http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
11
July 2009
By Matt
Spetalnick and Kwasi Kpodo
ACCRA - U.S. President Barack Obama told
Africans on Saturday that Western
aid must be matched by good governance and
urged them to take greater
responsibility for stamping out war, corruption
and disease plaguing the
continent.
Obama delivered the message
on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since
taking office in January as
the first black U.S. president. He chose stable,
democratic Ghana because he
believes it can serve as a model for the rest of
Africa.
Fresh from a
G8 summit where leaders agreed to spend $20 billion to improve
food security
in poor countries, Obama spoke of a "new moment of promise"
but stressed
that Africans must also take a leading role in sorting out
their many
problems.
"Development depends upon good governance," Obama said in a
speech to
Ghana's parliament. "That is the ingredient which has been missing
in far
too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock
Africa's potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by
Africans."
In an address that offered the most detailed view of his
Africa policy,
Obama took aim at corruption and rights abuses on the
continent, warning
that growth and development would be held back until such
problems were
tackled.
He said America would not impose any system of
government, but would
increase help for those behaving
responsibly.
The visit has enormous resonance for Africa because of
Obama's roots as the
son of Kenyan immigrant. He laced his speech with tales
of his background
and the struggles of his forebears in the face of poverty
and colonial rule.
"It will give encouragement to those fighting
corruption and for democracy,"
said African affairs commentator Joel
Kibazo.
"He said it in a way that perhaps other presidents could not
because he
started by outlining his own connections," said Kibazo, while
noting Obama
was less specific on promoting good governance than with a $63
billion
health spending pledge.
"YES, WE CAN"
MPs chanted "yes, we
can" before Obama started and the president ended his
address with that
phrase -- his old campaign slogan. The crowd's response
was much warmer than
the cordial but mostly chilly reception in Moscow
earlier in the
week.
The language and cadence of Obama's speech was a mix of church
sermon,
campaign rally and university lecture.
"We like the positive
signals that this visit is sending and will continue
to send," said Ghanaian
President John Atta Mills, elected in a transparent
election that contrasted
with stereotypes of chaos, coups and corruption in
Africa.
"This
encourages us also to sustain the gains that we have made in our
democratic
process."
Reforms in the cocoa and gold producing country, set to begin
pumping oil
next year, helped bring unprecedented investment and growth
before the
impact of the global financial crisis.
Ghanaians, many
dressed in Obama t-shirts, packed into the streets of Accra
in hope of
glimpsing the president. They clustered around television sets in
homes,
bars and backyards to follow his words.
"The message he gave was covering
the ways in we should change our
lifestyles. I believe when we do that we
will prosper," said engineer Joseph
Aboagye. "We need to
change."
Thousands of people, some waving tiny U.S. flags, lined the
streets of Cape
Coast to greet Obama as his motorcade rolled from the
helicopter landing
zone to Cape Coast Castle, a former depot of the
transatlantic slave trade.
Although Obama's family connections are in
Kenya, his wife Michelle is
descended from slaves shipped from Africa. They
and their two daughters will
spend less than 24 hours in Ghana before
returning to the United States.
Reuters
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Jul 11, 2009, 15:04
GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Saturday said
the West should
neither set conditions for aid to his troubled country nor
question the
unity of the country's coalition government.
Mugabe on
Saturday told his supporters in Harare that the West had
humiliated the
country's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai - with whom he
formed a coalition
government in February - for calling for reforms before
aid.
In an
apparent reference to the trip Tsvangirai made to the United States
and
Europe last month to seek financial aid, Mugabe said: 'Let's not
humiliate
ourselves any further. We go to those friends who are prepared to
work with
us and work with us on the basis of partnerships on equal terms.'
The
long-time president of Zimbabwe was speaking at a state funeral of an
ally
and top commander during Zimbabwe's liberation struggle in the
1970s.
Tsvangirai and members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party
snubbed the state funeral.
The 85-year-old Mugabe said no
Western nation had a right to question if the
coalition government was
working.
The coalition followed a hotly disputed election in which
Tsvangirai pulled
out at one point, citing violence targeting his MDC party
supporters.
Investors are wary of investing in Zimbabwe due to the
political instability
amid a collapsing economy. Critics blame Mugabe's
economic polices for the
country's meltdown.
2 hours ago
HARARE (AFP)
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday made a new
appeal for unity
in the country's power-sharing government.
"Are we truly united in the
inclusive government? Are we truly one? Show it
and let us speak with one
voice, the voice of Zimbabweans," Mugabe said in
an address to mourners at
the Harare funeral of nationalist Ackim Ndlovu.
"Let's not humiliate
ourselves any further, let us go to friends who are
prepared to work with us
and work with us on the basis of partnership and
not on the basis of master
and servant."
Mugabe and his long time rival Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai formed a
national government on February 11 in a deal brokered by
former South
African president Thabo Mbeki after months of
tensions.
Mugabe has lashed out at Western nations for refusing to lift
sanctions
against him and his associates until the government introduces
reforms.
Tsvangirai has just ended a three-week tour to Europe and the
United States
where leaders pledged support but again urged greater
reform.
Mugabe said some former white farmers will be allocated land in
the country.
"We will allocate to you (white farmers) some land but out of
our mercy."
"So we say to you, those who are still claiming land they
should remember
the history of our country and what themselves did to
us."
The new government is seeking 8.3 billion dollars (5.9 billion
euros) to
revive the economy, battered by years of political
turmoil.
Since February, international organisations have promised more
than one
billion dollars in help for the new government. China's recent aid
effectively means Zimbabwe has now raised over two billion dollars since
February.
The government launched an economic recovery scheme in
March to revitalise
an economy devastated by a decade of hyperinflation that
has left half the
population dependent on food aid.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Simplicious Chirinda
Saturday 11 July 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe prison officials
admitted for the first time on Friday
dire conditions in the country's
jails, describing the under-funded and
overcrowded prisons as an
"embarrassment to the criminal justice system".
Zimbabwe Prison Service
(ZPS) Deputy Commissioner Washington Chimboza said
the service was unable to
feed or clothe prisoners to the standards
prescribed by law, adding that
authorities had not been to observe the
rights of prisoners over the last
three years.
Chimboza, who was addressing a workshop on prisoner's rights
organised by
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said: "The
Zimbabwe Prison
Service has been unable to satisfy any of its mandatory
obligations due to
the fact that we were heavily incapacitated . . . we have
now become an
embarrassment to the criminal justice system."
The ZPS
official said prisons were required under the law to provide
adequate food
to inmates but were unable to do so due to budgetary
constraints.
"Food commodities spelt out in the statutory instrument
have not been able
to be provided. Since 2006 we have experienced the worst
and highest death
rate in the history of the service. The most severe cases
were experienced
in 2008 where pellagra was rampant in our prisons," said
Chimboza.
Zimbabwe has 72 prisons carrying 12 971 prisoners, according to
Chimboza.
The ZPS official said most of the prisoners walked semi-naked
everyday
because ZPS cannot afford prison uniform for both inmates and
staff. The
water and food situation was "very poor" at most prisons, he
said.
