Zim Online
Tue 28 February 2006
HARARE - Lawyers of the two factions
of Zimbabwe's splintered
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party are locked up in a
tug-of-war over rights to the MDC brand, in what
appears to be the beginning
of a long and damaging legal wrangle over the
party's name, symbol and
assets.
The first formal step to break
up the MDC into two rival political
parties was completed when popular
former student leader Arthur Mutambara
was last Saturday elected to head a
faction of the opposition party opposed
to founding leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Although both Mutambara and Tsvangirai have openly
called for a united
opposition to confront President Robert Mugabe, the
situation on the ground
is different with their camps' lawyers writing to
each other in the past
week insisting that only their client was the
legitimate MDC and therefore
had sole right to the party's name, open palm
symbol and assets.
Harare law firm Dube, Manikai and
Hwacha, representing Tsvangirai's
faction, last week wrote to the lawyers of
Mutambara's group insisting that
Tsvangirai was the only legally recognised
leader of the opposition party
after his rivals failed last year to get the
High Court to endorse their
attempt to suspend him from the
party.
Refusing to uphold Tsvangirai's suspension, High Court Judge
Yunus
Omerjee found that Mutambara's faction - represented in the court
application by the then party deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire -
did not have authority to raise such an application on behalf of the
MDC.
The lawyers for Tsvangirai's faction say Omerjee's ruling
effectively
meant that their client's rivals could not conduct any business
on behalf of
the MDC or use the party's name or symbol. The lawyers say
Mutambara's
faction - then co-led by secretary general Welshman Ncube and
deputy
president Gibson Sibanda - accepted Omerjee's ruling and all its
implications because they did not appeal against it.
In a
letter last week to Coghlan and Welsh law firm that represents
Mutambara's
camp, Tsvangirai's lawyers accused the rival faction of having
"continued to
act in defiance of the logic and principle of the High Court,"
by continuing
calling themselves the MDC and using the party's symbol.
The
lawyers for the Tsvangirai camp also pointed out that Omerjee had
found that
an MDC national council meeting that overturned Tsvangirai's
suspension was
properly constituted and had acted in accordance with the
rules of the
party.
But Coghlan and Welsh's Nicholas Mathonsi promptly responded
insisting
that their clients (Mutambara's faction) were the only ones
entitled to use
the MDC name and symbol despite Omerjee's refusing to uphold
Tsvangirai's
suspension.
Mathonsi said Mutambara's faction had
felt no need to contest
Omerjee's ruling because it was based on a
technicality and not on merit.
He wrote: "Justice Omerjee concluded
that Gift Chimanikire had not
placed evidence before the Court that he had
locus standi to bring
proceedings on behalf of MDC and dismissed the
application on that basis.
"The court's decision to that extent could not be
faulted, hence there was
no need to appeal against it as it was decided on a
technicality and not on
merits."
Mathonsi said his clients
regarded Tsvangirai as irrelevant to the MDC
with or without Omerjee's
judgment. The lawyers also dismissed the national
council meeting that
sought to reverse Tsvangirai's suspension as a
"kangaroo court" whose
decisions he said were not binding on Mutambara's
wing of the
MDC.
None of the squabbling sides has as yet said whether it may
resort to
the courts to assert its rights. But such a court battle between
the
factions seems more likely to become reality once the process to break
the
MDC into two parties is completed when Tsvangirai's faction holds its
congress in about three weeks' time.
A protracted battle in the
courts will sap the energy out of both
opposition factions, while analysts
say Mugabe will use to the opportunity
of a divided and wrangling opposition
to strengthen his grip on power that
until the MDC split had appeared under
serious threat from the opposition
party. ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue
28 February 2006
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe public transporters have hiked
fares by between 50
and 100 percent, increasing the misery of commuters who
must also brace up
for more hikes in prices of nearly every other commodity
because of rising
fuel prices.
Unstable and ever rising prices
for goods and services are a common
feature in Zimbabwe as the country
grapples a severe economic crisis shown
through high inflation of above 600
percent and shortages of nearly every
basic survival product. Prices of
commodities often go up after every few
days.
After the latest
fare increases, commuters in the second largest city
of Bulawayo will for
example now pay Z$60 000 (US$0.60) to travel from the
city centre to a
residential suburb about 15km away. Before yesterday's
hikes commuters paid
about Z$30 000 (US$0.30) for the same distance.
Bulawayo Public
Transport Owners Association (BUPTOA) chairman Francis
Malunga said they had
unilaterally hiked fares to remain viable after
increases in the price of
fuel and spares, all mostly sourced from the
illegal black market just like
everything else in the country.
Transporters normally negotiate and
agree new fares with the
government.
Malunga said: "The public
transport associations have not met to
decide on the actual fares but owners
are suffering and as a result most of
them have decided to effect the
increase on their own.
"Fuel went up drastically and you find that
even garages are also
asking vehicle owners to pay the black market price
for fuel. This is
unfortunate because at the end commuters are being made to
bear the costs."
The price of a litre of petrol on the black-market
went up from Z$160
000 (US$1.61) to Z$200 000 (US$2.02), which is about nine
times the official
price. The black-market is the only reliable source of
petrol and diesel,
both in critical short supply because there is no hard
cash to pay foreign
suppliers.
Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo, who must sanction fare
hikes, was not available for comment
on the matter yesterday. But the
government has in the past arrested and
fined commuter operators for
charging fares above rates gazetted by the
state.
The fare hikes came as Zimbabwe's bakeries at the weekend
increased
the price of bread to Z$70 000 (US$0.70) from Z$44 000 (US$0.44) a
loaf. The
bread makers also cited rising input costs as the reason for
hiking the
price of the staple food. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 28 February 2006
HARARE -
About 48 percent of Zimbabwe's struggling manufacturing firms
have lost hope
that President Robert Mugabe's government can revive the
country's economy
in recession for the last six years, according to a survey
by the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI).
"48 percent (of
companies) say the economy will not turn around in the
foreseeable future,"
the CZI said in a report on the findings of the survey
that was released
late last week and made available to ZimOnline on Monday.
The CZI
is the biggest representative body for business in the country
and is
generally regarded as the voice of the manufacturing sector.
The
organisation said an overwhelming majority of the 100 firms that
were polled
cited the shortages of foreign currency to import raw materials,
the managed
exchange rate and the government's frequent shifts on major
policy positions
as critical factors most negatively affecting viability.
Thirteen
percent of the firms said they were operating well below
capacity while
nearly all the companies approached during the interview said
they were
worse off now than they were in 2004.
The dark pessimism about
Mugabe's capacity to improve Zimbabwe's
economic fortunes mirrors well the
views of ordinary citizens 76 percent of
whom told the Harare-based Mass
Public Opinion Institution (MPOI) in a
separate survey, whose results were
released earlier last week, that they
did not believe the veteran President
could resuscitate the comatose
economy.
Fifty-eight of the
firms polled by the CZI urged the government to
liberalise the economic
environment with most of them voicing concern at
moves by Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono to reintroduce
stringent controls on the
exchange rate.
Gono, widely regarded as Mugabe's economic fixer,
late last year
ordered that movement of the exchange rate be based on
volumes traded on the
interbank market, a measure industry has taken as an
attempt to put tighter
controls on the movement of the local dollar
again.
Zimbabwe is grappling a severe economic crisis that has
spawned
shortages of foreign currency, food, essential medical drugs,
electricity
and just about every basic survival commodity.
Critics blame the crisis on repression and wrong policies by Mugabe
especially his seizure of productive farms from white farmers for
redistribution to blacks. The often violent land reform programme
destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector, knocking down food production
by about 60 percent while hard receipts also dwindled as farm exports
fell.
Mugabe however denies ruining Zimbabwe's economy saying the
country's
problems are because of sanctions and sabotage by Western
countries opposed
to his land reforms. - ZimOnline
For those of you who have not lived in Africa, an
African storm is a
fearsome thing. The day will be hot and breathless and
about mid afternoon
you will hear a low rumble in the distance. In a short
while the wind comes
up and the black clouds tower into the skies above us
and then they roll
over us in majestic order.
Suddenly lighting splits
the sky and the clouds seem to be cut in half as
the air rushes into the
space created by the heat of "gods fire". Then comes
the rain falling in vast
wet sheets across the open veld. In seconds the
gullies are full and flowing
and in minutes the streams are rising out of
their banks and when the storm
passes we are left with the roar of nearby
rivers as they rush down to the
lowlands.
Some fear and hate the storms - my wife's mother had to retreat
into an
enclosed space until given the all clear by the family. I just love
the
spectacle - not just because it is so magnificent and grand, but because
of
the fact that it is the only way to bring life to the parched soil and
to
carry us through another long dry season.
Each of the seasons of
Africa has their own special character. Of them all I
appreciate the late
summer and early winter - it is still green and lush,
the rivers are running
and yet it is cool and dry, often with zero humidity.
The early mornings are
just superb, the early light from the rising sun,
cool and crisp atmosphere
and the joy of the birdsong. The late evenings,
iridescent greens and
fantastic skies with the glow of the setting sun. The
early night sky, clear
as crystal with millions of stars and a translucent
moon, the night sounds, a
roar of crickets, the rasping grunts of frogs, the
soft cry of a
nightjar.
As I write this, a storm approaches - I am nervous for the
computer and my
modem, but the news of the day compels me to write again of
the storm over
Zimbabwe.
Today the President has held his birthday
celebrations - no one else to do
it for him so he throws his own bash. No
such thing as concern for those in
his country who are homeless and hungry,
or of the massive impact of his
prolific spending on the majority. Just a
desire to have a good time at our
expense and to wallow in the praises of his
entourage.
At a cost of Z$10 thousand million dollars he has held a
birthday party in
Mutare - a City close to the epicenter of the earthquake
that hit us on
Friday morning. He arrived; I am told, in a 150-vehicle convoy
with his own
ambulance, a contingent of the Presidential guard and dozens of
Ministers
(we have 58 at last count) all of whom would have been accommodated
in local
hotels and lodges at even more expense.
At the rally held by
local Zanu PF "chefs" thousands are gathered - many are
simply told to attend
(school children) others are forced to attend by
roaming Police and Army
patrols. They arrived at 09.00 hrs and sat in the
sun until 12.00 when the
"great man" arrived to speak. He spoke for an hour
and then without even a
free cool drink, they are told to go home while the
elite go off to a
fabulous spread.
