http://www.timesonline.co.uk
February
1, 2009
Jon Swain
and Sophie Shaw, Harare
ROBERT MUGABE, the Zimbabwean president, will have
the power to dismiss his
arch-opponent from a government of national unity
even though the two men
have agreed to join forces in an effort to rescue
the country's ruined
economy.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), who will become prime
minister, could be sacked for
incompetence under the terms of a deal that
leaves the 84-year-old president
firmly in control.
There were mixed
reactions to the deal in Zimbabwe. Some feared Mugabe would
use Tsvangirai,
56, to extend his power. Others felt that the opposition
leader would
neutralise the president. One opposition sympathiser said she
was "hop-ing
for the best but preparing for the worst".
Many nonetheless applauded the
opposition's decision, hoping that a unity
government would unlock overseas
aid, which is needed to rebuild the
shattered country.
Western
diplomats in Harare pointed out that development aid hinges on
economic and
political reform and Mugabe's long history of reneging on
commitments holds
out little promise of change.
The United States and Britain, Zimbabwe's
biggest aid donors, are unhappy
that the deal leaves Mugabe in charge of
security and the military and that
he reappointed Gideon Gono as head of the
central bank, where Gono has
presided over hyperinflation and monetary
collapse.
Britain provides £40m of emergency aid each year to Zimbabwe.
That could be
increased to £200m overnight if it is decided that
Tsvangirai's premiership
will bring progressive government.
One
difficulty is that Britain and the US stated publicly in December that
any
government in which Mugabe served was unacceptable. British ministers
now
have a dilemma - do they eat their words and give aid, or do they deny
Tsvangirai the assistance that he and Zimbabwe require? Britain's decision
is likely to influence other European donor nations.
The US is in a
less difficult position since President Barack Obama would
not consider
himself bound by President George W Bush's officials.
The need for aid is
acute. Zimbabwe is fighting a cholera epidemic that has
killed more than
3,100 and made more than 60,000 ill since August. The
collapse of the health
and sanitation infrastructure had made it impossible
to bring the disease
under control. In addition 80% of the population need
food aid.
The
power-sharing arrangement will be fragile, at best. Half the new
government
ministers will be from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, which led Zimbabwe
to its
plight. Tsvangirai's authority will be severely restricted: Mugabe
will
chair the cabinet; Tsvangirai will chair a council of ministers.
Analysts
said it was difficult to imagine such a divided government taking
the steps
that the crisis called for.
One particularly unhappy feature for the
opposition is its failure to win
control of the police. Under the deal it
will share responsibility for the
interior ministry with Zanu-PF, an
arrangement many see as unworkable.
Mugabe retains control of the military
and intelligence ministries.
Nonetheless, Tsvangirai won his party's
reluctant backing for the coalition
at the MDC's national council on Friday
after coming under pressure from
southern African leaders.
His
predicament was reflected in his statement that "this government will
serve
as a transitional authority leading to free and fair elections".
Mugabe has
never acknowledged that the unity government is a transitional
entity and
considers himself president for a full term of office.
One fear is that
Mugabe will use the government to smash the opposition,
which has been
severely weakened by intimidation and internal rivalry.
Tsvangirai will
also have to manage without his adviser, Tendai Biti, who
opposes the unity
government and will not join it. Biti, 42, is in danger of
being jailed on
Wednesday, when politically motivated treason charges
against him are likely
to be revived.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
20:41
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
yesterday pledged to tackle the worsening humanitarian crisis, a day
after
agreeing to join the proposed all-inclusive government.
Tsvangirai on Friday won the crucial endorsement of the MDC's national
council to be part of the process that will lead to the formation of the
unity government with President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, the
leader of a smaller MDC formation, by February 13. His spokesperson, Joseph
Mugwari said the MDC's immediate task once in government would be to tackle
the crisis in the education and health sectors, as well as ensuring that
starving Zimbabweans get food.
"This government is coming into
effect against a background of serious
economic decay," he said, "so our
immediate task is tackling the current
humanitarian crisis and restoring the
people's freedom."
Schools have been closed since last year
after teachers went on strike
demanding better pay and improved working
conditions.
The situation in hospitals is equally bleak as
there are no drugs and
equipment, while nurses and doctors have been on
strike for several months
demanding payment in foreign
currency.
The country's economic meltdown has been worsened by
a cholera
outbreak, which has killed nearly 3 200 people and infected some
60 000
since last August.
Unemployment has topped 94% while
over seven million people - more
than half of the country's population need
urgent food aid.
"As soon as possible," Mugwari said, "we will
start giving people
relief and they will start to see real
change."
But Iden Wetherell, the chair of the Zimbabwe National
Editors' Forum
said: "We need to see the immediate release of political
prisoners, the
liberation of the public media from state control, and the
return of
journalists expelled from the country. That will be the litmus
test of the
regime's sincerity."
Despite doubts whether it
would be possible for Tsvangirai and Mugabe
to work together, Mugwari said
he was optimistic the new alliance would
flourish given the fact that all
parties were prepared to make concessions.
The sceptics fear that
the two MDCs would be swallowed up as happened
to PF Zapu under the December
1987 Unity Accord.
There were reports that representatives from
Bulawayo in the MDC-T
national council were opposed to any pact with Mugabe,
fearing the MDC-T
would suffer a similar fate.
"I understand
the scepticism and mistrust but people have to remember
that quite a number
of times we have managed to push this regime to make
compromises on many key
issues," he said. "At the beginning Mugabe was not
prepared to negotiate
with us, but look what has happened today."
The MDC is also
optimistic the international community will support
the deal.
Mugwari said with the Southern African Development Community (Sadc),
the
African Unity (AU), Russia and China supporting the deal, MDC's
challenge
would be convincing the rest of the world to see the importance of
the
pact.
"It's a challenge but we are not starting from nowhere. It's
a matter
of selling the inclusive government to the international community.
I hope
it will work out," Mugwari said.
Addressing journalist
after meeting the national council's meeting on
Friday, Tsvangirai said the
MDC-T had agreed to join the GNU in the interest
of the welfare of
Zimbabweans, who are battling to survive the economic
crisis.
"Therefore, in accordance with the party's constitution, the political
agreement we signed on September 15, 2008, and in the best interests of the
welfare of all Zimbabweans the MDC has resolved to form an inclusive
government with Zanu PF and MDC-M," he said.
Tsvangirai said he
wanted Sadc, the regional body that brokered the
power-sharing agreement, to
address outstanding issues before February 11.
These include the
release of all political abductees and the reversal
of the appointments of
the Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, Reserve Bank
Governor, Gideon Gono and
provincial governors.
"On the breaches of the GPA and the MoU
(Memorandum of Understanding),
Sadc resolved that the Joint Monitoring
Implementation Committee (Jomic) is
established to review and reverse these
breaches," he said.
Tsvangirai said the success of the pact
depended on the goodwill of
the parties involved, the people's support and
the continued engagement and
vigilance of Sadc, AU and the international
community.
South African president Kgalema Motlanthe last week said
his country
was prepared to rebuild Zimbabwe once the GNU was
formed.
He was hopeful that investors would soon return to
Zimbabwe.
"This stage is really critical in terms of achieving
political
stability and the first step towards the economic recovery of that
country,"
Motlanthe told Reuters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting
in the
Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.
Motlanthe said the first
priority was to invest in infrastructure, as
the cholera outbreak was
largely the result of burst pipes.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January
2009 20:33
THE government is intimidating striking teachers by
threatening to
invoke statutes that bar civil servants from absenting
themselves from work
for more than two weeks.
The move comes as
the majority of public schools failed to open for
the first term last
week.
In a circular to all provincial education directors issued
after
teachers carried out their threat not to return to work until they
were paid
in foreign currency.
Stephen Mahere, the
Permanent Secretary for Education, said the
government would freeze salaries
of teachers who absented themselves from
work for 14
days.
Action would be taken to discharge them if they did
not report for
work for 30 days, Mahere threatened.
"Where
teachers absent themselves from duty or turn up but fail to
perform their
normal duties due to work stoppage, strike action, go slow or
sit-in, head
offices should invoke the relevant provisions of the Public
Service
Regulation in line with provisions of the Statutory Instrument
Number of
2000," Mahere wrote in the circular.
The circular, dismissed as
an empty threat by teachers' unions, came
amid revelations that on Thursday
government snubbed a meeting between
leading donors and the striking
teachers, which could have provided an
intervention similar to the one in
the health sector.
Sifiso Ndlovu, the Zimbabwe Teachers'
Association (Zimta) acting chief
executive officer, said the threats, while
"laughable" showed that
government had no clue on how to solve the crisis in
schools.
"They can fire all the teachers," Ndlovu said. "There
is this wishful
thinking that the education sector is still very attractive
when the
situation on the ground shows that other than the few veterans who
remain in
the sector no one is interested in joining the
profession."
He said teachers, who were on a go-slow since
early last year before
engaging in a full-blown strike would not give
in.
Ndlovu said the 2009 budget in which the government
promised to pay
civil servants' allowances in foreign currency denominated
coupons and
salaries in Zimbabwe dollars, had angered
teachers.
"We have been receiving calls from members from
across the country who
are saying we should not give in," he said. "The
coupons that we are being
promised do not make any sense because there is
nowhere in the world where
such a system has operated."
Zimta and the Progressive Teachers' Union (PTUZ) said they were
baffled by
government's failure to attend the meeting with donors at a
Harare
hotel.
Some of the donors represented at the highest level were
United
Nations agencies, the European Union, Save Children UK and Save
Children
Norway.
