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The Independent
a British daily said Bush has pledged a
reconstruction package for Zimbabwe
worth up to $10 billion over an
unspecified time frame, if a new leader takes
over.
The British newspaper reports that President Thabo
Mbeki has
told President George W. Bush that Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean
leader,
will relinquish his leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling party, the
Zanu-PF, by
December.
The Independent said Mbeki's
assurance to Bush that Mugabe will
stand aside is believed to be based on a
personal promise extracted from the
Zimbabwean leader. Such a move will pave
the way for Mugabe's exit as
Zimbabwe's president and new elections by June
2004. The British daily
declined to reveal its sources.
Mbeki said at the talks with Bush that the the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC), the Zimbabwean opposition party, together with the
Zimbabwean
government had begun talks. Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader,
described the
claim as false and mischievous. Tsvangirai has since admitted
that emissaries
from churches, civic groups and the South African government
are shuttling
between the parties. However, he added that no actual talks
were under
way.
Authorities at Harare Central Hospital yesterday
told the Daily News
that the hospital had treated 22 of the injured people,
most of whom were
discharged because their injuries were
minor.
The commuter train, also known as “Freedom Train”, which
was
introduced by the government during campaigning for the 2002
presidential
election, was carrying about 1 400 passengers from the capital
city’s
high-density suburbs of Dzivaresekwa, Tynwald, Rugare and
Kambuzuma.
Yesterday’s incident is the latest in a series of
accidents and
disasters on NRZ’s dilapidated rail network
system.
In February this year, 50 people died and 64 were
injured when a
passenger train collided with a goods train near Dete siding
in Matabeleland
North province because the rail signal system was not
working.
NRZ acting general manager Munesu Munodawafa yesterday
said the latest
train accident was caused by track control machines that were
malfunctioning
because they had been vandalised by unknown
people.
Munodawafa said: “The machine points should have been
covered and
locked but now people are removing these coverings because they
contain
components of brass and cast iron which are then resold as scrap
metal.
“Unfortunately the whole system becomes exposed and
there is a danger
to the travelling public as no one will be able to
interchange the tracks
when a train is approaching.”
NRZ
manager for Harare Christopher Madzimbamuto said because of
vandalism the
automatic control machines were no longer working and NRZ
workers were having
to manually crank the track control points which allow
trains to change from
one track to another.
He said: “The machine points have been
vandalised. As a result, they
are no longer working on auto-machines from the
control rooms. We are now
using manual cranking of points. That cranking
renders them inoperative at
times as they get damaged.
“It
is difficult to interchange the tracks, resulting in points
automatically
shifting on their own due to the vibrations caused by trains
passing over
them. This is what caused this derailment.”
Madzimbamuto said
according to their technical staff the first
locomotive managed to pass over
the control points and followed the correct
track. But the more powerful
second locomotive and the baggage van went onto
a different track causing the
derailment.
The NRZ official said extensive damage was caused
in the rail track
but he would not say how much it would cost the state rail
company in
repairs. Madzimbamuto said another track adjacent to the damaged
one was
still open for trains to move on.
Donaldson
Chadenyika, 30, who survived the accident, said the train
had suddenly
started vibrating and shaking violently as they approached
Rugare
siding.
Chadenyika, who was speaking from his hospital bed,
said: “The train
suddenly shook and swerved. There were fierce sparks as the
driver tried to
brake it.
“People screamed that the train was burning.
“I managed to jump out in the ensuing mayhem.
“I didn’t realise I had been injured on my chest until
I collapsed
near the Lion Match factory only to find myself here in
hospital.”
Other passengers, some still visibly in shock, told
of how they found
themselves violently flung off the train as it ploughed and
twisted off the
tracks.
By Precious Shumba Staff
Reporter
Daily News
MDC councillors to decide Mudzuri’s fate
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party councillors
will on
Thursday decide on whether to implement an order by the government
that the
council evict Harare Executive Mayor Elias Mudzuri from the
mayoral
mansion.
Sources at Town House told the Daily News
that the councillors were
irked by the Local Government Minister’s unilateral
directive that Mudzuri
be thrown out of the mayor’s house and that his other
benefits be withdrawn
without referring the matter to
council.
“Attempts to evict Mudzuri can only take place after a
full council
debate on the minister’s order.
We are meeting
on Thursday to debate the order and come up with a
position,” said one
councillor, who spoke on condition he was not named.
He added:
“As far as council regulations are concerned, the directive
is not
implementable. It was not procedural to bypass the council. Chombo
cannot
move Mudzuri out because that is the responsibility of the
council.”
All but one of Harare’s councillors are, together
with Mudzuri, who
was suspended by Chombo in April, members of the opposition
MDC.
Chombo suspended Mudzuri, accusing him of misconduct and
mismanagement
of Zimbabwe’s capital city. Mudzuri denies the charges and is
challenging
his suspension in the High Court.
Last week
Chombo ordered acting mayor Sekesai Makwavarara to withdraw
all Mudzuri’s
benefits and also to ensure the opposition mayor was evicted
from the mayoral
mansion to punish him for ignoring orders not to enter Town
House until the
government has made a final decision on whether he remains
as mayor of
Harare. Acting mayor Sekesayi Makwavarara yesterday could not be
reached for
comment on the matter.
Makwavarara, who like Mudzuri also
belongs to the MDC, last week
indicated she was going to carry out Chombo’s
instructions but appears to be
facing stiff opposition from councillors after
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
told councillors not to co-operate with Chombo
in his bid to fire the mayor.
Chombo was said to be out of the office yesterday.
Mudzuri was last week ordered by the High
Court not to report for duty
until his suspension was lifted by the
government. Since Justice Susan
Mavangira made her ruling, the opposition
mayor has not been reporting for
duty.
The suspended mayor
yesterday said he was still residing at the
mayoral mansion and insisted he
would not leave the house unless Chombo
obtained a court order barring him
from the mansion. “They have not yet come
to evict me. I am still here. They
can not just evict me without a court
order.”
Mudzuri has
frequently clashed with Chombo, with the Local Government
minister accusing
him of disobedience.
Mudzuri has dismissed the allegations by
Chombo and instead accused
the government of undermining his council by
refusing to approve key
municipal projects and also through some ZANU PF
members who are employed at
Town House.
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
Zvobgo must summon Mugabe as his defence
witness
I REALLY pity Eddison Zvobgo. He is all alone and is
now
experiencing the loneliness of the long distance runner. Like a
race-car
driver, he has vision, control and determination.
Speed, which is just a by-product, has never been necessary to him and
that
is why people like Border Gezi and, in the arena now, Patrick
Chinamasa,
shamelessly seek a chance to humiliate him.
“It seems like
yesterday, But it was long ago . . .
We were young and
strong
And we were running against the wind . . .”
Those lyrics from Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band apply as much
to
Zvobgo today as he tries to remove cobwebs from the face of his
political
brainchild, ZANU PF, as they did to Edward Kennedy when he took the
decision
to run against a fellow Democratic incumbent president Jimmy
Carter.
Indeed, I remember the Kennedy election camp adopting
Against The Wind
as their theme song during their short-lived efforts against
the political
wind as they tried to convince people that Carter was not the
right man to
continue occupying the White House.
Kennedy had
the advantage of vintage superficial democracy on his
side. He, like anyone
else, could criticise or challenge anyone else and
still remain respectable
in either political party and society.
Zvobgo is running
against the wind. He has always been running against
the wind during his life
in ZANU PF. He has always been called forth to
defend himself against one
accusation or other. I salute him for his nerve
and forthrightness, his
perseverance. I respect his honesty and open
approach to politics. He is not
wasting his time talking to visitors to the
party, the mafikizolos, but he is
definitely wasting his time with President
Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe found a cave in ZANU PF and he is not coming out of it. The
heart of
the matter is that Zvobgo must call Mugabe as his chief witness for
the
defence during his trial by the party. If Mugabe refuses, then Zvobgo
must
not attend this kangaroo court.
Over the years, we have watched
Mugabe humiliate his contemporaries,
important people to the nation’s
history, from Joshua Nkomo to Ndabaningi
Sithole. He continues with this sad
non-productive practice.
