JONATHAN MOYO REFUSES TO DROP Z$2 BILLION LAWSUIT Tues 8
February 2005 HARARE - Defiant Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has
refused to drop a defamation lawsuit against ruling ZANU PF party chairman
John Nkomo and another senior party leader insisting the two should pay for
lying to President Robert Mugabe about him.
ZANU PF sources
told ZimOnline yesterday that emissaries had been sent to Moyo by party
leaders from his Matabeleland home region urging him to withdraw a Z$2
billion suit against party national chairman John Nkomo and a senior member
of the party's inner politburo cabinet, Dumiso Dabengwa.
The
decision to approach Moyo was taken in a bid to avoid splitting the ZANU PF
vote in Tsholotsho constituency where the acerbic state propaganda chief is
immensely popular but has been barred from representing the
party.
Tsholotsho, which is also Moyo's home area, is presently
held by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.
"The guy is defiant. He is refusing to drop the lawsuit," said one ZANU PF
official who did not want to be named.
According to the official,
Moyo appeared to have adopted a more defiant stance against the ZANU PF
leadership in Matabeleland after Vice President Joseph Msika blocked a
delegation of chiefs from Tsholotsho from meeting Mugabe to ask him to let
Moyo contest the March election.
Moves in the last two weeks by
some members of the party politburo, most of them from Matabeleland, to have
Moyo dismissed from the party and government also appear to have made the
embattled propaganda chief more unco-operative, the source
said.
Moyo could not be reached for comment on the matter yesterday
but lawyers acting on his behalf said he was pressing on with the suit
against Nkomo and Dabengwa.
"We have not received any
instructions from our client to discontinue with the case. In fact, the two
respondents have lodged appearance to defend papers. We now await their
detailed responses," said Bulawayo lawyer, Cosamu Ncube, who is representing
Moyo in the matter.
Msika said he had blocked the Tsholotsho chiefs
from meeting Mugabe because there was "no reason for the chiefs to see the
President over the Tsholotsho issue. It is a closed issue."
In
papers filed at the Bulawayo High Court last month, Moyo accuses Nkomo and
Dabengwa of lying when they told a public gathering that a meeting of ZANU
PF provincial chairmen he called in Tsholotsho last November was to plot a
coup against Mugabe and the entire ZANU PF top leadership. The two deny the
charge.
Once one of Mugabe's closest and most powerful lieutenants,
Moyo's career in ZANU PF has hung by the thread since falling out with the
President after allegedly attempting to scuttle the appointment of Joyce
Mujuru as second vice president of ZANU PF and Zimbabwe. - ZimOnline
Back ZANU PF or starve, chiefs tell villagers Tues 8
February 2005 MATABELELAND SOUTH - Opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party officials here yesterday accused traditional chiefs of
forcing their subjects to back the ruling ZANU PF party threatening to deny
government-supplied maize to those who refuse.
To be allowed to
buy cheaper-priced maize from the government's Grain Marketing Board,
starving villagers must be on a food assistance register kept by the chief.
Chiefs also issue letters authorising the GMB to sell maize to their
subjects.
The GMB is the only company permitted to trade in maize
and is the only institution supplying subsidized maize to the majority of
hungry Zimbabweans after the government barred international food agencies
from doing so.
According to opposition officials, chiefs in
Tsholotsho, Umzingwane, Insiza and other constituencies in the province have
told their subjects to attend ZANU PF campaign rallies only, with those who
defy the order or attend MDC rallies being removed from the food
register.
"ZANU PF wants to take advantage of the food crisis it
created to earn votes," said the opposition party's provincial spokesman,
Edward Mkhosi.
MDC Member of Parliament for Tsholotsho Mtoliki
Sibanda said villagers had little option except to abide by the chiefs'
orders or they starve.
He said: "The chiefs and headmen are alleged
to have issued public warnings against attendance of MDC rallies. The
threatened penalty is removal from the food aid registers. People are
starving, they have no choice but to oblige."
But acting ZANU
PF chairman for Matabeleland South Rido Mpofu dismissed as "mere election
time propaganda" suggestions that chiefs were using food to blackmail their
subjects to support the ruling party.
Mpofu said his party had
instructed all its candidates in the March election to wage a "clean
campaign" for office. - ZimOnline
ZANU PF spies to be sentenced today Tues 8 February
2005 HARARE - Two senior ruling ZANU PF party officials and another man
accused of selling intelligence information to South African spies will be
sentenced today after state and defence lawyers wrapped up their final
submissions yesterday.
State prosecutor Morgan Nemadire told
reporters after yesterday's court session: "Both the defence and the state
have ultimately finished their pre-sentencing addresses. It is now up to the
court to consider the submissions and settle on a sentence."