"There was a request from the
education-working group for a meeting
with the minister of education,
Chigwedere yesterday (Thursday)," said PTUZ
secretary general, Raymond
Majongwe.
"All the donors, including Unicef, who were willing
to assist the
teachers were present but the minister did not bother to turn
up or send
someone to explain why he could not make it. This shows that
these people
are not serious and they do not take us
seriously."
Ndlovu said ministry officials said they could not
attend because of
the budget, which was presented in the afternoon. The
donor meeting was held
in the morning.
'We are very cross
that the government treated the donors the way it
did," he
said.
Mahere was said to be attending meetings on Friday and
was not
immediately available for comment. Chigwedere was not
reachable.
Early this year, government also turned down an
offer by the Education
Working Group that comprises of major donors involved
in the sector who
wanted to lure back thousands of teachers who have
deserted schools.
Meanwhile, most parents say they have not
bothered sending their
children to boarding schools because it was clear
conditions were now worse
than last year.
At Uzumba High
School in Mashonaland East, Murehwa there were only 19
out of 500 students
on opening day.
An official at the school, who requested
anonymity, said they were in
a quandary, as they did not know what they
would do with the children, as
there were no teachers.
One
parent with two children at a boarding school in Chishawasha said
they were
told by the headmaster to take their children back home. Day
schools also
remained closed as teachers did not report for work.
Some
parents with the means were withdrawing their children from
public schools
and sending them to a private institution in Chinhoyi.
Monica
Mazaiwana, who is a trader at Chinhoyi flea market, withdrew
her child from
Bernard Mzeki School alleging the groceries she bought for
her child last
year "were taken by hungry teachers".
Although most parents
said they would want their children to attend
private schools, they were
being hindered by the high fees, charged in
foreign currency - Additional
reporting by Our Chinhoyi Correspondent.
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI AND
SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January
2009 20:29
ZIMBABWEANS were in celebratory mood yesterday after the
Morgan
Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed to join
the
all-inclusive government, under terms hammered out at a special regional
summit last week.
But many cautioned the new government had
little time on its side to
begin the rehabilitation of an economy battered
by over a decade of misrule.
They said there was an urgent need to
address a humanitarian crisis,
fast spiralling out of
control.
Tsvangirai's security worked overtime trying to
control excited
supporters who mobbed the MDC leader as he emerged from a
press conference
at the party's headquarters where he announced the party's
decision to be
part of the process that will see a new government being put
in place by
February 13.
"This is a real attempt to address
the crises in the country and in
that respect the move deserves credit,"
said Tawanda Mukakiwa, a vendor.
"However, we appeal to the
political leadership to demonstrate
commitment to the deal if anything is to
materialise."
Gogo Vawonzo from Chivi said: "This deal comes as
a relief and we
think a lot of work needs to be done to improve the lives of
ordinary
people, who are feeling the pain of an economic, political and
humanitarian
crisis."
Maxwell Moyo from Bulawayo said:
"Those bestowed with the honour of
being part of the policy formulating
process should ensure that they come up
with policies that will help aid the
economic recovery process."
Other people interviewed yesterday
said the new government should
focus on job creation and ensuring that
exiles, who escaped the economic
collapse, returned to help rebuild the
battered economy.
"Some of them are in South Africa and beyond.
The new government
should ensure that these people all come back and play a
part in the
economic revival," Sikhangele Ndlovu said. "This demands that
the new
government puts in place attractive packages that will lure these
professionals back."
Nigel Hauffman, a Bulawayo-based
businessman, said he hoped the
country would start benefiting from the new
dispensation in the shortest
possible time.
But others were
still sceptical saying President Robert Mugabe had a
long history of
dishonouring agreements he was party to.
"It's catastrophic,"
said Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the
National Constitutional Assembly.
"In so doing, Tsvangirai undermined the
intention of the MDC to have a
complete change.
"How can a government of two different sectors
work together and
produce a positive outcome?
Madhuku said the MDC
had merely legitimised Mugabe's reign, won
through the flawed June 27
presidential election run-off.
BY SHARON MUGUWU, EDGAR GWESHE AND
NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January
2009 20:19
TWO Zimbabweans are believed to be among those named in a
forensic
audit at the WK Kellogg Foundation offices in Pretoria, South
Africa, The
Standard can report.
Both have since been
dismissed.
The first was dismissed as a result of certain
admissions relating to
the investigation into financial irregularities was
previously at the
foundation's offices in Pretoria.
She
appeared in the Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on December 3,
2008 and
is out on bail. The matter was remanded to February 27.
The
second was dismissed following a disciplinary inquiry chaired by
an
independent senior advocate, who found the Zimbabwean guilty on 13
charges
of misconduct relating to conflicts of interest, The Standard
heard.
The evidence presented at the disciplinary hearing of
the second
Zimbabwean emerged from the forensic investigation. The charges
related to
"breaches of the foundation's conflict of interest policies and
not to the
financial irregularities under investigation".
A
spokesperson for the foundation said that as the forensic
investigation was
likely to continue for some time they were not yet clear
as to the extent of
the losses suffered by the foundation "but that it will
probably exceed R10
million by some considerable margin".
The spokesperson
confirmed to The Standard that further disciplinary
hearings are
likely.
As a result Kellogg Foundation's Pretoria office would
remain closed
until further notice.
The spokesperson said
while the foundation remains committed to
fulfilling its mission of helping
children in the region, "there will
obviously be a thorough re-examination
of the operations, processes and
protocols in the Pretoria office - the
delivery mechanism is subject to
review".
Last week The
Standard heard that the audit continues to produce
additional evidence of
misconduct of financial irregularities in the WKKF
Pretoria
office.
"As a result," The Standard heard, "the office remains
closed and
operations remain suspended.
"We are shocked and
saddened by the evidence of serious misconduct
emerging from the ongoing
audit," the foundation said. "Disciplinary
hearings have been held in
accordance with South African law and procedure.
As a result, a member of
our Pretoria staff was dismissed and subsequently
arrested by South African
authorities.
"Additionally, a second disciplinary hearing about
incidents of
misconduct involving conflicts of interest has resulted in the
dismissal of
a second member of the WKKF staff in Pretoria following the
recommendation
of the independent chairman of the hearing."
For the time being, all Africa staff will report to Jim McHale, while
the
foundation's Battle Creek staff will continue to administer all grants
and
contracts.
"The foundation is profoundly disappointed. But the
investigation and
ultimate outcome will not deter us from our mission of
helping children."
In a message to communities seeking grants
and contractors, the
Kellogg Foundation said the administration of grants
and contracts for the
region had been slowed down by the unprecedented
nature of the investigation
and the resulting needs of the forensic
process.
"Additionally, the desire of the foundation to fully
comply with South
African and US law necessitates a very deliberate and
thorough process," the
statement said. "As a result, we are receiving
inquiries from grantees and
contractors in the region who report that they
are experiencing uncertainty
and financial difficulties."
While the foundation was dealing with each inquiry on its merits,
requesting
supporting documentation and proof of deliverables where
necessary, in some
instances it has had to inform beneficiaries that their
matters will take
time to resolve because of forensic requirements or
suspected breaches of
internal procedures.
A spokesperson said it was the intention
of the foundation to deal
with these unfortunate events "as expeditiously as
possible".
"We are aware of the potentially adverse
consequences of delays on the
projects we support and of the uncertainty and
anxiety that is felt by all
our stakeholders," the spokesperson
said.
"Ultimately, we are accountable to our board of trustees
and the many
beneficiaries who expect from us the highest standards of
governance and
stewardship. We will therefore comply strictly with the
policies and
procedures of the foundation as we seek to bring this matter to
a close."
BY DAVISON MARUZIVA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
20:18
A Mt Darwin church has approached the High Court seeking the
imprisonment of a pro-Zanu PF chief and two senior police officers they
accuse of interfering with their religious activities in defiance of two
court orders.
Members of the Johanne Masowe Apostolic sect say
Chief Clemence
Nembire, the Officer-in-Charge Mt Darwin Police Station and
the
Officer-in-Charge Dotito Police Station, whose names were not given,
were
preventing them from holding prayers.
In his founding
affidavit, the sect leader, Madzibaba Reuben Tapedza
alleges that on
December 26, the chief and the two officers disrupted a
prayer meeting at
his homestead.
This came days after the High Court barred Chief
Nembire from
interfering with the sect's activities. A similar order was
issued on
November 24.
Chief Nembire was in the headlines
last year when the sect members
dragged him to the courts for evicting them
from their homesteads and
dispossessing them of their land.
The sect alleges that the chief banned its religious activities,
destroyed
its shrine and barred members from meeting even in small groups
and issued
threats of violence and murder against them.
But in December
the chief obtained an order, which restricted the
church's prayers to the
Tapedza homestead, while prohibiting them from
worshipping from Guravadzimu
Vlei, which some locals regard as sacred.
Chief Nembire accused
the sect members of failing to send children to
school or to hospital and of
sanctioning marriages involving children under
the age of
consent.
In both orders, the High Court barred the chief from
evicting the sect
members and dispossessing them of their
land.
Both orders stated that citizens were allowed by the
Constitution and
the laws of Zimbabwe to worship and had a right to settle
somewhere in the
country.
The court also ruled that
citizens had a right to live free from
harassment and at a place they could
call home and where they could
peacefully till the land and look after
themselves and their families.
It also directed police to
ensure that Chief Nembire and any persons
acting or claiming to act under
his authority not to interfere with the
church's rights to worship or keep
occupation and use of their homes and
land, and to arrest any person acting
otherwise.
