Attack on MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai
TThis is what the President said
happened when he was on his way to his home in the Buhera communal area where he
built his rural family home years ago.
The MDC President travelled to his rural home in the Buhera
communal with his family assisted by his security. Correction the Mdc President
does not have a farm as has been mentioned in your press report. He has his
home in his communal area, in Buhera.
According to Tsvangirai the family stopped at Chivhu at the
local supermarket on their way to Buhera. Three security guards went inside the
shop to make some purchases for the family, when those security guards in the
two cars with the President noticed some 20-30 zanu/pf green bombers/militia in
their full green bombers' uniform, running towards the President's vehicles
which were packed outside the supermarket. The greenbombers became rowdy and
noisy as they rushed to the packed MDC President's cars.
The security guards who had remained with the President drove
the President and his family off the scene, some ten kilometers away from
Chivhu. After a short time, the President returned to Chivhu to the Police
station to both report the incident as well as to pick up the three security
guards who had gone into the supermarket.
The president with the assistance of the Chivhu police
searched the town unsuccesfully for the three security men. The supermarket
explained that they hid the three men. When the green bombers/militia seemed to
have left the town centre, the supermarket personnel got the three President's
security men out through the back door. The three men were however spoted by
the militia who chased after them. Each security guard ran towards his own
direction to safety. None was caught by the greenbombers. Two found their way to
Buhera while the third returned to Harare this morning.
The President was informed that there are three
greenbombers'/militia bases in Chivhu town alone. These militia bases are
established throughout the country in preparations for the next elections.
Their role in elections is to prevent the opposition campaining, intimidating
the villagers, and basically ensuring a zanu/pf victory.
The Mugabe regime made a request to the UN for assistance
during the coming elections. They withdrew this request when the UN responded
with their conditions for assistance. This move has been followed by Mugabe's
announcement that there will be Parliamentary elections in March 2005.
Reports confirm that Mugabe announced that he is retiring in another 5 years on
his 80th birthday when everyone supporting him had been made to believe by
Mugabe himself, that he would be retiring on his 80th birthday to make way for
formal negotiations between the political parties, leading to peaceful
elections.
While the MDC President, his family and staff are for
the moment safe and well, what he and his family went through on the weekend is
a foretaste of what is to come for himself, opposition members, MDC candidates,
their teams and supporters throughout Zimbabwe for the 2005 elections. Hence
the MDC message to the European Union Parliament recently, that there must be
negotiations/talks betwen the parties in Zimbabwe, to prepare for free and fair
elections, to be held according to the SADC Norms and Standards for elections,
to which the Mugabe regime is a signitory. Zimbabweans cannot go through
another election under the same conditions as those of the 2000 Parliamentary
elections and of the subsequent 2002 Presidential ones, whose outcome MDC is
still contesting in the courts of law.
Sekai Holland
MDC Secretary for International
Affairs
ZIm Std
Chombo erred on Mudzuri, say Harare residents
By Valentine
Maponga
THE Majority of Harare residents are of the opinion that the Minister of
Local Government and Public Works, Ignatius Chombo erred by suspending the
constitutionally elected mayor, Engineer Elias Mudzuri, a survey by the Mass
Public Opinion Institute has revealed.
More than 60% of the respondents who took part in the snap poll, meant to
gauge the views of residents concerning the city council, said Minister Chombo
was "merely politicking and trying to discredit the council" when he suspended
Mudzuri.
Significantly, 33,3% of the residents also felt that the problems facing
the Harare City Council were largely a result of Chombo's interference. It was
interesting to note that 13.3 % blamed the Solomon Tawengwa led council as the
root cause of the crisis while 9,5 % levelled the blame on the Chanakira
Commission for the mess at town house.
The Harare City Council is considered by many to be performing below
expectation as evidenced by constant disconnections of water supplies, sewage
and refuse collection problems as the major worries.
"39,3% are 'dissatisfied' and 36.0% are 'very dissatisfied' by the manner
in which things are going on at Town House," reads part of the findings.
The council has been dogged by controversy from the time since the MDC
mayor and the majority of councillors were elected into office in March 2003.
Following Mudzuri's suspension, Sekesai Makwavarara. also of MDC was
appointed acting executive mayor by Chombo.
Asked how they felt about this arrangement, 51,6% of the residents
interviewed said Makwavarara should get out of the mayor's office. Only 19.5%
said she should remain in office while 23.3% said they were not decided.
GMB stuck with local wheat as millers opt for imported flour
By
Kumbirai Mafunda
THE Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and millers are reportedly stuck with
stocks of wheat and flour as it emerged that bakers are turning to imported
flour.
Sources in the milling and baking industry told StandardBusiness that the
state run grain procurement body is struggling to dispose of its few stocks of
wheat that came through from last year's winter crop. Last years' winter wheat
crop amounted to a meagre 80 000 tonnes out of a normal requirement of 350 000
tonnes.
Sources said GMB has been stung by its recent deregulation of the
marketing of wheat. Following its utter failure to meet the country's grain
requirements in the past four years, GMB licensed a number of millers and
bakeries late last year to procure wheat and flour.
"They can be stuck with small quantities of wheat as long as these people
are getting import permits," said a source.
Bakers said the monopolistic grain procurer has to review its price
downwards if it was to get its products sold out.
Some millers who had taken positions before the strengthening of the
local currency are also reportedly stuck with wheat and flour stocks, which they
are failing to sell as bakers, opt for cheap imported flour. Baking sources said
some millers who were feeling the pinch had started reviewing their prices
downward to $2,4 million per tonne.
Owing to the recent firming of the Zimbabwe dollar against the United
States dollar which currently is fetching $3 973,43 on the foreign currency
auction market, it is now economical and lucrative for bakers to source flour
from neighbouring countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.
Prior to the introduction of the managed auction system bakers were
sourcing foreign currency on the parallel and black market where the American
greenback was selling at $6 500 nearly twice the current rate. Bakers said they
were now accessing flour at US$400 a tonne (about $2 million inclusive of duty
payments) compared to about $3,5 million that is being offered by local millers.
An official with one bread making company said they have increased its
workforce from two thousand to four thousand and increased its production by
27%.
Furore as production house seizes Studio 263 tapes
By Henry
Makiwa
ZIMBABWE'S prime soapie, Studio 263, and the television talk show, This Is
Life, last week salvaged their screen life at the courts after the shows'
independent editors, Shamiso Entertainment, threatened to derail production
after confiscating tapes of the popular programmes.
The move, according to the shows' director Godwin Mawuru, posed a serious
threat to the continuation of the programmes as it would defeat efforts to
flight "flash-back" clips and execute the exchange deal between the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and producers of the Zambian drama, Kabanana.
"What Gilbert Muvavarirwa (Shamiso's executive director) did was an
unorthodox business practice similar to street extortion. We had no choice but
to seek legal relief," Mawuru told StandardPlus.
"His seizure of our properties would have had adverse and ripple effects
not only on our programmes but the national broadcaster as well. ZBC has a deal
with the Zambian production (Kabanana) whereby they exchange episodes of Studio
263 for Kabanana which is being screened in the country. On our side, we
wouldn't be able to flight flash-back effects that we show to reflect past
scenes of our shows, especially in Studio 263."
However the two shows' sponsors, Population Services International (PSI)
last week won back ownership of the seized material at the High Court after
Judge Chinhengo ruled that Muvavarirwa should release the over 100 "beta SP
tapes" in his possession.
Muvavarirwa, an entertainment mogul popular for his 2 000 work on the
Urban Grooves compilation music album, The Future, could not be reached for
comment as he was said to be out of the country while his lawyers, Muzenda and
Maganga legal practitioners disowned him.
A lawyer from the law firm, who refused to be named, said: "We have not
received any cooperation from Shamiso and their boss is said to be out of the
country so we have no choice but to 'renounce agent'. I am sorry I can not
comment on that issue, it is no longer ours."
Promise Matewa, a Shamiso official, dismissed the court ruling as a
"default judgement " because it was delivered in the absence of their lawyers.