He said ZPS was using only two pots to cook for 2 000 inmates at
Chikurubi:
"The little food procured has not been prepared under healthy
conditions
since all the cooking pots we had have seen their days. We have
resorted to
using drums sourced from the neighboring Larfage
Cement.
"Even after we cook the food, we don't have plates and other
utensils.
Prisoners have had to rely on lunch boxes and empty ice cream
containers
from relatives to use as plates," said Chimboza.
He said
the situation was equally dire for lowly paid staff whose working
conditions
had deteriorated.
He said lack of accommodation had resulted in prison
officers renting houses
or rooms from prisoners. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nqobizitha
Khumalo Saturday 11 July 2009
BULAWAYO - The government is
yet to secure full funding for the
constitutional reform process, casting
further doubt on the exercise to
write a new governance charter for Zimbabwe
that is set to resume on Monday
after delays this week.
Sources at
Parliament, which is leading constitutional reforms, said a
further US$17
million needed to be raised for the second and third phases of
the reform
process.
The constitutional reform process is in three phases with the
first phase
set to be completed this week when the all-stakeholders'
conference is held
in Harare on Monday and Tuesday. Our sources estimated
the final bill for
the first phase of the reforms at US$2
million.
The government indicated at the beginning of the process that it
would need
US$19 million to write a new constitution but also made it clear
it would
have to scrounge around for the money.
Constitutional
Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga conceded last week that the
government still
needed to raise more funds for the constitutional exercise;
the second
attempt by Zimbabweans to try to write a governance charter for
the country
after the first attempt flopped in 2000.
"We are in the process of
sourcing for funds and we are raising the money as
we go and the fact that
not all the money is needed all at once means we
will raise the funds as we
go on," Matinenga said.
He did not disclose the figures the government
was looking to raise or from
where exactly the money would come. However,
the minister indicated that the
government had approached some donors he did
not name for help.
Under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by
Zimbabwe's three main
political parties last year and that led to formation
of unity government
last February the country should have a new and
democratic constitution by
mid next year.
New elections for
president, parliament and local government will be held
after the new
constitution is promulgated.
But divisions within the parliamentary
committee leading the reform process
and a lack of a ready source of funding
could delay or even totally derail
the exercise especially after members of
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF
party forced postponement of a key
stakeholders' conference to Monday.
ZANU PF members of the committee had
even attempted to have the reform
postponed indefinitely but faced
resistance from MDC legislators.
In demanding postponement of the
conference, ZANU PF said there was need to
determine who were the
stakeholders to send representatives to the key
convention and also said
logistical matters had to be ironed out before
delegates could start
travelling from around the country to Harare
ZANU PF has also demanded
that the new constitution should be based on a
draft constitution secretly
authored in 2007 by that party and the two MDC
formations on Lake Kariba and
known as the Kariba Draft.
Critics say the document leaves untouched the
wide-sweeping powers that
Mugabe continues to enjoy even after formation of
a unity government with
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara.
A source at Parliament said there were donors
waiting in the wings with
funds for constitutional reforms but said they
could be dissuaded from
bankrolling the exercise by what he described as
"ZANU PF's infuriating
antics".
The source said: "The government has
been on course to raise the funds
needed from donors but the message coming
from ZANU PF will make it
difficult for donors to commit funds to a
pre-determined process." -
ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=19625
July 11, 2009
HARARE -
The Judge President, Rita Makarau, yesterday said it is the duty of
all
judicial officers to protect the rights of prisoners.
Makarau was
speaking at a meeting of human and prisoner's rights
stakeholders organised
by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in
Harare.
"It is the
duty of all judicial officers to protect the rights of prisoners.
They must
be invited to these training workshops and trainings," said
Makarau.
"Prisoners do have rights and at the High Court we are
guided by the
provisions of the Supreme Court and that should also be
applied down to the
magistrate courts."
Makarau's colleague and
fellow High Court judge, Charles Hungwe, also told
the meeting that the
business of protecting the rights of prisoners does not
only lie with the
prisons.
"The magistrates can make unscheduled visits to any prisons. In
future it
will be appropriate for the Provincial Magistrate to keep an eye
on what is
happening at the prisons rather than just (viewing) the
magistrates' courts.
They must make more frequent visits to the prisons to
see what should be
done," said Hungwe.
Hungwe said he had to
personally intervene to try and save the situation at
Mutare prison which
had become overcrowded because of the huge number of
people who were
arrested in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.
"Mutare Prison was overcrowded.
There was a sudden influx of prisoners due
to the Chiadzwa diamond rush. The
police were bussing three 75-seater buses
full of prisoners to court but
after the granting of bail the prisoners
could not pay bail," said
Hungwe.
"The result was that at some stage food stocks ran out and
prisoners had to
sleep standing, I made the decision to release the accused
on free bail,"
said Hungwe.
Speaking at the same meeting an official
from the Zimbabwe Prison Service
(ZPS) painted a bleak picture of the
prisons.
"The Zimbabwe Prison Service has been unable to satisfy any of
its mandatory
obligations due to the fact that we were heavily
incapacitated. We have now
become an embarrassment to the criminal justice
system," said Washington
Chimboza, the Deputy Commissioner of
Prisons.
According to the Prisons General Regulations of 1996 the
Zimbabwe Prison
Services should provide adequate food to inmates but has
been failing to do
so.
"Food commodities spelt out in the statutory
instrument have not been
provided. Since 2006 we have experienced the worst
and highest death rate in
the history of the service. The most severe cases
were experienced in 2008
when pellagra was rampant in our prisons," said
Chimboza.
"Malnutrition acted as a catalyst to most deaths given that
where cases of
opportunistic infections were evident, it was impossible to
commence
medication since there was no food in the country in general and
particularly in the prisons."
The Prison Service requires 500 tonnes
of maize-meal a month to feed a
prison population of 13 000 inmates. The
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) is
supposed to supply ZPS with these
requirements but has not been able to do
so.
ZPS administers a total
of 46 prisons and 26 satellite prisons throughout
the country. These prisons
include the old type built at the turn of the
last century, such as the
Harare Central Prison, Masvingo Remand Prison and
modern structures built
after independence such as Kadoma, Mutare Farm,
Chipinge and Khami Maximum
Prisons. While the official holding capacity is
17 000, the current prison
population stands at around 12 971, comprising 10
299 convicted and 2 672
remand prisoners.
The female population stands at 694.
"Our
inability to honour such a mandatory obligation has caused untold
suffering
to the inmate population in our custody," said Chimboza.
"The little food
procured has not been prepared under healthy conditions
since all the
cooking pots we had have seen their days. Of the 26 pots at
Chikurubi
Maximum none is working and this has led to the creation of a
temporary
kitchen where iron cast posts are in use."
"We have resorted to using
drums sourced from neighbouring Lafarge Cement."
He added that they had
not been able to transport inmates to court for
either remand or trial to
the extend of requesting that the canteen at
Marondera Prison be converted
into a court house for further remand.