Justice Tedias B Karwi stressed in one order that it
was unacceptable
for the sect to live under fear and uncertainty as to
whether they would be
able to till the land or not this
year.
The police allegedly told the church and its lawyers
that Tapedza
homestead was located on a sacred land - Guravadzimu Vlei. But
they allege
it is about two kilometers away.
The three accused
are expected to file responding papers in the
matter, which is yet to be set
down for hearing.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
20:12
CHINHOYI - Emilia Zindi, the chief reporter for The Sunday Mail
is
facing robbery charges after she allegedly seized a vehicle from a former
Interfresh employee, claiming she inherited it from a former commercial
farmer.
Zindi, who was allocated Plots 2 and 7 of Hippo
Valley Farm in Chegutu
during the chaotic land reform programme, her son
Misheck Zindi and some
unknown persons sometime last week allegedly went to
Tafadzwa Matore's house
in Chegutu, where they violently took away a Nissan
Hardbody vehicle.
The case was reported to Pfupajena Police
Station, and is listed as CR
103/01/09.
Matore is a former
employee of Interfresh Pvt Ltd, a company that has
been running a citrus
plantation at the farm taken over by Zindi.
Interfresh was
running the farm on behalf of Dear Love, who has since
relocated to South
Africa following the compulsory acquisition of his
property by the
government.
In May last year Zindi also seized a Fiat tractor
and two trailers
from Interfresh.
She claimed she was
entitled to the equipment since the former farm
owner had left it on the
property.
A report was made to the police and Zindi and her son
were arrested on
a charge of robbery. This was later altered in court to
assault.
The assault charge against Zindi is yet to be
finalised.
Zindi roped in Mashonaland West Provincial Lands
Officer Faruka
Chikomba, who told Chegutu police that he had been
"instructed by some
authorities in Harare" to take back the property to the
farm for evaluation
purposes.
But it was Zindi who went
back on Tuesday and collected the tractor
and the two
trailers.
The Officer-in-Charge of Kadoma police has written to
the Officer
Commanding Mashonaland West, indicating that they are looking
for Zindi and
her son.
Yesterday Zindi defended her actions
saying, "there is an inventory
that has to be undertaken and government
officials are coming on Monday
(tomorow)".
Police spokesman
Andrew Phiri said he was not aware of the case and
referred questions to
Mashonaland West police spokesperson, an Inspector
Maingire, who was not
immediately reachable.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009 18:24
BISHOP of the Anglican Church's Harare Diocese, Sebastian Bakare says
rogue
police officers have frustrated all efforts by his group to seek a
resolution of the church's power struggles through legal means by siding
with his rival, Nolbert Kunonga.
Bakare said as a result they
were now waiting for "divine
intervention" as Kunonga's well-publicised
connections with the ruling Zanu
PF emboldened his faction to act with
impunity.
"We have exhausted all channels," he said in a recent
interview. "We
will only fight through God as he knows what's best for His
church and He is
the one who can correctly distinguish between good and
evil."
Bakare's comments were in response to a recent incident
where David
Kunyongana, a priest from the Kunonga faction was involved in a
nasty
encounter with members of the new bishop's group at St Joseph's
Dzivarasekwa
parish over sharing the church building.
After the altercation it is alleged that Kunyongana called another
priest,
who came and drove his vehicle straight at some youths standing at
the gate
of the parish apparently in an effort to disperse them.
This
provoked the youths and onlookers who started throwing missiles
at the car
and a police intervention led to the arrest of a number of them,
including
church wardens.
Members of the Kunonga faction had allegedly called
the police.
Police officers are still reportedly preventing
Bakare's group from
using church property despite a High Court order
granting access to both
groups.
The Anglican Church split
last year after Kunonga attempted to
unilaterally withdraw the Harare
Diocese from the church's Province of South
Africa allegedly in protest at
the tolerance of homosexuality by the
mainstream church.
The two groups have been engaged in unending fights since then.
Bakare said efficient justice delivery on the dispute had been
compromised
by Kunonga's attempts to use his political influence and alleged
links to
Zanu PF to try and gain control of the church.
He said some
police officers were "conniving" with Kunonga's faction
to disrupt his group
from conducting church services in various parishes
around
Harare.
"They are conniving with some rogue members of the
police force and
working in unison to violate the High Court judgement,"
Bakare said, "and we
are not going to fight them, prayer is the only
solution."
The police officers, according to Bakare, claim to
be acting on
instructions from the President's Office in their bid to
intimidate his
group.
But he dismissed them "as some rogue
members of society who wanted to
exercise power that they do not have in the
name of the president."
According to Bakare the major problem
emanated from "the
politicisation of a clearly ecclesiastical
issue."
Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena denied
allegations police
officers were interfering in Anglican
issues.
"They have got their cases at court and we do not see
any reason why
they should involve the police," Bvudzijena
said.
"Our position in the dispute is not an issue. "After all, we
do not
favour anyone."
Kunonga was not available for
comment.
But Kunyongana said: "Those claims are not true, they do
not want to
follow the High Court ruling that we should revert to our
previous status
quo."
BY SHARON MUGUWU AND EDGAR GWESHE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
18:20
BULAWAYO - A little known Matabeleland-based party is challenging
the
use of the name Zapu by former Zanu PF officials who last month pulled
out
of the 1987 Unity Accord.
A number of disgruntled Zanu PF
officials led by former Home Affairs
minister and politburo member, Dumiso
Dabengwa, are leading the revival of
Zapu and are currently preparing for
the party's first congress in 22 years.
During a well-attended
convention in December, where preparations for
the re-launch of the party
were set in motion, the group agreed to retain
the name Zapu without the
Patriotic Front (PF) prefix and the symbol of a
charging
bull.
But the little known party calling itself Zapu, which
broke away from
the defunct Zapu Federal Party led by Paul Siwela ahead of
last year's
elections, says it will challenge the use of the name by any
other group
because it would cause confusion among the
electorate.
Zanu PF is also threatening to launch a court
challenge against the
revivalists over the use of the name
Zapu.
Sikhumbuzo Dube, the leader of the group calling itself
Zapu, said
Dabengwa and his group were trying to cause confusion in
opposition
politics.
"Some of us have been there and
running the business and interests of
Zapu and we are the custodians of the
name Zapu," he said.
"It is still early for them as a newly formed
breakaway party from
Zanu PF to find another name they can use to identify
themselves. The name
is ours and we shall not let go of
it."
Dube said the two groups were fronting different agendas,
with his
party advocating for a federal system of
government.
But Smile Dube, the spokesman for the revived Zapu,
said the rival
group was misdirected.
"We are talking of
the original Zapu that preceded NDP (the National
Democratic Party)," he
said. "People must not be misled or misdirected, we
are looking at the cause
of Zimbabweans as Zapu not any other party.
"If they want to
join they are wecome, Zapu is a national party."
The revival of
Zapu, once led by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo,
has angered senior
Zanu PF officials including President Robert Mugabe who
has labelled the
group as "dissidents".
A number of former PF Zapu officials who
still hold positions in Zanu
PF and government have been falling over each
other to dismiss the revival
of Zapu.
Former PF Zapu
chairman Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, last week said
the party would die a
"natural death".
But Smile Dube said Ndlovu was contradicting
Vice-President Joseph
Msika, who has always insisted that Zapu would not
die.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
18:10
TOP government officials are frantically trying to block the
national
resource mobilization and utilization committee from naming senior
government officials who looted subsidized agricultural inputs distributed
under Operation Maguta.
A fortnight after General Douglas
Nyikayaramba, the chairman of the
logistics sub-committee threatened to
expose the culprits "by the end of the
week", the zeal seems to have
suddenly fizzled out under intense political
pressure, sources revealed last
week.
Nyikayaramba said those implicated included several
ministers, eight
MPs, top ranking civil servants, senior police and army
officers who had
been tasked with leading the military-supervised
agricultural programme
across the country.
"We have started
legal proceedings against these people and some of
them have already started
appearing in court while the names of the senior
government officials will
be exposed by the end of the week," he said. That
was two weeks
ago.
But sources this week said it was unlikely the committee
would "name
and shame" the looters because some of them were earmarked for
posts in
Mugabe's new Cabinet in the all-inclusive
government.
"Some of them are lined up for cabinet posts," said
the source. "It is
also feared that if the implicated MPs are convicted,
Zanu PF would lose
their constituencies, resulting in
by-elections."
Zanu PF is battling to regain its parliamentary
majority from the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after it lost during
the March 2008
elections.
But Nyikayaramba on Friday tried
to play down allegations that he was
under pressure to sweep the matter
under the carpet.
He said he was working with the army
commander, General Constantine
Chiwenga, who heads the whole programme to
expose the culprits.
"We cannot be put under pressure by
anybody," Nyikayaramba said. "We
are the army and if the army is corrupted
it means the state has ceased to
function. We cannot allow
that."
However, the army general appeared to be backtracking on
his threats
to name the ministers saying: "I did not say ministers, I said
honourable
MPs.
"I know MPs are potential ministers but I
did not say that."
Sources insisted serving ministers were
among those who defrauded
government's Maguta programme, robbing the country
of a good harvest.
Nyikayaramba said he was advised against
naming and shaming the
alleged looters because investigations had "not been
completed".
The army boss said officials from his office, the
Anti-corruption
Commission and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were
still on the
ground probing the alleged looters.
"Things
are under course. I can assure you the spirit is there. I was
legally
advised not to name anybody before all the evidence is gathered," he
said.
Reports say Mashonaland West province leads the
number of cases being
dealt with by the police followed by Matabeleland
North.
