SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
By Peta Thornycroft
Independent Foreign Service
Harare
South African taxpayers’ gift of R300 million to Zimbabwe was a waste of
money and some of it is being misused for the benefit of President Robert
Mugabe's cronies in Zanu PF.
The donation - or aid - was announced late last year by finance minister
Trevor Manuel who pledged the gift would only be handed over after an
internationally- recognised government of national unity was formed.
President Kgalema Motlanthe repeated this assurance.
But suddenly and mysteriously the aid was transformed into a Southern
African Development Community ( SADC) aid package.
An instant SADC foundation, the Zimbabwe Development Assistance Framework,
was formed to channel agricultural inputs to Zimbabwean farmers.
This framework is still not yet fully operational and its impartiality has
been questioned.
The aid began moving into the country before Christmas.
It is mostly seed, fertiliser and fuel from South African companies and was
sent despite warnings from Zimbabwe agriculturalists that most of it was too
late for this summer season, and unless distributed carefully would be
abused.
Most of the seed arrived months too late to plant and is being eaten, and
the wrong fertiliser was ordered for this time of year in the maturation
cycle of annual crops like maize.
Before Christmas, 60 000 litres of diesel was also sent into Zimbabwe for
distribution.
A senior civil servant, working in the state's depleted technical support
network for farmers, Agritex, in the fertile Mashonaland West province,
confirmed last week that South African aid was often only available to Zanu
PF supporters in parts of the country, particularly Mashonaland West, Mugabe’s
s home province and Mashonaland Central where Zanu PF is also in control.
This is because it is distributed by chiefs who are invariably loyal to
ZanuPF.
The monitoring framework which SADC hastily began setting to ensure fair
distribution of the aid mostly comprised three church groups, seen by many
Zimbabweans as aligned to Zanu PF; the Evangelical Fellowship, the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, and the Johannes Masowe Apostolic Church.
At the height of the distribution last month the Catholics, also cited as
monitors in the Department of Agriculture circular, were supposed to have
joined but had not yet been invited.
The point of arrival of the consignments in Zimbabwe was the state's Grain
Marketing Board’s various depots, which are controlled by the military,
loyal to Zanu PF.
As a result opposition areas we're often neglected.
Abdenico Bhebe, Movement for Democratic Change MP for Nkayi, one of the
driest parts of Zimbabwe in the south west, said Thursday his constituency
had received no SADC aid packages.
“Nothing, nothing, and there is also not enough food aid coming in either
because the government is not fulfilling its part of the memorandum of
understanding it signed with the NGO sector by providing 40 percent of food.
“There is only western food aid coming in, and people are hungry.
“We have received none of the SADC seeds and fertiliser but it would be too
late now anyway,” he said.
A young farmer in the Chiweshe communal area, about 60 km west of Harare,
was denied any seeds or fertiliser because he did not have a Zanu PF card.
Three weeks ago, in ward 18 at the Gweshe business centre in the Chiweshe
district where the aid packs were stored, police from the Howard police
station had to break up fights when non-Zanu PF farmers were denied seeds
and fertiliser by local Chief Medomo.
“We were about a thousand people there and the sacks of seeds and fertiliser
were labelled "SADC." Zanu PF got everything and people became angry and
there was fighting, ".the young farmer said.
“One policeman called for three more police and they took bribes and allowed
Zanu PF people to take all that was handed out that day.
“There was still some sacks left over at the end of the day but they closed
down distribution and the rest was given out at the end of January, also to
Zanu PF. The people I know who do not have Zanu PF cards got nothing..”
The SADC aid appears to have been well-intentioned but misguided.
The senior Agritex officer from Mashonaland West, who spoke on condition he
was not identified, said SADC had tried to provide for fair distribution by
not using civil servants like those from Agritex to disperse it.
“The South Africans don’t know how the system works. Not all of us are Zanu
PF. There are still a few professional left in Agritex and we could have
stopped this. The chiefs have to obey Zanu PF even if they don’t want to.
“Zanu PF always takes control and the chiefs have to obey. It doesn’t matter
what anyone does, unless they are monitored by real independent people, or
NGOs, Zanu PF will ensure only their members get food and seeds.”
“The problem is that it is organised so the chiefs get everything and there
is nothing for ordinary people or those without Zanu PF cards."
A hostile Agritex official at its head office in Harare denied on Friday
that it was possible to misuse the aid, because he said a SADC official, he
called Mr Whale, attended many of the distributions. But he conceded Whale
he couldn’t be everywhere when the aid was handed out.
SADC officials were not available for comment on Friday.
Each village head was given;to dole out to seven or eight farmers in his
precinct; three packs of South African seeds, 25 kg of maize 20 kg of beans
and 5 kg of Rapoko, ground nuts, sorghum and cowpeas, and 50 kg of
fertiliser.
South African suppliers were Pannar Seeds and Advanced Seeds while Omnia
provided the fertiliser.
Experienced seed growers for both commercial and communal farmers said the
deadline for planting maize, sorghum and groundnuts, passed in November, and
that if seeds were sent to Zimbabwe after this , when so many people were
hungry, they would all be “consumed as food.”
One of Zimbabwe’s top seed producers who asked not to be named, said the
sugar beans can be planted now, but only under the “right conditions. If
distribution of sugar beans has been completed, the farmers will harvest
some crops if the rain continues.
“None of us are sure of the quality and genetic purity, especially of those
seeds which originated from Malawi."
He said the compound D fertiliser which was part of the aid packs was too
late for summer crops but the highly nitrogenous fertiliser, LAN, could
still be of used for winter wheat planting which begins in May- although
communal farmers do not have irrigation do not grow it.
“This assistance programme will be unable to make any significant difference
to our immediate food shortage situation.” he said.
According to the latest Ministry of Agriculture circular, distribution began
on January 19, although maize seed had arrived in Zimbabwe a week earlier.
Most of the rest of the inputs arrived a week later.
Despite the SADC aid which was supposed to help Zimbabweans feed themselves,
the World Food Programme has upped its estimates of Zimbabweans needing
emrgencyfood aid from 5.2 million to more than seven million.
It says it does not have enough donations to buy food for those in need and
so it cut rations again this month.
Zimbabwe now also has Africa’s worst ever cholera epidemic with about 65 000
infected and more than 3 400 dead since last August. The latest surge in
infections is in central Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 7th
February 2009
At a Vigil attended by supporters from far and wide it was
decided that, now we are all united, Comrade Mugabe would be invited to join us
outside the Embassy to mark his 85th birthday on 21st February. We know that his
fans at home are trying to extort US$ 200,000 for his birthday celebrations at
Masvingo but we are sure he will be able to use the miraculous powers which have
enabled him to bamboozle the world to join us (in the shape of Fungayi Mabhunu
wearing our Magabe mask). He will be given presents of cholera and torture, and
Grace will be shown valiantly beating up a Western photographer and battling
with a Zimbabwean judge over a stolen farm. Thanks to Mike Mudyiwa for the
suggestion.
In the new spirit of unity, the Vigil will ask Mugabe to make over
his personal fortune of US $3 billion (Top 20 African Rich List –
http://www1.zimbabwesituation.com/old/feb4a_2009.html#Z32) to the Zimbabwean people.
By curious coincidence this matches the talked about Western bail-out package.
It would be wonderful if a generous donor like Mugabe would show that the West
is not needed to rescue our dying families.
Now the far and wide bit: it was
great to welcome the Oatens from south west France and Tendai Madume who came
all the way from Plymouth in snowbound Devon – pretty heroic given the
circumstances.After a week of bleak winter weather we escaped lightly today –
very cold but dry. We bought a cake to celebrate Sue Toft’s birthday. She was
lifted shoulder-high by her friends at the Vigil in appreciation of her work for
Zimbabwe even though she has no direct connection with the country. Sue was
fortunate in having two cakes for her birthday – Emily Garupira and Eunita
Masolo, who work in a cake shop, made her a superb concoction which was shared
out post Vigil in the pub. The Vigil thinks that you are the best thing about
England Sue.