Yet no one can ever increase their
value or worth by attempting to
minimise someone else’s. Mugabe’s silence
over what his silly boys are doing
in the party is no longer acceptable and
is not expected from a paterfamilia
like him.
But then ZANU
PF is a dying party with an aged leader. And it appears
that the party (and
its leader) intends to die with all of its sons
and
children.
Why does Mugabe appear to rejoice in
humiliating people? He appears to
have no real friends anywhere, only
supporters but no real friends in or
outside the country. What does he hope
to achieve?
Is he not muddying the waters for his children,
relatives and
political allies who may one day be called upon to explain his
behaviour?
Are people expected to accept his behaviour and just forget it
all?
But it is Mugabe who has to return the favour this time
around. Mugabe
should be man enough and say something either way. He must
stop this
scheduled imprudent hearing by his party’s overzealous
appointees.
He cannot remain silent while all this is going on.
I personally do
not see how Zvobgo could be lying. His movements and
activities are too
public since he attracts more attention than most others
in his party.
Besides, Central Intelligence Organisation agents are his
constant
chaperones. The President knows the truth here.
My
understanding is that when ZANU PF was formed, Mugabe was not
physically
present. I think he was somewhere in Tanzania, having skipped
bail. He is the
leader of the party now and he has purged his former equals
and founder
members.
He hardly talks to them now. Apart from the
Tokwe-Mukorsi tour, Zvobgo
’s last meeting with Mugabe was in 2001. How sad
for a founding father to be
discarded and treated in this manner. How often
does the President talk to
Enos Nkala, another discarded founding father? Who
is ZANU PF today? What is
it?
Zvobgo also revealed that
during his last meeting with Mugabe, he was
asked by latter not to criticise
him in public. We have always noticed this
unspoken truce; none of them has
ever criticised the other or directly
attacked the other in public since as
far back as Independence Day.
But is it not a weakness for
someone to beg another not to criticise
him in public? What is the fear? Are
there some people who consider Mugabe
himself to be a visitor to the party?
Where is the cut-off line if physical
presence during the formation of the
party is not all that is considered for
one to be a founding
father?
Where would ZANU PF place me, for example, since I had my
first party
card in 1964? How old were Gezi, Jonathan Moyo or Elliot Manyika,
not to
mention cross-overs from the UANC like Herbert Murerwa, Olivia Muchena
and
others? Nothing has happened to ZANU PF; it just discarded its
originality,
its conscience. The internal enemies Zvobgo refers to are people
bussed in
from elsewhere but who have the support of the party hierarchy.
ZANU PF’s
pater familias, Mugabe, watched the party decay. But he now needs
it the
most at this point. But it can’t offer him the cover and protection it
could
have had he kept it in its original and proper shape. Indeed,
the
revolutionary party is devouring its own fathers. Mugabe had all
the
necessary equipment; he just forgot to read the manual. Now it’s too
late.
It is my opinion that people like Eddison Zvobgo, Edgar Tekere and
others
have tried their best and have indeed given their lives to this party.
It is
only fair to Zvobgo if he does not attend this forthcoming
disciplinary
hearing. He really can’t be that desperate to remain in ZANU PF.
If they
sack him, it would be a blessing, wouldn’t it? To be admonished by
the likes
of Chinamasa is the ultimate embarrassment. Who is Chinamasa in the
history
and politics of ZANU PF? I hope Tekere is watching and listening. He
should
tell his friend Zvobgo to leave this party the way he did. And Zvobgo
must
tell Tekere to stay away and not even think of rejoining this sinking
party.
What could Edgar Tekere really want in ZANU PF? It is a dying party
and no
amount of stimulants will revive it. An often quoted poet said that
the past
is not dead; it’s not even past. Tekere may want to convince Zvobgo
to take
his deserved bow and leave the circus called ZANU PF. We hardly learn
from
our own history. By Tanonoka J Whande n Tanonoka Joseph Whande is
a
Zvishavane-based writer.
Daily News
Free Tsvangirai: defence
OPPOSITION
Movement for Democratic (MDC) party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai’s lawyers
yesterday told the High Court to free the opposition
leader and two of his
officials because the state’s star witness in the
treason case against them
was a liar who had defrauded even the government
he was purportedly working
for.
South African advocate George Bizos, leading the defence,
told Judge
President Paddington Garwe: “Ari Ben-Menashe (state star witness)
was
contradicted by (his personal assistant) Tara Thomas, air
vice-marshal
Robert Mhlanga, retired army brigadier Bonyongwe, by the tape
and documents
produced before the court.”
Bizos, who called
Ben-Menashe a dangerous liar, told Justice Garwe he
could not rely on the
evidence provided by the state’s main witness to
convict the three MDC
leaders.
The state’s case rests on claims by Ben-Menashe that
Tsvangirai, MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube and legislator Renson Gasela
approached his
Canadian-based political consultancy firm Dickens and Madson
seeking help to
murder President Robert Mugabe ahead of last year’s
presidential election.
But a video tape produced by Ben-Menashe
purportedly showing
Tsvangirai and his officials requesting help to
assassinate Mugabe was
hardly audible and Ben-Menashe himself, when he gave
evidence, could not
pinpoint to the court where in the tape the opposition
officials had asked
for help to kill Mugabe.
Bizos said of
the evidence supplied by Ben Menashe: “It’s a long
catalogue of
contradictions. There is no more dangerous a liar than one who
lies about
himself.”
Defence lawyers say they want their clients
discharged because the
state had at the closure of its case failed to lead
evidence showing their
clients committed the alleged crime.
Bizos told Justice Garwe that Ben-Menashe had lied to the court that
he made
the video tape forming the basis of the charges against Tsvangirai
and his
senior party officials as part of his philanthropic work for people
in former
colonised countries including Zimbabwe and it later turned out
that he was
going to be paid US$1 million (Z$824 million)
by the government
under a deal whose details he refused to disclose in
court.
The South African lawyer said Ben-Menashe defrauded the government of
more
than US$30 000 (Z$24.7 million) in fictitious and inflated
claims.
In the first instance, Ben-Menashe allegedly conned the
Zimbabwe
government of US$25 000 (Z$20.6 million) after claiming US$30 000
ostensibly
to produce a video from a meeting at the headquarters of his lobby
firm.
It is at that meeting that Tsvangirai is alleged to have
requested
help from Ben-Menashe’s firm to assassinate
Mugabe.
But Ben-Menashe’s personal assistant Thomas and Bernard
Schober, a
security consultant from Canada, both told the court in their
separate
testimonies that the cost of producing the video would not be more
than US$5
000 (Z$4.1 million).
Ben-Menashe allegedly later
claimed US$10 000 (Z$8.2 million)
compensation for Thomas, whom he claimed
was attacked by thugs hired by the
MDC in Montreal, Canada, after indicating
she would testify in the
high-profile treason trial.
Thomas told the court she was injured in a bicycle accident.
“If he
has the capacity to commit two frauds against the government of
Zimbabwe, how
can he be trusted about anything that he says?” Bizos queried.
Bizos said contrary to Ben-Menashe’s evidence that Tsvangirai was
recorded in
the tape requesting aid in the alleged conspiracy plot,
Tsvangirai was heard
in the video telling Ben-Menashe and his colleague to
“stop setting up these
arrangements of elimination”.
The lawyer said Ben-Menashe,
rather than Tsvangirai, should be charged
for the
conspiracy.
He said: “Ben-Menashe used the word ‘elimination’
more than 10 times
(in the video tape) while accused number one (Tsvangirai)
used the word
once.
“If ever there was any incitement, it
was by Ben-Menashe not our
client.
If there was a serious
request to kill President Mugabe, it’s
absolutely amazing that it’s not said
in the tape or transcript.” The
hearing continues, with the defence
submitting their heads of argument in
the application for discharge. Court
Reporter
Daily News
Showdown looms over Zimbabwe’s fate
THE
scene is set for an almighty international showdown over the
readmission of
Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth.
The fate of President Robert
Mugabe’s government, suspended from the
54-nation group after its
presidential election in March last year, will be
decided at the Commonwealth
Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in December.
