Zimbabwe's 86-year-old president denies surgery

http://news.yahoo.com/

AP

By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Angus Shaw, Associated Press – Mon Jan 24,
10:56 am ET

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe's 86-year-old President Robert Mugabe denies
having been gravely ill and describes reports that he recently underwent
surgery in Malaysia as "naked lies crafted by the Western-manipulated
media," state radio reported Monday.

Mugabe arrived home late Sunday from his annual vacation and said he had
been in Singapore, not Malaysia. Reports in the British, South African and
independent Zimbabwean media said Mugabe was operated on for an inflamed
prostate gland, citing diplomats and other unnamed sources.

Mugabe, who is scheduled to attend an African Union summit in Ethiopia later
this week, told the fiercely loyal state broadcaster that there were always
Western-sponsored rumors he was dying when he was absent from his office.

"Those are the lies they put across from year to year. Now it's something
you expect each time I go on leave and they also go on their campaigns," he
was quoted as saying.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 30 years and has long fended off challenges to
his leadership, but now is believed by many to be losing his grip on
factions in his party.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a top aide to the country's longtime
opposition leader who is now prime minister, told supporters at a party
rally in December that Mugabe fell asleep during a two-hour meeting they had
to discuss his 2011 budget proposals.

Mugabe's public speeches have become noticeably shorter and government
ministers of the former opposition say the ascetic and intellectual one-time
school teacher recently has become prone to losing his concentration at
ministerial meetings.

Mugabe said there were members of his party "jostling" to be his successor
as Zimbabwe heads toward elections proposed for later this year.

He told the broadcaster that he had the constitutional power to call the
elections this year even if electoral and constitutional reforms are not
complete, saying his power-sharing coalition with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai "was not meant to be a permanent arrangement."

"I can invoke the existing constitution and call elections," he said,
according to state radio.

The coalition was formed after disputed violence-plagued elections in 2008.
Tsvangirai's party won the parliamentary vote but he boycotted a
presidential run off poll to protest violence against his supporters by
Mugabe militants and loyalists in the police and military.

Independent poll monitors and human rights groups say a program to rewrite
the constitution last year through countrywide public meetings was also
marred by violence blamed mostly on Mugabe militants who are still in place
in bases across the country.

Police Drive Mugabe Supporters Out Of Tourist Resorts

http://www.radiovop.com

24/01/2011 16:04:00

HARARE, January 24, 2011-Zimbabwean police drove out scores of so-called war
veterans and supporters of President Robert Mugabe after they declared
themselves new owners of several tourist resorts, a minister and media
reports said Monday.

The seizures on Saturday near Lake Chivero, west of the capital Harare, were
ostensibly part of Mugabe's land reforms, launched in 2000 in what he
described as a bid to correct ownership imbalances in the former British
colony.
But Minister of State Jameson Timba said the latest confiscations were
illegal and he had called in police to put a stop to them after he received
pleas from the businesses' owners.

"They were moved out yesterday by riot police," Timba, a member of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which is in a power-sharing government
with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, told French News Agency AFP.
"There were about 200 of them. Fortunately there was no damage to property."

Police could not be reached for comment.
Independent daily newspaper NewsDay said its reporters saw a banner at the
properties emblazoned with Mugabe's portrait and the slogan "100 percent
empowerment and total independence".

Zimbabwe's land reform has been an often-chaotic campaign that has seen
4,500 largely white-owned farms expropriated by the state after being seized
by people claiming to be veterans of the liberation war.
ZANU-PF on Monday denied involvement in Saturday's seizures.

"These actions could not have been perpetrated by our members," Ignatius
Chombo, ZANU-PF's secretary for land reform, told the state-run Herald
newspaper.
"ZANU-PF will not support such behaviour," said Chombo, who is also minister
for local government in the power-sharing coalition.

Zimbabwe apologizes for weekend incursion at tourist sites

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

Jan 24, 2011, 13:10 GMT

Harare - Member's of Zimbabwe's Zanu (PF) party on Monday apologized for
militants who forcefully entered a series of lakeside private boat clubs and
tourist lodges over the weekend, according to tour operator groups.

