Zim Online
Tue 7 February 2006
HARARE - Conditions in Zimbabwe's overcrowded
jails are so bad with
prisoners dying regularly that every inmate in the
country's more than 40
jails was virtually on death row, according to a
confidential report
prepared for President Robert Mugabe by chief jailer,
Paradzai Zimondi.
Describing the mortality rate in prisons as a "cause
for concern," Zimondi
said many prisoners were dying inside prison or just
after being released
with one jail having recorded 127 deaths over the past
12 months alone.
Zimondi, a former army brigadier appointed Zimbabwe
Prisons Service
Commissioner-General about five years ago, blamed the high
rate of inmate
deaths on deteriorating conditions as well as on corruption
by senior
officials that had resulted in the disappearance of drugs worth
Z$10.2
billion that were meant for the treatment of prisoners.
"The
mortality rate inside prisons is not pleasing. For instance, one prison
accounted for 127 deaths in one year," Zimondi said in the report entitled
Zimbabwe Prison Service Conditions Review and dated Tuesday 24 January,
2006.
"The rate at which inmates are dying is a cause for concern.
Because many
former prisoners have died soon after release (from prisons),
there is now a
perception that all prisoners are on death row," Zimondi
added in his
report, a copy of which was shown to ZimOnline on
Monday.
Both Zimondi and Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba could not be
reached for
comment on the matter.
Zimbabwe's jails hold more than 25 000
inmates, with experts saying the
prisons are overcrowded, particularly in
view of the cash-strapped Harare
government's inability to buy medical drugs
or enough nutritious food for
prisoners.
Mugabe's government is hard
pressed for resources as it grapples an acute
food shortage affecting a
quarter of the 12 million Zimbabweans and a severe
economic crisis, that has
spawned shortages of fuel, electricity, essential
medical drugs because
there is no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.
The Law Society of
Zimbabwe (LSZ) in 2004 described conditions in prisons as
hazardous and said
the country's jails were virtual death traps. The LSZ,
the representative
body for the legal profession in Zimbabwe, was speaking
after touring
prisons.
There have also been numerous reports in the past of inmates at
for example
the country's infamous Chikurubi Maximum Security prison near
Harare going
for months without running water or spending weeks on a diet of
dirty
cabbage soup and meal porridge.
But Zimondi said in his report
that the high death rate in jails was chiefly
because of high prevalence of
HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections such as
tuberculosis among inmates.
The theft of medicines among them
anti-retroviral drugs from prison
hospitals was only making the situation
worse with many lives that could
have been saved lost, according to Zimondi.
He said: "The main handicap
was the shortage of essential drugs. Of concern
was the unexplained
disappearance of drugs worth $10.2 billion.
"While we were informed that
the drugs had been purchased, they were never
recorded to have been
dispatched to ZPS. We have already engaged the Police
over the matter and we
hope their investigations will cast the net wide
enough to probe senior
officials. We have lost lives of many inmates who
could have survived as a
result of such corrupt practices." - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 7
February 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's few remaining white farmers at
the weekend called
on President Robert Mugabe to declare a moratorium on his
controversial land
policies to enable farmers to resuscitate the
agricultural sector and beat
off starvation threatening the
country.
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president Douglas
Taylor-Freeme said a
temporary halt on current land and agricultural
policies would create
breathing space for the rehabilitation of the key
agricultural sector, at
the moment in a state of near-total-collapse after
Mugabe expelled most of
the country's about 4 000 white farmers and
parcelled out their farms to
landless blacks.
"We urge the
authorities to declare a moratorium on land and current
agriculture policies
and, with the full protection of the law, bring
together all stakeholders
and rebuild the entire industry to return as the
principal employer of
labour and generator of food and forex," said Taylor
Freeme, in a statement
to the "Government and People of Zimbabwe".
Taylor Freeme, whose
CFU is the main representative body for white
farmers in the country, said
Mugabe's chaotic and often violent land seizure
programme had plunged the
agricultural sector into problems.
But the farmers' leader
acknowledged the motive behind the state land
redistribution plan to reverse
inequality in land ownership, adding that now
was "not the time for
recrimination or going back - it is the time to draw
the line and go
forward, learning from the past."
Agricultural Minister Joseph Made
was not immediately available for
comment on the CFU appeal for a temporary
halt on current land and
agricultural policies to allow for the rebuilding
of the farming sector.
However, both Mugabe and Made have on
numerous occasions in the past
declared they will not halt their land reform
programme which has since 2000
seen the government seizing more than 10
million hectares of land from
whites without paying compensation and giving
it over to blacks.
But failure by the Harare administration to
follow up land
redistribution with inputs support and skills training for
black villagers
resettled on former white farms saw total agricultural
production dropping
by about 30 percent while food production fell by about
60 percent to leave
Zimbabwe dependent on food aid.
To avoid
mass starvation, the government last year signed an agreement
with the World
Food Programme and other donor groups to help feed about
three million
Zimbabweans or a quarter of the country's 12 million people
who face
starvation after poor harvests the previous season.
An acute
economic crisis, in part blamed on the government's farm
seizure programme
that destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector, has
worsened the
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe with the southern African
nation also short
of electricity, fuel, essential medical drugs and other
basic commodities
because there is no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.
Taylor
Freeme said with support from the government and other
stakeholders, white
farmers had "the energy and capacity to help bring
Zimbabwe back, once
again, to being the 'bread basket' of the
sub-continent."
