The Sunday Times, UK July 16, 2006
RW Johnson, Cape
Town
IN the past seven months, Chinese dealers have
bought 30 tons of
ivory from Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority - representing
the tusks of some 2,250
elephants.
"It's an incredibly profitable trade," said one
game ranger.
"They've not only run the parks' stockpile right down, but
elephants are now
being poached across the border from Botswana and other
neighbouring
countries to fulfil the demand, which seems to be
bottomless."
The purchases are typical of China's
rapacious scramble for
Africa, in which oil, minerals and all manner of raw
materials are being
eagerly snapped up. Opportunities for deal-making are
swiftly exploited,
sometimes with detrimental effects on the
continent.
Under the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered
Species, which controls the world's ivory trade, President Robert
Mugabe's
Zimbabwe has a special concession that allows it to sell lots worth
£270 or
less. This loophole has allowed the burgeoning trade to develop.
Chinese
money is now fuelling widespread poaching. Two months ago Zimbabwe
police
caught Chinese dealers with seven tons of ivory, of which four tons
came
from illegal sources.
"They deliberately mix legal
and illegal stuff together as a
disguise," the ranger said. "Of course, the
case hasn't come to court and
probably it never will, given President
Mugabe's 'look east' policy and his
passionate enthusiasm for all things
Chinese."
In recent months Mugabe has been exhorting
Zimbabweans to learn
Mandarin and take up Chinese cuisine. Beijing's
voracious appetite for raw
materials to sustain a fast-growing economy has
seen Chinese trade and
investment pouring into Africa in the past few years.
In 2003 the total
China-Africa trade was £6.6 billion. By 2005 it had
reached £22 billion.
Human rights activists are appalled at
the way Beijing has
ignored scruples that have made many western investors
wary of dealing with
regimes like those of Zimbabwe and Sudan. "Wherever
there are resources the
Chinese are going to go there," says Peter
Takirambudde, head of the Africa
division of Human Rights Watch. "They see
no evil. They hear no evil. That's
very bad for
Africans."
Indeed, the Chinese go out of their way to
ingratiate themselves
with dictators such as Mugabe, donating the blue tiles
that adorn his new
£7m palace in Harare. They have also decided to foot the
bill for a large
Namibian presidential palace in
Windhoek.
The rhetoric of the China-Africa relationship is
different, with
China claiming to be the champion of all Third World
countries, offering
them a new relationship that will free them from their
dependence on the
northern powers of the G8.
They are
adept at high-profile gestures such as a donation of
four endangered white
Siberian tigers to Zimbabwe for a captive breeding
programme.
They have also succeeded in getting African
states to accept
large numbers of Chinese experts and workers as part of
their investment
packages: 28 "Baoding villages" have been established, each
housing up to
2,000 Chinese workers, in various parts of
Africa.
In Nigeria, a Chinese-language newspaper now serves
50,000
immigrants. At no stage in Britain's colonisation of Nigeria did the
British
numbers reach such a figure. As one opposition figure in Zimbabwe
observed:
"If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have come
and taken
their place."
At grassroots this is highly
unpopular. Chinese goods sent to
Africa are notorious for their poor
quality. None of a shipment of 50 buses
to Zimbabwe is still working and an
order for 250 more has been suspended.
Of three MA60
passenger jets the Chinese sent to Mugabe, one has
never managed to fly, one
had to make an emergency landing at Victoria
Falls, injuring many
passengers, and the third caught fire on take-off in
Harare last week. All
are now grounded.
Moreover, as Eldred Masunungure, professor
of political science
at Harare University, puts it: "The resentment of the
Chinese is not only
widespread, it's deeply rooted."
The
Chinese are generally viewed as loud, uncouth, prone to
spitting and openly
derogatory towards Africans. Worse, the copper mines
they have opened up in
Zambia and Zimbabwe are renowned for low wages,
ferocious labour discipline
and a sky-high accident rate. "That's how they
run things at home, after all
- and on top of that, they despise blacks,"
said one Zimbabwean
engineer.