Then the shocking news from an IMF press conference in
Washington that our
estimated budget deficit in 2005 was 60 per cent (yes, I
said SIXTY per
cent) of our GDP. In 2004 it was a "moderate 24 per cent). No
wonder our
currency is spiraling out of control and prices are rising so fast
we cannot
keep track any more. Remember it is regarded by most economists and
Central
Bankers that the deficit should be held below 3 per cent to be
sustainable
and to ensure growth with low inflation. In fact our Minister of
Finance had
claimed that the deficit was three per cent - he just
lied.
Since the end of last month our currency has slipped from 100 000
to 1
against the greenback to 200 000 to 1. Cooking oils have doubled in
price
and bread is now also reaching that level. Eggs are Z$30 000 each and
milk
is anything from Z$50 000 to Z$75 000 a litre. Given the shortages of
maize
meal - the basic staple food, this has also leapt in price reaching
Z$60 000
a kilo in many markets. Liquid fuels have risen from Z$95 000 a
litre to
Z$200 000 a litre.
Far from facing up to the crisis in the
country, Parliament met for two days
and then adjourned until mid April - not
a mention of the crisis and no
discussion of any solutions. In fact I think
they have given up on finding a
solution while Mugabe is in power and his
henchmen rule the roost. It's not
that they do not know what to do - they do.
It's just that to take those
steps would run the risk, which they dare not
take, of letting the tiger
loose. They are quite simply terrified of the
consequences of their own
misgovernance.
So Zanu PF finds itself
locked into a crisis situation of it's own making
and to which they have no
solutions, no exit. They are in a blind alley with
the wall at the end of the
road staring them in the face. I found it
interesting that they did not bring
forward expected constitutional changes
designed to extend the term of office
of the President to 2010 and to allow
Zanu PF to appoint Mugabe's successor.
This legislation was expected and has
been drafted. I think it points to the
fact that Mugabe does not want to
step down at all - he wants to finish his
term and he wants it to run to
2010. He wants four more years!
There
is simply no way that that is going to happen. I recall Clintons
famous line
"It is the economy, stupid". With the Reserve Bank running the
printing
presses flat out we can expect inflation - already at 50 per cent a
month -
to continue it's upwards climb. My own graph of the numbers shows us
already
on a near vertical part of the graph. We are close to the point
where
industry and commerce will simply not be able to continue. It cannot
be
business as usual any more.
So I predict a storm is coming - a real
African storm, violent, spectacular
and short and that this storm will wash
away the debris we have accumulated
in the past 25 years and signal a new
beginning for Zimbabwe. We simply
cannot continue like this and there is only
one way out of the crisis. If
you do not like or fear storms like this then
it is time to get your closet
ready. You might need it for a while, but when
you come out hopefully you
will find the country washed clean and the dry
veld coming alive again.
MDC - that is the real MDC, is clearing the
decks for this final struggle to
get Zimbabwe back onto the road to democracy
and prosperity. We shortly meet
the leaders of civil society and the Churches
to chart the way forward and
will then, for the first time, take the struggle
direct to the regime.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo 26th February 2006
News24
27/02/2006 15:07 -
(SA)
Harare - Many bakeries in Zimbabwe have hiked the price of bread
by more
than 50%, increasing the misery of ordinary consumers, a
state-controlled
newspaper reported on Monday.
President Robert
Mugabe's government says the new prices are "illegal and
mischievous", the
Herald reported. Bread is a controlled product in
Zimbabwe, and bakeries are
supposed to sell a loaf for 44 000 Zimbabwe
dollars ($0.44).
But
bakeries and supermarkets in the second city of Bulawayo have hiked the
price to as much as 70 000 dollars ($0.70), the paper said.
Police
have been deployed to investigate outlets violating the price
controls, the
report said.
"We have already assigned police officers and inspectors to
visit those
bakeries and supermarkets that are charging between 65 000
dollars and 70
000 dollars for a loaf," industry minister Obert Mpofu was
quoted as saying.
"Government allowed the bakery industry to increase the
price of bread to 44
000 dollars and that is the price we recognise," Mpofu
said. "Any other
price increases are illegal and we will take the
perpetrators to task."
Zimbabwe is grappling with inflation of at least
613% and acute foreign
currency shortages, causing headaches for the
countr?ys factories and
businesses. Prices of most other goods in
supermarkets go up every few days.
Bakeries have said other in puts used
to produce a loaf of bread, such as
sugar and yeast, have shot up. They say
that selling bread at 44 000 dollars
a loaf is unviable.
Some
Zimbabweans try to substitute sweet potatoes for bread, but they are
not yet
properly in season. - Sapa-dpa
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 27 Feb
2006 (IRIN) - Mthatheni Sibanda scribbles in an untidy
notebook as he
watches over his family's vegetable stand at a mini-market in
Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second city.
The 19-year-old is a final year advanced-level
student trying to balance the
needs of school work with finding the money
for his transport to school.
Like several Zimbabwean students, Sibanda
can only afford to attend class
twice a week. "I really would love to be at
school with other children,
especially since I am preparing for my final
examinations," he said.
Sibanda's teachers initially accused him of
truancy, but escalating
transport costs soon made them wiser, he
explained.
Transport fares have been rising steadily since last year.
This week the
cost of a single trip to Bulawayo city centre nearly doubled
to 50 US cents.
