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Zim Independent
Violence/torture used as political tools - US
Staff
Writer
THE Zimbabwean government used "torture by various methods" against its critics in "a concerted campaign of violence, repression and intimidation" last year, the US State Department has charged.
In its latest report on Zimbabwe, the State Department deplored the use of
torture against opponents.
"Torture by various methods is used against political opponents and human
rights advocates," the report says.
It said President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party used intimidation and
violence to remain in power.
"A systematic government-sanctioned campaign of violence targeting supporters
and potential supporters of the opposition continued during the year," the
report says.
"The ruling party supporters and war veterans, with material support from the
government, expanded their occupation of commercial farms, and in some cases
killed, abducted, tortured, beat, abused, raped, and threatened farm owners,
their workers, opposition party members, and other persons believed to be
sympathetic to the opposition."
The report said although the constitution allows for multiple parties,
opposition parties and their supporters were subjected to significant
intimidation and violence by the ruling party and security forces, especially
after successful opposition-sponsored general strikes last year.
The report also said security forces and government youth militia tortured,
beat, raped and otherwise abused persons. It names individuals who died from
their injuries.
The report also highlighted the conditions in prisons.
"Prison conditions remained harsh and life-threatening," the report said.
"Official impunity for ruling party supporters who committed abuses was a
problem. Arbitrary arrest and detention and lengthy pre-trial detention remained
problems. Infringements on citizens' privacy continued."
The report says government continued to restrict freedom of speech and of the
press, closed down the only independent daily newspaper, beat, intimidated, and
arrested and prosecuted journalists who published anti-government articles.
"Many journalists also practised self-censorship. The government continued to
restrict academic freedom. Government also restricted freedom of assembly and
used force on numerous occasions to disperse non-violent public meetings and
demonstrations," the report said.
The report also said government restricted the right of association for
political organisations.
"Government at times restricted freedom of movement. Hundreds of thousands of
farm workers were displaced internally due to the ongoing land resettlement
policies, and opposition supporters were displaced by threats of violence."
IN a dramatic about-turn government has withdrawn its appeal for $127 billion from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to finance next year's parliamentary election in what is seen as a bid to avoid scrutiny over its organisation of the poll.
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa yesterday confirmed the withdrawal of the plea for money.
"We had anticipated that we would need some money for the logistics of
holding the election," Chinamasa said. "But given the current economic upturn we
think we will now be able to meet the costs from our own resources."
However, diplomatic sources said government withdrew its application for
funding after the United Nations agency said it wanted to send a team to assess
the electoral framework and political climate next month.
The UNDP team, working under the auspices of its governance programme, had
been expected to visit the country between March 3 and 13 to examine the
electoral framework, election agencies' capacity, the voters' roll, and inspect
how transparent the whole system was. There have been a number of meetings
between government and the UNDP over the issue.
Zanu PF has been accused of using political violence and coercion to win
elections while electoral agencies are seen as open to manipulation because they
are not independent of government.
President Robert Mugabe effectively appoints members of the Electoral
Supervisory Commission, which supervises the registration of voters and
elections. He similarly appoints members of the Election Directorate that
coordinates activities of government ministries and departments concerned with
electoral arrangements.
Zimbabwe's electoral laws are not consistent with the norms and standards of
other countries in the region. They fall well below the Southern African
Development Community Parliamentary Forum's principles on elections.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said
in an interview this week that his party was concerned about the outdated and
undemocratic electoral system. He said it was futile to contest an election in
which the winner is predetermined.
"Our electoral framework and political environment are inimical to free and
fair elections. Elections are always characterised by violence, intimidation and
manipulation," Tsvangirai said.
"We are going to have a massive campaign for the electoral conditions to be
improved. We want the electoral system to be reformed and independent agencies
put in place before the next election."
President Mugabe announced recently the poll will be held next March.
Tsvangirai admitted there were differences within the MDC over whether or not
to boycott the election.
"The arguments for and against participation are all justified but right now
those whose view is that we should contest the election have an edge over those
opposed to it," he said.
"We want this debate to sink to grassroots but we don't want it to kill our
momentum and allow inertia to set in. We will remain prepared for the election
in case the environment changes."
However, Chinamasa said there would be no change in electoral laws before the
election.
"As far as we are concerned the next election will be run on the basis of the
existing electoral laws," he said. "The issue of electoral law reform has
something to do with the constitution and it is better dealt with in the global
context of constitutional review."
"It's better to deal with such issues after the next election because at the
moment there are a lot of pressing issues that we have to address now.
Fundamental constitutional issues are contentious and take a long time to
resolve."
On the MDC's threat to boycott the election unless electoral reforms are
introduced, Chinamasa said the MDC was entitled to do so.
"It's their right to do so. There is no obligation that anyone has to contest
elections if they don't want to. But we know they are afraid of losing. They
know they will be trounced," he said.
IN an unprecedented move yesterday, state prosecutors applied to the High Court seeking an order to be allowed to address issues of fact after the defence had closed its case in the Morgan Tsvangirai treason trial.
Acting Attorney-General and lead state prosecutor Bharat Patel said he needed
only "about 10 minutes" to address the issues which arose from the closing
submissions of the defence counsel.
But defence lawyer Advocate Chris Andersen opposed the request as
unprocedural. He said the state prosecutors did not even have the courtesy to
inform them of this move in time. Advocate Andersen said the application was in
total contravention of the rules of the High Court and criminal procedure.
"It is clear that at the end of the defence's final submissions, the
prosecution has a right of reply but only in relation to matters of law and not
those of fact. The application is out of order in terms of the rules of the
court," Andersen argued.
Presiding judge Paddington Garwe concurred with Andersen. He said the aim was
to ensure that the state would not re-open its case.
"It was the objective of the legislation to ensure finality," Justice Garwe
said. "I am of the view that the state is not entitled to the request made," he
said.
In his closing remarks, lead defence counsel Advocate George Bizos urged the
court to dismiss the entire matter.
The state's case rests on a video recording of a 2001 meeting between a
Montreal consulting firm, Dickens & Madson, and Tsvangirai. Advocate Bizos
told the court that Tsvangirai was framed.
"The state relies on bad witnesses as to the first and second meetings and a
bad video together with the same witnesses for the third meeting," he said.
"The accused was set up by (Ari Ben) Menashe for money and (by) the state for
political purposes for the presidential election," Bizos said.
"That the state was involved is evident from the manner in which the tape was
used and the fact that it must have been altered whilst in the state's custody,"
he said.
"The suppression of the audio tape and audio transcript and failure to
account for the huge sums paid to Menashe point in the same direction."
Bizos also queried the manner in which the video tape had been handled.
"The video forms the cornerstone of the state's case but remarkably neither
the police nor prosecution took any steps to have the equipment independently
tested to verify that it was the best that could be achieved and not
deliberately distorted so as to make it capable of tampering," Bizos said.
Patel in his closing submission argued that the accused committed high
treason by inciting, and seeking to arrange three things. First, Patel said,
Tsvangirai sought to plan the assassination of the president. This, the
prosecutor argued, is proved by the testimonies of Ben-Menashe and Tara Thomas,
as well as the video recording. Secondly, he said, Tsvangirai also sought to
arrange a coup and thirdly, Tsvangirai planned the setting up of a transitional
government.
After hearing the submissions Justice Garwe, the Judge President, said he was
reserving judgement to allow him time to go through all the evidence that was
made since February last year when the trial started. He said the defence and
the state would be notified when he was ready to deliver judgement.
SUPREME Court judge Justice Vernanda Ziyambi yesterday described the presidential decree prohibiting bail to suspects as "patently unconstitutional".
In a ruling delivered to an application by detained businessman James Makamba
who is facing charges of externalising foreign currency, Ziyambi said the
statutory instrument amending the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act removed
the discretion of the presiding law officer to decide on bail. She however said
she could not strike down the provision as this required a ruling by a full
bench of the Supreme Court.
"Thus the judge or magistrate before whom the accused person appears in terms
of the proviso to Section 32 (2) of the Act as amended by the Amendment
Regulations is deprived of his discretion whether or not to grant bail and
merely acts as a rubber stamp to give semblance of legality to the detention.
"This strikes me as being patently unconstitutional but the issue of the
constitutionality of the provisions of the amendment is not before me and, as
was conceded by Mr (Sternford) Moyo, can only be determined by the
constitutional court," she said.
Moyo of Scanlen & Holderness represented Makamba in the application.
Ziyambi remitted the case back to the High Court to make a ruling on the bail
application. The amendment gives government powers to detain suspects in cases
of fraud and externalisation of money for up to 21 days.
Makamba is facing 22 counts of externalising US$716 000, $1,1 billion, R1,8
million and £63 650. The state also alleges Telecel externalised $1,4 billion,
£1 050 and R2,1 million.
Makamba was arrested on February 9 and only appeared in court on February 15
when he was remanded in custody under the contentious statutory instrument.
Another Telecel director, Jane Mutasa, is also in custody on charges of
externalising US$2 000. Her son has been arrested and is in custody on charges
of externalising US$105 200 and R1,2 million.
Makamba's High Court application for bail was last week thrown out by Justice
Antonia Guvava who cited the new statutory instrument. Makamba last Wednesday
then filed papers with the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of
the statutory instrument and to overturn Justice Guvava's ruling.