Regional magistrate Peter Kumbawa, who briefly opened the court to the
public so that relatives and friends could get a glimpse of the accused,
said: "Technically, we have just called you in because I know there are
families who want to see their relatives. We will meet again tomorrow
(today) to work out sentence."
The hearing has been conducted
under tight security and in camera with the Press as well as close relatives
barred from court. The defence andprosecution were also officially barred
from divulging any information about the trial.
The accused
three men, ZANU PF external affairs director Itai Marchi, Zimbabwe's
ambassador-designate to Mozambique Godfrey Dzvairo, and bank executive
Tendai Matambanadzo, pleaded guilty to the charge but later unsuccessfully
tried to alter plea to not guilty.
Two other ZANU PF officials, the
party's chairman for Mashonaland West province Philip Chiyangwa and its
deputy security chief Kenny Karidza are also accused of selling intelligence
information to the South Africans. The two who deny the charge against them
face trial at a later date.
The five suspected spies face up to 20
years in jail if found guilty of selling intelligence information to foreign
agents. - ZimOnline
South Africa grills Zimbabwe's state security agents Tues 8
February 2005 MUSINA - South Africa's police questioned and freed three
members of Zimbabwe's feared secret state security agency and a civilian who
were on a mission to spy on a meeting between the countries' two trade union
leaders.
South Africa's Limpopo province spokesperson Ronel Otto
confirmed the incident saying the four Zimbabweans were allowed to go back
home after questioning.
The four, three of whom are members of
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), were picked up after they tried
to enter the lodge where the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU), were meeting a delegation from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) to discuss whether conditions in South Africa's northern
neighbour were conducive for the holding of free and fair elections in
March.
Zimbabwe holds the crucial election on March 31 with
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party squaring off with the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.
The Zimbabwe
authorities reacted angrily to the COSATU visit, deporting the delegation as
soon as it set foot at the Harare international airport. A similar visit by
COSATU last August also ended in acrimony when the delegation was
unceremoniously bundled out of the country.
In the latest stand-off
with the government, the ZCTU leaders were forced to drive to Musina to meet
the deported COSATU team amid fears that Zimbabwe's CIO agents were trailing
the trade unionists.
COSATU secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi
threatened to blockade the border in retaliation if the ZCTU leaders were
harmed. - ZimOnline
Tripartite alliance partners are meeting today to discuss
last week's expulsion of Cosatu from Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe's
government turned away a 20-member Cosatu delegation at Harare airport, on
the grounds that they did not follow proper channels to enter the
country.
Cosatu was on a fact-finding mission to probe alleged human
rights abuses ahead of the March 31 poll.
Today's meeting between the
African National Congress, South African Communist Party and Congress of
South African Trade Union will set time-frames regarding Cosatu's proposals
of embarking on protests outside Zimbabwean embassies in Southern African
Development Communities, as well as blockades at border gates.
Zimbabwe moves to fast-track farm seizures February 08
2005 at 07:03AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare - A
Zimbabwean court began a new phase to fast-track confiscation of white-owned
land on Monday, including scores of farms owned by South Africans and other
foreigners.
Five years after President Robert Mugabe ordered his
supporters to dispossess white landowners only about 450 farms have been
processed.
That is to change. The first targets are ranches about
300km south of Harare. About 15 South African farmers' names are on the
February roll for the recently expanded Administrative Court, which has new
judges and new laws to slash the backlog.
'The reality is
that the government wants a veneer of legality' Zimbabwe's legal
fraternity say an amendment to land laws last year gives them only five
working days to prepare a case for the defence.
"We are
overwhelmed," said a senior lawyer on Sunday. "With so many cases coming at
us all at once there is no way that the affected farmers have a chance. The
reality is that the government wants a veneer of legality, that's
all."
Up to 5 000 title deeds for about 11 million
hectares have to be processed through the Administrative Court. Since the
Land Acquisition Act was changed last year all the government has to do to
take a farm is publish a notice of "acquisition". If farmers are not able to
oppose the acquisition of their property it is forfeited to the
state.
John Worsley-Worswick, a spokesperson for pressure group
Justice for Agriculture, said on Sunday: "We are advised to expect a rash of
deferred judgments from the Administrative Court which obviously means there
will be no right of appeal to the Supreme Court.
"The state
will then quickly issue farmers waiting for judgment with notices ordering
their immediate eviction. This is particularly aimed at the few hundred
farmers still on the land, including a large group of South African
ranchers. If they don't obey the eviction notice they can be prosecuted and
sent to prison for up to two years. So they will leave."
A
"Bilateral Protection and Promotion Agreement" to protect South African
assets in Zimbabwe has still not been signed and the next proposed date for
its adoption is Wednesday, according to diplomatic sources.