Only
about 500 white farmers remain on the land in Zimbabwe and of
these many are
battling to hang on to their farms after a fresh wave of farm
seizures that
began late last year and has continued despite calls by Vice
President
Joseph Msika and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono for
farm
invasions to stop. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 7 February 2006
MASVINGO - A Zimbabwe
government minister at the weekend ordered an
investigation into the
allocation of houses in Masvingo town after senior
ruling ZANU PF party
officials grabbed the properties which were meant for
clean-up
victims.
Webster Shamu, who is the Minister of Policy
Implementation in the
President's Office, told ZimOnline that his ministry
will fight to ensure
that the houses are allocated to deserving
individuals.
"I want to know how the names of these people some of
whom are
reported to be owners of other properties in the town found their
way onto
the list.
"I am now ordering those responsible to come
up with a proper, new
list," said Shamu after touring the housing project in
Runyararo suburb.
Among those listed as beneficiaries are Gilbert
Chikata, a well known
ZANU PF activist in the town, Retired Major Alex
Mudavanhu, and a senior
ZANU PF provincial executive member, Wilson
Dzoro.
Also on the list is a journalist for the state-controlled
Herald
newspaper who is based in the town, George Maponga and Masvingo State
University senior official, Anderson Chipatiso.
The Zimbabwe
government, reeling under a six-year economic crisis,
last year destroyed
thousands of houses and backyard shacks in towns and
cities in a campaign
President Mugabe said was necessary to restore order
and crush a burgeoning
foreign currency parallel market.
At least 700 000 people were
rendered homeless while another 2.4
million people were directly affected by
the exercise which was condemned by
the United Nations and major Western
governments as a violation of the
rights of the poor.
But
Mugabe initiated a new housing campaign in a bid to placate an
outraged
international community. The new housing project was severely
hampered by a
lack of cash resulting in the government handing over
incomplete houses to
beneficiaries. - ZimOnline
Author/Editor:
Muñoz, Sònia
Authorized for Distribution:
January 1, 2006
Electronic Access:
Full Text in PDF
format. (PDF file size is 817KB)
Use the free
Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF
file.
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported
as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working
Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the
IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s)
and are published to elicit comments and to further debate.
Summary: This paper
analyzes Zimbabwe's export performance in recent years and identifies the
factors that could improve export performance, from both a quantitative and
qualitative perspective. Improving export performance is critical to a
turnaround in Zimbabwe's economic situation. The growth rate of total exports
declined dramatically in the early 2000s, following a large real appreciation of
the currency and the introduction of the fast-track land reform program. An
important finding of the paper is that policies that reduce (eliminate) the
parallel market premium and lower ethnic tensions would be key to promoting
export growth.
Series:
Working Paper No. 06/28
English
Published:
January 1, 2006
Format:
Paper
Stock No:
WPIEA2006028
Pages:
17
Price:
US$15.00
Please address any questions about this
title to publications@imf.org.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
06 February 2006
03:24
A human chain of villagers pulled a hunter from the
jaws of a
man-eating crocodile in north-eastern Zimbabwe, state media
reported on
Monday.
Letikuku Sidumbu (32) was attacked by
the crocodile while trying
to cross the swollen Mubvinzi River in Goromonzi
district, about 40km east
of Harare, during an early-morning hunting
expedition with his uncle.
As the crocodile clenched it jaws
on his right arm, a human
chain of villagers tugged him from its grip in a
struggle that also left him
with a broken leg and chest and stomach
injuries, Sidumbu told the state
Herald newspaper from his hospital bed in
Harare.
Crocodiles are the most dangerous animal to humans in
Zimbabwe.
In recorded cases last year, they dragged away and ate 13 people,
including
children, according to the Communal Areas Management Programme, a
conservation group.
"I called out to my uncle to hit the
crocodile with an axe," the
Herald quoted Sidumbu saying.
But, he said, commotion by the two men's hunting dogs enraged
the crocodile.
He heard the voices of fellow villagers arriving from nearby
Chitana Mafengu
to help.
Before rescuers dragged him free, "one thing was
clear, that
they wanted to salvage at least a piece of my flesh for burial
should the
crocodile get the better of them", Sidumbu
said.
The Communal Areas conservation group, in its annual
report for
2005, said wild animals killed at least 27 people last year in
cases
reported across Zimbabwe, but scores of other attacks in remote areas
would
not have been recorded.
Elephants, hippopotamuses
and buffaloes accounted for most other
attacks.
The
Herald did not say when the hunter was attacked.
Sidumbu said
he knew the river was crocodile infested, but "I
had safely crossed it many
times before, especially at dawn". -- Sapa-AP
Dear Family and Friends,
Writing a letter this
week is no mean achievement, being able to actually
send it is going to be
another matter altogether. Since my letter seven
days ago, we have had
electricity cuts every day. At least once but
sometimes twice and even three
times a day the power just goes off without
warning and has resulted in 47
hours without electricity in my home town.
It is not unusual now, in the
middle of the day, in the middle of summer
to see smoke rising from gardens
and chimneys in the suburbs as people
cook food and boil water on open fires.
When the power does come on there
is no guarantee that it will stay on and so
there is a frantic rush to
cook the next meal, do the ironing, work on the
computer or charge
cellphones and batteries.