For latest Vigil pictures check:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR THE RECORD: 215 signed the
register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:· ‘The Agony of Zimbabwe, What Chance for
Change?’
Monday 9th February, 6.45 – 8.45 pm.
Talk by Christina Lamb, Foreign
Affairs Correspondent of the Sunday Times.
Hosted by Friends of Le Monde
diplomatique.
Venue: the Gallery, 70/77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ (near
Farringdon Tube station).
For more information check:
http://monde-diplo-friends.org.uk/calendar.htm.
Central London Zimbabwe
Forum.
Monday 9th February at 7.30 pm.
Venue: Downstairs at the Bell and
Compass, 9-11 Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NA, next to Charing Cross Station
at the corner of Villiers Street and John Adam Street.
WOZA Solidarity
Protest.
Saturday, 14th February, 12 – 2 pm,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429
Strand, London WC2R 0JR.
Next Glasgow Vigil.
Saturday 14th
February, 2 – 6 pm.
Venue: Argyle Street Precinct.
For more information contact:
Patrick Dzimba, 07990 724 137, Tafadzwa Musemwa 07954 344 123 and Roggers Fatiya
07769 632 687.·
Mugabe’s Birthday Bash at the Vigil – 21st February, 2 –
6 pm.
Zimbabwe Association’s Women’s Weekly Drop-in Centre.
Fridays
10.30 am – 4 pm.
Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton
Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764.
Nearest underground: Finsbury Park.
For more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open
Tuesdays and Thursdays).Vigil Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to
protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.__._,_.___
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0209/p08s01-comv.html
Short of
lifting sanctions, it can offer targeted help to boost Mugabe's rival.
By the
Monitor's Editorial Board
from the February 9, 2009 edition
A sliver of
light is shining in Zimbabwe, once a star nation in Africa that's been brutally
mismanaged by dictator Robert Mugabe. This week, Mr. Mugabe's rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai, is expected to become prime minister in a new power-sharing
government. Few give the deal much hope, yet it must be given the opportunity to
succeed.
How big an opportunity?
Africa's leaders, as voiced by the
53-member African Union, say the new unity government is cause for the
international community to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe. Now's the time, it
argues, to help to its feet a country staggering under hyperinflation and
near-total joblessness, hunger and severe health problems - including a cholera
epidemic.
Not so fast, caution the United States and European Union. They're
lukewarm to the new political arrangement, and want to see proof of
power-sharing and effective governance before they'll ease sanctions.
But
doing nothing also leaves Mr. Tsvangirai with nothing - no leverage to succeed,
and probably more likely to fail than if he had at least some tangible outside
help to rely on. Small, targeted steps can be taken that are short of ending
sanctions.
Western diplomats are right that this big move is premature.
Mugabe, in power for nearly 30 years, stubbornly remains president, and he has a
long history of broken promises.
He did not deliver on free or fair elections
last year, when he lost to Tsvangirai and this trade unionist's Movement for
Democratic Change. Neither has he allowed the free flow of humanitarian aid to
desperate Zimbabweans - instead blaming the West for the country's
problems.
And while Mugabe signed the power-sharing deal last September, it
broke down over the divvying up of ministries and arrests of opposition figures.
Last fall, Tsvangirai had hoped to at least gain control of the police (Mugabe
gets the Army); he's since been forced to accept joint command.
Other factors
bode ill for a unity government. Tsvangirai is considered feckless by some, and
his party unprepared to govern. The one outside power that could truly apply
pressure to Mugabe, neighboring South Africa, shirks from crossing a man still
recognized for his role as liberator from white rule.
Still, while the West
may be justified in its distrust of this deal, it is one that Tsvangirai has
chosen - and the only option for now.
What the West can and should do is
publicly offer limited humanitarian assistance to Tsvangirai, channeled through
the ministries that the opposition in theory will control. Food, medical
assistance, and temporary shelter could be funneled through the health ministry,
for instance.
The West should demand accountability along with this help,
then be willing to pull the plug if the aid is blocked by Mugabe and his
supporters, or diverted to them - as it has been in the past.
With such a
strategy, Tsvangirai has something to work with, and, if he can deliver, perhaps
show even Mugabe's supporters that he's the one to back.
A unity government
in Zimbabwe may last only weeks. But the West should do what it can to hasten
success - not
failure.
______________________________________________
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=933456
Moses Mudzwiti
Published: Feb 06, 2009
----------------------------------
ROBERT
Mugabe yesterday rushed through legislation that will legalise his disputed
presidency and make his arch rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister.
Zim
parliament clears way for unity deal
Zim parliament meets on unity
deal
Morning radio broadcasts instructed all members of parliament to attend
the constitutional amendment session. By late afternoon, parliament had passed
the legislation without controversy, paving the way for a unity
government.
The speed at which the process was concluded - it took a little
longer than two hours - illustrated the desperation of Mugabe’s
government.
It was also eager to meet the deadline set by the Southern
African Development Community.
More than that, Zimbabwe is on its knees and
in dire need of international aid to revive its crumbling health and education
systems and dilapidated infrastructure.
Worse still, most of its people face
critical food shortages.
With cholera continuing to exact its toll - more
than 3230 people have succumbed to the disease - the health sector is in a
shambles. Junior doctors and nurses remain on strike.
Teachers are not giving
lessons two weeks after schools opened.
Morale in the police force and army
is at a low after the government declined their request to be paid in foreign
currency.
The UN estimates that seven million of the nine million people
remaining in Zimbabwe need food aid this month, according to the Washington
Post.
It said the opposition hopes that its being placed in charge of the
finance, health and education ministries - in terms of the legislation passed
yesterday - will allow it to solicit and distribute aid to prevent mass deaths
from starvation and disease.
Mugabe, who turns 85 in a fortnight’s time,
recently quipped, “I have had enough, haven’t I?” This was in apparent reference
to the difficulty of forming a unity government.
The Washington Post reported
yesterday: “It long ago became clear that Zimbabwe cannot recover as long as Mr
Mugabe remains in power.
“South Africa and other neighbours who insist on
supporting the criminal regime are free to supply aid. But Western governments
must maintain their sanctions - especially those aimed at individual members of
the Mugabe regime and the companies they control.”
Mugabe is pinning his
survival on the unity government, convinced donors will accept the new political
arrangement.
He still has a stronghold over the senate, which is expected to
rubber-stamp the amendments.
After that, Mugabe will sign the bill into
law.
______________________________________________
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=47272
Buzz
up!
Feb. 03, 2009
Author:
Taipan Publishing Group
The root cause of
hyperinflation is excessive money supply growth, usually caused by governments
instructing their central banks to help finance expenditures through rapid money
creation. Hyperinflations have mostly occurred in a context of political
instability, adverse economic shocks and chronically high fiscal deficits.
-
Joachim Fels and Spyros Andreopoulos, Morgan Stanley Global Economic
Forum
Poor Gideon Gono. He gave it the old college try, but that just wasn’t
good enough.
Gideon Gono, in case you aren’t familiar with the name, is (or
at least was) the head of Zimbabwe’s central bank.
In local circles he is
known by his nickname, “Mr. Inflation.”
The “Mr. Inflation” moniker is due to
certain eyebrow-raising measures Mr. Gono has taken, like issuing bank notes
worth Z$ 100 trillion (How many zeroes in a hundred trillion?
Fourteen?) in a
futile attempt to ease the country’s chronic cash shortages.
When 14 zeroes
don’t do the trick, you know it’s time to give in - and that’s what the country
has done.
“Zimbabwe abandons its currency,” the BBC reported on Thursday.
“Zimbabweans will be allowed to conduct business in other currencies, alongside
the Zimbabwe dollar, in an effort to stem the country's runaway
inflation.”