Every
aspect of election flawed, says mdc February 8, 2005
By
Eddie Cross
Bulawayp: The Zimbabwe government recently announced
that the parliamentary elections would be held on March 31. That gives the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) eight weeks to campaign and do all the
things we have to do to compete effectively in the electoral process. Not
long.
Fortunately we have been hard at work on preparations for
elections for several months and we were able to convene the national
executive and the council of the MDC within 48 hours and to decide - after
several hours of debate - to run in the election and then, the following
day, to confirm 110 candidates out of a required 120 while ordering the
re-run of 10 primaries where we were not satisfied with the procedures
followed.
On February 12 we will launch our campaign in Masvingo
together with our party manifesto and introduction of our candidates. They
will then be submitted to the Nomination Courts on February 18 for approval.
In the meantime most of our candidates have already been in the field for
some weeks campaigning quietly under the noses of the powers that
be.
There were some moving testimonies - three white farmers have
been selected by their districts to run as candidates. Roy Bennett
has been confirmed despite his imprisonment by parliament.
Ian Kay,
a well-known Marondera farmer who was nearly beaten to death in the last
campaign and whose great friend Dave Stevens was in fact killed, won his
primary by a two-thirds majority. Threatened with death if he campaigned in
the high-density townships of Marondera, Kay went straight in and has been
campaigning on the ground for some time.
Alan McCormack has gone
back into Garuve and was elected overwhelmingly by his
district.
In the Mount Darwin district - a so-called no-go area for
the MDC where we have not been able to hold a meeting or canvas for four
years, more than 180 delegates from the district ward committees walked out
of the bush to attend the primaries - ordinary peasant farmers.
They were supporting the opposition on principle and voting with their lives
on the line.
Who said that Africans do not care about principles or
democracy? If you want to see solid evidence of just that, attend any MDC
function and watch the disciplined, non-violent commitment to democratic
principles and human rights.
We are not a party of
intellectuals or the rich - you will see few vehicles at our rallies, just
thousands or ordinary, hard-working people who live simple lives. For me
this is one of the most inspiring aspects of the MDC.
Will the
elections be free and fair? Of course not - we have not had any time on any
of the state media for nearly three years, only hostile propaganda against
us poured out 24 hours a day. All our meetings are monitored and the police,
on one pretext or another, bans most.
In the Honde valley our
candidate - a single mother - has had 10 out of 11 meetings banned in the
past few days. She reported that the regional governor has told local
traditional leaders that the MDC will not be allowed to campaign in that
district.
Our security agencies and the military will run the
election. The new Election Commission (brought into being in response to
Southern African Development Community pressure!) has yet to be given an
office or staff - our letters to them are hand delivered to their homes. Yet
they are, on paper, responsible for the voter's roll and the actual voting
procedures and the administration of the poll itself. Huge responsibilities
in an election with millions of voters and 12 000 polling stations. It is a
sick joke.
Zanu-PF has been planning the election for two
years. It thinks it has it sown up - the opposition cowed, the people
confused and the process totally in their hands. It was so confident six
months ago that, according to information from inside Zanu-PF, it was
actually debating how many seats to allow the MDC and which
ones!
Now the battle is on. MDC is in fact better prepared for
these elections than Zanu-PF - we already have a manifesto which is coherent
and well thought through on all issues; we have over 90% of our candidates
appointed and running.
We have been campaigning quietly on the
ground throughout the country for some time. We do not have any money, but
we have no debt and what we get in now will go to the coalface.
Zanu-PF, on the other hand, has no candidates in many districts and is
heavily in debt. It is deeply divided on many issues and the bruising
primaries have sapped support.
Thousands of traditional Zanu-PF
supporters - including many who have become wealthy on the back of Zanu-PF
patronage - are disaffected.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the
election would be won or lost on technical issues. He is right. If we had a
free and fair election in which people were free to make up their own minds
and could vote freely for the party of their choice, it would be no contest.
The MDC would win.
But it is not going to be like that and every
aspect of this election is flawed. Even the modifications introduced in
response to the SADC protocols make this election flawed - for example, no
mobile voting stations; instead we have 12 000 polling
stations.
How on earth do we supervise that vast spread, and
remember the vote is counted at the polling stations this time. Fine, if we
have observers and polling agents - but we have no assurance that they will
be allowed and, on past experience, they will be barred from the
process.
In 2000 Vice President Simon Muzenda (since deceased)
said: "If we (Zanu-PF) put up a baboon as a candidate, you must vote for
them." Well, we will see if this is the case this time! We have done all we
can to ensure that the people have a choice. I think we have a chance, but
we need help to make it happen.
The MDC needs a great deal of
money to campaign, to catch up in the media when we finally are allowed
space, to organise on the ground so that every polling station is covered by
trained and dedicated polling agents.