He said: "The ruling is just a provisional order and we are going to
challenge it. The whole issue is about PSI paying us the outstanding sum and the
ruling does state that they should pay up what they owe us.
"It is also unfair that the judgement was delivered after we had parted
ways with our lawyers and we are going to challenge that."
According to information gathered by StandardPlus, a dispute over
contractual differences emerged between Shamiso and PSI - proponents of
Zimbabwe's first soap opera Studio 263 and This Is Life - following
disagreements over the payment of services for editing the two shows.
The sharp divisions reportedly surfaced last November when Shamiso
Entertainment hiked the charges of their services at least triple-fold "to match
the rates of inflation", a move which led to PSI writing to Shamiso in a letter
dated November 14, advising the company that they intended to terminate their
contract at the end of that month.
However, Muvavarirwa, apparently bitter with the developments,
immediately cut ties with PSI's Studio 263 upon receipt of the memo and on the
same day seized the soap's archive tapes. He also effected new charges for hire
of his camera and other production accessories he was loaning to Studio 263.
"We cannot release anything until PSI bills have been settled...release
our camera and its accessories immediately, as these will be charged according
to Shamiso rates," Muvavarirwa wrote to PSI technical director, Soumitro Gosh.
Muvavarirwa last July struck a six-month deal with PSI in which his
company, Shamiso, was contracted to edit Studio 263 and This Is Life's raw
productions until December 2003.
Zim Std
Mugabe accused of abusing presidential powers
By Caiphas
Chimhete
THE controversial Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act,
which President Robert Mugabe has frequently evoked, is not only
unconstitutional but has become a "lethal weapon" that is helping the ageing
leader to maintain a tight grip on power, say analysts.
They point out that
over the past few years, an increasingly paranoid Mugabe has used the Act to
impose repressive laws to silence the opposition ahead of crucial elections.
The controversial act was authored by ailing former justice minister Eddison
Zvobgo in 1986 when the late Canaan Sodindo Banana was a ceremonial President.
The act was designed as a "stop-gap measure" in urgent cases where it would have
not been possible for Parliament to legislate within a short space of time.
It was envisaged that within a period of six months Parliament would convene
and either reject or pass into substantive law, legislation that would be put in
place by the President using his powers derived from the act. But it never
dawned on Zvobgo, some say, that he had given Mugabe, who was then Prime
Minister, ammunition which would come in handy when his political fortunes were
on the wane years later. Mugabe became the executive President the following
year, thanks again to Zvobgo who crafted the law to provide for executive
Presidency.
Using the presidential powers, Mugabe has over the years
introduced pieces of temporary legislation that, analysts say, were aimed at
consolidating his dominance of the Zimbabwe political landscape.
In 1995,
Mugabe amended the Urban Council's Act to create positions of executive mayors.
Critics of his rule say this was because it had become increasingly clear that
the ruling Zanu PF party was losing support in urban areas and the President did
not want to lose control of the major cities to the opposition.
Two years
later, Mugabe again evoked his powers under the Presidential Powers (Temporary
Measures)Act to amend the country's Labour Relations Act banning industrial
actions after a spate of strikes had paralysed industry and commerce earlier in
that month. The decree followed two successful job stayaways organised by the
country's largest labour body, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) .
Mugabe also used his powers under the controversial act to amend land
regulations twice in 2001 to facilitate seizure of white owned farms without
compensation. In April and November 2001, the President changed the Land
Acquisition Act giving the Minister of Agriculture powers to compulsorily
acquire land instead of the President himself and to enable government to evict
farmers from their land within three months once the farms were designated.
Last December, government again altered the land regulations to allow the
State to compulsorily acquire farm machinery and equipment from farms,
previously owned by white land owners.
And only two weeks ago, Mugabe,
evidently keen to make the fight against corruption his trump card in next
year's general elections, evoked new measures to give the police excessive
powers to detain people accused of economic and political crimes for up to 30
days without recourse to bail.
Although most analysts concur that corruption
needs to be nipped in the bud, they ask why the President failed to use the
normal route; going through Parliament where Zanu PF commands a majority, to
pass such a controversial piece of legislation.
"One wonders why, in the
first place, Mugabe avoids Parliament when Zanu PF has a numerical advantage in
the House. What is extraordinary about corruption; we alI know it has been going
on for a long time. There was no urgency to deal with it in this manner ," said
Philliat Matsheza, the executive director of Human Rights Trust of South Africa
(Sahrit).
Section 2 of contestable act, says the president can only evoke
his powers in a situation which needs to be dealt with urgently or in a
situation which is not adequately covered in terms of other laws.
"It is
only in very exceptional circumstances when the use of Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures) Act can be justifiable in a democratic society," says
Sternford Moyo, the former president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe.
Moyo
said the concept of separation of powers gets lost when the President begins to
exercise both legislative and executive powers.
"It defeats the whole
concept of checks and balances which is an important component of the theory of
separation of powers. It is based on the theory that power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely."
Constitutional expert, Lovemore Madhuku, said
Mugabe was using the Presidential Powers Act, which he described as the most
undemocratic legislation in post independent Zimbabwe, for his personal benefit.
"There is absolutely no reason why the President should make law because we
have a Parliament where laws can adequately be debated," said Madhuku, who also
chairs the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a civic body that advocates
for a new constitution in the country.
David Coltart, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) shadow Minister of Justice, also believes that Mugabe
used the unconstitutional act to preserve his unwanted brutal hegemony and not
in the national interest. "Its an abuse of Section 2 of the same act
(Presidential Powers) and in any event the act is unconstitutional because it
runs contrary to the principle of separation of powers because it confers
legislative powers on the President in violation of the constitution," said
Coltart.
Matsheza agrees: "Where is the separation of powers there. The
advantage of Parliament is that laws are debated and there is wide
consultation."
But the octogenarian leader can decide the fate of all
Zimbabweans single-handedly. "He has used his powers several times, its actually
countless times," said Coltart.
Other countries where a President enjoys
such despotic powers include the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia.
In other more liberal countries, said Madhuku, a president can only make law
in terms of an existing act. "But here Mugabe is in a class of his own," he
said.
The NCA believes the governance problems besetting the country emanate
from the fact that the constitution invests too much power in the 80-year old
leader. For the past few years, the coalition has been trying to engage the Zanu
PF government in an all-embracing constitution-making process, moves that have
been spurned by the ruling party which argues a new constitution is not urgent
after the rejection in referendum of a draft constitution tabled by government
in year 2000.
Zim Std MDC must boycott all future elections
Sundaytalk with Pius
Wakatama
THE problem with Zimbabwe's ruling political leaders is that they refuse
to understand the meaning of true freedom, authority, power and the role of the
State.
ccording to the World Book Encyclopaedia, totalitarian government is a form
of government in which the State controls all phases of the people's lives. It
allows only one party, headed by an absolute leader who maintains his power over
the party and the rest of the people by force and violence.
Communist Russia established the first modern totalitarian State in 1917.
Other modern totalitarian States included Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, from
1933 to 1945 and fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini, from 1925 to 1943.
Most African post colonial leaders have sought to establish totalitarian
regimes with disastrous consequences for themselves and their countries. Our own
President Robert Mugabe, as an avowed Marxist/Leninist obviously favours a
Russian style form of totalitarianism.
In The Daily News of December 29, 2001, I wrote about the totalitarian
nature of our government. I said, "Mugabe's Marxist/Leninism does not allow for
multi-partyism. This is why he has his mind set on crushing the fledgling
Movement for Democratic Change by fair of foul means, just as he crushed Edgar
Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement and Margaret Dongo's Zimbabwe Union of
Democrats and the Forum Party led by former Chief Justice, Enoch Dumbutshena."
Totalitarian government, as we have in Zimbabwe today, is not at all what
God intended for us. The Bible, which most Zimbabweans accept as God's word,
sets out clearly the relationship between the ruler and the ruled.
