http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26941
January 25, 2010
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - The ongoing terrorism trial of MDC treasurer general
Roy Bennett
took a dramatic twist Monday when High Court judge Chinembiri
Bhunu ruled
that key state witness Peter Michael Hitschmann was a hostile
witness.
"The witness's conduct in this case is against the State," said
Justice
Bhunu.
"The witness in this case is accordingly an adverse
and hostile witness and
the State is obliged to cross-examine
him."
The ruling by Bhunu follows an application by the State to have
Hitschmann
impeached based on that he had now departed from his earlier
statements in
which he implicated Bennett as an accomplice in a case of
alleged possession
of weapons for terrorism, banditry and
insurgence.
Hitschmann abandoned his earlier "confessions" claiming he
was tortured by
state security agents to implicate the deputy agriculture
minister designate
in the matter.
Hitschmann was acquitted of the
charge although he served a two year jail
sentence for a lesser
offence.
In coming to his ruling, Justice Bhunu said he agreed with the
defence's
contention that the state could not use statements that had
already been
disowned by the firearms dealer as the basis for seeking
Hitschmann's
impeachment.
Bhunu, however, proceeded to say he had
arrived at the decision to impeach
Hitschmann on the basis of his demeanour,
which he said was a legal
alternative when one is seeking the impeachment of
a State witness.
Bhunu said when Hitschmann took to the witness's stand,
he portrayed himself
as someone who was deeply aggrieved and had an axe to
grind with the State.
Bhunu said he also saw Hitschmann, a former police
officer, as someone who
viewed his former colleagues as incompetent and that
he now viewed the State
as an adversary after serving a two-year jail
sentence against which he has
since appealed.
The High Court judge
further said he found Hitschmann's utterances absurd
that he had been
intrigued by Bennett when he saw the MDC legislator on
television while
assaulting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa in
Parliament.
Soon
after Bhunu's ruling, Attorney General Johannes Tomana, who is leading
the
prosecution, went straight ahead to cross examine Hitschmann.
Hitschmann
told the court he had sourced arms of war from some white
commercial farmers
and some white Rhodesians who were leaving the country
soon after
independence.
Hitschmann said he had in turn surrendered the weapons to
the police's
Manicaland provincial armoury.
The trial continues
Tuesday.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet Gonda
25 January
2010
Eleven members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were briefly
detained on
Monday by police in Bulawayo, following a protest march about
the crisis in
the education sector. WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams told SW
Radio Africa
that the group had successfully delivered a report to Ministry
of Education
representatives at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex when the
police came and
violently dispersed the peaceful protesters.
She
said: "They (protesters) were systematically beaten and while they were
beaten they were told they were under arrest and made to run almost a block
to the Drill Hall (a government administrative block), where they were kept
for four hours."
Last Monday freelance photo-journalist Shadreck
Andrison Manyere and two
other people were arrested in Harare after police
broke up a similar
demonstration organised by the pressure
group.
Williams said her group will continue to organise protests because
there is
too much focus on teachers and wages at the expense of
schoolchildren. The
WOZA leader said the crisis has also meant that many
children are now being
chased away from schools because of unpaid and
unaffordable fees. She gave
the example of a school in Pumula South,
Bulawayo where 1,250 pupils were
chased away from school and told they had
eight days to pay fees.
"In another area the school was going door to
door demanding money from the
parents. So all this is just becoming a money
issue - money for teachers'
salaries and money to the schools, but there is
absolutely no quality of
education. So the children are the ones who are
suffering more than anyone
else and it is unacceptable to us as parents,"
said Williams.
Meanwhile, the ongoing dispute between the cash strapped
government and the
teachers' unions continues over salary increases.
Teachers have threatened
to go on strike again if their salaries are not
raised from $150 to US$600
per month.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
25 January 2010
An aspiring ZANU PF MP shocked party activists
on Friday last week when he
told them he had 'authority and an open licence'
to eliminate opponents from
the MDC.
Nathaniel Punish Mhiripiri told
a ZANU PF meeting at Jani resettlement area
in Makoni South that he alone in
the area was allowed to kill in the name of
ZANU PF. He also told the
meeting he moved around with his guns in his
vehicle and was always prepared
to deal with 'sell-outs.'
'It's either you are ZANU PF or an enemy. To
people like Nyamuranga, I have
just one message for them; I will kill him
from defecting from ZANU PF to
join the MDC. This should also be a warning
to anyone here wishing to join
the MDC. Nothing will happen to me because I
have power and authority from
above,' Mhiripiri reportedly said at the
meeting. Nyamuranga is an MDC
official who lives at Jani resettlement area.
He was not present at the
meeting but got word of the threat from others who
attended.
Mhiripiri's threats did not suprise those present. During the
June 2008
presidential run-off, he allegedly waged a brutal crackdown
against MDC
activists that left several dead and hundreds displaced in the
district.
MDC supporters have come to fear him and it wasn't a surprise
that they
heeded Chief John Rukweza's call for everyone in Makoni South to
attend the
Jani meeting on Friday, in fear of reprisals. Chief Rukweza had
made it
known that those who didn't attend would have their resettlement
permits
cancelled and face ejection from the district.
Stanislaus
Nyamuranga is a 66 year-old former ZANU PF member who joined the
MDC in
2000. The influential MDC chairman in the area told SW Radio Africa
on
Monday that since Fridays' threat he's been in hiding, fearing for his
life.
This is not the first time that Mhiripiri has issued threats against
Nyamuranga.
'He has blamed me for ZANU PF's demise in the district
and I've fled my
house on numerous occasions because he is a known killer
who has terrorized
Makoni since the formation of the MDC. I'm in hiding at
the moment and I
sleep in the bush at night,' Nyamuranga
said.
The MDC MP for Makoni South, Pishai Muchauraya, told us they
take Mhiripiri's
threats seriously because of his chequered history in
dealing with the MDC.
A report about his threats was made over the weekend at
Nyazura police post.
'The man is a dangerous person, a deranged murderer
who apparently is a
parishioner with the SDA church. It's an open secret
that he moves around
with guns and is notorious for eliminating opponents
but remains
untouchable,' Muchauraya said.
