VOA
Human Rights Report Angers Zimbabwe
Peta
Thornycroft
Harare
12 Jul 2004, 16:18 UTC
Some Zimbabwe
analysts say the report by the African Union Commission on
Human and People's
Rights on abuses in Zimbabwe was a watershed, even though
it was not formally
adopted at last week's AU summit. The report has
provoked rising anger in the
Zanu-PF government, which says it will provide
answers to the report's
accusations of human rights abuses.
Zimbabwe's state-controlled media has
devoted many pages and long segments
of news bulletins on radio and
television to accusations that the African
Union human rights commission was
infiltrated by what the media call
"Western imperialists."
Many
articles and columns in the state media for the past week have charged
that
some western donors funded the activities of the African Union's
Commission
on Human and People's Rights.
The chairman of the government's Media and
Information Commission, Tafataona
Mahoso, wrote a column in the state's
Sunday Mail newspaper saying that the
international human rights movement is
dominated by, what he calls, the
world's most dangerous war mongers and war
criminals, which he identified as
the United States and Britain.
The
Media and Information Commission is staffed by government appointees and
has
the power to license newspapers and journalists, or deny them permission
to
operate.
The African Union took evidence from many individuals and groups
for its
report, including some loyal to Zanu-PF, in June of 2002, after
violent
presidential elections three months earlier.
In a summary of
its report made available last week, the African Union
rights commission said
it found enough evidence to conclude that, in its
words, at the very least
human rights violations occurred in Zimbabwe. The
commission concluded
President Robert Mugabe's government can not wash its
hands of responsibility
for the violations.
The Zimbabwe state media says the African Union
report was based on
information from a non-governmental organization, the
Amani Trust, which
assisted people injured during political clashes, and took
testimony from
them and from torture victims. The Amani Trust has since
closed down because
it said it feared reprisals after the government accused
it of being a
terrorist organization.
Several analysts say angry
reaction in the state's powerful media, including
the only radio and
television stations, indicates that the human-rights
report dented the
government's confidence of absolute African support.
The top editorial
executive at the weekly Zimbabwe Independent, Iden
Wetherell, says the report
was a watershed in the political landscape. He
says the government had been
able to dismiss allegations of human rights
abuses by western groups, and
white countries in the Commonwealth, but it
can not ignore Africa's
opinion.
The African Union human rights report also accused Zimbabwe of
interfering
with the independence of the judiciary and of stifling the
media.
Mail and Guardian
Zim newspaper directors back in court
Harare, Zimbabwe
12 July 2004 17:22
The trial of four
Zimbabwean newspaper directors charged with illegally
publishing the popular
Daily News, shut down by authorities last year,
resumed for one day on Monday
at a Harare court.
At the hearing, the defence lawyer applied for the
charges to be dropped
against Samuel Nkomo, Brian Mutsau, Rachel Kupara and
Michael Mattinson, who
are accused of breaching strict media laws by
publishing the Daily News last
year without a licence.
"The defence
wishes to apply for a discharge," Beatrice Mtetwa told
magistrate Lillian
Kudya, who adjourned the case to July 19, when she is due
to make a
ruling.
The Daily News had refused to register with the official Media
and
Information Commission (MIC) in 2003, saying the law was
unconstitutional.
This led to the forced closure of the paper on September 11
last year.
Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA)
requires all journalists and newspapers to be registered.
The
four directors, who have pleaded not guilty, could face a fine or a
two-year
jail term if convicted.
In a move that sparked an international outcry,
armed police officers closed
down the Daily News in September, and
confiscated equipment. A subsequent
attempt to register the paper was turned
down by the MIC.
The Daily News successfully challenged the MIC's
decision in court, which
ruled that the paper should be registered "on or
before" November 30, 2003.
The paper published a comeback edition on
October 25, which was short-lived
as the state again stopped publication and
police arrested the four
directors.
They said the paper was still
operating illegally by not being registered.
"As far as I'm concerned,
they [Daily News] had no right to publish on the
25th [October]," state
witness Norbert Chibasa, a police detective, told the
court during Monday's
hearing.
"Any media house that is not registered should not be allowed to
publish
until they comply with the law," he said.
The newspaper
directors face an alternative charge of contempt of court for
publishing
before the November 30 deadline set by the court. The defence,
however,
disputes this charge.
"The court did not at all stop ANZ [Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe --
publishers of the Daily News] from publishing,"
defence lawyer Mtetwa said.