Apart from being
unclear as to who would judge whether Zimbabwe meets
the criteria to be
readmitted, the issue has caused sharp divisions in the
group, which are set
to boil over at the Abuja summit.
According to Commonwealth
secretary-general Don McKinnon, the decision
on Zimbabwe’s re-entry will be
taken by the heads of state based on a
recommendation of the Commonwealth
troika on Zimbabwe – South Africa’s
President Thabo Mbeki, Australian Prime
Minister John Howard and Nigerian
President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
But Mbeki and Obasanjo have been insistent that the
troika’s mandate
on Zimbabwe has expired. In March this year, the two leaders
refused to make
a pronouncement on the issue, arguing that since the
expulsion had been set
down for only a year the country should be
readmitted.
McKinnon was asked to canvass the views of other
Commonwealth
countries. He reported that while there were varied opinions,
the “broadly
held view” was to uphold the suspension until the December
summit. The
announcement by Howard, the current chairman of the Commonwealth,
to extend
the suspension was harshly condemned by the South African and
Zimbabwean
governments.
Commonwealth foreign ministers are
scheduled to meet in New York in
September to prepare for the Abuja summit.
They are unlikely to discuss
Zimbabwe, but a meeting the next day of the
Commonwealth Ministerial Action
Group, which normally makes recommendations
to the heads of state about the
suspension and readmission of member states,
is likely to review the matter.
McKinnon told the Sunday Times
in Maputo this week that African heads
of state are split on the Zimbabwean
crisis, contrary to the perception that
they are united behind
Mugabe.
McKinnon, who was a guest at the African Union summit
in the
Mozambican capital this week, said a number of leaders he held talks
with in
Maputo “expressed a variety of views” on how the crisis should be
handled.
McKinnon held informal talks with Mbeki. The issue of
Zimbabwe was
discussed but McKinnon refused to divulge what the South African
leader
said.
The subject of Zimbabwe was resolutely avoided
in formal discussions
at the African Union summit. But McKinnon said while
“people don’t want to
talk about it publicly”, there is “genuine concern”
about the country’s
crisis.
“There are concerns about
whether dialogue and dialogue alone will
resolve the issue,” McKinnon
said.
Some leaders felt that Zimbabwe’s legislation should be
assessed to
gauge whether it was in violation of the group’s democratic
principles spelt
out in the Harare Declaration.
The
Zimbabwean government has shunned attempts by McKinnon to engage
with it on
the process towards readmittance.
However, the Commonwealth was
eager to assist in facilitating dialogue
between the ruling ZANU PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, McKinnon said.
He
added that the Commonwealth wanted Zimbabwe “back as a full
member”
.
“No one wants to see this issue split the
Commonwealth. We also do not
want the issue to completely dominate the time
in Abuja,” McKinnon said.
– Sunday Times
Daily News
Candidate row threatens MDC in mayoral
race
MUTARE – Bickering and factional feuding could jeopardise
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s chances of winning
the
Mutare mayoral election after some of the MDC’s district and ward
officials
yesterday said they would not recognise or campaign for the
opposition party
’s candidate in the ballot, Misheck Kagurabadza, alleging he
was imposed on
them by the party’s leaders.
The opposition
party’s supporters told the Daily News this week that
the party’s executive
for Manicaland province had imposed Kagurabadza ahead
of Patrick Matsanga, a
Mutare businessman.
Tension is high within the MDC camp with
some of the party’s
supporters vowing to defy their provincial leadership by
putting forward
Matsanga to contest as an independent candidate unless fresh
primary
elections were held to decide the party’s candidate for the mayoral
ballot
scheduled for next month.
Matsanga was disqualified
from the MDC primary election but the
reasons for his disqualification were
not made public.
The vice chairman of the opposition party’s
youth wing in Mutare,
Zvenyika Misi, said: “Things have not been going on
well since the primaries
were held. We are not satisfied with the manner in
which the elections were
conducted.”
He said they had sent
several delegations to Harare to present their
grievances to the MDC national
leadership but nothing had been addressed.
Misi said: “They are
buying time because the nomination court sits on
30 July but nothing has been
done on the issue.
“If they do not solve this issue, we will
field two MDC candidates,
one candidate for the provincial executive and the
other one for the
grassroots. We are prepared to work with a candidate who
comes from the
people.”
Milton Majeje, an MDC youth chairman
for Ward 4 in Sakubva, said: “The
provincial executive is destroying the
party because after the primaries all
the people who supported Matsanga are
being deliberately sidelined from all
party activities.”
MDC
national chairman Isaac Matongo could not be reached for comment
on the
latest bickering over the party’s candidate.
But MDC Manicaland
provincial chairman, Timothy Mubhawu, yesterday
told The Daily News that
anyone who challenged the candidate chosen in
elections endorsed by the
national chairman was not an MDC supporter.
Mubhawu accused
supporters of the opposition party who were refusing
to recognise Kagurabadza
as the party’s candidate for the mayoral poll of
not being genuine members of
the party.
He said: “I endorse 100 percent the election of
Kagurabadza and I am
sorry for those of our genuine supporters who have been
lured by
infiltrators. That is typical ZANU PF at work.
“We
do not have an independent candidate in the MDC. Any moment you
defy both the
national executive and the national chairman’s declared
candidate, that
becomes an automatic resignation from the MDC.”
Mubhawu said
Kagurabadza was re-elected in party primaries after an
earlier election to
decide the party’s candidate was nullified.
The MDC battles it
out with the ruling ZANU PF party in the election
to choose an Executive
Mayor for Mutare.
The opposition party, which has won nearly
all major urban elections
since being founded in 1999, is tipped to win the
Mutare election.
From Kelvin Jakachira
Bureau
Chief
Daily News
SA insists talks on
SOUTH African
President Thabo Mbeki’s office yesterday repeated
claims that Zimbabwe’s
ruling ZANU PF and opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) parties
were in talks to find a solution to the country’s
political
impasse.
Presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo yesterday told
the Daily News
that negotiations between the two political foes were in
progress.
He would not say who exactly in ZANU PF or the MDC
was involved in the
talks or where the talks were taking
place.
Khumalo said: “Talks between the ruling ZANU PF and the
MDC are on –
that is the position. There is not going to be public
pronouncements
regarding details on this issue until at an appropriate time
and depending
on who will choose to do it. That is all I can say at this
time. I am not in
a position to divulge any further detail except to state
this position.”
Both the MDC and ZANU PF have publicly stated
that there are no formal
talks going on between them with the opposition
party’s leader Morgan
Tsvangirai accusing Mbeki of telling “false and
mischievous” lies after the
South African leader told visiting American
President George W Bush that the
two Zimbabwean parties were in dialogue to
resolve the country’s crisis.
Tsvangirai later softened his
position, explaining that there was no
formal negotiation between ZANU PF and
his MDC party although various
emissaries had been shuttling between them
trying to restart dialogue.
Dialogue between the two political
parties collapsed last August after
ZANU PF pulled out of the talks to
protest Tsvangirai’s decision to
challenge its leader and state President
Robert Mugabe’s controversial
re-election last year.
Tsvangirai, who has refused to recognise Mugabe’s presidency, accuses
the
veteran politician of winning through violence and fraud.
Mbeki’s claims last week that ZANU PF and the MDC were in talks have
caused
tension and suspicion within the two camps with key players wary they
may be
left out in a new deal that might possibly include power-sharing
between the
two parties.
Well-placed sources privy to the alleged South
African-brokered secret
talks yesterday said that there was “politics of
exclusion” being played on
the two parties with hard-liners from both sides
being sidelined from the
preparatory discussions.
The
mystery surrounding the alleged talks deepened yesterday as it
emerged that
soon after an African troika comprising Mbeki, Nigerian
President Olusegun
Obasanjo and Malawian leader Bakili Muluzi, had left
Harare earlier this
year, the South Africans approached the MDC with a draft
position paper aimed
at breaking the impasse and help kick-start dialogue.
According
to the sources, the draft position entailed in general a
“commitment to
talks” and a recognition of Mugabe as head of state
proclaimed by Zimbabwe’s
chief justice in terms of the country’s
Constitution.
