http://www1.voanews.com
The forthcoming consultative phase of Zimbabwe's
constitutional revision
process will last about three months, followed by
the process of drafting
the document, then a and national referendum by
September or October
Blessing Zulu & Irwin Chifera | Washington 11
January 2010
The process of constitutional revision in Zimbabwe
advanced another step on
Monday as the training of some 625 outreach workers
began in Harare after
similar sessions last week for parliamentarians and
thematic committee
heads.
The forthcoming consultative phase of the
revision process will last about
three months, followed by the actual
drafting and a referendum by October.
Parliamentary Select Committee
co-chairmen Munyaradzi Mangwana of the former
ruling ZANU-PF party of
President Robert Mugabe and Douglas Mwonzora of the
Movement for Democratic
Change formation led by Prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirai told VOA that the
training was meant to ensure uniformity in the
consultative process and
avoid partisanship.
The outreach teams will be deployed next week
equipped with a questionnaire
to help them compile the views of Zimbabweans
on the new constitution.
But the process remains fraught with doubt and
suspicion. Chiefs Council of
Zimbabwe President Fortune Charumbira, quoted
in the state-run Herald
newspaper aligned with ZANU-PF, warned the
government to be wary of civic
groups which he said might hijack the
constitution-making process.
But Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric
Matinenga told VOA Studio 7
reporter Blessing Zulu that everything is
proceeding according to plan.
Despite such optimism on the part of
organizers, reports from the
traditional ZANU-PF stronghold of Mashonaland
East said officials of the
former ruling in the Uzumba parliamentary
constituency were intimidating MDC
supporters in an effort to coerce them
into supporting the so-called Kariba
draft which the MDC and others say
concentrates too much power in the
presidency.
VOA Studio 7
correspondent Irwin Chifera reported on the alleged incident in
which one
MDC supporter said she fled Uzumba in fear.
The so-called Kariba draft
constitution was crafted in 2007 by ZANU-PF and
the two formations of the
MDC but the Tsvangirai grouping in particular has
repudiated the document as
the basis of the new constitution.
http://www.ipsnews.net
By Vusumuzi Sifile
HARARE, Jan 11, 2010 (IPS) - Months
of delays may prove to have strengthened
the process of producing a new
constitution for Zimbabwe. When a 65-day
public consultation finally begins,
citizens will be primed and ready.
"We will not make the blunder we made
in 2000, of being told to just vote
yes or no without any details of what
that entailed," says Jacqueline
Manyonga, who sells plastic carrier bags at
the Mbare Musika vegetable
market in Harare.
"This time I want to go
into those meetings and share my ideas on what ought
to be done. I have
already come up with my own ideas regarding terms of
office for the
president, and the recognition of (the informal sector's)
contribution to
economic growth."
Elsewhere in Harare's Mbare market, Shadrack Dube also
has a view on the
drafting and amendment of the constitution.
"If you
look at the current constitution and the other drafts that have been
proposed, they are more biased towards the politicians than us, the ordinary
citizens," says Dube.
"If you look at all the things that are being
said about the Kariba draft
for example, it is all about terms of office for
politicians, and nothing
for the ordinary person. We also need our space in
the running of affairs in
this country."
Defining the
debate
Redistribution of land, limits to executive powers, devolution of
power to
regions; Kariba draft, NCA draft, Constitutional Commission draft:
civil
society organisations have been running awareness campaigns across the
country for months, helping Zimbabweans from all walks of life gain an
understanding of the terms of the debate.
"People are eagerly
awaiting the outreach teams," said Okay Machisa,
director of the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association.
"In the meetings we have held, people expressed
various views on what they
would like to see in the new constitution and we
will soon be launching a
report on these. Most people suggested that an
individual should be allowed
two presidential terms of five years
each."
The chairperson of the Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda,
Effie
Ncube, said his organisation had held hundreds of meetings in
Matabeleland
North and South, Bulawayo and the Midlands
provinces.
"In the places we have been to, people want the constitution
to be clear on
such issues as devolution of power, as is the case in some
African and
European countries," said Ncube.
A tool for
citizens
It was civil society that established the National
Constitutional Assembly
in 1997, during growing protests and strikes against
the ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) led by
Robert Mugabe. Its
purpose was to increase popular awareness of and
participation in
constitution-making.
Within two years, Mugabe's
government had begun a constitutional reform
exercise in response to this
pressure. A Constitutional Commission was
established which produced a draft
that was put to a vote in a February 2000
referendum.
Among other
things, this draft proposed the acquisition of land from white
commercial
farmers, with the British government compensating the farmers. If
the
British government refused to pay to buy land for redistribution, there
was
a provision for the government to proceed to expropriate land without
compensation.
The NCA campaigned for the rejection of the
Constitutional Commission's
draft, putting forward an alternative
constitution which among other things
proposed to limits executive
powers.
"I voted no, simply because I was convinced this was a better
option than to
vote yes, which was being funded by the ZANU-PF government.
And we had been
told yes simply meant the government should go ahead and
repossess all
commercial farms and send us back to our homes," says Dube, a
former
commercial farm worker.
But is it just paper?
The
government draft was duly rejected, but veterans of Zimbabwe's war of
liberation, closely aligned to ZANU-PF went ahead and violently seized many
farms from white commercial farmers. The farm where Dube worked was taken in
2002, and he says he was left with no option but to head to Harare, where he
started a new life as a vendor.
"I failed to understand when people
started blaming that no vote for the
constitutional problems that we later
faced in the country. They said things
would have been better if people had
voted for the government-sponsored
draft. This time I will only support a
constitution that I know will also
contain and respect my own
views."
The drafts in circulation in 2000 were both written by a few
individuals,
and members of the public only got involved when they were
asked to vote for
or against the government's version.
Trying
again
This year things are meant to be different. The Constitution
Parliamentary
Committee (COPAC) intends to use extracts from various
existing drafts.
These, says co-chairperson of the committee Douglas
Mwonzora, will guide
citizens in making constructive input into the
process.
"Our outreach programme is not going to be based on a draft
document. We are
going to use talking points," he says.
Thematic
committees will present questions to members of the public, and
their
answers will be gathered into the talking points, which will then be
debated.
Individuals in thousands of meetings across the country will
be able to draw
their suggestions from any document they choose - including
the
Constitutional Commission draft rejected in 2000, the alternative draft
put
forward at that time by the NCA, or the Kariba draft drawn up by the
negotiating teams that produced the Global Political Agreement that brought
a bitter post-election struggle to a close in September
2008.
Parliamentarians and civil society members attended preparatory
sessions on
Jan. 5 and 11, briefing them on their roles during this
nation-wide outreach
programme expected to last just over two
months.
The Global Political Agreement's implementation has been marred
by a series
of high-profile disputes over key appointments, reform of the
security
services and the revision of legislation.
Progress in
drafting a new constitution could be seen as a positive sign
that the
governing parties are all committed to respecting their 2008
commitments, as
well as giving Zimbabwe's people the opportunity to decide
how they
themselves wish to be governed.
"This is the time we have been waiting
for, and I cannot allow this
opportunity to skip me," says Manyonga at her
stall in Mbare Musika.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 12 January
2010
HARARE -- Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga on
Monday appealed
to a government constitutional committee to be guided by the
views of
ordinary citizens in crafting a new charter for Zimbabwe, in what
appeared
an attempt to allay civic society fears that the executive will
manipulate
the reforms.
Civic society groups remain skeptical over
the government-led constitution
reform exercise, while the national labour
and student movements and the
outspoken National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) political pressure group
have vowed to campaign against the reforms
that they say are open to abuse
by the country's three governing
parties.
Matinenga told members of the committee, who will later this
week fan out
across the country soliciting the views and ideas of
Zimbabweans that they
want included in the proposed new governance charter,
that citizens will
reject in a planned referendum any draft constitution
that does not reflect
their wishes.
"(We) can only facilitate the
process towards the crafting of the
constitution. We cannot dictate," said
Matinenga, addressing a training
workshop for the constitutional committee
members.