She said under Zimbabwe's laws a mass media
service is deemed to be
registered while its application to the media
commission is pending. She
said the Daily News had applied by October
25.
"Police should comply with provisions of the law. You as the police
failed
to do that," she told the state witness.
In a landmark ruling,
Zimbabwe's administrative court ruled on October 24
that the media commission
was not properly constituted, and had shown bias
in denying a registration
certificate to the Daily News.
The Daily News was launched in 1999,
providing nearly a million readers with
the only independent alternative to
two state-run dailies -- the Herald and
the Chronicle.
Its harshly
critical editorial line proved to be a thorn in the side of
President Robert
Mugabe's government. -- Sapa-AFP
Xinhua
Air Zimbabwe to acquire aircraft from China
www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-13
00:47:20
HARARE, July 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The Zimbabwean
national carrier,
Air Zimbabwe, will acquire a long haul aircraft from China
shortly,according
to the official new agency New Ziana on
Monday.
Air Zimbabwe was quoted as saying that the aircraft
would be used
on Air Zimbabwe's new routes to China and other Asian
nations.
The airline has announced plans to introduce flights
to Beijingand
other destinations in Asia, and was looking for a long haul jet
to use on
the routes.
China and Zimbabwe signed a
preferential tourist agreement
lastyear, which is expected to lead to an
increased inflow of Chinese
visitors to the country.
"This
(lack of aircraft) was one of the things that was holdingus
from implementing
the agreement with the Chinese, and we should move forward
now that this has
been sorted out," said an official from Air Zimbabwe.
The
official said an agreement had also been reached for Air
Zimbabwe to fly to
Singapore en route to China. Enditem
Journalists suffer in the wake of newspaper shutdowns
[ This report does
not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 12
Jul 2004 (IRIN) - Former employees of three independent
Zimbabwean newspapers
shut down by the Media and Information Commission
(MIC) are struggling to
make ends meet.
The Supreme Court ruled in September that Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe,
publishers of the Daily News and the Daily News on
Sunday, was operating
illegally because it was not registered with the
Commission as stipulated by
the controversial Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
Another independent newspaper, the Tribune,
which came into being after the
Business Tribune and Weekend Tribune merged,
was shut down in June 2004 when
the MIC suspended the paper's licence to
operate because its owners had
failed to notify the Commission of a change in
ownership.
"The situation of journalists and other members of staff who
were affected
by the closure of the papers is pathetic. We have established
that a
substantial number of them are living in near destitution," the
Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists' president, Matthew Takaona, told
IRIN.
He said the union had found many married journalists from the Daily
News and
the Daily News on Sunday had fallen victim to stress-related
illnesses
because they were failing to cope with being
unemployed.
"What makes the situation even more tragic is that they do
not have money to
seek medical attention, since they are no longer on medical
aid. The issue
of income can never be over-emphasised because once they fall
ill, they
cannot afford to sustain themselves on a good diet because, again,
they
cannot afford it," said Takaona.
"In some cases the children of
these people [the affected staff] have had to
drop out of school or have been
sent to poor schools in rural areas," he
added. Takaona said some of the
journalists had moved to neighbouring
countries in search of
employment.
Stephen Chaka (not his real name), a former Daily News
reporter, earned Zim
$200,000 (US $37) a month before the paper closed - now
he is unemployed and
depends on financial benefits accrued while he was
working, but the payments
are irregular.
"Over the last three months I
did not receive anything," Chaka told IRIN.
His wife is pregnant and he has
had to turn to his brother, who is employed
as a teacher, to meet her medical
needs.
"My brother has been helpful but it is humiliating for me, as my
primary
responsibility is to look after my own wife, who unfortunately is
not
employed. I shudder to think how I will cope when she delivers in about
two
months' time," he said.
Takaona, who was fired from the
government-controlled Sunday Mail for
addressing staff members of the Daily
News and its sister paper after the
publications were closed down, claimed
that more journalists from the state
media had fallen foul of the
government's "systematic victimisation of those
it perceives to be enemies or
potential threats".
Zimbabwean government spokesperson Edward Mamutse
refuted the allegation,
saying, "There is always a lot of movement in the
media circle - journalists
are at liberty to resign from their positions for
opportunities elsewhere.
How can we be held responsible for their decision to
leave?"
A University of Zimbabwe media lecturer, speaking on condition of
anonymity,
said the MIC and the government should have found an amicable way
of dealing
with the problems at the three newspapers.
"Many people
will be forgiven for thinking that the shutting down of the
newspapers was
political, considering how critical of the government they
were," he told
IRIN.