As with the ivory traders, many Chinese technical
experts
develop other ways of making money. In Harare, some are already a
force in
the drugs trade. In Botswana, Chinese workers brought in by
construction
companies now own hundreds of shops in the capital, Gaborone.
Most worrying
of all, however, is the way Chinese imports have largely wiped
out budding
African industries.
Professor Laurence
Schlemmer of Witwatersrand University's
business school in Johannesburg,
said: "In effect, China is forcing Africa
back into the role of raw material
suppliers - undermining its textile
industry and importing raw cotton
instead."
Such concerns were raised with President Hu Jintao,
who recently
toured Africa. But for the moment the tidal wave of Chinese
money is
carrying all before it. "The Chinese are getting away with claiming
that
they aren't like the other colonialists, but Africans aren't fools," a
South
African economist commented. "The Chinese are far more ruthless than
the
Brits ever were."
zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
HARARE -
PRESIDENT Mugabe, who threatened Friday to "cleanse" his Zanu
PF party of
senior crooked officials profiteering at the expense of the poor
ordinary
person, was at it again yesterday, this time lashing out at
possible
successors whom he said were spending sleepless nights consulting
witchdoctors (n'angas) to guide them to the most prized position of Head of
State.
Speaking in jest at a Zanu PF National Consultative
Assembly, held
after the Central Committee meeting yesterday, Mugabe said
those who wanted
to succeed him in leading the party and government should
not resort to
witchdoctors since the biggest witchdoctor was the people of
Zimbabwe. Only
the people would choose their next leader, he
said.
"The things we hear about succession, succession, succession
-
zvatinonzwa zvacho, zvakaoma. Hapana zvakadaro. If I were to write books,
I
would write volumes and volumes of nonsensical things," he said to rousing
laughter from the auditorium. "Vamwe vanoenda kun'anga kuti ndinoda kuita
ichi. Imi weee . . . N'anga huru is the people of Zimbabwe. Hazvina n'anga
mukati izvi."
When literally translated Mugabe was saying: "We
hear lots of
unbelievable stories about the succession issue. There are so
many stories
doing the rounds. We hear some people are consulting
witchdoctors, what they
should know is that the biggest witchdoctor is the
people of Zimbabwe. There
is no need to consult witchdoctors at all to get
the job."
"If you do your work and work with the people well, the
people will
recognise you. Unhu hwako tinenge tichida kuti hunge huri
hwakanaka. (We
want people with dignity.)"
Zanu PF party is
currently divided over Mugabe's succession with many
trying to position
themselves that is if he leaves office in 2008. Two major
camps led by Zanu
PF kingmaker, General Solomon Mujuru and Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the former
powerful State Security Minister of the 1980s,
popularly known as Ngwena in
political circles, are tussling it out to have
one of their own taking over
from Mugabe.
At yesterday's meeting Mugabe said it was surprising
that all the time
the party was discussing the same issues but without
implementation on the
ground because of lack of unity and sense of purpose.
Most of the
differences boil down to the succession issue.
"Divisions, disunity, selfishness, individualism, those evils are
killing
us," he told the party members.
Mugabe, blamed for the past 26years
for failing to fire dead wood from
his Cabinet though from time to time he
uses public platforms and trips
abroad to castigate non-performing
ministers, crooks and thieves amongst his
lieutenants and polygamists, went
on to attack senior party officials for
their philandering behaviour. Most
of them are known for what is now
commonly known as the "small houses" in
the country where they keep their
mistresses, second or third wives in
luxury.
"Varume, unonzwa kuti anemwana apa, apo nepapapo - vakadzi
apa, apo
nepapapo (Some men have several children and wives all over the
place)," he
said as he gestured towards the popular and expensive Avenues
area where
most of his senior officials are said to maintain a number of
mistresses.
"I don't know why we built these (Avenues) flats. The
law is that if
you get married at the Magistrate's Court, it's one man one
wife. If you don't
want that, then do it the traditional way. But also, some
women also do
unbelievable things."
Mugabe said evidence in the
party has so far shown that most senior
ruling party officials were not
heeding advice on the dreaded HIV/Aids
pandemic hence many were succumbing
to illnesses related to the scourge.