"We dare not dictate the outcome. History tells us that any
interference
with the will of the people is bound to fail. It happened in
2000. We should
never, ever temper with the wishes of the people this time
around," said
Matinenga, a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC-T
party.
Zimbabweans 10 years ago rejected a
government-backed draft constitution in
a referendum, accusing President
Robert Mugabe and his then sole ruling ZANU
PF party of manipulating
constitutional reforms and doctoring the draft in
order to entrench their
hold on power.
The NCA working with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, the student
movement and the opposition MDC party - then a single
party led by
Tsvangirai - masterminded the campaign for a No-vote against
the
government-sponsored draft constitution in February 2000.
The
fresh attempt to write a new constitution follows formation last
February of
a coalition government by ZANU PF, MDC-T and the smaller MDC-M
party of
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and is part of requirements
of a
September 2008 power-sharing deal signed by the three parties.
If
approved by Zimbabweans in a referendum the draft constitution will be
taken
to Parliament for enactment, with the coalition government expected to
call
fresh elections once a new constitution is in place.
It is however not
clear whether the government will call new elections
immediately after a new
constitution is enacted or whether it will wait
until expiry of its legal
life span in 2013.
Meanwhile rejection of the draft constitution would be
disastrous for the
Harare coalition government whose most important task
besides reviving the
economy is to write a new and democratic constitution
to replace the
existing one that was drafted by Zimbabwe's former colonial
power,
Britain. - ZimOnline.
The last five South African farmers in
the east of Zimbabwe are to be evicted this week, according to a Beeld report says. It claims this follows an alleged order by former Zimbabwean Minister of Land Affairs Didymus Mutasa to ret rid of the remaining white farmers in the area. Farmer Antoinette Grobler, of the farm Geluk in the Nyazura district near Mutare, has been informed that her tobacco farm of 40ha has been earmarked to be handed over to a businesswoman in the region. The report says they have already given up 1 000ha of their original farm for land reform. Another farmer, Paul du Toit, who lives with the Groblers after being forcefully removed from his farm, has also been ordered to leave the area today. The farmers all said they have no other home to turn to. Full Beeld report |
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Staff Reporter
Monday,
11 January 2010 16:40
MUTARE - Cracks have emerged in the war veterans'
association amid reports
that a splinter group has been formed and is
proposing to run a parallel
national congress next weekend in
Chinhoyi.
The group placed an advert in the state-run Herald on Thursday
calling all
the genuine war veterans to attend the congress and map the way
forward. The
notice stated that food, transport and accommodation would be
provided.
The faction is accusing the incumbent war veteran national
executive of
focusing more on politics than their welfare.
The national
executive launched a counter-attack, describing the splinter
group as agents
of imperialism and opposition.
Addressing a press conference in Mutare last
Friday, the war veterans'
information and publicity secretary, James Kanaye,
admitted that these were
genuine war veterans who were disgruntled at how
the association has been
handling their welfare.
"[They] want to
destabilise and confuse the war veterans because they know
that the power of
Zanu (PF) is only left in the war veterans' wing," said
Kanaye.
He said
some comrades were now abandoning Zanu (PF) to work with Morgan
Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara, after they were promised funding to start
income-
generating projects to sustain themselves.
Thembinkosi Chiororo, provincial
secretary for information and publicity for
Manicaland, claimed foreign
forces, which were anti land reform, were
funding the group.
Sources in
the war veterans association said there was growing discontent
that the
national executive was spending time and energy championing the
interests of
Robert Mugabe and his cronies while the majority of them were
languishing in
poverty.
"People are not happy because Zanu (PF) is not doing anything to
improve the
lives of the comrades. As custodians of our independence,
genuine comrades
are saying it's better to work with Morgan Tsvangirai
because he has proved
to be a good leader," said the source.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Representatives of state employees were to meet Tuesday with
counterparts in
the administration under the framework of the Joint
Negotiating Council to
discuss compensation for public employees in
2010
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington 11 January 2010
Zimbabwean
civil servants who earn an average of US$155 a month want that
bare-bones
compensation raised over the national poverty line to US$500,
threatening to
go on strike if the government refuses an increase.
Representatives of
state employees were to meet Tuesday with counterparts in
the administration
under the framework of the Joint Negotiating Council to
discuss compensation
for public employees in 2010.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said
salaries for public workers
should be increased in line with a pickup in the
economy.
Public Service Association Executive Secretary Emmanuel
Tichareva told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that civil servants
are hopeful that the
government will come through with a raise for them.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Cholera claimed more than 4,200 lives in Zimbabwe from late
2008 through
mid-2009 as an epidemic raced out of control due to a
widespread lack of
clean water and the virtual collapse of the state health
care system
Patience Rusere | Washington 11 January 2010
The
World Health Organization has reported another death from cholera in the
Midlands province of Zimbabwe, bringing the number of deaths from the
communicable disease in recent months to six.
A WHO report said there
were 149 confirmed cases of cholera and five deaths
from the disease between
the beginning of September and January 3.
It said the latest death
occurred in Sanyati, Midlands province.
Cholera claimed more than 4,200
lives in Zimbabwe from late 2008 through
mid-2009 as an epidemic raced out
of control due to a widespread lack of
clean water and the virtual collapse
of the state health care system.
The WHO said 10 of 62 districts in the
country have been affected by the
cholera outbreak recently compared with 51
districts last year.
Midlands Chairman Peter Muchengeti of the National
Association of
Non-Governmental Organizations said access to clean water is
still
problematic as most city councils are having problems funding
municipal
services.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Tuesday
12 January 2010
HARARE - Energy Minister Elias Mudzuri on Monday said
he ordered the country's
power utility - Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) - to stop
exporting power to Namibia since the Hwange power
station was not working
properly.
"We can't import power to export to
Namibia when Hwange power station is not
producing," Mudzuri told
ZimOnline.
In 2007, ZESA entered a deal with the Namibian utility
NamPower in which it
provided a US$40 million loan to refurbish Hwange power
station. In return
ZESA was supposed to supply electricity to
Namibia.
But Mudzuri said Hwange power station was not able to generate
electricity
for export to Namibia resulting in the country buying power for
NamPower.
"That deal was for Hwange only and it must not affect the
entire operations
of the country. It can only be implemented if Hwange is
properly running. I
have ordered ZESA not to supply electricity to Namibia
until Hwange is
running," said Mudzuri, adding that the deal that ZESA and
Botswana Power
Corporation (BPC) entered into would be confined to Bulawayo
power station
only.
Last year BPC agreed to inject US$8 million to
revive the mothballed
Bulawayo thermal power station, which has not produced
electricity for
nearly a decade. BPC will receive electricity from the
Bulawayo thermal
station.
"If Bulawayo is not generating power, we
cannot have electricity from
elsewhere being exported to Botswana," said
Mudzuri.
Mudzuri said it would take up five years for the country to be
able to
generate enough electricity for itself.
"That can be shorter
but electricity might be expensive," said Mudzuri. "Our
plants are old and
have outlived their life span most of them. That means
they become expensive
to use since they are no longer efficient."
ZESA's inability over the
years to boost generation capacity at its ageing
power stations and a
critical shortage of foreign currency to import
adequate electricity from
neighbouring countries has left Zimbabwe grappling
with severe power
shortages.
The Zimbabwean energy firm says cash-rich foreign investors
remain reluctant
to provide funding badly needed to boost power generation
because of
uncertainty about the country's future political and economic
direction.
A coalition government formed by President Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara has
brought a degree
of stability to Zimbabwe's political situation but the
future remains
uncertain.
Incessant squabbling between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai has left political
analysts wondering about the Harare coalition
government's long-term
viability while most potential investors appear to
have adopted a wait and
see attitude before they can consider making any
significant investments in
the country. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26404
January 11, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The debt-ridden Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) has
signed an US$8 million dollar deal with a Botswana
company to revive a
shut-down thermal power station and ease national
blackouts in the country.
Under the deal, the Botswana Power Company will
provide funds to the
Zimbabwe Power Company Limited (ZPC) to refurbish the
plant in Bulawayo and
buy coal from the main colliery at
Hwange.