"The security vehicles, the only
four Mercedes Benz Atego trucks have been
parked since August 2008 because
we could not afford to repair and service
them," said
Chimboza.
Chimboza said the water situation has been equally
dire.
"The water situation in our prisons is very poor. Chikurubi Prison
Complex
has gone for five years without ZINWA providing any water," said
Chimboza.
"This shortage has seen the birth of water borne diseases due
to inadequate
cleanliness."
The government recently passed a
resolution allowing relatives of inmates to
provide clothing and other
necessities to prisoners. Chimboza said the
community will have to come on
board to safe the situation.
"Inmates do not lose their right to health
care by virtue of being in
custody," said Chimboza.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/
10th
Jul 2009 21:08 GMT
By
Rhoda Mashavave
JESTINA Mukoko, a Zimbabwean human rights activist
and director of the
Zimbabwe Peace Project will be the 2009 laureate of the
Human Rights Award
of the city of Weimar in Germany .
Mukoko will be
invited to Weimar to receive the award on 10 December, the
International
Human Rights Day.
Mukoko, a former news reader of the state broadcaster
the then Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation, was unlawfully abducted from her
home on December
3 by some state agents.
She was harassed and
tortured by state agents who accused her of terrorism
charges. She was
unlawfully detained by the Zimbabwean government and denied
access to her
medication.
Mukoko was only released beginning of March.
A
statement released by the Germany Embassy said the award acknowledges
Mukoko's steadfast engagement in fighting human rights abuses.
Since
2000 Zimbabwe Peace Project has uncovered and documented numerous
human
rights violations committed by the Zimbabwean authorities.
Her unlawful
abduction and subsequent detention has been widely noted in
Germany and
strongly condemned by the Germany government.
In the 18th and early 19th
century, Weimar was been the home of Johann
Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich
Schiller, the most famous German poets of the
classical period. In 1919,
lawmakers gathered in Weimar to draft the
constitution of the first German
republic.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=19631
July 11, 2009
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says the
lifespan of
Zimbabwe's current inclusive government in Zimbabwe is likely to
be extended
to a full term of five years. Mutambara further described as
false, a widely
held belief that the duration of the hybrid government had
been intended for
two years.
"All this is completely false,"
Mutambara said, "If you look at the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), there
is nowhere where it says the government is
for 18 months or two years. It is
silent on the duration of the unity
government."
Mutambara was trying
to dispel fears among foreign investors a change of
government in two years
time would lead to abrupt policy changes that would
affect their
investments.
He was speaking at the just ended International Investment
conference, which
was organized by Zimbabwe's Economic Planning and
Investment Promotion
ministry.
The two-day convention was aimed at
wooing foreign investors to come back
and invest in Zimbabwe following
uncertainties caused by nearly 10 years of
political and economic
turmoil.
As leader of the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC), Mutambara was party to the unity talks which led to the
formation of
the unity government.
President Robert Mugabe, leader of
Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai of the
mainstream MDC were the other two
principals.
Said Mutambara, "What we say in the agreement is that, after
the new
constitution is adopted in a referendum, we will sit down as the
three
parties and discuss whether to continue or to shut down government and
go
for elections.
"When we were doing the negotiations, we were
coming from the opposition; we
wanted a short and sharp government, 18
months, and then elections. That was
our demand.
"But our brother
Mugabe from Zanu-PF was saying, 'No I was elected on the
27th of June
(2008), I want my five years'. So we argued back and forth.
"The reason
why we did this in the end is to ensure that people are not in
an election
mode. We for once work for the country. If we have 18 months or
two years as
our horizon, we don't work, we campaign."
Mutambara said there would be
no need to disband the hybrid government in
two years if it delivers on its
pledges of restoring democracy and economic
progression in
Zimbabwe.
"If we behave well as a government, we create conditions for
free and fair
elections.
"After five years, there will be elections
which are free and fair and one
winner will be elected and the losers will
congratulate the winner and we
will have a stable, legitimate government
that will guarantee stability
forever. So to the investors, stability is
guaranteed for five years, at
best forever."
Mutambara's claims
contradict those of the mainstream MDC which is adamant
the current
political dispensation is transitional and should last the
duration of the
current constitution making process.
The inclusive government is a
product of painstaking power-sharing talks by
the parties following a hotly
disputed Presidential run-off poll in which
President Mugabe muscled his way
back to power after a humiliating defeat by
once bitter rival,
Tsvangirai.
Critics say the new dispensation is not good for democracy as
it encourages
losing incumbents to reclaim power threw undemocratic and
often violent
means.
In their agreement, parties pledged to work
together to redress Zimbabwe's
economy, bartered by the effects of a surfeit
of populist but ruinous
policies by government, coupled with unbridled
corruption by government
officials.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
July
11, 2009
Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester
Desmond Tutu is the
politician-preacherman. He is a peacemaker who is not
afraid to throw verbal
hand grenades, a rock'n'roll rabble-rouser, an elder
statesman who is
constantly reduced to giggles.
During the apartheid era he was hailed as
a messiah of Africa, touring the
townships in his cassock and crucifix while
the ANC leaders were in jail.
Now he is the world's voice of conscience, a
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
who dispenses advice to America and Africa
alike. Before the war in Iraq, he
tells us, he telephoned the White House to
try to stop the invasion. As
leader of the group of Elders - a select group
of senior statesmen - he has
worked behind the scenes in Zimbabwe and tried
to secure the release of Aung
San Suu Kyi.
As Barack Obama visited
Africa at the end of the G8 summit yesterday, he
said the election of
America's first black President had given "people of
colour" a new spring in
their step. "It is, as some have said, a Mandela
moment."
Archbishop
Tutu is Nelson Mandela's spiritual alter ego, although he says of
his
friend: "He does wear strange shirts". Like the Dalai Lama, another
close
friend, the Archbishop manages to flit between charity and celebrity -
hanging out with Madonna and Sir Richard Branson as well as orphans and
refugees. "I like her," he says of the pop star. "I think she's genuine -
why shouldn't she adopt babies from Africa?" Superstars are just as admiring
of him - he filmed a video message for U2's latest world tour at the
invitation of Bono.
The Archbishop, 77, manages his own Facebook page
(John Hurt and Kofi Annan
are among his friends) and is an avid emailer,
signing off "Arch" although
he has not yet learnt to Twitter. "I'm not smart
enough," he laughs.
He is not afraid to take on the vested interests of aid
agencies, presidents
or prime ministers. Voters, he says, "must keep leaders
to the commitments"
on tackling poverty that they made at the
G8."
President Obama, with his Kenyan roots, will, he believes, have more
impact
on Africa than his predecessors. "He can be more forthright with
African
leaders without being accused of being a neocolonialist . . . He has
given
people the world over a new sense of hope. But he is too bright to
have a
bloated view of himself. He has a smart wife who helps to keep his
feet
firmly on the ground."