Five round trips a week could add up to $20 a month in a
country where
average salaries range between $50 to $100 a
month.
Transport costs are yet another burden for students and parents
already
struggling to keep up with a 150 to 500 percent hike in fees for
missionary
and private schools. Even public school fees of about $151 per
term is
beyond the reach of many Zimbabweans.
Collin Chibango, a
student leader at the University of Zimbabwe, has urged
the government to
intervene, "because where does a student get a dollar
everyday for their
transport costs?"
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has
also petitioned the
government to enforce a law that will compel minibus
operators to charge
pupils half the normal fare.
"Classes are empty;
in most cases we find ourselves having to teach only a
fraction of the whole
class after students fail to turn up. It is a sad
development that is
unfolding at national level that should be addressed as
a matter of
urgency," said Raymond Majongwe, PTUZ secretary-general.
Escalating
transport costs have also made girl pupils vulnerable to
exploitation by
taxi drivers and some motorists who ask for sexual favours
in exchange for a
free lift to school, said Majongwe, citing a PTUZ survey.
The Herald
(Harare)
February 27, 2006
Posted to the web February 27,
2006
Harare
CANADIAN Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mrs Roxanne Dubé on
Thursday commissioned a
$8,56 billion Mudzi jatropha oil processing, soap
making and bio-diesel
project that is expected to benefit more than 500
mostly women and
child-headed families.
The project, which is being
funded through Canadian International
Development Agency's Environmental
Response Fund, covers two wards --
Chikwizo A and Goronga
B.
Ambassador Dubé said the project was aimed at mitigating climate
change
induced vulnerability by promoting the growing of drought resistant
crops
that are of economic benefit to communities.
These include
cassava, sunflower and jatropha whose by-products can also be
used to
generate income.
The project is being implemented through Edit Trust, a
non-governmental
organisation that seeks to improve communities through
interventions that
built their capacities to diversify food resources and
sources of household
income.
She said her country was pleased to be
associated with the establishment of
such income generating projects that
would help enhance the lives of the
disadvantaged in the
country.
"Canada is pleased to be part of this climate mitigation project
and will
contribute immensely towards transforming the lives of people in
Mudzi
district.
"The project aims at reducing the devastating effects
of climate change on
families by encouraging them to grow crops that are
drought resistant and in
the process generating income and creating
employment.
"Most important to me as a woman is that the project will
benefit women and
child-headed families. My government pledges to continue
working with the
Government of Zimbabwe in areas that improve the people's
lives. I hope to
facilitate the export of the products from this project to
Canada so that
these women can get foreign currency," she said.
Guest
of honour at the commissioning ceremony, Mashonaland East Governor Cde
Ray
Kaukonde said his province was grateful with the donation that would
improve
the lives of the people in the area.
"The project will indeed improve the
lives of people in Mudzi district,
which falls in one of the low rainfall
areas of Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe is prepared to work with those
non-governmental organisations that
want to uplift the people and not those
with hidden agendas. The gesture by
the Canadian government and Edit Trust
clearly shows that through
co-operation we will improve the lives of our
people," Cde Kaukonde said.
He said he hoped the project would continue
to grow to other areas of the
district.
"We hope we will continue to
work together and develop this project so that
it can spread to other areas
of the district. As a country, we can not
operate alone hence we welcome
projects like these that improve lives of our
people."
Through the
project, five-nursery centres and green houses were established
to offer
technical advice to farmers and to provide nurseries for jatropha
and
cassava.
The project will raise awareness among the people on the value
of jatropha
and sunflower as sources of oil and erecting an oil-pressing
machine for the
production of diesel and soap.
The Government has
been encouraging the growing of the jatropha plant that
can be used in the
manufacture of diesel and animal food.
IOL
February 27
2006 at 07:47PM
By Stella Mapenzauswa
Harare -
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader still enjoys grassroots
support in his
strife-torn party, but a new breakaway faction may win over
students who
constitute the bulk of future voters, analysts said on Monday.
The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), for six years the most
potent
challenge to President Robert Mugabe, formally split in two over the
weekend
when a dissident faction elected a new leader to challenge party
chief
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai has led the MDC since it was formed
in 1999, and almost
defeated President Robert Mugabe in 2002 elections the
opposition says were
rigged.
But Tsvangirai has clashed with
his top lieutenants over how best to
take on Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF,
spurring the defection of the dissident
group which on Saturday elected
former student leader Arthur Mutambara, 40,
to "replace"
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai's faction has rejected the dissidents' move
and said the
"real" MDC will meet next month to elect its leader, presumably
meaning
another term for Tsvangirai.
Analysts say the
wrangling leaves the MDC badly placed to challenge
Mugabe's 26-year grip on
power, although Tsvangirai continues to command
support from working class
voters who have been the backbone of the MDC.
"Tsvangirai still
enjoys a lot of the grassroots support and the other
guys have a lot to do
in that regard even though their congress showed they
have some following,"
said political analyst Lovemore Madhuku, longtime
Mugabe
critic.
Mutambara, who led student protests against Mugabe's
government in the
1980s before leaving to study abroad, has been compared to
Tsvangirai, a
self-taught former mine worker who rose to prominence as a
combative trade
union leader.
Both have a history of militant
confrontation with the government. But
the two opposition leaders speak to
different constituencies.