CHURCH leaders involved in efforts to revive dialogue between Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were in Italy last week to seek international expertise on how to resolve Zimbabwe's political stalemate.
The Zimbabwe Independent has it on good authority that Bishop Trevor Manhanga
of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Bishop Patrick Mutume of the Catholic
church and Fr Brian McGarry, also of the Catholic church, went to the Vatican
last week to meet church officials and discuss ways of brokering talks between
the political rivals.
The local clergy met members of the Vatican who were involved in solving the
Mozambican political conflict between Renamo and Frelimo that culminated in a
negotiated settlement in 1993 to end a bloody civil war.
Manhanga confirmed yesterday that they had travelled to Italy but wouldn't
disclose details saying it would be premature.
However, sources said the clergy received a special invitation from the
Vatican and were appraised on conflict resolution strategies by officials who
helped bring peace in Mozambique.
The Pope is reported to have called for a negotiated settlement to Zimbabwe's
political stalemate and recommended that local church leaders be assisted in
their efforts to bring President Robert Mugabe and the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai
to the negotiating table.
Efforts by a troika comprising Manhanga, Mutume and Bishop Sebastian Bakare
of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches to broker talks between Zanu PF and the MDC
failed last year following a standoff regarding the agenda of dialogue.
It has also been established that soon after their return from Italy this
week, the clergy requested a meeting with Mugabe and they are waiting for a
response from Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo and secretary for
information, Nathan Shamuyarira.
Meanwhile, a delegation of church leaders leaves the country on Monday to
meet the South African Council of Churches (SACC) over the political situation
in Zimbabwe and efforts towards solving it through a negotiated settlement.
THE South African government would like to see Zimbabwe enjoy the same press freedom that exists in South Africa, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said yesterday.He was addressing the Cape Town Press Club three days after the company that operates Zimbabwe's embattled Daily News announced it was firing most of its employees because the government was preventing it from publishing.
"We believe in press freedom," Zuma said in a reply to a questioner. "In
other words what we express in South Africa about press freedom, that is our
position."And if you want to equate to Zimbabwe, take what we say here: that
will certainly go for what we would want to see in any other country."
He also said there was a limit on how much he was able to comment on the
affairs of another country.
"I think as a government who carries responsibility, we can't be careless
about what we say about other countries, particularly if we are to impact
positively (on) other countries."
Earlier, speaking from his prepared text, he acknowledged the "outstanding
contribution" of the media in bringing about freedom and democracy in South
Africa. He said many journalists had defied the apartheid government's internal
security and censorship laws to tell the truth and expose the evils of
apartheid.
Journalists are now able to exercise their right to freedom of expression
without hindrance or fear, he said."However, we believe that the full story of
South Africa is yet to be told, especially from the perspective of the majority
of South Africans.
MASHONALAND West's newly appointed governor Nelson Samkange has demanded that all white commercial farmers still on their properties in the province explain why they should be spared from eviction, the Zimbabwe Independent heard this week.
This came as scores of commercial farmers whose Section 8 notices had expired were hauled before the Karoi magistrates courts on Monday this week. About a dozen farmers trooped to the courts fearing that they could be detained if they defied Section 8 notices after they expired. Karoi courts however could not arbitrate in the cases because they are already before the High Court.
Under a Section 8 notice, a farmer is allowed 45 days to wind up his operations and another 45 days to vacate the property.
Farmers who spoke to the Independent said Samkange, in a circular issued two weeks ago, ordered farmers to explain in writing why they should not be evicted.
"Other than the application for the need to stay and farm, the governor wants the farmers to also make a written undertaking to reduce their properties as required by the government," one farmer said.
Justice for Agriculture spokesman Ben Freeth said Samkange wanted the farmers to apply for their continued stay on the farms and to downsize their properties.
"The governor wants farmers to apply to government to downsize their properties to 400 hectares," Freeth said.
"What causes confusion amongst farmers is that the new Land Amendment Bill which went through parliament last month nullifies all those arrangements.
"Government in principle is saying one thing while on the ground a completely different scenario prevails," he said.
The farmers said it was difficult to vacate their farms in compliance with the demands of the Section 8 notices because they had crops in the ground and animals to relocate if they were to leave their properties.
"There are no crops that can mature and be harvested within that time-frame so farmers tend to hang on to avoid heavy losses that would come with vacating the farm with crops in the ground," one farmer said.
An estimated 600 white farmers are left on the farms out of the over 4 000 who used to operate Zimbabwe's major commercial farms before government embarked on its controversial land reform programme in 2000.
However, not all of the 600 farmers are in total control of their properties.
INFORMATION minister Jonathan Moyo's ambitious plan to widen government's propaganda outlets by establishing an electronic division at New Ziana is stalled due to lack of funding.
Moyo launched the restructured New Ziana late last year with plans to
establish radio and television stations at both community and national
level. However, it emerged this week that New Ziana had yet to get a budget
allocation from Moyo's department of information for this year.
The Zimbabwe Independent heard this week that the New Ziana board proposed
last month to establish a community radio station in Gweru but lack of funding
has put plans on hold.
The electronic department at the New Ziana offices in Harare still awaits
equipment amid reports that tenders to provide computers and other electronic
equipment last year yielded nothing due to lack of funding.
Highly placed sources said there were only five people in the electronic
department - head of department Happison Muchechetere, his secretary, his driver
and two others, one of whom is a journalist recruited recently, a source said.
Muchechetere's secretary yesterday said her boss was in Namibia as part of a
delegation led by Moyo on a campaign in the Sadc region to sell Zimbabwe's media
ideas.
Efforts to obtain comment from New Ziana chief executive officer Munyaradzi
Matanyaire were unsuccessful this week as he was said to be out of his office.
Last year New Ziana was allocated $510 million by the department of
information after it requested about $3 billion to fund the restructuring
exercise.
Moyo last year sought the assistance of Iran in the provision of equipment
needed for his New Ziana project, which sources said is yet to yield anything.
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) head of delegation to talks with the ruling Zanu PF, Welshman Ncube, says his party will not accept President Robert Mugabe's preconditions for dialogue.
In a strong reaction to Mugabe's renewed demand that the MDC must first cut
ties with its Western "allies" before talks, Ncube, also MDC secretary-general,
said the opposition rejected that precondition.
"We are very clear and we have been clear for the past two years that we are
not going to accept any conditions to dialogue with Zanu PF," Ncube said. "The
statement that we have to cut ties with Western countries is unfortunately and
tragically delusional. The MDC is and has always been a Zimbabwean formation and
everybody knows that."
In a pre-recorded interview with state television on Monday, Mugabe demanded
that the MDC's "umbilical cord must be severed" from the Western countries. He
said he found it "extremely difficult" to talk with the MDC because they were
Western lackeys.
Reacting to EU sanctions Mugabe said: "As long as they are dictated (to) from
abroad we find it extremely difficult to negotiate with them, but that having
been said, we stand to hear what views they have," Mugabe said.
However, Ncube said it was absurd to blame the MDC for the EU's targeted
sanctions against "individuals causing anarchy in the country".
On Mugabe's claim that the MDC had some "shallow-minded" and "some
well-disposed persons", Ncube, who is also a professor of law, said: "That is an
obvious divide-and-rule tactic. We totally reject those cheap
labels."
MDC faces huge poll dilemma ahead
Dumisani Muleya
FOLLOWING President Robert Mugabe’s announcement last week that next year’s parliamentary election will be held in March, a fierce public debate has emerged over whether or not the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) should participate in the poll under the current political and electoral environment.
The debate is heating up in the MDC and among civil society about the issue which appears like a Catch-22 scenario for the opposition as it ponders its third national electoral test since its launch in 1999.
Some say the MDC should boycott the election if the ruling Zanu PF refuses to overhaul the electoral framework and open up the political space to level the playing field to ensure a free and fair poll.
The MDC has been demanding that basic parameters that make polls meaningful should be drawn up to avoid elections without a choice. It wants a new electoral framework with an independent electoral commission, a revised voters roll and new monitoring mechanisms.
The party also wants freedom of the press and assembly to be upheld. It wants the state-run media opened to all political parties. It further demands that political rights and civil liberties must be restored.
At the moment, agencies such as the Electoral Supervisory Commission and the Election Directorate which manage polls do not have complete independence as their members are appointed by President Mugabe. The political climate has since 1980 been hostile to the opposition, except where Zanu PF is not under serious challenge as in the 1995/96 parliamentary and presidential polls.
Those who support an election boycott argue that an MDC involvement would only serve to legitimise an election that would predictably be won by Zanu PF — courtesy of a flawed electoral system open to manipulation and political violence or intimidation.
UZ law lecturer and chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly Lovemore Madhuku says the MDC’s participation would buy Zanu PF legitimacy.
“If they participate they will be giving Zanu PF a semblance of legitimacy. A boycott can work if it is accompanied by a string of other actions like street protests and demonstrations so that the elections either do not take place or are rendered illegitimate,” he said. “A boycott should mark the start of a long-term, coordinated struggle for democracy and should feed on the illegitimacy of the regime.”
Analysts say the MDC should not contest elections in which they would only act as “useful idiots” to the ruling party and come second as this could prove damaging in the long run. Former United States president Richard Nixon’s dictum has been cited to support this view. After George Bush Snr defeated Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential poll, Nixon said: “Finishing second in Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.” Observers say the MDC risks this.