The incidents, along Lake Chivero, 20 kilometres from Harare, had created
fears that Zanu (PF) militias might be orchestrating a grab of the tourism
facilities. Mugabe's supporters in the past have regularly seized
white-owned farm properties, often with the state turning a blind eye to the
practice.

However, the most recent incidents - conducted as Zimbabwean Tourism
Minister Walter Mzembi was at a conference in Spain trying to drum up the
tourism business in Zimbabwe - elicited an apology, said Gary Stafford,
owner of Shiri Kuimba, one of the clubs targeted over the weekend.

A mob of about 200, carrying posters with Zanu (PF) flags and portrait of
party leader, President Robert Mugabe, on Friday forced their way into Shiri
Kuimba, demanding to see the company's list of assets. Simultaneously,
groups of veterans loyal to Mugabe entered and locked down about 20 further
sites.

There was no overt violence, said Stafford. But he noted that police did not
come until after party leaders arrived to get the trespassers to leave.

Then, on Monday, Stafford said he had been told by a senior official of the
state tourism company that vice-president Joice Mujuru, at a meeting with
the tourism company to discuss the trouble, had asked for her apologies to
be extended to the victims.

Zanu (PF) senior minister Ignatius Chombo denied any party involvement with
the weekend's activities.

Mugabe threatens to call early elections without new constitution

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Jan 24, 2011, 13:53 GMT

Harare Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe threatened Monday to dissolve
parliament and call early elections without waiting for a new draft
constitution to be implemented.

The country's power-sharing government, comprised of Mugabe and
pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai, is close to collapse, less than two
years after it came to power, because of deep disagreements within the
coalition over political reform.

Under an agreement signed in September 2008, the two leaders and the head of
a small offshoot of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change were tasked
with holding consultations leading to a new constitution, which would then
have to be approved by a referendum before new elections could take place.

But Mugabe seemed to be running out of patience with the protracted
negotiations, telling state television 'I have the constitutional right to
call an election on the basis of the old constitution.'

'If the constitutional process is not wanted, I will have parliament
dissolved and call elections,' he said.

There are widespread fears that a new round of elections, if held before
democratic reforms are implemented, could lead to a repeat of the violence
seen in previous polls.

The 86-year-old Mugabe, looking fit, also dismissed media reports that he
had underwent surgery during a recent holiday in Asia.

'Those are the lies they always put across from year to year. Now it's
something I expect each time I go on leave,' he said.

Wave of violence rocks Harare

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
24 January 2011

Dozens of MDC supporters were injured, some of them seriously, in a wave of
weekend violence that saw gangs of ZANU PF youths rampaging through the
capital.

William Mukuwari, the MDC Budiriro district youth treasurer, is recovering
in hospital after he was shot in the leg and assaulted by the youth militia.

The surge in politically motivated violence comes barely a week after the
MDC secretary-general, Tendai Biti, warned that Zimbabwe could face a
‘bloodbath’ at elections this year if the international community does not
help to prevent the crisis.

‘The tell-tale signs are already there that you could have another
bloodbath,’ said Biti in Johannesburg, South Africa last week. The latest
crackdown on the MDC began late last week when ZANU PF mobilised and bussed
in youths from as far away as Gutu, Tsholotsho, Shamva and Bindura, into
Harare, to demonstrate against the so-called maize slashing by the Harare
City council.

Since the beginning of the year MDC activists have once again been targeted
by ZANU PF mobs carrying logs, stones and at times guns, as Robert Mugabe’s
party ‘go for broke’ to try to reclaim lost ground from the 2008 electoral
defeat.

Incidents of politically related chaos and violence have continued to rock
the country since the autocratic Mugabe announced his determination to hold
elections this year.

With his ZANU PF party in shambles and opinion polls suggesting a drubbing,
there are fears Mugabe will resort to the extreme violence he did two years
ago, as he seeks to extend his 30-year rule over a nation wracked by
mounting tension as an election draws near. In 2008 Mugabe retained power
after using violence to force MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai to back out of
the vote.

