipment and
infrastructure vandalism, crop dispossession without
willingness to assume
the ancillary liability or bank loan," Gono said while
presenting his fourth
quarter monetary policy review statement last week.
"To us that behaviour is
theft," he added. Through its $7 trillion
Agriculture Sector Productivity
Enhancement Facility (ASPEF), which was set
up early 2005 to ensure food
security and generate foreign currency through
exports and import
substitution the RBZ had by December 2005 doled out $5.59
trillion to 2 647
applicants.
Gono also rounded on some
farmers who he said were making a
farming career out of hoping from one new
farm to another and in the process
displacing debt-ridden farmers and
equated them to saboteurs and thieves.
"The unfortunate occurrences - as
have happened in some cases where a farmer
borrows, tills, the land, plants
and before harvesting, someone pitches up
with an offer letter, taking over
the crops and equipment (assets), refusing
to inherit liabilities - cannot
be allowed to happen again unchecked, as
this leaves the borrowed
farmer(s) and the lending bank(s) in a
predicament," Gono
said.
The central bank chief, who is attempting to right
Zimbabwe's
seven-year-old economic slump, also said government could not
continue to
ascribe a poor harvest this year to the vagaries of successive
droughts and
teething problems of the land redistribution programme, because
the
government had declared the land parcelling exercise a "done-deal".
Efforts
to obtain comment from Mutasa and police commissioner Augustine
Chihuri were
fruitless.
The Telegraph
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed:
01/02/2006)
Food crops in Zimbabwe have failed again despite
ample rainfall.
Zimbabwe is expected this year to grow
less than half of what it
needs to feed the population and the rains have
denied President Robert
Mugabe his standard explanation of poor weather for
slumping production.
Foreign exchange-earning crops, such as
tobacco, flowers and
coffee, are now almost too small to
count.
More than 20 million acres of Zimbabwe's
well-developed
agricultural land has been confiscated from about 4,000
experienced white
farmers since 2000 and handed to Mr Mugabe's cronies,
senior civil servants
and members of his extended family.
About 90 per cent of that land is now fallow and the
infrastructure is
destroyed. Hendrik Olivier, the director of the Commercial
Farmers' Union,
said: "We have seen good rain which fell on time but there
were serious
shortages of fertiliser, fuel, and seeds. In some areas, maize
planting,
which should have ended a month ago, is still continuing."
Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 01 2006 @ 12:04 AM
GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Botswana has
unveiled plans to build an additional centre to
house the growing numbers of
illegal immigrants crossing into the country,
mainly from neighbouring
Zimbabwe. The new centre, expected to be situated
in Molepolole, a village
60 km west of the capital, Gaborone, is meant to
ease the pressure on a
similar facility in Francistown, which is already
stretched to capacity.
Thousands of Zimbabweans have been flocking to
Botswana since 2000, when
President Robert Mugabe's government embarked on
the controversial land
reform programme that has compounded its economic
problems.
Police commissioner Edwin Batshu was quoted
recently in the
Botswana Guardian newspaper as saying that, unlike the
Francistown shelter,
which serves as a holding station for illegal
immigrants awaiting
deportation, the new centre would receive illegal
immigrants who had been
given custodial sentences by the country's courts.
"People will no longer
have the luxury of being deported across the border,
only for them to
resurface shortly thereafter, as has been the case over the
years," Batshu
said. Tension between the two countries has been simmering in
recent years
as increasing numbers of Zimbabweans entered Botswana, both
legally and
illegally, in a bid to escape the economic crisis at
home.
Last year Botswana's immigration authorities complained
that
deporting an estimated 2,500 Zimbabweans each month had become a drain
on
the country's resources: in November and December 2005, repatriating
illegal
immigrants, mainly back to Zimbabwe, had cost the country 169,000
Pula. The
authorities recently moved to amend the Immigration Act of 2003,
which will
see stiffer fines - between P300 and P4,000 - and sentences
imposed on those
entering the country illegally.
"The
original act was lenient, and was encouraging aliens to
overstay in the
country," the principal immigration officer, Jimmy Kabelo,
was quoted.
Batshu pointed out that those convicted of contravening
immigration laws
would be kept at the new centre for up to five months
before being deported
to their home countries. According to the immigration
officials, most
Zimbabweans enter Botswana legally, using valid visas
obtained at the two
countries' common border posts, but when their visas
expire, they evade
immigration officials and the police, and remain in the
country.
Batshu said the police, assisted by the army,
were expected to
intensify patrols along the common borders to effectively
deal with the
problem of illegal immigrants, and the government was speeding
up
construction of the controversial 500 km electric fence between the two
countries, which would be patrolled by the security forces.
Zim Daily
Wednesday, February 01 2006 @ 12:02 AM
GMT
Contributed by: makushalondon
If one were to
put a theme to the MDC Birmingham's election it
would be continuity with
rejuvenation. There was continuity in the
re-election of the treasurer, the
organising secretary and the information
and publicity secretary and in the
elevation of Jonathan Chawora from
vice-chairman to chairman, replacing
Colin Nyamup*censored*udza.
But there was also rejuvenation
in the chairman's department
with Mandla Sibanda being elevated from the
youth department to the main
wing. The women's wing also lost its
chairperson, Linda Mtimbanyoka who
opted for and won in the contest for the
all important post of branch
secretary. She is deputised by Brian Makuzva.
Some new entrants into the
Birmingham executive included Ernest Chasi,
taking over the deputy
organising post from his friend Canwell Nyamhinda.
Leroy Chifamba remains
organising secretary.
The election
conducted by Tonderai Samanyanga and his team was
good humoured with
frankness about those who did or did not do well in their
posts. Samanyanga
reminded the incoming executive that the party was going
through a crucial
period and that there was no room on the executive of
space
wasters.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/01/2006 13:34:19
HIGH Court judge Anne Marie
Gowora is sitting on a judgment in which
Chitungwiza mayor Misheck Shoko is
challenging his suspension by the
government.
Last week, the judge
reserved judgment in Shoko's urgent chamber application
saying she would
deliver judgment "either on Friday or Monday", but has not
done so even
though she is in good health and turning up for work.
A source at the
High Court in Harare told New Zimbabwe.com Tuesday that the
judge had
prepared the judgment and had at one time summoned people to send
it for
typing, only to change her mind at the last minute.
"The judge said she
would deliver judgment either on Friday and Monday, but
she has not done so.
At one time she requested that her order be taken for
typing, but changed
her mind before handing it over," said a source.
The source added that
the judge, who seemed to be under pressure because of
the case, has since
asked for "more documentation to clarify some matters
from the
lawyers".
"It seems as if the judge is being leaned on by government
agents to deliver
a favourable judgment. It would not be surprising
especially considering
government's well documented stance on MDC mayors,"
he added.
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo has suspended a
number of MDC
mayors and replaced them with Zanu PF appointees.
The Zimbabwean
BY TORBY CHIMHASHU HARARE - The
ruling Zanu (PF), its support base dwindling
drastically, is turning to two
popular football clubs to help it regain some
popular support. Most
Zimbabweans have always been fervent supporters of the
game. Political
events usually feature soccer games between popular teams in
order to
attract public attendance. Two premiership teams - Dynamos Football
club,
Harare's glamour side, and Bulawayo's favourite Zimbabwe Saints - have
been
targeted for a management take-over by Zanu (PF) heavies. Soccer fans
are
worried that the clubs will go the way of everything else Zanu has
destroyed. "It seems they are not content with having destroyed the economy,
farming, employment, the informal trading sector, education, cricket and
rugby - they now want to ruin our favourite game," lamented a life-long
Dynamos supporter this week. "You can be sure the political interference in
soccer will not lead to an improvement in the game." Dynamos, fondly called
Dembare, because of its roots in Mbare where it was formed in 1963, has been
always viewed as a symbol of power for the Shonas. For some time it has been
rumoured that Zanu (PF) was at the root of the internal power struggle that
has dogged the club for years. Things came to a head in December when
Ignatious Chombo, local government minister, promised to bankroll the club
and publicly paid tribute to the players for having saved it from
relegation. After a disastrous season, Dynamos scraped through by beating
the lowly Masvingo United 2-1 on the last day of the 2005 Buddie Soccer
Season. The celebrations were attended by a number of Zanu (PF) business
cronies, as well as labour minister, Nicholas Goche and deputy information
minister Bright Matonga. Dynamos coach, Moses Chunga, who had been quoted in
the state-owned press as saying some members of the club's executive were
"more Zanu (PF) than others", was publicly rebuked by Chombo, who said "We
will not tolerate such behaviour." Retribution followed swiftly. Chunga was
fired two weeks later, although there are apparently moves afoot to bring
him back in. It has since emerged that Chombo and Ray Kaukonde, governor for
Mashonaland East, are set to bankroll the club. Kaukonde's Amalgamated Motor
Corporation (AMC), which employs Richard Chiminya, the chairman of Dynamos
Board of Trustees, and Innscor Limited, are said to be ready to inject
funds. Meanwhile, Zanu (PF) Central Committee member, Esau Mupfumi is slowly
but surely increasing his grip on the Saints. The Mutare-based businessman
is said to enjoy the support of both Kaukonde and Zimbabwe's king-maker
Solomon Mujuru.
