http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwean football fans will not have the opportunity
to watch
the 2010 African Cup of Nations amid revelations that the country's
sole
broadcaster is unable to meet the broadcasting fees demanded by the
tournament's broadcast right holder, APA learns here Saturday.
The
cash-strapped Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation announced Saturday that
it
could not afford the US$6.5 million demanded by the Confederations of
African Football on behalf of the broadcast rights holder AFNEX.
A
ZBC spokesman said the broadcasting fees were too high for the public
broadcaster which is struggling to replace obsolete equipment.
This
will be the first time that Zimbabwean soccer fans have failed to enjoy
watching the biennial football showcase.
The 22-day tournament kicks
off Sunday with a match pitting hosts Angola and
Mali.
JN/daj/APA
2010-01-09
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's parliament is expected to
ratify an
investment protection agreement with South Africa when it resumes
sitting
next month, an official said here Saturday.
Investment
Promotion Minister Elton Mangoma said both Houses of Parliament
would ratify
the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement
(BIPPA) which
was signed with South Africa in November 2009.
The agreement was signed
despite protestations by some white commercial
farmers who wanted the deal
to be blocked in South Africa.
The farmers, who are South African
citizens but who own farms in Zimbabwe,
wanted guarantees that their
properties would not be expropriated under the
Harare government's land
reform programme.
JN/daj/APA
2010-01-09
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=11919
By Gerald
Chateta
Published: January 9, 2010
Harare: MDC-The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has condemned
the government and
the Attorney General’s office for ignoring to respond to
its comprehensive
report it submitted to the Attorney General naming more
than 200 MDC
supporters who were murdered by known ZANU-PF activists in the
country’s
controversial June 27 2008 presidential run off election.
The party’s
Head of Administration Toendepi Shonhe told ZimEye in an
exclusive
interview that they were worried by the AG’s office’s
reluctance to
respond to the allegations they submitted last year.
“We have not
yet received any response to the dossier which has names
of
perpetrators of political violence despite concerted efforts to do
so.
“We thought our issue was serious and needed urgent attention by the
Attorney General Mr. Johannes Tomana to whom we addressed the matter to. We
also blame the government and the Joint monitoring and Implementation
Commission as well as the negotiators in the inclusive government for
failing to realise the urgency of the case. We do not understand the
reason why JOMIC which is supposed to monitor the implementation of GPA is
silent over this matter.
“We wonder how the programme of national
healing is going to be
accepted by the people when justice has failed
to take its course in
the first place,” said Shonhe.
MDC Director
of security Kisimusi Ndhlamini who compiled the dossier which
implicates
hundreds of ZANU-activists, uniformed soldiers and the
revolutionary
party’s senior members in the murder of over 200 MDC
supporters after the
country’s March 2008 harmonized elections in which
President Mugabe lost to
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said was
disappointed by the state actions
of trying to silence him from pushing
for the prosecution of
perpetrators of June 27 2008 political violence.
“Threats by the police
and the Attorney general to prosecute me for exposing
political violence
cases are not going to silence. I am still waiting to
get the response to
the report I made direct to AG Mr. Tomana. What has
happened is only a
nine hour long uncomfortable interview with the police
threatening and
nothing else,” said Ndhlamini.
Contacted through the phone for comment on
the progress in the matter
Attorney General Johannes Tomana professed
ignorance over the matter.
“What are you talking about? I am not aware
of such a report coming to
my attention,” said Tomana before
terminating the call.
A political analyst who declined to be named said
Government should not
proceed with any programme before addressing important
issues such as
national healing and prosecution of June 27 2008 political
violence
perpetrators.
“The inclusive government is not being honest
to the people. There is need
to address issues like national healing before
anything else as clearly
stated in the GPA. There were so many false starts
in this coalition
government and such things need to rectified, because
there is no need for
moving forward when we are having a shacking
foundation,” said the
political scientist.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Saturday 09 January
2010
HARARE – Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC
party on Friday
again ruled out leaving a coalition government it formed
nearly a year ago
with once long time rival President Robert Mugabe and his
ZANU PF party,
saying any differences will be solved.
The
announcement by the MDC comes ahead of the resumption of inter-party
talks
between the coalition partners next Saturday, nearly three weeks after
the
parties failed to resolve a power-sharing dispute threatening their
coalition government.
“The government is not going to collapse, the
inclusive government is not
going to collapse,” said MDC deputy chief
negotiator Elton Mangoma.
“As far as the MDC is concerned, we are not
going to pull out. We are the
people who won the election, it's up to ZANU
PF if they want to pull out of
government, but we will not pull
out.
“The weekend of the 16th we will resume the dialogue process we were
engaged
in and we hope that we will then be ready to give full report to our
principals and the facilitators to take whatever additional action is
necessary.”