The MDC has its roots in the trade union
movement and remains closely
allied with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) which represents
the bulk of the labour force.
"There is no doubt that there seems to be a drift towards the
Tsvangirai
faction because of the element of the worker base as reflected by
the ZCTU,"
said political commentator Heneri Dzinotyiwei of the University
of
Zimbabwe.
Analysts say, however, Mutambara's student history is
likely to strike
a chord with young Zimbabweans who struggle at run-down
state schools while
an economic meltdown has left many others
jobless.
Official figures show that 50 percent of Zimbabwe's
population is aged
30 years and under.
"The youth element, and
these constitute a large block of potential
voters of the Zimbabwean
population, would find common affinity with
Mutambara," leading political
analyst Eldred Masunungure wrote in an online
Zimbabwe news
column.
"Mutambara would (also) deliver votes from ... the
intelligentsia who
are sceptical of Tsvangirai's modest education and who
doubt the latter's
capacity to grasp modern and complex global issues,"
added Masunungure, head
of Political and Administrative Studies at the
University of Zimbabwe.
Analysts said a key test of strength for
both groups would be in the
next presidential elections due in
2008.
Zimbabwe's state-run media has made much of the internal
bickering
within the MDC, although analysts say they detect a more
favourable attitude
toward Mutambara's faction, triggering suggestions of a
"secret" alliance
with Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
In what analysts see
as a further indication Mugabe does not regard
Mutambara as a serious
opponent, the veteran leader made no mention of him
in a weekend speech to
celebrate his birthday, but spent almost 15 minutes
denouncing
Tsvangirai.
Mutambara rejected suggestions he was working with the
ruling party,
telling a news conference on Sunday: "Our agenda is to fight
and defeat the
regime of Robert Mugabe and get into power ... If anyone has
illusions that
(we are) pliant and cohorting with the dictator, you are in
for a big
shock."
One analyst said Mutambara's status as a
relative newcomer to the
national political fight means he has a lot of work
to do to become a real
threat to Mugabe's rule.
"The biggest
disadvantage for Mutambara is that he has not been in the
political game for
long, despite his history as a student leader, while
Tsvangirai has been
there from the start. Mutambara is starting from zero so
to speak,"
Dzinotyiwei said.
The rift in the MDC comes against the background
of a deepening
economic crisis blamed on Mugabe, 82, who critics say has
mismanaged the
country since assuming power at independence from Britain in
1980.
Mugabe denies responsibility for persistent shortages of
food, fuel
and foreign currency, unemployment of over 70 percent, and the
world's
highest inflation rate. He charges the economy has been sabotaged by
opponents of his drive to forcibly redistribute white-owned farms among
blames.
By Tererai Karimakwenda
27 February
2006
The MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed the
congress
held in Bulawayo this weekend by the pro-senate group as just a
private
meeting of individuals who do not represent the MDC. The involvement
of
former student leader Professor Arthur Mutambara as leader of the
pro-senate
MDC faction was also criticised as meaningless. William Bango,
personal
assistant to Tsvangirai, said the pro-senate congress and
Mutambara's return
were a media issue that was being fuelled by a few
individuals. He said a
planned rally by the pro-senate group had failed to
take off and few of the
leaders had met for just 2 hours.
Bango
referred to the judgement that was made by Justice Omarjee, who
threw out an
application by the pro-senate side seeking to remove Tsvangirai
as leader of
the party. He said: "Until this high court decision is set
aside,
Tsvangirai's leadership is not under threat." Bango explained how
only the
congress scheduled for March 17th can deal with this issue. As for
Mutambara's return to politics, Bango said those on the ground in Zimbabwe
were not aware of all the buzz in the media. He said unfortunately Mutambara
was trying to enter politics through a platform that is not recognised.
Mutambara's statement, he said, was a media sound bite but he does not
represent the MDC, according to Bango.
Asked whether
reconciliation with the pro-senate leaders was possible,
Bango said
Tsvangirai's view was that any wayward members of the MDC who
went astray
for any reason were welcome to come back. He said all aggrieved
members can
bring their grievances to the congress and the people will
decide, not
Tsvangirai and not any other individual. Tsvangirai's group has
organised
their congress for March 17th to March 19th in Harare.
With both
factions of MDC claiming to be legitimate as prescribed by
the party's
constitution, the opposition vote will continue to be split
during
elections. This will give ZANU-PF a huge advantage in future
elections. It
is not yet clear whether the courts will get involved in this
internal
dispute over the name, but until then there will be 2 sets of MDC
officials
in each province, 2 leaders and 2 executive councils. Mugabe
cannot be
defeated by a split opposition, and Zimbabweans remain confused as
to what
all this means and how their suffering will
end.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Violet
Gonda
27 February 2006
In the aftermath of the
congress by the MDC pro-senate faction that
took place in Bulawayo this past
weekend, political analyst and MDC advisor
Professor Brian Raftopoulos said
the election of former student leader
Arthur Mutambara as leader of the
pro-senate camp is a positive development.
He said Mutambara adds a new
dimension to the leadership, and introduces a
new important figure into the
political scene.
But Raftopoulos warned that, "It's early days yet
as we have to see
how both Arthur and his leadership introduce him to the
Zimbabwean public.
The biggest challenge that faces him is how he grows as a
national figure."