The West should in general, he warns,
beware of preaching about corrupt
African dictators. "You could say the same
about Europe. You get a Churchill
and then there's a long wait . . . What
gives me a great deal of hope for
Africa is looking at the history of
Europe. Very recently you had two world
wars, you had the Holocaust, you had
dictatorships in Spain, Portugal and
Greece. There was a time when Italy was
changing governments like you change
pairs of socks. There was the Soviet
Union, Stalin's gulags. You forget that
you really made a mess of things. It
was a Western country that was the
first and only country to use weapons of
mass destruction. [Africa] is not
on a level with Western people.
"I
can be nice and say there's hope for us. When I'm a little angry I say
'For
goodness sake you need a fairly large dose of modesty. You ought to be
hiding your heads for the things you have actually done'."
Archbishop
Tutu wants a new generation to join in his campaign for peace.
"Nobel
laureates don't come ready formed from heaven," he says. "A kid asked
me a
few years ago, 'What do you do to get the prize?' I said, 'It's very
easy,
you just need three things - you must have an easy name, like Tutu for
example, you must have a large nose and you must have sexy legs'. I was
wearing shorts so I flashed mine at him. The point is that anyone can do
it."
There are, he says, no insurmountable challenges. "We see a
great deal of
evil and we ought not to pretend that it's other than it is -
stark and
awful and ugly. But it isn't the whole picture. There are very
many good
things that happen in the world."
The international wave of
repulsion against apartheid in the 1980s changed
Africa for ever - but he
admits he is disappointed what is taking place in
parts of the continent
now. "There are terrible things that we never thought
would happen going on
in South Africa," he says.
"Remember that we are only fifteen years old.
If everyone was saying 'This
is what we want to do' then there would be
greater cause for worry. But
there are people who are saying, 'This is a
betrayal of our legacy'."
Archbishop Tutu won't write off Jacob Zuma,
South Africa's new Prime
Minister, just yet. "He won a resounding victory in
a fair election with a
nearly 80 per cent turnout, let's give him a
chance."
The world should also in his view wait to see how the Government
of national
unity in Zimbabwe works out. He can't understand why Robert
Mugabe - who
once called him an "angry, evil and embittered little bishop" -
went so
wrong.
"We used to show off with Zimbabwe. We showed off with
President Mugabe
because he is so well spoken and he's a natty dresser.
After his first
victory against Ian Smith he was so
magnanimous."
Archbishop Tutu is disheartened by the way in which African
countries have
squandered their natural resources. "It's awful to have
Zimbabwe become as
it has become. It's awful to see so many dictators in
Africa who have messed
up. When you contrast what Qatar does with its oil
revenue with what Nigeria
does I feel very deeply saddened." He warns,
though, that aid is often a
double-edged sword. "The poor people that I know
are not poor people who
want handouts. Most poor people are very proud -
what they want is a hand up
not a handout. Some of it is done in the wrong
way, there are things that
are being done well and there are some that is
not being done well."
Does he think the continent should be sorting out
its own problems with the
help of the African Union? "There is a plethora of
conflicts. We have
already seen the role that African peace makers have had.
But in many
instances - take the Aids pandemic - there are things that we
can get from
yourselves. Most of the time Bush was a very bad President. One
of his
legacies is the fund set up to deal with malaria and HIV/Aids. We
rely a
great deal on the resources that you have. The African Union should
be able
to ask for help and not feel that that's undermining."
The
man who chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission says
that
words are often worth more than money. " You would have thought that
most of
the people who came \ were hoping for material gains. It was nothing
of the
sort - people wanted to to tell their story. A young guy who had been
involved in police action which left him blind came to the Commission and
told his story and when he had finished he was still blind but a broad smile
broke over his face and he said, 'You have given me back my
eyes'."
Archbishop Tutu believes there are worrying parallels between the
Middle
East and apartheid South Africa. "The things I have seen in Israel
with the
treatment of the Palestinians reminds me of our own experience at
home - the
checkpoints where you have arrogant officers. There are things
there that
didn't happen in South Africa. We didn't have collective
punishment where
homes were destroyed. This is something that has to be
resolved. You can't
have people being treated as they are. It doesn't
improve Israel's security.
The Gazans are dehumanised." The protests in
Iran, he says, showed that
people have a natural desire for democracy. "I
would tell people that you
are meant for freedom, it's something that each
one of us knows. "
He was horrified by the election of two British
National Party MEPs but
says: "It's part of the price you pay for being a
free society . . . When
you have a strain of instability as a result of the
economic downturn plus
all the wonderful things that have been happening in
Westminster, then those
people who pretend that they can give fairly
straight forward answers to
complicated questions tend to draw some people.
Everyone looks for
scapegoats. This is what Hitler did when the economy in
Germany wasn't going
OK - they didn't look for the actual reasons, they said
it's the Jews. What's
wonderful is that so many feel outraged that parties
like the BNP can garner
enough votes to be elected."
Britain, he
says, is far more tolerant than it used to be. "When I came to
Birmingham
twenty years ago there were people who were upset that a school
could be
named after Nelson Mandela whom they castigated as a terrorist. How
wrong
can you be? Now there is a black archbishop."
Archbishop Tutu is probably
the most famous archbishop in the world.Is he
ever going to retire? "I've
retired, I've retired, I've retired, I've
retired," he says, with one of his
uproarious cackles, "but don't say that
in front of my wife,
please."
CV
Born October 7, 1931
Background His father was
a teacher and his mother a cleaner and cook at a
school for the blind in
Johannesburg. Here he met Trevor Huddleston, a
parish priest in the
township. "One day," said Tutu, "I was standing in the
street with my mother
when a white man in a priest's clothing walked past.
As he passed us he took
off his hat to my mother. I couldn't believe my
eyes - a white man who
greeted a black working-class woman."
Family He married Nomalizo Leah
Shenxane, a teacher he met while at college.
They have four children: Trevor
Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka, Naomi Nontombi
and Mpho Andrea.
Career
Having been ordained an Anglican priest, he led the campaign against
apartheid with Nelson Mandela. In 1984 he became the second South African to
win the Nobel Peace Prize. He also received the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2005.
He was the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, and
primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. He chaired the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission and is chairman of The Elders. Mandela
said of Tutu: "He is sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and
seldom without humour."
130a
J Tongogara St, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe ¨
P O Box FM 607, Famona ¨
Tel: +263 9 65896¨
Fax: +263 9 889609 ¨
Email: sacfazim@netconnect.co.zw
Press
Release
SOUTHERN AFRICAN COMMERCIAL FARMERS ALLIANCE RESPONSE TO
PRESIDENT MUGABE AT THE INVESTMENT
CONFERENCE.
President
Robert Mugabe is reported to have said on Thursday in his main address to the
International Investment Conference in Harare that “Zimbabwe upholds the
sanctity of property rights”. It is true that purchase contracts were entered
into in respect of Mazowe farm Foyle, now farmed by Mrs. Grace Mugabe and Norton
farm Donnington farmed by Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono. Through this means
were the title deeds to both farms acquired.
However, there
is no difference in the validity of the property rights to these two pieces of
land whose title has been sanctified and those of thousands of others which were
seized by government without any purchase agreements or payment. The sanctity of
rights to these thousands of properties was not in any way
upheld.