It says, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities; for
there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities
that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the
authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will
bring judgement on themselves for rulers hold no fear for those who do right,
but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in
authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's
servant to do you good.
"But if you do wrong, be afraid for he does not bear the sword for
nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong
doer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because
of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
"This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants ,
who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him. If you
owe taxes, pay taxes: if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if
honour then honour."
There we have in black and white. But alas, this is not the situation
prevailing in our country. The authorities that exist in Zimbabwe today don't
deserve my submission, respect, let alone honour because I am convinced they
were not established by God. They did not get their authority from the people's
consensus. They did not win the power in a free and fair election but through
lies, intimidation, torture, murder and the rigging of elections. They bring
terror to those who do right and allow criminals and murderers to go scot free.
They hold no terror for those who do wrong but for those who do right. Since
their coming to power, Zimbabwe has known nothing but massive corruption,
hunger, deprivation and fear.
The Bible says we should pay taxes so that our rulers can devote all
their time to affairs of the government. Are they doing that? Not at all. Most
of them pay scant attention to the needs of the people who pay their salaries by
their taxes. Most of their time is spent in grabbing farms, fighting over them
and corruptly setting up business empires for themselves and their families. Can
such be God's servants to do us good? My conscience says they definitely are
not. They have got another master who is Mammon, whom they serve and warship.
Not the God of the scriptures.
The Bible makes it quite clear that the only motivation for seeking
political office is that so one can have an opportunity to serve God and his
fellow men. In our case, service does not seem to be the motive driving our
rulers. An uncle once said to me," Ve Zanu PF vaguta Ngava chimboregeraoka ve
MDC vadyewo." This is literally translated, "Those of Zanu PF have eaten enough.
They should now also allow those of MDC to eat."
This concept of what government means to our rulers was illustrated by
the words of Philip Chiyangwa, the now embattled Zanu PF legislator some time
last year. He gave this advice to our young people, "If you want to be rich like
me, join Zanu PF."
Yes, it is indeed sad. These people are in government for only one
reason, and that is to make themselves and their relatives rich. In the January
2004 issue of the Jesuit journal, Mukai, Archbishop Pius Ncube says of them, "
They are procuring for themselves expensive Mercedes Benz cars and living in
luxury while people are starving. Your heart is broken and you feel powerless.
But these people are totally insensitive. They claim to be Christians but they
haven't even observed Christ's fundamental teaching, to love God with all your
heart and love your neighbour as yourself, and don't do to another what you
would not want done unto you. Their Christianity is just not honest."
To these people. values such as service to one's fellow men and love for
God and country are unknown. They don't eat to live but live to eat. They eat
and eat and eat like caterpillers. At least caterpillers metamorphosise into
beautiful butterflies which give us joy after their much eating. These so called
leaders eat and get fat until they die from their over-indulgence. They will rot
in their graves with no hope for their miserable souls.
Events of the last few years prove beyond any reasonable doubt that our
government is not interested in democratic processes. They are an intransigent
totalitarian regime. Since this is a fact, is there any hope that future
by-elections and the 2005 general elections will be free and fair. Already, the
government has withdrawn its request to the United Nations for UN observers to
be present during the 2005 general elections. What is it they would like to
hide?
My advice to the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is for his party
to boycott all future parliamentary and council elections until there is a level
playing field. There is absolutely no use in participating in these
non-democratic charades.
They only further expose non-violent members of the MDC to this merciless
totalitarian regime. Participation also tends to lend credibility and legitimacy
to the ruling party. Let God deal with Zanu PF as he sees fit.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Zim Std
Police probe Mnangagwa
By Caiphas Chimhete
AS the net widens in the swoop to bring corrupt officials to book, the
police have instituted investigations against the Speaker of Parliament,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, over his alleged involvement in the looting of diamonds in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a few years ago, The Standard has
learnt.
Reliable sources confirmed the police investigations yesterday saying, as
part of their probe, police were on Thursday combing through articles written by
The Daily News concerning Mnangagwa's alleged involvement in the DRC natural
resources scandal.
According to Sam Sipepa Nkomo, chief executive officer of Associated
Newspapers Limited, publishers of the The Daily News, the police had indicated
special interest in a wide ranging interview the ex-Minister of Justice held in
2001 with Geoff Nyarota, the former editor of paper in which Mnangagwa tried to
exonerate himself from any shady diamond deals.
Nkomo told The Standard police had requested information on Mnangagwa and
that they had told him they were investigating the former Justice Minister.
Said Nkomo, "I can confirm that they came here looking for articles we
did on Mnangagwa and the looting of diamonds in the DRC. They told me they were
investigating Mnangagwa because I was not going to release the files to them if
they had not told me the reason."
Nkomo, whose two newspapers, The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday
have been shut down after a protracted legal wrangle with the government's Media
and Information Commission over operating licences, said one Superintendent
Chivasa of the law and order section at Harare Central Police Station led the
investigating team that visited ANZ offices.
"I gave them all they needed, ndikati ah huku iya yodya mazai ayo zvino,
(The chickens are coming home to roost)" said Sam.
In addition to the diamond looting allegations, sources told The
Standard, the police were also investigating Mnangagwa's alleged links to the
collapsed ENG Asset Management firm, whose two directors are languishing in
custody.
"They want to close on him from all angles, I do not know whether he will
survive this onslaught," said the source.
Efforts to get a comment from Chivasa were unsuccessful yesterday as all
calls to the law and order section went unanswered. Contacted for a comment,
police spokesperson Andrew Phiri, said: "I don't know anything, I am actually at
home, phone Bvudzijena."
Assistant police commissioner, Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday, could neither
confirm nor deny that they were investigation the Speaker of Parliament. "Okay,
phone me later," said Bvudzijena, before switching off his mobile phone after
being told the nature of the investigations.
Efforts to get Bvudzijena later in the day yesterday proved fruitless as
his mobile went unanswered while Mnangagwa, who was in Zvimba for the
President's birthday celebrations, could not be contacted.
In a wide ranging interview with ZTV's Newsnet programme on Friday,
Mugabe said the fight against corruption would not spare anyone regardless of
political position. "Well, we do not look at how big people are or their own
pretended status in society, we look at what they are from a moral point of
view.
"But once we discover they are rotten we will pursue them. This is the
war now," said Mugabe although many people doubt his sincerity in fighting
corruption. Many think it is his trump card ahead of the 2005 general elections.
Speculation in some circles was that if Mnangagwa is clean, the
investigation could have been instigated by some Zanu PF "heavies" who want him
out of the presidential race to pave the way for themselves. "I talked to him
(Mnangagwa) yesterday (Friday) he was not hiding but he suspects the
investigations are being instigated by those who do not want him to enter the
presidential race," said one source.
Mnangagwa was implicated in a UN report together with senior DRC,
Rwandan, Ugandan and army officials in the alleged plundering of natural
resources in the war-torn DRC. The UN report also implicated former Zimbabwe
Defence Forces commander, Vitalis Zvinavashe and other key military personnel in
alleged natural resources stripping in the vast central African nation.
Mnangagwa has since denied any wrongdoing.
Police investigations into Mnangagwa's dealings come hot on the heels of
sensational arrests of some senior Zanu PF members, notably the party's chairman
of Mashonaland West, Philip Chiyangwa, central committee member James Makamba
and Jane Mutasa, head of the Indigenous Business Women Organization
(IBWO).
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject line.
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM 23RD FEBRUARY 2004 -
OLF236
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Prelude
text
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Letter
1:
Subject: REFERENCE LETTER 3 OF 20/04
Dear Sir,
reference
Letter 3 of the 20th February from one Mr. Willie Watson.
This man is
obviously very bitter and is using Mrs. Tredgold as a whipping
boy
!!
Just to let. Mr.. Watson know, Mrs. Tredgold has been a sole land
owner for
the last 15+ years since the death of her husband. In the beginning
she had
a young man helping her, but she was the better farmer, and he could
not
take the pace and left.