Among those named is Lance Corporal Zunguza of the
Zimbabwe National
Army (ZNA) who allegedly defrauded Maguta of eight tonnes
of Ammonium
Nitrate, which was stored at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
Marondera.
Lance Corporal C Gurira, Private T Shayawabaya,
Private B Tshuma and
Private A Chidume who were arraigned before a Chinhoyi
magistrate and was
remanded in custody pending trial.
Also
under investigation is Warrant Officer II Kadzima, who allegedly
stole 60
litres of diesel at Shashe Irrigation Scheme in Beitbridge. But
these are
small fish, which can be sacrificed on the altar of expediency.
The looting of agricultural inputs comes at a time when seven million
people
in the country are said to be in dire need of food aid, according to
the
World Food Programme.
Analysts say basing on previous
experience where corrupt senior
government officials have escaped the hook
it was unlikely the "big fish" in
the Maguta scandal would be netted this
time.
They said if ever they are named, "one or two will be
locked up for a
few months" just to hoodwink the public into believing that
the government
was now serious in tackling endemic
corruption.
Others will be released due to "lack of evidence",
they said.
"This is why we are being thorough with our
investigation. We want to
pluck all loopholes whereby corrupt officials will
be freed due to lack of
evidence," Nyikayaramba said.
"You
know the army was not involved in previous cases," Nyikayaramba
said. "It's
now a different ball game all together and we cannot be
arm-twisted."
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31
January 2009 18:05
TWO Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) councillors
from Gutu
district in Masvingo have gone into hiding after they were
allegedly
threatened by two chiefs and soldiers for trying to buy maize on
behalf of
starving villagers in their wards.
The councillors
were given R28 000 by the villagers to buy maize on
their behalf from the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Councillors Raymond Chinhenga and
Artwell Mavetera said they had gone
to the GMB's Beitbridge depot to collect
the maize when Chiefs Chitsa and
Serima and the soldiers confronted
them.
The chiefs and the soldiers only identified by their
surnames accused
them of trying to "make MDC seem like a better party than
Zanu PF".
"Chief Chitsa said he would not allow people in his
area to support
the MDC and said anyone who opposes this would be dealt
with," Chinhenga
said.
He said the guards at the premises
advised them to flee as the five,
who had threatened them, were armed. In
the process they left the truck
driver alone with the maize and he was
allegedly interrogated for the whole
day.
Chinhenga said
their tormentors were the same people who were behind
the violence that
marred the June 27 presidential election run-off in which
President Robert
Mugabe was the lone candidate after MDC-T leader Morgan
Tsvangira withdrew
his candidature.
"I think they want me dead as they have
constantly been looking for me
and now they have taken away maize which was
destined for the hungry," he
said.
"The elderly and orphans
were expecting this maize and now they have
taken it."
Edmore Maramwidze Hamandishe said Chief Chitsa was now selling the
maize in
Ward 10 for R100 instead of R50 since it was bought at a heavily
subsidised
price.
He said maize meant for Ward 4 was taken to Ward 12. "We
are very
disappointed because the duty to collect food for the people
belongs to
councillors not soldiers," Hamandishe said.
Hamandishe said Gutu police told them they could not handle the case
because
it was "too big" for them.
"The police were not of any help to us as
they said that they were in
no position to deal with the issue. Right now
the councillors have fled to
Harare," he said.
Army
spokesman Colonel Simon Tsatsi said he was not aware of the
incident.
Masvingo police spokesperson, Inspector Phibion Nyambo, said the
councillors
had not reported the matter to the police.
BY SHARON MUGUWU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009 14:08
THE cholera outbreak that has claimed more than 3 000 lives
countrywide
since August could have been avoided if government had provided
clean
drinking water to its people and maintained a functioning health
sector,
United States Ambassador, James McGee said last week.
Addressing
journalists after a tour of the Budiriro Cholera Treatment
Centre on
Thursday, McGee said the epidemic was a "man-made disaster.
"We
have 57 000 people who are now infected by cholera and 3 000
deaths," he
said, "and again I will say this is a shame because this is a
disaster that
did not need to happen to Zimbabwe.
"I do call upon the
government of Zimbabwe to do something for its own
people."
Government has been accused of exacerbating the outbreak that began in
Chitungwiza before spreading to other parts of the country by failing to
address the collapse of the health sector.
Collapsing sewer
infrastructure and intermittent water cuts in urban
centres have also been
cited as the major drivers in the alarming spread of
the highly contagious
but easily treatable disease.
More than 50 000 people had been
infected by last week and fears still
abound the heavy rains pounding the
country will worsen the situation.
Added McGee: "This is
something that if we had a proper functioning
health system, if we had a
water company that was providing what the people
of Zimbabwe deserve, which
is clean drinking water it wouldn't have
happened.
"So, of
course, this is a man-made crisis."
He said the US government
would continue providing support in the
fight against the epidemic but would
not channel donations through the
government because of its tendency to
abuse donor funds.
"Too many things disappear when they go to
the government, we all know
that," he said.
"Recently US$14
million dollars from the Global fund, which was
destined for people living
with HIV and Aids disappeared.
"We went to the government after
this and they said we needed that
money for other things," said
McGee.
"What's more important than taking care of person who
has HIV and
Aids, getting them Antiretroviral drugs that they need to
continue to live
but the government took this money."
At
the centre, McGee saw first hand the devastating effects of the
cholera
epidemic on the people of Budiriro and Glen View suburbs and other
surrounding areas.
Budiriro is one of the first suburbs
that were severely affected by
the epidemic.
Before
visiting the centre, McGee toured a United Nations Children's
Fund (Unicef)
warehouse in the Workington Industrial area where he was shown
water
treatment tablets, oral rehydration fluids and soap worth millions of
dollars donated by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).
The material will be distributed to communities
affected by the
epidemic.
From the Unicef warehouse, McGee
visited Budiriro Community Centre
that is now being used by Oxfam and other
partners as a cholera awareness
centre.
There, he presided
over the distribution of soap, water treatment
tablets, and oral rehydration
fluids, part of the consignment of goods
donated by USAID.
BY
BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009 14:04
BULAWAYO -
Churches have come to the rescue of the city council by
providing more than
US$120 000 to clear blocked sewer manholes that have
heightened fears of a
massive cholera outbreak in high-density suburbs.
The city of more
than 1.5 million people has so far managed to contain
the cholera outbreak
despite perennial water shortages and mounting sewer
pipe
bursts.
About 20 people died of the disease in Bulawayo last
year and the toll
is dwarfed by those of some smaller urban centres where
the disease killed
close to 50 in a matter of days.
Churches in Bulawayo (CIB) said the intervention that would see
council
workers clearing 900 blocked manholes was mooted after a realisation
that a
health disaster was looming.
Targeted under the operation are
subUrbs such as Makokoba, Matshobana,
Emganwini, Nkulu-mane, Luveve,
Magwegwe, Pumula, Mzilikazi and Mabuthweni
among others, where raw sewerage
was flowing into some houses.
"We have provided overalls,
gloves, gumboots, respirators, safety
shoes, chemicals, detergents, and
working tools for the 60 council employees
who are working under this
programme," CIB chief executive officer, Josphat
Amuli
said.
The churches are also providing 1 200 litres of fuel and
10 cars to be
used in the programme that will be concluded by month
end.
Bulawayo, once regarded as one of the best run and
cleanest cities in
the country has seen hygiene standards deteriorating
rapidly due to erratic
refuse removal and overflowing sewer
mains.
Nesisa Mpofu, the council spokesperson said their
relationship with
the churches dates back to Operation Murambatsvina where
they came to the
rescue of thousands of victims left homeless after their
dwellings were
destroyed.
But Amuli expressed fears the
clearing of the sewer mains could be
stalled by lack of labour as council
workers were on strike.
Council workers went on strike last
month demanding salaries in
foreign currency.
BY NKULULEKO
SIBANDA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January
2009 13:59
Zimbabwe's public health system does not have the capacity
to identify
cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) but
conditions in the
country point to significant drug-resistance problems,
doctors attending a
recent National TB Capacity Building and Policy Dialogue
Platform meeting in
Harare said.
The National TB Co-ordinator,
Dr Charles Sandy, said it was likely
that a number of MDR-TB cases had
already occurred in Zimbabwe but that they
had not been identified because
the only national TB reference laboratory in
Bulawayo was not able to do
so.
"We have cases of MDR and XDR (extensively drug-resistant)
TB for sure
but we have a challenge because our TB laboratory reference,
which is
supposed to diagnose those kinds of tests, is not able to do so,"
Sandy
said.
The only data available on cases of MDR-TB in
Zimbabwe comes from a
survey completed in 1995, which claimed that 1.9% of
all TB cases involved
multi-drug resistant strains.
"This
is a big problem because we should have much less cases of
MDR-TB than the
1.9% identified in 1995," Sandy said.
Drug resistance occurs
when TB treatment and other services do not
work as intended. Poverty,
crumbling health systems, a lack of appropriate
laboratory and diagnostic
capacities, the migration of large numbers of
people including health
workers, and limited TB funding, have all been cited
as hampering TB control
efforts.
This is the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe today.
With more than
five million people facing food shortages, soaring inflation
rates and poor
water and sanitation systems, there is a good chance that
MDR-TB is
spreading.
During the meeting Sipho Mahlangu, a
representative from the Zimbabwe
National Network of People Living with HIV
(ZNNP+), said the organisation
had received numerous calls from people who
were opting out of HIV and TB
treatment regimes because they were no able to
take the medication on an
empty stomach.
Most Zimbabweans
face extreme poverty and many are unable to buy food,
which is now being
sold at high prices in US dollars or South African rand.