In reply to a
question from Mr. Trevor Gifford of the Commercial Farmers Union the President
is reported to have said: “We did pay compensation for improvements and
developments. We have honoured that part”. This statement is factually
incorrect. Whilst there have been lists of some of the expropriated properties
published in the Chronicle and Herald newspapers with instructions to the owners
to present themselves in Harare to collect “compensation”, the amounts offered,
even in respect of improvements only, have been derisory. The requirements of
the Land Acquisition Act in respect of compensation have not been
followed.
Numerous
examples can be quoted, but in a typical instance in Matabeleland North, the
offer made in respect of a nineteen thousand acre cattle ranch was only
sufficient to buy a very second hand pick up LDV. This pitiful offer was made in
spite of the farm being well developed with boreholes, paddocks, handling
facilities, a homestead and other buildings. It is true that in a very small
number of cases desperate and destitute farm owners have surrendered their title
in order to take the pittance offered. This amounts to extortion as was the view
upheld in respect of properties taken in similar fashion during the Second World
War.
He was also
reported to have said: “The responsibility for compensating the farmers rests on
the shoulders of the British government and its allies”. The SADC Tribunal which
is tasked with ensuring that member states who have signed up to the Treaty
adhere to their Treaty obligations believes otherwise.
In their
Judgement of 28 November 2008 the Tribunal says: “It is difficult for us to
understand the rationale behind excluding compensation for such land, given the
clear legal position in international law. It is the right of the Applicants
under international law to be paid, and the correlative duty of the Respondent
to pay, fair compensation. Moreover, the Respondent cannot rely on its national
law, its Constitution, to avoid an international law obligation to pay
compensation as we have already indicated above”.
We are told
that the SADC Treaty and consequently the rulings of its Tribunal are not
binding as the Treaty was never ratified by Parliament. This is not the view of
Deputy Attorney General, Advocate Prince Machaya who is repeatedly tasked with
defending the government in the Tribunal. He said before that Court on 28 May
2008: “I’ve also drawn it to the attention of the Minister of Justice and the
Minister responsible for Lands that there is a need to comply fully with the
order of the Tribunal and the last I heard when I had the audience of our
Minister of Justice on Thursday last week was that he was going to table the
matter with our Cabinet at its meeting on yesterday’s date and he was going to
confirm with me over the telephone on the issue of the required compliance with
the order. Our Minister of Justice concurred in my discussion with him that
Respondent (government) had an obligation at the international level with the
orders of this Tribunal and that he was going to inform his Cabinet colleagues
accordingly.”
We have legal
opinion that the SADC Treaty has been properly entered into in terms of the laws
of Zimbabwe and thus its provisions bind the government. This legal opinion is
ably supported by the way in which the government vigorously defends any actions
brought against it in the Tribunal, and even on occasion shows the gravity of
their commitment to the Tribunal by requiring the Zimbabwe Ambassador to Namibia
to sit with the government’s legal Counsel in the Tribunal itself. Moreover we
note that none other than the President himself studiously attends at the SADC
Summit. The inescapable conclusion is that our legal opinion is correct.
Zimbabwe is a fully fledged member of SADC and is bound by the obligations
imposed by the Treaty entered into, signed and concluded by the President
himself on 17 August 1992 in Windhoek. The Treaty was ratified by Parliament on 17
November 1992.
The President
is also quoted as having said: “I told Blair to keep his money and we are going
to keep our land”. The British have taken his advice – we have already enquired
of them when we may call and collect our compensation cheques. They laughed at
us.
BULAWAYO,
ZIMBABWE.
10 July
2009
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=7158&cat=1
Herald Reporter
POLICE yesterday announced
new deposits for fines for those wishing to plead
guilty to minor offences
and wishing to avoid a court appearance.
The new deposit fines are with
immediate effect. Chief police spokesperson
Senior Assistant Commissioner
Wayne Bvudzijena, warned that for some
offences repeat offenders would have
to appear in court, and could not
simply pay a deposit fine at a police
station. First offenders for the
listed offences have the option of
appearing in court, if they wish to plead
not guilty or if they wish to
bring forward mitigating evidence for a lower
fine. Before the release of
this schedule, some police officers were
applying the US$20 fine
indiscriminately.
The new deposit fines are as follows:
Offence
Fine in US$
Gambling 10
Rioters 5
Indecent conduct
5
Dealing in prohibited or any knives 20
Threatening language
especially in public 10
Obstructing passages, streets, pavements or
sidewalks 10
Public drinking 5
Drunk violent or disorderly
behaviour on
licensed premises 15
Failing to display liquor
licence 15
Selling liquor without permit 20
Selling or supplying
liquor to any person who is drunk 5
Selling liquor after hours
20
Shops without licence 20
Unlawful possession of identification
documents
belonging to another person 20
Moving cattle without
permit first offence 20
Second offence court
Unlicenced radio or
television receivers at home and
in cars 5
Failure to renew
firearm certificate on time 5
Failure to renew for three firearms
20
Insecure firearms 20
Buying or selling a firearm without a
certificate court
Disposal of firearms to unathourised persons
court
Failure to register a car 15
Illegible registration mark and
number plates 10
Vehicles with no front registration numbers
10
Driving without a licence 20
Learner's driving without
supervision 20
Motorists failing to obey turning arrows 10
Driving
into intersection when exit is not clear 20
To cause or permit animals to
stray on any roads 10
Failure to obey directions from a policeman in
uniform
controlling traffic 15
Cars without headlights
20
Driving with an illegal beacon 10
Failure to carry a red
triangle 10
Cars without wipers 5
Public service vehicles without
fitness certificates 15
Failure to display certificate of fitness
10
Excess passengers 5 per head
Touting 10
Speeding 1km/h
50km/h 5 to 20
Speeding in excess of 50km/h court.
Fishing without
permission from owner 5
Serving or offering food in a train or railway
premises
first offence 5
Second offence 10
Third Offence
Court
Dear Family and Friends,
As a
youngster growing up I was always taught to save and, if
possible, to invest
in land or property which would hold or increase
in value throughout my life.
Title Deeds were sacred, I was told.
They were the indisputable,
unquestionable, legal documents which
would always prove ownership.
So
much has happened in Zimbabwe this last decade that for everyone
except Zanu
PF it has been the most horrific nightmare.
For most of us the real hell
began when the people of Zimbabwe
rejected a draft constitution in a
referendum in February 2000. At
that time I was a farmer living on a piece of
land bought legally a
decade before. The Title Deeds proving legal ownership
of that
property were in my possession.
A fortnight later those Title
Deeds were as good as useless,
worthless pieces of paper when property rights
in Zimbabwe were
ignored and men in dirty overalls took over.
Despite
losing the referendum and without holding another national
vote, a Zanu PF
parliament went ahead and changed the constitution
anyway. In May 2000 the
16th Amendment to our country's constitution
stated that Britain had an
obligation to pay for agricultural land
compulsorily acquired for
resettlement.
The MDC were one of many local and international voices who
condemned
the amendment. The MDC spokesman at the time was a
constitutional
lawyer and has been quoted in many references as saying: "We
have no
legal authority to compel the British government to do anything."