The MDC MP, who is likely
to face Mhiripiri in a parliamentary election,
alleged that his oppenent
stole about 1,000 cattle during the atrocities
committed during the
presidential run-off and has not returned any one of
them.
'He is
ZANU PF's hired gun in the district. He is well known to everyone and
his
actions are knwn to the police but they can't even arrest him. He's
protected from above.
Mhiripiri's brutality is something of a legend.
During the war of liberation
in the 1970's he was a Selous scout in the
Rhodesian army and operated
mainly in the Mashonaland Central province. He
is known to have claimed
several 'kills' against ZANLA combatants while
operating in Muzarabani,
Mazowe and Concession districts.
http://www.iol.co.za/
Zelda Venter
January 25 2010 at
11:35AM
The South African History Archive and the Southern African Centre
for the
Survivors of Torture will ask the Pretoria High Court to force the
government to release an explosive report on post-election violence in
Zimbabwe.
The two bodies, with the support of the Southern African
Litigation Centre,
last week filed papers in court in which they ask that
the presidency be
compelled to release the contents of the report which is
believed to have
been given to former president Thabo Mbeki.
In May
2008 Mbeki commissioned four retired SA generals to visit Zimbabwe
and
report back on the violence which erupted after the March 2008
presidential
elections.
The generals, who include former army chief, Lieutenant
General Gilbert
Romano, Brigadier-General Ray Moerane and Lieutenant General
Lambert Moloi -
entered Zimbabwe on May 3, 2008 and returned for a second
mission in June
2008. The exercise had at the time cost taxpayers more than
R600 000 - yet
no report had been forthcoming, neither written or oral, it
was stated in
court papers.
The History Archive requested the report
from the government in terms of the
Promotions of Access to Information Act.
This request was turned down, with
the presidency claiming that no such
report existed. A subsequent internal
appeal was also denied.
The
presidency was again approached by the History Archive, which this time
requested any of the supporting documents on the generals' mission,
including minutes of meetings of any debriefing which may have been taken
place. This request was also denied and the presidency persisted that no
such documents existed.
The court will now be asked to review all
these refusals and to force the
government to release documents relating to
the generals' report. No date
had yet been set for the
hearing.
Gabriella Razzano of the Freedom of Information Programme,
stated in papers
filed that Mbeki at the time instructed the generals to
investigate and
report to him on the 2008 Zimbabwe elections.
They
were mandated to observe and report on the violence which occurred in
the
run-up to the elections so as to facilitate and assist the then
president on
his role as the Southern African Development Community mediator
in the
Zimbabwean situation.
Razzano said the report, among others, considered
the post-election violence
committed by the Zimbabwean government against
opposition party members.
She said this report was important and of great
public interest and
importance as a historical record as to what occurred in
that country.
While the government denied the existence of such a report,
the applicants
believe it does exist. Various sources pointed to the fact
that such a
report was compiled.
Keery Kay, secretary for welfare in
the Movement for Democratic Change,
stated that she had collected a large
amount of data relating to human
rights abuses in Zimbabwe, which she
herself handed to the generals.
Meanwhile, the government still has to
indicate whether it will oppose the
application.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by STAFF REPORTERS
Monday, 25 January 2010
14:06
HARARE - A top airforce commander says a proposed new constitution
should
allow President Robert Mugabe to stand for a possible two more
five-year
terms, a scenario likely to see the 85-year-old leader die in
office - if
re-elected.
Director of air force intelligence, Wing
Commander Bramwell Katsvairo told
villagers during a Zanu (PF) rally in
Mutoko last week that they should tell
constitutional reform outreach teams
that the presidential tenure should be
limited to a maximum of two five-year
terms and that Mugabe should be
eligible to stand because this will be under
a new constitution. "Top of
your contributions, you must suggest that the
presidential term of office
should be two terms of five years each. The
maximum ten-year term must start
with President Robert Mugabe from the next
elections," Katsvairo told the
villagers during the "conscientisation" rally
held at Corner Store.
The airforce officer, who was in the company of several
other members of the
security forces, noted that Mugabe's previous terms in
office should be
disregarded since this would be a new supreme law. "He must
rule until
2020," said the airman. He ordered villagers to emphasize in
their
constitutional reform contributions that age should not be a factor
when
setting criteria for a presidential candidate. Mugabe, who turns 86
next
month, has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since the former Rhodesia
gained
independence from Britain in 1980.
Critics have described the
veteran leader's 30-year reign on the country as
worse than the legislated
discrimination practised by the former white
Rhodesian government that his
Zanu (PF) and the former PF ZAPU waged a
bitter decade-long battle to
dislodge.
To avoid prosecution for human rights abuses, Mugabe and his party
are
campaigning for the adoption of the constitution drafted by negotiators
from
Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations on Lake Kariba in September 2007.
According to the Kariba draft, the president would be limited to two
five-year terms but the proposed supreme law is silent on the
tenure
already served by Mugabe. The tenure of the incumbent as president
prior to
the proposed new constitution would not be counted if the Kariba
draft sails
through. Constitutional experts say the Kariba draft is a mere
extension of
the current constitution and would further entrench Mugabe's
stranglehold on
Zimbabwe. They also say the increasingly isolated Zimbabwean
leader is
unlikely to call for fresh elections in 2011 as agreed in a
power-sharing
agreement with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai but will run
the full
five-year term to 2013, after which he will stand for re-election
for an
additional two terms.
Under the September 2008 global political
agreement between Zanu (PF),
Tsvangirai's MDC-T and a breakaway MDC faction
led by Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara, Zimbabwe is supposed to hold
new elections in early 2011
after the passing of the new constitution.
Analysts say Mugabe is aware that
his political survival is at risk once he
agrees to a new democratic
constitution that would drastically clip his
powers. As in the past three
polls, the Zimbabwean leader has turned to the
country's military to ensure
that any new constitution does not take away
the system of privileges
enjoyed by his coterie of Zanu (PF) sharks. The
army has during the past few
months stepped up campaigns in rural areas to
have the Kariba draft passed
as Zimbabwe's new constitution. During the
Mutoko rally, hapless villagers
were told in no uncertain terms "mistakes"
would not be tolerated in the
constitution making process.