According to an annual survey by the Media Institute of Southern
Africa
(MISA), Zimbabwe is allegedly the most repressive country in Southern
Africa
in terms of media freedom. Last year media freedom alerts originating
from
Zimbabwe represented 54 percent of the total recorded by MISA in
10
countries.
From Business Day (SA), 12 July
Mugabe denounces greedy elite who
took more than one farm
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
has spoken out against greedy
members of his ruling party who helped
themselves to more than one farm
during the implementation of his
controversial land-redistribution policy.
Speaking on Saturday at a two-day
conference of his party's youth league
held at the University of Zimbabwe,
Mugabe lashed out at high-profile
members of his party who took more than one
farm for themselves. The
official Sunday Mail reported that in unusually
strong criticism of senior
officials of his ruling party, Mugabe said that he
had received many
complaints about political heavyweights who had taken more
than one farm .
"As per our tradition, a man can have as many wives as he
wants as long as
he can look after them," Mugabe said at the close of the
conference .
"Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about farms." Four years
ago the
Zimbabwean government launched its fast-track land-reform programme,
which
has resulted in thousands of new black farmers being given farms that
were
previously owned by whites. But the scheme has been dogged by
controversy
following allegations that top politicians had taken many of the
best
properties. "Those with more than one farm must surrender the rest
and
remain with one farm," Mugabe said.
He also said he would hold
the Zimbabwean youth answerable for any election
defeat, the newspaper
reported yesterday. "If we lose the elections, I will
expect you in the youth
league to be answerable," Mugabe told hundreds of
young supporters of his
Zanu PF, according to a report in the newspaper. The
Zimbabwean president
told the 2400 youths meeting in Harare to "mount a
vigorous campaign across
the country to push (British Prime Minister) Tony
Blair's midgets out",
referring to legislators from the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC). Mugabe and his party allege that the
five-year-old Zimbabwean
opposition party is a "puppet" of former colonial
power Britain. A national
youth training scheme, set up in 2001, has been
criticised for allegedly
indoctrinating its members against the opposition
and the west. However, the
authorities deny this allegation. The opposition
has called for the
disbanding of the youth training camps ahead of next
year's polls. Opposition
members claim that trainees use violence to
campaign for the ruling
party.
From Zim Online (SA), 9 July
Affair with president's wife costs Zim
tycoon
Harare - James Makamba, one of Zimbabwe's richest businessmen
and a top
ruling Zanu PF official, who has been held in a Zimbabwean jail
since
February, could be paying a heavy price for his adulterous affair
with
President Robert Mugabe's young second wife, Grace (39). Makamba (51)
was
charged with having externalised several millions of pounds and about US$
1
million, and illegally buying properties abroad in contravention of
foreign
exchange regulations. Up to now Makamba has been denied bail for at
least 13
times. Top government and Zanu PF officials as well as Makamba's
relatives
and friends have confirmed that while Makamba could be guilty of
some of the
charges levelled against him, his ordeal is not all a result of
"foreign
currency dealings". A relative of Makamba told Zim Online that some
family
members feared for his life. They now believed going public with his
case
could be the only way to save him. "Unfortunately, the press in
Zimbabwe
can't touch the issue because of the routine arrests of journalists
for any
soft reasons......", said the relative.
Sources say that
operatives from the Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO), who are seconded
to guard the First Lady, told Mugabe about the
"unusually frequent and
suspicious meetings" between the two at private
places. The sources say that
Makamba also "did himself great harm" by
sending flowers and presents to
Grace Mugabe through intermediaries. Some of
the flowers were received on
behalf of the First Lady by the CIO security
men. The First Lady is said to
have explained her meetings with Makamba as
concerning business and
agricultural matters: The First Lady had seized a
white-owned farm in Mazowe
near Makamba's farm. Mrs Mugabe has also paid
several visits to South Africa
over the last two years. Makamba owns a
property in Sandton and regularly
visits South Africa. Zim Online can
confirm that on at least one occasion
Makamba visited Mrs Mugabe in a
Johannesburg hotel for a long period one
night. Her security detail recorded
the incident and later advised her
husband. One intelligence official said:
"Maybe they (Makamba and Mugabe) got
too careless....The two had several
meeting points and the secret could not
have remained forever."