MDC-T Senator and deputy Minister of Justice, Obert Gutu, told SW Radio
Africa on Monday ZANU PF is rolling out a deliberately planned strategy of
mass violence.

‘They know the people will reject them in a free and fair election and that’s
why they have decided to embark on a scorched earth policy,’ Gutu said.

Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the attacks were well scripted and
choreographed and bore all the hallmarks of ZANU PF’s ‘way of doing
business.’

‘ZANU PF has not learnt anything from using violence and they have certainly
not forgotten anything using it as a weapon to hang on to power. Without
violence they are nothing because they believe in blood while some of us
believe in peace,’ Chamisa added.

Harare has largely escaped the worst of the violence over the years but its
luck may be running out. A series of attacks during the constitution making
process last year and a number of high profile assaults of MDC activists in
the first weeks of this year have come as a major source of worry for the
party.

‘Since last week I’ve been prevented from visiting my ward and this morning
a group of ZANU PF militia tried to torch my car near the Hatcliffe new
stands,’ Harare deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto told us when asked about the
troubles, which intensified over the weekend.

A statement from the MDC said weekend violence left many of its party
supporters injured in this fresh violence sweeping Harare. ZANU PF youths
attacked MDC activists in Budiriro, Mbare, Hatcliffe and Chitungwiza.

‘The ZANU PF youth causing havoc in Budiriro are said to be housed by one
Mai Hokoyo at her crèche, whilst the soldiers and some of the militia are
being hosted at the Rambai Makashinga cooperative, a housing cooperative for
soldiers, in Budiriro. The environment there is pretty tense as people are
living in fear,’ the MDC said.

The statement went on to say 400 ZANU PF youths besieged the MDC district
office in Mbare and assaulted 24 of its youth who guard the premises. Mugabe’s
mob allegedly smashed all the windows to the centre and stole three sets of
computers and vandalised the office furniture.

During a constituency visit last week MDC-T MP for Mbare, Piniel Denga, was
manhandled and slapped in the face by rowdy ZANU PF youths. He escaped
unharmed but warned the risk of violence will soon engulf the country if it
is not dealt with accordingly.

‘The MDC is extremely concerned by the lack of action by the police, as well
as the continued victimisation of the victims when they approach the police
stations to report the various forms of assault. What is even more worrying
is the fact that in the eyes of the police, any MDC supporter, even if they
are victims, qualifies to be a candidate for arrest. It is clear that the
repeat of June 2008 in an amplified version is inevitable,’ the MDC
statement added.

Mutambara demoted to make way for Ncube

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
24 January 2011

Two weeks after saying Arthur Mutambara would continue to be Deputy Prime
Minister, Professor Welshman Ncube on Sunday announced that he was now the
new deputy premier, having taken over from the man he toppled as party
leader.

Immediately after taking over from Mutambara as party leader two weeks ago
Ncube claimed; “Professor Mutambara will continue to be the Deputy Prime
Minister. We have agreed that we are not going to redeploy him, as we want
to continue tapping from his skills.” All that however changed on Sunday
after a meeting of the National Standing Committee of the party.

Mutambara was ‘redeployed’ to become the Minister of Regional Integration
and International Co-operation, a position held by Ncube’s close ally
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who now takes over from Ncube as Minister
of Industry and Commerce. Mutambara has so far maintained what he hopes is a
‘dignified silence’ and avoided fueling the speculation around his true
feelings on the matter.

“The feeling of the committee was that the office of the DPM should be
occupied by the party’s most senior official. This should not be viewed as a
demotion. It’s only that we are new to democracy. It happens in a democracy.
If at one time you lead, the next you follow,” Ncube is quoted as saying
over the weekend.

The big irony of the democracy that Ncube talks about is that all three
leaders who rotated positions over the weekend - Ncube, Mushonga and
Mutambara - are all unelected politicians who lost elections in their
parliamentary constituencies.