For businesses, these
power cuts are diabolically bad news. Machines stop,
engines and pumps go
quiet, computers, ATM's and tills are silent and only
those who can afford
generators are able to keep operating. Little shops
which have only been
surviving our 600% hyper inflation by offering things
like photocopying or
computer services, are shuddering to a silent stop.
All around Marondera this
week the sight has been the same - workers and
customers together, sitting
outside on the pavements waiting for the
electricity to come back on. You
almost don't need to ask what's wrong now
when you see a stationary queue,
you just raise your eyebrows and someone
either shrugs or shows empty hands
and you know - no power. As has become
the norm in Zimbabwe, whenever there
is a shortage of something, for
whatever reason, you can guarantee that some
fat cat is making money out
of it. In the last couple of months the price of
small generators have
soared from a few million to hundreds of millions and
are out of reach of
virtually everyone. Even more despicable though is the
way the money
makers even turn on the poorest of the poor. The price of
candles have
soared in the last fortnight as the power cuts have become more
frequent
and widespread. When you can find them, a packet of six locally
made
candles are now over a quarter of a million dollars.
To make life
a little tougher this week have been water cuts which covered
two full days
and a telephone system just hanging on by a very thin and
frayed thread. In
the last seven days my telephone has worked for less
than one hour in total.
It pings incessantly, day and night, but there is
no one there. Lifting the
receiver either leaves you listening to complete
strangers having long and
loud conversations or a rash of electronic
buzzing, hissing and static but no
dialing tone and no chance of making a
call. Numerous reports and visits to
the state owned telephone company
have not achieved anything yet - they are
overwhelmed with faults; a
result of no money, no spare parts, very little
maintenance and being run
by a government in economic meltdown.
I do
not know how soon I will be able to send this letter but will do so as
soon
as both electricity and telephone are working at the same time.
Until next
week, love cathy Copyright cathy buckle 4th Feb 2006
Cape Argus
February 6, 2006
Eskom has confirmed that
due to planned maintenance power outages,
there had at times been
insufficient power to supply Zimbabwe.
Spokesman Fani Zulu said
yesterday that power supplies had not been
suspended and Eskom had assisted
Zimbabwe to get power elsewhere.
"At no point did we cut our supply
to Zimbabwe. We had a lot of
maintenance outages that were planned. It is
normal at this time of the
year.
"Because most of the plants
are going through mid-life maintenance and
refurbishments, it took longer to
bring the plants back into supply."
But Zulu said Zimbabwe's
contract with Eskom worked on "a day ahead"
basis whereby the country would
stipulate it would need a certain number of
up to 300 megawatt.
"In the last 10 days we have given them all the megawatts they
requested,
but prior to that we had instances where we gave less than was
required
because of availability of plants," Zulu said.
And the Department
of Minerals and Energy says media reports that a
decision was taken to stop
fuel supplies to Zimbabwe are incorrect. The
Sunday Independent reported
that the department, citing "refining problems",
asked fuel companies to
cease supplies to Zimbabwe with "immediate effect".
The South
African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) reported
temporary fuel
shortages yesterday after a disruption in production volumes
at the Natref
refinery co-owned by Sasol and Total.
Its crude distillation unit
had an unscheduled shutdown at the end of
January. Sapia director Colin
McClelland said: "There may be sporadic
shortages in South Africa which
could affect other countries. But we
wouldn't cut off ... Botswana, Namibia
or Zimbabwe."
Most major Zimbabwean fuel companies source their
fuel from South
Africa as the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe is bankrupt
and unable to
find sufficient foreign currency for fuel since March last
year.
News agency DPA reported a senior official in the Zimbabwe
Electricity
Regulatory Commission (ZERC) said "forced outages" in the supply
from South
Africa, and inadequate supplies of coal to power Zimbabwe's main
power
station, had put supplies "under serious threat".
The
problem had been worsened by the ZERC's inability to settle its
debts with
its major coal supplier and the National Railways of Zimbabwe,
which
transports the coal. - Sapa
IOL
February 06 2006
at 10:59AM
Harare - Zimbabwe, already reeling from daily blackouts,
faced
increased power cuts as a result of declining local production and
import
cuts, a state-run newspaper reported on Sunday.
Electricity imports from South Africa were suspended last week because
of
planned cuts in its system expected to last at least two weeks, the
Sunday
Mail reported.
South African power company Eskom confirmed the
temporary cuts, saying
they were necessary for maintenance and
refurbishment.
Production by local coal-fired generators had also
been cut back
because of coal shortages, the Zimbabwe paper
said.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since
independence
from Britain in 1980, blamed largely on the often-violent
seizure of
thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to
blacks.
Years of erratic rainfall have also taken a toll on the
agriculture-based economy.
Zimbabwe is plagued by regular
power and water cuts which are blamed
on acute shortages of hard currency,
petrol and imported spare parts. The
country imports 40 percent of its power
from South Africa - the main
supplier - Congo and Mozambique.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is now seeking additional
power
from Zambia, which shares output from the Kariba hydroelectric dam on
the
countries' shared border.
But Zambia will only be able to help when
it has a surplus. Recent
coal shortages were worsened by the state power
utility's inability to pay
its debts to suppliers and transporters,
including the state railroad
company, Mavis Chidzonga, head of the
government's power regulatory
commission, told the Sunday Mail.