He again blamed Britain and
the USA for spearheading a campaign to
tarnish Zimbabwe's image
internationally, applying targeted sanctions that
were crucifying the
country's economy and related ills. He said the MDC was
a product of the
British government and did not have independent ideas on
how to rule the
country.
Mugabe said he was sure things would change for the better
in the
country with a lot happening between now and December.
"We cannot fail and we cannot collapse," he said to rapturous applause
from
the Zanu PF National Consultative Assembly.
From PBS Frontline/World (US), 27 June
Sazini Mpofu is a former Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) opposition
activist who worked with fellow member Khethani Sibanda.
After both men were
arrested in 2001 on trumped-up charges of kidnapping and
murdering a
high-ranking member of the ruling party, Mpofu's family home was
burned
down. Mpofu spent three years in prison before he was finally
acquitted.
After his release, he fled to South Africa, and later returned to
Zimbabwe.
In this interview, Mpofu talks about the murder charge and about
his
decision to return to Zimbabwe, despite fear and reprisals, to provide
for
his younger siblings and rebuild the family home.
Alexis
Bloom: How do you feel about being back in Zimbabwe?
Sazini Mpofu: It
feels kind of sad. Being back in Zimbabwe reminds me of a
lot of things that
have happened to me and my family since 2001.
What does it remind you
of?
It reminds me mainly of what I went through by being part of the
opposition
party.
Do you think things have changed since
2001?
Yeah, a lot of things have changed. Some things have become
worse than they
were during the time I was arrested. Then, a couple of
things were
affordable. One could at least work and get paid and be able to
look after a
family. But now, you cannot afford to at least look after two
people.
How does it make you feel that you went through all of that
trouble and
sadness and this is where we are today?
It really
does hurt me a lot. Because I thought maybe, you know, some of us
went
through suffering so that others could have a better life. But it seems
that
it's getting worse every day.
When you were arrested, what was the
political climate like versus today?
I think people are no longer
willing to fight. They don't want to get
involved in any political
activities, or even if they're getting involved,
they somehow hide it from
the public because of what they have seen
happening to other people and to
us. They think it's best to just remain in
their homes, close the doors, and
forget about any other issue except their
families and how to
survive.
They say sometimes that a hungry man is an angry man. Do you
think we've
reached that point yet?
No, I think we're still far
from that point because if we had reached that
point, there would be a
difference right now as we speak. People would be
doing something about
what's happening in this country. But everyone is
quiet. If you didn't know,
you'd think everything was perfect in this
country.
That's
something we have noticed. We come here and we drive down the streets
and it
seems perfectly normal. Why does it seem so calm?
People are really
suffering, but now they are hiding that suffering. You get
into your home,
your room, just thinking about it a lot, getting stressed
out. But there is
nothing you can really do about it. If you take it to the
streets in terms
of protest, you get arrested. People are really tired.
People are feeling
the heat, but they're afraid at the same time.
Do you think then that
Mugabe has won?
From Mugabe's point, from the whole of Zanu PF's
point, they're telling
themselves that they have won. Because so far they
have achieved what I
believe is what they wanted. Because people are
suffering, people fear them.
If someone tells you he is a war veteran, you
have to fear him because that
person is capable of actually making you
suffer. He can get you arrested,
get you beaten up, tortured. He won't even
be a policeman, but he can
actually handcuff you and take you to the police
station. Make charges
against you, get you beaten - and there is nothing
that one can do about
that.
Is it one of the government's main
priorities to intimidate its own people?
Personally, I believe that's
what they want - for the people to feel that
the government, their ruling
party, the Zanu PF, is in power. If they didn't
want that, why would they
let people suffer like this? You go to every shop,
you have the money, but
the commodity is not available. It's not that it's
being withheld somewhere.
It's just not there.
Some people say the government relies on
brutality because it doesn't enjoy
popular support.
The Zanu PF
Party doesn't have the support of the people, so they introduce
fear into
the public. They [the people] decide to ignore the whole political
atmosphere because they have seen examples of people being murdered, people
being arrested, people being beaten, houses being burned down. For instance,
my place was burned down during my arrest. So if people see such things
happening to their neighbors, they fear that they might be the next victims,
so they lie low and ignore the political situation.