Is Mr. Watson possibly jealous that He
(like myself) has been evicted, and
Mrs. Tredgold is still a viable farmer?
Also, is it not sexist to say that
Mrs. Tredgold should be off the land as
she is female? Why should her age
matter? If she were male, her age would not
have been an issue I am sure. I
know for a fact that Mrs. Tredgold is very
proficient with a firearm, and I
am sure that in very difficult circumstances
she reacted as best she could.
Colleen I am proud of you !!
I would
suggest that Mr. Watson check with his neighbours in urban areas
and see how
many of them have been robbed or hi-jacked over the last couple
of months
!!
I know Colleen and her family well and have the highest regard for
them. I
am proud to be a farmer in the Nyamandhlovu District, although unable
to
farm at the moment as we have been evicted along with many others. I
also
take my hat off to the few farmers from our District that are
still
actively farming - in many ways I feel that they have it harder than we
do,
as we know our future and they have to wait for the ax to
fall.
Mr. Watson, do not condemn unless you know all true facts !!
Yours
faithfully,
Helen Herbst
Letter 2.
Subject: Re:
JAG OPEN LETTERS FORUM 20TH FEBRUARY 2004 - OLF 235
In defense of Colleen
Tredgold:
How dare Willy Watson criticize Colleen for staying on her
farm! She is a
courageous, intrepid daughter of the soil who did nothing
wrong other than
to defend her right to stay on her own property in the face
of evil and
adversity in order to continue the only life she has ever known -
cattle
farming. Watson! How dare you presume to know what is best for
anyone
other than yourself!
Your comments smack of a similar statement
I once heard when a dear and
beautiful friend of mine was raped and some
idiot remarked that "she
deserved it for dressing the way she
did!".
"Place yourself in his position," you say????. What? Is his
brutal attack
on Colleen justified, even under the circumstances you so
glibly attribute
to him, without knowing the facts?
No one deserves an
assault of any kind under any circumstances, and
certainly, no one invites
it. Though I know we are not living in a perfect
world, I have only
admiration and sympathy for this remarkable woman.
Search your soul, Mr
Watson, and ask yourself if we all have to conform to
your ways? God
forbid.
Vanessa
Bristow
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMUNIQUÉ - February 23,
2004
Email: justice@telco.co.zw;
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From
The ZIMBABWE INDEPENDENT 20TH FEBRUARY 2004
A PORTRAIT OF MUGABE'S
TYRANNY
By John Bercow
"ENVELOPING crisis", "appealing tragedy",
and "standing disgrace" must rank
amongst the most hackneyed hyperbole in
journalism or politics. Yet no
form of words or set of statistics would
overstate the plight of Zimbabwe
which I saw at first hand during an
undercover visit recently.
Of course, I knew that this country, rich in
natural resources which once
fed its own 12 million citizens and others in
southern Africa, was saved
from starvation only by hand-outs from the hated
West. I knew that 70% of
the population was jobless, inflation topped 600%,
and 80% of the people
lived below the poverty line. I knew that a quarter of
the adult
population was HIV positive. Yet it is easy for a politician to
become
fatigued, almost desensitised by the figures. The effect of seeing
some of
the people represented by those figures was cathartic.
I saw
whole families existing in the hell holes that are euphemistically
described
as squatter camps. One young mother, typical of many, was
selling bones
gathered from the municipal rubbish tip to make detergent in
order to raise a
few Zimbabwean dollars. I saw the pharmacy of a big
hospital where the
shelves were empty of vital medicines. The head of the
unit was (as usual, I
gather) on the phone, pleading with The Minister of
Health to pay for the
last batch of drugs so that the next could be
supplied.
I was moved to
tears when I visited bare and ramshackle homes in the
townships, and saw
malnourished mothers living with Aids, who receive not a
dollar from the
public purse. One such person, chronically sick, had
nothing to eat and
feared anyway that if she cooked on the stove, the mucus
that constantly
drips from her, would infect her young children, who are
destined to be
orphans in months, if not weeks or days.
President Mugabe and his
obsequious ministerial, lickspittles fatuously
claim that the country's woes
are attributable either to a neo-colonialist
conspiracy, or to inclement
weather, or both. In truth, the crisis in
Zimbabwe is not a crisis of
enemies or environment. It is a crisis of
governance. That crisis has many
dimensions. The government has
single-handedly wrecked the agricultural
productiveness of the country,
with economic and human consequences
unimaginable even five years ago.
Additionally, Mugabe and his party, who
justly fought to be free of racist
oppression by a white minority, are now
determined to dish out the same in
reverse. Yet two wrongs do not make a
right, and the philosophy of an eye
for an eye is a far cry from the rhetoric
of reconciliation that Mugabe
signed up to in the Harare
Declaration.
In economic terms, the ruling clique are totally detached
from the people
they govern. Mugabe allies are modern-day feudal barons who
grab by
political force what they cannot achieve by economic worth. Zimbabwe
is
now run by a compulsive kleptocracy that matches the worst excesses
of
imperialist rule.
Moreover, the government systematically violates
human rights every day in
a variety of ways. The Minister for Local
Government, Ignatius Chombo,
suspended the Mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri,
who was elected with 80% of
the vote. The ostensible reason for the
suspension was disapproval of his
policies. The actual reason, I suggest, is
that Mudzuri represents the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.
He is the kind of charismatic, intelligent and articulate person
who
threatens the corrupt cabal which has brought Zimbabwe to its
knees.
Suspension of elected politicians is bad enough. Silencing
independent
journalism is no better. Mugabe has gone to extraordinary
lengths to crush
dissent by banning the Daily News, the only independent
daily newspaper in
the country. This was an extreme case of intolerance.
More commonplace is
harassment of journalists, such as the reporter summoned
to explain himself
when a recycled version of his story upset Jonathan Moyo,
the unelected and
preposterous Minister for Information.
Mugabe's
thugs do not stop at bans and bullying. They beat - and how!
Beatrice
Mtetwa, the internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer,
recounted to me
how she was savagely attacked by police assailants telling
her "We don't need
people like you, supporting enemies of the president".
Then there is the
youth militia, a Nazi-style training organisation whose
members are exhorted
to threaten, beat and rape opponents of the ruling
Zanu PF. Even their own
parents and siblings are not exempt from such
attacks.
By any
yardstick, the Mugabe regime is loathsome. An invisible but acrid
cloud of
fear hangs over every area of life in Zimbabwe. No wonder that
everyone I
met in civil society from teachers to manual workers, lawyers to
nurses said
that it had betrayed the principles of the liberation struggle
that they had
supported. How can it be removed or reformed? Violent
revolution seems
unlikely to happen and there is no guarantee of a
sustainable democracy
thereafter if it did. I visited Morgan Tsvangirai,
the courageous president
of the Movement for Democratic Change, who has
survived several assassination
attempts, and is now on trial for treason.
He continues to argue for peaceful
change. There must be change on several
fronts. First, next time Mugabe
seeks help from the World Food Programme,
such help must be tied to
transparency and fairness in the country's own
food policy. Past evidence
shows that disbursing food to hungry voters in
the run up to elections is a
favourite tactic of the ruling Zanu PF party.
Mugabe's government should no
longer be able to expect the international
community to be complicit in its
master plan for rigging elections.
Secondly, the woefully inadequate
sanctions regime must be toughened.
This list of 79 Zimbabwe leaders banned
from travelling in the EU is a sick
joke amongst democratic opponents of the
regime. Every day of my visit
people I met suggested, independently of each
other, new names of
businessmen and other collaborators that should be
added. The assets of
the oppressors should be frozen and their immediate
family should be
prevented from working or studying in the
EU.
Thirdly, and crucially, the international community should strain
every
muscle and sinew to persuade South African President Thabo Mbeki
to
remonstrate with Mugabe either to comply with the reasonable demands
of
democrats or to fall on his sword.
The leaders of the free world
should not cease to emphasise that Mugabe has
departed from every principle
for which Nelson Mandela fought, and that if
he does not back down, he will
be dragged kicking and screaming to the
International Criminal
Court.