The 11-month old government has done well to stabilise
Zimbabwe’s economy
and end inflation that was estimated at more than a
trillion percent at the
height of the country’s economic meltdown last
year.
As a result living conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans have greatly
improved
compared to 2008 when the country battled shortages of cash, fuel
and every
basic survival commodity.
But unending bickering between
ZANU PF and MDC as well as the coalition
government’s inability to secure
direct financial support from rich Western
nations have held back the
administration’s efforts to rebuild the economy.
The MDC accuses Mugabe
of flouting the global political agreement that gave
birth to the unity
government after the veteran leader refused to rescind
his unilateral
appointment of two of his allies to the key posts of central
bank governor
and attorney general.
Mugabe has also refused to swear in MDC treasurer
Roy Bennett as deputy
agriculture minister and to appoint members of
Tsvangirai’s party as
provincial governors.
On its part ZANU PF
insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing
deal and instead
accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for
lifting of Western
sanctions on Mugabe and his top allies.
Mangoma however downplayed the
differences saying these can easily be
solved.
“Politically, to
expect that there will not be disagreements will be naive,
but I don't think
we are going to have disagreements which are beyond
reconciliation.”
The Southern African Development Community that
facilitated the
power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe is expected to step in
to save the unity
government from disintegrating should the Harare parties
formally declare a
deadlock in negotiations. – ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Saturday 09 January
2010
JOHANNESBURG – International trade watchdog Global Witness on
Friday
welcomed the cancellation of a planned diamond auction by Zimbabwe’s
government but warned that the country must demonstrate commitment to clean
up its diamond sector.
"We are pleased that the auction has been
suspended but disappointed that
the Zimbabwean authorities did not
communicate their plans in advance to
KPCS (Kimberley Process Certification
Scheme) bodies,” said Global Witness
diamond campaigner Annie Dunnebacke in
a statement.
The Zimbabwe government on Thursday blocked mining firm
Mbada Investments
from auctioning diamonds from the country’s Marange claims
saying no germs
from the controversial field could be sold without
certification by the
KPCS.
"If rough diamonds from Marange had been
exported from Zimbabwe without
prior inspection by a Kimberley Process
monitor, then Zimbabwe would have
been in clear violation of the action plan
they agreed to at the plenary
session in November,” Dunnebacke
said.
“We are deeply concerned at Zimbabwe's complete lack of engagement
with the
Kimberley Process since last year's plenary session. Their silence
jeopardises the success of the action plan and the viability of a clean
future for the Zimbabwean diamond industry."
Mbada Investments, a
joint-venture between the government’s Zimbabwe Mining
Development
Corporation and little-known South African company Core Mining,
had planned
to auction 300 000 carats of diamonds from Marange which is also
know as
Chiadzwa.
But mines ministry officials halted the sale because the
diamonds had not
been certified by the KP which regulates the world diamond
trade.
Marange is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields
with reports
that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government
took over the
field in October 2006 from London-based mining company –
African
Consolidated Resources (ACR) – committed gross human rights abuses
against
illegal miners who had descended on the field.
On Thursday
ACR, which holds right of title to claims on the Marange diamond
field,
warned international diamond traders against buying Marange germs
saying
they are “stolen”.
International rights groups have been pushing for a
ban on Zimbabwean
diamonds but in November, Zimbabwe escaped a KP ban
despite calls for the
country to be suspended over abuses in Marange, with
the global body giving
Harare a June 2010 deadline to make reforms to comply
with its regulations.
Global Witness fights corrupt exploitation of
natural resources and
campaigns against resource-linked conflict as well as
human rights and
environmental abuses. – ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com
Sources in Harare said the diamond auction was halted after
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai raised concerns in a letter sent to Acting
Mines Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa, instructing him to halt the
sale
Gibbs Dube | Washington 08 January 2010
Many questions
remained on Friday following the cancellation this week of a
proposed
auction of 300,000 carats of diamonds from the Marange field in the
east of
the country where human rights abuses have been alleged triggering
action by
the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.
Sources in Harare said the
auction was halted on Thursday after Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai raised
concerns in a letter sent to acting Mines
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
instructing him to halt the sale.
VOA was unable to obtain further
comment from Mnangagwa on Friday, but he
said Thursday that that the
government was not informed about the sale until
press reports brought it to
light.
Lawmaker Pearson Mungofa, who sits on the Parliamentary Committee
on Mines,
Energy, Tourism and Minerals, said all sales of Zimbabwean
diamonds should
be halted until it has been confirmed that Kimberly Process
rules for export
of the gems are being observed.
Mungofa, a House
member for Highfield, Harare, and a member of Mr.