So your house
was burned down? Explain what happened to you.
It was November 2001.
I was not at home; I was with my girlfriend at her
place. I can say they
were police officers in civilian clothing. Some were
putting on riot police
officer uniforms and some were just putting on these
police uniforms,
carrying rifles and other small guns. That's when they came
to my
girlfriend's place, about 40 meters from my place. They knocked at the
door
and threatened to break down the door. So my girlfriend opened the
door.
They came in and started insulting me without asking any questions.
They
only question I heard them ask was where I was, so she told them I was
in
the bedroom and then they came into the bedroom. They asked for my I.D. I
gave them my passport, and then they started assaulting me without telling
me anything about what was going on. One officer told them to let me get
dressed, and then they handcuffed me from behind. And they started
assaulting me again. I was taken out of the house into the vehicle. There
were two police vehicles parked outside. What happened to my girlfriend
after, I didn't know. I was taken to my place. When we got there, I realized
that they had broken into my room. And there was already another police
vehicle parked in the yard.
I was once a polling agent for the
MDC [Movement for Democratic Change]
during elections, during the 2000
elections. So I had papers, you know,
manuscripts of how one is to conduct
an election, something like that; they
took all those papers and said I knew
a lot of secrets about the MDC that I
was going to tell them. At that point,
they hadn't told me who they were. I
just had to suspect that maybe they
were genuine police officers. Any of
them who wanted to assault me just hit
me whenever he felt it was
appropriate. So they took me out of the room and
into the car, and we drove
all night looking for other suspects I believe
they wanted to arrest. Some
they were arresting, others they were just
beating and leaving. So we got to
the police station during the next
morning. I was taken into a cell and then
to an office where there were
police officers in civilian clothing. They
told me that they wanted me to
agree with what they wanted me to say in
front of the
camera.
They wanted me to say I had a hand in the kidnapping and
killing of Cain
Nkala. At that point, I told them I knew nothing about that
case and I
wasn't involved. So they started assaulting me, all the police
officers who
were there, but there was this one police officer, he was
sitting. He didn't
touch me, just instructed the other police officers to
beat me up. I really
felt the pain during the time they were assaulting me,
so I ended up
agreeing with what they wanted. And that's when they said they
wanted me for
indications. And when we got to the indication site, they
would tell me what
to do. So they took me and Khethani to the
indications.
Explain what you mean by
"indications."
"Indications" is when we are taken to the scene of the
crime to point out
what we did, and how we did it.
So they took
you ...
Yeah, from the police cells to the scene of the crime. When
we got to the
scene of the crime, there were cameras ... the national
television crew were
there and other private organizations and the police
officers with their own
video camera, and they started recording. So before
they started recording,
we were told what we going to say, how we were going
to position ourselves
and point to the graveyard ... to the grave actually.
So what we did is, we
sort of rehearsed the whole thing before it was
recorded on camera. So then
Khethani is the one who was to indicate the body
first, and then I was the
one indicating second, and I was asked questions
by police detectives. All
this was being recorded on camera. After that, we
were taken back to the
cells. And then, I believe that during that day, in
the evening, the footage
that was recorded was shown on national television.
And that was the same
time when my place was burned down.
Were
you surprised that you were arrested?
Yes, definitely. Because Cain
Nkala [the victim who was kidnapped and found
in a shallow grave] was a
friend of my father. And the distance between
Cain's house and my house is
about 600 meters, so it came as a surprise
because when he was kidnapped,
there were a lot of police officers going
around in our area, searching
houses, arresting people. They never
approached us. But surprisingly, they
then came for me and arrested me.
There is some bond between you and
the victim?
Yes. There is a bond because when my mother was ill, Cain
would come and
pray for my mother. So I couldn't have gone to the extent of
kidnapping
someone that I personally knew who was a friend of the
family.
So how could they have had cameras rolling and
ready?
They were asked that question in court. The investigating
officer was asked
how it was possible that they could have organized cameras
and a national
news crew. How could they have known that there was such a
thing going on?