She said coal-fired power stations in Harare and Bulawayo had shut
down
several weeks ago and production at the main Hwange station in
north-western
Zimbabwe was also being curtailed.
The government has previously
refused to approve inflation-linked
hikes in electricity fees. But Chidzonga
said management reforms and massive
tariff increases were needed to address
what she called the country's
"precarious" power situation. -
Sapa-AP
This article was originally published on page 8 of
The Mercury on
February 06, 2006
By Lance Guma
06 February 2006
South Africa has cut both fuel and electricity supplies to Zimbabwe
sparking
speculation the government is frustrated with the lack of progress
in
resolving political and economic problems in Zimbabwe. South Africa's
power
utility Eskom confirmed at the weekend that it had switched off power
supplies to Zimbabwe. The move coincides with a circular sent by South
Africa's department of minerals and energy telling fuel companies to stop
supplying fuel to Zimbabwe with "immediate effect". The department cites
"refining problems" as the reason for the move.
For Zimbabweans
who have had to endure endless power cuts and fuel
shortages the situation
keeps getting worse. Last week the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority
said it could no longer guarantee future
supplies of electricity. Although
political analysts suspect South Africa is
playing power games with
Zimbabwe, Eskom itself says the power cuts are
meant to enable planned
maintenance work. Sidney Masamvu, Southern African
analyst for the
International Crisis Group, says Thabo Mbeki's government is
frustrated by
the lack of progress in resolving political problems in
Zimbabwe and wanted
a subtle reminder of the economic pressure they could
put on Mugabe's
government.
The wellbeing of Zimbabwe's economy relies primarily on
its
relationship with South Africa. Most analysts agree only economic
pressure
will force Mugabe to accept political reforms. Mbeki told the South
African
Broadcasting Corporation at the weekend how close both Zanu PF and
the MDC
were towards secretly agreeing a new constitution two years ago. On
the same
weekend Mbeki talked about these events, his government somehow cut
both
fuel and electricity to Zimbabwe. According to Masamvu this shows that
there
is a link between the two developments and that South Africa wanted to
speed
up progress towards solving its neighbour's problems.
Zimbabwe has struggled to pay for fuel and electricity supplies
because of
foreign currency shortages caused by economic mismanagement, but
South
Africa has always made concessions for them in the past. Masamvu says
what
is obvious is that South Africa has run out of patience with Mugabe,
whether
it be in the manner of payment for supplies or the political
environment
that causes their inability to pay for
supplies.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Mathew Nyashanu
VISITING Movement for
Democratic Change officials received a
resounding welcome from Zimbabweans
living in the United Kingdom over the
weekend. The delegation led by party
chairman Isaac Matongo, included the
youthful Kuwadzana Member of Parliament
and party spokesman Nelson Chamisa,
Makokoba MP and deputy chief whip
Thokozani Khupe and Ian Makone personal
assistant to MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Their message to the divided party in the diaspora was
loud and clear:
"The MDC is still alive and kicking back home." The first
meeting took place
in Leeds Saturday afternoon with more a one hundred and
fifty people packing
the Leeds West Indian centre. Matongo was the first to
address the people.
He said as a result of the differences brought about by
the senatorial
elections, the MDC has emerged leaner, meaner, stronger and
more focused.
The told the rally about the "senate rebels" and their futile
attempts to
destroy the party. He urged Zimbabweans in diaspora to support
efforts at
home that are aimed at restoring democracy.
A
vibrant Chamisa told the home-sick Zimbabweans living in the UK, the
collapse of social and health services in Zimbabwe was enough testimony to
show that the Zanu PF government is now in the intensive care unit. He said
the MDC was geared towards a new paradigm shift to step up efforts in
bringing peace and tranquility to the economic ravaged southern African
state. He said change was certainly in the air with Zanu PF failing to
provide for a restive society. Shortages of basics like fertilizer in an
agricultural country were set to worsen the people's day to day
living.
Khupe described the revived senate as a ZANU PF project
only meant to
reward and placate Mugabe's cronies while ordinary people
suffered from
hunger and starvation.
On Sunday an even more
bigger crowd - over three hundred and fifty-
people packed the Ladywood
leisure centre in Birmingham to listen to the MDC
delegation. Chamisa
explained to the crowd the situation obtaining back home
and deplored the
deportation last week of MDC officials from Zambia. He said
that this is a
clear indication that ZANU PF is uncomfortable with the
opposition hence it
was coercing neighbouring governments to help its
efforts to frustrate
Tsvangirai and his colleagues. He said Zambia deployed
more than sixty two
army, police and immigration personnel to deport
Tsvangirai and his eight
unarmed MDC officials, Chamisa, Matongo and Khupe
included, who had used a
legal designated border post to enter the country
legally. Chamisa said he
was surprised to find more than fifty four
Zimbabwean army, police and
Central Intelligence Officers (CIO) operatives
waiting for them on the
Zimbabwean side after their deportation. He
explained how they were made to
walk ten kilometres into Victoria Falls town
as the operatives had no
car.
The meetings were electric as party faithfuls wearing party
regalia
sang and danced as they reaffirmed their strong support for their
party and
president Morgan Tsvangirai. Both meetings went past their set
ending times
as person after person stood up to pledge their support to help
press for
change back home. After Birmingham the delegation headed for
London where
they were due to meet more Zimbabweans at the weekly MDC
Monday. They wrap
up their visit with a meeting in Southend on Sea on
Tuesday.