In the March 2008 poll Ncube, who got 2,475 votes, lost to current Deputy
Prime Minister (MDC-T) Thokozani Khupe who got 4,123 votes in Makokoba.
Mushonga withdrew from the Glen View contest but her replacement, Kudzanai
Mashumba lost. Mutambara was the biggest casualty in the Zengeza East
constituency, getting 1,322 votes to Alexio Masundure (MDC-T) who got 7,570
votes.
Meanwhile Misihairabwi-Mushonga is now the party’s lead negotiator in the
GPA, alongside Qhubani Moyo, the party’s national organising secretary.
Education Minister Senator David Coltart and the co-Minister in the Organ on
National Healing, Moses Mzila Ndlovu the only two elected legislators,
retained their portfolios. It’s now expected the MDC-N will wait for ZANU PF
leader Robert Mugabe to swear in the officials into their reshuffled
positions.

Meanwhile thirteen disgruntled party rebels last week filed a High Court
application to have the congress that elected Ncube as party leader,
invalidated. Led by former National Chairman Jobert Mudzumwe, the group is
accusing Ncube of violating the constitution by failing to properly inform
the different provinces and districts on when the congress was supposed to
be held.

Chombo Threatens To Fire MDC Councillors

http://www.radiovop.com/

24/01/2011 10:52:00

HARARE, January 24, 2011- Local Government, Rural and Urban Development
Minister, Ignatius Chombo has threatened to fire MDC-T councillors in
Victoria Falls Town council accusing them of politicising council business.

“Committed individuals will be appointed to take charge of council business
in the resort town. It is very unfortunate that most of these councillors
don’t know local government business.This time we are not begging them,”
said Chombo

Chombo’s threats follows  the arrest of three MDC-T councillors by Victoria
Falls police last week on allegations of assaulting the town mayor
Nkosilathi Jiyane.
Jiyane resigned from MDC-T recently claiming that he was being harassed by
party leaders in Matabeleland North province. He now runs Victoria Falls
Town Council as an independent but has strong links with some Zanu (PF)
leaders.
Last month Chombo came to Jiyane’s defence after MDC-T councillors
threatened to fire him accusing him of incompetence. The minister in turn
accused the councillors for bringing internal party squabbles into local
governance issues. MDC-T wanted to replace the mayor with a former
commercial farmer Larry Cunnings.

Chombo has to date expelled 11 MDC councilors country wide and suspended
two. The MDC-T has accused Chombo of fighting to reduce the number of its
councillors in local authorities and also of frustrating corruption probes
against him.
Zimbabwe’s elected councillors last week formed an association which seeks
to challenge their harassment by Chombo.

Workers protest highlights flaw of Indigenisation policy

http://www.swradioafrica.com

by Irene Madongo
24 January 2011

Local businesses that take over companies through the Indigenisation Act
will have difficulties running them, unless the government provides them
with the necessary support an analyst has said.

The comments were made following a demonstration by workers because their
new owner was failing to pay them or run the company properly.

On Thursday it was reported that workers from a branch of Jaggers
Wholesalers in Harare stormed ZANU PF headquarters to protest against the
government’s indigenisation policy that has left them without work or pay
for months. Robert Mugabe’s party has been championing the policy, despite
criticism from both inside and outside the country that it will only put off
investors and damage Zimbabwe’s ailing economy.

Jaggers is now owned by businessman Cecil Muderede, an indigenous Zimbabwean
who took over the wholesaler last year, reportedly because of the
controversial indigenisation policy.

On Monday economic commentator Bekithemba Mhlanga said the case of Jaggers
shows that businesses are being verbally encouraged to take over companies
but not been given the technical and financial support, which results in the
businesses failing.

“They could have had the moral support to say ‘Go ahead and nothing will
happen to you’, without saying ‘If you are going to take over Jaggers here
are the accountants, the analysts, the business administration and here is a
bank account,” he explained, “I doubt if they are getting that kind of
support – they are just getting moral support.”