The
South Africans, it is believed, hoped that this position would
address both
the MDC and Mugabe’s concerns over the sticking issue
of
legitimacy.
The MDC is said to have accepted
acknowledging Mugabe on the grounds
suggested by the South Africans but
insisted on the condition that the
opposition party should reserve its right
to challenge Mugabe’s re-election.
The sources alleged the
South Africans presented the same position
paper to ZANU PF. But the ruling
party’s response to the document could not
be immediately established
yesterday.
Staff Reporter
Daily News
Chigwedere’s son dies in police custody
Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere’s son, Maona, died on Thursday
last week
while in custody at Chitungwiza Police Station, Chigwedere
said
yesterday.
Chigwedere, who is also the ZANU PF MP for
Hwedza constituency, told
the Daily News that police had on Tuesday last week
arrested his son in
Chitungwiza, after he and some friends were involved in a
fist-fight with a
yet to be identified gang.
He said: “My
son was involved in a fracas with some unknown people in
Chitungwiza and
during the incident, he was attacked with a blunt object on
the forehead and
some of his ribs were broken.
“However, instead of taking him
to the hospital, the police arrested
him and detained him in custody from
Tuesday until he died on Thursday.”
Chigwedere said Maona, who
had visited his aunt in Chitungwiza, died
as the policemen were about to
record a statement from him.
The minister also said that some
people, who were with his son in the
police cells, had told him that Maona
died in his cell.
“I have also received unconfirmed reports
from some people who were in
his cell that Maona died while he was in the
cell,” Chigwedere said.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
yesterday refused to speak on the
matter.
Zimbabwe’s
security agents, who were last month cited by the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Forum
as among the leading violators of human rights in the
country, have in the
past rejected the charges that they are high-handed and
abuse citizens’
rights.
The late opposition Movement for Democratic Change MP
for Kuwadzana,
Learnmore Jongwe, met his death in the cells at Harare Remand
Prison.
Jongwe had been arrested for allegedly stabbing his wife to death.
Chigwedere said the police in Chitungwiza had
told him that they were
still carrying out investigations to find the people
who fatally assaulted
his son.
A wayward son, Maona had had
brushes with the law before and was in
2001 briefly jailed at Harare Remand
Prison after allegedly breaking into
MDC official Elliot Pfebve’s offices in
Harare.
Chigwedere told journalists at the time that he had
done all he could
to warn Maona that he was heading for disaster but to no
avail.
By Lawrence Paganga
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
Workers, employers forge closer bond
ZIMBABWE’S worsening economic crisis has brought workers and
employers closer
together as they battle to survive in an increasingly
hostile environment,
according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU).
Collin Gwiyo, secretary-general of the labour watchdog, which
groups
Zimbabwe’s major trade unions, said the economic crisis had
adversely
affected both employers and their workers, and this had helped to
create a
bond between them.
He added: “There has been a
shift from the traditional approach (in
salary negotiations) because of the
economic problems. It has now become
necessary for both employers and
employees to sit down and analyse the
problems they are both facing and come
up with a common position.
“For the past year, there has been a
shift from the push and pull
tradition where parties would shove each other
before they could reach an
amicable settlement and this usually happened once
a year.”
Workers and employers hold their major collective
bargaining
negotiations before the end of July, a period that has often been
marred by
bitter disputes leading to industrial action.
Analysts had predicted that this year’s collective bargaining
negotiations
would be particularly difficult because of the country’s worst
economic
crisis in 23 years.
Workers are expected to ask for substantial
cost of living adjustments
to cushion them against inflation, while many
companies might not be able to
sustain huge increases in their salary
bills.
The analysts had forecast that this might result in
industrial action
at several firms as workers attempted to push for higher
wages and better
benefits.
Gwiyo however said employers’
appreciation of their workers’ plight,
resulting from an unpredictable
economic climate, had prompted most
companies to award cost of living
adjustments more than once a year.
He said because the economic
problems had affected both employers and
employees, most salary negotiations
were being concluded amicably because
both parties sought to balance
employees’ demands and the need for companies
to remain
viable.
Gwiyo said: “Negotiations have been going on at company
or industry
level. But because the government-induced inflation has not
spared anyone,
it has become the norm for workers and employers to meet
periodically and
review the company’s performance and try to match this with
the workers’
demands.”
“The old tradition is giving way to
this new arrangement and we will
see more of it as the economy sinks deeper,”
Gwiyo added.
He attributed the spate of strikes in the last few
months,
particularly those in the civil service, to insensitivity by some
employers.
“This (accord between workers and employees) doesn’t
mean that strikes
will come to an abrupt end,” the ZCTU secretary-general
cautioned.
“Quite a number (of workers and employers) might not
be able to agree
and we will see strikes taking place. Strikes are a
necessary strength of
the workers. They show the degree of unity and coercion
that the workers
have. But they will become fewer,” he
added.
The ZCTU last week warned the government to brace for
more strikes
from its labour force because of salary anomalies created by a
job
evaluation exercise whose results were announced last
month.
Doctors, teachers and other civil servants have already
resorted to
industrial action to protest the grading system introduced after
the job
evaluation exercise, which they say has left them worse
off.
Business Reporter
Daily News
Price, salary hikes to boost state
coffers
THE suspension of price controls on some goods and the
rise in civil
service salaries are set to boost the government’s sales and
income tax
revenues, according to local analysts.
The
analysts told The Business Daily that the government was likely to
benefit
from its decision in early May to suspend price controls on
some
goods.
The move has already led to a sharp rise in
prices that is expected to
fuel Zimbabwe’s already high rate of
inflation.
Year-on-year inflation rose to 300.1 percent in May,
from 269.8
percent the previous year.
Commentators said
revenues received by the Finance Ministry would also
be boosted by the
government’s decision to hike civil service salaries with
effect from 1
July.
They said the increase in private sector salaries this
month would
also increase the amount of income tax received by the
government.
Economic consultant John Robertson pointed out:
“Consumers pay more
taxes when prices go up and the government will
automatically benefit.”
The government receives a combined 40
percent from sales tax on basic
and luxury goods.
Treasury
will make at least $150 on every loaf of bread sold after
bakers increased
the price of bread to $1 000 last week. On basic
commodities such as cooking
oil, it will make at least $300 on every litre
bottle of cooking oil
sold.
Robertson said the removal of price controls on some
products could
have been aimed at boosting revenue to finance the
government’s
supplementary budget.
The Finance Ministry is
believed to be preparing to present before
Parliament proposals for a $660
billion supplementary budget to enable it to
finance expenditure for the rest
of the year.
Robertson said: “It is inevitable that the removal
of price controls
was aimed at financing the supplementary
budget.
Increases in salaries will (also) result in government
getting more
revenue through Pay As You Earn, so the government is not
concerned about
the effects of (price increases on private companies’
production costs).”
A local economist who declined to be named
added: “The government was
not so much concerned about easing (basic
commodity) shortages emanating
from the introduction of price
controls.
“Unfreezing of prices controls was a gimmick aimed at
increasing
government revenue.”
But the analysts said
because price increases and salary rises were
inflation-driven, the growth in
revenue was unlikely to make a huge
difference to the government, which is
also feeling the impact of inflation.
Soaring inflation has put
upward pressure on the government’s own
operating costs at a time its
appetite for funds has grown significantly.
Apart from major
fuel and electricity imports, the government also
needs to import food to
feed about 5.5 million people that United Nations
agencies say need emergency
food aid because of drought and a controversial
government land reform
programme that has slashed food production by at
least half.
The government also has to service a domestic debt that is now close
to $450
billion and is largely made up of Treasury Bills, government stocks,
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe advances and commercial paper.
University of
Zimbabwe economics lecturer Albert Makoche said the
government was likely to
use every means at its disposal to raise money to
meet its commitments, even
if it contributed to rising inflation.
Inflation is expected to top
400 percent in June, ending the year
significantly higher than the 500
percent initially forecast by analysts.