Failure is never fun, but don’t feel too sorry for Mr. Gono.
Being a connected member of Zanu-PF (the ultra-corrupt political party that has
driven Zimbabwe into the ground), he has a 47-bedroom mansion to console him. No
doubt he also has a well-padded slush fund... held in something other than
Zimbabwe dollars.
Not-So-Crazy Talk
In an interview with Newsweek a few
weeks back, Mr. Gono explained his actions to the outside world. What was
frightening about the interview was not the degree of crazy talk - of which
there was some - but the more sober aspects of the exchange.
Consider this
excerpt:
Newsweek: Your critics blame your monetary policies for Zimbabwe's
economic problems.
Gono: I've been condemned by traditional economists who
said that printing money is responsible for inflation. Out of the necessity to
exist, to ensure my people survive, I had to find myself printing money. I found
myself doing extraordinary things that aren't in the textbooks. Then the IMF
asked the U.S. to please print money. I began to see the whole world now in a
mode of practicing what they have been saying I should not. I decided that God
had been on my side and had come to vindicate me.
Hmm. Some of that language
rings familiar. Where else have we heard about central bankers doing
“extraordinary things that aren’t in the textbooks”?
Isn’t that, in fact,
both the main line of defense and the main source of hope behind the West’s
now-unfolding mass Keynesian experiment... the idea that the degree of
money-printing, asset-buying and stimulus-funding we now witness with
slack-jawed awe is “extraordinary,” such non-textbook measures having never
before been tried?
Maybe what Mr. Gono (a.k.a. Mr. Inflation) is telling us
is that such measures have been tried... and they didn’t work out very
well...
Uncomfortable Parallels
The United States is not Zimbabwe, of
course. Uncle Sam’s regime is a heck of a lot more stable. And Gideon Gono never
had the privilege of printing the world’s reserve currency.
All the same, one
has to wonder. Are the basic conditions that stoke the flames of hyperinflation
- political instability, adverse economic shocks and chronically high fiscal
deficits - really so far from the West’s doorstep?
In an interview with
Barron’s last month, money manager Rob Arnott made a modest case:
How can we
get out of this current mess without renewed inflation?
A lot of folks are
deeply concerned about the risk of deflation. The temptation is to look at
history, especially the Great Depression, which was a deflationary depression
and which started with a very, very low national indebtedness. If you have very
little debt and you have a depression, it is likely to be deflationary. The
contrast with Germany in the 1920s is noteworthy; they had massive indebtedness
and hyperinflation. I’m not suggesting a risk of hyperinflation. But I am
suggesting that people are too glib about tossing aside the risk of inflation,
which was front and center less than six months ago for most investors.
That
Hideous Strength
As your humble editor has said before in these pages: When
it comes to rapid money creation, the U.S. Federal Reserve reigns supreme. In
terms of sheer scale and scope, nobody but nobody prints like the U.S. of
A.
Here and now, though, there are at least two reasons traders are
complacent about the dollar’s fate. One, because the greenback remains visibly
strong; and two, because Fed Chairman Bernanke is still wrestling with a
deflationary grizzly bear.
There’s no arguing with the chart. Given the
current climate, traders prefer greenbacks.
This is, in large part, because
Europe looks to be at risk of cracking up. Riots on the continent threaten to
make France look like Greece (where things got so bad the police ran out of tear
gas), and Britain is staring down the prospect of bank losses larger than the
country’s entire GDP. (Some wags have begun newly referring to London as
Reykjavik-on-Thames - though it seems a touch early for Iceland
comparisons.)
Add in Moody’s threat to downgrade Ireland’s credit rating,
Spain in the grips of a vicious housing bubble unwind, and more troubles
building up in Italy and the Eastern bloc, and what you get is a euro on the
outs.
Then further season the stew with ongoing global economic fears, a lack
of certainty as to when growth will resume, and an increasing likelihood that
Japan will devalue a too-strong Yen, and you wind up with a situation where the
U.S. dollar is the only freely traded major currency alternative left standing.
(Besides gold, that is.)
Cracks in the Dam
But you’ve got to wonder (or at
least I do)... is it really a good thing, in the long run, for the Fed and
Treasury to be given even more rope to hang themselves?
Think about how we
got into this mess - this global mess - in the first place. At root, U.S.
consumers were given too much credit and Wall Street was given too much trust.
In both cases, the appearance of stability led to a dramatic build-up of
pressures beneath the surface.
The U.S. consumer has never pulled back, we
were reminded, and U.S. house prices have never gone down. These were key
rationales for letting the bubble get bigger and bigger before its 2007-2008
burst.
Now, with the greenback looking good in a relative paper sense, it’s
easy to see the Fed and Treasury employing a similar line of logic. “Why not
print more,” Bernanke and new man Geithner can say, “when the print-fest thus
far has had no ill effects?”
Furthermore, there is a similar “hidden
pressure” problem embedded in the Fed’s deflation-fighting efforts.
Imagine,
if you will, the present gloom-and-doom outlook as a sort of deflationary dam
holding back the waters of credit - waters desperately needed to refresh the
economy. (The refusal of the banks to dole out their cash, in fact, is very much
like a giant lending dam.)
In order to get liquidity to the people, the Fed
(with the help of the White House) will have to “break through” this
deflationary dam via sheer, unadulterated force. (At heart, that is really what
these “unprecedented” Keynesian measures are all about.)
But what happens
when the deflationary dam has well and truly smashed, giving way to inflationary
flood?
After you’ve ginned up a boiling river, how do you turn off the
taps?
On that score, I doubt Ben Bernanke has any more of a clue than Gideon
Gono.
That’s why I suspect the “extraordinary measures” being taken by the
Fed now could prove even more extraordinary in their aftermath... and why I
prefer the long-term prospects of countries with assets on hand rather than
debts.
Warm Regards,
Justice Litle,
Editorial Director
Taipan
Publishing
Group
www.taipanpublishinggroup.com
_____________________________________
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Sport/Article.aspx?id=934488
Miles
Maponyera
Published:Feb 08,
2009
--------------------------------------------
ZIMBABWE RUINS: The A
field at Alexandra Cricket Club in Harare is meant to be the city’s reserve Test
venue
Picture: LAURIANE NEAVE
“So tell me Miles, why do you need to talk
to me about the state of Zimbabwe cricket?” asked a former Zimbabwe
international as he gestured to our surrounds.
We were sitting on the side of
one of Harare’s premier club grounds, but the grass on the outfield was
approaching knee height.
With the city’s cricket clubs no longer able to
maintain their own tractors, Zimbabwe Cricket’s only mower has been overwhelmed
by its duties around the capital during the rainy season.
People used to take
pride in the national cricket team, when they punched well above their weight
for a country with a population of just 12-million.
Test victories against
respectable sides were not uncommon in the late nineties, but now the national
team’s high points involve thrashing a poor Kenyan side and the odd win over
Bangladesh.
Zimbabwe cricket’s crash is a by-product of the country’s
economic and political decline. But more crippling to the game was alleged
financial mismanagement by administrators, led by president Peter Chingoka and
chief executive Ozias Bvute.
Of all the accusations levelled against them,
the most serious came from the Reserve Bank in 2005, and they were arrested for
12 exchange control violations.
However, two days after their arrest,
Chingoka and Bvute walked free and their case never went to court.
The pair
have close links with Zanu-PF, the ruling party, and were banned from travelling
to Australia, along with a number Zimbabwean politicians.
The embarrassing
arrest forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take note and ZC’s
accounts were forensically audited twice.
The results of the first audit were
rejected outright by Chingoka and Bvute, although they had hand-picked a local
auditor. The second was conducted by a multinational company and, in the words
of the ICC, revealed “serious financial irregularities”.
Yet the ICC clung to
the final paragraph of auditors’ report, which said no criminal charges could be
levelled at any individual, ignoring the fact that this is a typical cautionary
note that the auditors are only employed to gather facts, not determine guilt or
innocence.