We also need volunteers to
man our campaign offices, to run errands and to do the million and one
things that must be done. In addition we are asking specifically for
volunteers to provide vehicles, drivers and fuel and food for polling
day.
These will be used to deploy polling agents on the day before
polling, to then supervise the poll at up to five polling stations and then
co-ordinate the results from counting that night for relay to national
headquarters.
We must make sure that, this time, the result is
not stolen from the people.
.. Cross is the economic
spokesman of Zimbabwe's Movement for Demo-cratic Change.
Events in Zimbabwe grow stranger by the day. Instead
of concentrating on the very real problems and issues that beset that
country - like desperate hunger, widespread poverty and the need to
rehabilitate the economy - an inordinate amount of official time is absorbed
in sideshows.
The latest storm in a teacup concerns whether the
recent blocked visit by the Congress of SA Trade Unions was in fact funded
by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, as claimed by one
of the Zimbabwean government's mouthpieces - the Sunday Mail.
While Cosatu has rejected the claim "with contempt" one has to ask whether
it really matters at all. The fact is that labour union members should have
an inalienable right to co-operate with other unionists across borders and
to look after the cause of their fellow workers.
Cosatu is a member
of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which in turn has
affiliations from bodies representing more than 150 million workers all over
the world... workers who could hardly be called stooges of the
West.
However, this is just one more red herring, an example of
the siege mentality gripping the Mugabe government.
Another
could well be the allegations of a spy ring operating on behalf of South
Africa, a claim which conveniently has led to the expulsion of a wealthy
politician, Philip Chiyangwa, from a leadership role in the ruling
party.
While the full facts have yet to emerge, and we may be
mistaken, people will need to be convinced that serious allegations of
"espionage" are justified. So far little has been disclosed beyond the fact
that information gathered was of a political nature - the sort of analytical
reports that embassies around the world assemble as a matter of
course.
Zimbabwe to resume beef exports to EU next
year -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7/2/2005
16:49
Zimbabwe will resume beef exports to the European Union (EU) early
next year following four years of inactivity on the market, the local
newspaper The Herald reported on Monday. The Cold Storage Company board
member Abdul Nyathi was quoted as saying that the company was initially
scheduled to resume trade with the EU this year but failed to meet the
minimum standards set by the EU. The company was still vaccinating cattle in
foot-and-mouth disease stricken areas and hoped to complete the exercise by
the end of the year. Zimbabwe's beef exports were suspended in 2000 following
an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease, which adversely affected the
national herd. Before the foot-and-mouth outbreak compounded by successive
droughts, the country had no problems meeting its annual beef quota of 9,100
tons to the EU, generating more than US$86 million per year. Meanwhile,
the Cold Storage Company has applied for a 17- million-US dollar loan from
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to supplement its livestock finance scheme.
EDITORIAL February 7, 2005 Posted to the web
February 7, 2005
Johannesburg
ZIMBABWE is counting down to an
election that will be as much a test of the commitment to democracy in South
and Southern Africa as in our benighted northern neighbour.
The
opposition MDC's brave decision to participate demands a reciprocal effort
from everyone who wishes the country well to ensure the poll is as free and
fair as possible at this late stage.
With the international community
largely excluded from any monitoring role, the SADC and South Africa must
ensure they become watchdogs for the world.
It is a responsibility much
larger than that of solidarity with an old liberation ally. It is an
obligation to the future, rather than a debt to the past.
It is
therefore encouraging to hear the ANC emphasising that the MDC should be
allowed to hold public meetings if elections are to be declared free and
fair.
Key deadlines for the SADC's ratification of the March 31 poll
have already passed and Cosatu's ouster from Zimbabwe suggests Zanu-PF has
little concern for regional opinion.
The SADC set the conditions for
validation in Mauritius last year. Now the community - and South Africa as
the dominant member - must evaluate the entire electoral process against
that standard and deliver a verdict that will command international
respect.
Anything less will undermine the current global goodwill towards
Africa, which is our best chance to break the shackles of conflict, poverty
and underdevelopment.
By
Priscilla Misihairabwi and Grace Kwinjeh Last updated: 02/08/2005
06:16:46
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Writing
for New Zimbabwe.com today, MDC MP and Shadow Minister for foreign affairs
Priscilla Misihairabwi and the party's European Union representative Grace
Kwinjeh outline the struggle for women's rights. In the light of the Joyce
Mujuru affair, and the equally forceful voices from the MDC, do you think
the struggle for women's advancement has taken a frightening dimension in
Zimbabwe? Let's hear your views, e-mail: newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com, and
please state where you are writing from. We will publish your e-mails
Tuesday
evening.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAVING
thoroughly messed up the land distribution process, Zanu PF has a new target
-- women. In a desperate bid to deal with the twin problems of succession and
growing national unpopularity, the ruling party has found a scapegoat:
women.