The unchecked rise in inflation is
expected to push up companies’ production
costs at a time they are already
struggling to make ends meet. Analysts say
if the Finance Ministry does not
introduce a policy to curb inflation, more
local firms will be forced to
close down, increasing unemployment and
poverty. But an analyst based at the
UZ said: “I don’t think government is
bothered about the stagflation that is
rocking the nation. “It is now
crystal clear that the government is no longer
worried about the huge
trade-off between people suffering and it reaping huge
volumes of money in
sales tax.” A local analyst added: “If the government was
interested in
reducing the level of inflation in the country, it would have
announced a
fresh package of monetary policy, which would address the issue
of
inflation.” The central bank was expected to announce a new monetary
policy
last month but has not done so. Business Reporter
Daily News
Trust seeks to secure 150 kg of gold a
month
BULAWAYO – The Zimbabwe Gold Mining and Mineral Development
Trust
(ZGMMDT) has launched an ambitious programme under which it hopes to
secure
at least 150 kilogrammes of gold worth $2 billion every month, with
the
assistance of gold concession holders and rural district councils (RDCs),
it
has been learnt.
ZGMMDT chairman Nhlanhla Masuku said
several miners would be grouped
together as concession holders and would
provide most of the resources for
the ambitious project.
He
said concession holders, who would be licenced by his Trust, would
be given
capital equipment by RDCs around the country in a bid to boost
Zimbabwe’s
bullion production and improve efficiency in mining methods.
Masuku said beneficiaries of the empowerment programme would be
required to
utilise their permits and meet the 150 kilogrammes of gold
target or risk
having their licences revoked.
“We want to improve gold
production and reduce the leakage through
illegal gold dealing activity that
has been going on in the milling plants,”
Masuku said.
He
added that his Trust was supporting the establishment of more gold
processing
plants around the country.
“People spend a lot of time in
queues for milling, thereby reducing
production,” the ZGMMDT chairman said,
adding that the increase in refining
and tolling plants would help improve
efficiency in mining and boost output
in the gold producing
sector.
The sector, a major foreign currency earner, has been
hit by serious
leakages of gold, some of which has found its way out of the
official market
and into neighbouring countries.
RDCs are
expected to assist in curbing leakages by helping to “monitor
strictly and
improve expropriation practices” of gold from potential
catchment areas
around the country, Masuku said.
RDCs as well as the
state-owned School of Mines, which is based in
Bulawayo, would be charged
with teaching gold diggers the best environmental
and mining methods, he
added.
Communities from which gold miners involved in the
ZGMMDT programme
operate will benefit from royalty schemes, a concept
borrowed from South
Africa and aimed at developing communities that might
otherwise not
materially benefit from the resources extracted from their
areas.
“Not only will the RDCs benefit from royalties, but they
would now
have the resources to develop the poor mining sector in their areas
as
machinery would be hired to reduce manual methods of mining,” Masuku
said.
He warned that individuals and organisations contravening
regulations
aimed at curbing gold leakages would be dealt with regardless of
their
“political inclinations or societal status”.
Meanwhile, Masuku said the ZGMMDT had decentralised its financial
and
operational systems to facilitate the implementation of efficient and
proper
mining methods.
The ZGMMDT was launched by the
government in 2001 to fight gold
leakages and smuggling as well as to improve
mineral exploitation at a time
national yield had fallen below 1998 peaks of
30 tonnes.
Gold output has been hard hit by Zimbabwe’s economic
crisis, which has
led to a tough operating environment for most local
companies. Several gold
producers have closed down while others have been
forced to scale down their
operations in order to remain
viable.
The gold producing sector contributes about a third of
the country’s
gross national product.
Own Correspondent
Daily News
National disaster in the making
AS
Zimbabwe lurches from one crisis to another, the country’s sole
blood bank,
the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS), has warned that
it might be
forced to close down in September if it fails to urgently import
materials
used in testing donated blood for diseases.
The organisation
has enough blood testing re-agents to last until
September, after which it
cannot continue to operate unless new supplies are
imported.
Indeed, the organisation is reported to have run out of re-agents for
testing
blood for Hepatitis B early this year.
It is not clear what
steps have been taken to ensure that this disease
is not passed on to people
who have received blood donated to the NBTS in
the months that the re-agents
have been out of stock.
It is frightening that there is a real
possibility that Zimbabwe could
run out of the materials used for testing
blood for several other diseases,
unless the country is able to secure
enough
foreign currency to import these materials in the next two
months.
The re-agents that the National Blood Transfusion
Services presently
has in stock are used to test donated blood for HIV/AIDS,
syphilis and
Hepatitis C.
Because the NBTS clearly cannot
make the decision to play a game of
Russian roulette with people’s lives by
accepting blood that could be
contaminated and which it cannot test, the
organisation will have to shut
its doors when it runs out of blood testing
re-agents.
As one NBTS official put it: “If we fail to source
foreign currency to
buy the re-agents, then it will mean closing down or
supplying blood without
testing it, which is really
impossible.
“The only way, therefore, for the organisation to
continue operating
is to get the re-agents because there is no point in
stocking blood when we
cannot test it.”
We hope that the
relevant authorities in the Ministry of Health fully
appreciate the
consequences of not urgently dealing with this crisis.
Their handling of the situation so far does not inspire confidence.
Supplies of Hepatitis B re-agents have been discontinued because the
ministry
failed to secure hard cash to pay off an R80 000 (Z$8.5 million)
debt. Yet
the NBTS indicated as early as March that this debt had to
be
cleared.
How much blood is the NBTS holding that could be
contaminated with
Hepatitis B and how many people are being put at
risk?
It is because lives are at risk that we hope the
government has come
up with some plan for dealing with the situation at the
national blood bank
now, while there is still time to avert a
catastrophe.
It will clearly serve no purpose for the
government to allow the
nation’s blood bank to run out of the re-agents that
remain in stock and
then try to deal with the situation when Zimbabwe is
already faced with the
consequences of letting the crisis get out of
hand.
Although Zimbabwe is battling severe foreign currency
shortages, this
cannot be used as an excuse if the worst happens and the NBTS
is unable to
continue operating.
While Zimbabwe can more or
less continue to function with limited
supplies of foreign currency, raw
materials and spare parts, the nation
cannot operate with no supplies of
blood.
Many people will die needlessly if they cannot receive
the crucial
blood transfusions that would save their lives.
Averting such a situation should be one of the government’s
top
priorities.
If the government is able to import brand
new vehicles for its many
officials, it should certainly be able to find the
hard cash to import
materials that will enable it to avert several
unnecessary deaths. If the
government fails to treat the crisis at the NBTS
with the urgency it
deserves, Zimbabweans will rightly lay the blame for the
resulting
fatalities at its door.
Daily News
Letters
We will never make ends meet, at this
rate
When we are about to make ends meet, they move the
ends.
This short thesis aims at highlighting when, how, and why
the
responsible people, or is it irresponsible people, move these
ends.
There is now in Zimbabwe a wide gap between the current
but
unprecedented escalation of prices of basic commodities and the
continued
stagnation of workers’ salaries (we call them salaries for want of
a better
term, for they are not really salaries).
How and
when: the ends are shifted when the poor are just within reach
of things
traditionally perceived to belong to the rich only.
This is
when workers receive a rare increment and there is scramble
for basic
commodities and a few luxuries. The ends are then moved by
increasing the
very prices of those necessities, so that they remain the
privilege of the
few.
In the year 2003, the face of virtually every worker is a
map of
tension because of the treatment they are being subjected to by
political
leaders.
After such treatment, the leaders then
address the workers looking
deceptively relaxed and cheerful. To be smiled at
is not to be loved.
Why: the ends are moved because the leaders
are trying to teach of us
about the existence of only two worlds, that of the
eater and that of the
eaten.
They try to hide the truth from
us, the truth of the existence of a
third world, that of the revolutionary
overthrow of the system of the eater
and the eaten.
But
certainly, the voice of the worker shall conquer. It is a whisper,
but it is
clear.
Jeffrey Chikuku
Harare
Daily News
Letters
Destroying our country just to maintain
hold on power
What is happening in Zimbabwe makes me
sad.
In his quest for more power, one man is destroying the
economy of a
country with great potential.
There are so many
mineral resources in the country and very fertile
soils to go with it, but
all this is being given away.