The exact facts unearthed by the second audit may be known only to
those on the ICC board, but what’s clear to everyone is that millions of US
dollars have flowed into the ZC coffers over the past six years as a result of
Zimbabwe’s participation in ICC events, yet the country’s cricketing
infrastructure has all but collapsed.
In November, the ICC sent a task team
to Zimbabwe, led by West Indies Cricket Board president Julian Hunte and ICC CEO
Haroon Lorgat.
The idea was to establish the state of cricket and assess the
possibility of restoring the senior team to Test cricket, a ludicrous suggestion
given that Zimbabwe have won just one of their last 60 one-day matches against
top-eight opposition in the past five years.
Hunte stayed on after Lorgat
left and met Kevin Curran and Robin Brown, both former coaches of the national
side, and former ZC chief executive Dave Ellman-Brown and selector and board
member Charlie Robertson.
“We had a frank meeting,” says Robertson of his
encounter with the task team. “I handed over all of my correspondence with ZC,
including my list of questions to them about their conduct, as well as their
replies to me which showed how Chingoka had shamelessly fobbed me off.
“I
also made it clear we’d be holding the ICC accountable for the death of cricket
in this country, because they have just watched on despite the fact that ZC did
not have their finances in order as per ICC regulations.
“I will hold them
accountable when (the current administrators) finally walk away with the money
and leave nothing, because Zimbabwe will just be an associate with none of the
income required to rebuild.”
When the ICC met in Perth last weekend to hear
an interim report from Hunte, they were told “none of the stakeholders spoken to
during the visit were of the view that Zimbabwe was ready to return to Test
cricket, with time frames proposed ranging from six months to two years or
more”.
According to Robertson, the reason for this indeterminate amount of
time relies on one major factor: “The only way we can return to Test cricket is
if we get rid of this administration.”
Miles Maponyera works for TEAMtalk
Media Group
(SA)
____________________________________________
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/389642.html
Cricket
South Africa to restore links with Zimbabwe
Cricinfo staff
February 7,
2009
Ozias Bvute is happy with the progress Zimbabwe are making
©
Wisden
Barely a year after cutting ties with Zimbabwe, Cricket South Africa
(CSA) has pledged to resume bilateral relations with the fraught country and
support efforts to build a proficient Test team. While the ICC has yet to
confirm this, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) chief executive Ozias Bvute said that South
Africa would resume close ties with his association.
"I can confirm that the
suspension of the agreement we had with our neighbours, South Africa, has been
lifted," said Bvute. "We only need to sit down to work out the modalities of
putting into motion the support Cricket South Africa will assist us with."
ICC communications officer James Fitzgerald told the Mail & Guardian,
"The [ICC] board was informed that both the Board of Control for Cricket in
India and Cricket South Africa have offered playing and administrative support
to Zimbabwe Cricket."
CSA spokesperson Kass Naidoo, however, was less
forthcoming and said any policy issue regarding ZC would be discussed at the
board level. "The ICC request is likely to be on the board's agenda at its next
meeting in February, with other relevant decisions taken at the last ICC
executive board meeting," she said.
CSA, under former president Norman
Arendse, had cut off ties with Zimbabwe Cricket because of what Arendse termed
was "the worsening situation in Zimbabwe". At the time the move was greeted with
surprise as South Africa had been staunch supporters of Peter Chingoka and his
board. The power-sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai,
assuming that it holds, makes a restoration of relations all the more
likely.
During the ICC board meeting in Perth last week, an ICC-appointed
task team presented an interim report on the state of the game in Zimbabwe, who
voluntarily stepped away from Tests in 2006. The team was headed by Julian
Hunte, the president of the West Indies board, and included ICC chief executive
Haroon Lorgat. They visited Zimbabwe in November 2008 to inspect facilities,
infrastructure and to speak to various stakeholders. The outcome was that
Zimbabwe were still at least six months away from being ready for Tests again,
but in reality that is likely to be much longer.
Bvute, however, felt
otherwise. "Our timetable is in tandem with theirs [the ICC's]. I think it's a
fair reflection of what's on the ground - we don't dispute that," he told AP.
"Although we have seen improvements in the team's performance, it's however too
early to say whether we are ready. It could be early, it could be not.
"We
will endeavor to shorten the period. We obviously have programs set up to make
that possible. That includes playing in leagues in other countries. I'm glad
that the Indian board has been kind enough to allow us to participate in their
league [the Deodhar Trophy in March]."
Bvute said that Zimbabwe, who beat
Kenya 5-0 in a recent ODI series, were making progress. "It should be noted that
Zimbabwe is a full member of the ICC and will continue to take part in ODIs
under the Futures Tours Programs," Bvute said. "Then, with time, we should
participate in all forms of the game. We are trying to quicken that
process."
©
Cricinfo
____________________________________________
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008719812_victoriafalls08.html
Ten
years ago, Victoria Falls hotels were often full amid a tourism gold
rush.
But under Mugabe's rule, tourism revenue has plummeted.
By Karin
Brulliard
The Washington Post
PREV of NEXT
BRULLIARD / THE WASHINGTON
POST
Some visitors still view Victoria Falls from its namesake town in
Zimbabwe, but most now stay just across the border in Zambia, where tourism has
boomed.
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe - This hamlet is swathed in lush emerald
jungle, a serene place that is 500 miles from the political turmoil in the
nation's capital but seems a galaxy apart.
And then there is the attraction
for which the town is named, one of the world's Seven Wonders: the mighty
Victoria Falls, a mile-long, 350-foot-high cascade best seen from here in
Zimbabwe, residents insist - not from across the chasm in Zambia.
All of
which mattered not a whit to Manhattan resident Michael Marsh on a recent
morning. He stood on the Zambian side, his baseball cap damp with waterfall
spray, and offered a list of reasons why he passed on the view from
Zimbabwe.
"I didn't even consider going across the border," said Marsh, 70, a
retired dentist who was staying with his wife, Andrea, 67, in a tony lodge
outside the Zambian falls town of Livingstone. "Starvation, cholera,
desperation, an irrational dictator. I'd love to be able to support the people,
but I can't support the government."
And so it was that once-thriving
Victoria Falls lost two more tourists to its once-desolate northern neighbor, a
continuation of a trend that illustrates the reverberations of Zimbabwe's
boom-to-bust economy and chaotic politics under President Robert Mugabe's
28-year reign and, many in Victoria Falls say, the power of bad
press.
"Livingstone has become a success because of what's happened in
Zimbabwe," said a Zimbabwean executive with a tourism company that operates on
both sides of the falls, expressing an opinion that many in Livingstone do not
dispute. "There's no way, to the extent that it has grown, that it would have
happened without the downturn here."
Ten years ago, Victoria Falls hotels
were often full amid a tourism gold rush, and guidebooks were advising those in
search of a less theme-park feel to head across the Zambezi River into Zambia.
Livingstone - named for British explorer David Livingstone, the first European
to see the falls - was an undeveloped nook in a country that had abandoned
communism a decade before.
Then Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms,
triggering the collapse of Zimbabwe's agricultural economy and widespread
international condemnation. The years since have been marked by disputed
elections marred by violence and repression, inflation that has skyrocketed past
231 million percent and shortages of food and currency.
Now Zimbabwe, a
former tourism mecca, is the subject of many Western nations' travel warnings.
Tourism revenue dropped from $ 777 million in 1999 to $ 26 million in 2008,
according to figures from Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank, which are considered the most
reliable. The World Economic Forum, relying on sunnier data from the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority, predicts the industry will contract more than 1 percent
annually for the next decade.
"The tourism sector has suffered because of the
bad publicity we have received from our enemies," said Karikoga Kaseke, chief
executive of the tourism authority, referring to the Western nations that
Mugabe's government blames for its problems.