Mutambara who returned back after several years
in the Diaspora, was
elected unopposed for the faction that broke with
leader Morgan Tsvangirai
over last year's senatorial election.
Gift Chimanikire was elected the party's chairman while Gibson Sibanda
and
Welshman Ncube retained their positions as Vice President and Secretary
General respectively at the congress that was attended by at least 3000
delegates.
In his acceptance speech Mutambara said that his
immediate goal would
be to try and reconcile the warring factions. Observers
have said it may be
a tall order for him as he is one of the few people in
that group who has
echoed remarks for unity. Professor Raftopoulos said, "He
has to now build
his leadership and those around him have to work together
to support him and
they can't afford to get into any divisive battle
again."
He added, "It's important for Morgan Tsvangirai and his
team to look
at what's been done this weekend, to listen to the messages
(Mutambara's
speech) that's coming out of there and see where the possible
linkage and
bridges are."
Meanwhile, the MDC faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai has already
dismissed the congress held in Bulawayo saying
it was meaningless as it was
held by people who do not represent the
MDC.
Raftopoulos said this kind of "bravado" should be expected
initially
but the reality is that the MDC is now split and that there are
two parties
emerging carrying the name and that legacy, and they will have
to deal with
each other in the future.
He said, "What's
important is that both sides consider national issues
in Zimbabwe, that they
can find ways to work together to find common
strategic objectives. The
common issue is to change the current political
environment in
Zimbabwe."
On questions about why Mutambara has been silent all
these years,
Raftopoulos believes that no matter what leader comes along
there will
always be questions. He said, "Mutambara now has to build trust
and he can
only do this by being active, by being present and by being
public. That is
the task that he
faces."
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Lance Guma
27 February
2006
Six student leaders from the University of Zimbabwe were
arrested on
Monday after allegedly leading a demonstration on the opening
day of the new
semester. The group, which includes Secretary General Mfundo
Mlilo, Zimbabwe
National Students Union president Washington Katema,
Wellington Mahohoma,
Collen Chibango and two others, were picked up by riot
police and taken to
Harare Central Police Station. Mlilo who spoke to
Newsreel from the charge
office said the police were likely to detain them
over night. After police
asked him to stop talking on his mobile phone he
kept the line open to allow
a recording of the conversations inside the
police station.
Some of the students can be heard pleading to have
one of their
colleagues, Mahohoma taken to hospital for treatment after
receiving a
beating from the police officers. Arresting officers allegedly
struck him on
the jaw with clenched fists. In the audio recorded by
Newsreel, Mahohoma
says he felt like he had burst an eardrum. The officers
on duty however can
be heard insisting on taking him to the cells despite
the possibility of his
injuries being serious. Their lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe
confirmed the arrests
and says his clients have been moved from Harare
Central to an unknown
location.
Despite the secret relocations,
their lawyer suspects they have been
taken to the notorious Mbare Matapi
Police Station known for its filthy and
unsanitary cells. The police are
also refusing to disclose what the charges
are and have told their lawyer
that they can hold the students for 48 hours
without charge. It's also not
clear which arm of the police carried out the
arrests as neither the
Operations nor the Law and Order sections are taking
responsibility. Their
lawyer says his clients were arrested on the orders of
UZ campus security
even though they were 'only marching to the offices of
the Vice Chancellor
to have dialogue with him.'
The University opened Monday and just
as the students had threatened,
they demonstrated against the massive
tenfold hike in tuition fees. Students
at the country's universities and
colleges now have to fork out Z$35 million
per semester as opposed to the
previous Z$3,5 million a year. They say
support grants of Z$11,5 million per
semester fall far short of their
requirements and say the government should
revise the new tuition fees.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/28/2006 04:34:35
THOUSANDS of people failed to
withdraw their money from some financial
institutions in Zimbabwe Monday
raising fears of a fresh cash crisis.
Most banks in Harare were on Monday
surrounded by snaking queus of people
who wanted to access their salaries to
buy scarce commodities, but could not
get money due to shortages at the
banks. Some financial institutions closed
shop before clearing their
customers.
At the Beverly Building Society along Harare's Chinhoyi
Street, the
financial opened its doors at 8am Monday, but people were told
to wait for
cash to be delivered two hours later. Even after the delivery,
it ran out
around lunch time with the institution resorting to doling out
money at
intervals from other deposits which were trickling in.
At
the Central Building Society (CABS) along Jason Moyo Avenue, the banking
Hall was closed with people accessing their cash through at an ATM.
A
security guard said there was no enough money at the bank to cater for the
large numbers of people. There were reports at the weekend that other
financial institutions in Manicaland, where President Robert Mugabe held his
birthday bash, ran out of cash.
Cash shortages have come as a
surprise to the people after recent
revelations by central governor Gideon
Gono that the government had printed
21 trillion for buying foreign currency
to pay the International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
The forex is believed
to have been accessed on the black market. President
Robert Mugabe recently
said his government would continue to print money,
despite the fact that the
move fuels inflation currently pegged at 612, as a
way of meeting some of
his government obligations.
Mugabe's warped economic policies have seen
Zimbabwe, once a promising
African nation having the world's fastest
shrinking economy outside a war
zone.
Zimbabwe Standard
(Harare)
COLUMN
February 26, 2006
Posted to the web February 27,
2006
Desmond Kumbuka
JUST outside my gate, water is gushing
from a burst pipe forming rivulets
streaming to a storm drain down the
street on its way back to Lake Chivero.