The UK tour by Matongo and his delegation comes at a time
feuding
factions of the main opposition party are due to hold separate
congresses in
the next few weeks to elect new leaders.
The
congresses will confirm the split that was caused by differences
over the
senatorial elections held in November. The split has also seen the
MDC in
the UK splitting into two factions loyal to leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and
secretary general, Welshman Ncube.
From ZWNEWS, 6 February
Approximately two weeks ago an attempt was made to
assassinate vice
president Joyce Majuru, a reliable source with military
links has claimed in
an unconfirmed report. A private soldier, Joseph
Mutima, is said to have
opened fire with his service issue AK47 rifle on the
vice presidential
motorcade as it passed him by. Several shots hit the
vehicle in which Mujuru
was travelling, but the car's armour-plating
protected the occupants from
injury. Mutima was shot in the leg by the
cavalcade's military escort and
was subsequently arrested. He has been
interrogated by various branches of
the military and police, and as of last
Friday it is believed he was being
held by the CIO at the Braeside police
camp. Mutima is thought to come from
the Dorowa area. It is not known in
what regiment Mutima was serving.
Reuters
Mon Feb 6, 2006 5:35 AM ET
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is probing a
secret meeting between opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and a U.S.-funded
organization it says is linked to
the CIA, the official Herald newspaper
said on Monday.
Tsvangirai and eight members of his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
were expelled from neighboring Zambia last week for
violating its
immigration laws.
Zimbabwe's state media has reported
that the group was deported after they
secretly met officials from a
U.S.-funded organization called Freedom House,
which it has said is headed
by former agents for the Central Intelligence
Agency and Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
"The organization is known worldwide for fuelling civil
unrest in countries
seen as a threat to U.S. policies and interests," the
Herald said.
Freedom House describes itself as an independent,
non-governmental
organization dedicated to promoting
democracy.
National Security Minister Didymus Mutasa told the Herald the
government was
seeking to establish a motive for the meeting.
"We are
very interested in the meeting and we are making a follow-up. We
want to
know what is going on ... We can't divulge much at this stage
because it
will work against our interests but this is a matter of national
security
and we can't ignore it," Mutasa told the paper.
Mutasa was not
immediately reachable for comment on Monday.
The state-controlled Sunday
Mail at the weekend quoted unnamed sources as
saying the U.S. Embassy in
Harare arranged the meeting, "raising suspicion
that the meeting could have
been organized to plot ways of causing an
upheaval in Zimbabwe".
The
U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate comment on Monday.
Tsvangirai's
spokesman, William Bango, declined to comment on the report,
saying: "Our
position remains that Mr Tsvangirai still awaits an explanation
from the
Zambian authorities as to why he was treated like a fugitive when
he entered
the country legally."
The government of President Robert Mugabe has
frequently accused the MDC and
Tsvangirai of being agents of foreign powers
opposed to his policy of
seizing white-owned forms for landless
blacks.
Tsvangirai has already been charged twice with plotting to
assassinate
Mugabe, for which he was acquitted, and with seeking to
overthrow the
government, a charge the state withdrew last year.
The
MDC, which once offered the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's 26-year rule,
has
split into two rival factions amid political infighting that analysts
say
has undermined the party's effectiveness.
IFEX
Country/Topic: Zimbabwe
Date: 06 February 2006
Source: Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA)
Person(s):
Target(s):
Type(s) of violation(s): legal
action
Urgency: Threat
(MISA/IFEX) - The General Laws Amendment Act
(GLAA), which tightens the
"presidential insult" and "communication of
falsehoods" laws under the
Public Order and Security Act (POSA), has been
signed into law.
The GLAA amends 22 sections of POSA, as well as
several other acts. It was
signed into law by Acting President Joice Mujuru,
according to a notice
published in the "Government Gazette" on 3 February
2006.
The amendments increase the fine imposed under Section 16 of POSA
from
Z$20,000 (approx. US$0.20) to Z$2 million (approx. US$20). The penalty
may
also entail one year imprisonment, either as an alternative or
supplement to
the fine. Section 16 deals with the "publication of false
statements that
will engender feelings of hostility towards - or cause
hatred, contempt or
ridicule of - the President or Acting
President."
Those convicted under Section 15 of POSA, which deals with
"the publishing
or communication of statements prejudicial to the state",
will now be liable
to a fine of Z$10 million (approx. US$100) - up from
Z$100,000 (approx.
US$1) - or five years' imprisonment, or
both.
Section 15 also covers the "publishing of statements likely to
promote or
incite public disorder or adversely affect the security or
economic
interests of Zimbabwe."
Under the new amendments, "causing
disaffection among the police force or
defense forces" will be punishable by
a fine not exceeding Z$4 million
(approx. US$40), while "unauthorized public
gatherings for the purposes of
rioting or causing disorder" will be
punishable by a fine of up to Z$10
million (approx. US$100).
The
proposed amendments will not alter the prison terms previously
stipulated by
POSA.