Whatever the reason, Zambia saw
an opening and began marketing its side of the falls, sometimes as "Victoria
Falls Livingstone." Big hotel chains arrived, and risk-averse corporations moved
conferences there. National tourism revenue doubled to $ 176 million from 1999
to 2006, according to government statistics. The Livingstone Tourism Association
says the number of hotel rooms in the town has swelled from 700 to about 1,900
in the past eight years.
"Initially, it was a negative for us," Tanya
Stephens, a longtime Livingstone resident who manages the new Livingstone branch
of the South African Protea Hotel chain, said of Zimbabwe's slide. "Then Zambia
started to go out and say, 'You can still see Victoria Falls. You can come to
Zambia, the safe side of the falls.' "
This is the off-season, and the global
recession has slowed tourist traffic, but even now Livingstone feels like a town
in the midst of a an oil boom. Footpaths along the waterfall were humming on a
recent weekend, and recently opened and in-progress guesthouses marked the
landscape. Another big hotel and a supermarket were under construction. A new,
tourist-friendly pub on the main drag is "very busy in the evenings," taxi
driver Evans Mumbuaa said.
Across the river in the center of Victoria Falls
was a shuttered bar and a lonely square. Tourists must bring cash - preferably
U.S. dollars or South African rand - to pay for warm sodas at the partially
lighted grocery store, because ATMs no longer dispense Zimbabwe's worthless
currency.
"They didn't have any postcards in the nice hotels!" said German
retiree Ruth Burchardi, who was sipping coffee near a guesthouse pool. She said
she knew nothing of Zimbabwe's political situation until friends told her she
was crazy to have booked a trip there.
Down at the falls, the few tourists
were mostly from other African nations. Among the exceptions were two German
engineers on a journey through Southern Africa by four-wheel-drive. But they had
been warned that a road trip into Zimbabwe would invite hassles from police, so
they came just for the day, with a tour guide from across the border in
Botswana.
Victoria Falls tourism operators bemoan negative headlines and
stress that the nation's woes have largely bypassed the town. Violence and
political unrest are rare and have never affected tourists, they say, and
proximity to stocked shops in Zambia and Botswana allow hotels and restaurants
to offer first-rate menus and amenities.
But things are dire enough that the
hospitality industry has had to keep the town functioning. Operators interviewed
in Victoria Falls said some businesses take turns buying chemicals to treat the
town's water supply, and one outfit recently bought an engine for the trash
truck.
More officially, several operators banded together three years ago to
launch a $ 150,000 campaign and Web site, GoToVictoriaFalls.com, aimed at
reclaiming the town's good name.
A special correspondent in Harare, Zimbabwe,
contributed to this
report.
___________________________________________
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090205202426942
Writer:
Clemence Manyukwe
Date: 08 February 2009
Hong Kong University has rejected
growing calls to send home Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's daughter, Bona
Mugabe, who is studying there under an assumed name. The presence of the
dictator's daughter in Hong Kong became known after her mother, Grace Mugabe,
assaulted photographer Tsim Sha Tsui while shopping in the country.
Around
the world, universities have been under pressure to revoke honorary degrees
awarded to Robert Mugabe and government's to expel individuals linked to his
autocratic government.
His daughter's presence in Hong Kong was first
revealed by the South China Morning Post, despite efforts to mask her presence.
Bona Mugabe has never made political statements in Zimbabwe, but has attended
political rallies addressed by her father.
"We believe that education should
be above politics and young people should not be denied the right to education
because of their family background or what their parents have done," a Hong Kong
University spokesperson was quoted as saying in the local press. Legislator
Emily Lau Wai-hing called for a debate over the admission of students such as
Bona Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) has since launched
a campaign to pressure China to deport young Bona Mugabe. In a petition
delivered to the Chinese ambassador in Harare on 27 January, Zinasu said she
should return and attend university with other students in Zimbabwe who are
suffering because of her father's policies.
She should, said Zinasu in the
petition, "come and suffer with other patriotic students studying in state
universities. The state of the education system is so deplorable that the
President has seen it fit to trust the Chinese with the education of his
daughter whilst ordinary students are failing to get a decent education."
The
petition outlined a litany of problems that have hit the education system hard
and prompted Mugabe's government to take action - such as charging university
fees in United States dollars, the brain drain, suppression of academic freedom
and the failure of some students to write examinations because of industrial
action.
"Zinasu demands the return of Bona Mugabe as a way of mounting
pressure on President Mugabe to resuscitate the once prestigious education
system," the petition concluded.
The latest campaign follows one last year
that resulted in the Botswana government deporting Mugabe propagandist and
University of Botswana media studies lecturer, Ceaser Zvayi. Prior to working in
Botswana, Zvayi was political editor of the state-run The Herald newspaper, and
he was slapped with targeted sanctions by the European Union for hate speech
that fanned violence against Mugabe's political opponents during which hundreds
of people died.
Universities in the United States and the United Kingdom have
revoked degrees awarded to Mugabe. Last year, Australia deported eight students
with links to members of Mugabe's government, including the children of
Commissioner General of Police Augustine Chihuri and Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono, saying it wanted to prevent people involved in human rights abuses
giving their children education denied to ordinary Zimbabweans. In recent years,
government officials have opted to send their children to universities in Asia,
mainly Malaysia.
Opposition officials have jumped on the bandwagon of sending
their children to foreign institutions. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change and now Prime Minister-designate in an envisaged
power-sharing government with Mugabe, sent his daughter to university in
Australia to escape plummeting standards at local institutions.
Local
analysts have said the campaign to bring back Mugabe's daughter is unlikely to
succeed, citing China's refusal to censure him as exemplified by its blocking of
debate on Zimbabwe by the United nations Security
Council.
____________________________________________
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=4221
by
Nokuthula Sibanda
Monday 09 February 2009
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
President Mugabe . . . will have to drop some of his
loyal lieutenants from Cabinet
HARARE
President Robert Mugabe is yet to
finish selecting the 15 people from his ZANU PF party that he will appoint as
ministers, just four days before a unity government is appointed, sources told
ZimOnline.
Under the power-sharing agreement, there shall be 31 ministerial
posts with the main MDC formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai allocated 13 posts
and the Arthur Mutambara-led smaller formation of the opposition taking three
posts.
It was not immediately clear whether Tsvangirai and Mutambara had
finished making their own selections but sources said the opposition leaders
were unlikely to face much difficulty given that their parties had always
campaigned on smaller government of no more than 15 Cabinet
ministers.
Mugabe, who will announce the power-sharing Cabinet on February
13, has the harder task, as he will have to drop some of his loyal lieutenants
from Cabinet to make room for the opposition, with our sources saying there will
be lots of surprises from ZANU PF when the new ministers are announced.
"The
final line up on who will be in the Cabinet has not yet been finalised," said a
source in Mugabe’s office, who spoke on condition he was not named.
He added:
"They will be a lot of surprises in the final line up. Nobody is guaranteed of
his or her post despite others working hard to be noticed over the year. Nothing
is guaranteed and nothing is certain. Just expect fireworks in the final team
from ZANU PF."
Making it more difficult for Mugabe is in-fighting between two
rival factions in ZANU PF that are vying for control of the party in the event
that he steps down.
The factions, one led by former parliamentary speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa and the other by retired army general Solomon Mujuru, are
expected to push for their candidates to occupy influential posts in government
as a way to strengthen their hand in the party.
The appointment of Cabinet
next Friday will be preceded by the swearing in of Tsvangirai as Prime Minister
on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Ministers Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe will be sworn
in on the same day as Tsvangirai.
Zimbabweans hope a power-sharing government
will help ease the political situation and allow the country to focus on
tackling an economic and humanitarian crisis marked by acute shortages of food
and basic commodities, amid a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 3 000
people since last
August.
ZimOnline
______________________________________
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=11177
February 7, 2009
I HAVE
just spoken to Kanda Bongo Man about the US$ 100,000 he is supposed to have been
paid for a recent performance in Harare.