The Zimbabwean
BY MUBVONGODZI LONDON - MDC
activities in the UK continue to be a clumsy
mirror of those in Zimbabwe. A
group of people met in Leicester on January
23, led by Secretary Sipho Nkala
and hosted by "Alternative" Leicester Chair
Peter Ganya. From press releases
by the group and accounts from people who
were there, here is what happened.
The function room at Aylestone Football
Club, with a seating capacity of
about 50, was reportedly packed, although
eye-witness accounts put the
number of attendees at 38. According to the
group, around 100 branches were
represented, which if it is true must be a
credit to new Organising
Secretary Givemore Chindawi, since there were only
around 40 branches
earlier this month. He has obviously been busy. The new
splinter group is
chaired by former treasurer Silence Chihuri. Other posts
that were vacant,
due to resignations or unexplained suspensions, have all
been filled, mainly
by unknowns. A surprise omission was Ganya himself, who
reportedly cancelled
a celebratory braai after the event. Ganya's position
has been difficult
because he sometimes claims to be the Chair of Leicester
Branch and
sometimes presents himself as a separate branch called
Leicester2. Another
unsuccessful candidate was Noble Sibanda, who openly
declared himself
anti-MDC at a Central London Forum in October, and has
since been Chair of
two branches in as many months. Despite his being on
Mugabe's "Banned" list,
earlier rumours that he was elected to higher office
have proven unfounded.
The split in the UK came at a meeting in December
when Nkala, Chihuri and
others refused to discuss a directive from the
National Chair's office,
saying this was coming from "a faction" of the MDC.
The group refused to
attend the 300-strong meeting called by the Chair in
Birmingham on January
8, which was attended by virtually everyone who has a
record of effective
activity in the struggle in the UK. In Birmingham the
mainstream District
made it clear that they were fully behind party
President Morgan Tsvangirai.
It has been widely believed that Nkala's group
is in the Pro-senate camp, as
Nkala is a sometime friend and confidante of
Secretary General Welshman
Ncube. However Chindawi said the group resolved
to remain neutral and will
wait until after the two splinter groups have
held their congresses to make
a decision on which MDC to support. In a press
statement deploring
irresponsible statements in the media, new Youth
Secretary Bhekimpilo
Ngwenya said plans for the upcoming visit to the UK by
National Chairman
Isaac Matongo, were "within their mediocre political
framework and signifies
unsound leadership", so readers can judge for
themselves where they stand.
Where does this leave the ordinary refugee in
the UK? Many asylum seekers
see party membership cards as a sort of "silver
bullet" to help with their
claims. They will now be faced with a difficult
choice of where to obtain
these cards. The group, which met in Leicester,
holds the secretariat and a
large number of cards which the Secretary
initially refused to release to
the Organising Department. Sales of these
cards have not yet been accounted
for by former Treasurer Chihuri. In
reality, a party card is only valuable
in court on the understanding that it
represents some activity that puts a
person in danger if they are returned
to Zimbabwe. No one in the leadership
of this new group has been known to
support or participate in regular,
effective demonstrations or protests.
Those who hold party cards must be
active in the struggle, otherwise these
cards become meaningless even to
those who genuinely support the MDC,
whatever camp they are in. Unless those
who met in Leicester on Sunday find
a way of being a threat to the Mugabe
regime, the cards they issue will do
nothing to prove that the holder is in
any danger if they are returned home.
The Zimbabwean
BY MICHAEL HARTNACK
HARARE - There are times when I despair not only of the
journalism that
comes out of Africa (including my own part in it) but the
entire way the
world's consciousness works. Our "information order" is so
entangled with
the social, economic and political malaise that translates
into so much
human misery. One might almost call it a global mental
pandemic: crude
exhibitionism of the "Big Brother" TV programme sort in
place of intelligent
leadership by example; craving for the fleeting,
exhilarating illusion of
celebrity in place of the long quest for integrity
which should be the aim
of every life. The Zimbabwean government seeks to
suppress the facts,
detaining Jewish architects "on suspicion of journalism"
for photographing
old synagogues, hauling American scholars off departing
flights and
confiscating their research material. A more sinister set feel
they own a
monopoly of liberal enlightenment, and fight any perspective
other than
their own. Worst of all, the wide world's attention is caught,
momentarily,
only by titbits of Zimbabwean news that arouse the reaction:
"Gee whiz!" In
2003-4, I was the cause of a sad contretemps between various
prominent
personalities in the Catholic church in Zimbabwe. I had been
approached by
one of them and asked to donate a 40-page chapter to a book on
how (in my
view as a journalist) the country got into its present mess, and
how it
might escape. I outlined in advance the controversial gist of what I
would
say, in the hope of avoiding later unpleasantness-but in vain. I
obtained
assurances-that were broken. Although I was told my initial draft
was a
"must have" for the book, powerful voices combined to suppress it from
inclusion for publication. What caused distress was not the waste of many
weeks' unpaid work, when I could have been earning, nor failing to see my
name in print for the 10 000th time, but the feeling of lost opportunity to
curtail suffering by increasing understanding. By contrast, on Sunday
January 15, I was on duty for an international news agency when I saw from
the front page of the state-controlled Sunday Mail that 22 year old twin
brothers had been fined ZWD25 000 (that is less than R2 or 2p) for indecent
exposure after donning what they called "pre-colonial" Zimbabwean
costume-goatskin kilts that revealed all to the rear. In this garb they had
strolled from their home in Harare's Mount Pleasant suburb to a nearby
up-market shopping complex. It took about 20 minutes to tap out a few
paragraphs for a mere "filler" item. I received messages at midnight from
subscriber newspapers urgently requesting photographs, and calls from the US
Government's own Voice of America radio seeking an interview. Friends around
the world e-mailed next day congratulating me on "my marvellous story" which
had been placed in all their papers under my byline. I could only groan and
wince with shame. Too late, I reflected that if, as I suspect, the brothers
are under some sort of identity stress, having recently returned from
Britain (their mother is in the United States) it will do them no good at
all, psychologically, to receive such global fame. Their exhibitionist
behaviour is ominous, but no news agency would have allowed me to discuss
that in a four paragraph filler item. Last week I was debating with a close
colleague the possibility they constitute a warning of wider social and
cultural neurosis. Incidents of bizarre or irrational group behaviour are
becoming increasingly common as this country sinks deeper into distress.
Civil society is eroding, its leaders forced to emigrate. We might see the
emergence of our own crazed "Lord's Resistence Army", on the lines of the
one that has "immiserated" northern Uganda over the past 20 years. My friend
exclaimed: "Anything would be better than this." I could not disagree more.