MORE INFORMATION:
For further information, contact
Zoé Titus, Programme Specialist, Media
Freedom Monitoring, MISA, Private Bag
13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61
232 975, fax: +264 61 248 016, e-mail:
research@misa.org, Internet:
http://www.misa.org
From The Star (SA), 6 February
Musina, on the border of South Africa and Zimbabwe, has
supposedly been
taken over by illegal immigrants, some of whom have obtained
South African
identity documents fraudulently. Some of the Zimbabweans have
taken over RDP
houses meant for poor South Africans, while others cross the
border
illegally, to come and claim child grants for their children. In
recent
months the town's leaders have blatantly shown their hostility to the
informal community, handing out pamphlets which say: "Go back to where you
came from." However, Ernie Sibanda, one of the perceived "aliens", angrily
flashes his South African identity book, saying: "Their claims that we are
foreigners are baffling and ridiculous. They did not question our identity
when we voted in the last local government elections. But now they suddenly
call us illegal immigrants." The rest of the community, about 3 000-strong,
is incensed that they have been shunted around for the last 10 years with
their basic needs for services and housing ignored.
In the
meantime, their leaders claim to have found proof that there are
Zimbabweans
living in RDP houses meant for poor South Africans. This
discovery has
fuelled the shack dwellers' resentment towards the
municipality to the
extent that they now defiantly say of themselves Sihlala
nge nkani - "we
live by force". But the municipality disregards this.
Instead it has
commented in the local press that the informal settlement is
a burden on the
town, stretching its already limited resources. Although the
Limpopo
premier, Sello Moloto, declared the informal settlement a part of
Musina
last year, town officials are adamant that the shack dwellers will be
evicted by the beginning of March this year. "Those people invaded the land
and are staying there illegally. As a municipality we won't provide services
to them," said Musina municipal manager Abram Luruli. "Since the Vhembe
district began supplying them with water, their number has increased from
570 to more than 1 000,'' he said.
The municipality is
increasingly under pressure to provide the shack
dwellers with safe drinking
water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of
diseases such as typhoid and
cholera. The municipality has also made various
attempts to remove the
settlement but the people vehemently resisted
attempts to dismantle their
joined-up sheet iron and plastic homes. "While
we are not saying all the
people there are illegal immigrants, it could be
possible that some of them
are," Luruli said. "We wanted to evict them but
we were advised by the
provincial government to negotiate with them
instead," he said. In the
meantime, negotiations have begun with Limpopo's
local government to move
shack dwellers who are not on the waiting list to
an area around Madimbo
village, outside Musina. These include some of the
occupants of Sihlala nge
nkani. But in the meantime, nothing can be done in
the case of Zimbabweans
living in RDP homes, receiving basic services that
South Africans also want.
Luruli explained that those with genuine
documentation could not be denied
services. "Once illegal immigrants are
issued with identity books, it is
simple for them to gain access to low-cost
housing and social grants. Their
influx into the area is impacting
negatively on the municipality's capacity
to provide basic services as we
are over-stretched," Luruli said.
From The Star (SA), 6 February
Rather than simply escaping political tyranny, Zimbabweans
illegally
crossing the border now want the same benefits as South Africa's
poorest -
low-cost housing and child-support grants. Border police and
officials, on
the other hand, are struggling to keep up with the thousands
that cross the
border into Musina every week. When a Star team drove along
the border on
Friday evening, dozens of Zimbabweans were spotted trying to
enter the
country. Some walked up and down the treacherous waters of the
Limpopo
River, looking for shallow points through which they could wade.
Others who
had already swum across the swollen river used wooden poles to
push apart
the electrified wires, so they could squeeze through the gaping
holes
without being zapped too much by the electric current. As the sun
began to
dip below the horizon, more Zimbabweans seemed to creep out of the
bushes.
But they were seemingly unnoticed by members of the South African
National
Defence Force, either busy washing clothes or playing cards at
patrol
stations 10km apart.
In the meantime, it was also clear
that another burgeoning industry, clearly
a result of the misfortune of the
Zimbabweans, has emerged, in the form of
taxis. Scores of them carefully
drove along the border waiting to ferry
those who had made it safely across
the river, into Musina without drawing
the attention of police or
immigration officials. Zimbabweans illegally
crossing the border seem to
have no qualms about the fact that they are
breaking the law, and police
have admitted that managing this was now
becoming impossible. Musina police
spokesman, Jacques du Buisson, said the
river is particularly difficult to
patrol because it is so wide. "We are not
allowed to release statistics of
how many cross illegally. But there are
many of them. "We arrest many people
around the areas of Musina on a daily
basis and deport them back to
Zimbabwe, but they return as soon as we have
dropped them off," Du Buisson
said.
Police are now considering restructuring the border line to
improve
patrolling, and securing the bridge to control the cross-border
problem. The
illegal immigrants usually cross at night and more choose to
cross over
weekends or at the end of the month. Some in the town say this is
when
patrol officers are least on their guard, because they are too busy
spending
the money they had just received, or socialising. But not all
manage to slip
past the law. Just two weeks ago, 2 300 illegal immigrants
were arrested.
Police were astonished to find that many of them were
pregnant women. Musina
Hospital spokesperson Phillemon Tlabane said there
was a new phenomenon of
heavily pregnant Zimbabweans arriving in South
Africa, just in time to give
birth. They then register their children at the
Home Affairs department,
even when the fathers were not South Africans.
"Once they have registered
their children for social grants, they go back
home to return only on pay
days," he said.