Founded in 1996 and based in Harare, ZPC is a subsidiary of ZESA.
Its
portfolio of projects includes coal fired power projects, hydroelectric
schemes, and renewable energy resource power projects.
As part of the
deal with the Botswana Power Company, Zimbabwe will export
power to Gaborone
in return.
This is against the back ground of Zimbabwe exporting power to
Namibia at a
discounted tariff to meet requirements of a US$50 million deal
which has
worsened the power crisis. ZESA Holdings' external debt currently
stands at
US$317 million while its internal debt is US$111
million.
ZPC managing director Noah Gwariro says the deal will see
Zimbabwe revive
the Bulawayo Thermal Power Station and enable the company to
generate 90
megawatts of electricity. Of this 40 megawatts will be exported
to Botswana.
"This will go a long way in easing pressure on the national
grid," he said.
Bulawayo and other small thermal power stations in the
country were shut
down in June 2008 due to Zimbabwe's financial crisis and
ailing
infrastructure.
Under the Namibia deal signed in March 2007,
Namibia, which provided
Zimbabwe with a loan of US$50 million, is supposed
to receive 180 megawatts
for a minimum of five years as part of a power
purchasing agreement between
ZESA and Namibia's power utility,
Nampower.
The US$50 million was meant to refurbish and expand Hwange
Power Station to
levels that would have resulted in a significant reduction
in power-cuts
throughout energy-crisis-hit Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's power
plants are said to be in a serious state of disrepair.
According to a
report by the World Bank released last month, the country
needs US$135
million for emergency rehabilitation of Hwange. Out of the
amount, US$6
million is required to secure the unstable ash dam.
The Kariba Dam south
wall meanwhile is also in urgent need of rehabilitation
to ensure dam wall
safety, the report said.
This would involve refurbishment of the
floodgate mechanism and
strengthening of the plunge pool to prevent further
erosion backwards to the
dam wall.
"This work is extremely urgent to
ensure that dam wall safety is not
compromised," the World Bank report
says.
The estimated cost for rehabilitation of Kariba south amounts to
US$84
million.
According to the report, the transmission infrastructure
was in a poor state
of repair and requires huge investment to rehabilitate
and reinforce the
network to an acceptable level.
The cost for
transmission emergency rehabilitation amounts to US$561
million.
ZESA
Holdings is already saddled with a US$428 million debt which it is
battling
to settle.
The power utility's cash woes are compounded by unrealistic
tariffs over the
years in comparison to the viable rates levied by other
utilities in the
region.
Cash problems at ZESA Holdings also mean the
country faces uncertainty over
future supply of power considering that the
power utility has a daunting
task to raise US$385 million for emergency
power needs.
The World Bank said there has been a decline in ZESA's
operational,
commercial and financial performance since 1997 when the power
supplier
collected 9 percent for accounts due.
ZESA currently
collects an estimated US$20 million a month from its
customers, representing
a 49 percent rate in account settlement by
customers, but this is hardly
enough to cover its payroll.
Apart from low collections and sub-economic
tariffs, the general downturn in
the economy and lack of access to financing
has contributed to the power
utility's huge financial distress.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Howard Lesser |
Washington 11 January 2010
Cancellation of Tuesday's planned
auction of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe's
Marange fields could help Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's government
avert suspension from the
international Kimberley Process certification
scheme.
Evidence of
government-led human rights abuse in diamond mining areas,
smuggling, and
weak internal controls have placed Zimbabwe on a watch list
for
noncompliance with a Kimberley Process plan of action agreed to by
Harare at
a meeting last November.
Local miners prospecting for diamonds in Zimbabwe's
Marange fields.
Diamond campaigner Amy Barry of the watchdog group Global
Witness tells VOA
English to Africa reporter Howard Lesser that if today's
auction had gone
ahead, Zimbabwe might have lost its bid for Kimberley
certification and an
untainted opportunity to market its precious minerals
worldwide.
"Part of the action plan that was agreed after the Kimberley
Process
monitoring group visit to Zimbabwe was that they would not export
diamonds
without prior agreement from the Kimberley Process Scheme. And
that
obviously didn't appear to be the case. So for us, it was a signal of
a
lack of respect for the action plan that had been agreed," she
said.
Global Witness expressed disappointment that Zimbabwean authorities
did not
reveal their cancellation plans well in advance to Kimberley Process
bodies.
But human rights groups nonetheless welcomed Thursday's cancellation
by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a positive step until it could be
confirmed that Zimbabwe is complying with the Kimberley certification
process.
PM Morgan Tsvangirai (L) and President Robert Mugabe (R) are
pictured at
Zimbabwe International Investment Conference in Harare, 09 Jul
2009
AFP
PM Morgan Tsvangirai (L) and President Robert Mugabe (R) are
pictured at
Zimbabwe International Investment Conference in Harare, 09 Jul
2009
Global Witness advocate Amy Barry says the Harare government needs
to work
more closely with Kimberley monitors to ensure that meaningful
reforms will
be implemented.
"It's imperative that the country as a
whole cooperate with the Kimberley
Process and with the recommendations of
the action plan because if they
failed to do so, then they will not be in
compliance and therefore, they
shouldn't be exporting all mining diamonds,"
she noted.
Barry points out that cleaning up the diamond sector requires
Zimbabwe to
halt military excesses in which violence is used against local
villagers and
forced labor. The workers are poorly paid and subject to
deteriorating
living conditions and demands that they turn over most of
their yields to
senior government and ZANU-PF officials. The Global Witness
observer says
that compliance with the Kimberley Process will require
Zimbabwe to end
these practices.
"If the military is benefitting,
then that is not something that we think is
in line with the spirit or the
letter of the Kimberley Process.and they
shouldn't be considering export or
profit for anybody from the diamond
industry until they can prove that there
are no human rights abuses going on
and the areas where the diamonds are
found are not under military control,"
she contends.
Tuesday's
auction had been scheduled to be conducted by South Africa's Mbada
diamonds
company under an agreement with the Zimbabwe government. Amy Barry
says that
by going ahead with the trading, Zimbabwe most likely would have
been in
violation of the action plan agreed to at a Kimberley Process
meeting last
November in Namibia.
"One of the conditions was that the diamonds
would not be exported. So in
principle, an auction could have taken place
and international exporters
could have bought their diamonds and kept them
within the country. But in
that situation then, Zimbabwe would not
necessarily have been in breach of
the action plan. However, the usual
reasons for purchasing governments is
to go ahead and sell them. And if
international buyers were to be at the
auction, which we understand was to
be the case, then the logical assumption
would be that those diamonds were
there to be sold overseas," she advised.
Kimberley Process monitors have
given Zimbabwe six months to curb abuses,
ease military restrictions, and
improve conditions in Marange for local
residents. For now, Zimbabwe's
late-hour cancellation of a questionable
mineral sale will give the
government some latitude to determine whether or
not it truly wants to
pursue the international legitimacy it seeks from
Kimberley Process
ratification so it can openly market its mineral wealth
for profit.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26384
January 11, 2010
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Vice-President John Nkomo has backed businessman Billy
Rautenbach's
bid to take over 100 000 hectares of land in the Nuanetsi Ranch
for the
production of bio-diesel.
Nkomo effectively reversed an
earlier decision by the Zanu-PF Masvingo
provincial executive who had
opposed the project arguing that the
businessman was not indigenous and
should not benefit from land reform.
The Masvingo Zanu-PF provincial
executive led by Lovemore Matuke has opposed
the project arguing that
Rautenbach is a white man and is, therefore, not
entitled to such a
project.
"We have to ask ourselves questions as to where is the black
empowerment if
we allow one white men take such a huge piece of land," said
Matuke.
"As a party we are totally against this project. If it was a
black man then
we should have the basis of supporting it. After all we hear
that those
supporting the project have been given huge sums of money by the
project
owners."
Former Masvingo governor Josaya Hungwe and sitting
governor Titus Maluleke
have openly said that giving one white men 100 000
hectares of land means
that as a party they were reversing the gains of the
liberation struggle.