The county's public
health system has crumbled and faces a critical shortage
of drugs and
staff.
Mahlangu said ZNNP+ staff had realised that many health
care centres
were short-staffed to the extent that they had been forced to
stop following
up on people taking medication to treat TB.
According to 2007 figures presented by Sandy, Zimbabwe's TB case
detection
rate was 42%, significantly lower than the WHO target of 70%. The
treatment
success rate was 68%, which also failed to meet the WHO target of
85%.
Doctors attending the platform meeting said these statistics were a
sign
that MDR-TB could be a serious problem in the country.
Sandy
said health centres in Zimbabwe were unable to offer MDR-TB
treatment and
"as a result, the chances that it is spreading in our
population are also
high".
MDR-TB is classified as any strain of the disease
resistant to at
least two first-line anti-TB drugs, such as isoniazid and
rifampicin. XDR-TB
is relatively rare, occurring when the disease proves
resistant to a number
of both first and second-line anti-TB
drugs.
The National TB Capacity Building and Policy Dialogue
Platform was
organised by the Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN) and Zimbabwe
National Network
of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) with technical support
from SAfAIDS and
ARASA.
* The KC Team is coordinated by Health
& Development Networks (HDN).
Website: www.healthdev.net/kcteam Email: kcc@hdnet.orgThis e-mail address is
being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view
it
OWN CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009
13:36
GOVERNMENT'S declared intention to live within its means was a
tacit
admission that it is broke and can no longer go on printing money at
will
following the virtual collapse of the local currency and consequent
dollarisation of the economy, analysts said last week.
On
Thursday, acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa presented a
balanced
budget in which expenditures of US$1.9 billion would be matched by
revenue
of US$1.9 billion, the first time the country had presented a budget
without
deficits in 10 years.
Chinamasa said cooperating partners have
promised US$200 million.
But analysts' say while the government had
finally seen the light,
there was still no way out of the economic
mess.
Witness Chinyama, group economist at Kingdom Financial
Holdings
Limited said the government had been forced to implement strict
measures
because it was broke.
He said following the
dollarisation of the economy, the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe could no longer
print money to finance government spending.
"There is no way they
can finance whatever they want because the money
is not there," he said,
"the resources are simply not there."
Chinyama said for the first
time in a decade, the government had come
up with a "real budget."
"We are talking about real money," he said. "The good thing is that it
is
forcing monetary authorities to live within their means."
While
lauding Chinamasa for presenting a realistic budget, independent
economist
John Robertson doubted if the projected revenue would be raised
and whether
the expenditure patterns can be controlled.
"We should admire the
intention to achieve a balanced budget,"
Robertson said. "It's a genuine
attempt to make efforts and get things
right."
He said the
resolution of the current political impasse was necessary
if the budget was
to be properly implemented.
Since the September 15 signing of the
Global Political Agreement
between Zanu PF and the two Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) formations,
the leaders of the parties have been
haggling over the distribution of
cabinet posts and stalling the formation
of a new government.
Chinamasa acknowledged the agreement offered
"an opportunity for
cohesion and unity of purpose among ourselves for
effective implementation
of holistic policies and measures necessary for us
to take advantage of the
country's abundant resources for sustainable rapid
economic turnaround."
"The government is out of its depth given the
size of the problem and
the capacity they have to fix it," Robertson
said.
Chinamasa said the thrust of US$1.9 billion budget was on
policies
that would create wealth, a departure from populist and consumptive
policies
that resulted in the doling out of cheap funds.
Of the
total amount, recurrent expenditure will take up to US$1.450
billion while
capital expenditure was allocated US$450 million.
The analysts said
more resources should have been channelled to
capital expenditure to rebuild
the infrastructure, which had been allowed to
collapse through institutional
mismanagement.
Sewerage and water systems have collapsed, roads
need repair and
schools and hospitals have not been spared from the collapse
because of
perennial under funding.
In the past, the government
promised to raise capital expenditure to
25% of the total budget.
Chinamasa said the balanced budget was motivated by the need to
contain
runaway inflation through tightening of fiscal and monetary
policies.
The budget proposes to reduce inflation to
double-digit levels as well
as a 2% economic growth rate during the
year.
But analysts argued Chinamasa had premised his proposals on
unrealistic assumptions.
Chinamasa said the US$1.7 billion
revenue from taxes projected for
this year could only be collected through
implementation of "comprehensive
and mutually reinforcing macro-economic
reforms, including the removal of
all price distortions and controls.
"
He said though noble in their intentions, price controls have had
the
unintended consequence of hampering production while not helping the
intended beneficiaries.
The revenue estimates are also premised
on strengthening revenue
collection, "embracing into the budget revenue, net
those currently evading
tax in the informal sector".
With
companies operating at below capacity analysts note that a
revival of
industries will boost revenue through taxes such as corporate
profit tax and
Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
The US$1.7 billion would be raised through
foreign currency
denominated taxes to meet the operational costs of the
government including
the remuneration of civil servants in
forex.
All the taxes namely corporate profit, Value Added Tax,
customs duty,
carbon tax and NOCZIM Redemption Levy on fuel would be levied
in foreign
currency.
Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duty on
immovable properties will also be
levied in foreign currency.
Chinamasa said he would introduce separate foreign currency tax tables
for
employees remunerated in foreign currency with effect from
tomorrow.
Analysts said the dollarisation of the economy was an
admission the
battered Zimbabwe dollar had failed as a medium of exchange, a
reality the
government took too long to admit.
To pacify the
restive civil service, Chinamasa announced payment of a
monthly foreign
currency allowances to government workers to facilitate
access to a basket
of goods and services.
But in a dollarised economy, civil servants,
like other would still
struggle to meet obligations at a time everything
will be sold in foreign
currency.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31 January 2009 13:28
THE acting Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa last week gave mobile
phone
users something to cheer about when he slashed Value Added Tax on
airtime,
which will translate into reduced tariffs.
Presenting this year's
delayed budget, Chinamasa proposed to reduce
VAT on airtime to 15% from 22.5
%.
"I propose to standardise the rate by reducing it to 15%
with effect
from 1 February 2009, in line with the prevailing general level
of VAT on
other products," he said.
"This should translate
into lower mobile phone tariffs."
There has been notable
consumer resistance after the country's three
mobile phone operators were
given the nod by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to
bill their services in
foreign currency.
This saw tarriffs shooting to levels well
beyond what other operators
in the region were charging and operators
blamed it on excessive VAT
charges.
The operators began
charging as much as US$0.33 per minute.
The reduction of VAT
followed representations by operators to the
Ministry of Finance ahead of
the presentation of the budget.
Mobile operators contested that
VAT levels, which at 22.5% were the
highest in the region, drove the high
tariffs.
"Our tariff, at USD28 cents for Business Partna for
instance, is
largely at par with tariffs in the region," Econet wrote to its
subscribers
recently.
"Regrettably, the high VAT inflates
the final charge for a call, and
this has the effect of making what should
really be a competitive tariff
appear less so. This is not the case in other
markets."
Zimbabwe has three mobile phone operators, namely
Econet, Telecel and
Netone.
Menwhile, Econet recently sent
messages to subscribers advising them
to re-apply for the reinstatement of
contract lines following government's
decision to allow them and other
mobile phone operators to bill for their
services in forex.
The company terminated all contract lines and substituted them with
the
business partna pre-paid system last year saying its billing system had
outlived its lifetime.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31
January 2009 17:20
HAVING employed it twice before in this column, I
readily accept the
charge of over-using Machiavelli's famous quotation drawn
from his famous
political treatise, The Prince.
Yet, to my
mind, there is no better set of words to capture the
challenge that Morgan
Tsvangirai and the MDC face at this juncture.
Machiavelli said, "It must be
considered that there is nothing more
difficult to carry out, nor more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to
handle, than to initiate a new
order of things.
For the reformer has enemies in all those who
profit by the old order,
and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would
profit by the new order,
this luke-warmness arising partly from fear of
their adversaries, who have
the laws in their favour; and partly from the
incredulity of mankind, who do
not truly believe in anything new until they
have had actual experience of
it.
Thus it arises that on every
opportunity for attacking the reformer,
his opponents do so with the zeal of
partisans, the others only defend him
half-heartedly, so that between them
he runs great danger."
I have previously used these words to
explore the battle between the
forces of change and the forces of continuity
in Zanu PF - arguing that,
even though there may be some in Zanu PF who are
desirous of change, they
often hesitate to manifestly advocate for
change.
That is because, first, they are beneficiaries of the old
order and
also because they have little belief in a new order simply because
they have
not experienced it.
In other words, for them, the
benefits of the old order outweigh any
benefits that are likely to accrue in
the future.
At this point, it is the MDC that faces the stern
challenge of change.
The aftermath of the Emergency SADC Summit of
26 January 2009 has been
dominated by apparent uncertainty as to whether or
not the MDC has finally
decided to join the Inclusive
Government.
At the time of writing indications are that the MDC
National Council
will make the key decision before the end of the
week.
Tsvangirai is quoted by the ZimOnline news agency as saying,
"We have
a national council meeting where we will give a direction as to how
we hope
to deal with problems people are facing . . . I hope the party will
be
united in ensuring that we respond to the need on the ground and people's
expectations."
It is not clear whether by this he means
that the leadership will give
a direction to members of the national council
or he simply means that the
national council itself will give the direction
to the leadership. What is
apparent in this statement however, is that there
is divided opinion in the
MDC underlined by Tsvangirai's 'hope' that 'the
party will be united in
ensuring that we respond to the need on the ground
and the people's
expectations'.