His department
receives over 50 new applications for child grants on a daily
basis from
Musina Hospital as well as Nancefield and Madimbo clinics. Some
of the women
are from Malawi and Mozambique but prefer to cross nearer
Musina, as it is
seemingly the easier route. After giving birth, many stayed
on, settling in
areas around the town. The township of Nancefield, in
particular, is home to
many illegal immigrants, who rent back-rooms on
properties belonging to
South Africans. Melita Chauke, a 39-year-old mother
of six from Zimbabwe,
has been living in Nancefield since 2001. She has even
managed to obtain a
South African ID book. "I couldn't tell them I was from
Zimbabwe when I
applied for the child grants. I had to lie. I didn't know
what else I could
do to help myself and my children survive," she said.
Another
Zimbabwean, Taelo Manabalala (22) tells a different story. Out of
desperation, she crossed the river and fence on her own one night in 2002.
Not long afterwards she started a relationship with a South African man. The
two are not married, but he is the father of her 5-month old son and has
agreed to help her with the application for a child grant. "I applied for my
identity book in 2002. Now my boyfriend is helping me to get a grant," she
said. In the heart of Nancefield, a new block of RDP homes seems to be
thriving with luscious vegetation and neat hedges. But the music of
Zimbabwean band System Tazvila Chazezes and Challengers blares out from a
more awkward-looking construction among the RDP cluster. It is a block of 10
rooms that has been added on to the basic one-bedroom RDP house, now let out
to Zimbabwean and South African families. One of the tenants is Nelly
Nduvheni, a Zimbabwean woman with two children who have qualified for child
grants. "I use part of my children's grant to pay the R250 to stay in this
room. It's a lot, but there is nothing we could do because we were desperate
for accommodation," she said.
Sinki Makushu, a community leader
at a squatter camp just outside
Nancefield, said it was commonplace for
illegal immigrants to fake marriages
with local men to obtain South African
identity books. "Everyone knows that
in Musina, Zimbabwean women and even
men marry under false pretences just
for the sake of getting identity books.
But it all comes with a price. There
is nothing for mahala," he said. Oupa
Mashaba, anther community leader said:
" The officials are aware of the
problem, but they don't know how to deal
with it," he said. The Department
of Social Development's Lakela Kaunda said
they have started looking into
the issue. But Limpopo's Health spokesperson,
Sophy Sekole, said that
although they were aware of the problem, there was
little they could do. "We
don't have the right to deny grants to those who
apply with authentic
documents. Our system does not reflect the fact that
they are foreign
nationals receiving the social grants money," she said.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Oswelled
Ureke recently in Mutare
issue date :2006-Feb-06
THE Deputy Speaker of
the House of Assembly, Kumbirai Kangai, has told
National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku and other
activists to be patient
in their quest for constitution reform.
Speaking at the Centre for
Peace Initiatives in Africa (CPIA)
workshop held in Mutare recently, Kangai
urged the nation to be patient
while formal procedures were under way to
restart constitutional talks that
stalled in 2000 after the rejection of the
draft constitution
"Be patient. I am sure we will soon see a return to such
dialogue. The
government is very committed to a new constitution, which has
the input of
all Zimbabweans. If President Robert Mugabe was not committed
to a new
constitution, there would not have been a referendum on the draft
by the
Constitutional Commission five years ago. As it stands, a
constitution was
drafted and presented to the people who rejected it," said
Kangai.
He was responding to Madhuku's statement querying the government's
commitment to a new constitution after a presentation on the Constitution
and constitutionalism by legal expert Walter Kamba.
Madhuku had decried
lack of initiatives to implement desired changes in the
Zimbabwean
constitution, which to date has been amended 17 times.
"How long will it take
us to implement decisions? We cannot continue
talking about a way forward
when we know the way forward is to change the
constitution. The longer we
wait, the more impatient people become and
tempers rise, leading to
confrontation. We know the President is going to
retire in 2008 or in 2010
and we should have come up with a new constitution
by then," Madhuku
said.
The NCA has been calling for a new constitution in Zimbabwe and on
several
occasions took to the streets to demonstrate for the change of the
supreme
law.
Madhuku has been arrested on countless occasions for leading
NCA
demonstrations.
Other participants at the CPIA's fifth annual review
conference felt time
was fast running out for Zimbabwe to implement holistic
constitutional
reforms before the anticipated departure of President
Mugabe.
Constitutional expert Kamba, in his impassioned presentation
expressed the
need by Zimbabweans to start constitutional talks before the
expected
retirement of the President.
Kamba drew parallels between
Zimbabwe's present Constitution and drafts in
2000 by the NCA and the
National Constitutional Commission (NCC)
respectively.
He said there was
need for consensus on constitutional reform and urged all
stakeholders to
bury their differences for the sake of the nation.
"The great tragedy of
Zimbabwe is the unpreparedness in the minds and
attitudes of many to accept
the existence of political social and religious
pluralism in our
society.
"Thus, there is no effort to seek to secure a consensus on matters
of
constitutional or governance arrangements. This attitude generates
resistance or opposition even in respect of issues on which agreement would
be easily arrived at," said Kamba who was a member of the Constitutional
Commission.
The CPIA conference this year ran under the theme: Zimbabwe:
Assessment and
Way Forward. More than 60 delegates representing the broad
areas of
education, business and defence and diplomacy attended the
three-day long
conference.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Feb-06
THE Harare City Council
Town Clerk, Nomutsa Chideya has ordered the
municipality's employees to form
one Union that must be affiliated to the
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions
(ZFTU).