"We can not give one man such a huge piece of land
when black people are
landless," said Maluleke.
The investment
project with an estimated cost of US$1 billion will cause the
displacement
of over 1 000 families who are already settled in the Nuanetsi
Ranch.
On Friday, Nkomo met Masvingo political leaders at Masvingo
Polytechnic
College over the issue. He told them he fully backed the
project.
"We have to support development and this is one such development
which we
have to support," said Nkomo.
"Those opposing the project,
which is going to change the face of Masvingo,
are witches.
"I have
come here to thank you for nominating me into the presidium and also
to tell
you that the project has to go ahead."
It emerged however during the
meeting that some farmers in the Nuanetsi
Ranch had resisted eviction and
had already taken the Development Trust of
Zimbabwe (DTZ) to
court.
During the meeting, former Masvingo senator Dzikamai Mavhaire,
said those
trying to scuttle the project should be physically
assaulted.
"We do not have to waste time," said Mavhaire. "Those who want
to scuttle
this project should be beaten up, even using 'dry
hands'".
Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan Mudenge, also a
prominent
political figure in Masvingo, said opponents of the project were
MDC
supporters.
"Because the MDC knows our links with Billy, they
want to disturb our
relationship by claiming that Billy is a white man who
should not benefit
from the land reform programme," said
Mudenge.
"Billy is our friend and a Zanu-PF friend and therefore those
who want his
eviction are MDC supporters."
Zimbabwe Bio -Energy
(Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Rautenbach in which
President Robert Mugabe
and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa shareholder's
went into partnership
with the Development Trust Zimbabwe (DTZ), a company
owned by the original
PF-Zapu which became part of Zanu-PF after the two
parties signed a unity
agreement in 1987.
The two companies are to grow sugar cane on 100 000
hectares of land in the
Nuanetsi Ranch for ethanol production.
In
addition to the ethanol project, the two companies say they intend to
embark
on a giant crocodile breeding and cattle ranching project.
Nuanetsi Ranch
is one of the pioneer investments of DTZ which was
established in the early
1980s by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, has.
In a development that
has provoked controversy, the joint venture between
Zimbabwe Bio- Energy and
DTZ would see the development of several projects
in the vast 300 000
hectare Nuanetsi Ranch.
DTZ vice chairman Liberty Mhlanga on Friday said:
"We are going to have one
of the biggest investments in which we would want
to grow sugar cane for
ethanol production.
"In addition, we will have
one of the biggest crocodile projects in the
country and a cattle ranching
business.
"We will also build lodges in the ranch in order to attract
tourists during
the World Cup in South Africa in 2010."
The two
companies have already cleared about 60 000 hectares of land. They
also have
5 000 herd of cattle on the property.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Staff Reporter
Monday, 11 January
2010 11:36
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa based Zimbabwean protest musical
output have
released a thought-provoking album which has the potential to be
a thorn in
the flesh of the powers that be in Zimbabwe.
Inkulu lendaba is
pregnant with messages. The song says Zimbabweans spend a
lot of time in
countries like Botswana and South Africa where they are
looked down upon and
harassed. When these Zimbabweans visit their homes they
become 'visitors in
their own homes'.
These protest poets highlight the plight of most
Zimbabweans who are
foreigners in different countries. Their children grow
up not knowing their
grannies. Ngekesikhohlwe sings about the Gukurahundi
and says they will
never forget that period. One of the band members who
preferred to remain
anonymous for now says his father was killed by the
North Korean trained
Fifth Brigade.
The song says they will never forget
their brothers and sisters who were
killed in Bhalagwe. Bhalagwe is a place
in Matabeleland South where the
Fifth Brigade used to kill and throw
suspected Zapu supporters.
The son of the Gukurahundi victim says, "I will
never forget what happened
until some healing is done. I have to see someone
who killed my father
apologizing". He says that incident left a scar is his
memory that is why he
is singing' I won't forget.' The songs ask the one
with blood fingers
whether he will face those dry bones and his sins.
The
song Hungry Lions is likely to be a thorn in the flesh of Zanu (PF). The
song says "we are from slavery trade, colonialism to the Hungry Lions". "We
are from the frying pan to the fire. The poetry in this song is well
constructed with a supporting sombre beat.
The poet asks, "why are these
killers called kings, why are theses riggers
called winners, their confusion
is called revolution, these demons are
called democrats, their politricks is
called politics, their tribalism is
called nationalism, cowards are called
comrades, our pain is called our
gain, our poverty is called power and
dictators are called doctors".
Referring to the 2008 elections, the poet goes
on to say, "they cut off our
legs before the race and declare themselves the
winners, they prefer to cut
our mouth than to answer our questions". Some
songs tackle various other
aspects like praising the heroes like Lookout
Masuku, Dumiso Dabengwa and
moan the forgotten culture. The poets criticizes
thieves who turn the
breadbasket into an empty basket.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Taurai Bande
Monday, 11
January 2010 13:02
Former prominent businessman and veteran MDC activist,
Stanford Chigumbura
(49) is destitute, following the systematic destruction
of his properties,
businesses, home, and health by Zanu (PF) thugs and state
security agents
over a period of eight years.
MARONDERA - Chigumbura, who
introduced MDC politics to Army General
Constantine Chiwenga’s home area,
Wedza, now moves on crutches following
torture. He was accused by Mugabe
sympathizers of supporting a
neo-colonialist agenda embraced by the MDC. "As
the first MDC Chairperson
for Wedza, I led a delegation and approached Chief
Wedza in 1999. We
informed him that we wanted to establish MDC structures in
the area. Chiefs
were not yet politicized then, and Chief Svosve kindly
accepted our
intention to practice MDC politics in his area of jurisdiction.
I told him
we had decided to part ways with Zanu (PF), as our principles and
ideology
conflicted with those of Mugabe and his followers. MDC structures
were put
in place and rallies were then organized," said Chigumbura, who has
been MDC
Director of elections for Marondera since 2001.
Businesses
destroyed
After the 2000 parliamentary elections, Zanu thugs and CIO agents
ordered
him to close his bakery and security company at Charumbira business
centre.
His structures were destroyed and looted by political thugs. His
business
ventures at ward 4 were also sabotaged. The security company,
Thurchi
Security Services and Debt Collectors, had lucrative contracts to
provide
security at Saint Marys’ hospital and secondary school. It also
provided
services at other government and private institutions in Wedza.
Chigumbura
was forced to relocate to Marondera in 2001. In a desperate bid
to crawl
back into business, he opened offices for a security company at
Mazarura
Complex. As he pursued political ambitions at the offices, partisan
state
security agents forced him to close shop. They accused him of using
the
offices for MDC politics. Guards and other personnel employed by the
company, were threatened and warned against associating with
Chigumbura.
"Towards 2002 presidential elections, I shifted to Chatendeuka
building to
pursue my previous projects. Zanu (PF) youths and CIO operatives
followed up
and evicted me from the building. I abandoned the venture and
devoted my
time to election campaigns. Hunting for my head by MDC enemies
was stepped
up. A burning desire for democracy and political change in the
country
spurred me on," he said in a recent interview.
Beaten
unconscious
"I later provoked the anger of my detractors, when I declared
that elections
in Marondera had been rigged in favour of Zanu (PF). State
security agents
had locked me in a toilet at Nehanda Hall while counting of
votes was in
progress. As a result of my revelations, the MDC made court
petitions at the
High Court disputing the poll. In the company of fellow
activists such as
Brightness Mangora and others, at the High Court, we
verified and exposed
inconsistencies like multiple voting by Zanu (PF)
followers. This further
irked Mugabe’s terror machinery which bayed for my
blood," Chigumbura said.
After 18 days of hectic voter verification exercise
at the High Court, on
June 4, 2003, Chigumbura re-established a bakery and a
supermarket along
Longlands Road. The business was again looted by Zanu
thugs and the CIO.
Chigumbura was abducted and driven to Zanu (PF)
Provincial Headquarters. He
was blind-folded and severely assaulted. After
being beaten unconscious, he
was thrown out on the street. Sympathizers took
him to Harare for medical
treatment.