A decision to join the
Inclusive Government would be a significant
moment on the part of the MDC
because it will signify a decisive
transformation from an opposition party
into a coalition partner with
responsibility in the affairs of the
state.
Such change however, is not without problems and indeed
opponents and
this is where the famous words quoted above become
relevant.
First, the possibility of change in direction towards
the Inclusive
Government could potentially split the party if the
disagreements are not
properly negotiated. It is unlikely that any decision
will be unanimous.
As we have previously observed, the MDC split in
October 2005 on the
back of differences about participation in the Senate
election. Tsvangirai
has quite rightly emphasised the hope for unity because
the risk of a split
is there and it could be disastrous.
Secondly, there is not so much the fear of losing profits of the old
order
(unless one accepts that view of cynics who sometimes argue that some
opposition leaders have personally profited from their current
positions).
The real challenge is what Machiavelli calls 'lukewarm
defenders' who
even if they perceive a profit in the new order, i.e.
ministerial positions,
public sector posts and all the benefits attendant
upon government, their
support is lukewarm because of 'fear of their
adversaries'.
No doubt this is a big factor - there is fear of Zanu
PF and what it
intends to do with the MDC when it joins
government.
Fear of Zanu PF is ever-present in the language of the
people. Almost
everyone who talks about Zanu PF exhibits palpable fear -
Zanu sinjonjo,
Zanu chiwororo, Zanu ndeyeropa (Zanu cannot be trusted) are
all statements
that form part of the political vocabulary in Zimbabwe; a
vocabulary that
betrays the fear that people have; a vocabulary that Zanu PF
itself
encourages because they know the psychological impact it has on its
adversaries.
This is hardly surprising. The main precedent
bears ugly signals -
the last time Zanu PF went into bed with another
opponent, Joshua Nkomo's PF
ZAPU, the latter was completely swallowed. Zanu
PF itself has not ceased to
employ terror tactics - including the abduction
of activists even after the
signing of the lavishly entitled 'Global
Political Agreement'.
Third, the new order that might appear in
the wake of the Inclusive
Government will be a new experience and many
people who are sceptical can
hardly see it yielding any tangible
benefit.
As Machiavelli put it, this is partly explained by 'the
incredulity of
mankind who do not truly believe in anything new until they
have had actual
experience of it'.
As they say, munhu anoda
kutenda aona saTomasi (Like Thomas, a person
will only believe when he has
seen for himself) People will remain sceptical
and reluctant to believe
until such time that they had the experience.
It is for these
reason that the MDC itself may even struggle to
attract preferred skilled
personnel to fill up positions in government or
the public sector beyond the
ministerial portfolios which politicians jostle
for. Real government work is
performed at the permanent secretary level and
below and the MDC will need
to have the personnel for these tasks.
If the fear and mistrust of
Zanu PF remains, it will be hard to prise
those persons from the private
sector.
In my opinion, Zimbabwe has been hamstrung by politics
of the 'here
and now', i.e. the focus on the present as opposed to looking
at the bigger
picture in the context of the future.
The reality
is that our current situation is so flawed that there will
be no perfect
solution that would be acceptable to all and sundry.
Besides, it is
so narrow in that there appears to be only two choices,
Zanu PF or the MDC.
But neither of them might be properly equipped to take
on the challenges
that the future presents.
Neither of them necessarily presents
finality in the search for
solutions to the country's problems.
They just happen to be the key players on the present landscape but
there is
no guarantee that they will succeed, individually or working
together.
There is nothing to say that they will retain those
positions forever.
Zimbabweans who are not happy with the
current or forthcoming set up
always have an option: to challenge the
efficacy of the new Inclusive
Government.
The history of
political ideation and activism does not end simply
because the MDC has
joined Zanu PF in government.
There is always room for new ideas,
new projects to challenge those
wielding state power.
The only
hope is that should it join, the MDC will try to be to any
opponents what
Zanu PF was never able to manage when the MDC was in
opposition.
If that is possible, then at least the new
arrangement would have
achieved one important thing: to free space for
political activity and
therefore create a culture in which democracy can
potentially thrive.
Alex Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School,
the University of Kent and
can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31
January 2009 17:13
SAMORA Machel, without whose unstinting support, the
liberation
struggle in Zimbabwe might not have gone as smoothly as it did,
is said to
have offered Robert Mugabe some sound advice.
Doris
Lessing, last year's Nobel Prize for Literature winner, refers
to this in
her fascinating non-fiction epic, African Laughter.
Others have
referred to it too, but Lessing, who lived in Southern
Rhodesia until she
was deported in 1949, can be said to speak with some
authority - she has
always written of Zimbabwe with deep passion.
She quotes Machel
as reminding Mugabe that, unlike Mozambique,
Zimbabwe inherited an economic
infrastructure, thanks to her former colonial
masters, the British. Machel
didn't need to mention the Portuguese who left
Mozambique as if it was their
deliberate plot to see it self-destruct after
their departure - which it
almost did.
Most Zimbabweans must be conscious of the cancer
which ate into our
economy under the tutelage of Mugabe and Zanu PF. In 28
years, they managed
to reduce the country into a basket case, its previously
robust
infrastructure crippled into a rickety, anemic, skeletal excuse of
its
former self.
Yet before even analysing what aberration
possessed the party and its
leadership to pay more attention to politics
than to the economy, we have to
look at the political party involved. Since
Ghana's independence in 1957,
every political party which has gained
independence for its country has
played such a pivotal role in its decline
leading, inevitably, to its
collapse, politically and
economically.
How Zimbabwe will emerge from the current
political morass will be
determined by the tenacity and vision of the
political parties involved in
the talks over an inclusive
government.
What is a political party? Basically, it's a group
of people who act
with uniform sincerity and passion on how they can lead
their country to
prosperity and progress, driving all the people, including
the opposition,
into an alliance with the party - for everybody's
benefit.
That is the ideal: the truth is slightly frightening.
In Africa, since
1957, the ruling party has one agenda; to stay in power
until kingdom come.
Since that year too, the general idea is to keep the
ruling party as the
only party with any chance of winning an
election.
There are still countries run by the same party which won
independence. Fortunately, there are a few parties, born after independence,
now also in power, having eclipsed the founding parties in free and fair
elections.
This has to be applauded as a signal to the
world that Africa is
maturing politically, if not economically. The people
now know that the
founding party has no monopoly on wisdom.
They now know that the founding leader is not a genius, that he is as
fallible as the tuckshop owner in the ghetto - he can make monumental
blunders, from which the country might not recover as in Zimbabwe's
fascinating case.
This is not a call for the abolition of
political parties in Africa.
Yoweri Museveni of Uganda cooked up a heady
brew with his non-political
party system - a country whose politics was not
guided by political parties.
It was a weird experiment, which Museveni
eventually abandoned.
But what has emerged is that there is far too
much emphasis placed on
political parties in Africa, that a political party
can be a law unto
itself, can dictate once and for all how the country is to
be run.
That the ruling party can be defeated in a free and
fair election must
surely point to the immutable fact that the only constant
fact in politics
is change. Zanu PF has yet to be forced to accept that this
is a fact of
political life.
No political party is created
to rule until infinity. This is a vital
lesson for the party to accept,
unless it intends to bequeath to this nation
a bloody legacy of violence in
politics.
One lesson which they have to take to heart is the
recent election of
Barack Obama as president of the United
States.
The victory of the Democratic Party did come as a shock to
the
Republican Party, but much more significant was Obama's
victory.
As I write this, Obama still rules in the White
House.
The chances of him remaining there until his term ends in
four years'
time cannot be treated lightly. His constituency, which
constitutes the
majority of the US population - the young - seems determined
to usher into
their country a new kind of politics.
Mugabe and
Zanu PF ought to swallow this lesson, or risk choking
themselves into
oblivion.
wsaidi20022003@yahoo.co.ukThis
e-mail address is being protected from
spambots. You need JavaScript enabled
to view it
Sunday View with Bill Saidi
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 31
January 2009 14:12
THE cholera epidemic ravaging the country has
claimed nearly 3 000
lives and infected about 60 000 others since August
last year.
In all that time, Zanu PF has done absolutely nothing to
contribute to
the fight against the disease or to assist families of those
who have died
needlessly.
It therefore beggars belief that
the party is fundraising for
celebrations marking President Mugabe's
birthday on February 21.
Last week Zanu PF held a fundraising
event at the Crowne Plaza,
Harare. Anyone who has doubted whether Zanu PF is
alive to the hardships
faced by ordinary Zimbabweans as a result of its
policies that have left a
wasteland in its wake will feel
vindicated.
Among the list of things the party is asking as
contributions are
lobsters, caviar, livestock and only the most expensive
types of chocolate -
these in a country that has nearly seven million of its
people facing
starvation!
It is not only outrageous that
Zanu PF is extorting "donations" from
companies and individuals, but it is
monstrous that after reducing industry's
capacity to a paltry 15% of its
production, the same party has no shame to
go to its victims and coerce them
to contribute to yet another of its lavish
feasts - so soon after its
December 2008 Bindura conference.
The government has been quick
to prohibit gatherings, ostensibly to
prevent the spread of cholera, yet
when it comes to Zanu PF functions it has
no qualms about approving a costly
exhibition with no useful purpose except
to demonstrate their
sycophancy.
The "celebrations" will be held this year in
Chinhoyi. The choice of
Mashonaland West demonstrates utter lack of
awareness about prevailing
circumstances.
This is the province
where most of the MDC-T supporters have been
abducted and subsequently
tortured. Some still remain in police custody.