Women have become the latest cover for the regime to implement and
complete its insidious agenda of retaining power at all costs.
During
its 24 years in power, and many more years as a party, Zanu PF has routinely
neglected and marginalised the women in its ranks and Zimbabwean women as a
whole. However, desperate to retain its stranglehold on power, the ruling
party is now making a cynical attempt to hoodwink the public into believing
it cares for the welfare of women. Recent developments within the ruling
party concerning the fate and status of women cannot go unchallenged.
The
recent history of Zimbabwe is rich with examples of Zanu PF trying to
repackage itself to gain national support and international acceptance. In
2000, a popular movement rejected the government-sponsored draft
Constitution on principle - because the people knew that the process was
flawed, and that no worthy document could emerge from such a process. Just
as many pro-democracy activists saw through that deceit, we must rise to the
challenge and see the recent development within Zanu PF in the same
light.
Many women such as ourselves, first became activists in the
women's movement in Zimbabwe having realised that Zanu PF had failed the
generality of Zimbabwean women. The liberation struggle did not result in
our emancipation. In fact as a liberation party that went through an armed
struggle, its structure and system are based on male superiority ideology:
patriarchy.
From the onset we need to demystify the appointment of
Joyce Mujuru as Second Vice-President and the status of Zanu PF women as a
whole. The patriarchal nature of Zanu PF has ensured that no strong woman in
her own right has emerged out of the Zanu PF system before now. This is also
why the question of gender equality, both nationally and within the party,
remains unresolved.
It must first be understood that Mujuru is only
acceptable to Mugabe as his Vice President because she does not threaten his
hold on power, either nationally or within the ruling party. She has been
propelled to the party's top most position precisely because she poses no
threat to any of the distinct factions engaged in a bitter power struggle
within Zanu PF. These include the Zapu faction; Mnangagwa faction and of
course the Mujuru faction led by her husband Solomon.
Putting Mujuru
in the Vice Presidency does not change the fact that Zanu PF remains the
same dictatorial regime with nothing to offer the people of Zimbabwe. It is
still the source of our misery. Women and children form the majority of the
3 million people in need of food aid. They are the victims of the collapsed
education system and those experiencing the effects of the crumbling heath
sector. They continue to suffer as a result of Zanu PF's bankrupt policies,
and the party's sole interest in retaining power at all costs.
Reform
of a corrupt political party or system does not come with appointing a
woman. Mujuru's appointment does nothing to address the real questions of
governance and democracy. The crisis confronting Zimbabwe is not about the
biology of those in the governing hierarchy, but their ability to deal with
critical national issues.
If one examines the way the new quotas for
"women's empowerment" are being handled, it becomes clear that Robert Mugabe
is in control. There was no democratic process of nominating or selecting
constituencies for women. The women being put in the so called
constituencies set for them are simply replacing Mugabe's enemies. The
absurdity of the whole process becomes evident when we see that women form
the majority of those protesting against the imposition of "women's
constituencies."
Even those women who have been in parliament in the past
24 years, it is clear that they have operated within the framework defined
by the men. Thus their failure to push the women's agenda at a broader
national level.
If this is the behaviour of Zanu PF, what is the lesson
for us as women in the alternative movement? We are fighting the same beast,
patriarchy, which transcends every aspect of our lives - at home, in church
and even in the political system we belong to.
Overcoming patriarchy
is not just about numbers or biology, but equality and social
justice.
As we struggle within the MDC, we are clear that patriarchy is
an enemy we will fight within and outside as we refuse to play junior
partner to our male counterparts. It is important that our colleagues
understand that the issue of gender power relationships cannot be separated
from the whole fight for human rights and democracy.
Therefore, we
remain cognisant of the fact that in the alternative movement we have a twin
struggle. We must remain vigilant in transforming our national political
system into a people centred one. Internally we must ensure that our party
lives up to its promises and moves towards a better life for all women in
Zimbabwe, regardless of their political affiliation.
This commitment is
made at many levels. Within the MDC, there is a grassroots women's agenda.
Our National Women's Assembly, held in Masvingo in October 2003, passed a
resolution stating that one third of all MDC posts throughout all MDC party
structures will be reserved for the nomination of women candidates. This was
adopted unanimously by the National Executive and National Council. On top
of this we have mainstreamed gender in all party
policies.
Nationally, as MDC women we will continue to fight for
democracy and human rights for all Zimbabweans. We will carry the burden of
arrests, torture and rape from an illegitimate and evil regime. Likewise, we
will continue to insist that our own system does not do to even one woman
what Zanu PF has done to Zimbabwean women.