Makamba surrendered himself to the
authorities in February after the
flighting of TV advertisements by the
police saying they were looking for
him over allegations of illegal foreign
currency dealings. Mugabe
immediately decreed a new law dubbed the "Makamba
law" after the
businessman's arrest. The law empowered police to detain for a
month without
trial. Makamba became the first victim of the law believed to
have been
crafted with him in mind. A month lapsed but Makamba was again
denied bail,
although the charges against him had been reduced to those of
selling
foreign currency without authority and "externalising" 220 000 pounds
to buy
a house in Harare. Makamba denied the latter charge saying he could
not
externalise money to buy a property in Harare. He however pleaded guilty
to
charges of selling foreign currency worth US$130 000 to his mobile
phone
company, Telecel.
This happened at the time of Zimbabwe's
worst foreign currency crisis when
almost all foreign currency transactions
took place on the black market.
State enterprises like National Oil Company
of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), Air
Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA), resorted to the
black market and pushed rates ever higher. Recent
press reports say that
Grace Mugabe had black market foreign currency
purchased on her behalf,
during the same period, by Gideon Gono, now the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Governor. Unlike Makamba, executives of parastatals
and many others who
bought money on the black market, have not been
prosecuted. Lower courts
twice granted Makamba bail but the judgments were
overruled by higher
courts. During one such hearing, High Court Judge
Lawrence Kamocha found
that Makamba's case was not as serious as claimed by
the state. He noted
that the state had not backed all its original
allegations against Makamba
with evidence. He also noted that Makamba owned
properties worth several
million US dollars in Harare and was unlikely to
abscond. The state
immediately appealed to the Supreme Court which has been
sitting on the
case.
"We now fear that they might just kill him in
prison and attribute it to
some disease or jail him for a long prison
sentence.....The viciousness and
heavy handedness they have exhibited against
him is legendary," said a
relative citing the example of another businessman,
Peter Pamire, who died
in a mysterious accident in 1997 after also being
linked to Mugabe's wife.
Sources say Makamba's case has not been helped by
the fact that he dated
Grace long before she married Mugabe. She was working
as a junior secretary
in Mugabe's office when she started a well reported
adulterous affair with
the President. They had two children while Mugabe's
first wife, Sally,
battled a terminal kidney problem which eventually claimed
her life in 1996.
Grace was at the time legally married to Stanley Goreraza,
an Airforce of
Zimbabwe official. They divorced and Mugabe posted Goreraza to
Zimbabwe's
embassy in China. According to sources, Mugabe had always disliked
Makamba
because of the businessman's history with his wife. When
Makamba
overwhelmingly won ruling party primaries to contest the mayorship of
Harare
on a Zanu PF ticket in 1998, Mugabe cancelled the election and imposed
his
friend Solomon Tawengwa. Makamba is currently a central committee member
of
the ruling party and has served as a legislator and provincial chairman
of
the party's Mashonaland West provincial executive committee, among
other
party positions.(ZNS).
From The Sunday Times (SA), 11 July
Mampara of the Week: Stan
Mudenge
Zim hit by literacy crisis
How long does it take
members of the Zimbabwean government to read an
African Union report? More
than four months. If Zimbabwean Foreign Minister
Stan Mudenge is to be
believed, the report by experts from the AU Commission
on Human and People's
Rights ought not to have been tabled at this week's AU
summit because the
Zimbabwean government had not yet read it - despite
perusing it since
February this year. Unsurprisingly his South African
counterpart, Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, was in agreement. It was as if they had
synchronized their
statements. For the record, the report said: "There was
enough evidence
placed before the mission to suggest that, at the very
least, human rights
violations occurred in Zimbabwe." Mamparas at the very
least.
Time to Reorient Youths
The Herald
(Harare)
OPINION
July 12, 2004
Posted to the web July 12,
2004
Boyd Madikila
Harare
IT is with great pride that I share
these nagging thoughts with the nation
in these trying but triumphant and
exciting days.
I am informed (I should say) by a desire to bring
intriguing political
thought to youthful minds.
They are the
benefactors, future leaders and builders of this nation, hence
the need to
propel them to a more significant and meaningful role in
national
development.
While I acknowledge the efforts already in place through
various party and
Government initiatives according to various institutional
capacities, it is
my contention that these initiatives do not "touch" the
"elite" and the
nerdy educated youths in our institutions of higher
learning.
The National Youth Service is indeed laudable in both policy
and purpose.
However, this programme falls short of attracting the cream
graduate and
undergraduate youthful minds across the country to issues of
national
development.
The ruling Zanu-PF party is facing a daunting
task of leaving the legacy of
this great nation in capable hands and creating
a "human momentum" that will
make the party evolve to serve countless future
generations.