The investigation officer told the court that he didn't
know. He didn't have
any clue how the news crew got to know about the
indications. I think the
whole thing was planned so they could have access
to the footage, to the
pictures. I think the outline of the body was down in
front of the cameras
so they could play that on national news and show that
the MDC was a violent
party. That's what they were trying to achieve - to
show that the MDC was
capable of unspeakable things.
to be
continued...
Dear Family and Friends, It is estimated that well over three
million
Zimbabweans have left the country for political and economic reasons
in
the last six years. This represents almost a quarter of our
population.
For the people who have stayed in Zimbabwe, either by choice or
because
they have no choice, it is hard to understand what it must be like to
live
in exile. From here, we wish we were somewhere with single, double or
even
triple figure inflation. We dream of being able to afford the most
basic
things again -everyday things once taken for granted and now
just
permanently off the shopping list because they are simply too
expensive.
We long for an end to fear and oppression and ache for the time
when we
will again be able to afford to travel to the beautiful places in our
own
country. We long to be able to speak freely again, to stop whispering
and
looking over our shoulders wondering who is listening, who is a spy,
who
we can trust. Mostly though, we long for our families and friends who
have
gone, we miss the community life, the gatherings and the
laughter.
And for the people who have left, the aches and longings of
being
strangers in strange lands are probably even harder. The longings are
for
familiarity, for friends and family left behind, for the climate
and
countryside, and for the laughter in the wind of the country that
will
always be home. Recently someone living in exile said how much they
missed
the colours of Zimbabwe and it made me realise how we take the
richness
and beauty of Zimbabwe for granted.
Winter is almost over
now although we are still waking to blankets of
frost sprinkled on the ground
in the early mornings. The days are mostly
clear, bright and sunny and the
skies are a brilliant blue. The grass is
golden and yellow in the fields and
in the vleis and stream beds the red
hot pokers have almost finished
flowering. In the bush the lucky bean
trees are just opening their clusters
of red flowers and in our towns the
poinsettias are covered in scarlet. In
the highveld the Msasa trees have
begun shedding their load and the ground is
covered with hard, curly, deep
brown pods, their shiny dark brown seeds lying
in the sand waiting for the
rain when they can start the cycle all over
again. And to end our days are
the sunsets which are filled with spectacular
colour: pink and then lilac,
and at last orange and polished
copper.
These are the true and permanent colours of Zimbabwe, refreshed
and
replaced every day. They are the colours of home and frankly, for many
of
us, it is the simple things like this that somedays prevent total
and
utter despair at the horrific situation we are living in. The
other
colours that are temporarily Zimbabwean - brown, purple and green -
they
are just imposters. They are the colours of our bank notes which
aren't
really bank notes and which have expiry dates. They are the colours
of
inflation, oppression and despair and hard as it is to believe, we
know
they will be gone - we pray it will be soon. Until next week, thanks
for
reading, love cathy Copyright cathy buckle 15 July 2006.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
Zim Standard
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO - The Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and
Urban Development, Ignatious Chombo, has
allegedly ordered the Lupane Rural
District Council (RDC) in Matabeleland
North to grant him a tender for a
timber concession in
Lupane.
Authoritative sources said Chombo summoned the Lupane
RDC chief
executive officer, Mhlaseli Mpofu, and directed that the council
grant
Platinum Agriculture and Platinum Chemicals a tender to harvest timber
in
Shabula-Manasa and Lupaka-Zinapi areas.
The
development has resulted in Full Investment, a company which
previously won
a tender to harvest timber in the two areas, being forced out
while Chombo's
company moves in.
Sources told The Standard that Platinum
Agriculture and Platinum
Chemicals are expected to start harvesting timber
in August at the two
timber-rich concession areas.
Documents at the Registrar of Companies, Record 12247/04 of 9
December 2004,
list the directors of Platinum Chemicals as Dakarai Albert
Mapuranga; Calvin
Togara; Dave Jealous Mashayamombe; Tichaona Joseph
Benjamin Jokonya; Olivia
Mambwe; Christopher Mutasa; Waziya Masamba
(Congolese); and Hans Oskar
Schonenberger (Swiss). No records of Platinum
Agriculture could be
found.