This is the province
where farm invasions - a campaign that has
brought the country's once
productive agricultural sector to a standstill -
continue to this
day.
Mashonaland West is an area where mines have suffered most
closures.
It is also in this province that the only institution of higher
learning -
Chinhoyi University of Technology - has been closed since July
last year,
while Zanu PF and the government did absolutely
nothing.
But even more worrying is that Mashonaland West has
registered some of
the highest cholera fatalities. Chinhoyi has suffered
from health problems
related to lack of adequate clean
water.
It is raising the bar on insensitivity to marshal
resources to
celebrate this occasion when it could not do so to ensure
Chinhoyi
University of Technology continues to operate and provide education
to young
people - the same group targeted by the 21st February
Movement.
Anyone who believes they can violate the right of
young people to
education and go on to extort "donations" for an
anachronistic cause
deserves to be held accountable for their callous
disregard of other people's
rights, including the right to live free from
blackmail.
This is neither the time to celebrate nor the
occasion to fete Mugabe.
The phalanx of praise singers cannot be oblivious
to the results and effects
of Mugabe's reign. Or are they motivated by a
desire to catch Mugabe's
attention in the hope of landing a ministerial or
other posts, or the
opportunity to loot such donations for personal
gain?
It is gross for any right-thinking person to believe
there can be a
reason to celebrate when the whole country is now run on
donor-assistance
from the international community.
Anybody
approached by these Zanu PF extortionists for money for this
tasteless
occasion should have the courage to firmly tell them where to go!
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
'Dollarisation' of Varsity fees Totally Unjustified
Saturday, 31
January 2009 12:21
THROUGH your widely read newspaper I hope the voices
of the voiceless
get a chance to be heard. As Zimbabweans we all have a
right to quality and
affordable education.
Whatever people may
want to call them, the fees being asked for by
state universities are
demonic. Before a proper decision is taken, I fail to
understand why fees
are being pegged at those astronomical levels.
Inasmuch as I can
understand that lecturers need to be paid in
foreign currency, I also need
to find out how many students can afford to
pay the kind of fees being asked
for.
As a student I am struggling to make ends meet, let alone
having three
meals a day, which can cost me less than R100 a
month.
I am talking of a basic lifestyle here and some other people
just wake
up and peg fees at astronomical levels, which I am quite sure more
than 95%
will never come close to affording.
Maybe the
university will open for a few dozen students who can afford
it but I have
my doubts because the amounts involved are prohibitive.
Lecturers are
useless without students, and therefore students are a vital
component in
the equation.
One wonders whether the authorities have
considered where people are
to find that kind of money. Workers are being
paid in local currency which
has virtually ceased to be "legal tender" as no
one is accepting it as means
of payment.
Some of us who
were already in the system are disadvantaged since we
cannot be forced to
drop out because we cannot raise the kind of money they
want even if they
had pegged it at just 10% of what they are asking. Time
will
tell.
This is the time for the university to consider the
plight of the
students before they do anything. We simply cannot afford fees
that are not
only too much, but totally unjustified, unrealistic, absolute
madness.
It has to be appreciated these fees are beyond the
reach of many
people. Maybe the so-called huge donor will be paying idle
staff, as there
will be no students to teach.
It boggles
the mind how fees can be pegged at such a high figure as if
we have started
to print our own US Dollars locally. Education is supposed
to be a right of
every child, not a privilege.
Not all of us have the privilege
of access to foreign currency because
not all of us have relatives in the
Diaspora to finance our studies. We have
the brains and not the money, so
please allow us to show what we have by
charging realistic fees. Give us a
chance instead of shutting us out.
Justice-NUST Student
Bulawayo.
--------------
Revived Zapu Wants Nothing to do
With Zanu PF
Saturday, 31 January 2009 12:17
The consultative
Convention held at Macdonald Hall, Bulawayo on
December 13-14 2008 resolved
that:
1. Zapu withdraw from the unity accord with Zanu forthwith,
and that
the party political structures cease to operate under the title
Zanu PF and
resume the title of Zapu.
2. All party
structures operate under the authority of the party
constitution of
Zapu.
3. The party embark upon a concerted membership drive to
bring in old
and new supporters into the party, in preparation for congress.
An
aggressive outreach be made by extensive use of telephones, mobile
phones,
e-mail and the party website ; www.zapuonline.org
4. The
resolution of congress be published and brought to the notice
of all members
that the unity accord has ceased to exist and that those
purporting to
operate under its mandate, no longer do so, on the authority
of
Zapu.
5. The Interim Executive Committee establish
sub-committees, to review
the party constitution, party policies and
procedures and generally to
inform congress.
6. The Interim
Executive Committee establish a Council of Elders at
all levels of the
structures of the party, in the interim, to advise and
give guidance, and to
recommend to congress that it be a permanent feature
of the party
constitution. No person shall be an elder who shall not have
attained the
age of 60 years.
7. The party shall work towards the promotion
of national unity, peace
and stability and recognize the ethnic, religious,
political and cultural
diversity of our nation.
8. The
party shall adopt the policy of decentralization and devolution
of party
functions and powers at appropriate levels of party structures
where they
can best manage and direct their own affairs.
9. Composition of
party leadership shall be broadly representative of
the national character
and diversity of our nation.
10. All members of the party shall
have access to leadership positions
at all levels of the
party.
11. The party shall ensure gender balance and adequate
representation
of the youth and marginalized groups.
12.
Official documents of the party shall be published in the country's
official
languages and where deemed necessary, translations should be made
into other
local languages as desired.
13. The party prohibits conduct
likely to compromise honesty,
impartiality, integrity or likely to lead to
corruption or is detrimental to
the good and welfare of the people, on the
part anyone holding office or any
position of authority in the
party.
14. All positions of leadership in the party are held in
trust for the
people and all holding those positions are answerable to the
people and
subject to be recalled if their conduct is deemed unsatisfactory
for good
reason.
15. The abuse or misuse of power or party
property by those holding
political power or other party office shall be a
recallable offence.
16. All holding office in the party shall
act in a transparent manner.
Proper books of accounts shall be maintained
and strict financial,
procurement, and mobilization of resources procedures
be put in place
forthwith.
17. Recalling the political
problems arising from the concentration of
too much power in one office or
person, as well as the holding of duality of
positions in party and
government by one person, the committees are mandated
to study these matters
and make recommendations to congress.
18. Zapu should give due
recognition and honour to the gallant Zipra
liberation war
veterans.
An inventory of the properties illegally confiscated by the
Zanu
government should be made and prosecute a legal way to repossess those
properties.
Dr Dumiso Dabengwa
Interim National
Executive Chairman - Zapu.
-----------------
If Zinwa was a
boy. . . a boy ....
Saturday, 31 January 2009 12:12
IF the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) was a boy, his
parents would have
lost all hope. They would have dumped him in the streets,
where the Zinwa
board and management belong.
If Zinwa was a boy, he wouldn't have
girlfriends, as he doesn't know
the importance of water for personal
hygiene.
If Zinwa was a boy, he wouldn't have friends, as they
would blame him
for cholera because he fails to provide clean water - a job
that he is
responsible for.
If Zinwa was a boy nobody would
come to his house, as his toilet
wouldn't work because the sewerage system
is always blocked. If Zinwa was a
boy he would have bad breath, because how
do you expect to brush teeth when
there is no running water coming out of
the tap?
Zimonyce
Milton Park,
Harare.
----------------
Forex Charges Deny Many
Access to Health Services
Saturday, 31 January 2009 12:23
IF
Harare residents and Zimbabweans at large had a magic wand or a
choice, they
would end all sicknesses but the fact that illness occurs
naturally and
involuntarily leaves them at the mercy of the twisted
"politics of survival"
manoeuverings of a desperate Robert Mugabe
government.
The
Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) finds it
stomach-turning that
public health has been effectively privatised (through
the introduction of
the new hard currency fees) amid the socio-economic
malaise that has
drastically increased poverty among most urban residents.
The
average Zimbabwean has been denied access to health as the Zanu PF
"government" takes desperate measures to keep afloat its "Titanic of chronic
failure".
Government hospitals, which together with council
clinics were given
the nod to charge in hard currency (but still accept the
valueless
Zimbabwean dollar with the charges determined on a daily basis),
charge
patients a hard-to-come-by US$40 = R400 (equal to quintillions of
Zimbabwe
dollars at the parallel market rate) for consultation only and
massive US$70
= R700 a night for in-patients.
A Caesarean
operation requires a flat fee of US$150=R1 500 while scans
cost around US$80
= R800. The Harare City Council has pegged consultation
fees for adults at
US$5 a visit and US$3 for children. Ante-natal care
booking charges for
expecting women are pegged at US$50 and family planning
method seekers pay
an average of US$2 a service.
Most low income earners who
constitute the majority of the Zimbabwean
population still earn far below
US$1 a month, lower than the least charge
for any service rendered at
government hospitals and council clinics.
The health charges set
are therefore exasperatingly out of reach of
the generality of residents and
have turned public facilities into private
ones and condemn residents to
more suffering.
The health charges are tantamount to fundraising to
prop up the failed
"government" and broaden the looting base for Zanu PF
senators and
councillors, some of whom were recently arrested for allegedly
defrauding
the state of more than US$ 10 000.
The charges are
prohibitive, and should be reversed. Meanwhile the
hard currency craze has
seen massive profiteering and lack of accountability
in public and private
sectors.
CHRA would like to urge the Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare, the
government and all other public and private service
providers to stop
ripping off citizens and uphold principles of justice and
due fairness in
discharging their mandate and in their businesses
respectively.
CHRA will continue to advocate for transparency,
professionalism, and
quality municipal and other service
delivery.