The utterances
by Katsvairo and his army colleagues should not be ignored
given the way
they have influenced events in the past. The army was behind
Mugabe's blood
reelection campaign during the June 2008 presidential runoff
poll in which
some 200-plus people died. Katsvairo is notorious in Mutoko
where he led the
area's terror campaign team in 2008.
Last year he terrorized MDC-T supporters
who wanted to recover their
property stolen by Zanu (PF) thugs. He arrested
and ordered the police to
imprison more than 150 innocent peasants
without trial.
http://nehandaradio.com
Published on: 25th January,
2010
Kigali - The Zimbabwean government is hiding one of the
World's most wanted
war criminals, former head of Rwandan Presidential Guard
during the 1994
genocide Protais Mpiranya, a Belgian news agency
reported.
Belgium has expressed interest in trying fugitive former head
of the Rwandan
presidential guard during the 1994 genocide, Protais Mpiranya
who is widely
believed to be hiding in Zimbabwe, and operating businesses in
Harare.
Mpiranya is in the list of 13 most wanted persons by the
Arusha-based
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) still on the
run. In
attempts to arrest them, the US-government has offered a bounty of
five
million dollars for each fugitive.
Responding to a question from
Commission of Foreign Affairs, the Belgium
Foreign Minister, Karel De Gucht,
said that he was not sure whether Mpiranya
was hiding in Zimbabwe, as was
reported but he promised to raise the issue
through Diplomatic
channels.
The news report further claimed that Mpiranya was sheltered
by close
associates of Robert Mugabe who were jointly running ventures,
including
plundering resources of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). The
report has named Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as the man
heavily
involved.
There are an estimated 4,000 Hutu refugees living
in Zimbabwe, some of whom
took part in the genocide of Tutsis and moderate
Hutus in 1994. Many are
still pouring from Rwanda through Malawi and when
they arrive in Zimbabwe,
they are looked after by the government and some of
them have been recruited
into the spy agency, the Central Intelligence
Organisation were they are
used to do dirty work like abducting and
murdering Zanu PF political
opponents.
Many fled the country, seeking
asylum after the killings, which destabilised
neighbouring countries
especially the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We are
not aware of the fact
that he is in Zimbabwe. We did not receive
confirmation from the Tribunal in
Arusha nor from our intelligence services"
the Belgian Foreign Minister told
the legislators.
The head of Belgian diplomacy said that he was "fully
aware of the
involvement of Mpiranya in the murder of ten Belgian
peacekeepers on 7 April
1994, and in the planning of the genocide". The
Rwandan genocide resulted in
more than 800 000 deaths according to the
UN.
Sources in the Zimbabwean Intelligence Services said the Rwandan
fugitive
led a group of foreign mercenaries joining so-called "war veterans"
and
militiamen attacking opposition supporters in rural parts of Zimbabwe,
during the 2008 aborted Presidential run-off elections.
Eyewitnesses
said the men were more vicious than their Zimbabwean
counterparts, with the
marauding gangs attacking suspected members of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), forcing them to renounce the party.
They dressed in army
fatigues, carried Russian-made guns and were
accompanied by interpreters
when out with the militias. Patrick Chitaka, the
then MDC chairman in
Manicaland province confirmed that the foreigners were
identified among Zanu
PF militia.
Mr Chitaka said: "We observed that some of the people leading
the violence
were foreigners because they spoke a different language and
they did not
speak our local languages.
"Also the tactics they were
using were not peculiar with Zimbabweans since
they were cutting out the
tongue, removing eyes and genital parts. We are
not sure where they came
from."
It is believed they are the people who abducted and murdered MDC
activist in
Mabvuku Tonderai Ndira whose body was found tortured with his
tongue cut
into shreds. 200 Movement for Democratic Change supporters were
killed in
attacks by police, army, war veterans and ruling party militia.
More than
200,000 displaced by the violence during the aborted March 2008
elections.
Rwandan refugees fear they may be sent home if an MDC-led
government comes
to power. Despite internationally backed efforts to
rehabilitate Hutu
refugees, fears remain among exiles that those returning
will face
persecution from the government of President Paul
Kagame.
Meanwhile, another Genocide fugitive who was recently arrested in
Malawi,
Charles Bandora, has been released under unclear circumstances,
according to
Malawian sources. The highly placed source in Malawi said the
ex- senior
official of the former ruling party in Rwanda, the MRND, was let
off the
hook last week a few days after his arrest.
It is believed
Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika was approached by the
Zimbabwean high
authorities. Bandora was arrested a fortnight ago by Malawi's
Criminal
Intelligence Department (CID) on Devil Street, near Mugasa House,
where he
allegedly operated a business.
"It's true he is out of jail and his
whereabouts are still unknown up to
now. But there are reports that he has
gone to Zimbabwe," the source said.
The Genocide suspect, a former
businessman in Ngenda, now Eastern Province,
faces charges that include;
Genocide, complicity in Genocide, conspiracy to
commit Genocide,
extermination, murder as a crime against humanity and
organized
crime.
This is not the first time Malawi has been reported of arresting
Genocide
fugitives and releasing them under unclear circumstances. Genocide
fugitive
Vincent Nzigiyimfura was also arrested and thereafter left the
country for
the United States of America in 2009. Born in 1945, in
Busasamana, Southern
Province, Nzigiyimfura was formerly a
businessman.
Malawi was listed by the Prosecution last month as among
some of the African
countries that have rendered little cooperation towards
arresting and trying
or extraditing indicted fugitives responsible for the
1994 Genocide against
the Tutsi.
It is believed many Rwandan war
criminals now living in Zimbabwe have passed
through Malawi and fears are
now growing that Robert Mugabe is recruiting
these people in preparation for
violence in the scheduled constitutional
referendum and the national
election which are likely going to be held in
the next 18 months. Zimbabwe
Mail
http://news.radiovop.com
24/01/2010 20:47:00
Harare,
January 25, 2010 - Zimbabwe's Agriculture Minister Joseph Made has
continued
to earn a salary from the Agricultural and Rural Developoment
Authority
(ARDA) which he left 10 years ago when he was appointed a
government
minister as a thank you for managing President Robert Mugabe's
farms.
Highly placed sources at ARDA told Radio VOP at the weekend
that Made had
been drawing a salary from the parastatal as well as receiving
benefits
including top of the range vehicles.