Finally, I appeal to our Prime Minister to join this fight. The
fact that
Mugabe has showered vulgar abuse on Tony Blair since 1997 is no
reason for
our Prime Minister to look the other way now. For all his
weaknesses, Tony
Blair has often demonstrated real statesmanship in
international affairs
and his powers of persuasion are considerable. If only
he would turn his
mind to the threat of genocide which overhangs the people
of Zimbabwe and
to a remorseless campaign for the triumph of freedom and
justice, this is a
battle that can be won.
John Bercow MP is Shadow
Secretary of State for International Development.
From allafrica.com, 23
February
Daily News future uncertain, people
in Zimbabwe 'deserve better', editor says
Charles Cobb Jr.
Washington - After a tumultuous five year history, the future
of the feisty independent Zimbabwean newspaper, the Daily News, remains
unresolved, following the postponement last week by the High Court of Zimbabwe
of a scheduled hearing on the paper's urgent appeal to resume publication. The
Court set March 3 as the new date to hear the application by the publisher,
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). to have its journalists accredited by
the government. A controversial law known as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) makes it a crime to work as a journalist
without a license from the government's Media and Information Commission. Daily
News reporters had refused to seek licensing from the Commission, and the
Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe challenged compulsory
registration in court. After being closed down last September, the newspaper was
able to resume publication on January 22, after another court ordered police to
vacate the paper's offices and stop interfering with operations. Soon after
publication resumed, the ANZ chief executive, Sam Nkomo, and the editor of the
Daily News on Sunday, Bill Saidi, visited Washington where they spoke with
AllAfrica's Charles Cobb Jr. Last week, following the interview, the High Court
upheld as constitutional portions of the press law that required journalists to
be licensed. Daily News reporters, who faced arrest and criminal prosecution,
stopped working and the paper disappeared from the streets. Excerpts:
How long do you think you'll be able to keep publishing before
you get into trouble once again?
Sam Nkomo: The reason that we are publishing is not because
of any victories in the courts or any other doing of our own, but that we thank
god for his divine intervention for allowing us to publish once more. We do not
know how long it will last before we are shut down, but what I believe is that:
Where God has opened a door no one can shut it. Where God has closed it, no one
can open it. We are also very grateful to supporters of the Daily News, human
rights activists throughout the world who came to our aid lobbying on our
behalf. We are grateful to the lawyers, and the readers of the Daily News for
their support.
Bill Saidi: The struggle between the government and us goes
a long way back, way back before September 12, 2003 (when the News' first appeal
of the law was dismissed by the Court). It goes back to the time when we
started. The government was not very happy - to put it mildly - that we had
started an independent newspaper, which had the avowed principle of telling it
like it is. I think this is what has gotten us into the present trouble with the
government. We hope to continue to play our role in sustaining the democracy
that we are building in Zimbabwe.
I don't really understand Mugabe. When I was in Zimbabwe in the
1970s and when I returned to Zimbabwe after independence, Mugabe did seem to be
a genuine hero of the liberation struggle. Zanu PF, his party, seemed to be
popular. How could he turn into a tyrant who seeks to cling to power? What
changed Mugabe, or did he change?
Sam Nkomo: Many people thought that Mugabe was coming in
with some signs of hope that things would be better. But people forget quite
easily. They will remember that Mugabe was an avowed socialist from the start.
In socialist countries, they didn't have elections, and that was what he wanted
- no elections. If he's in, he's in forever. He believes himself to be a chief,
and chiefs are there forever. He does talk about democracy, but not the
democracy that you and I know about.
You're saying essentially that the man has not changed?
Sam Nkomo: Yes.
Bill Saidi: Every time he speaks in public he reminds
people of the struggle, how Zanu PF had been involved in the struggle, and he
keeps talking about how it was in the struggle. He keeps talking about how "we
beat the colonialists," and is so much against the west. He calls his critics
'running dogs of imperialism'. This is language from the ancient past. I think
he knows he is a failure as a leader and in his frustration I think he is taking
it out on everybody.
As you may know, here in the United States, Zimbabwe became the
symbol of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa and, as a result, there's
an argument going on now about Zimbabwe. Some here see Mugabe as a genuine
liberation leader, still trying to liberate his country, being unfairly beat up
on by people like you, who they regards as pawns of imperialism or the white
minority. There is also the argument that Zimbabwe cannot be seen as a tyranny
because it has a strong elected opposition in the Parliament. How do you respond
?
Sam Nkomo: If you tell our children who were born after
independence in 1980 about the liberation struggle and what some of us did who
fought during that time, they don't understand. They want education, jobs, and
other things. Those things have nothing to do with imperialists; they have to do
with how we manage our economy and our affairs in Zimbabwe. We have an
opposition, but it is dislodged. We have 13 mayors [from the opposition] all
over [the country] but they can't work. They're suspended. So it is tyranny in
another form, a very clever tyranny.
Bill Saidi: The constitution of Zimbabwe allows Zanu PF to
have 30 un-elected non-constituent seats. If not for those 30 seats, Zanu PF
would not have been able to control Parliament after the election in 2000. The
MDC [Movement for Democracy] took 57 seats to 62 for Zanu PF. After the
elections, what the government did to the MDC was to charge [opposition leader
Morgan] Tsvangirai with treason. It's really a strange, almost bizarre case.
This is the trouble with Mugabe. The semblance of a democracy is there, but the
reality is that Mugabe is going to do everything in his power - everything - to
frustrate the emergence of a democracy. Take the example of the Daily News. He
knows that with the Daily News, Zimbabwe can be considered one of the few
countries in the world with a thriving vibrant independent press. What does he
do? He creates AIPPA. AIPPA is a dangerous law. I think there are very few
countries that have thing like AIPPA.
AIPPA the press law . . .
Bill Saidi: The Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, under which there are so many restrictions on the press [that]
people have said that it muzzles the independent press completely. So far, every
editor of the independent press, at one time or another, has been locked up.
Every executive of the independent press has at one time or another been locked
up. What kind of freedom of the press is that?
Are there differences within Zanu PF?
Sam Nkomo: If there is going to be any division in Zanu PF,
it will happen after Mugabe is gone. Not before. They are all so scared of
Mugabe. Those who have tried to be different have been booted out of Zanu.
Bill Saidi: We know that there are differences within Zanu
PF, but we also know it is very difficult for someone to leave Zanu PF and hope
to survive, or to disagree with Zanu PF and hope to remain in the party. Edgar
Tekere is a prime example. Edgar was a Zanu PF top leader through and through.
He was very close to Mugabe. He began to talk about corruption and say he didn't
believe in a one-party state. After all that, Mugabe kicked him out of the
party.
What is your assessment of the role being played in Zimbabwe by
South Africa and President Thabo Mbeki?
Sam Nkomo: Our freedom should not depend on Mbeki, it
should depend on ourselves. But during our independence struggle and the
struggle against apartheid, we were helped by our international friends. It
doesn't seem to us that Mbeki is helping the people of Zimbabwe. It seems that
he is hell bent to protect Mugabe and his government, and his continued
oppression of us.
Why would Mbeki not use his influence with Mugabe to press for
change?
Sam Nkomo: That is the question Zimbabweans are asking.
Since a substantial chunk of the Zimbabwe opposition emerges from the labor
unions of Zimbabwe, we wonder if Mbeki is looking over his shoulder at Cosatu
[SouthAfrica's powerful trade union federation]. We know that Cosatu has its
differences with the ANC government, even though it's part of the ANC coalition.
We wonder whether the example of labor power in Zimbabwe makes Mbeki a little
nervous. Also, don't forget, in Zambia a government was ousted by a trade union
headed by [Frederick] Chiluba, and he might think that if it happens in
Zimbabwe, it is coming to South Africa. If he fears that, then he is penalizing
us for things that he shouldn't be doing.
What role should the United States government be playing?
Sam Nkomo: We very much appreciate the help that we get from
the United States. They've been very helpful, but I think that the United States
should actually increase its support for human rights activists, NGOs, and the
independent press to bring about democracy in Zimbabwe.