In my chapter for the churchmen I began by saying that unless we break
ancient cycles of violence and impoverishment, we may be crying "Mugabe was
better than you are" to whoever succeeds him, just as a drunk shouted at
Mugabe at Heroes Acre in 1991: "(Rhodesian prime minister Ian) Smith aiva
nani" (was better). This country is a heartbeat away from the clutches of
brutal, uneducated warlords with none of Mugabe's flair for power-broking,
and of fanatics inspired by strange fantasies. They may be egged on, at
least initially, by the same shallow and dilettant element in the churches
and the universities and the news media who will today go to ruthless
lengths to silence any implied suggestion they bear responsibility for
making this regime what it is and, incidentally, turning a promising
provincial schoolmaster into a political Jeckyll and Hyde. It is noteworthy
how many of the "progressive" academics who were here 1980-2000, pouring out
a stream of books and learned articles in praise of Mugabe, have now quietly
slipped away. They have gone off to make exhibitions of themselves in fresh
idealistic crusades on behalf of other unfortunate societies. The
it-wasn't-my-fault disillusion among those who leave is, not coincidentally,
proportional to the accusatory paranoia among many who stay. Dark suspicions
surround the readmission of veteran politician Edgar Tekere to Zanu(PF). He
was expelled in 1988 after founding the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, saying
there was "a clear trend to repression and dictatorship" in Zanu(PF), of
which he was a founder member in 1964. My report on Tekere's strange
rehabilitation got little media interest. Who cares? Mugabe and Tekere were
once close friends, crossing together into Mozambique in 1975 to join
guerillas fighting white rule in Rhodesia. Tekere was secretary general of
Zanu(PF) during the British Government's fateful 1979-1980 independence
election process, when Mugabe was swept to power. Tekere was briefly a
cabinet minister before an exhibitionist incident when he donned his combat
fatigues before Mugabe and visiting President Samora Machel of Mozambique,
and announced he was "going to fight a battle". He and his bodyguards then
went to a place outside Harare where supporters of Joshua Nkomo's rival ZAPU
party were reported to be. Failing to find them, they went to a nearby farm
and wantonly shot dead the occupier, Gerald Adams. They were acquitted of
murder on a technicality. Dropped from the cabinet and party executive,
Tekere made a showy comeback in 1988, denouncing Mugabe's plans for a one
party state. At the 1990 elections, a wave of violence was unleashed by
Zanu(PF) militants and the security forces against ZUM supporters, many of
whom were students. Former Gweru mayor Patrick Kombayi had six bullets
pumped into him while standing as a ZUM election candidate, the gunmen
receiving pardons the day they were convicted. Mugabe declared: "If whites
in Zimbabwe want to rear their ugly terrorist and racist head by
collaborating with ZUM, we will chop that head off." He threatened to seize
all white-owned farms, while his TV adverts depicted a car crash and
announced: "That is one way to die-the other is to vote ZUM." Tekere and his
party garnered some 20 percent of the vote, then mysteriously disappeared
from view as the "Mandela Era" dawned in South Africa. A chapter by
Professor Eldred Masunungure, in the book to which I was supposed to
contribute, regurgitated old conspiracy theories that Tekere and ZUM were a
"plant" to weaken and confuse opposition. Masunungure quoted a former ZUM
official: "Tekere betrayed and cheated us, and the nation. He never left
Zanu(PF)." This does not explain, however, why Tekere's wife, a policewoman,
was victimised by the force, and the genuine, undisguised fury in Mugabe's
attacks on him at the time, warning: "You are playing with fire, my boy."
The balance of current evidence is against a conspiracy. It is possible that
with funds and admirers exhausted, Tekere just lost interest in his
play-acting. Perhaps-like others here-he never had any other platform, any
more profound principles, than vulgar exhibitionism and the satisfaction of
his own ego. He may have appeased some demon within himself, but he
inflicted grievous injury and loss on those who supported him, believing he
promised a better Zimbabwe. With acknowledgements to The South African
Morning Newspaper Group.
The Zimbabwean
BY ZAKEUS CHIBAYA
MAPUTO - The South African-based Zimbabwe Action Support
Group has agreed to
intensify its bid to mobilise Zimbabweans for massive
civil disobedience to
oust the Mugabe regime. Co-ordinator, Rogers
Mudarikwa, said a rally in
Maputo later this month would discuss various
strategies. "The struggle for
Zimbabwe is now in the hands of Zimbabweans in
exile because the people in
the country are oppressed and unable to raise
their finger against the
regime. The exiles, especially in the
neighbourhood, should take the
responsibility to liberate the country," he
said. "We will be following the
footsteps Mugabe used to gain into power and
nothing is going to stop us,"
he added. Resistance in the country has become
non-existent because of the
Public Order and Security Act, which prohibits
people from gathering. Many
activists have been arrested, tortured and
detained in Zimbabwe after trying
to stage demonstration or hold meetings.
ZASG's aim is the establishment of
a new government by the end of this year
and elections supervised by the
United Nations.
The Zimbabwean
BY MARTINE STEMERICK
LONDON - Hundreds of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers
in the UK are in legal
limbo - their cases delayed and deferred, unable to
work, and facing
destitution and a bitter winter. Despite an initial "AA"
AIT case decision
and a subsequent decision against sending failed asylum
seekers back to
Zimbabwe because their lives would be at risk, the Home
Office continues to
petition the Court of Appeals to reverse the AIT
judgements. The Home Office
appears to be pursuing a 'wait and see'
strategy, hoping perhaps that Zimbos
will give up their fresh appeals the
situation changes in Zimbabwe, and the
Home Office can begin deporting
Zimbabweans once more. Some Parliamentarians
are trying help. Kate Hoey, MP
Vauxhall, put forward motion EDM1293 in
November 2005. This argues for the
right to work for failed asylum seekers.
So far it has been signed by 63 MPs
from all political parties. When enough
MPs have signed, the motion will be
debated in Parliament. Please ask your
MP to sign EDM 1293 if s/he hasn't
already done so. The MPs have joined
clergy led by the Archbishop of York
and the Refugee Council to plead a
change for failed Zimbabwean asylum
seekers who cannot return home but are
being forced into destitution by the
Home Office ruling. "There are
Zimbabweans I know personally who have been
reduced to destitution within
the past few weeks even though they have
skills we really need in this
country such as teaching and nursing. We can't
send them back to Mugabe's
tyranny, so it is common sense they should be
allowed to work for their
living," said Hoey. Harris Nyatsanza, a secondary
school Geography teacher
from Zimbabwe who has been refused asylum, was
interviewed this week on SW
Radio Africa. He spoke passionately for the
doctors, nurses, teachers and
many other highly trained professionals from
Zimbabwe who wanted to work.
"Asylum seekers would love to work and support
themselves whilst waiting for
decision on their cases. We don't want to be a
burden on the economy or the
state, that's the simple argument we are
making. If the state is finding it
difficult to support us then give us the
right to work and support
ourselves," he said.
The Zimbabwean
BY OWN
CORRESPONDENT LONDON - Since our front-page lead about an alleged
Homelink
scam two weeks ago, The Zimbabwean and several websites focussing
on the
country, have received considerable feedback from disgruntled
customers.
Homelink's chief executive, John Heath, issued a statement in
which he
denied the allegations. "Homelink was created to provide a safe,
reliable
and legitimate channel through which Zimbabweans living abroad
could remit
funds to relatives and friends back home easily and speedily.
Since it was
established it has fulfilled this role in an exemplary manner
and has
enabled a substantial level of foreign currency to be made available
to the
country, in turn providing much-needed funding to pay for essential
services
ranging from power and fuel to medicines and food," says the
statement.
Heath added that the organisation worked with reputable agencies,
notably
money transfer agencies for the remittance of foreign currency and
property
developers for the facilitation of acquisition of homes by
Zimbabweans
abroad. Zimbabwean businessman Masimba Msipa, whose Charlottes
Brooke
development was at the centre of the scam allegations, is one such
developer. "If circumstances change and a need arises, Homelink will review
its relationship with any such third parties, but there has to date been no
cause to do so. Feedback from the large number of people who have undertaken
business dealings with and through Homelink has been highly positive,
especially from people who have been acquiring homes through the projects
identified by Homelink as being suitable for clients," said Heath. "We would
like people here and abroad to recognise that we place foremost in all our
activities and programmes the interests of our clients and the whole
country, which we wish to serve with integrity," he added. Meanwhile, the
official Homelink website last week carried a message from Patriot
Properties claiming to set the record straight regarding the issues raised
in The Zimbabwean's article. However, no such statement was communicated to
The Zimbabwean itself. The statement described Charlottes Brooke as being
located in Borrowdale Estate 26km from the Harare CBD and 7 km north of
Borrowdale Brooke. "Construction of houses at Charlottes Brooke's phase five
is based on a standard plan known as Villa Spaniola "Ruva" and there has
never been a variation of this plan as alleged in the article," says the
statement, which also denied that the complainant was a client of Homelink.