Alarmed by this obvious waste of the
precious liquid, and what it could mean
to the city's mounting problems
especially that Town House has been trying
to impress on residents to use
water sparingly, I considered it my civic
duty to bring the problem to the
attention of the appropriate authorities.
So I dutifully went to my local
district office to report the burst pipe.
After what seemed an eternity
as she jabbered and laughed incessantly while
talking on her cell phone, a
lady receptionist finally took down my report.
She said me workmen would
duly be dispatched to check the problem. She
promptly returned to her cell
phone.
In the meantime, grass and weeds are thriving at the oasis that
has
blossomed in front of my gate. And in the thicket that has developed,
mosquitoes are finding sanctuary from which to disseminate their deadly
merchandise. I pray that none of my children will catch malaria because
taking them for treatment even for a curable ailment as malaria, is now a
formidable challenge given the extortionate doctors' consultation and
hospital charges. But I digress.
It is now more than a month since I
made my report to the Mabelreign
District Office but there has been no one
from the municipality to attend to
the pipe. And as if it's any consolation,
I am told I am not the only one in
this predicament. In other areas, it's
not only burst water pipes they have
to contend with but also the more
petrifying prospect of drowning in sewage.
Residents in places like
Chitungwiza, Dzivarasekwa, Mabvuku and other
high-density suburbs have
perfected a new skill in their movements - a
remarkable dexterity in hoping
from stone to stone to avoid splashing in raw
sewage. What is not so easy to
avoid is the stench that goes with sewage
spewing from a manhole in one's
backyard. And that despicable pest that has
plagued mankind from time
immemorial - the indomitable fly proliferates with
abandon - along with its
abominable cousin - the green fly, respectfully
known in Zimbabwe as the
"green Bomber'.
But while Harare residents are hopping from stone to
stone, holding their
noses against the stench of sewage, the circus at Town
House is now in full
season. The latest episode in this tragi-comedy is the
dismissal of Chester
Mhende, appointed by Ignatious Chombo, the Minister of
Local Government,
Urban Development and Public Works, to the curious post of
turnaround
strategist. It turns out Mhende did not even need to produce his
CV to
secure his appointment, whose job description Harare residents who
must foot
his obviously obscene salary, did not have the privilege of
knowing.
Mhende got his marching orders after clashing publicly, and
acrimoniously,
with Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya in a vicious power struggle.
Mhende,
obviously emboldened by Chombo's apparent confidence in him,
challenged
Chideya's powers and refused to be answerable to the Town Clerk,
who is his
boss.
Service delivery and the city's innumerable problems
were invariably
relegated off the official agenda as letters containing
accusations and
counter-accusations flew thick and fast between the two men.
Sekesai
Makwavarara, the woman from Mabvuku that chairs Chombo's commission
running
the affairs of Harare, obviously had other things on her mind while
this war
of attrition raged on in the corridors of Town House.
Harare
residents did not have long to wait to learn what was bothering the
good
lady.
Having been catapulted from the squalid streets of Mabvuku
high-density
suburb where she eked a precarious existence in the semi-formal
sector of
bottle stores and butcheries, to the helm of the Capital City,
doe-eyed
Makwavarara was dreaming of the splendour of the mayoral
mansion.
She had apparently convinced her minions at Town House that $35
billion was
a befitting sum to spend on curtains and furniture to enable her
to occupy
the obscene edifice which, given the collapse of services in the
capital,
should be an embarrassment to any self-respecting local
authority.
It is in the context of these developments that one must try
and understand
the attitude of ordinary council workers to their jobs. At
the Rowan Martin
Building, the revenue headquarters of the municipality, it
is not uncommon
to find queues of 500 or more people struggling to pay their
rates or
license their vehicles from one or two service counters while
numerous other
available counters remain unmanned.
If one should
muster the courage to ask why the council does not deploy more
staff at the
available service counters especially during peak month-end
periods, the
response is always predictably the same - "Taurai nevakuru
vacho - handisini
ndinoita mutemo ye pano" (Talk to the superiors - I am not
the one who makes
the rules around here.) Needless to say the elusive
"superiors" are never
there to respond to queries, and if they are, one is
likely to find
themselves at the receiving end of a nasty rebuke for
meddling in matters
that do not concern them.
So the municipal worker, clad in orange
overalls, and demanding $15 000 from
everyone entering a municipal public
toilet, is acutely aware that he is
getting a raw deal when he gets paid a
measly $6 million a month compared to
say, Leslie Gwindi who, despite going
AWOL and getting suspended for it,
still enjoys a full salary of probably
more than $100 million a month, as
well as a council vehicle, cell phone and
fuel.
The guy in the orange overall knows he does all the dirty work, and
contributes in real terms to the services that council sells to rate payers,
but gets paid the least in terms of remuneration and benefits, while the
Mwakwavararas, Mhendes and Gwindis feed off the fat of the impoverished
workers.
Granted, ordinary workers cannot expect to be paid the same
salary as their
executives but that is not the issue here. Executives the
world over are
better paid than their subordinates because theirs is a more
onerous
responsibility. It is they who must inspire commitment and loyalty
among
their subordinates and this they can only accomplish through exemplary
behaviour, selflessness and visionary leadership.