What do you think is going to happen in Zimbabwe?
Sam Nkomo: I can only speak from experience, having been in
the liberation struggle myself. I spent 15 years in [Ian] Smith's prisons. My
view is that there is no way that you can stop an idea. The yearning for freedom
has started, and nobody can stop it. It will happen. My prayer is that it
doesn't happen violently, like it did during Smith, that we will lose fewer
people than we lost during Smith's time.
Bill Saidi: I agree with Sam that change will definitely
come. It has happened in Zambia and Malawi and in Kenya. It won't be different
here.
My last question takes us back to where we started. How secure
is your paper given the fact the you spent the last half hour criticizing
President Mugabe?
Sam Nkomo: From the perspective of management, I can't tell
you about tomorrow. I don't know. But I can safely say, when the paper was
closed I told my staff 'we are in the hands in God.' We have no control over
anything. We can simply go about our business and trust that He will see us
through.
Bill Saidi: I agree with Sam that we are all in God's hands. I think that
the future of Zimbabwe itself has to be linked to the future of the Daily News.
What the Daily News has done is to bring a new kind of journalism. I have seen
this in many countries. People see it as something which has almost a missionary
kind of spirituality. What we are saying is that the people of Zimbabwe deserve
something better than they are getting. The independence of Zimbabwe should mean
more than what it means today. It should mean more than suffering, hunger and
persecution. There's no way Mugabe can stand up and say "I've done for you what
I promised." I don't think he can say that. Every journalist I know of the
independent press knows that the struggle is going to be tough, but we've got a
genuine cause. A genuine cause for the people of Zimbabwe where we can talk of
independence as beautiful. It is not beautiful today, not at
all.
ZIMBABWE: Daily News lays off staff
HARARE, 23 February (IRIN) -
Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News, and its sister
publication, The Daily News on Sunday, will lay off the bulk of their staff by
the end of the week.
The publishers, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe
(ANZ), have bowed to the financial pressure caused by the regular closure of the
pro-opposition newspapers by the authorities.
ANZ chief executive officer
Sam Nkomo told workers on Monday that the company was facing viability problems
and had been left with no option but to lay off 250 staff out of a total
workforce of 300.
The newspapers have faced repeated closures by the
police since September last year, after the ANZ refused to register under the
government's controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).
The editor of The Daily News, Nqobile Nyathi, said all
departmental heads had been asked to come up with a list of skeleton staff that
would continue to run the newspaper.
"The skeleton staff is so that, in
the event of the newspaper being given a licence to operate, the small team
would be able to produce a newspaper while recruitment takes place. But, for
now, about 250 people will be retrenched," said Nyathi.
The retrenchment
of staff came as a surprise to workers in view of the fact that the supreme
court is expected to make a final ruling on 3 March on whether the newspaper can
legally operate.
The supreme court had refused to entertain the
newspapers' challenge to the constitutionality of AIPPA, ruling that they should
register under the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC).
The ANZ's subsequent attempts to register were rejected by the
MIC.
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11
447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
ZIMBABWE: No longer among the top six tobacco exporters
JOHANNESBURG, 23
February (IRIN) - Zimbabwe no longer features among the world's top six
exporters of tobacco.
According to January's global production figures
from the US Department of Agriculture, the top six exporters are now listed as
Brazil, the United States, India, Malawi, Italy and China.
Historically
Zimbabwe has been the world's second largest exporter, but began to fall through
the ranks three years ago following the government's controversial land reform
programme.
Rodney Ambrose, a director of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
(ZTA) told IRIN that exports had dropped from 143,487 metric tonnes in 2002 to
103,378 metric tonnes in 2003. The country has in the past accounted for 19
percent of total world exports, behind Brazil.
"Our production of
unmanufactured tobacco has dropped tremendously in the past three years, from
237,000 metric tonnes in 2000 to 82,000 metric tonnes last year," Ambrose
said.
According to the ZTA, the country's production is expected to slump
to 60,000 metric tonnes this year.
Ambrose linked the drop in production
to the loss of commercial farms growing tobacco as a result of the land reform
programme. "We lost about 45,000 hectares of land under tobacco cultivation,
which resulted in a loss of 150,000 metric tonnes of tobacco," he
explained.
Tobacco has traditionally been the country's top foreign
exchange earner.
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11
880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
ZIMBABWE: Nkomo seeks to end ''confusion'' in land reform
BULAWAYO, 23
February (IRIN) - The Zimbabwe government has suspended the acqusition of farms
and the issuing of further land offer letters in a move it says is aimed at
cleaning up confusion in the land reform exercise.
John Nkomo, special
affairs minister responsible for the land reform programme, said in interviews
published in local newspapers that he would also investigate compliance with the
government's one-man one-farm policy.
He was speaking for the first time
on his new mandate since being appointed to the new ministry of land reform and
resettlement in a cabinet reshuffle early this month.
"We have suspended
the gazetting of farms and the issuing of offer letters as a starting point
towards cleaning up the whole process of land reform, which, I would say, has
been marred by confusion," Nkomo was quoted as saying. "This will be the
position until we are satisfied with progress on the ground."
Before his
appointment to the new ministry, Nkomo was minister of special affairs heading a
presidential enquiry into serious irregularities in land reform. He was charged
with following up on the recommendations of a land audit commission led by
Charles Utete.
The Utete commission's report, issued late last year,
revealed serious violations of the one-man one-farm policy by top government and
ruling party officials, which, in some cases, had disenfranchised the
small-scale farmers that land reform was supposed to benefit.
"Our policy
on land ownership is clear: it is one-man one-farm, and it has to be applied to
all the sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, regardless of race. The issue of farm
sizes has to be addressed as well. We will be very strict on these issues," said
Nkomo. His ministry would also take steps to prevent cheating by individuals
using front men to register for land.
In line with a recommendation by
the Utete commission, the new ministry is to set up a land board, whose duties
would include monitoring land redistribution and assessing the use of land, with
a view to reposessing derelict or underutilised hectarage. Under the new system,
each of the country's 10 provinces will have an inventory book detailing and
accounting for its land and land use.
But Renson Gasela, opposition
Movement for Democratic Change shadow minister for lands and agriculture, said
that while it was encouraging for the government to admit the "chaos" in its
land reform programme, it had benefited powerful interests within the government
and party.
"Any attempts at sanitising this chaos will see him [Nkomo]
step on the toes of powerful politicians who will not let go of the land,"
Gasela alleged.
"The national land board being proposed by the minister
will not be effective. Nkomo's ministry has no structures; hoping that he will
succeed in doing all he has promised will depend on whether he builds up those
monitoring structures, but it will not be done in the short term - certainly not
before the elections next year," said Gasela.
Zimbabwe's land reform
process has been criticised for its lack of transparency by Western donors and,
with the government unable to provide adequate support to the new farmers, has
contributed to a steep fall in agricultural production.
According to the
Utete report, 4.2 million hectares have been resettled by 127,192 small-scale
farmers, while 2.1 million hectares have been distributed to 7,260 commercial
farmers.
For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37693
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Tel:
+27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
STATEMENT FROM THE COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (CHRA)
23
FEBRUARY 2004
CHRA CALLS FOR RATES BOYCOTT
Following CHRA's public
meeting on 4 February, Harare City Council called
for a meeting with
residents to discuss the 2004 budget. This meeting was
widely advertised
(Some adverts had 'cancelled' across them but we were
assured by the acting
Chair of the Finance Committee that the meeting would
go ahead).
At
8.15 am Monday, CHRA received a copy of a letter from the police to
the
acting mayor stating that since Council had not informed the ZRP,
the
meeting was therefore banned. Those residents who were present were
verbally
abused by a municipal employee who had a mob of about 50 people with
him to
ensure his 'orders' to disperse were followed.
We are dismayed
that the Council failed to meet the requirements imposed by
the regime and
was unable to engage in a legitimate dialogue with residents.