On his return from Harare in 2003,
Chigumbura relocated to Msami Cross in
Mrewa. He again established a bakery
and supermarket. But his detractors
followed and caught up with him. The
owner of the premises from which
Chigumbura operated, Madhuku, was
threatened and forced to evict him from
the buildings. Chigumbura was
subsequently thrown out of the premises and
left stranded.
Fake eviction
order
He abandoned the project and moved to his house in Marondera. Zanu (PF)
heavyweights connived with former owner of Chigumbura’s 5 Devedzo Road
house, Farashisiko Kamhiripiri, to dispute ownership of the house by the
bruised MDC activist. State security agents and Zanu (PF) officials armed
with what Chigumbura described as fake High Court eviction orders,
dispossessed the Chigumbura family of the house. Zanu (PF) allegedly
threatened Chigumbura’s family lawyer, Clement Phiri, and cowed him out of
the country. Chigumbura went on to lose a residential stand bought through
Muchabvuma Housing Cooperative in 2007. The cooperative was chaired by Zanu
(PF) official, Maphias Mutonhori. Chigumbira had paid $11 million out of the
required $18 million. When he went to pay up the balance four months later,
he was charged interest at 40 percent of the outstanding money. At law, the
interest was supposed to be calculated at 30 percent. To date, Mutonhori is
reportedly holding on to the paid cash and the stand.
"Left homeless by
the eviction order, we went to live with uncle Fanuel
Nhika at his Middlesex
farm. The CIO and Zanu (PF) thugs threatened my
uncle, before torching the
farmhouse. In 2004, I was arrested by Zanu (PF)
youths, together with MDC
provincial youth leader, Jimmy Jalifi. The two of
us were severely beaten up
at the town park before we were taken to a War
Veterans office. Heavy
beatings continued and we were later handed over to
CIO agents for a
three-day torture session. We were eventually saved by
Human Rights Lawyer
Aleck Muchadehama," said Chigumbira.
Traumatized family
Despite some of
his ordeals being treated as armed robberies by sympathetic
police officers,
no action was taken to arrest the known culprits. Some
cases were recorded
as robbery case number 086471 of 02-06-03, CR 72-06-03
DR 22-06-03, CR
18-06-03 DR 11-06-03. All cases were later closed without
investigation. The
traumatized family, which had returned to live a
destitute life in a single
hut in Mtoko, was chased away by councillor
Misheck Nyakudanga in Nyamukapa
ward following the MDC-T 2008 election
victory.
"In a bid to put food on
the table, I sold my two cars in 2007, a Mercedes
Benz 200 and a Nissan Hard
body. My six children are out of school, since I
cannot afford the fees. I
have no means to raise capital for the family to
start income-generating
projects," said Chigumbura who claimed having
invested own funds to
establish MDC structures in Wedza and Marondera.
Chigumbura now lives a
beggar’s life accommodated by a relative in
Dombotombo. “My only wish is to
live to witness Morgan Tsvangirai running
the country as president," said
Chigumbura who suffers severe ill health as
a result of torture.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Natasha
Hove
Monday, 11 January 2010 17:40
BULAWAYO - The City Council has
enlisted the services of the police to evict
Zanu (PF) supporters who
invaded the local authority's farm last year.
The local authority wants them
evicted urgently as they have been poaching
in its nearby Tshabalala Game
Sanctuary. It also fears land degradation if
the party faithful are allowed
to remain on the farm.
According to latest council minutes, the local
authority is working with
Donnington police officials on ways to remove the
land hungry settlers to
avert wildlife being wiped out.
But the police
have not given the council a date as to when they will carry
out the
eviction.
"Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had been given the eviction order
from the
courts, however, they were still consulting before they gave
council a date
to remove the settlers from Emganwini Farm," reads the latest
council
report.
About 300 Zanu (PF) supporters, led by war veteran
Lillian Kandemiri,
invaded the council-owned Emganwini farm claiming they
had a directive from
Didymus Mutasa, the party secretary for
administration.
A High Court order directing that the settlers vacate the
farm was ignored
as the settlers claimed their invasion was part of the
controversial land
"reform" programme.
Kandemiri said they would resist
any eviction attempts. She has already
contacted a construction company to
build 400 housing units on the farm. She
claims to have received the go
ahead from Mutasa for this operation. No
comment could be obtained from
Mutasa.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The
Zimbabwean
Monday, 11 January 2010 16:16
HARARE - The commissioner of
police, Augustine Chihuri (pictured), blocked
Prime Minister and MCD leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, from touring police
stations around the country in
December, according to Radio VOP.
Highly placed sources in the Zimbabwe
Republic Police said at the weekend
that Tsvangirai wanted to visit police
posts to meet officers. He planned to
assess their work conditions and hear
their concerns. But his visit was
blocked by Chihuri.
During his proposed
visit, Tsvangirai also intended making a firsthand
assessment of police
cells whose conditions have been roundly condemned by
human rights
activists.
“The Prime Minister was supposed to visit Harare Central Police
Station and
several other stations around the country in December but the
visit was
blocked by Chihuri. We understand he is afraid that the Prime
Minister was
going to use his visit to cement the already growing support
that he enjoys
among members of the force,” said highly placed sources at
Harare Central
Police station.
“A radio signal was sent in December
instructing police officers to prepare
for the visit of the Prime Minister.
But while officers were busy preparing
for his coming, another message was
sent to all stations instructing
everyone not to entertain the Prime
Minister, or anyone representing him.
That was the last we heard of his
visit.”
The sources said they would have wanted the Prime Minister to visit
so that
he could see for himself the rot at many police stations in the
country.
The cells at Harare Central Police Station are uninhabitable, with
prisoners
crowded in the cells and diseases flourishing. In October last
year, senior
policemen also blocked visits to police stations by the MDC
co-minister of
home affairs, Giles Mutsekwa, saying that they were
“busy”.
Chihuri is a hardline Zanu (PF) supporter whose term of office has
been
continuously renewed by President Robert Mugabe. Together with other
security chiefs, before the March 2008 harmonised elections, he vowed not to
salute Tsvangirai if he was to become president of the country.
In 2007
on March 11, Chihuri sanctioned the assault of Tsvangirai and many
other
civic leaders during the aborted prayer meeting at Zimbabwe grounds.
Tsvangirai was beaten all over his body until he passed out.
Just
recently Chihuri refused to facilitate a civil service audit programme
from
accessing police files. It is believed that the police force has on its
payroll thousands of war veterans who are neither police officers nor police
constabularies, in addition to an unknown number of ghost workers who have
left the force.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
12/01/2010 00:00:00
CONDITIONS of
service for Zimbabwe's judiciary are so unattractive that the
country cannot
make new appointments to the bench with the Bulawayo High
Court being the
worst affected, Judge President Rita Makarau has said.
"We have been
informed that our conditions of service are so unattractive
that no new
appointments can be made to the bench. That our conditions of
service are
scandalous is now common knowledge.
"That the nation cannot have new
judges appointed to the bench without first
improving on conditions of
service of sitting judges goes without saying,"
Makarau said while
officially opening the 2010 legal calendar.
The head of the country's
High Court said Bulawayo was the worst area
affected by the problem with
just three judges serving in the country's
second largest city.
"Four
governors, resident ministers, a host of senators and members of the
House
of Assembly serve the same population that the three judges in
Bulawayo
attempted to serve during the year 2009", the
Makarau lamented the lack
of judicial independency in the country saying
while Zimbabwe subscribed to
the doctrine of separation of powers among the
three organs of the state,
scant regard was given to the principle in
practice.
"We in the
judiciary have no role in matters of the executive and of the
legislature.
The reverse should also hold true.
"However, I am of the view that the
doctrine of separation of powers has
been applied against the judiciary to
place it in isolation that is neither
splendid nor beneficial to
anyone."
Makarau said politicians easily found the resources to bring
back the Senate
adding there is also talk of constructing a new Parliament
building and a
motel for legislators from outside Harare.