This week, nine years later, Mr Mugabe spoke at a conference
to
attract investment to the country. He said that Zimbabwe upholds
the
sanctity of property rights. For a moment I held my breath,
thinking
that maybe my Title Deeds were finally going to regain their
rightful
legal status. I was wrong as Mr Mugabe continued by saying that
farms
taken from Zimbabweans who had white skins would not be paid for
by
Zimbabwe and that Britain should be lobbied to pay compensation.
Mr
Mugabe went on to say: " We pay compensation for improvements. That
is
our obligation and we have honoured it."
Sadly that statement is not true
and I am one of thousands of
Zimbabwean farmers who has not received any
compensation at all for
the house, buildings or any of the fixed assets and
improvements on a
farm legally purchased in 1990 and then seized by a mob in
2000.
Shock turned to disappointment as MDC leader and the country's
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai took to the podium of the
investment
conference. "The President is correct,' he said. "The constitution
is
clear. We pay compensation for improvements. If funds are available
we
will pay.' With sadness we realised that our Prime Minister supports
an
amendment made by a single political party to a constitution which
belongs to
all the people of the country.
There can be little hope of investment
when property rights and Title
Deeds are clearly not respected in Zimbabwe -
unless your skin colour
and political persuasion are the same as those of the
person holding
power. Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy
Copyright
cathy buckle 11th July 2009. www.cathybuckle.com
<http://www.cathybuckle.com/>
By The Associated Press - 3 hours
ago
Text of President Barack Obama's speech Saturday in Accra, Ghana, as
provided by the White House:
___
OBAMA: Good afternoon,
everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra
and to speak to the
representatives of the people of Ghana. I am deeply
grateful for the welcome
that I've received, as are Michelle and Malia and
Sasha Obama. Ghana's
history is rich, the ties between our two countries are
strong, and I am
proud that this is my first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as
president of the
United States of America.
I want to thank Madam Speaker and all the
members of the House of
Representatives for hosting us today. I want to
thank President Mills for
his outstanding leadership. To the former
presidents - Jerry Rawlings,
former President Kufuor - vice president, chief
justice - thanks to all of
you for your extraordinary hospitality and the
wonderful institutions that
you've built here in Ghana.
I'm speaking
to you at the end of a long trip. I began in Russia for a
summit between two
great powers. I traveled to Italy for a meeting of the
world's leading
economies. And I've come here to Ghana for a simple reason:
The 21st century
will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow
or Washington, but
by what happens in Accra, as well.
This is the simple truth of a time
when the boundaries between people are
overwhelmed by our connections. Your
prosperity can expand America's
prosperity. Your health and security can
contribute to the world's health
and security. And the strength of your
democracy can help advance human
rights for people everywhere.
So I
do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I see
Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world ... as partners
with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. That
partnership must be grounded in mutual responsibility and mutual respect.
And that is what I want to speak with you about today.
We must start
from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to
Africans.
I say
this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this
part
of the world. After all, I have the blood of Africa within me, and my
family's ... my family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and
triumphs of the larger African story.
Some you know my grandfather
was a cook for the British in Kenya, and though
he was a respected elder in
his village, his employers called him "boy" for
much of his life. He was on
the periphery of Kenya's liberation struggles,
but he was still imprisoned
briefly during repressive times. In his life,
colonialism wasn't simply the
creation of unnatural borders or unfair terms
of trade - it was something
experienced personally, day after day, year
after year.
My father
grew up herding goats in a tiny village, an impossible distance
away from
the American universities where he would come to get an education.
He came
of age at a moment of extraordinary promise for Africa. The
struggles of his
own father's generation were giving birth to new nations,
beginning right
here in Ghana. Africans were educating and asserting
themselves in new ways,
and history was on the move.
But despite the progress that has been made
- and there has been
considerable progress in many parts of Africa - we also
know that much of
that promise has yet to be fulfilled. Countries like Kenya
had a per capita
economy larger than South Korea's when I was born. They
have badly been
outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the
African continent.
In many places, the hope of my father's generation
gave way to cynicism,
even despair. Now, it's easy to point fingers and to
pin the blame of these
problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made
little sense helped to
breed conflict. The West has often approached Africa
as a patron or a source
of resources rather than a partner. But the West is
not responsible for the
destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last
decade, or wars in which
children are enlisted as combatants. In my father's
life, it was partly
tribalism and patronage and nepotism in an independent
Kenya that for a long
stretch derailed his career, and we know that this
kind of corruption is
still a daily fact of life for far too
many.
Now, we know that's also not the whole story. Here in Ghana, you
show us a
face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees
only
tragedy or a need for charity. The people of Ghana have worked hard to
put
democracy on a firmer footing, with repeated peaceful transfers of power
even in the wake of closely contested elections. And by the way, can I say
that for that the minority deserves as much credit as the majority. And with
improved governance and an emerging civil society, Ghana's economy has shown
impressive rates of growth.
This progress may lack the drama of 20th
century liberation struggles, but
make no mistake: It will ultimately be
more significant. For just as it is
important to emerge from the control of
other nations, it is even more
important to build one's own
nation.
So I believe that this moment is just as promising for Ghana and
for Africa
as the moment when my father came of age and new nations were
being born.
This is a new moment of great promise. Only this time, we've
learned that it
will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will
determine Africa's
future. Instead, it will be you - the men and women in
Ghana's parliament -
the people you represent. It will be the young people
brimming with talent
and energy and hope who can claim the future that so
many in previous
generations never realized.
Now, to realize that
promise, we must first recognize the fundamental truth
that you have given
life to in Ghana: Development depends on good
governance. That is the
ingredient which has been missing in far too many
places, for far too long.
That's the change that can unlock Africa's
potential. And that is a
responsibility that can only be met by Africans.
As for America and the
West, our commitment must be measured by more than
just the dollars we
spend. I've pledged substantial increases in our foreign
assistance, which
is in Africa's interests and America's interests. But the
true sign of
success is not whether we are a source of perpetual aid that
helps people
scrape by - it's whether we are partners in building the
capacity for
transformational change.
This mutual responsibility must be the
foundation of our partnership. And
today, I'll focus on four areas that are
critical to the future of Africa
and the entire developing world: democracy,
opportunity, health, and the
peaceful resolution of conflict.
First,
we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments.
As I said
in Cairo, each nation gives life to democracy in its own way, and
in line
with its own traditions. But history offers a clear verdict:
Governments
that respect the will of their own people, that govern by
consent and not
coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable and more
successful than
governments that do not.
This is about more than just holding elections.
It's also about what happens
between elections. Repression can take many
forms, and too many nations,
even those that have elections, are plagued by
problems that condemn their
people to poverty. No country is going to create
wealth if its leaders
exploit the economy to enrich themselves ... or if
police - if police can be
bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants
to invest in a place where
the government skims 20 percent off the top ...
or the head of the port
authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a
society where the rule of
law gives way to the rule of brutality and
bribery. That is not democracy,
that is tyranny, even if occasionally you
sprinkle an election in there. And
now is the time for that style of
governance to end.