Out of the 1,000 registered properties at Charlottes Brooke, only 13 have
been funded by Homelink. The complainant this week held a meeting with
Msipa's agent in the UK, Joseph Musungo, and the matter has been resolved
amicably. Meanwhile, Zimbabweans in the UK continue to report their
disappointment, anger and frustration experienced through business dealings
related to the Homelink Scheme. They have all requested anonymity, for fear
of reprisals against themselves or their relatives back home, and failure to
recover the money they have already spent.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The MDC
has set the weekend of 17-19 March as the dates for the
people's national
Congress to be held at the City Sports in Harare expected
to be attended by
13 000 delegates. The national chairman Isaac Matongo this
week announced
the dates for the main congress following the holding of the
two remaining
provincial congresses of Bulawayo and Matabeleland South last
weekend.
"Committed and dedicated provincial leaderships have now been
elected in two
of the party's 12 provinces," said Nelson Chamisa, MDC
information
secretary, this week. Among those elected are Lovemore Moyo
(Matobo) who is
now the Matabeleland South provincial chairman, Seiso Moyo,
a veteran MDC
activist from Beitbridge, Agnes Mhloyi provincial chairperson,
Alderman
Mattison Hlalo, who is the vice chairperson and Samuel Khumalo, a
veteran
trade unionist, who was elected vice secretary. Chamisa reported
that the
Bulawayo congress attracted 650 enthusiastic party delegates from
the seven
district structures of the party in the province. In Matabeleland
South, 450
delegates and observers from the seven districts attended the
congress.
"What is now left is the main congress where millions of our
supporters will
engage in a leadership regeneration and renewal process. The
people are
clear that the time for opportunism and bickering is over and we
must now
focus on taking the struggle forward by engaging in a paradigm
shift in our
struggle to install democracy in Zimbabwe," he said. "Our train
will
disgorge those who have sought to pursue parochial and self-serving
agendas.
Excess baggage is going to be off-loaded. We must make that a
closed chapter
and seek to consolidate the people's struggle. Men and women
of tried and
tested leadership are expected to assume positions at the
Congress to steer
the MDC into government and indeed extricate this country
out of the current
economic quagmire and social decay." The membership
expects President Morgan
Tsvangirai to present his report at the Congress on
the achievements and
challenges of the party in the past five years.
Delegates to the Congress
are also expected to map out the strategies and
programmes to reinvigorate
the party and to dislodge the dictatorship in
this country. Chamisa
emphasised that the majority of Zimbabweans, including
business, the church
and ordinary people had been against the Senate
election. "The cost to the
fiscus and the impact that cost has on the budget
deficit and on the economy
has spelt doom for our country," he said. "The
Senate project is a Zanu (PF)
project. It is a project that is linked to the
succession politics in Zanu
(PF). It is part of Zanu (PF)'s cut-and-paste
approach to the Zimbabwean
crisis. The MDC has no business with what happens
in a party that has
collapsed the country and ruined the people's lives over
the past 25 years.
We need a new beginning. We need a new Zimbabwe. We must
seek solutions to
the deepening national crisis." He said the emergencies
confronting the
country were immense. "We have a huge responsibility to
crush the
dictatorship and deliver change. Our challenge is to build a
democratic
society with abundant opportunities for all. We must unite, heal
and
integrate our society across race, tribe and ethnicity. "We have an
obligation to serve the people. Our enemy remains Zanu (PF) and Robert
Mugabe and not a few within our number who are against confronting the
dictatorship."
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The MDC has praised the
Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono,
for singling out ruling Zanu (PF)
officials as the major cause of corruption
and economic collapse in
Zimbabwe. "Gono, in his monetary statement, was
clear that there was endemic
corruption in all sector of the economy, from
land distribution to
parastatals. He was clear that the large-scale
corruption that had eaten
into every pillar of the state was not driven by
the ordinary person in the
street, but by known thieves in the top echelons
of Zanu (PF) and
government," said Nelson Chamisa, MDC secretary for
information in a recent
statement. The MDC has been saying this for years.
Their position has
consistently been that corruption by the Zanu (PF)
leadership was so endemic
that the only possible solution was a change of
government. Gono, who was
Mugabe's personal banker for many years as CEO of
Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe (CBZ), is known to have close personal ties with
the aging
dictator. Analysts are therefore surprised at his new frankness in
acknowledging what people have been saying for years, saying this will
surely have earned him powerful enemies within the ruling party. His
predecessor, Leonard Tsumba, a highly experienced banker was branded an
economic saboteur and sacked from his position for suggesting that the
Zimbabwe dollar should be de-valued. Since then, Gono has devalued the
currency several times with impunity.
The Zimbabwean
BY DANIEL MOLOKELE JOHANNESBURG - The
South African National Editors Forum
held a forum recently to highlight the
growing concern that xenophobia could
become a national crisis. The ugly
phenomenon has come under the spotlight
once again in the wake of the recent
street attacks in some residential
areas of Gauteng, during which at least
two Zimbabweans died. Due to a
number of reasons ranging from historic,
political and socio-economic in
nature, a culture of xenophobia has
developed among black South Africans
against foreigners, especially those
from the rest of the continent. Over
the years, a special derogatory word
that personifies the xenophobic aspect
of the nation has been developed. The
word 'amakwerekwere' is by far the
most popular denotation accorded to all
foreigners. It purportedly depicts
the phonetic sound of foreign African
languages. The ever increasing tide of
Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo
River is only likely to raise the already
high levels of resentment against
foreigners here. Indeed it seems
Zimbabweans have now been forced to bear
the full brunt of South African
xenophobia. This could also explain the
increased harassment of Zimbabweans
by state institutions like the police
and Home Affairs Department. In fact,
the Lindela Deportation Centre has
become the unofficial home for
Zimbabweans here. The mob killings that have
recently erupted could signal a
dormant volcano waiting to erupt if
officials don't do something about it
soon. At this rate, South Africa risks
a huge bloody conflict between locals
and foreigners, especially among its
poorer communities. It seems a pity
that South Africa is not taking the
opportunity to benefit from the fallout
in Zimbabwe. A lot of the people who
are now coming here are beneficiaries
of the health and education explosion
there in the 1980s. They are thus
ready for socio-economic harvest. Sadly,
the Zimbabwean government cannot
benefit from its investment back then. But
South Africa has a critical
shortage of black skilled labour and
professionals. There is an urgent need
for a collective effort by the
government, political parties, civil society
and the media to treat this
matter as a national crisis. We as the
Zimbabwean community here are
beginning to set up national structures to
represent us. This is so
especially with regards to the media community and
civic society
organizations. I therefore call upon the various interested
parties to
organise a big indaba to try and confront the problematic issue
of
Xenophobia before it gets out of control. Daniel Molokele is a Zimbabwean
human rights lawyer who is based in Johannesburg. He can be contacted at
'danielmolokela@yahoo.com'
The Zimbabwean
Recently I met a former resident of
Zimbabwe who now lives in a distant
country. I could see he had strawberries
on the side table but he delayed in
setting them before us. 'We have to wait
for the postman.' He did not
enlarge on this enigmatic explanation but after
a little while the postman
did arrive with the letters - and a carton of
cream. 'The postman brings me
odd things from the shops. He always looks in
to see how we are, whether
there are any letters or not.' I warmed to this
postman who daily went
beyond 'the call of duty' to give comfort and joy to
an elderly couple.
Small gestures can raise the confidence of people. They
can ignite a sense
of solidarity, to use that Polish word again, a sense of
communion with
others. Bobby Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 as he
campaigned to
become President of the United States, once spoke of 'ripples
of hope.' Each
time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot
of others, or
strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope, and
crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and
daring,
these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest
walls of
oppression and resistance. Few are willing to brave the disapproval
of their
fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society.
Moral
courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great
intelligence.
Yet it is the one essential vital quality for those who seek
to change a
world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that
in this
generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will
find
themselves with companions in every corner of the globe. For the
fortunate
among us there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar
paths of
personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before
those who
enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history
has
marked out for us. Like it or not we live in times of danger and
uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energies of people
than any other in history - The gospel image for 'this one essential vital
quality' is 'salt' (Matt 5:13). It is salt that makes food palatable and
nourishing. It also preserves. It gives life. Every culture has sought to
secure its supplies of salt. Its link with life itself can be seen in the
stories among the Dande people about Guruuswa. The highest compliment you
can pay to another person is to call him or her 'the salt of the earth.' We
have many amongst us who could be so called but at the moment they are as
hidden as the substance itself as it quietly does its work.