If the MDC pulls out, analysts argue, it means Zanu PF’s inevitable landslide would be hollow and could further compound President Mugabe’s current legitimacy crisis derived from the stolen presidential poll in March 2002.
Those who support the boycott think that an exacerbated legitimacy crisis would consign Zanu PF into deeper isolation — both at home and abroad — and thus impair its ability to function effectively to sustain its dictatorial rule.
Others say after the boycott the MDC should become a resistance movement, committed to defiance methods such as mass action and stayaways in a political battle of attrition with Zanu PF. But this begs the question of whether the MDC has the capacity to go that route and how sustainable this strategy could be?
Some analysts say the MDC should contest the election even under the same conditions as in the 2000 and 2002 polls if demands for electoral reforms are rejected.
Commentators who advance this argument say there is absolutely nothing to be gained by a boycott that would only serve to hand Zanu PF an absolute majority and with it power to amend the constitution as and when it wishes to consolidate its power.
They say if the MDC boycotts the poll it would be voluntarily electing to banish itself to the wilderness where it risks redundancy and disintegration. And it would also be letting its supporters down.
Observers say the strategy of fuelling the current regime’s legitimacy crisis by withdrawal would not work because Zanu PF and Mugabe no longer really care about the issue as they have been ruling regardless.
Professor John Stremlau of South Africa’s Witwatersrand University says a boycott can be “politically significant” yet “very difficult” to coordinate, depending on the dynamics on a particular political situation.
“Boycotts can be politically significant, but they can be very difficult to organise depending on conditions in a particular situation,” he said. “If an opposition party makes empty threats of a boycott it gets discredited. There has to be a capacity to deliver.”
Analysts say the situation is complicated in Zimbabwe because Mugabe is already isolated. Western leaders rejected Mugabe’s re-election in 2002 but he has plodded on and continues to perform the duties of a legitimate leader. Critics say it is possible the situation can go on like this until he finishes his term in 2008. Last week Mugabe said he could retire in five years time.
Mugabe says the West is pursuing a self-interested agenda in Zimbabwe and pitches his current political fight as against erstwhile colonial masters and not the MDC. He even rejects Western calls for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe on that basis. Analysts say while Mugabe is clearly brandishing a contrived false fight to justify his continued dictatorship, there is, however, some merit in his argument.
Critics say Western countries that until recent years supported Mugabe have largely failed in their efforts to force him to jettison his repression or remove him from power because they were initially part of the problem. They say either by commission or omission, Western states backed Mugabe while he perpetrated gross human rights violations and consolidated his tyranny over 20 years.
This observation has been raised several times in the British House of Commons by Labour MPs who accused the Conservatives of backing Mugabe when his despotism was arguably worse. Some analysts say insofar as repression is concerned, the situation was worse in the 1980s than now. Observers say the 1985 general election, held in the midst of massacres across vast swathes of Matabeleland, was much more violent than the 2000 and 2002 polls but Western countries, then driven by the existing global political order considerations, kept quiet and endorsed Mugabe.
Now it appears like the West’s complicity has weakened their position on the Zimbabwe crisis morally and politically. Mugabe has exploited the situation with a considerable measure of success, they say.
As for the MDC becoming a resistance movement, analysts say the party simply has no capacity. Defiance works effectively where power relations between the ruling party and the opposition are tilted in favour of the latter.
Boycotts of polls and parliaments have not been effective in Mauritania, Bangladesh, Algeria, Cambodia, Bermuda and Srinagar in the heart of the disputed Indian Kashmir.
But boycotts have worked in some cases of historical significance. German goods were boycotted by the American Jewish community in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott organised by Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the 1950s became a defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement. However, whether or not a boycott of elections can work in Zimbabwe remains to be seen.
TELEACCESS (Zimbabwe) (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of TeleAccess Global Corporation, licensed to become the second national fixed telephone operator, is embroiled in a row with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) over its multibillion dollar project.
Angry letters have been flying back and forth between TeleAccess, whose chief
executive is Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chair Daniel Shumba, and Potraz since
May 13 last year over the telephone firm's business plans and the date of launch
of its project.
Documents available to the Zimbabwe Independent show there are several issues
in dispute. One of the issues concerns TeleAccess' failure to launch its
project.
"The authority (Potraz) is deeply concerned that TeleAccess has not been able
to roll out commercial services within the timeframe stipulated in their
licence," the documents say. "We are quite aware that the majority of our people
have no access to telecommunication services, moreso in remote rural areas."
TeleAccess, controversially a-warded its licence by cabinet on January 3 last
year, was initially expected to launch its project on May 1 and later on June 1
last year. But it failed, claiming it had not been allocated numbers to start
offering service, something which Potraz has dismissed as a "lame excuse".
Within the first year of operation TeleAccess, which has selected CSG Systems
International as its business partner, was expected to roll out more than 60 000
telephone lines, with 6 000 earmarked for rural areas. This was expected to
generate $1,8 billion in revenue.
TeleAccess' failure to start business is said to have cost Potraz $27,4
million in annual licence fees and contributions to the Universal Service Fund
of about $36,5 million.
TeleAccess argues that Potraz has failed to properly implement an official
directive to issue it with a second national operator licence that encompasses
voice telephony, public data and Internet access provision.
"But Potraz's position is that the authority has properly implemented the
directive since data communication and Internet access were to be processed
separately, through the normal channels," the documents say.
"To date two licences (to TeleAccess for public data and Internet) have not
been issued mainly due to TeleAccess' refusal to submit separate business plans
for the two applications."
The documents also say TeleAccess' understanding of the directive was that
the licence fee for the fixed telephone service also covered the licence fees
for the public data and Internet access.
However, Potraz says the directive "was very clear that fees for public data
and Internet access licences were payable over and above the US$100 million for
the PSTN (public switched telephone network) as per statutory instrument 16A of
2001".
TeleAccess, which has a stake in Comtel, a regional firm trying to enhance
telecommunication links within the 20-member Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa, agreed to pay US$100 million for the fixed telephone network
licence in local currency over 20 years at a favourable exchange rate of
US$1:$55. Initially, Potraz had pegged the licence fee at US$320 million.
The company, which is also bidding for a 51% in South Africa's second
national operator, has started paying the US$100 million licence fee. On March
28 last year it paid $140 million. It was expected to pay another instalment on
the first anniversary of its licence but has not yet done so.
On why TeleAccess has not yet launched its project despite fighting hard to
get a licence, the firm claims Potraz has failed to allocate it numbers to begin
offering service.
"But Potraz is of the view that this is a lame excuse. Potraz has asked
Tel*One to release level 54 and 59 numbers to enable TeleAccess to use them,"
documents say. "This has been acknowledged by Tel*One in their correspondence
with TeleAccess."
On its business plan, TeleAccess is adamant that it will only prepare a
consolidated plan that includes the voice telephony, public data and Internet
access business units.
Potraz, however, argues that TeleAccess' refusal to submit separate plans for
their three different business units would make it difficult to "objectively
assess the tariff structure". Efforts to get comment from Shumba and Potraz were
unsuccessful.