Council workers
must have been astounded to learn that their boss, the woman
from Mabvuku,
wants to spend $35 billion on curtains and furniture at the
mayoral mansion
when their own salaries remain far below the official
poverty datum line of
about $20 million.
The workers must wonder how it is that fortune favours
the likes of Gwindi
who, in spite of being on suspension for absenteeism, is
still gets his full
pay and benefits. How is it that Mhende, whose role,
beyond causing
administrative chaos at Town House, is still a mystery, draws
a huge salary
and benefits from the council?
Can anyone blame the
lady receptionist at Mabelreign District Office for
seeing no urgency in
taking down a report that no one is going to attend to
anyway?
Tragically for Harare residents, our problems do not end with
a management
hell-bent on self-enrichment as exemplified by Makwavarara's
penchant for
luxury.
The administrative chaos created by the
appointment of dubious turn-around
strategists and the creation of so-called
strategic units whose only merit
appears to be to warehouse unemployable
Zanu PF loyalists like Gwindi, can
only exacerbate the decay of the city,
and with it its long suffering
residents.
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 26 February
By Charlene Smith
The
blind people we see begging at traffic lights are the most conspicuous
face
of human trafficking, yet there is nothing the police can do about it,
they
say. Last year the Johannesburg Metro police decided to round up the
beggars
who proliferate at Johannesburg and Sandton traffic lights. They
were
following the example of Bob Giulani, a former New York mayor, who
brought
crime levels down dramatically by first removing street hawkers and
beggars.
The metro police "loaded a bus up with more than 300 blind beggars.
Most
were Zimbabweans who were here illegally, so we gave some to the
Lindela
repatriation camp, and then released the others because it was not
such a
serious crime and we didn't know what to do with them. So we released
them
within 48 hours," Wayne Minnaar, the spokesperson for the metro police,
admits. "We knew these were people were trafficked into the country and we
suspect there is someone behind this, although we have no proof. They are
very happy to come here because they make a living, get food and can send
some money home to their families."
For Tekler Maruta, 60, who
has been begging on Johannesburg streets for a
year, life is hard but it is
better than in Zimbabwe. "At least we can eat
here and send money to our
families". She has high blood pressure - her
latest reading is an alarming
214 - but she says she has no option but to
walk up and down at traffic
lights from 6am to 6pm six days a week. Joseline
Shumba, 44, a mother of
three children, two of whom are with her in South
Africa, was knocked down
in a hit-and-run incident at an East Rand traffic
light and it took her a
year to recover, though she still limps. She says
other blind women pooled
together money to pay for her rent (an average of
eight women live in grimy,
two-bedroom flats in Hillbrow and Joubert Park,
and pay anything from R65 to
R200 a week each) and care for her children.
Her concern is that she is
unable to put her two boys, aged two and five,
into daycare while she begs
at traffic lights. The women don't want to talk
about how they came into the
country. Some say the border guards felt sorry
for them and let them
through, others say they paid couriers to get them
across the border, and
yet others talk of men who "helped them come to South
Africa" - it is to
these men that they pay their exorbitant rentals. Selina
Tom, 55, claims
they average R30 to R50 a day begging.
Members of the police's
organised crime unit, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said disabled and
blind Zimbabweans were "brought over the
border, claiming they are coming
here for treatment, taken to places to stay
and paid a salary at the end of
the month. "Each morning they are taken to
traffic lights were they meet
'escorts', often South Africans, who walk them
up and down vehicle lanes. At
night they are fetched, they hand over the
money, and they and the escort go
their separate ways until the next day."
The unit echoes the frustration of
the sexual offences unit and the
narcotics unit who come across trafficked
people. "There are no laws against
human trafficking in South Africa, so the
only legislation we can use is the
Immigration Act, and that penalises the
person trafficked, not the
trafficker. They go before court, get fined R70
or R100, get told to get
their papers in order and are released." Police say
it is "very difficult to
prove trafficking. People coming in are foreigners,
they can't speak South
African languages, we can't communicate with them.
The only police
translators are in Pretoria, and we could wait a day or more
for them to
come out. We can't hold people if we don't know they are part of
a crime".
Police say the Zimbabwean and Mozambique borders and
Johannesburg
international airport are entry points. At the airport, for
example, "people
will be told to go to gate one, an arrangement will have
been made with
corrupt officials who are told, as an example, '12 people are
coming', and
he or she will let them pass. Once through, they will be told
to go to a
certain place where a taxi will pick them up. These taxi drivers
are used
only by organised crime. The taxi will take them to Bruma Lake, for
example,
where they will be told to go to a fast-food restaurant. From there
someone
else picks them up. If we question that person, he or she says they
were
helping the people because they appeared lost and he or she could speak
their language. The taxi driver will say he knows nothing about these
people, he is just doing his job as a taxi driver." Rodgers Mudarikwa of the
Zimbabwean Action Support Group says: "South Africa refuses to accept
economic refugees but it does not stop people coming. Every Saturday [the
department of] home affairs processes 1 000 people at its Rosettenville
office." He and Oliver Kubikwa of the Zimbabwean Political Victims
Association say refugees battle to legitimise their status here and to find
work, medication and food. "There is no way to find work or get decent
medical care in Zimbabwe and so many of those who come here are desperate.
We really need help," Kubikwa said.