The Zimbabwean
BY MUDYAZVIMBISHI
AND BRAB HARARE - On January 20 the Harare municipality
transferred farmers
selling their produce from the City Sports Centre to
Mabvuku, Dzivararsekwa,
Hatcliffe and Lusaka-Highfield. The City Sports
Centre had turned into a
health menace, with accumulating refuse soaking in
the mud spattered ground.
There were no sanitary facilities and the
consequences would have been too
ghastly to contemplate a few days after the
outbreak of cholera. As we drove
from the city centre to Mabvuku, it was
obvious why Town Clerk Nomutsa
Chideya, in the past, insisted vehemently
that he needed a 4 x 4 vehicle.
The roads are horrible, with portholes being
a major cause for concern worse
to those who drive low suspension cars; we
were not an exceptional case as
we snaked the pothole-interspaced-with-tar
roads. We arrived in Mabvuku at a
place popularly known as KuMatoko where
the 'new market' has been opened.
Not surprisingly, this market had been
operational in the past and
subsequently closed after failing to meet basic
sanitary standards. Yet some
high-ranking people, in their wisdom or lack of
it, had decided to reopen
the place without any due homework - an open
place, covered by massive grass
and with a non-functioning toilet and less
than 20 metres away from
residential sites. With the incessant heavy rains
the place will soon turn
into another mud pool. There are no sanitary
facilities; the toilet on site
is non-functional and accumulating piles of
refuse are a sad reality. The
nearest functional public ablution facilities
are approximately a kilometre
away. What is more worrisome is that the
market is located adjacent to
houses, where stinking refuse piles are
already a threat. More scary is the
fact that Mabvuku and Tafara have
documented evidence of water problems
which the city chefs have failed to
address. On site we were lucky to
overhear a conversation between a
municipal official and a lady who claimed
to be from the Cholera Taskforce,
who was acknowledging that the place did
not meet the basic sanitary
standards and she was contemplating on
recommending its closure whilst the
official from the Harare municipality
emphasised that they would be getting
a cheque to the tune of $150 million
as soon as the city of Harare treasury
department opened on Monday. The
closure of the office on Saturday was
attributed to the deplorable state of
the market. The Z$150 million was
meant for the development of the site.
With the unprecedented levels of
inflation, one wonders if any sound
development can be achieved by that
amount. Apparently everything needs to
be constructed and basic arithmetic
tells you this is simply impossible or
people will be subjected to yet
another propaganda applauding the financial
support by the Town House to
ameliorate the sufferings of the farmers. This
is a clear revelation that
the Harare municipality has ceased planning and
relies on spontaneous
reactionary approaches. They closed Mbare of course on
health grounds,
without any alternative focus on the fate of the farmers.
Now farmers are
like a yoyo, being tossed from one market site to another
without even an
initial survey of the places being recommended. This move by
the Harare
municipality has also bred resentment between vendors and the
farmers whom
the vendors are accusing of venturing into selling directly to
the
customers. The market at KuMatoko is not central for the farmers and the
only target markets are Tafara, Caledonia Mabvuku, and probably Epworth
residents. In a sad development on the first day of opening, the farmers
were attacked by the vendors and lost some of their produce as they tried to
flee. The police have however arrested some vendors and issued threats while
the Harare municipality police are protecting the farmers on site. In
Hatcliffe the allocated market place is again an open ground with no tarmac
surface and shelter. The new market, we were told, displaced the car park
and motorists were still worried over the security of their vehicles.
Adjacent to the allocated 'new market' heaps and heaps of smelly rubbish are
piling up. All on the way through Dzivarasekwa there were no farmers who had
attempted to set up at the proposed place. Finally we arrived in Highfield,
a place popularly known as Lusaka.We were welcomed by the malodorous smell
that bred from the accumulating piles of litter that are neglected adjacent
to the market and a public toilet. The nearest ablution facilities are
blocked and there is only one functional water tap. With the Lusaka market
being the only one that taps a huge market after Mbare, not surprisingly the
facilities are congested as farmers throng the area for their business.
Lusaka market is not sufficiently big enough to absorb all the farmers'
produce, and so most of it, being perishable, ends up fetching low prices on
the market or being left to rot. The market opens at 6 am and closes at 11
am. None could verify whether this was to be a daily occurrence or only a
weekend timetable.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Jonathan Maphenduka, who
resigned as a board member of the Media
and Information Commission (MIC) in
protest against its partisan
decision-making style has spurned his
reappointment to the
government-controlled media regulatory body. He told
the press the decision
to bring him back as commissioner had not been
officially communicated to
him. Maphenduka resigned from the MIC in August
last year in protest against
the Commission's decision to deny Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ),
publishers of the Daily News and Daily News on
Sunday an operating licence
in terms of the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
The former commissioner, who described
AIPPA as a bad law, said he had faxed
and posted his proposals on amending
the Act to the Minister of Information
Dr Tichaona Jokonya to which there
was no response. He said he had also
expressed his reservations on the
appointment of commissioner Daphne Tomana
citing conflict of interest given
that her husband, Johannes, was the MIC
lawyer. Maphenduka said he had
received "a very strange" explanation from
MIC chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso
to the effect that the problem was not with
Mrs Tomana, but with her
husband. "Mr Tomana is the only lawyer who
understands media law," Mahoso
reportedly told Maphenduka. "I am not going
back. This is the end of the
whole thing. The MIC eagle, which is its board,
remains in the air ready to
swoop on privately-owned newspapers," said
Maphenduka. "The present
condition is unacceptable. It is untenable."- Misa
The Zimbabwean
PATRICK BOND concludes his
analysis of the Zimbabwe-South Africa-IMF loan
debacle. By August 2005,
Mbeki assumed that his offer of a $500 million
credit could influence the
course of an elite transition, aiming at
installing a neo-liberal,
low-intensity democracy regime. That model would
slightly sideline Mugabe by
2008 at the latest; permit Zanu(PF) to retain
power - possibly in a
government of unity by co-opting MDC leaders - with
the friendlier face of a
technocratic president (the neoliberal former
finance minister Makoni is
usually tipped for the job) even if Mugabe still
controlled the ruling party
itself; and then open the economic borders up
much more to Johannesburg
capital. But Mugabe didn't play along. Showing an
impressive resilience and
desire to hold on to maximum power at all cost, he
visited China in August
and then snubbed Mbeki in a brutal diplomatic manner
at an African Union
(AU) meeting in Addis Ababa. And then Mugabe pulled a
card from his sleeve
no one thought he had: in September he came up with
$135 million from having
scrounged all foreign currency available, and paid
the IMF a substantial
down payment, enough to earn a six-month reprieve on
the expulsion threat
(after the September payments, outstanding IMF debt was
$160 million).
Mugabe promised $50 million more by March 2006, and vowed to
repay the full
amount. (No one outside Pretoria really believes the IMF
would expel
Zimbabwe, given that China and many African regimes would oppose
this in the
IMF executive, where 15% of the vote would be enough to veto
such a move.)
By all accounts, this was an irrational and costly gesture.
Even
high-profile business spokespersons who are ordinarily most aggrieved
by
Mugabe's dirigisme were opposed to the payment, in part because rumours
suggest the Reserve Bank raided Harare capital's foreign exchange accounts.
Conservative economic commentator John Robertson complained, 'This is just
diverting foreign currency from exporters to the IMF at an enormous cost. We
are starving local producers of hard currency and this is exacerbating the
problem.' Former Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries leader Eddie Cross
explained: You have the spectre of this smashed and abused country - like a
mugged man lying in the street and being run over by the passing traffic -
actually paying money to the IMF. Money taken from private schools and
NGO's, food agencies and exporters. $50,000 here, a million there. Money
critically required for food, drugs, fuel - all basic necessities and the
IMF has the audacity to welcome the payments! Shown the source of the funds
they express shock and promise to investigate - but they still bank the
cheques. I wrote to the Fund and said send the money back - we need the
stuff more than you do to keep life and limb together - not even the
courtesy of a reply- Why is the IMF debt so important? The reality is that
it is not that important. Paying our arrears to the Fund would not change
our status one iota - we could not expect IMF support for any sort of
stabilisation programme for some considerable time after the issue of the
arrears has been dealt with and a workable recovery programme put in place.