Zim Indep Eric Bloc Economic destruction not the path to political change SINCE the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) made public that I was the chairman of a sub-committee of his foreign currency auction’s advisory board, and that the mandate of that sub-committee is to devise appropriate modalities to facilitate and incentivise Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to repatriate funds through official channels, I have been the recipient of a torrent of telephone calls, e-mails, fax transmissions and letters. Some have been highly supportive, recognising that if efficient, reliable and lawful structures can be put in place, it would protect the tens of thousands of Zimbabweans abroad who have fallen prey to confidence tricksters who have sought to deprive them and their families in Zimbabwe of the funds intended to be transferred, or who have been victims of highly erratic postal services which have resulted in non-receipt, or delayed receipt, of money transfers. Many of the telephone calls and other communications have been from banks, money transfer agencies, international bureaux de change and other entrepreneurs desirous of being players within the remittance and distribution infrastructures to be established, they being cognisant of the potentially very great commercial benefits which they could enjoy if they could become associated with the contemplated transfers of monies to Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans working in neighbouring countries and further afield. I also had a significant number of telephone calls from journalists, at home and abroad. Most of them were enquiring as to how it was envisaged that money transfer systems would function as would accord the transferors exchange rates commensurate with, or similar to, those they were currently attaining through black market trading. They also wanted to know what reassurances would be given to those intending to transfer monies that such monies would reach the intended beneficiaries in Zimbabwe without diversion by RBZ or government, at full value and timeously. There was also widespread interest as to how the sub-committee planned to communicate with the Zimbabweans abroad and, in particular, that neither those communications or the intended money transfer structures to be established would disclose to the authorities the whereabouts of those Zimbabweans working without valid resident or work permits. In virtually all instances I was able to provide the journalists with the information that they sought, insofar as the sub-committee’s work has been completed, but subject to the reservation that the proposals are still to be refined and finalised, upon completion of requisite research and consideration thereof. There was, however, a very notableexception, being a journalist attached to a leading British newspaper who was at one time a resident of Zimbabwe. She very clearly had “a chip on her shoulder”. She was determined to extort admissions from me that the intended accessing of foreign exchange from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora was for no purpose other than to support the Zanu PF government and further entrench its autocratic and non-democratic rule. She was wholly unwilling to accept that there could be any other motives and implied even if there were, the consequences would be such support and entrenchment of the present regime. Moreover, if there were any other benefits accruing to Zimbabwe and its people, sheclearly felt that they had to be wholly subordinated to the inevitable benefit to government and, therefore, it was near-treasonous to try to access the foreign exchange. She went further, voicing innuendoes that I had sold my integrity and was willing to be a Zanu PF accomplice by being remunerated by the RBZ, and was very evidently disappointed and dismayed when I was able to advise her that neither I nor any other member of the advisory board received anything for our services(other than, on occasion, a lunch after a meeting). However, she has not been the only critic. Many of the contacts made to me, and in some cases authors of letters to the press (invariably being persons shielding behind nom-de-plumes — presumably being too cowardly to write other than anonymously), have been to castigate and pillory me, and in some instances to revile me and make threats against me. In almost every instance the attacks have been founded upon the perception that assisting the RBZ in its endeavours to achieve critically needed foreign exchange inflows from Zimbabweans abroad is an act of aiding and abetting an evil government that is contemptuous of the very fundamentals of human rights, of thepreservation of law and order, and of the principles of democracy, justice and good governance. In over 20 years of writing in the media I have tried to be fair and balanced. If I have not succeeded, it is not for lack of trying. Thus, on the rare occasions when I have considered that government has done something good, I have commended it. Regrettably, I have very much more frequently considered it necessary to criticise it and, all too often, to condemn it. In my considered opinion the devastated state of Zimbabwe’s economy is wholly attributable to the government. Equally, I strongly hold the view that government abuses its power to assure its continued rigid control of all arms of the state, including parliament and the judiciary, and to oppress all that it perceives as opposed to its ideologies and objectives. Observing the magnitude of harm that government has afflicted upon Zimbabwe, and continues to afflict upon the majority of the populace, I would dearly love to see it replaced by a government that has a genuine caring for the people and a respect for the fundamental principles of ethical and sound governance.But I believe that that replacement must come about through methods of peaceful protest and through the ballot box (with such unified mass action at the ballot as prevents hijacking of the ballot), facilitated by constructive international pressures and by a resolve of Zimbabweans not to succumb to the malevolent misuse of authorityand violation of the precepts of democratic rule. I do not believe that change should be brought about by accelerating the economic decline. The economy has been weakened to such an extent that about 80% of the population is unemployed, which has been a major factor to the massive brain drain which Zimbabwe has experienced in recent years — although that brain drain has also been as a result of those no longer willing to be subjected to unjust rule. Therefore, for right or for wrong, I believe that it is in the interests of Zimbabweans for efforts to attract foreign exchange from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to be pursued. If those efforts are successful, the vast numbers abroad, who are desperately trying to assist their families that are poverty-stricken or financially stressed, will beprotected from tricksters endeavouring to defraud them, and from the uncertainties as to whether and when their families would receive the funds being transferred to them. And I believe it is in the interests of Zimbabweans that the economic regression be, at the least, slowed down and, if at all possible, halted and reversed, so that when at some future date all Zimbabweans can justly claim to have a government that worships and implements genuine justice, and is one that believes in “government of the people, by thepeople, for the people”, there remains an economic foundation upon which can be built the source of future wellbeing for all. Thus, I will continue, for so long as I am able, to do my small bit to assist the economy. Hopefully my doing so will not help to prolong government’s rule but, if so, so be it. It is most regrettable if that is a by-product effect, and I abhor it, but I abhorthe malnutrition, poverty, misery and distress suffered by most Zimbabweans even more. In fact, to cite the nom-de-plume of a correspondent to this newspaper last week who let loose his vitriol against me, “Charity begins at home”, and home for 12 millionor more is Zimbabwe! (And, as to his barbed question: I am fortunate that I have not suffered as have so many others, but I too have had to queue, have had togo without essential medicines, have a permanent injury from an attack upon me by war veterans, and am conscious of the suffering that abounds in Zimbabwe). But if charity begins at home, that must include enabling economic survival as far as possible, concurrently with legitimate and lawful endeavours to bring about a change in government, or a change of government. If some choose to despise me for doingso, that is their right, but I remain convinced that to destroy the economy further is not the path to attain a long overdue change of government.
SINCE the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) made public that I was the chairman of a sub-committee of his foreign currency auction’s advisory board, and that the mandate of that sub-committee is to devise appropriate modalities to facilitate and incentivise Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to repatriate funds through official channels, I have been the recipient of a torrent of telephone calls, e-mails, fax transmissions and letters.
Some have been highly supportive, recognising that if efficient, reliable and lawful structures can be put in place, it would protect the tens of thousands of Zimbabweans abroad who have fallen prey to confidence tricksters who have sought to deprive them and their families in Zimbabwe of the funds intended to be transferred, or who have been victims of highly erratic postal services which have resulted in non-receipt, or delayed receipt, of money transfers.
Many of the telephone calls and other communications have been from banks, money transfer agencies, international bureaux de change and other entrepreneurs desirous of being players within the remittance and distribution infrastructures to be established, they being cognisant of the potentially very great commercial benefits which they could enjoy if they could become associated with the contemplated transfers of monies to Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans working in neighbouring countries and further afield.
I also had a significant number of telephone calls from journalists, at home and abroad. Most of them were enquiring as to how it was envisaged that money transfer systems would function as would accord the transferors exchange rates commensurate with, or similar to, those they were currently attaining through black market trading. They also wanted to know what reassurances would be given to those intending to transfer monies that such monies would reach the intended beneficiaries in Zimbabwe without diversion by RBZ or government, at full value and timeously. There was also widespread interest as to how the sub-committee planned to communicate with the Zimbabweans abroad and, in particular, that neither those communications or the intended money transfer structures to be established would disclose to the authorities the whereabouts of those Zimbabweans working without valid resident or work permits.
In virtually all instances I was able to provide the journalists with the information that they sought, insofar as the sub-committee’s work has been completed, but subject to the reservation that the proposals are still to be refined and finalised, upon completion of requisite research and consideration thereof.
There was, however, a very notableexception, being a journalist attached to a leading British newspaper who was at one time a resident of Zimbabwe. She very clearly had “a chip on her shoulder”. She was determined to extort admissions from me that the intended accessing of foreign exchange from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora was for no purpose other than to support the Zanu PF government and further entrench its autocratic and non-democratic rule. She was wholly unwilling to accept that there could be any other motives and implied even if there were, the consequences would be such support and entrenchment of the present regime. Moreover, if there were any other benefits accruing to Zimbabwe and its people, sheclearly felt that they had to be wholly subordinated to the inevitable benefit to government and, therefore, it was near-treasonous to try to access the foreign exchange.
She went further, voicing innuendoes that I had sold my integrity and was willing to be a Zanu PF accomplice by being remunerated by the RBZ, and was very evidently disappointed and dismayed when I was able to advise her that neither I nor any other member of the advisory board received anything for our services(other than, on occasion, a lunch after a meeting).
However, she has not been the only critic. Many of the contacts made to me, and in some cases authors of letters to the press (invariably being persons shielding behind nom-de-plumes — presumably being too cowardly to write other than anonymously), have been to castigate and pillory me, and in some instances to revile me and make threats against me. In almost every instance the attacks have been founded upon the perception that assisting the RBZ in its endeavours to achieve critically needed foreign exchange inflows from Zimbabweans abroad is an act of aiding and abetting an evil government that is contemptuous of the very fundamentals of human rights, of thepreservation of law and order, and of the principles of democracy, justice and good governance.
In over 20 years of writing in the media I have tried to be fair and balanced. If I have not succeeded, it is not for lack of trying. Thus, on the rare occasions when I have considered that government has done something good, I have commended it.
Regrettably, I have very much more frequently considered it necessary to criticise it and, all too often, to condemn it. In my considered opinion the devastated state of Zimbabwe’s economy is wholly attributable to the government. Equally, I strongly hold the view that government abuses its power to assure its continued rigid control of all arms of the state, including parliament and the judiciary, and to oppress all that it perceives as opposed to its ideologies and objectives.
Observing the magnitude of harm that government has afflicted upon Zimbabwe, and continues to afflict upon the majority of the populace, I would dearly love to see it replaced by a government that has a genuine caring for the people and a respect for the fundamental principles of ethical and sound governance.But I believe that that replacement must come about through methods of peaceful protest and through the ballot box (with such unified mass action at the ballot as prevents hijacking of the ballot), facilitated by constructive international pressures and by a resolve of Zimbabweans not to succumb to the malevolent misuse of authorityand violation of the precepts of democratic rule. I do not believe that change should be brought about by accelerating the economic decline.
The economy has been weakened to such an extent that about 80% of the population is unemployed, which has been a major factor to the massive brain drain which Zimbabwe has experienced in recent years — although that brain drain has also been as a result of those no longer willing to be subjected to unjust rule.
Therefore, for right or for wrong, I believe that it is in the interests of Zimbabweans for efforts to attract foreign exchange from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to be pursued. If those efforts are successful, the vast numbers abroad, who are desperately trying to assist their families that are poverty-stricken or financially stressed, will beprotected from tricksters endeavouring to defraud them, and from the uncertainties as to whether and when their families would receive the funds being transferred to them.
And I believe it is in the interests of Zimbabweans that the economic regression be, at the least, slowed down and, if at all possible, halted and reversed, so that when at some future date all Zimbabweans can justly claim to have a government that worships and implements genuine justice, and is one that believes in “government of the people, by thepeople, for the people”, there remains an economic foundation upon which can be built the source of future wellbeing for all.