She said
several new ministers and their deputies were appointed after the
creation
of the inclusive government yet nothing was done for the judiciary.
"A
convenient answer from politicians will be that different considerations
apply amongst the three organs of state. This is indeed correct. But should
service to the populace not be the paramount
consideration?
"Separation of powers surely does not mean separate
development of the
organs of State? Or does it?" she said.
Makarau
also said despite the promulgation of the Judiciary Services Act in
2006,
the magistrates still fall under the control of the executive and not
the
chief justice.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Daily
Telegraph
Monday, 11 January 2010 10:52
ben_freeth_and_workersA superb new
documentary, secretly shot inside
Zimbabwe, tells the true story of the
corrupt and brutal land "resettlement"
programme. It vividly underlines the
truth that if the people of Zimbabwe
are to recover from the years of
decline and destruction, they will need the
likes of Ben Freeth and Mike
Campbell much more than they will need the
likes of Robert Mugabe.
(Pictured: Ben Freeth and his father in law Mike
Campbell and
workers.)
There is a moment in Mugabe and the White African that suddenly and
vividly
defines the banality, the infantile pointlessness, of those
directing
Zimbabwe's violent collapse into anarchy. Peter Chamada, the son
of Mugabe's
political ally Nathan Shamuyarira, has arrived on a white
farmer's land in
his shining new Toyota Prado and is taking photographs on
an expensive
mobile phone. He glares, wild-eyed with contempt, into the
camera and
declares, "This land is now my home. The government has taken it
from you
people [the white farmers] to redistribute to the poor black
majority. This
land belongs to the black peasants."
As the records show,
the land taken from some 4,000 productive white
Zimbabwean farmers, often
with violent force, has been handed almost
exclusively to Mugabe's cronies -
pliable judges, air vice-marshals,
provincial administrators, girlfriends of
ministers and assorted relations
such as Chamada.
When the white farmer
Ben Freeth asks how someone like the expensively
dressed Chamada can
describe himself as a member of the poor black majority,
"when every time
you come here you arrive in a brand-new car", the raging
scion spits out, "I
will sleep here until you are out. We want to deal with
friendlier people -
the Chinamen, the Indians. We don't want anything to do
with you [white]
people."
Farm workers
All around are the black farm workers who
clearly dread the moment Chamada
and his ilk prise the farm from its white
owners. For them this supposed
liberation will be the beginning of their
descent into joblessness,
homelessness and hunger, a journey taken by the
majority of Mugabe's
subjects over the past 10 years. As the film shows, the
farms plundered by
Mugabe's inner circle, which once formed the backbone of
a thriving economy,
are now by and large unmaintained, overgrown wastelands.
(Mugabe first set
his ragtag army of militants on to the white farmers in
2000 after he lost a
referendum called to entrench his political power.
Since then violent
intimidation and seizures in the name of land
distribution have derailed the
commercial agricultural sector.)
This
exchange takes place a matter of weeks before Freeth, his father-in-law
and
mother-in-law are abducted, tortured and beaten by a gang of Chamada's,
and
thus Mugabe's, storm troopers.
Freeth's father-in-law is Mike Campbell, the
White African of the film's
title, and he is battered so severely that he is
unable to attend the final
hearing of the international human rights court
in Namibia, which is to
deliver its verdict on the legality of Mugabe's land
invasions. Freeth does
attend, but in a wheelchair and with his head swathed
in bandages.
Court battle
The court finds in their favour and declares
the attempts to invade the
Campbells' pretty Mount Carmel fruit farm
illegal. As their legal counsel
says, they bought the farm on the open
market after Zimbabwe's independence
and with the approval of Mugabe's
government at the time. The judgment also
means that the invasions of the
past decade are illegal and all the farmers
who have been thrown off the
land have a right to return to their farms. It
is a landmark judgment that
Mugabe will completely ignore.
This courtroom battle, which ran for more than
a year, is the narrative
thread for Mugabe and the White African, a
remarkable documentary that is
longlisted for the 2010 Oscars, and has
already won several major awards for
the British filmmakers Lucy Bailey and
Andrew Thompson.
Beautifully filmed
While most such documentaries are
harsh, grainy, news-feature affairs that
owe their veracity to
nuts-and-bolts journalism, this film is a thoughtful,
structured piece that
is beautifully filmed, cleverly edited and driven by a
cast of characters
whose courage and decency lift the spirits despite the
Stygian gloom in
which they are living.
Thompson's partner, Lucy Bailey, whose background is
in anthropology, says
that making terse three-minute documentaries for Comic
Relief taught the
couple the power of good filmmaking and provided perfect
training for their
first full-length film. 'Life is raw in Africa in ways
that it plainly isn't
in Europe, and for Comic Relief we had filmed in the
most awful slums, so we
had learnt how to tell larger stories by focusing on
the plight of
individuals.'
The couple had also spent considerable time
in Africa making documentaries
for National Geographic, the BBC and
Discovery Channel, and, Thompson says,
'we were always looking for the big
story. We had come across a newspaper
clipping about this white farmer who
was planning to take on Robert Mugabe
in the courts and it sounded like a
classic David and Goliath story.'
Secret trips
The film took more than
a year to make and involved Thompson taking five
clandestine trips into
Zimbabwe, smuggling in large-format film equipment
that was difficult to
conceal. Despite his experiences as a cameraman in
hostile environments such
as Afghanistan and Iraq, he says he has never
worked in a more terrifying
place and was quite unprepared for the
threatening atmosphere of Mugabe's
Zimbabwe.
'Ben had told me about a cloud of fear that hung over the country
but I don't
think I really appreciated it until I began making this film
there. In Gaza,
for example, if you have a permit you can film everything
all the time. In
Zimbabwe, there are no permits and you never know what will
happen next. It
is a very intimidating place, ruled by fear, but that's
precisely what
Mugabe wants the country to be like.'
Bailey, who was in
charge of the logistics, says the film took a lot of
careful planning. 'We
had to smuggle equipment in and out of the country, we
had to avoid
travelling with the equipment, and nobody but the protagonists
could know we
were filming. We worked with a lot of brave Zimbabwean fixers
who risked
their lives moving the equipment around and getting the rushes
out of the
country.'
World leaders
Thompson says they set out not only to make
'as good a film as we could
about the subject but also to make a film that
had far-reaching
consequences, to actually make a difference.' To that end
they have already
organised private screenings for the Southern African
Development Community
secretariat, various non-government organisations and
African politicians,
and are hoping to do the same with the US Senate, 'and
get it in front of
world leaders in the European Union, the African Union
and the United
Nations'.
Those last remaining white Zimbabweans are
fascinating characters, droll and
phlegmatic in the face of constant danger,
determined and adaptable as the
country's political and economic
infrastructure implodes around them, and
calm and forgiving under the utmost
provocation. And, as Andrew Thompson
observes of Mike Campbell, 'with no
visible anger and with a twinkle in his
eye'.
In one memorable scene in
the film, Campbell, Freeth and some of the workers
arm themselves and drive
into the pitch-black African night to hunt down the
intruders. The tension
and the unseen presence of loitering thugs
brilliantly conveys the sense of
isolation and ever-present danger these
farmers have been living with for
more than a decade.
For most in the West, the Zimbabwean land invasions and
the plight of the
white farmers have been vaguely understood stories of
minor interest running
in the background, while major world events - the
Iraq war, the Afghanistan
conflict, the collapse of the Western banking
industry - have dominated the
headlines and our thoughts. By bringing the
humanity of the 'White African'
and his family to our attention, Bailey and
Thompson have firmly fixed the
spotlight on one of the world's most cunning
and destructive political
leaders. And if the people of Zimbabwe are to
recover from the years of
decline and destruction, they will need the likes
of Freeth and Campbell
much more than they will need the likes of Robert
Mugabe.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
As political stalemate deepens, a school for the
hearing-impaired in an
impoverished township shows what's
possible.
By Kate Chambers / January 11, 2010
My car bumps
across a stony track in Sakubva suburb. Like many roads in
Zimbabwe, this
one is so badly potholed that it looks as if it's been
shelled. Piles of
garbage rot in the sun on either side.