No, the reason why the IMF threat was finally treated with such deference is
mainly political. African leaders - struggling with their image abroad and
with economic and financial problems at home, did not want to see an African
State expelled for misbehaviour- And so we have the spectre of the Zanu (PF)
regime contradicting itself with respect to the IMF issue. One minute they
do not matter and can 'go to hell'. The next we are scouring the country for
our last remaining sources of foreign exchange to make a meaningless payment
to the Fund which will ensure that we are not expelled but are then left
with insufficient resources to import essentials like food. To make sense of
Harare's willingness to pay the IMF, peer pressure from Mbeki was certainly
a factor, but the initial refusal of Pretoria's $500 million loan suggests
that Mugabe's ego is so large, that he ignored the extraordinary sacrifices
being made by his citizens over the prior months (with nearly every basic
commodity in short supply), simply to massage his pride at repaying the IMF.
Yet that pride also required repetition of the requisite anti-imperialist
sentiments, including this statement during a visit to Havana a few days
after making the first ($120 million) payment: 'We have never been friends
of the IMF and we shall never be friends of the IMF. The IMF is never of
real assistance to developing countries. It is wielded by the big powers. It
is the big powers which dictate what it should do.' Meanwhile, on the same
day Mugabe spoke out against the IMF in Cuba, the Movement for Democratic
Change issued a pro-IMF statement. The MDC argument not only unveiled
residual neoliberal influences at Harvest House headquarters, but also
suggests that the opposition party - which in late October split in half
over whether to participate in the November senate elections - does indeed
desire a Pretoria-mediated elite transition (notwithstanding the
overwhelming lack of evidence for Mbeki's bona fides): As the Mugabe regime
gets more and more desperate, its economic and political positions get
increasingly incoherent. Having in the past been brazenly disdainful of the
IMF, it is now suddenly desperate to remain a respectable fee-paying member.
This objective could have been facilitated by accepting the economic
lifeline on offer from South Africa, but that would have required political
compromises to be made. The regime's desperation is greatest in the
political realm, as evidenced by its spurning outside assistance and opting
instead to squander the country's extremely scarce foreign currency
resources to repay a large chunk of the arrears owed to the IMF. It is like
a badly behaved schoolboy offering his pocket money to a rich uncle, rather
than improve his schoolwork- South African government officials were also
surprised by Mugabe's payment, and over the subsequent weeks continued to
maintain that negotiations for the additional $500 million were on track,
merely delayed. The Cabinet had made one other similar loan to a country
primarily so as to repay the IMF, three years earlier. It was Joseph
Kabila's unelected regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the
$45 million loan by Pretoria allowed Kabila to clear enough of the old
Mobutu arrears that a new IMF mission could enter Kinshasa and impose
further liberalisation, in turn disproportionately benefiting South African
capital. The Mobuto debts should be declared 'Odious' in international law,
but their payment by Pretoria gained Kabila a new IMF credit, at the cost of
renewed IMF control over the Congolese people. In contrast to activists, the
key politicians prefer to 'talk left, walk right'. Once we dispense with the
rhetoric, this surreal financial game of hide-and-seek from the IMF unveils
imperial/subimperial/dictatorial power relations uniting Washington,
Pretoria and Harare. It remains for critics of the regimes to pursue a
democratic, anti-neoliberal strategy - and too, for international protest
against the Bretton Woods Institutions to now intensify. - First published
in Review of African Political Economy and Monthly Review. Patrick Bond
directs the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society:
http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs.
The Zimbabwean
BY CHENJERAI
HOVE Ten years ago, I was on a bus to my rural village, sitting
by the
window, looking at a policeman telling the bus driver that the tyres
of the
bus were unsafe. The driver bribed the policeman right in front of us
and
was waved on. I protested loudly that I was not risking my life for the
bribe. The driver stopped the bus and appealed to the passengers for
sympathy. The whole busload was against me, with abusive language and
threats to have me thrown out for interfering in matters that were none of
my business. Ten minutes later, as the bus sped along, that same front tyre
burst, ending with us in a wheat field at Kintye Estate. A nation held to
ransom by just one man: the powerful driver. Apathy even in the defense of
one's own life, total resignation to fate in the hands of others. We claim
to be 'the most peaceful people' in the region, but it is insulting when
peacefulness degenerates into massive apathy to the point when it becomes an
insult. I remember one time a whole vice-president saying the people should
vote for a baboon if the ruling party gave them the animal as a
parliamentary candidate. It was at a rally. The people cheered and laughed
as if a new economic programme had been announced. They were, in fact,
laughing at being insulted. They were laughing at being called zombies who
are not supposed to ever think of the quality of candidates the ruling party
gives them to support. Instead of rebelling and protesting, they laughed and
cheered. Instead of throwing rotten eggs at the politician, they lifted him
shoulder-high, a hero and master of the art of politics. Currently, the
vegetable vendors have been dumped in Belvedere in a worse place than Mbare.
One would expect them to stand up and demonstrate against that abuse. The
city dwellers too, should gang up with them and show Ignatious Chombo that
they will not yield to his dictatorial ways of running cities. But no, the
people are 'peaceful' even when they know that they have been badly wronged.
They fear police violence. They fear a night in police cells. So, they do
nothing about it. They fear to fight for their dignity and freedom. Their
families starve, and they feel powerless! Bad laws are made and the citizens
don't even bother to challenge their local member of parliament. Our members
of parliament walk around with pomp, showered with 'Chef! Chef! Chef!' by
the electorate who are reduced to mere sub-human children by the powerful. I
remember challenging my then member of parliament, Irene Zindi, and her
bouncers came for me like hungry bulldogs, wanting to maul me to death for
demanding certain answers from her as my constitutional representative. The
people gathered there just looked on hopelessly. The current problem in
Zimbabwe is not just the government. The people are the main problem. Just
how can someone be asked by the police to demolish their own house, and they
do it, with tears in their eyes? Elsewhere in the world, the citizens would
fight or die, rather than give in. Not in my country. They tear down the
house, and sit on the rubble, mourning. In other countries, the community
teams up, challenge the police to leave the family alone, and threaten to
burn the bulldozers. No one is prepared to die for their principles and
rights in my country. We have allowed a dictatorship to grow in our own
garden. It is pointless to look at the world with starving eyes and say,
'Help us, Tibajuika, we are helpless. Koffi Annan, please rescue us!' As
long as citizens so easily accept humiliation, they are their own enemies.
If you don't sweep your own backyard, the whole town will be filthy. The
corruption and abuse of human rights happening in the country do not happen
in a vacuum. It is made to happen by living, real political leaders, but
their families smile and cheer with glee as they receive the loot. The EU
ban should be broadened to include relatives of government officials who
open and run foreign bank accounts on behalf of corrupt politicians and the
children of politicians are studying comfortably in foreign universities.
Efforts by the outside world can only help to complement the sacrifices of
the people on the ground. If the people were fighting viciously for their
rights, South African president, Thabo Mbeki, would probably not hesitate to
impose a travel ban on Zimbabwean politicians. In 1979, Rhodesia was forced
to come to its senses by South Africa. In 2005, Zimbabwe can be forced to
come to its senses by South Africa too. One week of sanctions by South
Africa will remove Mugabe from power or force him to engage in serious
dialogue with his people. Simple. By our zeal to worship power, we created
the monster who is Mugabe. We have to remove that monster ourselves. No
international community can do it for us. Zimbabweans should just learn to
be aggressive about their freedoms, to leave the comfort of their houses and
participate in the restoration of their own freedom: in the streets, in
bars, in churches, in schools, in universities, everywhere. Every time there
are demonstrations, not many from the rich suburbs are prepared to risk
their skin by waving a placard at Africa Unity Square. The demonstrators
come from the townships, but the benefits which come later go to the people
of the suburbs whose salaries are already high. During the military coup
against the urban poor, all those faces of the victims were simply demanding
that hope be restored to their lives. Genuine hope can only come from the
peoples' own refusal to be forced into hopelessness. Freedom comes from
sacrifice, and sacrifice means self-deprivation today in the hope and belief
that relief is in the making, that the future is bright provided one works
for it. If Zimbabweans allow fear to continue to infiltrate their entire
imagination, nothing will change during our lifetime. In crucial times, it
takes much pain to gain one's freedom. And those who have the illusion to
think that freedom will just be given on silver plate have only themselves
to blame when they do not get it. So many broken families, so many deaths,
so many displaced citizens, so many millions forced out of their country by
violence and economic neglect: we should be ashamed of ourselves, and we
should publicly refuse the political abuse, not just mumbling purposelessly
in the privacy of our houses.