The poor man is suffering despite
what we Zimbabweans we are saying about him. The poor man is said to have been
invited to perform at a so-called concert to promote the tourism of
Zimbabwe.
Believe me the King of Kwasa-Kwasa says he was paid no more than
US$ 1 500. If US$ 100 000 was indeed spent on that gig, then Karikoga Kaseke
must be arrested and prosecuted for the rest of the money.
Kanda Bongo Man is
very bitter about what Zimbabweans are saying that destroys his image. He always
performs for good causes. From what he said when I personally spoke to him I
don’t think he will ever allow anybody else to use his image to rob Zimbabwe’s
taxpayers.
Kaseke must be brought to court where he will explain what
happened to the rest of the money.
John
Mutchetche
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
[ Background ]
Kaseke splashes
on Kanda Bongo Man
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9311
December 30,
2008
Kanda Bongo Man in action.
By Our Correspondent
THE government of
Zimbabwe has splashed a fortune in precious foreign currency in fees paid to
Kanda Bongo Man for performing at a modelling contest to be held Tuesday night
in Harare.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has hired the ageing
Congolese-born kwasa kwasa musician to perform at a Zimbabwe Miss Tourism
pageant in Harare for a cool US$ 100 000. A highly placed source at the ZTA says
the burly Congolese performer, who arrived in Harare on Monday with his large
ensemble, will be the star attraction at the event to be held at the Harare
International Conference Centre (HICC).
“I am told that the US$ 100 000 as
well as all his travel, accommodation and incidental expenses have already been
paid for,” said the source who asked for anonymity.
“Bongo Man has agreed to
act as Zimbabwe’s tourism ambassador to the world.”
How the ZTA expects a
French-speaking Manchester-based musician, who is clearly in the twilight of his
music career to be effective as Zimbabwe’s world ambassador has not been
explained, especially when President Robert Mugabe’s own government is in the
forefront of effectively tarnishing the county’s image. Two weeks ago Mugabe
announced that his government had now brought the current cholera epidemic under
control. Not only was this a gross misrepresentation of the actual situation,
more than 200 more people have died since he spoke.
A total of more than 1
500 Zimbabweans have succumbed to the widespread cholera epidemic over the last
two months, according to the latest United Nations figures, mainly because of
lack of access to clean potable water and lack of medical
treatment.
Zimbabwe’s acute shortage of foreign currency has been cited as
the cause of the serious shortage of both water treatment equipment and
medicines.
The cholera epidemic coupled with the internationally disseminated
widespread kidnapping and torture of political opponents has not helped to
promote a positive image of Zimbabwe as a popular tourist destination. Some
western countries have issued warnings against travelling to Zimbabwe.
The
ZTA believes, however, that it can pull a fast one as it were on the
international tourist community by engaging musicians such as Bongo Man to woo
them back.
“We have no apologies for being Africa’s number one tourism
destination,” said Karikoga Kaseke, the ZTA chief executive officer at a press
briefing in Harare. “The World Tourism Authority accorded us the status and we
hope Kanda Bongo Man will make his own assessment and then spread the message.
We’re not going to tell him what to say but we hope he will see the real
situation in Zimbabwe and tell the truth and the truth is the true
message.”
Always steeped in controversy and constantly featuring at the
centre of negative publicity in the press, the temperamental ZTA chief executive
is hardly the ideal ambassador for Zimbabwe himself. Far from questioning some
of Kaseke’s more dubious decisions and actions, government ministers and top
officials regularly grace the ZTA functions with their presence. Outgoing deputy
Information Minister Bright Matonga and Mugabe’s press secretary George Charamba
are regular front-row revellers.
Meanwhile, Bongo Man has urged the beauties
scheduled to strut their stuff Tuesday night for the right to represent Zimbabwe
in international tourism modelling competitions to promote Zimbabwe.
“You’re
now like Zimbabwean passports or an ID that you show everywhere you go,” he said
in a live television broadcast. “So if you behave badly it reflects on your
country.”
It is not clear whether this was a deliberate barb aimed at Kaseke.
Bongo Man then proceeded to heap praise on exiled Zimbabwe Chimurenga music
guru, Thomas Mapfumo, whom he described as a friend.
Ironically, Mapfumo was
forced to flee to the United States as a result of the Mugabe regime’s political
repression. He was accused of singing subversive songs critical of the
government. Two songs in particular, Mamvemve and Marimanzara, narrated the sad
story of the crumbling of the country’s once vibrant economy and the chaotic
land reform programme.
Meanwhile, Bongoman and his entourage are expected to
be taken on a tourism junket to some of the country’s premier but now forlorn
resort areas as part of the musician’s tourism ambassadorial package.
The ZTA
has brought in a stream of other international musicians and conferred on them
the dubious status of tourism ambassadors for Zimbabwe. While they have all
departed with a hefty bounty there has been no feedback on how many tourists
visited Zimbabwe as a result of their personal intervention. Nothing tangible
has materialised out of the launch of the ZTA’s so-called Perception Management
Programme.
Kaseke has not responded to allegations that he could be deriving
benefits through backhanders.
Prominent among the visiting musicians were
South African Kwaito stars, Mafikizolo and Malaika as well as Mbaqanga musician,
Ringo Mandlingozi. Another Congolese Kwasa kwasa star Awilo Longomba and
Jamaican reggae star, Luciano, have also been Kaseke’s guests and Zimbabwe’s
alleged ambassadors.
In-fact the country’s image has deteriorated with
tourist arrivals falling sharply, particularly following the chaotic and violent
June 27 run-off election which left scores of main stream Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) supporters dead, prompting the party’s leader to pull
out of the election. To compound Zimbabwe’s tourism problem, several foreign
journalists were arrested for operating without licences while others were
tortured while in police custody during the same period.
Bongo Man now 53, is
most famous for the structural changes he implemented to Soukous music.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, says the previous approach was to sing several
verses and have one guitar solo at the end of the song. Bongo Man is credited
with revolutionizing Soukous by encouraging guitar solos after every verse and
even sometimes at the beginning of the song.
His form of Soukous gave birth
to the kwasa kwasa dance rhythm where the hips move back and forth while the
hands move to follow the hips.
Despite his musical achievements Bongo Man is
generally regarded as being long past the prime of his music
career.
__________________________________________
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/tendai-biti-tipped-for-finance-postbennet-to-deputize/
Local
News
February 7, 2009
By Simba Dzvairo
© zimbabwemetro.com
Recently
freed senior MDC official Tendai Biti will be appointed to the powerful post of
Minister of Finance and Economic Development by the Prime Minister designate
Morgan Tsvangirai, a source has revealed.
Biti is the Secretary-General of
the MDC and was the MDC chief negotiator in the SADC brokered unity talks. He
served as the MDC’s Secretary for Economic Affairs, and is reportedly the brains
behind RESTART, the MDC economic blueprint.
Also in the cabinet will be Roy
Bennett who returned to Zimbabwe for the first time in more than two years after
claiming asylum in South Africa. Bennett is the MDC Treasurer General and will
be one of the non constituency Members of Parliament that the MDC will appoint
according the power sharing deal.
The source also revealed that a draft
cabinet list has been drawn up by the MDC President and his closest advisers but
is yet to be presented to the party ’s National Executive Council for approval
before being passed on to President Robert Mugabe next week.
The Finance post
is envisaged to be the most powerful post in the unity government as the country
tries to piece back together the shattered economy, crushed by the world’s
highest inflation.
More than half the population needs food aid to survive,
while only six percent of the workforce has jobs, according to the United
Nations.
But major donors like Britain and the United States have said they
will wait to see if the new government can function before giving the new
administration major new aid.
In a related development Metro has learnt that
MDC MP Evelyn Masaiti-Matongo who had been tipped for a cabinet post has been
dropped, Masaiti who is personally close to the MDC President is the MDC Women’s
Assembly Secretary-General and wife of the late MDC National Chairman Isaac
Matongo.