Tsvangirai's formation of
the Movement for Democratic Change, said his
committee was surprised to hear
of the auction called by Mbada Diamonds, a
firm authorized by Harare to
exploit the Marange field.
The legislator said the circumstances
surrounding the proposed auction
remained unclear but it seemed that it was
intended to benefit certain
people in the government and not Zimbabwean
taxpayers.
Mungofa told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that Mbada
should not be
allowed to sell diamonds until all Kimberly procedures are in
place.
"We need the Kimberley process to be followed because if we don't
do that
Zimbabweans will not benefit from these illegal deals," said
Mungofa.
Human rights advocacy group Global Witness welcomed Harare's
decision to
cancel the diamond auction, but said Zimbabwe must take concrete
steps to
show it is committed to cleaning up the diamond sector or risk
suspension
from the Kimberly Certification Process. The Kimberly process has
raised a
red flag in the matter, though it declined in November to suspend
Zimbabwe.
Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai said Zimbabwe was supposed
to ask the
Kimberly Process to appoint a monitor for export sales when the
country was
ready to sell Marange output, but this had not been
done.
Zwizwai said it was still premature to hold an auction in light of
all the
issues surrounding diamonds coming out of the Marange alluvial
field.
The deputy minister said it has been problematic to pull the
military out of
the area as private companies lack the means to seal off
diamond deposits.
Global Witness campaigner Anne Dunnebacke told VOA
Studio 7 reporter
Blessing Zulu that the army was continuing to perpetrate
human rights abuses
in Marange. Human Rights Watch issued a report several
months ago charging
that the military had killed some 200 people in the
district, among other
abuses including the alleged use of forced labor to
extract diamonds
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 09,
2010 - Mbada Diamonds officials say villagers displaced
by their mining
venture will be compensated through provision of better
accommodation and
health facilities in Odzi and will not be given money.
Mbada
Diamonds Chairman Robert Mhlanga told Radio VOP: "The villagers are
going to
be occupying better facilities compared to where they are staying
now. We
are taking them to a place where there will be better school, health
facilities and they will be having access to irrigable land."
The
company, which was stopped to sell its diamonds by auction this week by
the
government, is facing stiff resistance from the villagers who are
demanding
compensation before they can be relocated. Some of the villagers
argue that
they have built very expensive houses in the area and they cannot
have them
destroyed without getting paid.
Newman Chiadzwa who represented the
villagers at the High Court challenging
the evictions put the value of his
house in the rural diamond rich areas at
US$700 000.
Mhlanga said the
facilities that they were putting up were much better
compared to the huts
the majority of the villagers were staying in. The
company is building
five-roomed houses for the villagers at ARDA-Transau
farm near Mutare for
the 1 800 families who are affected by the mining
operations. About 200
houses will be built a month.
"The company has also undertaken a
massive housing project and crop input
scheme for the relocated families
from the Chiadzwa and Marange areas worth
millions of dollars," said Mhlanga
adding that villagers who have had their
farming period affected by the
relocations would be provided with food aid.
"We are going to make sure that
the villagers do not starve as we will be
providing grain to the
need."
http://www.news24.com/
2010-01-09 12:05
Johannesburg -
Zimbabwe's military still appears to control large swaths of
a major diamond
field, where soldiers are accused of forcing civilians to
mine the gems, a
rights group said on Friday.
Global Witness, a British-based group that
monitors the exploitation of
natural resources, welcomed Zimbabwe's decision
to halt a diamond auction on
Thursday, saying the sale would have violated
international rules meant to
stem the trade in "blood diamonds".
Elly
Harrowell, a campaigner on conflict diamonds, said that Global Witness
did
not believe statements by Zimbabwe's mines minister Obert Mpofu who said
that soldiers and police had withdrawn from the fields in
November.
"We would not take as credible as the statement made by
minister Mpofu," she
told AFP.
"Our information shows that that is
not true. What we think is likely that
the military has withdrawn from two
small areas," she said.
The eastern Marange diamond fields cover some 66
000 hectares, but the gems
were only discovered there in 2006.
"Given
its past history, it's very likely that the military is still there,"
Harrowell said. "It's very likely that they're still forcing local people
into mining syndicates."
Global Witness had pushed for a ban on
Zimbabwe's international sales over
the abuses at Marange, after a Kimberley
investigation documented
"unacceptable and horrific violence against
civilians by authorities",
including forced labour, torture and beatings by
soldiers against villagers.
Instead, Zimbabwe was given until June to
comply with Kimberley's
regulations.
The government says two South
African firms now run Marange. The companies
had tried to begin auctioning
the diamonds on Thursday, until the government
suspended the sale.