The Zimbabwean
Late last year I
arrived at Hippo Pools with a client from England. On
arrival I was told
that, camped on the other side of the river in the Garura
Eco-Tourism
project, were crocodile egg collectors with a permit from
National Parks. I
was very disturbed to hear that they had collected 82
crocodiles eggs from a
nest on the island situated right in front of our
chalets (within
100metres). As we had also just held a school Eco-education
camp for the
local Bangari School, it did not make sense to me how such a
destructive
practice could be allowed. There are very few adults crocodiles
on the
Mazowe River and from the report I received I judged that this
collector was
insistent on raiding all 10 or thereabouts nests found on the
entire stretch
of river. This would appear to be highly irresponsible
behaviour on behalf
of the holder of the permit and also by the issuer of
the permit. We need to
clarify the following: 1. Is it sustainable to
deplete every crocodile nest
in the relatively small but highly disturbed
river system such as the Mazowe
River? 2. Have any surveys been done to see
how many breeding adults there
are on the Mazowe River? 3. Is it a policy
that every nest found could be
raided leaving nothing to natural breeding?
4. What protection is given to
Safari Camps such as Hippo Pools that these
nests should be left as a
possible tourist attraction? Hippo Pools invests
considerable resources in
Wildlife Protection and in general enhancement of
the area. Crocodiles
nesting there (only one pair) are well known and
monitored daily by the
owners and management. The nests are therefore not in
danger whatsoever from
unnatural causes. We feel that all nests within at
least one kilometre of
the safari camp are protected in order to serve as a
tourist attraction.
Crocodiles are highly endangered on the Mazowe River
system and we could say
the next species to become extinct there. We have
already lost about six
large wildlife species in the Umfurudzi Safari Area
there in the last 25
years and we certainly don't need to loose any more. I
suggest that raiding
a crocodile nest right in front of a Safari Camp, which
relies on this kind
of activity for its very survival, is totally unethical
and the perpetrator
of this dastardly act should return the eggs where they
were found. I.S
Jarvis, Executive Director, Wilderness Africa Trust
Put constitution first
EDITOR -
Democracy's guiding principle is citizenship. This involves
both the right
to be treated by fellow human beings as an equal with respect
to making of
collective choices and the obligation of those implementing
such choices to
be equally accountable to all members of the polity. In
words of Professor
Ali Mazrui, the most formative 12 years in Africa's post
colonial history
were the years from 1954 to 1965, when the agenda for
post-colonial Africa
was set. The independence victories came with vows that
lives would indeed
improve, promises that would be echoed in the coming
decade as 33 other
countries also became independent. The independent
countries were launched
on the basis of British or French parliamentary
systems, imposed from the
above with the agreement of the new political
elites. These failed to deal
satisfactorily with the political problems of
ethnic and economic
development. In many countries the ruling power bloc was
identified with a
dominant ethnic group, so that the attempt to build new
national identities
heightened rather than eliminated ethnic divisions or
tensions and conflict,
civil war and military coups became endemic and
remained a constant threat
in many countries. In a human rights context,
however, the 1950s marked the
dawn of a new reality where the liberator
would become the oppressor. In a
vast majority of cases, human rights
violators would not be held accountable
for beatings, torture and killings
they committed. A continual lack of
justice has allowed history to repeat
itself again and again in dozens of
countries. We need to return to the
basis of the constitution, whose
function is to limit the arbitrariness that
is inherent in the exercise of
political power and not to facilitate the
exercise of power by political
elites. Let's seek to build on those rights
and indeed those duties that
derive from common humanity. Let's strive to
develop a dynamic,
comprehensive and responsive conception of human rights -
one enriched by
the perceptions of different cultures and traditions.
TAMSANQA MLILO,
African Judicial Network
------------
Let us take
responsibility
EDITOR - In the late seventies someone wisely cautioned
me: 'The only
freedom that comes with independence is the freedom to make
your own
mistakes.' He went on to say, 'Rhetoric aside you can always judge
a nation
by the condition of its public toilets.' These words have stayed
with me.
The first time I had pause to reflect was when taking a foreign
visitor up
to Nyanga in 1984. We stopped at the Rusape Hotel which already
by then had
become a drinking hole. The ladies' toilets were blocked. Water
and sewage
drifted haplessly across the floor. Self-governance, I thought,
crestfallen
and ashamed in front of my visitor. We can't even keep our
toilets clean and
functioning. Now, looking at the city of Harare, we can
only conclude that
if a government cannot run a city, how can it run a
country? How many
thousands of people both in Zimbabwe and in the West, who
put their hope and
faith in a new black elected government in Zimbabwe, have
been let down? How
many Africans across the world who have defended the
right of African
nations to govern themselves, have been betrayed by our
government? Our city
is now a metaphor for our nation, it has fallen into
decay. And it is only
when we really take responsibility for ourselves,
admit our mistakes and
learn from them, clean up our rubbish, dismiss the
incompetents, and
straighten up our mess that we will regain our
self-respect. LINDIWE ZVIMBA,
Zimbabwe
--------
Bankers
now endangered
EDITOR - James Mapapu has recently quoted Professor
Gono. "We call
upon the Government to declare an amnesty to all those who
may have erred
and strayed economically in the past..." Professor Gono was
apparently
referring to six fugitive bankers. Why does the Professor have a
new-found
passion to protect fellow bankers? From whence does the "Royal We"
really
come? What is the true motive? Why the concern? What next? When? How?
A
consultant met with ZESA management recently - who informed him that when
outflow exceeds inflow it is termed an "overload" in electrical terms. The
same consultant met with an endangered species - a professional banker in
Harare - and was told that when outflow exceeds inflow it is termed
"overdrawn" in banking terms. The consultant's final case study was at the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Professor Gono was asked how he would describe the
problem when outflow exceeded inflow. The reply was "what problem? You
simply print more money in the form of $50,000 notes." GONOLOGIST,
Australia
----------
World watches helplessly
EDITOR
- The political situation in Zimbabwe continues to be gloomy
each day and
the violence is increasing and deepening as the recent clean up
operation
showed in 2005. More repressive laws have been passed
disenfranchising
Zimbabweans in foreign lands, like the Nationality Bill
passed in September
2005 through which people will find it difficult to
renew their passport
once they are sent back to Zimbabwe after they have
claimed aslyum in the UK
as they are deemed traitors or enemies of the
state. Zimbabwe is a country
where people suffer as individuals on a massive
scale under the totalitarian
regime of Robert Mugabe. They are unable to
freely elect their leaders.
People are subjected to torture from the very
agents of state who are meant
to protect them. The Movement for Democratic
Chance (MDC) Zimbabwe's only
viable opposition party is being crippled every
day by Mugabe's instrument
of terror (state agents) . Where is the world in
all this? Has it turned a
blind eye on Zimbabwe? The situation in Zimbabwe
is now like that of Germa
ny in Hitler's days, when the world ignored it for
too long until it took a
world war to stop it. The world should find a way
to resolve the Zimbabwean
issue. Mugabe is now like a loose cannon,
destroying everything in his path.
He should be dealt with now by whatever
means, even if it means deadly force
to topple him Amidst all this people
flee to the UK for safety. But once you
seek asylum, you risk being bundled
back on the first flight to Zimbabwe.
How can anyone consider sending people
back to Zimbabwe where Mugabe's
henchmen lie in wait? Zimbabwe is a land of
tears and blood. I appeal to the
world to save Zimbabwe when there is still
a Zimbabwe to save for it is now
a house divided and a house of hunger and
despair. CHIPO DHINDA,
London
---------
Mugabe owes me
EDITOR - In view of
all that has happened in my country Zimbabwe - in
recent years, my singular
feeling is: Mugabe and ZANU owe me big time! ZANU
stays in power at its
peril. If ZANU decides to flee it does so also at its
peril. I am a
Zimbabwean citizen and there is much that Mugabe has stolen of
mine. There
was a time when Mugabe could have retired graciously and the
people of my
country would have let him take the accolade he desires of
'Hero' forever
and in turn the youth of Zimbabwe would have let him go free
and rightfully
taken their own vision for our future to make of it as they
would. However
he CHOSE not to hand over our country's inheritance to its
citizens, he
chose to sell it to the devil for Shekels of gold and silver.
ZANU has
behaved like a common criminal that it is. It has spilled blood and
stolen
something of mine. I want it back! Mugabe and his band of cohorts owe
me.