In this respect, measures that will ensure that the party
regenerates and
rejuvenates itself in terms of future leadership must be
implemented as a
matter of urgency.
Zanu-PF has been ridiculed by its
detractors who claim it is a "rural party"
and that there is recognisable
indifference to party policies from "city
youths", the so-called "masalala"
and "Born-Frees".
There is an iota of truth in these allegations, but of
late Zanu-PF has made
tremendous strides towards reversing this
trend.
Perhaps I should pause and digress to expunge on some of the
reasons
politics has fared so badly among the fiery "dot.com"
youths.
There obviously exists both a generation and revolution gap
between the
interests of the "Mujibha-Chimbwido" youths of the Second
Chimurenga and
"dot.com" youths of today.
The major differences stem
from the external and internal influences that
shape their respective
consciences.
The Second Chimurenga youths were informed by the visible
and tangible
racial madness that threatened to extinguish their existence in
schools,
institutions of higher learning and townships.
They loathed
the incorrigible arrogance of the racist regime and most
absconded school and
college to join the liberation struggle.
Theirs was a first-hand
experience of rabid segregation, something I prefer
to call "contact
racism".
They did not need a newspaper to tell them the pathetic
conditions of their
lives because they breathed, ate, drank, talked, slept
and walked racism
every day.
A different culture informs the "dot.com"
youths of today.
They live in a Space Age where time and distance
continue to shrink.
To some of them racism and exploitation of the
African are old folklore
stories reminiscent of the "tsuro nagudo"
(children's fables) days with
negligible impact on their immediate
consciences.
In their warped reasoning, some of these "dot.com" youths
get mis-educated
and detoured from the symbolic route paved by the liberators
of this
country.
Their experience is a confused fusion of the
invisible, the tangible and the
fantasies.
What is invisible to them
is the racism that has gone underground so much
that our youths do not have a
direct contact experience with it and,
therefore, cannot react to what they
do not experience.
Racism is now institutionalised and very difficult to
identify, let alone
react to - and its vicious tentacles are assuming a
global sting!
Otherwise, what else can explain the madness devouring that
unfortunate land
called Iraq?
What is tangible is the quest for
betterment and individual advancement
through hard work in school and these
youngsters see the possibility of this
in their daily lives by looking at
their peers who have scaled dizzy heights
through education. This has created
a youth that is by nature competitive to
the extent of being egocentric and
overzealous.
The "dot.com" youth believes that the sky is the limit in
this universe and
social responsibilities are seen as "ploughbacks" after
success has been
attained by one's own abilities. No wonder most would shrug
their shoulders
in bewilderment at the suggestion that they join national
service or comment
on some hot political issue.
The fantasies are
beamed into their lives by an intricate network of
revolutionary media
gadgets such as DSTv, radio, magazines, newspapers, MP3
players and DVDs,
wallowing in the fantasy maze in obdurate disregard of the
biting reality on
the ground. Life is an eternal quest for the materialism
or, as they say, the
"bling-bling" so excessively worshipped.
This has created a youth that is
in Africa physically but aspires to live an
American or European
lifestyle.
Country borders have shrunk dramatically for the "dot.com"
youth so much
that he/she has become a global youth unconcerned about
Zimbabwe's raw
issues such as land and the economy.
This explains why
these youths are quick to elope to the United Kingdom or
United States at the
slightest opportunity seeking the pound or greenback to
satiate their
materialism.
These youths have a misplaced confidence in themselves and
patriotism to
them is an irrelevant, if not obsolete, concept.
Having
said so much, we must accept the indisputable truism that the
"dot.com"
youths are highly trained, skilled and educated. How does one,
therefore, go
about bringing these incorrigibly spoiled brats into the
national
agenda?
This is the challenge the Zanu-PF Youth League must conquer to
tap the
massive leadership skills and other talents that are soon evident in
these
youths.
First, there is need to revolutionise campaign
strategies to make them more
appealing to the complex mentality of these
youths, some of whom are
aspiring engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc.
We
must accept that antiquated sloganeering and ground-thumping strategies
have
failed to inspire them into active politics.
One innovative South African
television presenter Zola 7 thought of spending
three days in a wheelchair to
"feel" how it is like to live a paraplegic
life than shed talk-show crocodile
tears about people's problems. This is
the age of "contact
politics".
The African National Congress (ANC) presidential candidate
Thabo Mbeki
practised contact door-to-door campaigns and won his party the
sweet
two-thirds majority in last April's elections.