Chideya made the demand through a circular to all employees dated
January
25, 2006 and on the pretext that it was a directive from the
Minister of
Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development, Ignatius
Chombo.
However, Chombo yesterday denied ever making such a
directive.
There are currently two unions representing the municipal
employees - the
Harare Urban Municipal Workers Union headed by a P Mabhibho
and the Harare
Municipal Workers Union led by Cosmus Bungu.
"This
circular serves to inform you that there was a meeting on 19th
December 2005
at Town House between the Honourable Minister of Local
Government, Public
Works and Urban Development Ignatius Chombo,
commissioners, strategist, city
council management and representatives of
the Harare Urban Workers Union of
which the primary objective was to inform
the minister about the progress
achieved in implementing council's turn
around strategy," wrote
Chideya.
During the meeting, Chideya wrote, the conflicts between the two
unions
"manifested itself very clearly" as they two openly exchanged
accusations.
"At the end of it all the minister categorically directed that
the leaders
of the two unions namely, C. Bungu and P. Mabhibho should meet
and agree
on the parameters they can come up with in order to come up with
one union
which should be affiliated to the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade
Unions,"
Chideya wrote.
The town clerk registered his dismay over the
failure by the leaders of the
two rival unions to form a single workers'
representative body.
"To date this has not happened and the city management
and commission are
still waiting for the two unions leaders to jointly
advise on the way
forward," Chideya added.
The town clerk said the
commission running the affairs of the capital was
still waiting for the
leaders of the two unions to advise them on the nature
and parameters of how
they were going to comply with the directive.
In an interview with The Daily
Mirror yesterday, Chombo admitted addressing
a meeting at Town House on
December 19 last year, but denied Chideya's
assertions.
"I never said
that. There are free to form even three workers unions. The
two unions
disagreed on certain issues during the meeting with some happy
and some not
happy with the approach being taken by the turnaround
strategy," Chombo
said.
The minister said he then suggested that there must be dialogue between
the
two unions in order for them to come up with a common viewpoint whenever
they attend such meetings.
While efforts to get a comment from the
leaders of both unions on the matter
were fruitless, the country's major
labour body-the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU)-described Chideya's
directive as illegal. ZCTU president
Lovemore Matombo said: "Neither Chombo
nor Chideya has such right.
"In terms of the Labour Act, unions are formed by
members with common
interests, values and traditions and one cannot force a
worker to join a
certain union against his or her will."
Matombo
stressed that the merger must be voluntary.
Bundu Adventures, www.bunduadventures.co.za, and
Zambezi Safari and Travel, www.zambezi.com, have added river boarding to the
list of extreme sports on offer. Adrenaline junkies launch themselves 26 km down
the Zambezi, through the winding basalt canyons of the Batoka Gorge, with no
more than a wetsuit, helmet, lifejacket, fins and a body board with wrist leash.
It's an irresistible challenge for river-boarding fanatics: a torrent of such
force that it generates enough hydroelectricity to power both Zimbabwe and
neighboring Zambia. Expert guides lead river boarders into violent Class IV and
V rapids with dangerous drops and irregular currents and names like Stairway to
Heaven and Oblivion; these waters are known to have flipped more inflatable
rafts than any other rapids in the world. Then there's the wildlife: hippos'
snouts break the surface of the water; baboon families clamber around at its
edge and while only baby crocodiles survive the drop from the falls, they do
grow up downstream.
American Richard Bangs, an international river explorer and award-winning
author of Riding the Dragon's Back, about his first descent on China's
Yangtze River, has led first river-boarding descents on 35 rivers worldwide.
Bangs says that the rivers that cascade down such mountain ranges as the
upward-thrusting Himalayas and Andes run rapidly continuously, leaving no room
for human error. But the Zambezi gives boarders a chance to rest, "in that it
has a beautifully designed sequence: a big rapid is almost always followed by a
calm pool." Bangs remembers the pioneering days of the late '70s when he struggled to
convince expatriates and local hoteliers that the Zambezi was navigable: "It is
hard to believe that the Zambezi has now become an adventure-sports Mecca."
Livingstone might be surprised at the river's new activities, but no doubt he'd
wholly approve of the spirit of adventure that informs them.
From the Feb. 13, 2006 issue of
TIME Global Advisor
Extreme-sports fans head down to the Zambezi for the ride of their
lives
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006
Victorian
explorer David Livingstone reported the existence of the Victoria Falls back to
the West after discovering them in 1855, and the numbers of tourists streaming
to visit the "smoke that thunders" have been increasing ever since. Although
some folks still prefer to take in the majesty of this geological wonder from
the viewing platform, excitement addicts microlight overhead, whitewater raft
below or bungee jump betwixt and between. Last summer, 75% of foreign visitors
to the falls participated in adventure sports, according to Zambia's National
Heritage Conservation Commission. For some of these thrill seekers, the falls
aren't even the main attraction but a hazy, shimmering backdrop to the mighty
Zambezi River and the challenges it presents.
Marc Goddard, former world rafting champion and owner of Bio
Bio Expeditions in California, www.bbxrafting.com, has rafted
on the Zambezi every year since 1989. He says that, due to the river's special
hydrotopographical features, "if you use your fins to face upstream at the right
moment on a standing wave, you can stay there forever." Just save plenty of
energy for the 250-m vertical climbs out of the gorge on handmade bamboo ladders
that punctuate the rock face along the way.