“There are so many processes, so many systems, people issues to manage and a
person wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Look, I can’t do this’ and the
whole thing falls apart,’” Mhlanga said.

However despite these shortfalls ZANU PF has forged ahead with its support
for the implementation of the Act, to the point of openly saying it will be
used to punish foreign owned companies in the country.

Two weeks ago Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is tipped to be
Mugabe’s successor, reportedly told supporters at a rally that heads of
foreign firms could be forced to go on radio to publicly denounce what he
called ‘western sanctions’ or face losing 90% of their company shareholding.

Mnangagwa’s remarks came after Mugabe declared last month that unless the
targeted sanctions are removed, the government would use the Act to take
away 100% shareholding of foreign ownership.

The targeted sanctions have been slapped on Mugabe and his inner circle for
human rights abuses.

Zimbabweans must have a say in elections - US envoy

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Gugulethu Nyazema and Reagan Mashavave
Monday, 24 January 2011 17:04

HARARE - United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray says Zimbabweans
must have a say on when and how the country should hold elections, a day
after President Robert Mugabe said he may call for early polls.

Ray made the statement after handing over grants worth more than  US$100 000
to eight community based groups under the Ambassador’s Self Help Fund in
Harare.

“The decision on elections or anything else to do with the fate of Zimbabwe
has to rest in the hands of Zimbabweans. Ideally, that should be all
Zimbabweans have a say on the fate of the country,” Ray told journalists.

“It really has to be left on Zimbabweans to decide when and how you should
hold elections here.”

There has been heated debate in Zimbabwe on when the country should hold
polls after Mugabe said he might call for general elections early before the
constitutional making process ends.

Mugabe said this on his return from holiday on Sunday.

The constitution making process is part of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) road map to free and fair elections after disputed polls in 2008.

Meanwhile, the US government donated US$100 000 to support projects that
include building classrooms, borehole drilling for communities to access
clean water, horticulture and a wildlife and conservation project.

Beneficiaries of the US grants are Chinamora Secondary School, Kushinga
nutritional garden, Kuvaka Ishungu, Kwayedza Secondary School, Muturi
horticulture producers association, Nyangombe Wildlife project, Rupare High
School and Tichakunda project in Hatcliffe.

Ray commended the community groups for coming  up with projects that are
benefiting their communities.

“You all work tirelessly to improve the lives of those around you. We honour
and commend you for your work,” Ray told the beneficiaries of the grants.

The US ambassador said his government has pumped in three million dollars
since 1980 to support community groups to embark on projects like education,
food aid, and income generating projects and improve water and sanitation.

AU ignores Zimbabwe as full military deployment

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/

24 January, 2011 06:55:00    FAITH ZABA | ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

AS reports of violence, intimidation and deployment of security agents
across the country continue to pour, the African Union summit kicked off on
Monday with the exclusion of the Zimbabwe crisis from its discussions and
focus being directed at hotspots like Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Somalia.

This is the second year the Zimbabwe crisis, one of the most dominant
political questions on the continent for more than a decade, has not
featured in AU discussions, whose theme this year is “Towards Greater Unity
and Integration Through Shared Values”.

AU top officials told NewsDay on Monday that Zimbabwe was no longer a
critical issue as focus was now on more pressing matters such as the Ivory
Coast, Somalia and Tunisia crises and the post-referendum uncertainty in
Sudan.

They said the Zimbabwe crisis was more of an internal issue Sadc was dealing
with, unlike the unrests in Tunisia, Somalia and Ivory Coast, which they
said could degenerate into civil war if the continental body did not find
collective solutions.

Secretary to the AU Commission Ambassador Jean Mfasoni said: “Zimbabwe is
not going to be discussed because it is now calm and these days there is no
more fear that the situation would degenerate into a crisis. Now it is not a
time for action.

“There is no red light flashing at the early warning unit, which monitors
what is happening on the continent. Once Sadc makes a position, we as the AU
endorse it and we also wait to hear their advice.”