The Zanu-PF Youth
League must get more "practical" in their campaigns, play
some contact
politics, touch the youth in their sacred hideouts, the clubs,
the sports
fields (football, rugby, tennis, swimming), under bridges - the
list is
endless.
The importance of being in "contact" with institutions of both
secondary and
higher learning is in that these establishments are
indisputable breeding
grounds for future leadership.
Allow me to
insert a teaser at this point.
How many of the former students'
representative council (SRC) presidents and
secretary-generals ended up
singing Zanu-PF policies at national level?
Even the famous Arthur
Mutambara of the 1989 University of Zimbabwe (UZ) SRC
ended up singing
inaudible Zimbabwe Unity Movement lullabies for the
directionless Edgar
Tekere.
We all know how many ex-UZ SRC members were at the forefront of
the MDC
political euphoria in 2000.
In fact, the MDC went on to break
parliamentary records for having the
youngest Members of Parliament in the
history of this country.
It is no surprise, therefore, that even in the
private media some of the
graduates who lambast Zanu-PF so consistently in
their "weakly" columns are
products of these institutions of higher
learning.
Zanu-PF lost an opportunity to bring these young brains into
the fold by
neglecting to spread its revolutionary principles more
vigorously.
We must protect the party from becoming an ageing
entity.
What makes my heart bleed is that the Zanu-PF Government has
spent so much
in educating these youths only to let them be corrupted by
external
neo-imperialist forces that turn them into a lethal arsenal against
the same
hand that fed them. These youths must be recruited, nursed, nurtured
and
then thrown into the forefront of national development.
This is
what the ANC in South Africa has managed to do so successfully.
My
experience in South African student politics has opened my eyes to
various
advantages of developing strong synergies with colleges and how a
political
party like Zanu-PF can politicise educated youths and bring them
into active
participation in national development.
It is this experience and other
innovative ideas, which I have listed below,
that I believe will bring more
"dot.com" youths into Zanu-PF.
Zanu-PF needs to formulate university/
college student movements that are
indirectly affiliated to the party in both
policy and administration when it
comes to SRC elections. These movements
must be accountable to the national
youth leadership, although they will have
their own provincial and national
structures.
- SRC elections will be
contested using Zanu-PF regalia, flags, T-shirts,
pamphlets and other
campaign material expounding Zanu-PF policies and
ideology. For example,
during SRC elections in South Africa all campuses are
turned into the green,
gold and black colours of the ANC by the South
African Student Congress
(Ssaco), a student movement affiliated to the ANC,
and the national party's
revolutionary songs reverberate into the walls of
every lecture
room.
- These structures will be funded by a percentage of the
student
entertainment and social activity fees that are normally disbursed to
the
sitting SRC for distribution according to the proportion each
student
political structure represents in the SRC chambers. Another option
here
would be to formulate constitution-supported formulas for allocation
of
funds.
- Each institution will have a branch executive led by an
executive
committee composed of the president, vice-president,
secretary-general,
treasurer and a committee member. This branch executive
will be accountable
to the general membership in campus and issues will be
thrashed out in
general meetings to be held preferably once per
semester.
- Branch executives will report to duly elected provincial
executives that
will have supervisory powers over branches.
- The
ultimate authority for these student political structures will be
vested in a
duly elected national executive that will have powers of dispute
resolution
and will be given various disciplinary powers that will include
dissolving
renegade provincial or branch executives.
- The national executive will
be affiliated to the Zanu-PF National Youth
League that must fund the
activities of the national executive from their
budget.
- The
organisational linkages that must be formulated between political
student
movements, the National Youth League and the national Zanu-PF
leadership must
be strong to ensure that correct party policies on critical
issues such as
student funding, higher education reform and apprenticeships
are not muddled
in the swampy student politics.
- The leadership and general membership
of these student political
structures must be incorporated into various
districts, provincial and
national Zanu-PF levels so that this talent is not
lost to opportunistic
political parasites.
As I write, a former Ssaco
president, one Cde Gigaba, is the ANC Youth
League president and a member of
the ANC National Executive Council. This
also explains why that naughty boy
Tony Leon and his Democratic Alliance
crap-talk have such a negligible
following among youths in South Africa.
There is no need to re-invent the
wheel although we can give our wheel
better treads, grip and balance to suit
our exceptional political landscape.