Thus, I will continue, for so long as I am able, to do my small bit to assist the economy. Hopefully my doing so will not help to prolong government’s rule but, if so, so be it. It is most regrettable if that is a by-product effect, and I abhor it, but I abhorthe malnutrition, poverty, misery and distress suffered by most Zimbabweans even more. In fact, to cite the nom-de-plume of a correspondent to this newspaper last week who let loose his vitriol against me, “Charity begins at home”, and home for 12 millionor more is Zimbabwe! (And, as to his barbed question: I am fortunate that I have not suffered as have so many others, but I too have had to queue, have had togo without essential medicines, have a permanent injury from an attack upon me by war veterans, and am conscious of the suffering that abounds in Zimbabwe).
But if charity begins at home, that must include enabling economic survival as far as possible, concurrently with legitimate and lawful endeavours to bring about a change in government, or a change of government. If some choose to despise me for doingso, that is their right, but I remain convinced that to destroy the economy further is not the path to attain a long overdue change of government.
Going, going... or not just yet?
“IN five years (I will be) here still boxing, writing quite a lot, reading quite a lot and still in politics. I won’t leave politics but I will have retired obviously.”
President Mugabe’s remarks in his ZTV birthday monologue are of more than passing significance. For some years now the nation has been waiting for this declaration of intent and when it did come last weekend nobody seemed to notice.
Part of the explanation lies in the Herald’s decision not to carry the full text of last Friday’s interview in its Saturday edition. The remarks about retiring were picked up by the BBC on Saturday and posted on its Website.
Now we have an unambiguous statement that the president will be going in less than five years time. By February 2009 he will already have relinquished the reins of office, he says, and that means he is unlikely to be contesting the 2008 presidential poll. For there would be little point in seeking another term in 2008 only to step down the following year.
Yes, he promises to still be active in politics. But that could be the role Mwalimu Julius Nyerere assumed after his retirement as Tanzanian president. And it seems to involve some boxing, reading and writing. While the president’s pugilistic skills are well-known, his literary consumption and output is less familiar.
What titles could we recommend for 2009? Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People is obviously unlikely to make much impression. Travel guides are more likely to be welcome.
Why, by the way, doesn’t the president permit a more challenging interview? He is well up to it. But instead he is asked by a delusional Tazzen Mandizvidza: “Your Excellency, at 80 we see the economy is turning around...”.
Who sees it “turning around” apart from Tazzen? And how on earth was the president allowed to get away with this as a “theory of development”:“You start with a process and you call it a thesis. But a thesis will always have its negatives, the anti-thesis. Then you pit the one against the other and then you produce a synthesis, and the synthesis yields another thesis and so on.”
Great stuff — if you have trouble sleeping!
The president’s birthday provided an opportunity for displays of some of the most drooling sycophancy seen since Didymus Mutasa suggested in 1996 that we shouldn’t have to re-elect Mugabe because he was Zimbabwe’s king. Ministers, party officials and parastatals fell over themselves in a competition to see who could produce the most fawning tribute. The Minister of Defence and his staff referred to Mugabe’s guidance “through the protracted, meanderous and thorny liberation struggle”.
Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Emmerson Mnangagwa and his staff claimed Mugabe was “an economic emancipator who knows no race, colour or creed”.
“A real pan-Africanist par excellence and shining beacon of African unity,” their message said.
The largest message came unsurprisingly from the president’s own office. It occupied a full page in the Herald.
“We in the President’s Office are proud to work with His Excellency and be associated with his dedication and principled devotion to the betterment of the material and social condition of every Zimbabwean,” their message said. They remained “resolute” in assisting him in his endeavour to “turn around the economy”, they said.
Their extravagant tribute was matched only by that of Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo and his staff. In case readers didn’t see their full-page ad, they took out a half-page one as well. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered its support as the president embarked on the “daunting task of rebuilding the economy”.
Among parastatals conveying their best wishes were Arda, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Noczim, the Grain Marketing Board, the Competition and Tariff Commission, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund, Zesa, the Rural Electrification Agency, Potraz, NetOne, NSSA, ZimTrade, Air Zimbabwe, CMED, the Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe, Agribank, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, the Forestry Commission, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, Zimpost, Zimpapers, Zupco and Zimsec.
These are of course all organisations known to the Zimbabwean public for their efficiency and wise use of public funds! We particularly liked the reminder from the Zimbabwe Prison Service that they stood for “incarceration”. The Airforce of Zimbabwe asked the Lord to bless the president with many more healthy years “so as to share his wisdom with the world”.
“You are a light to the nation,” the Public Service Commission gushed. “You are an inspiration to all.”
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union offered its congratulations to its patron. Whereas most banks in the private sector referred to “President Mugabe”, the Jewel Bank referred to “Cde RG Mugabe”.
Many organisations, such as the Prison Service, referred to the president’s contribution to “equitable land redistribution”.
Mnangagwa popped up again wearing his other hat as Speaker of Parliament to describe Mugabe as “a torch bearer of African self-determination, an embodiment of black empowerment who encapsulates true African values…an icon of the emancipation of the black majority from the yoke of colonial oppression…revered by friends and foes alike…well known for your unwavering principles and fierce commitment to redressing colonial injustices”.
OK, OK Emmerson, no need to go on, you’ve got the job!
Muckraker liked a recent editorial in the Daily Mirror. It referred to an “insidious, albeit legal form of muffling the exposure of corruption” by individuals who threaten newspapers with defamation lawsuits.
“We at the Daily Mirror have received such threats and demands for retractions,” the editor said.
“We scoff at such threats and resolutely vow to continue unmasking businesspersons and politicians of dubious scruples who are fleecing the economy for personal gain.”
While the law allows recourse to the courts, the editor said, “to threaten the press with multi-million dollar lawsuits on preposterous grounds of defamation smacks of a poorly crafted ploy to censure the media from carrying out its duties”.
Hear hear. We couldn’t agree more. However, we recall receiving a letter last year from a law firm called Muzangaza, Mandaza & Tomana demanding a retraction from us for referring to Mirror editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza as “Five Farms” Mandaza. We told them that it was a matter of public interest that their client had acquired five farms when government had a one person/one farm policy and that our remarks constituted fair comment. Further, we pointed out that their client, as somebody who courted publicity and unhesitatingly issued trenchant criticism of others, should accept that his own conduct was open to public scrutiny.
We didn’t hear from them again!
Still on the subject of fair comment, we were appalled to see that Tafataona Mahoso has invited the police to act against the Standard for what he claims is criminal defamation and abuse of journalistic privilege for reporting that Justice Sandra Mungwira had fled to Britain.
We were rather under the impression that the crime of “abuse of journalistic privilege” had been struck down by the courts, including at this month’s Aippa hearing in the Supreme Court.
We would have thought Mahoso would be familiar with changes to the law he works under. But then again he confessed last year, when cross-examined by ANZ counsel, to not knowing that a criminal defamation conviction against Chengetai Zvauya was the subject of an appeal.
Where the Standard erred in its story on Justice Mungwira it should be given an opportunity to apologise and retract. But Mahoso fatuously claims that the Standard’s article “defamed the entire judiciary, especially the chief justice and the Minister of Justice”.
“The government as the governing authority had also been defamed,” Mahoso was reported as saying, “as the story portrayed it as corrupt, coercive, and contemptuous of judges and courts of law.”
Isn’t that exactly what it has been accused of by many, including the Bar Council of South Africa? Aren’t those precisely the grounds on which EU sanctions were renewed last week?
The president and his flunkeys have been attempting to propagate the view that Mugabe has won a political war against Britain and the West but now has to concentrate on rebuilding the economy and getting land productive. Nathaniel Manheru reflected this claim last Saturday when he said Tony Blair and others had been “routinely outflanked by Cde Mugabe who easily mobilised African and Third World opinion against this inexperienced ruler of Albion”.
Is that what happened at Abuja? Was Blair “outflanked” at Chogm? And what of Jamaica, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya: were they “successfully mobilised” by Mugabe?
There is something distinctly delusional about Mugabe’s “victory”. How can a leader claim to have won a political battle when he is unable to go to some 25 countries in Europe, including several G7 members, the United States and Australasia? How can he have won anything when he cannot secure loans from the world’s leading lending institutions at exactly the time the country needs them most? What sort of victory is that?
And what of investors? Will they want to put their money into a country where people can be locked up for weeks without the protection of the courts?
That Mugabe has failed to mobilise African and Third World opinion is best illustrated by the venom with which his columnists attack “African leaders who (have) risen to power through Anglo-American manipulative intrusions…”
Then there are the weekly attacks on black editors in South Africa who decline to buy the mind-insulting claims advanced by Mugabe’s cabal about land reform and sovereignty. Anybody seeing through these lies is labelled a tool of British manipulation.
“Their association with the anti-apartheid struggle made them credible and even authoritative tools for British propaganda wiles.”
But hang on guys, didn’t you say Mugabe was winning the political war? If so, why all this abuse?
We liked the claim from Manheru that British ambassador Sir Brian Donnelly was “reduced to a sitting duck by the disabling gaze of the CIO”. The assumption being that he would not take their “gaze” into account when going about his duties!