______________________________________________
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/526528/-/13rt1m7z/-/
Daily
Nation
Kenya
Chege Mbitiru
Posted Sunday, February 8 2009 at
18:52
Good news came from Zimbabwe last week. Constitutionally, President
Robert Mugabe and his archrival, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, will form a unity
government.
In addition to re-creating Zimbabwe, pressure is needed for
Zimbabwe to surrender former Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam, for trial.
He deserves one!
Not all members of Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF are ululating over
the new arrangement. The same goes for Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC membership. Both
groups sought total power.
Assault tactics
Knowing Mr Mugabe’s rhino-like
assault tactics, celebrations need wait. One thing is certain. Mr Mugabe
gleefully waits to swear in Mr Tsvangirai on Wednesday. The president relishes
humiliating opponents. Remember Joshua Nkomo.
One of the reasons Mr
Tsvangirai gave for joining the government is telling. Southern African
Development Cooperation (SADC) leaders told M&T, “Enough!” The duo didn’t
say, “Let’s do it.” That’s inauspicious.
The deal makes nonsense of South
African President Kgalema Motlanthe’s assertion SADC member nations “take our
cue from the people of Zimbabwe…” Nearly a half of the electorate wanted Mr
Mugabe out last March. In the runoff, Mr Mugabe whipped voters into voting for
him.
The cowed-like manner in which a majority of SADC presidents handled Mr
Mugabe casts doubt about their determination to ensure he doesn’t weasel
out.
Lacked courage
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is on record
saying SADC lacked courage to act on the basis last March elections were the
only one free and fair, otherwise “we probably would be facing a different
situation.” They now have given Mr Mugabe an additional butcher
knife.
Possibly, the new arrangement will stymie Zimbabwe’s descent to a
cartographer’s lines. Already, the country has abandoned its currency. Tinkering
with zeros on currency notes is fiscal management. Inflation rate is more than
300 trillion per cent. As for food, Zimbabwe as a granary is ashes. Cholera
kills daily. At 39 years, Zimbabwe’s life expectancy is depopulation.
Most
woes that can befall a people have befallen Zimbabweans. Not so long ago, Mr.
Mugabe declared, “Zimbabwe is mine.” A country of world’s hungriest billionaires
isn’t much to boast possessing.
The African Union and SADC are demanding the
US and the European Union lift sanctions against Mr Mugabe, some cronies and
companies associated with them. Equally, they should tell Mr Mugabe that Mr
Mengistu’s time is up. Mr Tsvangirai’s party should add his voice.
In
addition to ruining Zimbabwe, Mr Mugabe harbours one of Africa’s notorious
leaders, assuming only five per cent of Mr Mengistu’s alleged misdeeds are
true.
Colonel Mengistu was among a group of officers who ousted Emperor Haile
Selassie in 1974. He shot his way to the top of the ruling council, and remained
head of state up to 1991.
Allegations were made Mr Mengistu was responsible
for the deaths of thousands of Ethiopians between 1975 and 1978. During his
reign, Ethiopians paid for a “wasted bullet” to collect bodies of relatives the
state murdered.
In 1991, Mr Mengistu fled an insurgency. After a 12-year
trial in absentia, Ethiopia’s High Court convicted Mr Mengistu to life in
prison. Last year, the Supreme Court enhanced the sentence to death.
Because
of Ethiopia’s death penalty law, international sentiments would work against
Ethiopia were it to seek Mr. Mengistu’s extradition. That’s where the
International Criminal Tribunal comes in. Statutes of limitations for murder
don’t exist.
Using evidence Ethiopian authorities gathered, the ICC ought to
find grounds to try Mr Mengistu, once described as “the butcher of Addis.” After
all, compared with Mr Mengistu, Sudan’s President Omar el-Bashir, whom the ICC
has indicted over the Darfur conflict, emerges as a deviant Sunday school
teacher. ( cmbitiru@hotmail.com
)
______________________________________________
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/2009/02/who-gets-the-perks-and-the-mercs.html
Sunday,
08 February 2009
A Moses Moyo forecast of who will get what in Tsvangirai's
partial cabinet
Morgan Tsvangirai has bitten the power-sharing bullet.
And
now, still staggering under the realisation that he is to be Prime Minister of
Mugabe's Zimbabwe - a poisoned chalice if ever there was one - he has to
nominate those of his party who will take the MDC share of ministerial
appointments in the new administration.
I understand that the situation is
still fluid. Not that there aren't enough volunteers for the available cabinet
posts. The jobs carry good salaries and the inevitable perks. After years of
being beaten up, thrown into jail, and living in fear, the thought of life in
smart offices, wearing smart suits, and being driven to and fro in a smart
Mercedes, is a tempting one.
Tsvangirai has 13 posts to fill. So far no-one's
got anything. But here's my pick of the runners and riders. Place your bets on
the following:
Tendai Biti. The party's secretary opposed the agreement with
Zanu-PF, and even indicated that he would not be interested in serving in the
inclusive government. But power is a strong argument. And Tsvangirai needs that
sharp lawyer’s brain in the inevitable battles with Mugabe's men. Biti could
well be our next Minister of Home Affairs.
Tapiwa Mashakada. Mashakada is an
economist and as such is expected to be named Minister of Economic Planning. But
there's an outside chance he could get the crucially important Finance
Ministry.
Fidelis Mhashu. The veteran educationist is expected to be named
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture.
Elias Mudzuri. The former mayor of
Harare is tipped to get the National Housing and Social Amenities
portfolio.
Lucia Matibenga. The veteran trade unionist could be given the
Labour portfolio.
Other names in the frame for important posts include MDC
policy co-ordinator Eddie Cross, former party treasurer now back in the country
Roy Bennett, Eric Matinenga, Douglas Mwonzora, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Giles
Mutsekwa, Jessie Majome, Paurina Mpariwa, and of course the charismatic party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
My fans will have realised that the name Moses Moyo
has so far not been mentioned. But I'm standing by the phone.
Posted on
Sunday, 08 February 2009 at
11:01
___________________________________________
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/4559384/Zimbabwe-cholera-epidemic-will-hit-100000.html
Zimbabwe's
cholera epidemic has broken all African records and the World Health
Organisation predicts 100,000 people may be infected before it is
contained.
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 4:52PM GMT 08 Feb
2009
The International Federation of the Red Cross has deployed a large
number of emergency response units in Zimbabwe. Photo: REUTERS
When cholera
first started spreading last year the worst-case projections were that 60,000
people could fall ill. That total has already been surpassed, with well over
3,000 dead.
The scale of the problem illustrates the challenges Morgan
Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, will
have to face once he is sworn in as prime minister this week.
The MDC risks
being held responsible for a situation over which it has little or no power if
the Zanu-PF party of Robert Mugabe obstructs the work of the unity government.
Mr Mugabe, Zimbabwe's longstanding autocratic leader, remains Zimbabwe's
president and has control of several key ministries after months of negotiations
with Mr Tsvangirai.
While the cholera epidemic in Harare, the capital, has
stabilised, in other more rural locations, cholera is raging.
The
International Federation of the Red Cross has deployed a large number of
emergency response units in Zimbabwe, but neither it nor other humanitarian
agencies can cope with the spread of cholera.
The World Health Organisation
recently found that in a two-week period in Midlands province infections
quadrupled from 1,000 to 4,000, while deaths rose from 100 to 400.
Matthew
Cochrane, the IFRC's spokesman, travelled across Zimbabwe last week and said
that in Kwekwe, a mining town 100 miles west of Harare, the Imbizo clinic, which
had no resources, was overrun with patients after admitting 130 in three
days.
"Dozens of people were lying there, seriously infected next to those
not so ill, and there were three bodies among them on the floor," he
said.
"In a couple of days we set up a tent, supplies, some training, and the
situation improved
immediately."