CHRA
reminds residents of the demands we made after 4 February and advises
that,
in light of the latest developments, we formally call upon all
residents to
object to the punitive budget by withholding all payments based
upon the new
budget until such time as Council acts responsibly and
addresses our
legitimate concerns.
CHRA is consulting lawyers to map out our legal
challenge to the budget and
we assure residents that we will continue to
represent their best interests
without fear or favour.
Combined Harare
Residents Association
11 Armagh Avenue
Eastlea
P.O.Box
HR7870
Harare
Tel: 746019
Cell: 011612860
e-mail: info@chra.co.zw
Website: www.chra.co.zw
ZNSPCA INSPECTORATE
OVERVIEW OF 2003
Yet another extremely busy
year for the team of ZNSPCA Inspectors in which we carried out 68 Farm Rescues.
We are on the road daily in the two ZNSPCA trucks covering a large area,
especially as there is now no longer an SPCA in Marondera.
New Year’s
Day, 2003, found Inspector Jimmy Zuze and I at Forrester Estate in Mvurwi where
we were investigating the deliberate death by starvation and drowning of 300
weaners by settlers and workers. The situation was not helped by the fact that
Police at Mvurwi Police Station from whom we were seeking assistance with the
provision of an escort, were drunk and uncooperative.
2003 ended with
Inspector Simon Chikadaya and myself at Waltondale Farm in Marondera. Previous
attempts to gain access to the farm to check on two horses that had been left
behind by the previous owner, had been met with strong resistance by the Border
Gezi youths at the gate – in spite of the fact that the Police accompanied us.
On the third attempt we had with us the Officer-in Charge, Marondera Rural ZRP
who told the youths in no uncertain terms that they WILL let ZNSPCA Inspectors
in, even if we come in the middle of the night! The gate was unlocked and we
walked in – condition of horses was reasonable.
During farm rescues, the
ZNSPCA Team has been barricaded ‘in’ and barricaded ‘out’, we have been
threatened, pushed around and accused of being members of the M.D.C. and
“spies”, and countless times I have been told to “go back to Britain!”
I would like to commend the Inspectors for never losing their cool in
these difficult situations. Recently, two of them were shoved and pulled around
by ZANU PF youths (not on a farm). ZNSPCA has subsequently laid charges of
assault against those responsible.
Farm rescues have taken us to places
as far away as Karoi, Centenary, Marondera and Chimanimani, rescuing everything
from duikers to goldfish, horses to goats and bulls to bantams. Our only major
setback has been to gain access to Collingwood Farm in Concession. In spite of
6 attempts to gain entry, even with Support Unit, the present incumbent –
Richard Ngwenya, has friends in high places and appears to be ‘untouchable’.
From information received, we know that over 100 Dairy Cows belonging to the
owner, Mr & Mrs Gaisford, have died from disease and incorrect feeding.
ZNSPCA and the Gaisfords have now applied to the High Court in an urgent
application for us to get on to the farm.
In between the Farm Rescues we
have continued to prevent cruelty and abuse to animals in Zimbabwe. Some of the
matters attended to:
1. After many meetings with the Dean of the
Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Zimbabwe, ZNSPCA was able to
secure the removal of 5 Baboons from the Animal House, to the Lion and Cheetah
Park. Not as good as being out in the wild, but a vast improvement on life in a
small weld-mesh cage. We are now pushing to secure the release of the Vervet
monkeys but they are still “having experiments carried out on
them”.
2. Still at the University, we found that the way
livestock was being kept at the Large Animals House gave great cause for
concern. However, ZNSPCA has held numerous meetings with the relevant
department and, with their cooperation, have been able to improve the welfare of
these animals.
3. Likewise, with the mice, rats and hamsters housed
at the Government Blair Research and Analytical Laboratories - conditions were
found to be horrific to begin with, but have since greatly
improved.
4. ZNSPCA has been able to improve the welfare of the many
donkeys in Gokwe, bringing cotton bales to the many depots in that area. I
approached Cotco and requested that they install water troughs at all their
receiving depots and am pleased to report that they have agreed and many are
already in place.
5. We have provided support for the Lion and
Cheetah Park on the three occasions that they have been invaded.
6.
Organised dog fighting has reared its ugly head in Harare again, and for several
months now, ZNSPCA has been battling for a break-through. Those involved are
unemployed youths from Arcadia who are also involved with drugs - all are known
to us. Recently, an 18 year old tried to drag me out of my truck as I had just
confiscated his Staffordshire bull terrier puppy which was found being kept in
an upturned supermarket trolley. Inspector Chinhembe pulled the youth away from
me, and we sped off down the road with Chinhembe clinging to the roof of the
truck. At last a member of the community has come forward to give us an
eye-witness account of a fight which took place on New Year’s Day. We will be
prosecuting.
7. ZNSPCA is currently dealing with cruelty cases
involving two animal “hoarders”. Always extremely difficult cases to deal with,
hoarders have to be handle with tact and understanding. Prosecution is not
always effective; the many animals they keep in their homes have to be reduced
gradually. Hoarders begin with the good intention of saving a few animals’
lives, but end up failing to provide adequate care for the growing numbers.
Experts say that hoarders are harder to reform than alcoholics and many have
borderline personalities.
8. The Pet Shop in South Avenue, Harare
has given great cause for concern for many years. In order to close the pet
shop down once and for all, ZNSPCA approached the Municipal Health Department,
their Licencing Department and National Parks. Due to the combined efforts of
all involved, the owner has been informed that he may no longer sell birds,
poultry, animals, etc. but operate as a hardware shop only.
A combined
‘blitz’ on his home is planned, as we know that conditions for the ‘stock’ that
he keeps there are worse than in the shop. The owner has already informed
ZNSPCA that he is taking out a Court Order to prevent us from visiting either of
his properties.
WILDLIFE – We continue to monitor the welfare of the
male Leopard currently being kept in a small enclosure by National Parks at
Nyamaneche (near Centenary). He is destined for President Obasanjo’s Zoo in
Abuja. Captured from the wild in the Fort Rixon area several months ago, he has
not adapted at all to being in captivity and is extremely stressed. ZNSPCA is
lobbying Government for his immediate release and have also informed CITES in
Geneva.
TRAINING - A successful Inspectors’ Training Course was held in
March 2003, attended by trainees from many SPCA Centres. We are pleased to
report that four of these have passed their Inspector’s exam and have now been
officially appointed by Government as Inspectors to uphold the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals Act.
In September of 2003 I was invited by the
Committee of the Mutare SPCA to give a brief Workshop on the Policies and
Procedures of the SPCA in Zimbabwe. Held over two days – it appeared to be
successful and those attending said they had learnt a great
deal.
PROSECUTIONS - Whilst the aim of ZNSPCA is to educate and create a
better awareness of kindness to animals, inevitably there are cases that require
prosecution. We are pleased to report that ZNSPCA won all of the cases it took
to Court in 2003.
A great deal of credit for this must go to our
Inspector Simon Chikadaya (a retired policeman) who has prepared most of our
dockets in a very professional manner.
Notable Cases:
1. Mr
Phillip Hapelt of Gweru – found Guilty and fined for cruelty to a
horse.
2. Command Security Company in Ruwa – found Guilty and fined for
cruelty to five puppies.
3. Mr Zvakavapano of Mazoe - found Guilty and
fined for cruelty to 7 goats.
4. Mr Mike Doorman of Banket – found
Guilty and fined for cruelty to an ex-Tredar security dog.
5. Power Guard
Security of Harare – found Guilty and fined for cruelty to two dogs.
6.
Sam Levy of Harare – found Guilty and fined for cruelty to 147 weaners on his
Nyabira Farm. This was his second conviction under the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act.
7. Mr Denload Muchena – found Guilty and fined for cruelty
to a German Shepherd Dog. This was the first conviction of a settler who took
the dog during a farm invasion and forced it walk through the bush for 5
days.
We currently have another seven cases pending in the Courts. Five
of these involve cruelty to livestock, in particular dairy cows, where the
suffering inflicted has been immense.