I was shocked to learn that
people from Libya, China and all those
“friendly” countries now own farms in
Zimbabwe.
The white farmers from whom farms were taken are
Zimbabwean and have
Zimbabwean IDs and passports.
Are George
Bush and Tony Blair the ones who are causing all our
problems? In January
2001, I bought bread for $16 and now it sells for $1
000. How many can afford
it at that price?
President Mugabe and all his old ministers
should retire now before
they take us all down with them. Maybe I’m wrong,
but I don’t think so.
Paul Nyangai
Masvingo
Daily News
Letters
Teachers’ salaries cannot buy
basics
Although the government must be hailed and applauded for
finally
addressing the nearly twenty-three-year-old teachers’ request for
better
remuneration and improved working conditions, there is still more to
the
issue than meets the eye.
The so-called job evaluation
exercise that should have been completed
before 31 December 2002 may look
like a masterpiece when one looks at the
gap between the initial salary and
the proposed new one.
When one takes a pragmatic approach,
working out the new figures given
in relation to the drastic rate of
inflation, teachers still find themselves
miserably at the bottom of the
ladder, considering their social status.
What are being
proposed as teachers’ new salaries for this year should
have been their
salaries as of last year.
If a good radio is currently going
for $950 000, a television set for
more than $1 million when a teacher’s
gross salary falls far short of these
figures, what option do teachers have
than to demand even bigger increments?
Come July pay day, the
prices of appliances and commodities will have
doubled or trebled, leaving
teachers psychologically emaciated and
financially paralysed.
Shame!
If one cannot raise an instalment of $134 000 for the
purchase of
household assets such as fridges, radios or televisions, at their
current
cost before prices are hiked beyond reach this July, then the
Zimbabwean
teacher will remain a laughing stock in society.
When teachers went on strike last year, their demand was for better
salaries
in order to be able to purchase personal property. The government
must be
reminded that no teacher in Zimbabwe, not even married couples, can
buy
property using their individual or combined salaries since 2001, even
with
the recently announced salary grades.
Therefore, my message to
my fellow teachers is the struggle continues.
A luta
continua!
Let us brace ourselves for an even more turbulent
year in 2003. We
were deceived that our salaries would be back-dated to
January and when we
do get them, they will have been mercilessly and
seriously eroded by
inflation.
The doctors’ demand for a
starting salary of $2 million is more than
sufficiently reasonable, because
they worked hard to be where they are!
Meet you at Greatermans,
Pelhams, Nyore-Nyore and Downtown Furniture,
buying your long-needed beds,
cookers, hi-fis, television sets, bedroom and
dining room suites with your
paltry “hefty” July gardener’s salaries.
Sinyoro
Harare
Daily News
ZANU PF cannot expect nation to applaud its
destruction
AS I write, most Zimbabweans have lost all hope of
finding solutions
to getting out of the current political
impasse.
Some thought the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC)-driven ‘final push’ would do the trick, while others maintained
it
would be talks between President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai that would extricate us from the morass.
Slowly, hope in any of the above seems to be fizzling out.
An
atmosphere of dejection and despair seems to have engulfed
most
Zimbabweans.
Questions are ringing in many people’s
minds: how should we tell this
man called Mugabe that we are really
suffering? How could we, as many as we
are, remind him that lying to the
whole nation that everything is rosy in
this country does not fill our empty
tummies?
Those who are vulnerable to fear have already resigned
themselves to
fate. To these people, no one can convince the old man that
people, in as
much as they revered him so much during the liberation
struggle, have come
to the stage where they now hate him in equal
proportion.
They cite and acknowledge the valour exhibited by
Tsvangirai in
demystifying Mugabe’s omnipotence, but they still argue that in
as far as he
has so gallantly fought, he has not done enough practically to
be crowned
messiah of the troubled souls of our country.
Zimbabwe is now a country of despair.
Although Mahatma Gandhi
once proclaimed that even tyrants who at one
time appear invincible will one
day face an ignominious fate, the people of
our country have reached their
tethers’ end.
We have unofficially renounced our ability to
master the destiny of
our country.
The old and the young
alike have jettisoned their bags of hope and
they have now adopted a
fatalistic attitude.
Can we say we have all been pushed into a
corner and no one can
manoeuvre, unless one parrots the ruling party’s
meaningless slogans?
The dear old man has remained resolute in
riding a dead horse. He has
enjoyed it, but still he fails to realise that
the dead horse takes him
nowhere.
We have been plunged into
a crisis and it is most painful to see our
tormentors wishing themselves many
more years in perpetuating their evil.
Mugabe may want to
portray United States President George W Bush as an
agent of the devil, but I
doubt if the majority of our nation agree with
this kind of thinking. As long
as Mugabe presides over the sinking ship
called Zimbabwe, no one in his right
senses can harken to the calls by
Mugabe that Bush’s agenda in Africa is to
entrench the ugly hand of
imperialism.
Mugabe should know
that the people of this country are so enlightened
as to know what is good or
bad.
In a rare bid to compare the two, it should not surprise
you if Bush
commands more respect in Zimbabwe than Mugabe is
enjoying.
The reason is there for everyone who is not having a
decent meal each
day to see.
The troubled souls of this
country deserve respect from the ruling
party.
Yes, we know
that power is inexorably sweet and no one would wish to
relinquish it, but
not at the cost of our right to life.
The despair that has gripped
the nation has forced most of our people
to place their hopes in the concern
Bush has for our country. It is
interestingly unanimous that Mugabe is the
undesirable element in our midst
and we have run out of ideas as to how to
swiftly get rid of him. So, if
Bush knows the formula, who will deter him
from doing so as long as he is
speeding up what we all wish to see even those
in Zanu PF? Life in Zimbabwe
has become a nightmare for many of us, and who
would question me if I
entrust my hope in foreign powers? The aspect of
nationalism that is
preached by Mugabe is moribund in our epoch. What
nationalism, what
patriotism if my tummy is only full of water which may not
even be properly
treated? To hell with it. The dear leader should know that
the country is
never governable as long as its inhabitants are being exposed
to baffling
levels of penury. ZANU PF has done enough harm to our country and
yet the
party brags about having achieved tremendous work for for the now
hungry
nation. What does it help if one spends 23 years building a beautiful
house
only to torch it thereafter? There will be no credit for that, only
scorn
from onlookers. By Jack Zaba Jack Zaba is a student at the University
of
Zimbabwe
Reuters
15 Jul 2003 17:06:00 GMT
Mercy Corps Begins
Emergency Food Program in Zimbabwe to Assist
Families Suffering from
Drought
Mercy
Corps
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercy
Corps - USA
Website: http://www.mercycorps.org
PORTLAND, OR
(July 14, 2003) ñ Mercy Corps has launched an emergency food
program to aid
schoolchildren and families in Zimbabwe suffering from severe
food shortages
and deteriorating economic conditions.
Mercy Corps will be working with
local partners in Manicaland Province in
eastern Zimbabwe to increase food
security in the region. Through a
nine-month program funded by the European
Commission Humanitarian Aid office
(ECHO), Mercy Corps will establish 20
community vegetable gardens and
provide nutritional supplements to 16,000
school-age children each day.
"There are some very serious immediate
needs in this region of Zimbabwe and
we hope to help people meet those needs,
while also working with our
partners to build long-term food security," said
Nicole Demestihas, Mercy
Corps Senior Program Officer for Africa.
The
emergency food program comes at a time when an estimated 6.7
million
Zimbabweans - nearly half the country's population - is unable to
meet their
basic food needs. A crippling drought has caused crop failure
throughout the
country and has led to widespread food shortages. Political
uncertainty, a
sharp decline in economic conditions and high rates of
HIV/AIDS has left the
population particularly vulnerable to hunger and
disease.
The community vegetable gardens are expected to provide 1200
families with
access to essential vitamins and proteins, as well as help to
create
income-generating opportunities.
The school-feeding component
of the program will provide students with a
high calorie, nutritious
supplement each school day, while encouraging
school attendance. A Mercy
Corps assessment last fall revealed that because
of the deteriorating
conditions, many students are only able to eat one meal
per day and there is
an increased risk of increased school dropout rates.