"The source described
Made as a "bootlicker", adding he was being paid for
managing President
Mugabe's farms.
Made was ARDA's Chief Executive Officer, before he was
appointed
Agriculture minister by Mugabe in 2000. ARDA, which owns vast
tracts of
land throughout the country, used to be a centre of agricultural
excellence
and the envy of many in the whole Southern African Development
Community
(SADC) region.
It is alleged one of Made's successors at
ARDA, Erickson Mvududu, was fired
last year for conducting a staff audit
which revealed that Made was still
earning a salary from the parastatal,
years after he left.
Made is said to be managing several farms for Mugabe
among them the biggest
farm in the country, the vast Highfield farm in
Norton, the controversial
Gushungo dairy farm whose milk is now being
rejected by Swiss-based Nestle
due to sanctions and Iron Mask farm which was
invaded by the first lady
Grace Mugabe.
Made is also said to have
presided over the looting of ARDA assets, among
them land, tractors, combine
harvesters, fuel and vehicles channelling them
to senior Zanu Pf officials
amongst them Mugabe and to his own two farms
which he grabbed in Manicaland
province's Headlands area. Some of the
tractors and equipment were donated
by Iranians and Chinese for agricultural
development in the
country.
Only recently Made struck a deal with businessman and farmer,
Billy
Rautenbach, in which vast tracts of sugar estates belonging to ARDA
have
been leased for a song to a joint venture in which the controversial
business magnate has a controlling interest.
Rautenbach is believed
to control 60 percent of Middle Sabi and Chisumbanje
Sugar Estates through
his Rating Investments ahead of other suitors that
management felt had a
more attractive proposal. The deal was the final nail
in the short tenure
of Mvududu reign as ARDA's boss, as he was fired for
resisting the deal,
arguing that the development of Middle Sabi and
Chisumbanje should follow a
model different from that proposed by Rautenbach
which he felt was
speculative and not beneficial to ARDA.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Monday 25
January 2010
HARARE – International donors supporting Zimbabwe’s
troubled constitutional
reform on Sunday said they were committed to see the
process succeed,
refuting weekend claims that they had suspended funding for
the project.
The Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) last week
postponed
deployment of teams to carry out public consultations on the
proposed new
constitution and the state-controlled Sunday Mail weekly
newspaper yesterday
attributed the delay to withdrawal of financial support
by donors allegedly
because they had failed to directly influence the
project.
But the European Union (EU) and Germany told ZimOnline that they
remained
committed to supporting all democratic reforms in
Zimbabwe.
"We are still committed to supporting the constitution making
process in
Zimbabwe, together with the UNDP (United Nations Development
Programme) and
other donors,” said European Commission ambassador to
Zimbabwe Xavier
Marchal.
“It might be because they (COPAC) are facing
their problems and now want to
talk about donors' fatigue but no donor who
had pledged has changed their
mind as far as I know."
Asked whether
they had suspended their support German deputy ambassador to
Zimbabwe
Matthias Schumacher said: "The answer is no. Germany hasn't stopped
supporting the process. We deplore that they are having problems, but we
hope they solve them. We remain committed to funding all democratic reforms
in Zimbabwe."
Quoting COPAC co-chairman, Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana
from President Robert
Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, the Sunday Mail said the
donors’ decision was in
apparent protest against their failure to directly
influence the process
after the select panel turned down their proposal to
assist in developing
talking points that will be used to solicit public
opinion on the content of
the new constitution
Constitutional Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga, said at the weekend that
COPAC management committee
– composed of him, COPAC’s three co-chairmen and
negotiators of the global
political agreement that set up the country’s
power-sharing government –
would meet on Tuesday to get the process back on
track.
Postponement
of the exercise to gather the views of citizens on the new
constitution is
likely to further delay the reforms that have already missed
several
targets.
The proposed new constitution is part of the requirements of a
September
2008 power-sharing deal between Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.
The new governance
charter will pave way for free elections although there
is no legal
requirement for the unity government to call new polls
immediately after a
new constitution is in place.
Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will
guarantee human rights, strengthen
the role of Parliament and curtail the
president's powers, as well as
guaranteeing civil, political and media
freedoms.
The new constitution will replace the current Lancaster House
Constitution
written in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter
has been
amended 19 times since independence in 1980. Critics say the
majority of the
amendments have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU
PF’s hold on
power. – ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Corrrespondent Monday 25 January
2010
HARARE - Anglicans from Harare will on Sunday hold prayers at
Africa Unity
Square in central Harare to press the police to allow the
church access to
its halls and buildings across the capital.
The open
prayer session, to which President Robert Mugabe - a Catholic - has
also
been invited, comes after months of a tense and sometimes violent
struggle
for control of the church between excommunicated archbishop Nolbert
Kunonga
and Archbishop Chad Gandiya, appointed last year by the Church of
the
Province of Central Africa (CPCA) to run the Harare Anglican diocese.
The
CPCA is the supreme authority of Anglican church in the region. But
Kunonga
has defied its orders to surrender church property, while Gandiya
and his
followers say the police have sided with the renegade bishop and
assisted
him to seize control of church prayer halls and buildings in
violation of
several court orders.
"The church resolved to hold the open prayer to
force the police to abide by
the court ruling," a church warden announced
yesterday. "The President
(Mugabe) has been invited and his is aware.
Initially it was felt that we
hold a protest march, but this was later
shelved as the diocese opted for an
open prayer session."
The Harare
city council has already given permission to the church to hold
the prayer
meeting which will be attended by all members of the Anglican
church from
the capital. However police are yet to respond to the church's
request to
hold the open prayer session.
The protest prayer comes after co-Home
Affairs minister, Giles Mutseyekwa
announced that he was planning to meet
Harare police commanders to discuss
the Anglican issue.
A High Court
judge ordered Gandiya, Kunonga and their followers to share use
of church
buildings for prayers.
But Kunonga's group is accused of locking up
church doors every Sunday to
prevent their rivals from entering the
buildings to hold prayers, while the
police have been on hand to chase away
Gandiya's followers every time they
tried to insist on their right to use
the churches.