The head of the democracy, human rights and elections division in the AU
department of political affairs Mamadou Dia told NewsDay that the situation
in Zimbabwe had relatively improved and was no longer on the AU radar.

“The situation in Zimbabwe has moved very well and improved fast. There are
now other hot spots like Ivory Coast and Tunisia, which need urgent
attention. The main strategy of the AU is to make sure that Africa is
peaceful,” he said.

A visit to the situation room at the AU Early Warning Centre showed that
Zimbabwe was no longer on its radar and some of the countries which the
centre was monitoring included Ivory Coast, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria,
Somalia, Burundi, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

An official in the situation room said:

“We have not received any news or reports from Zimbabwe that warrant it to
be monitored. As far as we have heard everything is OK and calm in
 Zimbabwe.”

However, NewsDay has it on good authority that Sadc facilitator, South
African President Jacob Zuma, might present a report at the summit of the
heads of state and government on Sunday and Monday, which is likely to focus
on the current political situation, proposed elections, which President
Robert Mugabe wants later this year, the roadmap to the elections and
progress made in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

Two mini-summits will be held parallel to the conference, one on Ivory Coast
and the other on Somalia and Sudan.

Ivory Coast has since been suspended from the AU until the return of a
constitutionally elected leader.

Mediation efforts headed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Ivory
Coast to try and resolve the election dispute between Laurent Gbagbo and
Alassane Ouattara have failed.

Odinga last Wednesday said: “There is no change to the status quo. Despite
long discussions on Monday (last week) with Gbagbo and President-elect
Outtarra, I regret to announce that the necessary progress did not
materialise.”

One of the main objectives of his mission was to convince Gbagbo to accept
that his presidency be put on the agenda and lift the blockade of the Gold
Hotel, where Ouattara and his supporters are staying under the protection of
United Nations peacekeepers.

Odinga said Ouattara had accepted his proposal to name in his new government
some of Gbagbo’s supporters.

He said he had also asked Ouattara for a quick and peaceful resolution of
the crisis to give Gbagbo assurances on his freedom to choose “in dignity
and security his future options, including the possibility to continue
politicking in Ivory Coast or to go and settle in a country of his choice”.

In his opening address to the 21st ordinary session of the Permanent
Representatives Committee, chairperson of the AU Commission Jean Ping said
major decisions would be made at the summit on the countries that were
inconflict.

He also said there was need to relook the issue of funding of the AU, which
is heavily dependent on its partners for financial resources.

Ping said such heavy dependency would compromise the independence of the
continental body.

The AU is looking at finding alternative sources of funding.

One of the proposal up for consideration is to raise money through a
specific tax levy either on imports, tourism or air travel by the 53 member
states.

Other key issues will include the general state of peace and security in
Africa with focus on the current challenges, transformation of the AU to the
AU Authority, the adoption of an African Charter on Values and Principles of
Public Service and Administration, budget of US$256 million for 2011, the
humanitarian situation and launch of the African Women Decade 2010 to
2020. - NewsDay

South Africa flood death toll rises as government declares 33 disaster zones

http://www.guardian.co.uk

Warnings of humanitarian crises after flooding claims more than 100 lives
and threatens rest of southern Africa

    * David Smith in Johannesburg
    * guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 January 2011 14.08 GMT

South Africa floods The Vaal dam overflows near Johannesburg earlier this
month. Seven of South Africa's nine provinces have been affected by
flooding. Photograph: Jon Hrusa/EPA

Flooding in South Africa has killed more than 100 people, forced at least
8,400 from their homes and prompted the government to declare 33 disaster
areas.

With unusually heavy rainfall forecast until March, the UN has warned that
almost every country in southern Africa is on alert for potentially
disastrous flooding.

The government said that 88 deaths in the rising toll were in the eastern
KwaZulu-Natal province. The costs of damage to the infrastructure in the
seven of the country's nine provinces affected is estimated at 160bn rand
(£14bn).