In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent
institutions are the
key to success - strong parliaments; honest police
forces; independent
judges ... an independent press; a vibrant private
sector; a civil society.
Those are the things that give life to democracy,
because that is what
matters in people's everyday lives.
Now, time
and again, Ghanaians have chosen constitutional rule over
autocracy and
shown a democratic spirit that allows the energy of your
people to break
through. We see that in leaders who accept defeat
graciously - the fact that
President Mills' opponents were standing beside
him last night to greet me
when I came off the plane spoke volumes about
Ghana; victors who resist
calls to wield power against the opposition in
unfair ways. We see that
spirit in courageous journalists like Anas Aremeyaw
Anas, who risked his
life to report the truth. We see it in police like
Patience Quaye, who
helped prosecute the first human trafficker in Ghana. We
see it in the young
people who are speaking up against patronage and
participating in the
political process.
Across Africa, we've seen countless examples of people
taking control of
their destiny and making change from the bottom up. We saw
it in Kenya,
where civil society and business came together to help stop
postelection
violence. We saw it in South Africa, where over three-quarters
of the
country voted in the recent election - the fourth since the end of
apartheid. We saw it in Zimbabwe, where the Election Support Network braved
brutal repression to stand up for the principle that a person's vote is
their sacred right.
Now, make no mistake: History is on the side of
these brave Africans, not
with those who use coups or change constitutions
to stay in power. Africa
doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong
institutions.
Now, America will not seek to impose any system of
government on any other
nation. The essential truth of democracy is that
each nation determines its
own destiny. But what America will do is increase
assistance for responsible
individuals and responsible institutions, with a
focus on supporting good
governance - on parliaments, which check abuses of
power and ensure that
opposition voices are heard ... on the rule of law,
which ensures the equal
administration of justice; on civic participation,
so that young people get
involved; and on concrete solutions to corruption
like forensic accounting
and automating services ... strengthening hot
lines, protecting
whistle-blowers to advance transparency and
accountability.
And we provide this support. I have directed my
administration to give
greater attention to corruption in our human rights
reports. People
everywhere should have the right to start a business or get
an education
without paying a bribe. We have a responsibility to support
those who act
responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is
exactly what America
will do.
Now, this leads directly to our second
area of partnership: supporting
development that provides opportunity for
more people.
With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds
the promise of a
broader base of prosperity. Witness the extraordinary
success of Africans in
my country, America. They're doing very well. So
they've got the talent,
they've got the entrepreneurial spirit. The question
is, how do we make sure
that they're succeeding here in their home
countries? The continent is rich
in natural resources. And from cell phone
entrepreneurs to small farmers,
Africans have shown the capacity and
commitment to create their own
opportunities. But old habits must also be
broken. Dependence on
commodities - or a single export - has a tendency to
concentrate wealth in
the hands of the few and leaves people too vulnerable
to downturns.
So in Ghana, for instance, oil brings great opportunities,
and you have been
very responsible in preparing for new revenue. But as so
many Ghanaians
know, oil cannot simply become the new cocoa. From South
Korea to Singapore,
history shows that countries thrive when they invest in
their people and in
their infrastructure ... when they promote multiple
export industries,
develop a skilled work force and create space for small
and medium-sized
businesses that create jobs.
As Africans reach for
this promise, America will be more responsible in
extending our hand. By
cutting costs that go to Western consultants and
administration, we want to
put more resources in the hands of those who need
it, while training people
to do more for themselves. That's why our $3.5
billion food security
initiative is focused on new methods and technologies
for farmers - not
simply sending American producers or goods to Africa. Aid
is not an end in
itself. The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating
the conditions
where it's no longer needed. I want to see Ghanaians not only
self-sufficient in food, I want to see you exporting food to other countries
and earning money. You can do that.
Now, America can also do more to
promote trade and investment. Wealthy
nations must open our doors to goods
and services from Africa in a
meaningful way. That will be a commitment of
my administration. And where
there is good governance, we can broaden
prosperity through public-private
partnerships that invest in better roads
and electricity; capacity-building
that trains people to grow a business;
financial services that reach not
just the cities but also the poor and
rural areas. This is also in our own
interests - for if people are lifted
out of poverty and wealth is created in
Africa, guess what? New markets will
open up for our own goods. So it's good
for both.
One area that holds
out both undeniable peril and extraordinary promise is
energy. Africa gives
off less greenhouse gas than any other part of the
world, but it is the most
threatened by climate change. A warming planet
will spread disease, shrink
water resources and deplete crops, creating
conditions that produce more
famine and more conflict. All of us -
particularly the developed world -
have a responsibility to slow these
trends - through mitigation, and by
changing the way that we use energy. But
we can also work with Africans to
turn this crisis into opportunity.
Together, we can partner on behalf of
our planet and prosperity and help
countries increase access to power while
skipping - leapfrogging the dirtier
phase of development. Think about it:
Across Africa, there is bountiful wind
and solar power; geothermal energy
and biofuels. From the Rift Valley to the
North African deserts; from the
Western coasts to South Africa's crops -
Africa's boundless natural gifts
can generate its own power, while exporting
profitable, clean energy
abroad.
These steps are about more than growth numbers on a balance
sheet. They're
about whether a young person with an education can get a job
that supports a
family; a farmer can transfer their goods to market; an
entrepreneur with a
good idea can start a business. It's about the dignity
of work; it's about
the opportunity that must exist for Africans in the 21st
century.
Just as governance is vital to opportunity, it's also critical
to the third
area I want to talk about: strengthening public
health.
In recent years, enormous progress has been made in parts of
Africa. Far
more people are living productively with HIV/AIDS, and getting
the drugs
they need. I just saw a wonderful clinic and hospital that is
focused
particularly on maternal health. But too many still die from
diseases that
shouldn't kill them. When children are being killed because of
a mosquito
bite, and mothers are dying in childbirth, then we know that more
progress
must be made.
Yet because of incentives - often provided by
donor nations - many African
doctors and nurses go overseas, or work for
programs that focus on a single
disease. And this creates gaps in primary
care and basic prevention.
Meanwhile, individual Africans also have to make
responsible choices that
prevent the spread of disease, while promoting
public health in their
communities and countries.
So across Africa,
we see examples of people tackling these problems. In
Nigeria, an interfaith
effort of Christians and Muslims has set an example
of cooperation to
confront malaria. Here in Ghana and across Africa, we see
innovative ideas
for filling gaps in care - for instance, through E-Health
initiatives that
allow doctors in big cities to support those in small
towns.
America
will support these efforts through a comprehensive, global health
strategy,
because in the 21st century, we are called to act by our
conscience but also
by our common interest, because when a child dies of a
preventable disease
in Accra, that diminishes us everywhere. And when
disease goes unchecked in
any corner of the world, we know that it can
spread across oceans and
continents.