The Harare Anglican church has been in turmoil ever since
the CPCA first
suspended Kunonga as bishop of Harare and later
excommunicated him from the
church - a move he has refused to accept while
he has also held onto church
properties.
Kunonga was excommunicated
in 2008 after trying to withdraw the Harare
diocese from the Anglican
church. He claims he revolted against the mother
church because it supported
the ordination of gay priests.
A staunch supporter of Mugabe who tried to
use the pulpit to defend the
Zimbabwean leader's controversial policies,
Kunonga was excommunicated
together with several priests and other church
leaders who backed his revolt
against the CPCA.
The CPCA appointed
retired Bishop Sebastian Bakare as caretaker head of the
Harare diocese
before he was succeeded by Gandiya. - ZimOnline
http://news.radiovop.com
24/01/2010 20:50:00
Harare,January
25, 2010 - Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is
expected to address
the World Economic Forum which is being held in
Switzerland this
week.
Officials from Tsvangirai's office confirmed the trip. "The Prime
Minister
is going to Switzerland today for the World Economic Forum. He is
expected
to adress business leaders from across the world."
The
summit is going to be held for three days, the official said.
Political
and economic analysts say they are keen to hear what Tsvangirai
will say to
the Forum, at a time when he is currently under pressure from
President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party to end Western Sanctions and the two
MDC
formations and Zanu PF are failing to implement the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) due to outstanding issues. The parties to the GPA are
failing to agree on key government appointments that include the positions
of the Reserve Bank governor, Attorney General and provincial governors
among the other issues.
Tsvangirai has expressed optimism about the
unity deal but has raised
frustrations over the procrastination of resolving
the sticking issues in
the GPA. He has also called for the end of sanctions
and the return of
exiled Zimbabweans to the country, saying they should come
to help develop
Zimbabwe despite that Mugabe's cronies continue to flout the
country's laws
and committing human rights violations by continuing farms
invasions and in
some cases engaging in violent acts.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
25
January 2010
The government has until Thursday to notify a South African
civil rights
group if it intends on opposing its application to sue over the
ongoing
invasions of South African owned land in Zimbabwe.
The group,
AfriForum, served legal papers on the government last week, after
winning a
High Court battle to sue the government in relation to the land
attacks. The
group is trying to enforce a 2008 regional ruling declaring
Robert Mugabe's
land 'reform' exercise unlawful. The ruling was passed down
by the rights
court of the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
which ordered
the government to protect farmers and their rights to their
land.
The
ruling has been completely ignored and the government has even stated it
no
longer recognises the SADC Tribunal's orders. AfriForum is now trying to
have the ruling enforced from within South Africa. AfriForums lawyer, Willie
Spies, said in a statement on Friday that the papers had been served by
AfriForum's legal representatives in Harare. Spies said that the Zimbabwean
government had until next Thursday to give notice of whether it intended
opposing the application, which is set to be heard in court in
February.
At least five Rusape farming families have come under threat by
land
invaders since December last year, with most of the families being
forcibly
evicted from their homes. All those evicted are South African
citizens,
meant to be protected by a bilateral investment pact between the
two
countries. That pact, which was only signed late last year, is yet to be
ratified in parliament, which both governments have used as an excuse not to
intervene.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
25 January
2010
The head of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, Paul
Verryn, is
fighting back against his suspension, as support for the
controversial
cleric continues to grow.
Verryn was suspended last
week pending a hearing before a disciplinary
committee of the Methodist
Church of Southern Africa, which has accused the
former bishop of
"transgressing the laws and discipline of the church." The
charges are in
connection with a court application Verryn made last year to
get a curator
appointed to look after the many unaccompanied miners at the
Central
Methodist Mission in Johannesburg. The Methodist Church of Southern
Africa
has said that Verryn acted 'unilaterally' and without its support,
also
accusing the cleric of speaking to the media without its consent.
Verryn
however is fighting back against the suspension, seeking on Monday to
have
his disciplinary hearing postponed. He told South African media this
weekend
that his suspension boils down to a dispute he has with the current
Bishop
of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, Bishop Ivan Abrahams. The
Church
has denied this.
Verryn has been lauded as a 'friend of Zimbabwe' for
opening up the church
to refugees who had nowhere else to go, particularly
during 2007's outbreak
of xenophobic violence that saw hundreds of
foreigners flee local South
African communities. But the renowned former
anti-apartheid cleric has also
been a controversial figure. He has received
international acclaim for
aiding homeless foreigners and for pressuring the
South African government
to reform its policies regarding refugees. But he
has also faced severe
criticism for the humanitarian crisis that has
developed at the church over
the past few years.
Rights groups have
called the situation 'untenable' and a potential health
risk, with hundreds
of people sleeping on the streets around the church.
Local businesses have
threatened Verryn with legal action, accusing the
refugees living at the
church of being responsible for crime in the area.
They've also said the
unsanitary conditions have affected their businesses.
Last year there were
also allegations of sexual abuse of children living at
the
church.
But support for Verryn has been gathering since the very public
announcement
of his suspension last week, with a group of friends and
supporters meeting
in Johannesburg on Sunday to plan their support for the
embattled bishop.
"What he's going through is horrendous," group member
and friend Wendy
Landau told SW Radio Africa on Monday. "He needs to know
there are people
out there rooting for him."
Landau created an online
support group on the social networking site
Facebook on Saturday. By Monday
evening the page had more than 340 fans or
supporters, with many supporters
voicing their concerns of an active
campaign to remove Verryn from the
Church in Johannesburg. One support
commented that "it appears that in
Johannesburg at the moment the poor, the
displaced and the homeless have
become extremely threatening to those who
are in power." Other observers
have already argued that the suspension is
part of a planned move to have
the refugee mission closed down, which local
government officials have
previously called for.
The South African government's treatment of
foreigners, particularly
Zimbabwean refugees, has been based on exclusion
and denial up until very
recently. Under former president Thabo Mbeki's
policy of quiet diplomacy on
the Zimbabwe crisis, the refugee crisis in his
own country was 'overlooked'.
This resulted in tens of thousands of
Zimbabwean refugees receiving no
support from the South African government.