-
SAPA
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by John Chimunhu
Saturday, 09 January
2010 17:12
GOROMONZI -- Auxillia Chonyera breaks down in tears as she relates
the dire
state of affairs at Mbuya Nehanda orphanage, set up by the late
Sally Mugabe
24 years ago. (Pictured: Sally Mugabe - Was touched by the
plight of street
children)
Chonyera, the assistant matron of the
orphanage, relates vividly the horrors
she and more than 100 children faced
in 2008 after the government failed to
provide assistance as expected. The
orphanage degenerated into a
Dickens-style homeless centre where the
children would go for days without
food and many died due to
nutrition-related complications and other
diseases.
"There was no
food and we used to fight a lot. Some of the bigger boys would
beat you and
take the little food that you were given and you would go to
bed hungry,"
said one of the children.
Chonyera said: "Sometimes a well-wisher would
provide some vegetables but
there was no mealie meal and the children would
go to bed after eating
vegetables only. It was heart-rending."
She
said many of the children coming to the home had already been weakened
by
living on the streets, which is why they succumbed to diseases. Many were
emotionally unstable after suffering sexual and other forms of abuse on the
streets.
A lot of them did not trust or respect authority and were
sure they had been
brought here to be starved to death as punishment for
their crime of
"vagrancy" and begging on the streets of Harare. Many of the
children fled
back onto the dirty streets to scavenge for scraps of food,
even if that
meant losing a roof over their
heads.
Condemnation
Hastily set up as a children's home some 35
kilometres east of Harare in
1986 by the former First Lady and former Harare
mayor Charles Tawengwa to
rid the streets of homeless children ahead of an
international conference,
the orphanage initially received widespread
condemnation from rights groups.
Many suspected the children were being taken
to a labour farm similar to
those set up in the Soviet Union during the days
of communism. A lot of the
children rounded up fled soon after being
deposited at home set up on a farm
previously used by demobilised female
combatants of Zimbabwe's 1970s
independence war.
The official version of
events, still touted to this day, is that out of
compassion, the then First
Lady decided to host a Christmas Party for the
children. It is claimed that
many of the children who attended the party
decided to stay on at the farm
as they had nowhere else to go.
That is far from the truth. The correct
version, verified by experts at the
time, was that the government was
nervous about the ugly state of Harare as
it prepared to host an
international conference.
According to this version of events, officials were
worried that foreign
dignitaries would be exposed to beggars, thieves and
vagrants, giving a bad
impression of the Mugabe and his government.
Tawengwa, it is said, then
masterminded a clean-up of the capital's streets.
This resulted in dozens of
children being arrested in a joint city
council-police operation.
However, following protests that the children's
rights had been violated as
they had been removed to a place far from their
original location, churches
were allowed to take part in running the
institution. They provided food,
counseling and education. But most of
groups that used to assist the
children's home have long since
stopped.
Looting
According to a recent UN World Food Programme report,
the orphanage was able
then to sustain itself through farming
operations.
The report says: "From the time the institution started operating
as a
children's home in 1997, it was self-sufficient, operating lucrative
piggery, poultry and cattle-rearing.
"Crop production was also a major
source of food and income since the
institution is sitting on a 12-hectare
farm that was donated to the First
Lady at the time by a white commercial
farmer. Proceeds from the farm's
diversified activities were enough to cover
all the requirements for the
institution, from salaries for employees to
food, fees and clothes for the
inmates amongst other costs."
The
situation changed drastically in 2000 after the government initiated its
controversial land reform programme.
"Activities took a downturn after
the departure of the British-born farm
manager during 2000 land seizures.
Production ceased, farming equipment and
animals were stolen and vandalised
and considerable donations stopped since
the farm manager was also
instrumental in sourcing funding from donors. On
the other hand,
contributions from central government were eroded by
inflation," the WFP
report says.
The relief agency adds that unfavourable weather conditions in
combination
with lack of technical farming skills, shortage of agricultural
inputs
worsened the situation as crop yields were drastically
reduced.
The home had to rely on a market riddled with shortages for
supplies. When
the food supply situation improved, they still faced
shortages of hard
currency to buy food.
"The home survived on begging
from local farmers, churches and well-wishers
but donations were not enough
to feed over 100 people housed in the home
whilst employees went for months
without salaries. As a result, food
security at the home continued to
deteriorate, justifying the intervention
by WFP through its co-operating
partner Help Age Zimbabwe," the report said.
World Food Programme
The
WFP working with partner organisations has since stepped into to assist
the
115 children staying at the Nehanda home. Each of the children at
Nehanda
receives a monthly ration of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and corn
soya
blend, an enriched flour used to make nutritious porridge.
Although food
shortages now appear to be a thing of the past at the centre,
the home is
still saddled with numerous problems. Deaths and illness remain
the biggest
concern, with officials saying many of the children are already
infected
with diseases by the time they move into the home.