However, Mpofu denied allegations that the council,
which falls
under Chombo's ministry, was ordered to grant the timber
concession to
Platinum Agriculture and Platinum
Chemicals.
"There are a lot of rumours to that extent. The
tender committee
is meeting on 19 July to consider applications we got from
various
interested companies. The company you have mentioned has also
applied like
all companies," said Mpofu who denied meeting the
Minister.
But Chombo confirmed the developments when
contacted for
comment.
"I referred Platinum Agriculture
and Platinum Chemicals who had
interest in timber harvesting to the Lupane
council CEO. They indicated that
they had an interest in timber harvesting
and I just facilitated the
proceedings thereafter.
"The
reason being that there has not been a cent that has gone
to the council yet
there are companies that are harvesting timber in the
area. It is a win-win
situation as the RDC would also benefit," Chombo said.
He
added: "I have no interest in that timber concession. Who
told you that the
company is mine? It is not mine. I also did not meet the
CEO."
However, sources say after meeting the Minister
three weeks ago,
Mpofu notified councillors during a full council meeting
that Platinum
Agriculture and Platinum Chemicals had the capacity to harvest
timber in the
area.
"The proper channels were not
followed as applications for the
tender were opened after he had already met
the Minister and after the full
council meeting where he spoke about
Platinum Agriculture and Platinum
Chemicals taking over the timber
concession," said sources.
The Standard established that
applications for the tender were
flighted last Sunday in a weekly newspaper.
The Lupane RDC CEO confirmed
that the council only invited applications for
the tender last Sunday.
Sources said the council is set to
receive half of the logs to
be harvested by Platinum Agriculture and
Platinum Chemicals while Full
Investment employees are to be sub-contracted
by Chombo's alleged company.
Njabuliso Mguni, the MP for
Lupane, accused Chombo of "playing a
corruptive role".
"Everyone should follow the proper channels. He is influencing
and
interfering using his position and where does that leave people without
political connections?"
Numerous efforts to obtain a
comment from Chris Mpala from Full
Investment were fruitless, as he was said
to have gone to St Paul's, deep in
rural Lupane.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE MAPONGA
DESPITE
failure to complete the giant Tokwe-Mukorsi dam and
undertake the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, the government has
resolved to allocate
trillions of dollars towards the construction of a
showpiece parliamentary
complex.
The new complex, expected to take shape over the
next five years
is set to change the face of the Harare
Kopje.
The Standard can reveal that President Robert Mugabe's
Cabinet
has already approved designs for a new modern Parliament building
prepared
by a team of technical experts and the project is expected to start
in
October and end in 2011.
Sources said the team of
experts was appointed by the Ministry
of Local Government, Public Works and
Urban Development and they presented
their findings to Cabinet two months
ago.
But there is already controversy over the massive
complex to be
perched on Harare Kopje, overlooking Simon Mazorodze
road.
Sources question the criterion used to select the
architects,
who won the contract for the designs of the new parliament,
which will
accommodate both the House of Assembly and the
Senate.
The sources said no tenders were floated to determine
the
winners of the contract.
"Architects would normally
be asked to compete, and engineers
and other professionals bid either on
technical evaluation or price, in
accordance with acceptable procedures but
this was not done," said one of
the sources adding that some of the
companies are not Zimbabwean.
The Minister of Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs,
Patrick Chinamasa, confirmed the government was
working on the final
modalities of having a new parliament building but
denied that the people
involved were not locals.
"We are
looking at the modalities of constructing a modern
parliament building in
the Kopje area because the current one is now very
small. The money for the
exercise you are talking about was budgeted for in
this year's budget
statement," Chinamasa said.
He admitted that the funds for
the project are not yet available
but added that they are going to bid for
the money to be approved by
Parliament in the next
budget.
"We are hoping that if funds are made available, the
construction will take between four to five years. This would also be done
on a stage-by-stage basis. The Ministry of Local Government selected the
team of experts and they follow their own procedures. I would also like to
believe that procedure was followed," he said.