Despite the excited chatter of the
four preschoolers in the back seat, my
thoughts are glum. Lately, I've been
wondering if my hope in a bright future
for Zimbabwe is
misplaced.
There was so much hope last February when former opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai joined a power-sharing government with longtime
President Robert
Mugabe. Many Zimbabweans believed that nine years of
political and economic
turmoil were finally over.
Ten months on,
cracks in the coalition are widening. Mr. Tsvangirai alleges
that his
supporters are being persecuted. He claims that Mr. Mugabe refuses
to share
control of the central bank and other government institutions.
Mugabe
maintains he's done nothing wrong. In fact, he says Tsvangirai has
failed to
abide by the unity deal: He hasn't persuaded the United States and
the
European Union to lift sanctions on Mugabe and his associates.
I'm
indignant and despondent by turns. I long for a fair (and speedy)
solution
to what looks like a dangerous stalemate. But I'm aware that my
Western way
of thinking is not shared by everyone. Friends from the ethnic
Shona
majority urge patience. Like many educated urbanites, most are
supporters of
Tsvangirai.
"We can't go backwards now," they assure me. "Things will be
better."
I checked my e-mail this morning before I left to take my
5-year-old on a
class outing, and found disheartening news. An opposition
party official had
been abducted. State agents had raided the home of a
union head. Can my
friends really be right?
Our convoy of cars rounds
the corner. We reach a gravel parking lot,
bordered by freshly mown grass. A
welcoming party waits. Each small member
wears a hearing aid, a bulky
battery strapped to his or her chest, and a
huge smile.
My son's
teachers have brought the class to the Nzeve Deaf Children's Centre
in the
eastern city of Mutare. Nzeve means "ear" in the Shona language. This
project for hearing-impaired preschoolers was started in 2000: now, more
than 30 children are enrolled. The visitors crowd under a thatched outdoor
shelter and learn how to introduce themselves in sign language.
My
son is happy that the sign for his name, Sam, is the same as the sign for
simba, which means lion. He and his friends learn to sign "I am a boy,"
thumping their chests and pointing to nonexistent beards.
I look up
to the hills of Christmas Pass behind the school and feel myself
relax.
We troop into a classroom, leaving our shoes outside. The
Nzeve Centre is a
testament to the power of cheerful hope for children who
might otherwise
have been denied a chance to learn. Frequent teachers'
strikes and a lack of
funding during the crisis took their toll on
Zimbabwe's schools: In 2008,
many pupils got less than a month's worth of
lessons. But this institution
in the heart of an impoverished township kept
functioning. Today there are
painted self-portraits on the walls and books
neatly filed in boxes. There
is even carpet on the floor, an unimaginable
luxury for most Zimbabweans.
Sam and his classmates learn that to make
the sign for a zebra, you must
stroke your stomach with your fingers splayed
out, imitating the stripes on
the zebra's coat. If you want to talk about a
giraffe, stroke your neck.
Swing your forearm in front of your nose to make
the sign for an elephant.
Their new friends are eager to help, waving their
arms to demonstrate the
right sign for a rhino.
My son's class has
collected money for weeks to bring presents. It wasn't
easy: Zimbabwe
abandoned its worthless local dollar for the greenback early
this year, but
prices are still way above regional averages. A civil servant's
monthly
salary of $150 barely covers his electricity bill. Families have dug
deep to
fill boxes with bottles of a baobab-flavored drink, bars of soap,
and
secondhand clothes. There are potato chips and cookies, treats forgotten
during the years of empty supermarket shelves. Collen, a boy in a
bottle-green pullover, signs excitedly to his headmistress: "It's like
Christmas!"
I watch from the back of the classroom. There are nearly
50 preschoolers in
this group. Most are black, but there are five whites,
plus a little girl
from Goa and a boy whose mother is from Pakistan. Half
have hearing
difficulties. In theory, there could be much that divides
them.
An assistant brings out a bottle of dish detergent bubbles. As the
children
leap for the cloud of perfect soapy spheres, I know that my faith
in
Zimbabwe's future is as strong as ever.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by THABANI MOYO
Monday, 11 January
2010 13:10
Zanu (PF) has created a police state where the ruling aristocrats
decide who
lives and who dies, who gets a farm and who doesn't, who is a
patriot and
who is a sellout, who is a hero and who is a villain.
One of
the biggest highlights and most curiously followed developments after
the
formation of the inclusive government in 2009 was the Zanu (PF) national
congress in December. Robert Mugabe's party is the oldest and, until the
last decade, the most dominant political institution in the land. As feared
but expected, the congress 'unanimously' re-elected him as party leader and
presidential candidate for the next election, whenever that will be. This is
despite the fact that Mugabe is turning 85 next month. The outcome removes
any doubt that Mugabe is the 'elected' king of Zanu (PF), and intends to die
on the throne - making a sham of any parliamentary democracy and free and
fair elections. He has created a police state where the ruling aristocrats
decide who lives and who dies, who gets a farm and who doesn't, who is a
patriot and who is a sellout, who is a hero and who is a villain.
Despite
all this, there had been some hope that at some point Zanu (PF)
would be
forced to reinvent itself and get rid of Mugabe. Electoral
manipulation is
what has sustained both the party and Mugabe's power. Those
who have chosen
to give the electorate an alternative have been insulted and
vilified
together with their supporters. Hate language has been
systematically used
since liberation war times to reduce political
competitors to some form of
sub-human who does not deserve any human
dignity, even the right to life,
thereby legitimizing their persecution,
even unto death!
Behind the
aggressive, dismissive rhetoric of Zanu (PF) and Mugabe lie
suspicious minds
that conjure their own demons, the 'dissidents',
'imperialists' and a host
of imaginary enemies. Of course all this is a
mirage, just like the
"sanctions" veil constructed to cause alarm and
despondency, to perpetuate
the war agenda and thus sustain the relevance of
Zanu (PF). It may sound
insulting to say violence is the only political game
Zanu (PF) takes into
the year 2010, but in fact in 1976, while prosecuting
the liberation war,
Mugabe is recorded as having remarked that; "Our votes
must go with our
guns. After all, any vote we shall have shall have been the
product of the
gun. The gun, which produces the vote, should remain its
security officer,
its guarantor. The people's votes and the people's guns
are always
inseparable twins."
These words have not been mere threats. Mugabe has turned
Zanu (PF) into a
miniature of the Nazi party. To illustrate this, in the
building of a brutal
terrorist state, in 1933, fire broke out in the
Reichstag (German
Parliament) and Hitler declared that it was a terrorist
attack by the
communists. This gave him enough grounds to arrest political
opponents, kill
them, and deny them the right to free speech, assembly and
due process of
the law. In 1983, 50 years later, arms caches were
'discovered' in
Matabeleland, but not before Mugabe's private army, the
fifth brigade, had
been well trained to deal with perceived ZAPU supporters
in Matabeleland and
Midlands. This gave Mugabe the opportunity to be a
crisis leader, with a
God-given right to impose a state of emergency, the
power to use the fifth
brigade to massacre, abduct and cause terror in
defence of 'the state
against dissidents' and 'forces of
destabilization'.
If Hitler's eight million Jewish victims were considered a
global tragedy,
then 10 000 to 20 000 mostly Ndebele victims 50 years later
should be
considered at least a national tragedy, something worth a moment
of silence
and a moment of truth. Countless citizens who have defied the
authority of
the Mugabe by supporting opposition parties have since suffered
the same
fate. The violence visited on the "opponents of the state" was and
continues
to be done to tell citizens that there are no multiple
narratives to our
political future - only one dominant nationalist narrative
or ideology
(gwara) as defined by Zanu (PF) and well articulated by
Mugabe.
The 2009 congress confirmed the party as an institution that
continues to
perfect the art of manufactured consent and is not about to
change. Not even
when the times demand such. Zimbabweans may not want to
remember the
previous congress where the so-called 'million man march'
silenced calls for
leadership change within Zanu (PF) and gave Mugabe yet
another 're-election'
as party president.