"Many of the children are
sick when they come here. You know how it is on
the street. Some are living
with HIV/AIDS. Two boys who died here had been
sodomised and they were very
sick when they came," Chonyera said.
Adonis Faifi, an official with the Help
Age group said the children,
especially girls, lacked things that could make
their lives more
comfortable, such as clothes and sanitary pads which food
donors could not
provide, but which were essential for life.
Rodwell
Chitewe, a worker at the farm for 19 years and now employed by the
orphanage
showed this correspondent the horrific carnage caused by war
veterans and
senior Zanu (PF) officials.
"We used to grow maize, beans and vegetables
for our own consumption and for
sale. In 2002 we used to have 38 cattle,
mostly dairy cows. We could sell
the milk and buy vaccines and other
supplies. Today we are left with four
cows producing only 10 litres of milk
a day. Many of our calves die because
we cannot afford vaccines," said
Chitewe.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Saturday,
January 09, 2010
By
Felex Share and Lloyd Gumbo
Shops in Harare have raised prices of school
uniforms and other school items
claiming manufacturers hiked prices but the
manufacturers deny this.
Most parents buying school uniforms ahead of the
opening of schools on
Tuesday, were surprised to find prices had gone up
after the festive
holiday.
Shopping around can, however, get round
the price rises and some parents now
want to buy direct from the
manufacturers.
On average, manufacturers are selling to retailers a full
set of primary
school uniforms for both boys and girls for between US$5 and
US$8 while a
complete secondary school uniform cost between US$10 and
US$12.
But a survey by The Herald this week showed a set of uniforms for
Grade One
boys, which cost less than US$20 before Christmas, had since gone
up between
US$20 and US$25.
Retailers buy shorts for US$4 and pay
US$7 for a pair of trousers to
manufacturers.
School jerseys were
going for between US$20 and US$25 while sports T-shirts
and shorts cost
US$10 in most shops.
Blazers, which shops buy from manufacturers at US$26
each, are costing
US$45.
Sales staff at OK, Enbee and Bays yesterday
blamed the price increases on
manufacturers.
"Prices are going up
because our suppliers have also increased their prices.
They are saying
importing the fabric was expensive, so we have had to
increase our prices as
well," said a worker at OK.
However, manufactureres denied the claims
saying the retailers were still
living in the era of
profiteering.
"Despite the fact that we are importing fabric for school
uniforms, our
prices have remained the same for the past eight months
because fabric
prices are determined by world cotton prices, which have been
constant of
late," said an official at Spinweave, who declined to be
named.
David Whitehead spokesperson Mr Partson Ndlovu accused those
manufacturers
who were importing fabric from Asian countries of "milking"
customers of
their hard-earned cash.
"We have not been producing
school prints of late because of the
deregulation of the cotton industry by
the Government. This led to fabric
materials from Asia flooding the market
and the consumers are being milked.
"This has resulted in these price
distortions which are now affecting our
people," said Mr Ndlovu.
An
official from the Enbee public relations department yesterday
acknowledged
that some prices had been adjusted upwards.
"The trend has always been
that whenever demand for such products increases
prices also go up. But if
you take a closer look, you'll notice that most of
our prices have remained
static," he said in a telephone interview.
The prices of some goods
imported from South
Africa or those containing a high percentage of South
African inputs might
have legitimately gone up because the rand has been
strengthening against
the US dollar.
But it appears from
manufacturers' comments that such cases are now rare
than
before.
Parents and guardians who spoke to The Herald this week said the
price
distortions defied logic, prompting some of them to deal directly with
the
manufacturers to beat the price increases.
Investigations also
revealed that some manufacturers were not producing the
entire range of
uniforms because of the unavailability of material after
David Whitehead
stopped producing to water shortages in Kadoma.
Despite the outcry over
prices, parents and guardians were yesterday still
buying uniforms,
groceries and educational materials for their children.
Parents also
decried the fact that some schools were putting pressure on
them to buy
uniforms from specific shops, which charged higher prices.
Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe director Ms Rosemary Siyachitema said the
consumer
rights watchdog was disturbed by the sudden increase in the prices
of school
uniforms and urged parents to shop around.
"We conducted a quick survey
in uniform shops among them Enbee, Metro,
Barbours and Bays and we found
that the prices of blazers had gone up
compared to last year. Last year
blazers were costing US$30, but they are
now at US$40.
"The same
applies to school shoes, which we believe have unrealistic prices.
For
instance, a pair of shoes is costing about US$35 with shop owners
arguing
that the shoes are being imported from South Africa.
"We can only urge
parents to shop around before settling for a product. They
should check
other shops because they might be cheaper there," said Ms
Siyachitema.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 08, 2010 - Immigration officials at Beitbridge
are arresting
an average 80 people a day, mostly Zimbabweans, at the border
post for using
South African fake passports.