Chinamasa
could not be drawn to give the names of the companies
that were involved. He
said the civil works on the project could start in
October this
year.
The current parliament building, which initially housed
one of
the first hotels in Southern Rhodesia, the Cecil Hotel, is very old
and
requires frequent renovations. It is being refurbished every two
years.
Over the years, nearly all government projects have
benefited
Zanu PF cronies and their friends.
Government
has paid out huge consultancy fees to companies even
if there was no chance
of the project being implemented.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE nationwide
strike by 250 junior doctors entered its fourth
day yesterday, virtually
paralysing operations at the country's four major
health institutions, The
Standard can reveal.
The doctors are demanding better
salaries and working conditions
as well as the immediate issuance of
"certificates of good standing" on
completion of their two-year
housemanship.
The doctors are also against forced deployment
to district
hospitals, where there are no drugs, equipment or decent
accommodation.
For the past four days -Harare and
Parirenyatwa, United Bulawayo
Hospitals and Mpilo hospitals - have only been
attending to emergency cases.
Casualty departments at Harare and
Parirenyatwa hospitals were virtually
deserted and patients were being
turned away yesterday.
Officials at the health institutions
said they had suspended
scheduled operations as a result. Most senior
doctors have either gone into
private practice or left the country, they
said.
Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa, the president of the Hospital
Doctors'
Association, said the doctors would only return to work when their
grievances are addressed.
He said junior doctors were
earning Z$57 million a month and
getting a car allowance of $50
million.
As a result, Nyamutukwa said, most of them cannot
afford decent
accommodation, vehicle or "live a life, which tallies with
their social
status".
"Doctors feel that the current
salary and $50 million for car
loans is a mockery," Nyamutukwa
said.
Nyamutukwa also said they would challenge, in court,
the
government's policy of deploying them to district
hospitals.
"Apart from sending us to rural hospitals where
there are no
resources, they are also withholding our certificates of good
standing
(recommendation letters) on completion of bonding so that we stay
in the
country," he said.
Edwin Muguti, the Deputy
Minister of Health and Child Welfare,
said the striking doctors should
return to work while government addressed
their
grievances.
"We are sympathetic to their cause but I urge
them to go back to
work while we look into their grievances. They, however,
should have
followed the right channels before going on strike," Muguti
said.
He said the government, through the Health Services
Board, was
working on improving the doctors' salaries and working
conditions.
Most of the country's health personnel mostly
doctors,
pharmacists and nurses are leaving the country to work in
Australia,
Botswana, Canada, South Africa, UK and the US, where
remunerations and
working conditions are favourable.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT
MUTARE - The Attorney General (AG)'s office
has served Patrick
Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, with
summons to appear before the Rusape Magistrates'
Court tomorrow (17 July) to
answer charges of attempting to obstruct the
course of justice.
Should Chinamasa fail to appear at the
court this time around, a
warrant of arrest would be issued against him,
officials from the attorney
general's office said last
week.
Chinamasa was due to appear in court on 3 July but did
not do so
after the AG's office failed to serve him with
summons.
The charges stem from an incident in which the
justice minister
allegedly tried to influence key witnesses to withdraw
charges arising from
political violence that rocked Makoni North, which
initially was linked to
Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State
Security.
Chinamasa was, however, served with summons on 6
July by an
officer from the police.
"He was served
personally with the summons on 6 July and we now
expect him to come to court
without any problems," said an official from the
AG's office. "If he does
not attend then a warrant of arrest will be issued
against
him."
Chinamasa will be tried together with Innocent Chibaya,
head of
the Central Intelligence Organisation in Manicaland, Cosmas
Chiringa, the
District Administrator for Makoni, Dennis Masiya, a senior
state
intelligence officer, Simba Muzariri and Robson Makoni. Chibaya,
Masiya,
Muzariri and Makoni appeared before the Magistrates' Court in Rusape
and
were remanded on free bail to tomorrow.