Mercy Corps will be
working in partnership with a pair of local
non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) - Christian Care and Manicaland
Development Association (MDA) - that
each has more than two decades
experience promoting rural development and
providing emergency relief
assistance.
Economic Revival Programme Struggles to Do the Job
UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks
July 15, 2003
Posted to the web July 15,
2003
Johannesburg
Soaring inflation, acute food shortages and a
decline in foreign investment
are seen as some of the factors contributing to
Zimbabwe's slip in this
year's human development rankings.
According
to the UN Human Development Report 2003, Zimbabwe dropped to 145th
position
from 128th place achieved in 2002. The country was one of the
worst
performers among developing countries.
The human
development index is a composite measure of average achievement in
three
basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life,
education and
a decent standard of living.
Life expectancy at birth in Zimbabwe is now
estimated at 35 years for the
period 2000 to 2005, as compared to 61 years in
1990. Moreover, the country
has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates
(34 percent) in sub-Saharan
Africa.
Observers have noted that since
1996 the country has undergone "accelerated
deterioration in the
socio-economic situation".
The government is struggling to cope with an
inflation rate of 300 percent,
while 70 percent of the labour force is
unemployed.
"There has been a downward economic trend in the last 7
years, but one of
the main reasons for the sharp decline in recent years is
the land reform
programme. Effectively, by appropriating 4,500 farms, the
government closed
down 4,500 big businesses that provided employment for
thousands of people,"
independent economist John Robertson told
IRIN.
To halt the deterioration in the economy, the government launched
the
National Economic Revival Programme (NERP) in February 2003.
But
Robertson said while NERP acknowledged some of the challenges facing
the
government, the programme "failed to provide a
solution".
"Although the programme broadened economic policy
decision-making to include
government, the private sector and labour, there
has yet to emerge a
workable answer to the myriad of problems facing
Zimbabweans," Robertson
said.
Ananova
UK 'must give Mugabe an exit'
The Government is
being urged to step up its diplomatic efforts to deal with
the situation in
Zimbabwe which had been marked by a "catastrophic failure".
Tory Boris
Johnson said it was no longer good enough just to stand by.
But junior
Foreign Office Minister Chris Mullin insisted it would be
"absolute folly"
for the UK to act unilaterally.
Mr Johnson, the MP for Henley, told MPs
in Westminster Hall: "British and
global diplomatic efforts have been marked
by a catastrophic failure.
"The Government has oscillated between apathy
and the kind of megaphone
diplomacy that simply plays into Mugabe's
hands."
President Robert Mugabe, who is 79, was "desperate" for a way out
of power,
he said.
This was partly because Mr Mugabe was aware of his
own failure and also
there were elements within Zanu PF that saw him as a
liability. The question
is whether the UK provides him with that exit," he
said.
"I don't think it is any longer good enough for the British
Government to
say that it is powerless and that anything it does simply makes
matters
worse. I believe that a policy of standing on one side is no longer
good
enough and it is time for us to re-engage for the good of Zimbabwe and
the
suffering people of that country."
Mr Johnson said there was
unlikely to be a military solution in the short
term.
He acknowledged
that there always had been an "overwhelming case" for land
reform in
Zimbabwe.
Story filed: 15:03 Tuesday 15th July 2003
News24
UN to focus on Africa's strife
15/07/2003 10:50 -
(SA)
New York - The United Nations is focusing its attention on
Africa, one of
the world's most politically troubled continents.
It
has decided to downsize its peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone,
upgrade
its mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and push for the
creation of
a new UN intervention force in Liberia.
All three developments are taking
place simultaneously, underlying the heavy
emphasis on a continent which is
experiencing 10 different inter-state and
intra-state conflicts, including
those in Burundi, Liberia, DRC, Cote
d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and
Zimbabwe.
After a visit to the White House on Monday, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said he expected about 1 000 to 1 500 troops
from the Economic Community of
West African States (Ecowas), including
contingents from Nigeria and Ghana,
to form a regional peacekeeping force to
end the civil war in Liberia.
The United States, which has sent in a
military team to assess the situation
in Liberia, has demanded that President
Charles Taylor leave the country
before the arrival of any troops in the
capital of Monrovia.
Want a ceasfire that will hold
US President
George W Bush said after meeting Annan: "I assured (the
secretary-general)
that our government's position (on Liberia) is a strong
position.
"We
want to enable Ecowas to get in and help create the conditions necessary
for
the ceasefire to hold, that Taylor must leave, and that we'll
participate
with the troops," he added.
Although the United States has refused to
make any firm troop commitments
for a peacekeeping force in Liberia, Bush
said his administration was still
debating how Washington could logistically
help create the new mission.
"I told the secretary-general that we wanted
to help, and there must be a UN
presence, quickly, in Liberia," he
said.
Bush also said he discussed how long it would take for UN
"blue-helmeted"
troops to arrive in Liberia.
"We would not be
blue-helmeted. We would be there to facilitate - and then
to leave," he
said.
Serious human rights abuses
The secretary-general has
described the situation in Liberia as
"deplorable", with a million people
trapped in Monrovia, and with 80% of the
country
inaccessible.
Liberia's humanitarian needs were "very serious", Annan
said, adding that
the country was also facing serious human rights
abuses.
"I think whatever we can do to help the Liberian situation will
be
appreciated by millions, not just in Liberia, but also around
the
continent," he added.
Annan said that with the arrival of a
vanguard Ecowas force, Taylor had
promised to leave Liberia.
"And then
the force will be strengthened, hopefully, with US participation,
and
additional troops from the West African region," he added.
Eventually, UN
blue helmets would be sent to stabilise the situation, along
the lines of the
UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone.
"Once the situation is calmer
and stabilised, the US will leave and UN
peacekeepers will carry on," said
Annan.
Mission being phased out
After a closed-door meeting on
Monday, Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain,
president of the 15-member
security council, said they had agreed to
"respond quickly" to Annan's
proposal last week for a reduction of the UN
mission in Sierra Leone
(Unamsil).
The 13 000-strong Unamsil, the biggest single UN peacekeeping
force, is to
be gradually phased out, with a view to a complete shutdown by
December next
year.
Annan has said that if the security situation
continues to improve in Sierra
Leone, Unamsil will close shop as early as
June next year.
The peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone has cost the
United Nations more than
$500m (about R3 800) annually.
After a
five-year civil war that killed more than 10 000 people and
displaced several
hundred thousand, a democratically elected government
under President Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah signed a peace treaty with the rebel
group Revolutionary United
Front (RUF) in November 1996.
In May 1997, however, Kabbah was ousted in
a military coup, but was restored
to power in March 1998 with the help of a
regional African peacekeeping
force, the economic community of West African
states monitoring group
(Ecmog), led by neighbouring Nigeria.
Although
Kabbah regained office after a 10-month-long exile, the remnants of
the RUF
continued their fight despite the peace treaty.
The United Nations
decided to send a peacekeeping force in October 1999 to
stabilise the Kabbah
government.
Meanwhile, the UN mission in DRC (Momuc) has been trying to
monitor a
ceasefire since November 1999.
But the situation has taken a
turn for the worse with ethnic clashes of
genocidal proportions breaking out
in the town of Bunia.
10 800 troops for DRC
Annan has proposed
that the 4 500-strong Monuc be upgraded to a 10
800-strong force: more than
doubling the present military strength.
"I think we are making progress
on the Congo peacekeeping force," he sa8id
on Monday.
"We have asked
for an increase in the ceiling (to 10 800 troops), and I
think that is going
to be done," he said.
Last month, the security council approved a 1
400-strong rapid deployment
force specifically to contain the ethnic conflict
in DRC.
The force, led by 1 000 French troops, has a mandate to complete
its
peacekeeping mission by September this year.
In a 10-page briefing
paper titled "The regional crisis and human rights
abuses in West Africa,"
the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the
security council should
hold governments in West Africa accountable for
their support of abusive
regimes and rebel groups.