A spokesperson
for the Department of Home Affairs, Siobhan McCarthy said
they had
intensified the investigations in which they were mainly targeting
Beitbridge and Lebombo border posts with Mozambique, which are reportedly
the busiest entry points.
"We are getting about 80 dubious South
African passports a day at Beitbridge
Border Post alone," she
said.
Those suspected of travelling on illegally acquired travel
documents had
their passports taken while those allowed to proceed were
given a slip with
a date on which to present themselves for an interview at
Home Affairs' head
offices in Pretoria.
"We have stationed more
officers on our borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe
and we have intensified
checks at those border posts in which we continue to
confiscate dozens of
South African passports suspected to have been
fraudulently obtained with
the help of corrupt officials from the
department. We have to do further
investigations to establish how people got
fraudulent South African
passports," she said.
However, Ms McCarthy said while the Home Affairs
department routinely
launched major operations at the main border posts
during Christmas and
Easter, this time officials were coming across an
unusually large number of
dubious South African passports at the Beitbridge
Border Post.
Ms McCarthy said such people had to be assumed to be South
African citizens
until proven otherwise.
The blitz is part of that
government's turnaround strategy to deal with
corruption, which has rocked
its Home Affairs department. The Minister of
Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma has since suspended 59 officials
from her department after they
were implicated in the fraudulent
registration of foreigners, mainly from
Pakistan.
Scores of Zimbabweans working in South Africa commonly known as
injiva, who
had travelled home for the festive season, were left stranded at
Beitbridge
Border Post after having been denied entry into South Africa for
allegedly
using fraudulently acquired passports. Some had to resort to
border jumping
while others opted to use the Botswana- South Africa route.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January
08, 2010 - A top Nestle official, Brinda Chiniah, quietly
sneaked into
Zimbabwe this week as the Swiss multinational firm resumed
production after
shutting down its production plant in Harare.
The visit coincided
with the re-opening of the food manufacturer's factory.
Chiniah,
who is based in Kenya where her office, the Nestlé Equatorial
African Region
oversees the food giant's operations in 20 countries in
Africa, told this
reporter that the visit was a standard visit to one of
Nestle's
operations.
"We very often conduct routine market visits and this
is the purpose of my
current visit to Zimbabwe," Chiniah said to Radio
VOP.
Nestle, which has operated in Zimbabwe for the past 50 years
suspended
operations at its Harare factory as normal business was no longer
possible
and the safety of its employees could not be
guaranteed.
The multinational company which employs more than 200
people only resumed
operations last week following written assurances given
by Industry and
Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube to guarantee the security
of Nestlé
management and staff and not to interfere in the company's
operating
processes.
The Swiss headquartered food
manufacturer has since it established operation
in the country been working
with the population of Zimbabwe and striving to
maintain a long-term viable
operation in often challenging conditions.
http://www1.voanews.com
USAID Harare Mission Director Karen Freeman said the grant
reflects the U.S.
commitment to helping rebuild Zimbabwe's struggling
agricultural sector
following a decade of land reform and a severe economic
downturn
Patience Rusere | Washington 08 January 2010
The United
States Agency for International Development has made US$14
million in grants
available to Zimbabwean farmers to help them obtain the
inputs they need as
well as extension services and training.
The USAID grant targets some
52,000 farmers in Zimbabwe and will be
distributed through seven
non-governmental organizations.
USAID Mission Director Karen Freeman told
VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience
Rusere that the grant reflects the U.S.
commitment to helping rebuild the
country's struggling agricultural
sector.
The planting season for Zimbabwe's staple maize crop is well
advanced, but
many small farmers are still putting in crops and applying
fertilizer, which
has often been in short supply or out of reach for
cash-strapped growers.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, 09
January 2010 17:01
HARARE - More than 314 000 illegal Zimbabwean migrants
were assisted at the
Beitbridge reception centre run by the International
Organisation for
Migration (IOM) between 2006 and 2009 after being deported
from South
Africa.
This works out to an average of 7 300 individuals
deported from South Africa
every month for the 43 months since the inception
of the facility.
IOM also revealed last week that another 57 000
Zimbabwean migrantshave been
assisted between June 2008 and June last year
at a similar centre it
operates at the Plumtree border with
Botswana.
The figures reveal the stark reality of a nation in motion -
thousands
of people leaving Zimbabwe daily in search of economic refuge
in
neighbouring countries.
The exodus has not relented despite the
formation of a government of
national unity by the country's three main
political parties 11 months
ago.