The Central Methodist Church
therefore has been the only haven for many
Zimbabweans, in a country where
the refugee policy has only started to
change recently.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=26925
January 25, 2010
By Ntando
Ncube
A GROUP of South Africans and hordes of peoples from other parts of
the
world on Sunday resumed fighting against the treatment of suspended
Central
Methodist Church (CMC) bishop Paul Verryn using social media by
launching
the "Friends of Paul Verryn" camping on face
book.
According to a statement circulated by the Congress of South
African Trade
Unions (COSATU), the campaign is aimed at raising support for
him during his
ordeal.
Verryn a well- known friend of desperate
African immigrants, mostly
Zimbabweans in South Africa was suspended from
his position in the church on
Thursday.
"Paul Verryn is being "dealt
with" for trying to help the Zimbabweans. He is
being hung out to dry by the
Methodist Church that he served for so long.
Paul Verryn is a Christian
person who walks the Christian walk", reads part
of a statement released
over the weekend.
"He did not turn away those in need. Other doors were
closed, while his was
open.
Paul Verryn exercises the Option for the
Poor. He is a liberation theologist
in action."
The Johannesburg
church offers refuge to more than 3 000 immigrants from
across Africa with
the bulk of them being Zimbabweans who continue to flock
to the sanctuary,
fleeing their home country because of hunger and economic
hardships.
Verryn has been at the centre of controversy involving the
situation of
women and children at the church in central Johannesburg. Last
year the
bishop approached the courts seeking that a curator be appointed
for minors
living at the church.
The Methodist Church of Southern
Africa said Verryn acted unilaterally in
launching the application. The
church said it only allowed the presiding
bishop or the church's general
secretary to bring an application before a
court.
"What the Bishop
has done to welcome people with nowhere to go - is just
awesome I am near
the church quite a bit, and I'm really thankful for what
the Bishop has done
and continues to do. Full support to you!!! Please let
me know if I can help
- am willing to go to meetings etc" a face book fan
called Anne
posted
Another fan Penny Foley said: "The work that Paul does is
remarkable and he
has always done it. And he will always do it. He is
absolutely driven by God
towards love for the poor. It appears that in
Johannesburg at the moment the
poor, the displaced and the homeless have
become extremely threatening to
those who are in power".
Verryn has
been embroiled in a wrangle with the Gauteng government which
accuses him of
refusing to cooperate with social workers who wanted to move
children from
the church premises to proper homes and shelters.
Mark Spyke said: "For
years people have tried to undermine Paul with
innuendo without success. I
am currently on a committee which he chairs
(Church Unity Commission Central
Committee), and I can personally vouch for
him as a man of great integrity,
courage, intelligence, and godliness. The
actual charges below are
laughable".
Verryn faces charges of breaching the rules of the Methodist
Church in South
Africa (MCSA).
His disciplinary hearing is scheduled
to take place on February 01.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
25
January 2010
Senior figures in the MDC-T last week Friday asked its party
leadership to
refer the Global Political Agreement talks to SADC because
they don't
believe the negotiators can break the current
impasse.
'The meeting was speaking with one voice that the talks are not
going
anywhere and a deadlock should be declared to allow SADC to take
over,' a
source in the party said. MDC-T chief negotiator Tendai Biti had
briefed the
meeting in detail and reportedly told the meeting that nothing
much has
moved since last year.
The MDC-T standing committee meeting
then reportedly tasked its negotiators
to notify the South African
facilitation team, and other negotiators from
the MDC-M and ZANU PF, that
they wanted the talks declared deadlocked.
'I think everyone knows both
the MDC and ZANU PF will not change their
positions as far as the talks are
concerned. I think it's fair that we
shouldn't be wasting precious time
discussing things that will never happen,'
the source added.
Robert
Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed the GPA in
September
2008, which paved the way for the formation of the inclusive
Government. But
the inclusive government has been hamstrung over a number of
issues,
including that of the appointments of Gideon Gono and Johannes
Tomana as the
central bank governor and the attorney general.
MDC-T spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa said they had lost all patience with ZANU
PF's reluctance to
conclusively deal with all the remaining issues. He said
as a party they
would not accept any more delays in the interest of the
people of Zimbabwe
who have been subjected to uncertainty and unnecessary
anxiety over 'talks
about talks.'
'We have guarantors to this agreement, and the logical
conclusion is for
them to help us unlock this political logjam,' Chamisa
said. Party
negotiators will meet again on the 8th of next month but hopes
of salvaging
anything from the talks have all but
faded.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance Guma
25 January
2010
The British Embassy in Zimbabwe has moved to clarify comments made
by
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who had suggested targeted sanctions on
companies and members of Mugabe's inner circle would only be removed on the
advice of the MDC.
Responding to questions in parliament last week
Tuesday Miliband had said;
'In respect of sanctions, we have made it clear
that they can be lifted only
in a calibrated way, as progress is made . and,
above all, to be guided by
what the MDC says to us about the conditions
under which it is working and
leading the country.' The statement was a
godsend for ZANU PF and the state
owned media, who have seized on it as
clear evidence the MDC has been
responsible for the imposition of the
targeted sanctions.
The British Embassy in Harare has now issued a
clarification saying the most
important factor influencing the UK's views on
lifting EU restrictive
measures 'will be evidence of actual change and
reform on the ground in
Zimbabwe.' This judgment they said 'will need to
take into account the views
of a number of stakeholders, including the MDC,
on the economic, social and
other conditions prevailing in Zimbabwe.' The
embassy also added that the
key to having the restrictions lifted was for
those resisting progress to
implement commitments to reform, agreed to in
the unity deal.
Mugabe and his ZANU PF party have over the past decade
deflected attention
from their destruction of the economy by blaming the
travel and financial
restrictions placed on members of its inner circle. At
least 203 officials
and 40 companies, involved or linked with violence and
human rights abuses,
had the measures imposed on them. The British Embassy
said the measures did
not 'affect the development of legitimate trade or
business' and also did
not have any adverse effect on humanitarian
assistance. Just a few months
ago Britain provided US$100 million in
aid.
The remarks by Miliband galvanized ZANU PF into demanding that the MDC
call
for the removal of the restrictive measures on the ruling elite.
Zimbabwe's
ambassador to South Africa and ZANU PF national chairman, Simon
Khaya Moyo,
said the MDC could no longer claim it had no influence over the
issue.