And that's why my administration has committed $63 billion to
meet these
challenges - $63 billion. Building on the strong efforts of
President Bush,
we will carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS. We will
pursue the goal of
ending deaths from malaria and tuberculosis, and we will
work to eradicate
polio. We will fight - we will fight neglected tropical
disease. And we
won't confront illnesses in isolation - we will invest in
public health
systems that promote wellness and focus on the health of
mothers and
children.
Now, as we partner on behalf of a healthier
future, we must also stop the
destruction that comes not from illness, but
from human beings - and so the
final area that I will address is
conflict.
Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a
continent at
perpetual war. But if we are honest, for far too many Africans,
conflict is
a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land
and wars
over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without
conscience to
manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and
tribes.
These conflicts are a millstone around Africa's neck. Now, we all
have many
identities - of tribe and ethnicity; of religion and nationality.
But
defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different
tribe
or who worships a different prophet has no place in the 21st century.
Africa's diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause for division.
We are all God's children. We all share common aspirations - to live in
peace and security; to access education and opportunity; to love our
families and our communities and our faith. That is our common
humanity.
That is why we must stand up to inhumanity in our midst. It is
never
justified, never justifiable to target innocents in the name of
ideology. It
is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in
wars. It is
the ultimate mark of criminality and cowardice to condemn women
to
relentless and systemic rape. We must bear witness to the value of every
child in Darfur and the dignity of every woman in the Congo. No faith or
culture should condone the outrages against them. And all of us must strive
for the peace and security necessary for progress.
Africans are
standing up for this future. Here, too, in Ghana we are seeing
you help
point the way forward. Ghanaians should take pride in your
contributions to
peacekeeping from Congo to Liberia to Lebanon ... and your
efforts to resist
the scourge of the drug trade. We welcome the steps that
are being taken by
organizations like the African Union and ECOWAS to better
resolve conflicts,
to keep the peace and support those in need. And we
encourage the vision of
a strong, regional security architecture that can
bring effective,
transnational forces to bear when needed.
America has a responsibility to
work with you as a partner to advance this
vision, not just with words, but
with support that strengthens African
capacity. When there's a genocide in
Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these
are not simply African problems -
they are global security challenges, and
they demand a global
response.
And that's why we stand ready to partner through diplomacy and
technical
assistance and logistical support, and we will stand behind
efforts to hold
war criminals accountable. And let me be clear: Our Africa
Command is
focused not on establishing a foothold in the continent, but on
confronting
these common challenges to advance the security of America,
Africa and the
world.
In Moscow, I spoke of the need for an
international system where the
universal rights of human beings are
respected, and violations of those
rights are opposed. And that must include
a commitment to support those who
resolve conflicts peacefully, to sanction
and stop those who don't, and to
help those who have suffered. But
ultimately, it will be vibrant democracies
like Botswana and Ghana which
roll back the causes of conflict and advance
the frontiers of peace and
prosperity.
As I said earlier, Africa's future is up to
Africans.
The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. And in my
country,
African Americans - including so many recent immigrants - have
thrived in
every sector of society. We've done so despite a difficult past,
and we've
drawn strength from our African heritage. With strong institutions
and a
strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and
Lagos, Kigali, Kinshasa, Harare, and right here in Accra.
You know,
52 years ago, the eyes of the world were on Ghana. And a young
preacher
named Martin Luther King traveled here, to Accra, to watch the
Union Jack
come down and the Ghanaian flag go up. This was before the march
on
Washington or the success of the civil rights movement in my country. Dr.
King was asked how he felt while watching the birth of a nation. And he
said: "It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of
justice."
Now that triumph must be won once more, and it must be won by
you. And I am
particularly speaking to the young people all across Africa
and right here
in Ghana. In places like Ghana, young people make up over
half of the
population.
And here is what you must know: The world
will be what you make of it. You
have the power to hold your leaders
accountable, and to build institutions
that serve the people. You can serve
in your communities and harness your
energy and education to create new
wealth and build new connections to the
world. You can conquer disease and
end conflicts and make change from the
bottom up. You can do that. Yes you
can ... because in this moment, history
is on the move.
But these
things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your
future.
And it won't be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be
suffering
and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you
every
step of the way - as a partner, as a friend. Opportunity won't come
from any
other place, though. It must come from the decisions that all of
you make,
the things that you do, the hope that you hold in your heart.
Ghana,
freedom is your inheritance. Now, it is your responsibility to build
upon
freedom's foundation. And if you do, we will look back years from now
to
places like Accra and say this was the time when the promise was
realized;
this was the moment when prosperity was forged, when pain was
overcome, and
a new era of progress began. This can be the time when we
witness the
triumph of justice once more. Yes we can. Thank you very much.
God bless
you. Thank you.
http://www.int.iol.co.za
July 11 2009 at
11:00AM
By Sameer Naik
In an attempt to clean up
the city of Joburg ahead of the 2010 World
Cup, police have vowed to
continue the crackdown on vagrants squatting and
illegal street vendors in
the CBD.
This follows last week's raid on Zimbabwean refugees
living on the
pavement outside the Johannesburg High Court and the Central
Methodist
Church.
Illegal street vendors have also been warned
to clear their stands or
face arrest as the property belongs to the City of
Joburg. Street vendors
selling food to workers outside Joburg's Soccer City
stadium have been asked
to dismantle their shacks so that construction can
continue.
Angie Dyantyi, 32, a street vendor at the stadium,
was arrested by the
Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) last month after
she refused to move
off the property.
She alleged she was
choked and beaten by police before being shoved in
a police van and driven
to Booysens police station.
"The policeman grabbed my neck, threw
me around and as a result, my
top got ripped open. They did not care one
bit.
"After beating me they threw me in the police van as if I was
a bag of
cabbage," claimed Dyantyi.
She said she was then taken
to Booysens police station where she was
locked up and refused bail by the
officers.
She said goods such as her gas heater and stove were
taken by police
before she was transported to the Joburg Central police
station. She was
eventually released.
Wayne Minnaar, spokesman
for the JMPD, was told about the incident at
Soccer City, but said there was
"no way" a police officer would have
harassed a street vendor, as claimed by
Dyantyi.
"There is a possibility the vendor was arrested and taken
to a
station, but regarding claims she had been harassed, that is not
possible.
"Soccer City is property that is owned by the City of
Joburg, and
street vendors located outside the stadium are illegal and in
the way of
construction taking place," Minnaar added.
He has
also warned vendors that if they did not remove their stalls
from the
stadium, police would dismantle them and fine them anywhere between
R500 and
R1 200, which was standard procedure.
Vendors have voiced their
concern about removals. They said the
government was "trying to hide the
poor" before the 2010 World Cup started.
One vendor, who did not
want to be named, said: "All we are trying to
do is earn an honest living to
feed our families and send our kids to
school, yet the government could not
give a damn about us suffering."
Other vendors called on President
Jacob Zuma to keep his promise to
look after the poor.
"We want
Mr Zuma to come on to site to see that we are actually
providing a
meaningful service to workers. Removing us will leave us with no
jobs, "
said one.
Minnaar said the JMPD's campaign would continue and would
be
intensified ahead of 2010.
This article was
originally published on page 8 of The Star on July
11, 2009