To achieve that we call
upon our allies in civil society, the region and the international community
to stand with us as we push the MDC women's agenda forward. Priscilla
Misihairabwi and Grace Kwinjeh are activists
THE National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) has petitioned President Robert
Mugabe not to assent to the NGO Bill in its present form, arguing it will
have devastating effects on ordinary citizens, the economy and the image of
the country at large. Nango is a representative body of more than 1 000
NGOs. It handed over the petition to the President's Office on January 28
through emissaries. "In terms of its legal and moral mandate to represent the
interests of non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe, Nango has resolved
to petition Your Excellency over the Non-Governmental Organisations
Bill. "Nango, being cognisant of the desire to create a law to regulate the
NGOs, has been engaged in a process of discussion with the Ministry of
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare since 2002," read part of the
petition. The grouping said it noted with concern that the ministry gazetted
the Bill in August 2004, which bore little of what had been discussed and
agreed on between the ministry and the NGOs through Nango. Nango said it
had made its objections to the ministry through formal meetings with
minister Paul Mangwana and his officials. Despite its objections and
recommendations made through the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the Bill was placed before parliament
without any meaningful changes, Nango added. "Having been invited by the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare to comment on the Bill, Nango commends the bipartisan approach
adopted by the committee. However, it is unfortunate that the committee's
recommendations to Parliament fell victim to the divisions in the house and
were in the main rejected," said read the petition. The NGOs then
appealed to President Mugabe not to assent to the Bill. "Your Excellency, we
appeal to you not to give assent to the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill
because of its devastating effects on ordinary citizens, the economy and the
image of the country. "Our concerns, raised herein, which have already been
discussed with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and
Parliament of Zimbabwe, have not been reflected in the amendments made so
far," the NGOs added. The clauses on governance of NGOs, registration,
definition of terms, banning of foreign funding and issues of governance
were also raised in the petition. The Bill proposes an NGO Council to be
appointed by the minister of labour, with six NGO representatives, 10
government representatives and the registrar of NGOs as ex-officio
member. "The composition of the council goes against the concepts of
participatory development and the principle of self-regulation that had been
proposed by NGOs," the petition added. On registration, the NGOs said the
requirements set out in section 10 of the Bill made it difficult for NGOs to
be registered. "The NGO Bill fails to guarantee efficient registration of
NGOs, which has been the perennial problem leading to NGOs failing to be
registered all along. Furthermore, the new stringent requirements spelt out
in section 10 of the Bill, such as annual registration certificates, request
for three-year activity plans, requirement to disclose sources of funding
(considering the fact that the NGO has not yet started operating) make it so
difficult for NGOs to be registered." The NGOs also said the ban on
foreign funding for those dealing in issues of governance and human rights
was an indirect ban on general funding for all NGOs. Section 17 of the
NGO Bill states that no local NGO shall receive any foreign funding or
donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance
and the promotion and protection of human rights and political
governance. "All the work that NGOs do is human rights work, whether it's
access to water, land, information, education, treatment or promoting the
rights of people with disabilities or living with HIV and Aids," the NGOs
said. "A ban on foreign funding for human rights work is an indirect ban on
general funding for NGOs." The petition added: "The Bill will unfortunately
serve to confirm perceptions held by Sadc, AU and the broader international
community on Zimbabwe's human rights record, said to be in shambles. This
perception further tarnishes the image of Zimbabwe at a time when the nation
is trying to rebuild its image." The NGOs also argued that the
enactment of the Bill would be detrimental to the country's
development. "It is our conviction, as NGOs, that given the country
socioeconomic situation in the country where 70-80 percent of the population
is surviving below the poverty datum line and unemployment is hovering
between 60 and 80 percent; where over one million children are orphans and
where 25 percent of the population is infected by HIV and Aids, the NGO
sector is a safety net. "We therefore appeal to you, Your Excellency, to
consider our objections to this Bill, before giving it your assent," the
NGOs said. President Mugabe is on record labelling some NGOs as enemies of
the State seeking to effect regime change with the help of some Western
powers. The government decided to come up with more stringent registration
rules for NGOs as a result. Nango director Jonah Mudehwe confirmed that
they had petitioned the President over the NGO Bill. "We submitted our
petition to the President's Office through our special envoy a
week-and-a-half ago and we have not received any response now, although we
appreciate that the President has been busy in the past week," he said,
refusing to disclose the identity of the special envoy. Contacted for