The IOM said the change in South
African government policy allowing
for visa-free entry into the country
resulting in an end to forced
returns has however reduced the number of
deportations, forcing the
organisation to shift focus on assistance at
Beitbridge to
information-dissemination, developing options for the
sustainable
voluntary return of vulnerable migrants from South Africa
and
assisting unaccompanied minors.
More than three million
Zimbabweans have left the country for
neighbouring and Western countries
since 2000 and most of them are
based in South Africa and
Botswana.
Most of the migrants have no proper documentation and are
often
deported back to Zimbabwe.
The Netherlands government came to
the aid of IOM last week when it
unveiled new US$1.5 million funding to
support the organisation's
humanitarian activities in Zimbabwe for a
year.
The new funding would support activities carried out at the
Beitbridge
and Plumtree reception and support centres where IOM offers
returned
migrants with basic health care and referrals, information on
safe
migration and the risks of HIV/AIDS as well as meals
and
transportation assistance to final destinations home.
The funds
would also support mobile clinics providing free medical
services and access
to essential drugs in urban and peri-urban
settlements as well as the
rehabilitation of water and sanitation
infrastructure in Zimbabwe which was
badly hit by cholera in 2008.
"This new funding from the Dutch government
will go a long way to
improving the quality of life for many people in need
of assistance,"
said IOM chief of mission in Zimbabwe, Marcelo Pisani.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 09, 2010 -
Continued farm invasions as well as human and
property rights abuse by Zanu
PF officials and their sympathisers are
frustrating international investors
to Zimbabwe said the Commercial farmers
Union.
The Union's
Vice President Deon Theron told Radio VOP: "We have not seen
much change in
the farms since the inclusive government was formed. We
thought the
formation of the coalition government was the beginning of
democracy in
terms of respect of property rights and rule of law, but
the opposite
is what is happening. This is counterproductive in a country
that was
beginning to show positive move in its economy and has a negative
impact in
the re-engagement with the international community.
"Investors now doubt
to risk their investment in a country that has no
respect to property
rights. We are disturbed very much to see that ...there
is no prosecution to
such people who are violating the law."
Farm invasions by senior Zanu PF
officials have continued with the latest
case being that of the Land Reform
and State Security, Didymus Mutasa, who
together with his wife threatened a
white commercial farmer, Gavin Woest,
with death telling him to leave in
minutes last Saturday.
In Mashonaland West, Zanu PF chairman for land
Temba Mliswa demanded
that black farmers leasing out land to whites should
have their land
repossessed by the government.
Movement for
Democratic Change party recently released a comprehensive
2009 report on
the harassment of white farmers in the country despite the
formation of the
inclusive government which guarantees respect to rule of
law and property
rights. The report says 1400 cases of harassment of white
farmers were
recorded and also indicates the names of senior Zanu PF
officials who have
been driving the farm invasions.
A Community radio station based in
Zimbabwe ,has set up a short wave radio station.Zimbabwe community radio.We
broadcasts everyday into Zimbabwe from 19:55-20:55 Zimbabwean Time on 4995khz
short wave.
You can also visit our website on www.zicora.com
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Editor
Saturday, 09
January 2010 16:19
News that the main MDC formation led by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has
launched a crusade to weed out corrupt elements within
its ranks is most
welcome. It is the correct thing to do.
But the
mere fact that people to whom denouncing President Robert Mugabe and
his
corrupt Zanu (PF) party has become second nature would, within months of
getting into power, find themselves entangled in a web of allegations of
corruption involving some of their most senior cadres will - to say the
least -- come as a shock to Zimbabweans.
Granted, it is not everyone in
the MDC-T who is being accused of corruption
and the fact that the party
leadership has swiftly moved to probe suspects
is a good sign the larger
organisation does not condone corruption.
But we were expecting that the
MDC-T would be too busy at this point in time
probing Zanu (PF)'s corrupt
activities of the past three decades and
gathering all the evidence for
future reference.
We were wrong! It is the MDC-T legislators, councilors and
ministers who
need to be investigated for taking bribes, flouting government
tender
procedures and "falling for this culture of corruption", to use
party's
spokesman Nelson Chamisa's words. What a shame!
Of course, in an
organisation that in terms of support can easily claim to
be the largest
political party in Zimbabwe there were always going to be
some crooked
elements there and there.
But that is not a nearly good enough excuse for
"the party of excellence"
that has built much of its support by opposing and
speaking out against
corruption and misrule by Zanu (PF), the military and
hangers-on of Mugabe's
party.
Now the MDC-T must carry through its
promise to act against corrupt elements
within its ranks. Those found guilty
of corruption must be named, shamed and
dismissed or Tsvangirai and the
MDC-T risk forfeiting the trust of
Zimbabweans.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Mutumwa Mawere Saturday 09 January
2010
OPINION: In Marxian political economy, class power, under a
capitalist
system, refers to a situation where a minority in society
controls the means
of production.