The advantages of forming linkages with
institutions of higher learning are
numerous above those I have already
alluded to in this presentation. Such
linkages create a socially responsive
youth with well-articulated goals and
aspirations. It also breeds a
politically active and conscious youth that
will defend the hard-won
independence and sovereignty of this country. Look
at the wandering lost
sheep in the MDC! The rich and contemptuous colonial
owner from that tiny
island in the West has claimed his title deeds and now
the shepherd is blue
and the flock is in typical pandemonium. The makeshift
house is on fire (ask
Tony Blair) and now the rats have nowhere to hide.
Zimbabwean student
leaderships have become synonymous with embezzling funds
or becoming educated
conmen as evidenced by the ENG saga. The political
youth being groomed by
existing student political systems are prone to
morally abominable behaviour
such as wife butchering, vandalism, looting and
"witchcraft", i.e. the
delinquents in the MDC, and the rest are just a
shy-nerdy lot! As for this
MDC boy from St Mary's, his big head is full of
"amorous slander"
indeed!
I believe it is the responsibility of the present vintage
national Zanu-PF
leadership to ensure that the future of this country is
passed on to a
responsible leadership that can emulate or perhaps surpass the
achievements
of these icons. The current leadership also has a divine duty to
ensure that
whoever takes over the reins in future does not willy-nilly
prostitute the
legacy of our various revolutions, i.e. Three Chimurengas, to
whimsy
external encroachments!
MDC PRESS
12 July 2004
MUGABE MUST STOP EXPLOITING THE
COUNTRY’S YOUTH
The exploitation of
Zimbabwe’s
youth, for the purposes of political expediency, by Mugabe and Zanu PF is destroying
our national fabric and sowing the seeds for long-term instability.
The youth of
Zimbabwe
have gained nothing under Mugabe and Zanu PF. Today’s youth are
an increasingly marginalised group within society and, due to the criminal
failings of the current regime, are condemned to an existence characterised by
grinding poverty, despondency, fear and intimidation.
In
Harare last Saturday
Mugabe illustrated once again his willingness to
exploit the desperation and vulnerability of the nation’s youth. Addressing a
crowd of 2,400 youths Mugabe urged them to wage a
‘vigorous campaign’ to win next year’s parliamentary elections and chillingly
warned them that that he will hold them ‘answerable for any defeat’.
In Zanu PF
parlance, the term ‘vigorous campaign’ translates as a campaign of violence’.
Encouraging youth to engage in acts of violence, has in recent years, become a
central tenet of Zanu PF election strategies. It
demonstrates that Mugabe and Zanu PF do not care for the welfare and future of the youth.
Their primary concern is how the youth can be used in the short-term as an
instrument of Zanu PF oppression against their
opponents. .
This irresponsible and self-serving agenda
is destroying a generation. Through its violent rhetoric, intense propaganda and
National Youth Training Service, Zanu PF is
systematically brutalising the minds of the nation’s youth. They are
deliberately subverting the youth’s understanding of society and the values on
which it is based and creating a generation for whom violence is increasingly
the norm.
For the
sake of
Zimbabwe’s youth
and the long term stability of the country we urge Mugabe and Zanu PF to stop
exploiting this vulnerable segment of society by telling them a
pack of lies and to stop encouraging them to
engage in acts of violence.
The youth are our future. They must have
access to the truth so that they are free to form their own views and to
make informed choices.
As a society we have a collective moral
responsibility to ensure that the youth develop an unambiguous understanding of
right and wrong. If we fail in this basic duty we will be forced to endure a
perpetual cycle of violence, poverty and instability.
Mugabe should be atoning for the
sins he has committed against the youths of
Zimbabwe. He
should be explaining to them why 80% of them go unemployed after leaving school.
He should also explain why the youths account for the majority of people who
have left the country. He should tell the youths what future his party is
creating for them instead of exploiting their misery.
What the youths of
Zimbabwe
need is a prosperous economy under a comprehensive economic programme
such as been suggested by the MDC in its
RESTART programme. This programme will create jobs and provide a better future
for all Zimbabweans. The youths also need a programme that will provide
practical solutions to the HIV and AIDS pandemic and affordable
education.
Nelson Chamisa
National Youth
Chairman
Dear all
Here are a few very important
pointers.
Criminals are becoming more and more
brutal. Use of firearms is on the increase. Car jacking is on the rise everyday
while pick pocketing is now rampant. The situation has worsened by street kids
who mainly target innocent women. They are after handbags, jewelry and more
important to them, food.
The following are some of
Harare’s hot spots in terms of criminal activity. However, the whole city is now
suspected and one needs not to be too reluctant.
-
Intersection of second and
Churchill road.
-
Corner Fifth Street and
Samora Machel – the Holiday Inn area.