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hmQeqYGCBqhmIwxonPehGvPwEqVA
46
minutes ago
JOHANNESBURG (AFP)
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe
said Sunday that neighbouring Zimbabwe, crippled by a record rise in inflation,
could adopt the South African rand as its standard currency.
"We have to help
them so that the coalition government works," Motlanthe said in an interview
with the SABC channel, referring to power-sharing between President Robert
Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai.
It "may be practical
for them to enter into an arrangement with the reserve bank here and allow the
rand to become the common currency," he added, without fleshing out his
suggestion.
Motlanthe also currently serves as president of the Southern
African Development Community, which is mediating the crisis.
Prices in
Zimbabwe rose by 231 million per cent in July - the last time official inflation
figures were made public. However, analysts say inflation in Zimbabwe actually
stands at several billion per cent.
The national currency, the Zimbabwean
dollar, has been repeatedly devalued and restrictions on the use of foreign
currencies including the US dollar, the euro and the rand have been lifted by
Harare.
Zimbabwe is also struggling to fend off a deepening humanitarian
crisis amid a cholera epidemic blamed on collapsed infrastructure and a
desperate need of food aid, according to international agencies.
Motlanthe
also urged the international community to help the new power-sharing government,
due to be installed this week, after the African Union called for sanctions
against Robert Mugabe and his aides to be
lifted.
AFP
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http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=5270
The Times of
Swaziland
By Musa Hlophe on February 08,2009
One is increasingly amazed,
if not disappointed by the quality of leadership Africa has, particularly when
it comes to acknowledging leadership short-comings or mistakes. Compare
President Barrack Obama’s bold and honest acknowledgement that, in appointing
Tom Deschle to a ministerial position, not knowing that Tom had not honoured his
tax obligations, that this was his mistake!
Can you imagine if that had
happened in Africa?
In fact, can you imagine African politicians being
disqualified from holding public office simply because he/she had not honoured
his/her tax obligations?
Totally unheard of!
But, America being the
society wherein integrity counts or matters, the revelation that Tom Deschle had
fallen foul of his tax issues was enough to prevent or disqualify him from
holding high office. You do not expect that in Africa. In fact, being a person
of questionable integrity seems to be the licence of being elevated to higher
office in Africa, especially here in Swaziland.
That is why you have people
in Parliament, some who bought their way through the election process, in full
view of election officials. But we call these fraudsters ‘Honourable Members’.
What is honourable with bribing your way through to Parliament?
Should we
expect anything honourable from some of these fraudsters - why?
It is
therefore not surprising that to date; African leaders have not come to accept
that the problems of Zimbabwe have nothing to do with the West having imposed
sanctions. The problems of Zimbabwe have all to do with Robert Mugabe having
totally subverted all the institutions which would have guaranteed good
governance, the respect for the rule of law, the protection of human rights and
democracy.
For decades in the sixties and the seventies, the people of
Zimbabwe sacrificed their precious lives in order to bring about the
abovementioned values/freedoms from white racist Rhodesians. They did not
sacrifice so that one of their own could have these freedoms as his own and his
associates.
Polls
On March 29, 2008, the people of Zimbabwe went out to
the polls to vote for change, to vote for the restoration of the freedoms many
died for, which had now become Mugabe’s monopoly. And vote for change they did,
and the Movement for Democratic Change came out as the preferred political party
to lead the reconstruction process of a country Mugabe and his associates has
helped to destroy. African leaders are fully aware of this!
But guess
what?
As soon as Mugabe realized he had lost the elections, first, he
prevented the release of the election results for over a month, whilst, at the
same time, unleashing the worst humanitarian crisis, only equal to the
atrocities of the 1980s when Mugabe massacred more than 20 000 people in
Matebeleland.
However, this time around, his murderous machine had become
refined, with the trained youth brigades who carried out massive campaign of
abductions, murders and rapes of women and girls. Authoritative reports coming
out of Zimbabwe since March to June, 2008, tell of horror stories of mothers and
their daughters being gang raped in full view of their tortured husbands and
fathers!
African leaders are fully aware of these reports but, for the sake
of one of their own, they will pretend that these are an excuse by the West,
Europe and the United States of America, for demonizing Mugabe, so that they can
install their puppet, Morgan Tsvangiria. What nonsense and what
rubbish?
Activists
Due to the sustained campaigns by civil society
activists in Zimbabwe, who have been able to tell the story of Zimbabwe to the
world, most of it covered in video form, the civilised citizens of the West have
successfully mobilised their governments to act on Zimbabwe. That is why you
have the European Union and the United States of America, having imposed
targeted sanctions on Mugabe, his associates and their private businesses. The
sanctions have no bearing on the poverty currently afflicting the majority of
the people of Zimbabwe and African leaders know this.
Why then, even before
the Government of National Unity is in place, should African leaders call on the
West to lift these sanctions?
Are we to believe that to African leaders, the
deaths of over 3 000 Zimbabweans through chorela, and the infection of more than
60 000 people, count for less than Mugabe’s inconvenience in visiting Western
capitals, where most of our dictators hide their loot?
Doesn’t the lives of
ordinary Zimbabweans count to these leaders?
What about those members of the
MDC and other human rights defenders who are in unlawful detention, brutalized
and yet denied access to medication of their choice?
Don’t the lives of these
Zimbabweans count in the eyes of African leaders?
You all do not deserve the
titles of being leaders. You actually deserve much worse than that.
Those of
us in the human rights field applaud the decision of both the United States of
America and the European Union, for not listening to these African clowns, who
masquerade as our leaders, by deciding to keep the sanctions on. Sanctions must
stay on until certain conditions are met by the Mugabe regime.
The first
condition is the immediate and unconditional release from detention, of all the
MDC supporters and members who are currently in unlawful detention. The
immediate and unconditional release of all the human rights defenders, including
Jestina Mkoko, from their unlawful detentions.
Second condition: the
normalisation of the politics of Zimbabwe. This should come about by reversing
all the oppressive laws Mugabe has been creating over the years, which gave him
power to politicize all the institutions which should support democracy and
human rights.
These include the police, the army, the judiciary and the
public broadcaster. This must be followed by the release of the airwaves for all
those who want to launch independent radio and television stations, restore
freedom of the media, by removing all the laws that were used to gag the
press.
As part of normalizing the politics of Zimbabwe, the Government of
National Unity must be seen to be grappling with the real problems of restoring
Zimbabwe to its former glory. This can only be achieved if Mugabe is not the
face of the new order. The democratization agenda must be seen to be
non-reversible. A process to democratize the electoral process must be in place
and be visibly seen to be working and non-reversible. Third condition: full
compliance with the SADC Tribunal Judgment on the land issue. To be seen to be
respecting the rule of law, the transitional government must fully implement the
judgment of the SADC Tribunal on the land issue in Zimbabwe.
It is only when
the state of Zimbabwe is in full compliance with its legal obligations that the
civilized world can begin to review its position on sanctions. Fourth and final
condition: the full restoration of the infrastructure and all social services.
As we speak, the education infrastructure and the health sector are
dead.
Sanctions
These need to be fully restored before we can think of
removing these targeted sanctions for these targeted individuals. Along with
this condition, is a clear commitment to routing out corrupting at every level,
but especially in the army and the police. These conditions must be underpinned
by a clear demonstration by the Government of National Unity that theirs is not
a situation dominated by Mugabe and his cronies.
We must ensure that the GNU
is not a repeat of what Mugabe and his ZANU-PF associates did with Joshua Nkomo
in the1980s-subdue the MDC, and then go back to his old tricks of brutalizing
the opposition to surrender.
What I am saying is that until each of these
conditions is fully met, then the sanctions must remain in place. It must take
the people of Zimbabwe to say to the West: all is now well, the project of
democratization is now irreversible, we now have peace with justice, please
remove the sanctions!
Until that condition is met, the sanctions must remain
in place.