"Just a month ago, Cote d'Ivoire was the big
concern. Today, it's Liberia,"
said HRW's Peter Takirambudde. <>p"This
downward spiral in the region must
be stopped, which means addressing the
main human-rights abusers throughout
the region, and improving protection of
civilians." - Sapa-IPS
Financial Times
Tsvangirai lawyers
say treason tape flawed
By Stella Mapenzauswa
(Reuters) - July 15 2003 17:51
HARARE (Reuters) - Lawyers in
the treason trial of Zimbabwean
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai say that
a videotape the state says
shows him plotting President Robert Mugabe's
murder may have been tampered
with.
Tsvangirai and senior
colleagues from the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) could face death
sentences if convicted of an
alleged plot to kill Mugabe last year amid
Zimbabwe's worst political and
economic crisis in decades.
All three have pleaded not guilty and their lawyers have asked
the High Court
to dismiss the charges, saying the state failed to present a
solid case and
that its two main witnesses were biased and unreliable.
The
state's case rests mainly on a grainy videotape of a meeting
in Montreal
between Tsvangirai and Canadian-based political consultant Ari
Ben-Menashe in
which the prosecution alleges Mugabe's "elimination"
was
discussed.
Ben-Menashe has admitted he taped the
meeting solely to get
evidence for the government -- with which he later
signed a political
lobbying contract. But he denies entrapping Tsvangirai,
whose MDC represents
the most potent challenge to Mugabe's rule since
independence from Britain
in 1980.
On Tuesday defence
lawyer Chris Anderson said differences
between a transcript of the video
produced by Ben-Menashe's firm and another
made by a Zimbabwe government
employee suggested two different tapes were
used.
He also
questioned the sound and video quality of the tape,
saying the murkiness of
the picture made it difficult to see if there was
synchronisation of pictures
and sound.
"It is submitted that the conclusion is
inescapable that the
videotape cannot be the original or has been tampered
with," Anderson told
the court, saying the video should be rejected as
unreliable.
Tsvangirai is currently free on bail on a second
treason charge
based on government allegations that he tried to instigate the
overthrow of
Mugabe's government through mass protests staged by the MDC last
month.
The MDC and several Western countries accuse Mugabe of
rigging
his re-election in 2002 and blame his government for chronic food and
fuel
shortages and inflation running at 300 percent -- one of the highest
rates
in the world.
Mugabe says the MDC is a stooge of
Western powers and insists
the economy has been sabotaged by his opponents in
retaliation of his
seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to
landless blacks.
ZIMBABWE: Formal appeal for food aid on the way
IRINnews Africa, Tue
15 Jul 2003
© IRIN
President Robert Mugabe's cabinet
to digest crop forecast before aid
appeal is made
JOHANNESBURG,
- A disagreement over official crop forecast figures has
been identified as
the reason why the government of Zimbabwe has delayed
making a formal appeal
for food aid.
The latest crop and food supply assessment mission by
the UN World
Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation
estimated
that 4.4 million people in rural areas and 1.1 million in urban
areas would
require food assistance in 2003/04.
Zimbabwe is once
again the country worst affected by food shortages in
Southern
Africa.
But despite warnings that aid agencies were running out of
in-country
stocks to feed the millions in need, WFP has been unable to secure
funding
from donors because there has been no official appeal for aid from
the
government of Zimbabwe.
Lancaster Museka, the permanent
secretary in Zimbabwe's social welfare
ministry, told IRIN on Tuesday the
government would probably be able to make
a formal appeal on
Wednesday.
The delay was due to a disagreement over crop forecasts
presented by
the central statistical office, but this had now been resolved.
The cabinet
was sitting on Tuesday and "one of the items on the agenda is the
crop
forecast ... from which the figures for the appeal will
come".
By Wednesday "we expect to give them [WFP] the figure, once
cabinet
has approved it. As of now we don't know what they will come up with,
but
... I think we will have a figure [for aid agencies]", Museka
said.
WFP had stressed that a "formal appeal for specific amounts
of food
aid" was a requirement for "several major donors", who would
otherwise not
be able to commit resources to food aid in Zimbabwe.
News24
Prison deaths raise eyebrows
15/07/2003 13:40 -
(SA)
Ceaphasi Mutubuki
Harare - An unusually high number of
prison deaths has been reported and
recorded in Harare's three main prisons
from June 28 - July 1, 2003.
The deaths were announced on radio two weeks
after the fact.
Seperate incidents have been reported in the private
media of relatives
being up in arms over delays in announcing the deaths of
inmates to their
next of kin.
A Radio Zimbabwe presenter read out more
than 15 names of inmates who had
died in Harare's three main prisons,Harare
Central, Harare Remand and
Chikurubi Maximum. A high number of the dead came
from Remand - most died on
June 28.
Zimbabwe's prisons are reported to
be overflowing with inmates owing to a
slow penal and judicial system, run on
skeleton staff.
Most magistrates have resigned here over poor pay and
conditions of service,
throwing an already fragile situation into total
chaos.
Most suspects have to wait more than two years to go to
trial.
Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who spent more than two
weeks behind
bars talked of overcrowding in the cells. He is reported to have
shared one
cell with more than 70 inmates.
Analysts here suspect that
cold conditions in the holding cells may have
caused the deaths of most
inmates. June and July are Zimbabwe's coldest
months.
Efforts to get
comments from the relevant authorities proved fruitless.
Independent (UK)
Secret deal paves way for Mugabe exit this year
By
Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
15 July 2003
Robert Mugabe
will relinquish his leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling party by
December, paving
the way for his exit as President and new elections by June
2004, the South
African President Thabo Mbeki has told George Bush.
The Independent has
established that Mr Bush has pledged a reconstruction
package for Zimbabwe
worth up to $10bn (£6.2bn) over an unspecified
timeframe, if a new leader
takes over.
The deal was discussed by the two leaders during a private
meeting in
Pretoria last week.
Important differences remain:
Washington is anxious to make the money
conditional on the emergence of a new
leader chosen by the Zimbabwe people
in an election rather than an anointed
successor from the ranks of the
ruling party. Mr Mbeki by contrast, is not a
supporter of the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and is
open to a successor
emerging from the ruling party.
But the agreement
that Mr Mugabe must go is a critical breakthrough in
efforts to end
Zimbabwe's political crisis. Mr Mbeki has been a close ally
of the Zimbabwean
President in the face of mounting international criticism
over his human
rights record and land seizure policies blamed for bringing
the country to
the brink of famine.
Mr Mbeki's assurance to Mr Bush that Mr Mugabe will
stand aside is believed
to be based on a personal promise extracted from the
Zimbabwean leader.
Under the plan, he has promised to step down as leader
of the ruling Zanu PF
party at its annual congress in December as a first
step. In practice,
stepping down as head of Zanu's all-powerful Politburo
means he would become
a figurehead, since the Zimbabwe cabinet implements the
policies formulated
by the Politburo.
During his meeting with Mr Bush,
Mr Mbeki asked the American President to
avoid making statements openly
critical of the 79-year-old Zimbabwe leader,
which he fears could scupper the
plan. Mr Bush said he would continue to
speak out on human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe.
Mr Bush surprised Zimbabwe opposition figures when at a press
conference
after the Pretoria meeting he presented a united front with Mr
Mbeki, and
declared him the "point man" on Zimbabwe.
Privately Mr Bush
is said to have exerted pressure on the South African
President by indicating
that South African companies would benefit from the
aid package for Zimbabwe,
since many of them would be well placed to bid for
contracts. South African
firms are owed huge amounts of money by Zimbabwe,
mainly for fuel and
electricity supplies.
Evidence that Mr Mugabe has promised to quit his
party post in December is
emerging from within the ruling party, where
distinct factions are already
vying to succeed him.
His favoured
successor, the Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has
made public
appearances seen as a careful attempt to market himself for
the
presidency.
Dumiso Dabengwa, an ex- home affairs minister and
former adversary of Mugabe
who later served in his cabinet, also emerged at
the weekend to express his
interest. The former finance minister Simba Makoni
and the Special Affairs
Minister, John Nkomo, are also in the succession
race. Senior opposition
officials from the MDC also met top US administration
officials in Pretoria
last week during Mr Bush's visit.