Combined Harare Residents' Association
Harare.
------------
SMS The Standard
Saturday, 31
January 2009 12:23
Uncommon sense
IT boggles the mind how the
government bars trading in foreign
currency without a licence and yet
expects businesses to pay bills such as
telephone, water and electricity in
foreign currency.
Furthermore, licensing fees are astronomically
high for small
businesses. Do our leaders have common sense at all? -
Abas.
Charge Chombo
IGNATIOUS Chombo must be one
of those people in government now who
should, in time, be brought before the
law to answer to his contribution in
causing cholera deaths. If he had not
meddled with the properly run local
authorities the thousands of people who
have perished unnecessarily and the
scores of others who were struck down
would not have happened. Now this
cowardly man has the audacity to blame
local authorities for failing the
public in service delivery! He must take
us for utter nincompoops. But let
me remind him to stop this tomfoolery, for
we have long memories and we
shall ensure he has his day in court. Be man
enough and own up, or was
Margaret Dongo right after all when she scolded
them about being useless
"Mugabe's wives"? - Curious,
Gweru.
******
IT is tough to bet on ordinary
Zimbabweans doing something about this
country's problems. Far too many of
us are hustling, stealing, joking and
fleeing. - Cowardice.
******
SOLDIERS should not limit their looting to the few chefs so far
reported by the private media. There must be more to collect from all those
who have stolen money, food and work from the people of this country. -
Robin Hood, Harare.
******
JAPAN is the world's third
biggest steel producer, yet it doesn't
possess any of the raw materials for
steel production - iron ore and coal,
which it imports. Zimbabwe has all
these raw materials readily available,
yet we haven't figured out how to
fully exploit them and develop our
industries.-Potential,
Harare.
Bogus analysts
CAN the present regime, which lacks
a mandate from the majority of
this country, who clearly spoke their mind
and expressed their wishes on who
should rule them, stop issuing
illegitimate statements? Threatening service
providers, who are struggling
to put food on the table, does not help. The
so-called political analysts
who are always repeatedly roped in to buttress
the state's case are dyed-in-
the-wool Zanu PF functionaries, who are used
at every turn to attack the
MDC. This also doesn't help the process of
trying to put together in place
an all-inclusive government. Attacking them
will not make the MDC change the
way it views the Zimbabwean reality, its
problems and the solutions thereto.
These so-called analysts, who after all
are singing for their supper, should
not waste their time lying to the
nation. We know who is wrong and who is
not. If they are interested in
hearing what we really think, we can tell
them, genuinely and honestly our
view about the negotiations. They should
not forget that because Zimbabweans
are highly educated they can see through
the façade. So we are not fools. If
they think they can make us hate the MDC
and Morgan Tsvangirai, then why don't
they put it to a test in the form of a
free and fair election and we can
once and for all bury Zanu PF and confine
it to the dustbin of history. All
the goods in the shops are now imported
and they are sold in US dollars, how
does any sane person expect the shops
to restock? - Wake up, Harare.
Resource wise
IMAGINE if
all the Jatropha trees had been destroyed by people cutting
them down for
firewood or burning them down so that they could catch a few
rabbits and
mice. Zimbabwe would not be able to fully benefit from the
economic effects
of the Jatropha tree, such as bio-diesel, soap, synthetic
oils and grease
and other commercial uses that are still to be discovered.
Let's use our
natural resources wisely and let us not be short-sighted and
squander them
as we have done to our citrus estates. - Realist, Harare.
Left in a
lurch
THE Reserve Bank has done nothing about the plight of university
students and those at tertiary colleges. They do not have pay slips that
will enable them to withdraw money from their banks; I wonder what plans the
RBZ has so that students are able to withdraw amounts that will sustain
them. In general while other sectors have benefited from the largesse of the
RBZ, students, the future of this country have been ignored. Please do
something before it is too late. - Domba, Nyanga North.
******
THE National Parks Authority should allow people to harvest the
water
hyacinth, which is clogging up and polluting our dams. People should
be able
to harvest it, dry it and make organic fertiliser. - I M Aheyad,
Harare.
Against pollution
URBAN councils and the
government ministry responsible should stop the
new trend of building houses
over wetlands. These open spaces were left
vacant for sound environmental
reasons. They act as natural purification
systems and water catchment areas
for the built-up areas. But by allowing
construction to take place in these
areas, we risk contaminating the water
supply systems for the urban areas,
at a time Zimbabwe does not have enough
resources to import water
purification and treatment chemicals. In addition
the pollution of the
wetlands can have negative effects in that they could
contribute to the
proliferation of diseases, among them the current cholera
epidemic. -
Oracle, Harare.
Scrap metal exports
ZIMBABWE should put a
total ban on the export of scrap metal. It makes
no sense that a country
such as ours should be selling scrap metal only to
import finished products
made from our scrap metal at a staggering cost,
when those same products
could be made locally at much more competitive
prices. Zimbabwe has the
largest metal foundries in Africa outside South
Africa, but most of them are
idle or redundant because they lack the raw
materials (scrap metal). The
processing plant at Mhangura could be revived
if there is enough scrap
available.- MaIdeas, Harare.
I am sick and tired of hearing people
passing the buck on the issue of
price increases and charging of goods and
services in foreign currency.
Ninety percent of the products in shops now
are imported. Nearly 95% of a
transporter's operating costs are in foreign
currency for fuel. Industry is
grinding to a halt because of lack of foreign
currency to purchase spares.
Foreign currency is only found on the streets -
the parallel market and all
the above sectors are caught up in a vicious
cycle of having to depend on
the parallel market for their foreign currency
requirements. Instead of
pointing fingers in the wrong direction and causing
pointless petty
arguments, we should be focusing on foreign
currency-generating projects. -
I M Real, Harare.
http://en.afrik.com/article15239.html
There has to be a
starting point ...
MDC's National Treasurer Roy Bennett who fled
Zimbabwe after he was
accused of plotting to overthrow Robert Mugabe has
returned to the country
to see the formation of an all-inclusive
government.
Saturday 31 January 2009, by Alice
Chimora
In 2004 Bennet spent eight months in jail for pushing ZANU
PF's Patrick
Chinamasa in parliament. He flew into Zimbabwe from South
Africa for the
crucial meeting of the MDC National Council, which made the
decision to
finally form a unity government with ZANU PF and the second MDC
formation.
Speaking on the eve of his departure Bennett told South
African media that
he was "very apprehensive". "To tell you the truth I am
scared because I don't
know what faces me on the other side," he
said.
Bennett who felt he wanted to be part of this important occasion
and also
test the sincerity and genuineness of the Mugabe regime, passed
through
airport security without any hassles. He went straight to the
meeting where
the National Council committed itself to the unity
government.
It is believed this decision came after serious pressure from
SADC, which
had said it would guarantee and deliver the process, with the
government
formed by mid February.
Danger
Confronted with the
potential danger of his return to Zimbabwe as well as
the Mugabe government
sticking to its part of the power-sharing deal,
Bennett, who was a
commercial farmer before he was violently driven off his
land in
Chimanimani, said: "I find it as difficult as the next person to
even begin
to trust these processes, but there has to be a starting point of
moving
this forward on the basis that people are suffering and on the basis
that
SADC has guaranteed this process."
He added that within SADC the MDC has
friends, who believe a power sharing
government can be delivered.
But
whether or not Roy Bennett is risking his life for the good of the
people of
Zimbabwe - a population suffering from an acute shortage of food
with one
out of every four Zimbabweans needing food aid as well as major
health
risks, - the ball is in Mugabe's court and for the time being he
calls the
shots.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/
Barry Ronge: Spit n Polish Published:Feb 01,
2009
DisGrace
was out shopping. If hypocrisy was a disease, many African leaders
would be
dead
I've had a couple of images dancing in my head for the past
few weeks. The
first was of Grace Mugabe and her bodyguard getting rough
with a
photographer who dared to take a picture of her shopping in Hong
Kong. Her
reaction was revealing. She's the wife of a president who has been
making
international headlines, so she should know a smart thing or two
about the
protocol of handling the paparazzi.
Her explosive
response and her determination to confiscate his film can only
suggest, to
even the most neutral observer, that she had something to hide,
or that she
has an ego that makes Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan look like
shy, blushing
maidens.
People in Zimbabwe are dying of cholera and hunger. The
country is printing
trillion-dollar currency notes which will buy you food
for a day. If she had
a shred of decency, or even just a sense of what is
seemly, she would not
have been browsing the swanky boutiques in Hong Kong,
unless she was on the
unlikely errand of buying medicine and food for her
people.
I mean, have you ever seen a picture of Grace Mugabe in a
hospital, in a
homeless shelter or even just visiting the poorest of the
poor? I certainly
haven't.
For me, that high-heeled mugging was
her Marie Antoinette "Let them eat
cake!" moment, but sadly, her expensively
coiffed (and monstrously swollen)
head will probably stay on her puffed-up
shoulders.
So many of Africa's tyrants have achieved that. Idi Amin
was so monstrous
that various Islamic leaders considered him an
embarrassment. So he hopped
off to Libya, then to Saudi Arabia, where he
lived in subsidised luxury and
died in his bed.
Ditto Mobutu Sese
Seko, who fomented the Hutu versus Tutsi violence that
still plagues this
continent with genocidal wars. He (and his cash) hopped
to Togo, and he died
- rich, protected and in his bed - in Morocco.
They are not Africa's
only such escape artists. There have been many others
and I would not be
surprised to find Bob and Grace Mugabe ending their days
in a luxurious
Shanghai penthouse.