'Britain has let the cat out of the bag on the issue of sanctions.
They have
admitted that the MDC called for the sanctions and it can only
remove them
on the request of the MDC,' he claimed.
Newsreel asked MDC
Foreign Affairs spokesman, Professor Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro, to respond to
Moyo's claims. He told us, "We don't formulate
foreign policy on any
country's behalf. We are saying that they should judge
us by the progress
that we have made so far in the commitments we have
undertaken.'
Mukonoweshuro said Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had
called for a lifting
of the restrictive measures in his speech to parliament
last year.
Additionally the coalition government set up an all-party
'Re-engagement
Committee' led by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, to
campaign for an opening up of relations with the
West.
Comment from Canadian Business, February issue
Near collapse of Kimberley Process could spark
renewed trade in 'blood
diamonds'
By Thomas
Watson
Remember Danny Archer, Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Blood
Diamond? Set
in 1999, amid civil war in Sierra Leone, Archer's trials and
tribulations as
a mercenary helped raise awareness of the illicit stone
trade and how it
once served as a primary driver of social chaos and armed
conflict in the
Third World. Today, thanks to a certification-of-origins
system call the
Kimberley Process, conflict diamonds account for less than
1% of the global
rough-cut stone market, down from double-digit territory in
the mid-'90s
(when they funded wars in countries such as Angola, Liberia and
Sierra
Leone). This progress was worked into the 2006 DiCaprio flick, which
ends as
a brutalized artisanal miner is about to address a historic meeting
of
diamond-producing countries in Kimberley, South Africa. After that 2000
conference, the industry moved to create its self-regulatory system, which
is managed by the World Diamond Council and two NGOs, including Partnership
Africa Canada (PAC).
But don't count on a long-term Hollywood
ending. Judging by recent events,
the industry's much-hyped common interest
in decoupling diamonds from
conflict appears to be as fictional as Archer's
on-screen transformation
into a caring soul. Ottawa's Ian Smillie, one of
the world's leading
blood-diamond experts and a key architect of the
Kimberley Process, resigned
as the NGOs' representative to the process last
summer. "When regulators
fail to regulate, the systems they were designed to
protect collapse," he
announced, adding, "I can no longer in good faith
contribute to a pretense
that failure is success." Until Smillie's
departure, the Kimberley Process
was generally considered effective. But its
lack of teeth is shocking. At
one point, insiders say, Venezuela was
encouraged to withdraw as a member so
other countries could avoid dealing
with its off-the-books stones.
Furthermore, despite increased media
attention late last year, the Kimberley
Process ignored a call by Human
Rights Watch to ban Zimbabwe diamonds from
the market. To do that, the
regulator had to turn a blind eye to its own
report on Zimbabwe's failure to
comply with certification rules, not to
mention the fact that its military
controls the country's mines. Bernard
Taylor, executive director of PAC,
admits the system has lost credibility,
noting a total breakdown could lead
to an explosion of the illicit diamond
trade and huge increase in related
misery. But there is hope, he says,
pointing out that Smillie left his
part-time research position with PAC and
ended his official involvement with
the Kimberley Process because he "felt
he might have more impact from
without." And his resignation has already
helped matters by putting blood
diamonds back on the media radar. According
to Taylor, PAC remains committed
to pushing for significant reforms inside
the system with its NGO partner,
Global Witness. And with Israel taking on
the Kimberley Process chair this
year, he thinks there is a chance that
"some new resolve will be breathed in
the process."
http://www.businessday.co.za
DIANNA
GAMES
Published: 2010/01/25 06:19:37 AM
OFFICIAL discussions about how
to manage traffic and people through Africa's
busiest border post -
Beitbridge - have been going on for at least a decade.
And yet, every major
holiday begets horror stories about the experience of
trying to move through
this border crossing. This past Christmas season was
no exception. In fact,
with the mass flight of Zimbabweans to SA, the
situation has become
worse.
Delays of several hours for holiday- makers were commonplace. Cars
queued
for kilometres from the immigration buildings on either side of the
border,
touts milled through the crowds soliciting bribes, and the sun beat
down on
the crowds in one of the hottest places in the region.
In the
months leading up to the festive season, officials said plans were
being
made to avoid the usual problems experienced at this vital border
crossing.
To no avail, it seems.
Not only is Beitbridge a key link between Zimbabwe
and SA, it is also a
vital cog in the transport network across southern
Africa. Yet trucks can
spend up to five days trying to get cleared, at great
cost to transporters.
SA's Department of Home Affairs estimates that
about 10000 people use the
border a day during normal times, with this
rising to 18000 over the
holidays. Officials at the border post estimated
that 3500 vehicles were
passing through the post on an average day over the
Christmas period.
Surely the experts could solve the problem relatively
easily if they put
their minds to it? One problem identified in the recent
melee was a lack of
parking space in the South African yard, which can
accommodate only 80 heavy
vehicles, 10 buses and 100 cars. Vehicles in
Zimbabwe, cleared to go
through, were unable to cross into SA until space
became available there for
them to park. This is not a new problem, so why
have the parking facilities
not been expanded?
Trucks also clog up
the border post as drivers have to process piles of
clearing documents and
deal with myriad government agencies . These
processes need to rationalised.
Government task teams have apparently been
established to facilitate this
process. But history shows us that
bureaucrats generally find it a lot
easier to increase bureaucracy than
reduce it.
The original bridge
across the Zambezi River at Beitbridge remains closed,
forcing all traffic
on to the newer tolled bridge. The New Limpopo Bridge
Company,
concessionaire for the new bridge, claims that reopening the old
one would
not reduce congestion. But in reality this resource remains closed
because
the company cannot toll users - the Beit Trust, which paid for the
bridge to
be built in 1929, does not allow users to be charged, in
perpetuity.
The mooted longer-term solution to the problem is the
creation of a one-
stop border post. A pilot one-stop border post was opened
at Chirundu,
between Zimbabwe and Zambia, before Christmas. Passenger
traffic is
reportedly moving well through the new one-stop post, though
authorities are
still ironing out freight problems.
There seems to be
little point in speeding up vehicle and freight clearance
at Chirundu
without smoothing operations at Beitbridge, given that about
half of traffic
through one goes through the other. A second one-stop border
post is
scheduled for Ressano Garcia, between SA and Mozambique. However,
this
project has got bogged down in the planning stages.