The Johannesburg area and northern and eastern provinces have experienced
some of their greatest rainfall in 20 years. Flimsy houses in townships,
where drainage systems are sometimes poor, are particularly vulnerable to
the deluge.

Bathabile Dlamini, the social development minister, warned that 20,000
people, or about 5,000 families, have been affected in provinces that are
running out of money for flood relief. Another 20m rand was needed for
humanitarian assistance, she said, adding: "More and more provinces are
sending in their requests."

Dlamini admitted the government is in a race against time to avert a
humanitarian crisis and said the health department was on alert for a
possible cholera outbreak. Farms have also been saturated in Africa's
biggest food producer, but farmers will not receive government compensation.
The logistics firm Transnet said this month that heavy rains had disrupted
its freight rail operations, affecting South Africa's coal and maize
exports.

The UN warned last week that flooding poses a threat in most southern
African countries. Some of the biggest rivers in the region, the Zambezi and
the Okavango, have risen to double their normal levels.

Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, said: "We fear flash floods. It's rather common in the
region and this time we are seeing heavier rainfall than in previous years.
Five countries are on alert for flooding - Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia,
Zimbabwe and Zambia - and South Africa will now declare a disaster."

She added: "All neighbouring countries including Madagascar are on alert ...
We could have an extremely major disaster if prevention measures are not
stepped up over the next six weeks."

Mozambique has been hit hard, with at least 10 people killed and more than
13,000 people seeing their homes lost or damaged owing to high waters. There
are fears of a repeat of the country's devastating floods in 2000 that left
800 people dead.

Meteorologists believe the floods are caused by a natural weather cycle
known as La Niña and the Southern Oscillation mechanism, which has been
linked to recent flooding in Australia and the Philippines.

OPINION: Democracy alone won’t help Zimbabwe

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by UPENYU MAKONI-MUCHEMWA     Monday 24 January 2011

It is tempting to believe that if we manage to dislodge Zanu (PF) Zimbabwe
will immediately turn into a land of milk and honey. It will not. This is an
inconvenient truth and will likely irk the many evangelists of hope that
write in support of the opposition.

Let us be reminded that these are the same people who just two years ago
told us that billions of dollars in aid awaited Zimbabwe and would be
speedily dispensed the moment Tsvangirai put his hand to paper and committed
to a power sharing agreement. Following Tsvangirai’s participation in
government, the reality has not be quite as colourful. Zimbabweans are still
poor. Serious problems persist in the health sector. Not only so, all
indicators point to a prolonged struggle ahead.

The greatest challenge we face when analysing the Zimbabwe situation is that
of deliberate amnesia. The general consensus is that Zimbabwe should not
have gone to war in the Congo. I agree.

Zimbabwe should not have taken over white owned farms in the manner that it
did. Again I agree. Gideon Gono should not have kept the printing press in
an endless loop. This again is true. There is a lot more that could be said
of Zanu (PF)’s mismanagement and errors of judgement in the past years.
There is no defence, they messed up.

But this view is misleading. It assumes that people started suffering in
Zimbabwe following the events just detailed. This is not so. The past decade
has simply brought poverty to the formerly privileged.

Popular vote

The majority of Zimbabweans had been living in these desperate conditions
even when Zimbabwe was lauded as an economic success story. Let us imagine
that all of this had not happened and we were back in the comforts of August
1998. Would Zimbabwe’s intelligentsia protesting so loudly. I doubt it.

But remember this dear reader. In August of 1998 millions of Zimbabweans
lived in the rural areas. Millions of Zimbabweans ate bread only on special
occasions and they considered basics such as jam a treat. These many
millions struggled to earn a living tilling their land. Why was there no
call for Mugabe to step down then? The Zimbabwean middle class seemed
content to live in a country in which others lived in such desperation
whilst they enjoyed the fat of the land.

What would happen if the middle class was restored to its former luxury?
Would they continue to call for democracy. I doubt it. In 1998 Zimbabwe was
hardly a democracy, say the wrong thing and even then you could disappear.
But people really didn’t care for democracy. They were comfortable.