comment, Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said the Bill had passed
the lobbying stage. "The stage of debating is at Parliament and that is when
they should have done their lobbying. There are a number of parties in
Parliament and they should have done enough to have their views in the Bill
before it passed that stage," Charamba said. He said it was also wrong
for Nango to lobby the President while at the same time threatening legal
action if he assented to the Bill in its present form. NGOs have not
ruled out making constitutional challenges to the law if it is passed as it
is now. Meanwhile, Parliament resumes sitting today before it is dissolved on
March 30, a day to the general elections. According to the Parliament's
papers office, as at February 4, the Labour Amendment Bill and the Emergency
Preparedness and Disaster
WHILE other political
parties such as the MDC and Zanu have announced that they would battle it
out with the ruling Zanu PF in next month's parliamentary elections,
forgotten Abel Muzorewa's United Parties (UP) says it is not going to
contest, until the current constitution is replaced. In an interview with The
Daily Mirror on Friday last week, UP secretary-general Aaron Mandla Hove
claimed that the country's constitution was "a British one" and as such the
party would only participate if a homegrown supreme law is crafted and
enacted. "We are not going to take part in any election until we have a
homegrown constitution. The current one is British," Hove said. UP last
took part in national elections in 1996, when Muzorewa and the late Zanu
leader Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole dismally lost presidential elections to
President Robert Mugabe. The UP lamented that the playing field was heavily
tilted in favour of Zanu PF, adding that opposition parties were being
denied the right to hold rallies in rural areas, the stronghold of the
ruling party. "We were recently denied the right to hold rallies in Gokwe
after the police refused to give us clearance," he said. Hove also
alleged that chiefs were coercing the electorate in the rural areas to vote
for Zanu PF. He further alleged that the delimitation exercise that was
conducted by the commission led by High Court Judge Justice George Chiweshe
robbed opposition parties when it merged constituencies in their
strongholds. Some of the constituencies that were merged by the delimitation
commission include Mbare East and West into just Mbare and Pelandaba-Mpopoma
into Bulawayo. Three more constituencies were created - Manyame in
Mashonaland West, Mudzi West in Mashonaland East and Mutasa North in
Manicaland province.
MDC's aspiring legislator for
Zengeza, Goodrich Chimbaira was arrested on Sunday on allegations of holding
an illegal meeting at his house in the constituency, his lawyer said
yesterday. National police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the arrest
but could not say much as the police were still awaiting full details of the
case. The arrest comes just over a week after Chimbaira won the MDC primaries
for Zengeza beating two contestants, James Makore and former student leader,
Charleton Hwende. Chimbaira's lawyer Alec Muchadehama of Harare law firm
Mbizo, Makoni and Muchadehama said yesterday: "He was summoned to the police
station on the pretext that some MDC youths had been involved in violence,
which was not the case. On arrival he was told that he had held an
illegal meeting at his house. He is being held at Chitungwiza Police
Station. The police details there said they are waiting for officers from
the (Harare's) Law and Order Maintenance section to deal with the
case." Chimbaira, who is also a councillor in Zengeza, becomes the second
reported aspiring MDC candidate arrested in six months, after Ian Kay who is
reportedly eyeing Marondera East. Kay, the son of the late former deputy
agriculture minister Jock, was arrested for possessing "subversive material"
late last year. So far, two incumbent MDC members of parliament Thokozani
Khupe and Nelson Chamisa of Makokoba and Kuwadzana have been arrested, and
charged with violating the Public Order and Security Act (Posa). MDC
spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi described Chimbaira's arrest, among others,
as a tactic to disadvantage the opposition party's campaign process ahead of
the March 31 polls. "How does one hold an illegal meeting at his house. Are
you not allowed to have visitors? Are you not allowed to hold celebrations
for a son who is turning 21 years old? Posa is being used to disadvantage
the opposition," said Nyathi.
From Admore Tshuma in London issue date
:2005-Feb-08
ZIMBABWEAN journalist Adolf Mukandi has threatened to take
his life if British immigration authorities push him out of the country
following his failure to be granted political asylum. Human Right lawyers
have moved in to try and block the former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
producer's pending deportation. Addressing hundreds of Zimbabweans, a
spokesman for the Zimbabwean Community Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers
(ZCCDS), said Mukandi was contemplating suicide and urged Human rights
organisations to move in and save his life. "Some asylum seekers, like the
journalist Adolf Mukandi, are now contemplating suicide rather than being
sent back home," the spokesman said. The threat has been given massive
coverage by the British media, triggering speculation that Mukandi's
application might soon be reviewed. The issue came to light when hundreds of
Zimbabwean protesters gathered in central London last Saturday to urge
ministers to stop deportations of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe. The
protesters were joined by trade union officials, MPs and the high profile
former Labour MP Tony Benn as they marched to the British Home Office.