Overambitious design
features of the new five-storey customs and immigration
building mean the
project cost has leapt from about R600m, which SA had
agreed to pay, to
nearly R2bn. Bridging finance will have to found before
the project can go
ahead.
Sources claim Zimbabwe is eager to have the one-stop border post
at
Beitbridge but the project is being held up by SA, which is not keen on
relinquishing the kind of control that is required by the one-stop
model.
Unless sufficient political will is mustered to fast-track
solutions to the
problems at the border crossing, I would wager that
holidaymakers at
Christmas this year may be facing more nightmares trying to
negotiate their
way across this hot hellhole.
There must be simple
solutions that are within the power of politicians to
implement . Another
decade of discussions is not an option.
- Games is CE of Africa @ Work, a
research and consulting company.
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=12442
By Gerald
Chateta
Published: January 24, 2010
Harare - ZANU-PF
activist and former Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa has
admitted that
draconian media laws must be repealed and replaced with
friendly regulatory
laws, saying they are no longer relevant in the new
political
dispensation.
Mutsvangwa told journalists who had invited him to shed
light on the
developments of the Zimbabwe Media Commission in Harare on
Friday that it
was high time that friendly media laws should come into
play.
The ZMC which is yet to operate will be responsible for regulating
the
media, and President Robert Mugabe has not yet sworn in the 12
commissioners
who will be leading the media regulatory board.
"Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order
and
Security Act and other media oppressive laws should be removed as the
situation under which they were enacted is no longer obtaining. We all know
that these laws came into play because of the political polarization which
was in the country and that situation has since changed."
"These
repressive media laws are going to be removed and we expect
journalists to
be objective and honest in telling the Zimbabwean story," he
said.
Using AIPPA, the former ZANU-PF government- appointed Media and
Information
Commission (MIC), which closed and refused to license new media
players.
AIPPA, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Broadcasting
Services
Act (BSA), according to journalists and observers formed an axis of
repression against media freedom and freedom of expression in
Zimbabwe.
It is against that background that MISA-Zimbabwe together with
the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights and Independent Journalists
Association of
Zimbabwe, continue to submit to the Commission to declare
that AIPPA
contravenes the provisions of the African Charter on Human and
People's
Rights.
Zimbabwe Independent Newspaper journalist Dumisani
Mleya said politicians
should desist from interfering with the
media.
"We are worried by the continued interference by politicians in
the business
of the media. We are not satisfied with the Zimbabwe Media
Commission
because it has political activists. We are likely to experience
further
polarization in the industry. We know that every political party
wants the
media to report positively about it, and we want to assure the
politicians
that we will never be patronized by any political party because
we are
professionals."
The functions of the ZMC are stated as "to
uphold and develop the freedom of
the press", as well as "to promote and
enforce good practice and ethics in
the press, print and electronic media,
and broadcasting" and ensuring that
the people of Zimbabwe have "equitable
and wide access to information". The
Commission retains the functions of
registering mass media and news
agencies, accrediting journalists,
investigating complaints against media
persons and services and reviewing
decisions of public bodies regarding
access to information.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
25/01/2010
00:00:00
SOUTH Africa-based low-cost carrier 1time has announced its
interest in
servicing the busy Harare-Johannesburg route.
The route
has become one of Southern Africa’s busiest as Zimbabwe’s economy
recovers
and is currently being serviced by national carrier Air Zimbabwe,
South
African Airways and Comair.
“1time is keen to go to Harare. Should
anything become available (landing
slots open), we'll consider it," the
company’s commercial director Desmond
O'Connor said.
The listed
airliner, one of four budget carriers operating in South Africa,
has
embarked on a route expansion exercise which has seen it flying to
Livingstone Zambia while plans are on course to launch on the Maputo route
in March this year.
"We are hoping to launch the Maputo route by
March, the airline has secured
five flights a week between Johannesburg and
Maputo, adding about 600 seats
and we will be competing directly with
Mozambique's KLM national carrier,”
He said
O’Connor added that all
the planed routes should be within 4 hours flight
from Johannesburg as these
tended to offer better returns.
"We're still looking for anything within
four hours' flying time from
Johannesburg. We believe there are better
returns on those routes. If you
look at our domestic routes you'll notice we
are mainly on corporate routes
as opposed to the leisure ones," said
O'Connor.
Zimbabwe has embarked on an open skies policy which has seen
the country
invite international carriers to service routes into the country
as part of
its tourism promotion drive.
The policy has however been
put under the spot following after authorities
refused to grant start-up
carrier, Fly Kumba rights to service routes
currently being dominated by Air
Zimbabwe.
The government's decision is reported to have been inspired by
the fear of
being priced-out of the market as Air Zimbabwe was charging over
a US$100
for a one-way ticket to Bulawayo which Fly Kumba had pegged at
US$50.
From Moneyweb (SA), 24 January
Botswana will rescue Zimbabwe power stations if it meets certain
criteria
John Chombah
Gabarone - Botswana Power
Corporation (BPC) is planning to give Zimbabwe
Power Company (ZPC) $8m in
funding to revamp the Bulawayo Thermal Power
Station if the governments can
agree on certain issues. In return, Zimbabwe
will export 40 megawatts of
power to Botswana. Although Zimbabwe media had
stipulated that BPC had
already signed the deal, acting CEO of BPC, Lindiwe
Mgadla confirmed that
her company has not entered into any agreement yet
with ZPC. Calls to
government officials to shed more light on what the
issues are that need to
be agreed on were not answered. Should the deal be
signed more than half
($4.5m ) of the $8m will be used to refurbish the
Bulawayo Thermal Power
Station, while the remainder will be used to buy
coal. Bulawayo Thermal
Power Station was closed due to financial problems,
which has plagued other
thermal power stations as well. Mgadla however noted
that Botswana imports
about 50% of its power needs from its neighbours.
Democratic Republic of
Congo supplies 50 megawatts, Mozambique 40 megawatts
and South Africa 250
megawatts. ZPC is a subsidiary of Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority
(ZESA) which is said to be in $428m debt. In addition, ZESA
needs to raise
approximately $385m for emergency power needs.