In colonial Africa, the control of
resources was vested in the white settler
community and, therefore, the
majority of the native population was forced
to eke a living from marginal
resources that they were condemned to by the
system.
The social
classes that have evolved over the years in Africa have been
caused by the
fundamental structure of work and property.
The social classes with
greater power naturally attempt to cement their own
ranking above the lower
classes in the social hierarchy.
It may also be argued that the
stratification of societies is not
necessarily a bad development but is
intrinsic to the structure of any human
society and to that extent is
ineradicable.
Social classes with a great deal of power are usually
viewed as "the elites"
within their own social formations.
The
post-colonial era has generated a new class of natives whose values,
beliefs
and principles are no different from those held by the former setter
class.
Although classified as black, this new breed of powerful
Africans to whom
the majority looks for leadership is less cohesive and
organised as the
founding fathers of colonial Africa.
Knowledge of
the interplay between race and class is critical in informing
choices about
what kind of Africa we want to see.
Even in post-colonial Africa, class
is a key feature of life and one's life
can be determined and shaped by
it.
We often assumed that race alone determined one's class
position.
Although race-based social stratification was rejected as a
basis of a
sustainable social organisation, the post-colonial era has failed
to
diminish the inherited class differences.
On the contrary, the
poor remain poor with no significant movement in terms
of reducing the
frontiers of poverty.
What kind of Africa do we want to see? A
non-stratified society where every
individual has a roughly equal social
standing in most situations? Would it
be healthy for Africa to have no
classes?
What would be the incentive for people to excel if at the end of
the day
they will occupy the same ground?
Class differences are
healthy and inevitable in any human civilisation.
Poverty will not be
reduced simply by eliminating the affluent classes.
Class power that is a
consequence of a social contract that allows for
mobility is not necessarily
a bad outcome.
As we look back at our past, we have no choice but to put
ourselves in the
minds of the white settler class. What occupied their
minds? Was it hate?
Even the naïve settler would have known that one day
the natives would rise
up? If this were common cause, why then would they
have bothered to build an
infrastructure to support a lifestyle that was not
sustainable?
We have to understand our heritage in its proper context and
content. At the
time of colonialism, natives were not sufficiently organised
to defend
rights that were not legally defined.
The concepts of
property and work during the pre-colonial era were
completely different from
the ones the settlers were accustomed to.
If native civilisation was
organised in a similar manner to the one the
settlers were used to, it would
have been difficult to displace natives.
The mineral resources remained
in their native form with little or no
organisation to explore and exploit
them.
Education did play a part in attempting to bridge the gap between
native and
white settler civilisations.
However, access to education
was not universal and the few who managed to
access it automatically assumed
new power positions in society.
Although education can play a critical
role in removing class barriers it is
not a perfect instrument.
The
white settler community was homogenous but had its own drivers of
change.
These drivers of economic change understood that the source of their
power
had to be underpinned by a market system. They had no one to look up
to as a
guarantor of a life style they were accustomed to.
Such a system could
not guarantee a seamless transfer of power as each
generation had an
obligation to prove itself.
A market system can be rewarding for the
daring and innovative.
Class power in a market system has its own
peculiar features.
It must be based on market performance and on the
cardinal principle of
exchange based on the participation of willing
parties.
Such power can be transmitted from generation to generation as
long as value
is exchange through a system intermediated by cash.
If
the market is willing to pay for the goods produced and sold then the
seller
becomes rich. In doing so, the seller becomes powerful because he/she
has
more degrees of freedom in terms of choices.
An Africa that works for all
has to inspire those that are less fortunate.
This can best be done through
the intermediation of the market.
Human history has not produced any
better system than one that ensures that
resources are allocated through a
market system.
Although class has a direct consequence on lifestyle i.e.
tastes,
preferences and a general style of living, there is nothing
inevitable in a
market-based system.
A poor person can scale the
heights in as much as an affluent person can
fall.
If the market
system cannot guarantee anything to participants, it must
necessarily be a
system that should inform our choices as move forward.
Property only has
meaning in an environment in which the rule of law is
respected. Equally,
human beings can sell their time in a system that
respects the
law.
As a founding member of Africa Heritage Society
www.africaheritagerivonia.com, I
knew that Africa's better days could only
come if we invested in the kind of
society that we want to see.
This can only be best done if we take time
to understand the human mind and
what inspires it.
We knew that if
the powerful people behaved as if they were powerless then
the powerless
would have no hope. The powerful must use their power so that
those who do
not have power can feel the difference.
Class difference can, therefore, be
healthy for any society. What is needed
is that we invest in transparent
systems that allow people to move up and
down the opportunity ladder of
life. - ZimOnline