Remember the desperate June 27
presidential run-off - a typical mockery of
the will of the people - a
manufactured electoral victory! Behind the
celebrated façade of the
populist agenda and the 'sanctions veil' are a
party and leader trapped in
survival mode. They find themselves inextricably
bound by the mutual threat
to political survival; they tremble in front of
the ideals of human rights,
democracy, and good governance - ideals whose
time has come.
The slide to
self-destruction is inevitable - surely they know it. But
Mugabe's only
defence now is to be misleadingly delusional - so he clings to
the throne
for dear life. - Nyoni is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow, Public Policy
Analysis,
University of Minnesota, USA
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Editor
Monday, 11 January 2010
06:22
We are horrified that the Attorney General is professing ignorance of
the
MDC dossier that was handed over to his office last year containing full
details of the abductions and murders of hundreds of MDC supporters before,
during and after the March 2008 poll.
What Johannes Tomana is trying
to tell us, is that he has trashed the
dossier. All those who died mean
nothing to him. And he has absolutely no
intention of doing anything to
bring to justice those who perpetrated these
dastardly deeds.
That such a
man holds the honourable office of Attorney General - a nation's
highest
legal office - is an abominable disgrace.
Maybe we should just start all over
again. It is a new year after all. The
Prime Minister himself should take a
copy of this dossier and hand it over
publicly and personally to the
Attorney General.
The whole country will then await the AG's response. The
fact that not a
single prosecution has taken place more than 18 months after
the murders
were committed, is an indictment against the office of the AG.
We all know
that many in the army, the police, the air force, the prison
service and the
CIO, as well as the militia and Zanu (PF) officials, were
involved in the
murders, abductions and torture of MDC activists in 2008.
Many of these are
known to their victims and named in the dossier.
We are
not asking the AG' s office to undertake an impossible task - the
crimes
that have been committed are easily solvable. There are numerous
witnesses.
Evidence has been compiled. The legwork has been done for him.
All he needs
to do is his job - for which he is paid by the taxpayer - of
prosecuting
criminals.
If he is unwilling or unable to perform his duties, then he should
do the
honourable thing and resign. Zimbabweans expect and deserve an AG who
is
impartial, professional enough to carry out his job without fear or
favour,
and uphold the constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe, to which he
swore
his oath of allegiance.
The MDC has been demanding Tomana's
resignation for many months, because of
the manner in which he was appointed
and because of his unashamed
partisanship towards Zanu (PF). This hour
demands that he proves to all that
he is a professional, worthy of the trust
of Zimbabweans, and that any of us
seeking justice can be assured of finding
it on his watch. If not, he must
go. Now.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Mutumwa Mawere Tuesday 12 January
2010
OPINION: Our past has helped define the present. We may not like
or respect
our total heritage but we are compelled to know it in the
interests of
progress and development.
Africa's heritage is too
complex for us to pick and choose what aspects to
preserve and
condemn.
When I was growing up I knew like many of the existence of a
bridge, which
forms the political border between South Africa and Zimbabwe,
but I did not
know of its history and origins and more importantly why it
was named
Beitbridge. I just assumed that Beit must have been one of the
British
colonialists.
The connection between Beit, South Africa and
Zimbabwe is knowledge I did
not acquire in my formal education.
I
have often crossed the bridge that is located about 1 kilometre from
Beitbridge town, the border town in the province of Matabeleland South,
Zimbabwe.
The name Beitbridge refers to both the border post and
bridge spanning the
Limpopo River.
I have been inspired to write
about this important address in Africa not
only because it connects two
important countries in Southern Africa but of
the history and lessons
inherent in it.
When I was growing up in Rhodesia, I had no idea that
although the country
was named after Cecil John Rhodes, whose English
heritage is well known, the
real movers and shakers of the colonial project
were not exclusively
English.
What I have come to learn over the
years is that the financing of the
project was internally generated and
there was no direct cash injection by
the British administration to promote
and sustain the colonial initiative.
The bridge was named after Alfred
Beit, a Jewish German-born British
financier; gold and diamond magnate,
philanthropist, supporter of British
imperialism and a business associate of
Rhodes. He helped finance the
establishment of De Beers diamond mining
company, a company that was founded
by Rhodes.
Beit who came to
Africa from Germany had no connection with the British
Empire. He was sent
to Kimberley in 1875 by his firm to buy diamonds and the
rest is
history.
He made his fortune in Africa and chose England as his adopted
home and was
knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of his contribution
to advancing
English civilisation.
From the wealth made from African
resources, he became a major donor towards
infrastructure development in
central and Southern Africa, and to university
education and research in
several countries.
Beit was also a director of a number of companies
associated with Rhodes
including the British South Africa Company and
Rhodesia Railways.
In 1929, the bridge was constructed at a cost of
US$220 000 with financing
jointly provided by the Beit Railways Trust and
the South African Railways.
Until 1995 when a new bridge was built by the
Zimbabwean government, the
bridge was the sole link between South Africa and
Zimbabwe.
What is instructive is that post-colonial Zimbabwe did not
produce another
Beit who had the vision and selflessness to set up a Trust,
Beit Trust,
through which he bequeathed £1 200 000 for infrastructure
development in the
former North and South Rhodesia.
My image of
settlers was shaped by the character and language of the
liberation
struggle. A causal connection between colonialism and imperialism
was made
to the extent that I would not have imagined any colonialist to
behave any
better than any soldier of fortune.
Why would anyone with no vested
interest in the future of the country bother
to leave funds for the
development of infrastructure that would benefit
people beyond his/her
circle of friends and family?
Any person who uses the bridge must know
that he/she is an inheritor of Beit's
legacy. The Beit Trust was later
modified to university education and
research in Zimbabwe, Zambia and
Malawi.
Although Beit died in 1906 or five years after the death of
Rhodes, the
bridge was only built in 1929.
At Beitbridge, three
railway lines meet i.e. the South African Spoornet line
to Polokwane, the
National Railways of Zimbabwe line to Gweru via Rutenga
and the Beitbridge
Bulawayo Railway.
Beit's brand has proved strong to the extent that even
after independence
there has been no call for a change of name. Zimbabwe has
comfortably
accepted that Beit is part of the country's heritage.
He
had no obligation to invest in the projects that he did in life and after
death but believed in the future of Africa. Africa is better because of the
corporate social investments made by people like Beit.
There was
nothing that prepared Beit for what was to come his way in Africa.
He had no
idea that Africa would be rewarding to the extent that it did to
him and his
family. Without the resources that lay in Africa's belly, there
would be no
Beitbridge to talk about.
What is significant is that the resources in
question would have remained
where God deposited them were it not for the
creativeness and ingenuity of
people like Beit.
Rhodes without Beit's
financial engineering would have just been another
English
dreamer.
The bridge is a reminder to all of us on what occupied the minds
of the
founding fathers of corporate Africa. Their calling could not have
simply
been the plunder of wealth. For if it was, Beitbridge would not
exist.
Through the Beitbridge story, we now know that it was private
funds that
were combined with public funds (from South Africa) to construct
the
important link between the then Rhodesia and South Africa.
Rhodes
understood as the Imperial Administration must have understood that
allowing
private sector intervention can result in growth and development
than invest
in a business model premised on the state as the driver of
economic and
social change.
Beit was not invited to Africa but responded to the
diamond rush that
attracted many other people to the continent.
The
class of people that Beit belonged to was adventurers of the first
order.
They had no one to look up to but they knew that without
investing in an
institutional, legal and infrastructural system that would
attract human and
physical capital their dreams of being rich would soon
evaporate.
In hindsight, how should we classify Beit as? Should he be
included in the
class of African drivers of change? Should he be categorised
as a blood
sucking capitalist? Can Africa's heritage story be complete
without the
inclusion of people like Beit?
As we grope for direction
on what kind of society we want to see in Africa
we have to challenge our
minds informed by our past - good and bad - so that
we can draw lessons on
how best Africa can capture the human spirit and
imagination to its
advantage.
Through this important bridge, we can learn more about our
past and the
players who shaped our present. - ZimOnline