-
Corner First Street and Kwame
Nkrumah – next to Takura House
-
Corner Fourth Street and
Nelson Mandela – gangs of two trying to grab valuables from cars, which have to
stop at the traffic lights.
-
First Street Mall – rife with
criminals targeting valuables such as cell-phones, handbags and jewelry.
-
Market Square bus terminus –
this is the pickup point for commuters to Highfield, Glen View and other Western
high-density suburbs.
-
Railways station – they target
unsuspecting travelers to Mutare and Bulawayo but they also now have a new
‘market’, people who use urban commuter trains.
-
The Coppa Cabana Night Club -
the pick-up point for Dzivarasekwa, Mufakose and Mbare. Their targeting wallets,
cell phones and handbags.
-
Julius Nyerere Way – one of the
main streets in the city and has become home of most street kids.
-
Avenues near Montague shop and
car wash – criminals mainly target money and cell-phones and of late
prostitution has been on the rise. Some of these commercial sex workers even go
to the extent of harassing innocent people.
-
Fourth Street bus terminus –
this place has of late become one of the most dangerous because of illegal
foreign currency dealers. The criminals target anyone whom they suspect to have
hard currency. It is not advisable for UN/WFP vehicles to park in this area,
because most Zimbabweans believe that UN staff is paid in foreign currency.
-
Mbare Musika (the green market)
- it has some of the fastest criminals in the country. Their main targets are
handbags, cell-phones and jewelry. In short they are looking for a ‘quick
snatch’.
-
Corner Second Street and Speke
Avenue and the Eastgate Mall – they target unsuspecting shoppers. The Eastgate
Mall is an up-market shopping complex and most goods sold in the building are
expensive. Criminals believe shoppers always have cash even if they are buying
on account.
-
Harare Gardens opposite the
Crown Plaza and African Unity Square opposite Meikles Hotels – most of the criminals pretend to be selling
sculpture and yet they will be targeting foreigners. They want to get an idea of
how much money one is carrying. Besides, they also want to get a sense of
whether it is local or foreign currency. They will then tip off their
compatriots.
-
Ximex Mall on Angwa and
George Silundika streets.
-
Union Avenue near the main Flea
Market.
-
Rotten Row and Coventry roads,
Workington area all the way to Mufakose – It is advised not to stop at the
traffic lights along these roads at night.
-
However, it is not advised to
be too reluctant when in one of those areas that not listed.
-
The majority of criminals in
Harare stay in the high-density areas.
The following is a summary
of Harare’s different suburbs in relation to crime:
-
Mufakose, Mbare and Highfiled –
these are Harare’s breeding grounds for most criminals. Mufakose is on record
for producing highly sophisticated car jackers, Mbare is known for unruly pick
pocketing and Highfield has a high rate of housebreaking. Talk of these suburbs to any locals and one
think that comes to their minds is crime.
-
Those in the second ranking
include Budiriro, Glen View and Chitungwiza – the home of most conmen. They are
after small items that they sell to get quick money. Most of them survive from
hand to mouth. However, Chitungwiza being the dormitory town of Harare, is fast
becoming more and more dangerous. It has now become the ‘safe haven’ for
criminals. Most of them prefer to spend their loot in the town, which is
scattered with entertainment. There is no clear demarcation of different suburbs
for example it is difficult to distinguish between Unit L and Unit K. This makes
Chitungwiza a good hiding place.
-
Suburbs like Hatcliffe,
Sunningdale and Arcadia have ‘petty criminals’ whose big business is shoplifting
and pick pocketing.
-
Hatfield and Waterfalls are the
most dangerous low-density suburbs of Harare. They are home of those criminals
who go for million dollar crimes. Most of the vehicles stolen in Harare have
been recovered in these two suburbs. The majority of the car-hijackers in Harare
City, reside in these areas and diversify into other small businesses for the
purposes of disguise.
-
Other low-density suburbs have
since become target of violent crime. They target valuables like vehicles,
computers, electronics and household property. The criminals do not have any
value for life and once they pounce on you it’s best not to resist.
-
Car jacking is now a
day-to-day thing and the most common vehicles used are the high-powered, ones
that can take off in high speed. The Mufakose car jackers are popular with
Datsun Pulsars, Toyota Hiaces that are broken into spare parts for the use
commuter mini-buses and the Mazda range, especially the HB 12 saloon. However,
they are also using other 4 x 4s, VW Jettas and double cabin’s as get away
cars.
Have a safe week.