A diplomat pointed out to us this week that events in Belgrade, of which this regime seems distinctly nervous, only unfolded as they did three months after Donnelly’s departure as ambassador to Yugoslavia.
He leaves Harare in July. So we can look forward to another October rising?
We were amused to note that Manheru has only just learnt about the class distinction between British settlers in Kenya and Rhodesia. Where has he been all this time? Hasn’t he heard of the “remittance men” whose families kept these aristocratic white sheep at arm’s length by extending endless lines of credit so long as they didn’t come home? But his informant at the university (if that is indeed where the Kenya expert is to be located) could have helped a bit more by introducing Manheru to the expression of the time: “Officers to Kenya, other ranks to Rhodesia”. That would have brightened up his otherwise turgid copy!
It is amazing what short memories some people have. Hardly a day goes past without some idiot saying how indebted the nation is to the president for his anti-graft drive. Wouldn’t these praise-singers be better employed naming beneficiaries of the War Victims Compensation Fund which a commission of inquiry found compensated themselves well beyond the requirements of their often-modest injuries? And why hasn’t anybody asked what happened to that highly mobile diplomat, Reward Marufu? Doesn’t that name tell us all we need to know about the sincerity of the government’s crackdown?
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 27 February
Tsvangirai treason trial ends
The year-long treason trial of Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, ended yesterday with defence lawyers accusing the government of bribing witnesses to testify. Mr Tsvangirai, who denies accusations of plotting to kill Mr Mugabe and stage a military coup, faces the death penalty if convicted. A judgment is not expected for several months. "The trial has heard a lot of evidence and there will obviously be a need for this court to go through all that evidence. Accordingly, judgment is reserved," said Paddington Garwe, the presiding High Court judge. The final two days of the case, based on questionable evidence from a grainy videotape, were taken up with closing arguments to the presiding judge and his two "assessors" - there is no jury - by the defence and prosecutors. George Bizos, the lead defence lawyer, who 40 years ago defended Nelson Mandela on treason charges in apartheid South Africa, accused the regime of entrapment. He said Ari Ben Menashe, a Canadian-based political consultant, and two colleagues were paid to entrap Mr Tsvangirai and obtain testimony against him via the video. "The temptation to lie, the temptation to please their paymasters must have been overwhelming," Mr Bizos told the court.
Prosecutors claim the video recording of a meeting Mr Ben Menashe had with Mr Tsvangirai in a Montreal hotel resulted in Mugabe's "elimination", or murder, being discussed. But Mr Bizos said there had been no clear or unambiguous reference to a murder, assassination or coup. "How bad has the state case got to be in order to be thrown out? How bad does a witness have to be to be disbelieved?" he asked during his summing up. Mr Tsvangirai, a former union leader who formed the Movement for Democratic Change in 1999 to challenge Mr Mugabe, says the government invented the charges against him in an attempt to frame and discredit him ahead of the 2002 election. He told the court he had originally hired Mr Ben Menashe's firm, paying it $100,000 (£53,000) to help with international lobbying and fund-raising for his party, but discovered later the government had hired it as well.
From The Scotsman (UK), 26 February
Zimbabwe treason trial ends but verdict six months away
The treason trial of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai drew to a close today, nearly 13 months after it began setting out bizarre claims of subterfuge and intrigue in the troubled southern African country. Tsvangirai could face the death penalty, if convicted of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. High Court Judge Paddington Garwe is expected to take at least six months to issue a ruling, defence lawyers said. Prosecutors said Tsvangirai hired Canada-based political consultant Ari Ben Menashe to help him kill Mugabe and seize power. Tsvangirai said he was framed by Ben Menashe, who it emerged in court was already working for Zimbabwe’s government when he met with the opposition leader in 2001. Testimony in the nation’s longest trial – also one of its strangest – has covered a broad sweep of intrigue, from secretly recorded meetings to allegations of evidence tampering.
The charges against Tsvangirai were based on a grainy and barely audible 4 1/2 hour video recorded by hidden cameras during a meeting between Tsvangirai and Ben Menashe in Montreal in December 2001. Ben Menashe testified that words like "murder" and "assassination" were freely used during his encounters with Tsvangirai, but they do not appear on the tape. "He is a brazen liar," defence lawyer George Bizos said in closing arguments in Harare today. Tsvangirai testified that his opposition Movement for Democratic Change hired Ben Menashe’s firm to lobby for it internationally. While Tsvangirai and Ben Menache are recorded on the tape speaking of the "elimination" of Mugabe, the opposition leader said he was talking about defeating the president in March 2002 elections and forming a new government. Ben Menashe, who claims to have been a former Israeli intelligence agent, was acquitted by a US federal jury in 1990 of charges he illegally arranged a multi million pound deal to sell US made military cargo planes to Iran in exchange for the release of four American hostages in the Middle East. Israel denied he did intelligence work but said he served for a brief period as a junior clerk in its civil service.
Evidence brought in the Tsvangirai’s trial showed Ben Menashe received £350,000 from Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation, which declined to explain the payment, citing state security. "The accused was set up by Ben Menashe for money," said Bizos, a prominent South African human rights lawyer, who once defended Nelson Mandela. Ben Menashe set him up "for political purposes." State prosecutor Bharat Patel denied there was an attempt to entrap Tsvangirai. Summing up his case , he said state witnesses were "satisfactory" – even after dropping the allegations that Tsvangirai spoke specifically of "murder" and "assassination" as stated by Ben Menashe. Patel maintained there was sufficient proof that Tsvangirai plotted to kill Mugabe. "Even if part of the evidence has been established, the court must convict," he said after the defence wound up its case. Tsvangirai was charged two weeks before he ran against Mugabe in the 2002 presidential election, which he narrowly lost amid allegations of intimidation and vote rigging. The trial began more than a year ago. Freed on bail, Tsvangirai had to surrender his passport, and his political activities were sharply curtailed by his daily appearances in the dock. The trial ended with court officials apologising for a breakdown in their audio equipment that left 14 hours of Tsvangirai’s evidence unrecorded earlier this month. Garwe agreed to let them borrow his hand-written notes to complete the court transcript.
From News24 (SA), 26 February
Journos a 'security threat'
Harare - Zimbabwean journalists working for the American government radio station, the Voice of America, pose a threat to Zimbabwe's national security, the state media commission said on Thursday. "The Voice of America is an arm of the US state department which is on record as seeking to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe through unconstitutional means and illegal(ly) under the United Nations charter," said the commission in a statement quoted in the state-owned Herald and weekly magazine, The Financial Gazette. "The... serious problem is that of national interest and national security," said the media commission. Its statement came after three journalists at the state-owned daily Herald were dismissed for working for the Voice of America. The trade union representing journalists issued a statement condemning their dismissals. The commission said: "The Voice of America... is among the media houses that have been peddling lies about this country, resulting in the deterioration of the Zimbabwean image. "It is disturbing for an individual to use a foreign media organisation to destroy his own country." In Cape Town, meanwhile, deputy president Jacob Zuma said the government would like to see Zimbabwe enjoy the same press freedom as South Africa. "We believe in press freedom," he told the Cape Town Press Club. "And if you want to equate to Zimbabwe, take what we say here: that will certainly go for what we would want to see in any other country."
From VOA News, 20 February
A touch of Zimbabwe in the United Kingdom
The city of Luton is earning a reputation as the Harare of the United Kingdom. Located between London and Birmingham, Luton is home to an increasing number of Zimbabweans. Not only can you hear Shona being spoken on the streets of the city, but a number of stores sell products more commonly seen in Zimbabwe, such as maize meal, traditional vegetables, peanuts and madora. Some shopkeepers are even marking price tags of goods in Shona and even Ndebele. A Zimbabwean born lawyer, Oswald Ndanga, has lived in Luton for more than a decade. He says the number of Zimbabweans moving into the city is increasing. "You find Zimbabweans all over, " he says. "I don’t know what the number is but it’s very large." He adds that there are a large number of Zimbabweans in Luton who came "to seek asylum, or to run away from persecution and harassment by their government in Zimbabwe." Mr.Ndanga figures that the city, with a workforce of 185 thousand, is appealing to Zimbabweans because of its factory jobs and positions with manufacturing companies. He acts as legal representative to many Zimbabweans, some of who are in the country illegally. Mr.Ndanga says several clients have told him they would like to return home eventually.
But 33-year old Eunice Harahwa, who has lived in Luton for three years, says she has no plans to leave. "We have got everything we need. We have got a place where we go for braais, eat our traditional foods, sadza, we eat guru and everything here." As enterprising Zimbabweans provide her with the goods she wants, she says she has no plans to leave. Forty year old businesswoman Tanaka Pfebve is well known among Zimbabweans in the city. Her popular Kumusha restaurant serves traditional dishes on the same level as the popular Mereki and Zindoga in Zimbabwe. "The fact that there are so many Zimbabweans living here brings us good business," says Ms. Pfebve, adding "it’s good to be in Luton because it is improving my business." She admits, however, that life in Luton is not all rosy for Zimbabweans. She says many of the Zimbabweans she knows share a room with as many as 10 people. Mr.Pfebve says they live as inexpensively as possible, in order to save money to send home to their families.