We are also holding several
dockets relating to cruelty cases which have occurred during the conflict over
land. We will not proceed with these cases at present as this could jeopardise
the lives of other animals and put witnesses at risk.
In 2004 the ZSNPCA
Team of Inspectors will strive to do our best to prevent the abuse of animals in
Zimbabwe. However, due to the current political situation prevailing, it is
becoming increasingly difficult to do our job.
MERYL HARRISON
CHIEF
INSPECTOR
ZNSPCA
ABC NEWS
Independent Zimbabwe newspaper to sack workers
The company which operates Zimbabwe's independent Daily
News says it is being forced to fire most of its 250 employees because the
Government is preventing it from publishing.
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe says the company will
retain a core group of about 50 people.
Critical of President Robert Mugabe's Government, the
Daily News has had a troubled recent past after being closed down by
armed police in September.
It resumed publishing last month but vanished from the
streets again early this month after the Supreme Court ruled that journalists
must have Government accreditation.
-- AFP
Daily News staff won't earn their daily bread
February 23 2004 at
08:09PM
Harare - A private Zimbabwe newspaper, which is fighting
government closure under tough media laws, said on Monday it was sacking over
two thirds of its staff because it could not afford to pay wages without
publishing.
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the
pro-opposition Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, said it was paying off about
200 of its 250 staff - including journalists - because workers were demanding a
960 percent salary increase.
Inflation in Zimbabwe is over 600 percent,
one of the highest rates in the world.
The Daily News, Zimbabwe's largest
private daily and a frequent critic of President Robert Mugabe's government, has
been closed for much of the past five months while its legal status is before
the courts.
'The decision to retrench has been taken with a high degree
of reluctance'
ANZ chief executive officer Sam Sipepa Nkomo told a news
conference the group was ready to rehire "most if not all" the sacked workers if
it wins its legal battle to resume publishing.
"The decision to retrench
has been taken with a high degree of reluctance but the company found itself
without any other option following unreasonable demands from its workers for
wage and salary increments at a time the company is not operational," he
said.
There was no immediate comment from the workers.
The Daily
News is challenging a new law compelling media organisations to register with
the government's media commission - a requirement condemned by Zimbabwean and
international rights groups as an attack on press freedom.
In turn, the
commission is challenging a court ruling that it must grant the newspaper a
licence. The Supreme Court is due to hear the two cases next
month.
Mugabe's government insists the 2002 laws are necessary to restore
professionalism in journalism. It accuses the private media of leading a
propaganda campaign by opponents to its policy of seizing white-owned farms for
landless blacks.
IOL
Vandalism Cost NRZ $24bn
The
Herald (Harare)
February 23, 2004
Posted to the web February 23, 2004
Harare
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe has lost more than $24
billion in potential revenue during the past three months due to vandalism of
its equipment that has resulted in derailments and loss of lives, a senior
official said yesterday.
NRZ corporate affairs manager Mr Misheck Matanhire said in
an interview that the vandalism was targeted at signalling, telecommunications
equipment and track points.
"During the same period electrical, signalling and
telecommunications components worth about $110 million were stolen and in the
process disrupting both passenger and freight services," said Mr Matanhire.
He, however, said the parastatal had sought the services of
the police who were working with its security personnel in patrolling in areas
where vandalism was rampant.
Most of the affected areas are between Bulawayo-Dete and
Dabuka-Harare railway lines.
The railway authority has in the past been experiencing
numerous derailments, collisions and loss of human life attributed to vandalised
telecommunication equipment.
Last year in February more than 40 people perished when a
passenger train collided with a goods train in Dete due to defective signalling
system that had been vandalised.
Three NRZ employees, including an engineman, were seriously
injured last year in May when they jumped off a moving train before it collided
with another one along the Rutenga-Somabhula railway line.
In June the same year a goods train carrying fuel and
equipment worth millions of dollars was destroyed when it derailed between
Colleen Bawn and West Nicholson.
Last July 33 passengers were injured when a commuter train
they were travelling in derailed at Lochnivar Siding in Harare.
This was after the two locomotives that were hauling the
commuter train failed to change lanes resulting in the derailment.
In January this year four enginemen escaped unhurt when
their locomotives went off the track along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge route.
Ploy Threatens to Derail Foreign Exchange Auction System
The Herald
(Harare)
February 21, 2004
Posted to the web February 23, 2004
Harare
A PLOY that threatens to derail the foreign exchange auction system has
emerged where some banks are colluding amongst themselves or with their clients
to bid for foreign exchange at a certain prescribed rate.
This disturbing
trend was noted at the 12th auction held on Thursday where two or three banks
submitted bids from their clients at the same exchange rate.
"Certain
banks, driven by the commission motive, are now advising their customers to bid
for foreign exchange in the auction system at a certain prescribed bid rate,"
said a Reserve Bank spokesman last night.
"This behaviour clearly defeats the
whole purpose of determining an exchange rate through a competitive bidding
process in the foreign exchange auction market."
The Reserve Bank has thus
instituted mechanisms and parameters to minimise market distortions arising from
collusion. As a result, the highest bid accepted in the last auction was $4 175
to the United States dollar and the lowest bid rate accepted was $3 900, which
translated into a depreciation of the weighted average auction rate to $4 036.21
to the US dollar from $3 973. 43 previously.
The amount on offer remained at
US$8 million.
"All authorised dealers and foreign exchange market
participants are advised to guard against collusion in order to ensure the
smooth function of the auction system.
"All foreign bids suspected to have
been submitted from colluding parties will be automatically disqualified.,"
warned the central bank.
The foreign exchange auction system, which began on
January 12, has largely been successful, providing a mechanism for proper
accounting and efficient distribution of the country's foreign currency
receipts. Importers and other foreign currency users have been bidding
competitively for foreign exchange through their authorised
dealers.
Confidence in the new system has grown immensely over the past few
weeks, with the number of bids and the amount on offer rising steadily.
The
new system has, to a large extent, succeeded in eliminating the once thriving
parallel market.
Some banks, which had seemingly been whipped into line
following the announcement of the monetary policy, are slowly becoming
devious.
Early this week the Reserve Bank announced that it had information
that some banks were returning to the parallel market.
The Reserve Bank
Governor Dr Gideon Gono warned that if caught, the culprits would have their
licences withdrawn without further warning.
Banks have largely been blamed
for the speculative activities on the foreign currency market and other sectors
that gripped the economy for much of last year.
A number of them are now
facing liquidity problems following the introduction of more stringent
regulations on their operations.
February 23, 2004, 05:21 PM
In an exclusive interview with the SABC, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of
Zimbabwe's main opposition, said he might consider pulling out of next year’s
parliamentary general elections if his country's political environment does not
change. Tsvangirai's comment comes after he survived an attack over the weekend
in Chivhu, about 120kms south of Harare, by an alleged group of Zanu(PF)
supporters on his way to Buhera - his rural home.
The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader's treason trial, in which he faces allegation of
plotting to assassinate Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, ends tomorrow.
Tsvangirai faces a death penalty if convicted.
With the parliamentary
election now just 13 months away, Tsvangirai is worried about the political
environment. He says the electoral commission is not independent, repressive
laws deny them the right to campaign and violence against his supporters is
still going on. "If the same conditions prevail, the MDC will have to consider
participating in these elections. We can't participate in an election where we
endorse flawed processes or where there is a predetermined outcome. You will be
legitimising the outcome," he says.
His party has lost three
by-elections. Now the party is under criticism for imposing candidates without
conducting primaries. "Why all of a sudden should a constituency which had had
no representation for the last two years become a focus of attention about the
confusion within the MDC. There is no confusion within the MDC. This is not the
first by-election we have held. When we went to the parliamentary elections in
2000, they were 120, how were they elected? Were there any
bi-elections?"
As the time ticks towards the election, the road is
unlikely to be smooth. Analysts say whoever wins the majority of the 120 seats
to be contested would have paid dearly.