I get distracted. I started by suggesting that democracy will not help
Zimbabwe and that Mugabe is really not the problem. Those who think Mugabe
is the problem view the Zimbabwean crisis as one which began only 10 years
ago. This is untrue.

The rural folk have always been in crisis and it has become a way of life
for them. This is what explains their continued support for Mugabe. It often
goes unmentioned that although the MDC won more seats in parliament in the
free and fair 2008 elections, it is Zanu (PF) that won the popular vote.
More people voted for Zanu (PF) than for the MDC.

Rural vote

Why do people in the rural areas vote for Zanu (PF)? Certainly not for
economic reasons, since 1980 Zanu (PF) has done very little for the rural
man as an entity. The rural vote is based on liberation nostalgia and
ignorance. This, I accept, is a vulgar generalisation of the rural
electorate. But that is beside the point. What I am trying to highlight is
that the rural folk have not really been shaken in their support for Zanu
PF. The people in urban areas have.

In the past decade it is those in urban areas who lost the most. Those in
rural areas continued farming their land and living off it. They have
complaints but nothing that compares to those of the city dweller.

Now let us come to the issue of democracy and Zimbabwe. I have done my best
to explain how what we call the best years really where not the best years.
The majority was living in squalor, out of sight is indeed out of mind.
People call those days democratic. So what then did this democracy yeild for
the average Zimbabwean? Very little, if we are to be objective in our
analysis.

What we need in Zimbabwe are men of vision. Politicians and technocrats who
have radical ideas as to how we can solve the considerable problems that we
face.

I admire the Cubans, their doctor : patient ration is impressive and shames
many Western democracies. Their life expectancy is 77, just a year below the
Americans. This in spite of the fact that the Americans have for years tried
to strangle the nation through an unjustifiable embargo, even the menacing
Iranians are not subject to such.

Fidel Castro is many things unpleasant but he managed to inspire a people
into an ideology. I need not say that his ideology is not entirely wholesome
but there is much we can learn from the Cubans.

Apart from the impressive healthcare statistics the government has managed
to create a food subsidy for ALL CITIZENS which guarantees them a basic food
basket. That basket constitutes up to 70% of a Cubans daily intake, which is
above 3000 calories. These are impressive numbers for a third world country.

The Brazilians

We can speak of Brazil. It has come up with a genius food security strategy.
City councils lease lucrative market stalls but set the pricing for anyone
wishing to sell in those stalls. Sellers are then given land within the city
to farm. The sellers are thriving and prices are affordable. The
supermarkets are complaining as they continue to lose customers to the
cheaper markets. The people are celebrating. I have simplified the Brazilian
model but those eager for learning can easily research these matters.

I give these examples not necessarily because they are a solution for
Zimbabwe but because they are a radical approach to peculiar problems. What
Zimbabwe needs is a government that cares for all citizens, not just those
above the upper quartile. Zanu PF has had 30 years to prove itself
competent. It has failed. Nothing in the MDC election manifesto infuses me
with confidence that they will be any different.

South Africa is a democracy as is Nigeria. The poor in these countries are
paupers when compared to the poor in Cuba. The poor in Cuba have easy access
to healthcare. They will certainly live longer than the South Africans who
perish at a youthful 50 years of age or the Nigerians who die at a pathetic
47.

The difference is not money. Nigeria [GDP $173billion] and South Africa [GDP
$290bilion] both have much more money than Cuba [GDP $62billion]. The
difference is not democracy either. Cuba is not in anyway democratic. So how
is it that the poor in Cuba have it so good? They have a leadership that
thinks outside Western textbook economics.

I am yet to hear the MDC or Zanu PF offer us anything in the way of such
revolutionary policy. -- First published by Kubatana

Econet protest

For 18 hours ONLY on the 25th of january from midnight to 6pm, lets
register our displeasure with the way Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is
treating us, the clients, by not topping up, using ECONET 3G, making
calls, or texting anyone. Also, inform your friends about this
peaceful action.

Zimbabwe Inclusive Goverment Watch : Issue 23