Campaigners say the government is putting lives at risk after it reversed
its policy of not sending people back to the country. The Home Office says it
has resumed deportations to Zimbabwe to tackle a rise in unfounded
applications. In November last year, immigration minister Des Browne ended a
two-year suspension on removals, put in place because of the security
situation in the country. Large numbers of Zimbabwean opposition
activists have fled the country, saying their lives are in danger. Some
14 000 Zimbabweans have claimed asylum since 2000. The most recent figures
show that only 55 of 650 cases were considered genuine, although a further
110 won the right to stay on appeal. The Home Office will not confirm any
figures but community sources estimate up to 100 failed asylum seekers and
those who had outstayed their visas may have already been put on planes out
of the UK. Zimbabwean campaigners are fighting the deportations, saying
people are being sent back to an uncertain fate amid growing tension ahead
of elections next month. Brighton Chireka, spokesman for the Zimbabwean
campaign, said removals were contradicting the government's own statements
on the situation in the country. "The Foreign Office says there is a
crisis in Zimbabwe and that there has been no change (in the risks to
opposition) activists, so the question we ask is why has the Home Office
changed its policy to send people back?" asked Chireka. "We believe they are
removing Zimbabweans by any means possible so they can meet their removal
targets, yet you cannot hand these people over to the Zimbabwean
authorities." A spokesman for the Home Office said the returns
were justified because of the increased proportion of unfounded claims from
the region. The suspension of removals had become a "pull factor" for
fraudulent applicants posing as Zimbabweans, said the spokesman. "This
change in asylum policy is entirely about operating a firm and fair asylum
system. It does not reflect any change in the Government's categorical
opposition to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe," she said. "Genuine refugees,
including members of opposition parties, will continue to be
protected. "We will also continue to push the government of Zimbabwe to end
human rights abuses, and restore democracy so that all Zimbabweans can in
time return safely to builda prosperous and stable country."
State controls Chitungwiza's treasury, health
departments
The Daily Mirror Reporter issue date
:2005-Feb-08
IN an unprecedented move interpreted by critics as aimed at
stifling the operations of the opposition MDC-controlled local authorities,
the government is set to takeover the running of Chitungwiza Town Council's
health and treasury departments, The Daily Mirror has
established. Yesterday, the sprawling dormitory town's executive Mayor
Misheck Shoko confirmed the development, which comes in the midst of
election euphoria after President Robert Mugabe decreed March 31 as the date
for the crucial general polls. Some observers have expressed concern over
the timing of the government's intended commandeering of amenities delivery
in Zimbabwe's third largest urban settlement, arguing it was cheap
propaganda designed to woo the supposedly gullible electorate ahead of next
month's polls. Shoko said the government's decision to usurp the provision of
these essential services was made following a directive from the Ministry of
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing that rentals and tariffs
should be increased by 70 percent, far below the council's previous
proposals for this year's budget. Shoko said his council had already
presented its budget proposals and was just awaiting government
approval. Contacted for comment yesterday, local government, public works and
national housing Deputy Minister, Chief Fortune Charumbira referred all
questions to Harare metropolitan province governor Witness Mangwende who
also confirmed the new developments. Said Governor Mangwende:"They
(Chitungwiza)have presented their problems to us and we are still discussing
their budget. We have already indicated that government should now be
involved in a big way in major roles of the council such as the health
department. The department of public works is also going to initiate some
projects there in order to assist Chitungwiza." Mangwende, however, was
economic with details on the issue only saying that discussions were still
in progress. The responsible Minister Ignatius Chombo could not be reached
for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered for long periods
yesterday. Chitungwiza Municipality had proposed to hike rates and tariffs by
a staggering 3000 percent - a move that could see residents parting with at
least $300 000 in rentals per month. In view of the financially troubled
council's predicament, the government then decided to take over the treasury
and health departments, the worst affected in the council. "Heads of
departments were called to the ministry after the monetary policy statement
and were told that the government was taking over the health department.
They were also told that the City Council will be provided with $300 million
every month for employees' salaries," Mayor Shoko said. He said government's
decision to increase the dormitory town's rates by 70 percent was unfair
since it was not enough to run other council concerns including refuse
collection, sewer problems and buying workers protective
clothing. Currently, Chitungwiza residents are paying monthly rentals of
$8 900 while the new astronomical proposals would see cash-strapped
inhabitants parting with at least $15 000 per household. "The new
proposals fall far short of what we expected," said Shoko. Chitungwiza has
been experiencing financial problems since last year resulting in
deterioration of essential health and sewage reticulation services. It
has also become a norm that employees go for weeks without their salaries
well after payday. Chombo has been accused of unnecessarily meddling in
the affairs of local authorities especially those run by the ruling Zanu
PF's nemesis, MDC. His arm-twisting tactics have already seen him elbowing
out "intransigent" ex-Harare executive mayor Elias Mudzuri while the
opposition party's mayors in Mutare, Chegutu, Kariba and to a lesser extent
Bulawayo's Japhet Ntabeni-Ncube have had no respite during the course of
their tenure.