From The Herald, 27 February
Jane Mutasa convicted
Court Reporter
Businesswoman Jane Mutasa was yesterday convicted by a Harare Regional Magistrate’s for illegal dealing in foreign currency and will be sentenced next week. Mutasa (50), who is also a board member at mobile phone operator Telecel Zimbabwe, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching the Exchange Control Act before magistrate Mrs Virginia Sithole. Mrs Sithole remanded her out of custody to Monday next week on $1 million bail pending sentence. She was ordered to surrender title deeds of any one of her immovable properties, remain at her Greystone Park home and report once a day to the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters. Mutasa, who was brought to court on a fast track trial since she was prepared to plead guilty, admitted having dealt in foreign currency although she was not a licensed dealer as is required by the Exchange Control Act. Prosecutor Mr Joseph Mabeza said on November 13 last year, at the Telecel offices along Seke Road, Mutasa sourced US$2 000 and then sold it to Telecel using the parallel market rate of US$1 to ZW$6 000. Mutasa was then paid ZW$12 million by Telecel. Again on January 6 this year, Mutasa sold another US$8 400 to Telecel at the parallel market rate. Mr Mabeza said Mutasa did not follow the laid down procedures therefore depriving the State of its revenue.
In mitigation, Mutasa - through her lawyers Mr Walter Chimwaradze and Mr Kudzai Maguchu of Dube, Manikai and Hwatcha - asked the court for leniency because she was a first offender. Mr Chimwaradze submitted that the court should also consider that Mutasa was remanded in custody after the State invoked the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act) Regulations of 2004. Under the regulations, the judge or magistrate at a remand or bail hearing shall not decline to order the further detention of the accused solely on the basis that there are no grounds, at first sight, for the charge. The judge or magistrate shall order further detention or issue a warrant for further detention for 21 days if satisfied that there are clear grounds for the charge. No court is allowed to admit the person to bail for 14 days from the date when an order or warrant for the further detention is issued. Mr Chimwaradze said this happened in circumstances that were improper.
"The reason why we submit this is because the offence she has been convicted of is not canvassed by the statutory instrument which was used to remand her in custody," he said. He said Mutasa should have been admitted to bail or at least allowed to make a bail application. "In any sentence the court has to reach, (it must) consider that she has already been punished. Further we submit that the forex she obtained was legal; it was paid to her as board fees by Telecel," he said. He submitted that Mutasa was a married woman with four children and was a person of social and political standing in society. He also said the court should also take note of the prevalence of cases of dealing in foreign currency. "This reduces the moral blameworthiness in the matter," Mr Chimwaradze said. Mr Mabeza, arguing in aggravation, said Mutasa had acted from greed, not need and was "expected to abide by the law." Mutasa was a respectable member of society and should have not done this. He applied to have the foreign currency forfeited to the State.
From The Financial Gazette, 26 February
Mugabe eyes Telecel
Brian Mangwende
Beleaguered businessman James Makamba’s chickens are flocking home to roost at the worst possible time as it emerged yesterday that while he languishes behind bars, President Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Leo Mugabe, is girding his loins to reclaim a long disputed significant stake in mobile cellular operator, Telecel Zimbabwe. The invariably well-turned-out but now hapless Makamba is chairman and founder of Telecel in which Mugabe claims he should have a 10 percent stake, although he could not say how much the 10 percent is worth. Impeccable sources yesterday said Mugabe recently met Telecel managing director, Anthony Carter, after the incarceration of Makamba, whose public profile ratcheted as a radio personality, to discuss the possibility of resolving the shareholding dispute. They also said Mugabe has since lobbied officials in the Ministry of Transport and Communications to help shore up his interest in Telecel. Mugabe, who had an inglorious exit from the chairmanship of the Zimbabwe Football Association, the country’s soccer governing body, confirmed this development. Carter refused to comment on the developments. "I can’t confirm to you whether I met him or not. He (Mugabe) is not a shareholder. In any case I am not going to comment on matters relating to Telecel shareholders. I can’t tell you anything," said Carter, who has reportedly been questioned by police over Telecel’s financial transactions. Mugabe, who could not say exactly how he had lost his shareholding in the first place, has engaged prominent Harare lawyers Gula Ndebele and Partners in a bid to retain his lost grip in Telecel, whose entry into the telecommunications industry in 1997 was mired in legal and political controversy.
Mugabe this week claimed that he owned 10 percent of Telecel through a vehicle called Integrated Engineering Group (IEG). Mugabe has 80 percent shareholding in IEG while his brother, Patrick Zhuwawo, owns the balance. The development is the clearest sign yet of the deep alienation between Makamba and other members of Telecel’s founding consortium brought about by boardroom squabbles over the corporate and shareholding structure at the sprawling cellular operator. The revelations about Mugabe’s behind-the-scenes aggressive push for a 10 percent equity holding in Telecel also came to light at a time when Makamba and fellow director Jane Mutasa are languishing in Harare’s remand prison on allegations of externalising foreign currency. This has raised questions as to why he is waking up to his shareholding in the company only now. Makamba, a Zanu PF central committee member but whose political career is increasingly becoming perilous, was arrested under the government’s current blitz on corruption. In a rash of impatience with deep-seated corruption, President Mugabe has made radical changes to certain clauses of the constitution to win the war against the graft. President Mugabe, who is widely believed to be seeing out his last term in office, has since vowed that no one would be spared despite warnings of a likely political backlash against the anti-graft crusade. Mutasa, the president of the Indigenous Business Women’s Organisation (IBWO), is being accused of externalising US$2 000 while Makamba, whose corporate past is now set for scrutiny following his arrest, is facing 22 charges of siphoning foreign currency into offshore accounts. The Supreme Court has since deferred judgment on Makamba’s bail application to today. "We have always had problems with the shareholding structure and as far as I am concerned, the issue of the shareholding structure is being handled by the lawyers. We approached the relevant minister about the issue and it is being dealt with. We want our differences to be resolved. So far, we are going in the right direction. We have been in this game for a long time," he said.
At inception, Telecel International owned 40 percent of Telecel Zimbabwe and the Empowerment Corporation (EC) 60 percent. Mugabe said he invested in EC through his company IEG. EC was a fusion of indigenous groups such as Makamba’s Kestrel Corporation (15 percent), IEG (10 percent), Affirmative Action Group (AAG), IBWO, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, the Zimbabwe National Social Security Authority and the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, all with nine percent each. The company was granted a licence to operate a cellular network under political consideration as government wanted to empower previously marginalised black Zimbabweans. Cracks began to emerge within the consortium following differences over the shareholding structure. Makamba, who was at one time a business partner to former army commander, retired general Solomon Mujuru, was accused by his erstwhile colleagues of elbowing them out of the company. With strained relations, other partners’ instinct was to work against Makamba. The boardroom squabbles saw the acrimonious pull-out of Chiyangwa’s AAG. The pressure group, well-placed sources said, was paid $14 million for its interest in Telecel.Giles Munyoro, secretary general of the EC, apparently bitter in the manner in which he believes Makamba elbowed them out of Telecel said: "That is a political licence we got through the Cabinet as the EC. It belongs to all of us. Makamba made some of his workers directors and we lost our shareholding. We need to reclaim our status. We have approached the government already to sort out the mess." Asked whether the incarceration of Makamba, arrested on February 9, and Mutasa was not going to hinder progress in resolving the shareholding problems at Telecel, Mugabe said: "It’s unfortunate that they have been arrested, but they have not been convicted so that doesn’t hinder progress. Whether Makamba is in prison or not is basically neither here nor there. We are hoping the problems would be resolved soon."
From VOA News, 25 February
Tsvangirai trial nears end in Zimbabwe
The long-running treason trial of Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai neared its end with the defense team saying several key witnesses failed to appear in court. Defense attorney George Bizos, who defended Nelson Mandela 40 years ago, said three key witnesses failed to turn up, and the state did nothing to try to find them. He said the three men could have provided details of the relationship between the defendant and a Canadian consultant who was the state's star witness. The witness, Ari Ben Menashe, presented a videotape on which Mr. Tsvangirai allegedly asked for help in having Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe killed. Mr. Tsvangirai says he was only asking for political advice on how to defeat Mr. Mugabe in the 2002 presidential election. In arguments in court this week, State Prosecutor Bharat Patel argued that any meeting in which there is discussion of the elimination of the president, combined with other evidence from state witnesses, constitutes what he called - treasonous conduct. But Mr. Bizos, the defense attorney, cited South African case law, and said mere discussion did not suffice unless it resulted in a conspiracy to take action, or if there was clear evidence of incitement to commit treason during the discussion. Mr. Bizos said treason charges are open to political abuse, and one needs clear evidence. It cannot be proved on the basis of tenuous innuendo. Mr. Bizos called the state's key witness, Mr. Ben Menashe, a crook, cheat and a liar. He said the missing witnesses are all Mr. Ben Menashe's associates, and one of them is an alleged criminal, while the other could be a foreign intelligence agent. Mr. Bizos finishes his final argument Thursday and the state will then be asked for its closing statement, bringing to an end Zimbabwe's longest and most controversial trial.