Even if ZANU/Mugabe were to kill and torture every human to the last
man,
including me, they will die one day too. ZIMBABWEAN ABROAD, UK
-------------
Largest theft imaginable
EDITOR - Mugabe and
Zanu set about stealing the farms and destroying
the lives of the hundreds
of thousands of people on the farms.
Simultaneously the basic commodities in
life became more and more scarce,
thus affecting most of the population.
Read www.zimbabwesituation.com
and
you do not need to watch any horror movies. But now, after five years of
this behaviour Bob's Top Financial Mujiba - Gono - has openly admitted the
largest theft imaginable. "We chose to print money in order to survive" -
Gideon Gono January 2005. "Broad Money Supply grew rapidly from 177,6% in
January 2005 to 411,5% in November 2005 due to excessive money printing by
the central bank to finance fuel and grain imports." Ironically, it seems
that Gono has in fact been studying history. He has now warned Mugabe that
the army is becoming restless - Napoleon and Hitler both learnt that an army
marches on its stomach - but left their learning a little late. It is common
knowledge that when a civilization progresses from hunter gatherers to
agriculturalists you now have specialization and surpluses that need to be
protected - that is the first step to having an army. Bob and Gideon have
tried to defy that age old logic by exporting the country's specialists and
printing money instead! - QED - Prof. Gono, Zanu School of Economics, Murder
and Looting, Scud House, Harare. But has Gono studied Zanu history
adequately? He has openly admitted to printing all the money which has
effectively stolen all savings - the banking system is no more -and could
now be put on display (with a filling station) in the Natural History
Museum - next to the Zeederberg coach, perhaps. But has Gono studied what
happened to Tongagara, Nyagumbo, Gezi, Sithole, Mahachi, Pamire or Chris
Ushewokunze? Were they black dogs or army trucks? Having destroyed the
productive base and chased away so many skilled but loyal citizens, the
likes of Gono now have the audacity to call on the emigrants to send back
money - through their Homelink system of course - so he can get a little
fatter and starve their people further. Zanu might have criticized
organisations like WENELA but now Zanu wants to be the ZANULA of this
millennium. Mujibologist Abroad, Australia
----------------
Why learn Chinese?
EDITOR - For Mudenge's
record, the Chinese themselves are now
discarding their own language because
it does not give them an advantage on
the stage of international trade and
as a Minister I hope he should have
known this. This shows the quality of
leaders that are leading Zimbabwe at
the present day. Most British Colleges
and Universities yearly have 90%
enrolment of Chinese students who are
learning English because they have
noticed that they no longer have any
competitive advantage in isolating
themselves. Currently I am at Business
school in Europe and 90% of students
are from China. We have a wealth of
culture in Zimbabwe we do not want any
other to be imposed on us and our
children. We our proud of our languages we
do not need more. Outraged,
Harare
------------
Security forces need a voice
EDITOR - The formation of the Command should be used as a platform for
the
disgruntled soldiers, policemen, prison officers, youth brigades,
militias
and intelligence officers, this also includes ex-service
men/officers to air
their grievances such as salaries, any ill treatment by
the authorities. It
should be the voice for the unheard and abused in the
security forces. They
should have an opportunity to access media outlets
that would help address
their plight. The Command should open a
communication centre i.e. Internet
website, e-mail address, telephone link,
fax within or outside Zimbabwe
where all matters will be forwarded and
published. They would use pseudonyms
for fear of victimization. There are
other many ways that could be looked
into to help them achieve their
freedom. It would also be a good idea to
open up branches in various
regions/countries and help them immigrate or
find jobs or raise money for
their cause from various government, charitable
organizations, individuals
or help them with self-employment. Branches
should be run by individuals who
were once employed in the various
government security departments. Other
civil servants who share The
Command's views should also be considered in
this broad based organisation.
This organisation should have no political
affiliation whatsoever and a
constitution should be put in place. The most
urgent target groups would be
the 3000 or so who were reported to have
submitted their resignations to the
army, thousands of war vets who have
been disenfranchised, plus any other
individuals from the various ministries
of government/departments.
Munyaradzi Madziire, Zimbabwe
-----------------
No mercy from
govt thieves
EDITOR - I want to thank you for telling people about this
stupid
Homelink thing. The government thieves have no mercy. After stealing
a lot
of money in Zimbabwe this people are following us up here again to
steal
from us. KEEP IT UP, FARAYI, UK
----------------
Willing database
EDITOR - Dr Chireka's article in last week's issue was
most timely. I
had just advised my nephew on the steps involved in buying a
house in the
UK. May I suggest that a database should be compiled listing
all those
willing to be used as contact points in different party of this
country to
assist newcomers. For example, I am a legal secretary living in
Devon. I
would be willing to be contacted in the evenings by someone newly
arrived in
the area who needed social contacts, or advice on where to find
employment
agencies, letting agents etc. This would be a useful first step
in compiling
a list of experts whose services might be needed at the moment
when events
overtake the current Zimbabwean government and outside help from
the
diaspora is needed. C E WITTS, Devon Anyone interested in pursuing this
idea
please contact the Editor: Wilf@thezimbabwean.co.uk
--------------
Displeasure at Homelink
EDITOR - I would like
to add to my total displeasure of the way the
Homelink Project is run. I am
one of several Zimbabweans in UK who responded
to this call in my quest to
find a 'dream home' in Harare. Firstly you are
required to pay -250 as
application fees, which is an awful lot of money in
UK for them to purchase
a property for you. The service you get is nowhere
near the world-class
service that this rhetoric Homelink team promised us.
It is painstakingly
slow and mired with bureaucracy and red tape. Sellers
are forced to sell
their properties at give away prices when the Reserve
Bank values their
properties. They deliberately take long, roughly about
three months to
disburse funds to the seller. Of course, by the property
would have
appreciated because of hyperinflation and RBZ would have gained a
lot.
Clever, aren't they? WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH!!!! You are then told to
pay a
supposedly down payment of -400 for the property to be registered .
This was
for a property in Mufakose. After this you are supposed to commence
monthly
instalments of -400 for 5 years. That translates to a purchase price
of -24
000. I commenced contributions for 6 months and I was really
struggling to
meet up with the payments. -400 is an awful lot of money here
in the UK
considering we have bills, rent and other living expenses to pay.
I decided
to cancel the agreement of sale and asked for my -2 400
contributions to be
refunded since I was no longer willing to continue. I
was told my forex was
going to be forfeited as administration fees and
public funds had been used
to acquire the property. We had a bitter and
nasty row and eventually I got
my hard earned money back after two months. I
tell you once you enter
Homelink you have entered a trap. You will be
intimidated and threatened of
your forex. In all honesty can a property in
property in Mufakose cost
-24,000. For that kind of money you buy a poshy,
plushy Borrowdale Villa.
Homelink was only set up to RIP OFF diasporians
their hard-earned money.
STOP THESE HOMETHIEVES NOW!! Fedup, UK
--------------
Who are
the voiceless?
EDITOR - The difficulties within the MDC have led to
virtually most
political activities concerned with events in Zimbabwe taking
sides one-way
or the other. It is obvious that your paper long decided to
unquestionably
side with Mr. Tsvangirai's interpretation of events within
the MDC. That is
your right and entitlement. But please do not refer to
yourselves as the
"voice of the voiceless" because you are not. You are Mr
Tsvangirai's voice,
and that is your entitlement. I object though, to such
Herald -like
distortion such as represented by the picture on the front page
of the
Zimbabwean of the 19 January 2006. It is clear that the story really
is not
about the Matebeleland South MDC congress, the story is about
legitimizing
an irregularity. Mr Lovemore Moyo stood for position of
secretary at the
Provincial Congress held on 21 December 2005 by those you
refer to as a
"pro-senate splinter group, he received one vote and then
turns up at your
chosen provincial congress, and is elected chairman! How do
the voiceless
get to know that this is what happened if you do not report
it? How does Mr
Mzila Ndlovu, elected by 90% of the original structures of
the province
"defect". Mzila has been elected for the second time as
chairperson of the
MDC Matebeleland South Province. Is saying so too harmful
to Tsvangirai's
image. I would be the first to admit that these are
difficult times for
opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Situations like this
require more than
ever, balanced reporting. Psychophantic reporting is to a
large extent
responsible for the dictatorship that is the scar across the
face of Africa.
The Zimbabwean has a responsibility not to soil journalism
in Zimbabwe.
State newspapers do a good job of that, leave it to them. Paul
Themba
Nyathi, Harare