From News24 (SA), 25 February
Bizos: No proof of treason
Harare - The lawyer for Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, on trial for his life for high treason, on Wednesday said the state had failed to prove any conspiracy to assassinate President Robert Mugabe or stage a putsch. "Even on a benevolent interpretation of the indictment the state has failed to prove any conspiracy to assassinate President Mugabe or to bring about a coup d'etat," said renowned South African lawyer George Bizos. In his closing arguments of the high-profile year-long trial, Bizos said no overt act of treason had been committed, and that even if there was a suggestion of a "discussion" of it, that was not sufficient to lead to a conviction. The state is basing its case on evidence from a grainy videotape of a meeting between Tsvangirai and Canadian political consultant Ari Ben Menashe, who became the state's key witness. Bizos dismissed the videotape, saying it was inaudible and that the state had failed to produce the original. "The videotape does not in fact disclose any request for the assassination or coup," Bizos told the court. Even transcripts of the meeting, Bizos said, showed no explicit reference to an assassination, a military coup or the creation of a transitional government by unconstitutional means. "If a question is put: What was discussed? Could anyone say with any degree of honesty that the accused was seeking the elimination of Mugabe with the assistance of the army?" asked Bizos.
Bizos repeatedly referred to Ben Menashe as a "liar" who was out to get money. "Menashe lied from start to finish ... and when this is added to his dubious background and behaviour ... there can be no question whatsoever but that his evidence should be rejected out of hand," he said. "The payments and luxury treatment afforded to state witnesses was quite improper. The first class travel, hotel fees ... there was temptation to lie and please the paymaster." Ben Menashe was put up in five-star hotels for the several weeks that he was in Harare testifying against Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai, a former union leader who formed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999 to challenge Mugabe, says the government trumped up the treason charges against him in a bid to frame and discredit him ahead of a presidential election in 2002. He lost the elections, which were discredited by international observers who said they were rigged and marred by political violence. Tsvangirai said he had hired Ben Menashe's firm to help with international lobbying and fundraising for his party, but later discovered the government had also hired it. Bizos is expected to wind up his closing arguments on Thursday.
From News24 (SA), 25 February
Zim labour leaders held
Harare - Four Zimbabwean labour leaders were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly organising a strike to press for changes in the management of the national pension fund. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on Tuesday announced the strike to protest the alleged "rot" in the state-run National Social Security Authority (NSSA). Four regional leaders in the second city of Bulawayo were arrested by police early on Wednesday morning at their homes for allegedly organising the strike, which was poorly supported. By early afternoon, they had not yet been charged, according to ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe. Chibebe admitted that the strike had failed to take hold, but was adamant the message had been driven home. The centre of Harare was bustling on Wednesday, with the usual heavy traffic and the majority of banks, shops, factories and business establishments functioning normally. "I am disappointed because things did not go the way we wanted, although the message has been sent," Chibebe told AFP. "It's not a flop as it were, but it did not get to the expected heights. However, in terms of pressure it has been effective," he added.
The ZCTU, which claims a membership of 240 000, called the one-day strike "in order that the government stops the rot at NSSA". Contributions to the government-run pension fund are compulsory for all workers, but Chibebe said some retirees were receiving as little as Z$700 (about US$18) per month in retirement benefits. "Monies are not properly accounted for, this is where the issue is," said Chibebe. "The administration costs of NSSA are always more than what is paid out (to beneficiaries)... it's a sorry state of affairs," he said. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the largest trade union movement in Zimbabwe's southern neighbour, had thrown its weight behind the strike. The most recent national strike called by the ZCTU was staged at the end of November following the arrest of several unionists and human rights activists, but that action, too, had little effect. The last ZCTU-organised strike that was largely followed was in April last year when the labour body called for mass work stoppage after the government raised the price of petroleum-based fuels by nearly 300%.
From IRIN (UN), 24 February
Health sector woes deepen
Bulawayo - In a bid to keep up with escalating costs, Zimbabwe's medical aid societies increased their monthly subscriptions by more than 500 percent this week, further aggravating the country's health sector problems. The latest increase follows a 400 percent rise in private doctors' consultation fees last month, when they said rocketing inflation had left them struggling to keep their surgeries open. Doctors also stopped accepting medical aid cards and demanded upfront cash payments for consultations with patients. Consultation fees were raised from an average of Z$26,000 to Z$46,500 (about US $11.26) - a move commentators and economists said would effectively block access to health care for most cash-strapped Zimbabweans. Agence France-Presse reported that doctors had complained that health insurance companies were not remitting funds to them on time, and were also not willing to fork out the new fees.The government has since amended legislation to prevent private doctors from demanding upfront cash payments.
The latest increase announced by the 23-member National Association of Medical Aid Societies (NAMAS) puts a worker's monthly contribution to medical aid at Z$100,000, up from Z$13,000. NAMAS vice-chairman Alban Williams said it was necessary to adjust medical aid subscriptions in line with daily running costs, and the latest increase would remain effective through the remainder of 2004. Doctors and medical aid societies have been wrangling over fees for the past five months, resulting in both parties unilaterally imposing self-determined fee structures on subscribers and patients. IRIN found that many doctors in the southern city of Bulawayo had cut ties with medical aid societies, and were still charging cash upfront in defiance of the government directive. A few said they had made personal arrangements with NAMAS and were offering selected services to premier medical aid scheme members.
Doctors felt the amendment was a government attempt to introduce "a medical services version of the price controls", which would force more of them to quit the country and join the search for greener pastures abroad. "The new amendment is a very unfair piece of legislation. When government starts enforcing it we will effectively be under price controls. That would be bad for us and bad for the patients, because this amendment does not consider the costs we meet in the daily running of our surgeries. We have to use foreign currency to import most of the medical equipment and drugs," said one doctor. "Although the forex supply situation has improved, things remain expensive as there has been no drop in prices. To expect doctors to provide services at far less than it costs them is an indirect way of asking them to leave the country. No one wants to operate at a loss or provide free services," the doctor added.
Doctors and legal experts said it was impossible to enforce the new laws in the absence of a gazetted fee structure. Contrary to public expectations, the government has not ordered a slash in fees, but Health Minister David Parirenyatwa warned that it might do so unless doctors and NAMAS reach an agreement. "The amendment only serves to show that government is serious about regulating the medical services. We are serious, and we will soon prescribe the fees unless NAMAS and ZIMA resolve their dispute. Once we do that, nobody will charge anything else, or refuse to accept valid medical aid cards," said Parirenyatwa. Paul Chimedza, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA), which represents medical practitioners, said imposing consultation fees on doctors could push them out of business. Government should first deal with the issue of late payments to doctors by medical aid societies - the wrangle over fees could end if NAMAS improved its system of payments. Despite low fees, the public now shuns public hospitals, most of which have been crippled by critical shortages of drugs, equipment and staff.
From IRIN (UN), 19 February
New study sheds light on lives of disabled
Bulawayo - Lydia Mpofu's day begins at 4.00 am when she makes the first of two trips to fetch water from a river 4 km from her home in Zezane, near the southern Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge. Although aged 66, she then spends three back-breaking hours tending her maize crop, before returning home to care for her disabled grandson. "I have to balance my time evenly between the necessary household chores, daily work commitments and caring for him. He has been like this since he was born, seven years ago. It is difficult looking after him because he cannot do anything by himself. He needs to be washed and fed, exactly like a baby, and moved from one shade to another. If only I could get him a wheelchair," said Mpofu. Her story typifies that of families looking after the disabled. Without adequate state support, it is the extended family that shoulders the responsibility for their care and, given the depths of Zimbabwe's economic crisis, that struggle has become all the harder.
The last census, in 2002, estimated that 2.9 percent of Zimbabweans were disabled. But what had not been properly documented were the actual living conditions of those with disabilities. Now, a new study by the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD), in collaboration with the Norwegian Federation of Disabled People, has shed light on their daily lives. The report, "Living Conditions Among People with Activity Limitations in Zimbabwe, a Representative Regional Survey" sampled 22,000 people in five of the country's 10 provinces, and found the disabled were deeply disadvantaged in terms of access to education, employment and state support. Only one out of every eight respondents was receiving financial assistance. Disability and social support grants only amounted to about Z$15,000 a month, while a loaf of bread cost Z$2,300. Three times as many disabled people - 28 percent - had never been to school, compared with just 10 percent of the non-disabled. Women faced the greatest discrimination, with 34 percent of those with disabilities never having entered a classroom.
A separate analysis looked at the type of disability prevalent among those without any formal schooling and found that the largest number had sensory impairments (seeing and hearing) and communication problems. Comparisons between the rural and urban areas also revealed glaring disparities in access to education, with the disabled in rural areas facing significant challenges, noted the report. Unemployment was another area of concern. In the southern province of Matabeleland, 81 percent of the disabled were jobless, with Manicaland in the east and the central province of Midlands tied at 77 percent. Again, women were more disadvantaged than men, while "more households with one or more disabled members have no employed members, compared to households without disabled members". Despite the lack of employment opportunities, the study found that 35 percent of disabled people in the potentially economically active 15 to 65 age group had received vocational skills training, compared to only 28 percent in the non-disabled category, because special education self-help programmes were usually geared towards the disadvantaged.
Surveys on the accessibility of health and education facilities for the disabled showed that 80 percent believed primary health care clinics and hospitals were accessible, while 40 percent gave schools a thumbs-up. Commenting on the findings of the survey, SAFOD secretary general Alexander Phiri said despite the lack of facilities, living conditions of people with disabilities were better in rural areas because there was a greater sense of community. He said he hoped the information gathered would be used to formulate better welfare schemes for the disabled in Zimbabwe, and added that SAFOD was working towards a regional policy to address their specific needs.