It is alleged
that on 18 December 2005 and 25 January this year
Chinamasa and the four
attempted to entice James Kaunye, Leavence Kaunye,
George Mukundu, Fred
Dube, Pedzisai Samanyanga, Wilson Kuwasekera, Emma
Kapundanga, Nurse Zonke
and Idah Chiparange not to give evidence on charges
of political violence
that rocked Makoni in the run-up to the 2005
parliamentary
polls.
He is alleged to have approached them during the Zanu
PF people's
conference in Esigodini in December last year and persuaded them
to drop the
case.
Ruling party supporters loyal to Mutasa
went on a rampage and
beat up war veterans' leader Kaunye and his supporters
for daring to
challenge the powerful Zanu PF secretary for administration in
the
constituency.
Several of Kaunye's supporters were
seriously assaulted
allegedly at the behest of Mutasa and his campaign
manager, Albert
Nyakuedzwa.
Mutasa was later absolved but
23 of his supporters were taken to
court over the incident.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
NEWCOMERS to Mufakose high-density
suburb often assume that the
meandering queue is of people lining up to buy
scarce basic commodities.
But the queue is neither for buying
scarce maize meal nor sugar.
These are desperate people
seeking "help" from a self-proclaimed
prophet, who conducts sessions from
his house.
"We had two deaths in our family in a week. They
say it's AIDS,
but I don't believe it because strange things are happening
in our family,"
said 51-year-old Tapera Mugoni.
Mugoni is
one of several millions of Zimbabweans who are turning
to "spiritual
intervention" to survive the mounting social and economic
problems
bedeviling the country.
Sociologists last week said it is
common for people to seek
religious deliverance when life gets tough. They
said the current
socio-political and economic climate was a ripe condition
for people,
particularly those that occupy the lowest social stratum, to
seek salvation
in faith healing.
More than 80% of the
country's population is poor and struggles
to make ends meet while 3 500
people die of HIV/AIDS related illnesses a
week.
Companies are retrenching, compounding the social and economic
pressures on
the retrenchees, said the sociologists.
Former University of
Zimbabwe vice-chancellor, Professor Gordon
Chavunduka, said it was normal
for human beings to seek divine intervention
in times of
crisis.
"When people are in a crisis they tend to seek
salvation
elsewhere. Some consult traditional healers while others go to the
prophets," said Chavunduka, a sociologist by profession.
Chavunduka, who also heads the Zimbabwe National Traditional
Healers'
Association (Zinatha), attributed the increasing number of people
seeking
spiritual therapy to the high fees demanded by health
institutions.
He said the majority of Zimbabweans couldn't
afford the high
medical fees.
"Faith healing has a lot of
advantages. Apart from being cheap,
it is broader than modern medicine. It
also looks at the social
circumstances that affect the person," said
Chavunduka adding: "A patient
can also pay in installments depending on
affordability."
He estimated that over 70% of the country's
population consult
traditional healers, who number about 50 000. However,
only 25 000 are
registered with Zinatha.
Another
sociologist, Professor Claude Mararike, said initially
it was only people
with abnormal conditions - diseases that cannot be
treated by Western
medicine -- who sought religious therapy.
But with increasing
socio-economic hardships, Mararike said,
more people were seeking religious
therapy because Western medicine has
become too
expensive.
"These days the orthodox (Western) medicine is
becoming more and
more expensive and so people turn to traditional and faith
healers who are
cheaper and therapy does not need foreign currency," said
Mararike, who
chairs the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council
(TMPC).
The University of Zimbabwe sociology lecturer,
however, warned
people to be cautious when seeking therapy from healers, "as
some of them
are fakes and make a living through duping desperate
people".
Pastor Elfas Zadzagomo of Faith World Ministries
said more
people were now being counselled in churches because of economic
and social
pressures.
"When people face problems they
seek consolation in the church
where they meet with other people with
similar problems and share their
experiences. It relieves the pressures. We
also have counsellors who help
people through their problems," Zadzagomo
said.
However, some people who fail to seek counselling ended
up
committing suicide, he said.
Zim Standard
By Peter Marimi
MAKAITA Meja
says that although it is painful to live with AIDS
she is empowered to live
a positive life.
With a smile, she says: "I am very grateful
to Auxillia
Chimusoro for starting Batanai Support Group where I was taught
to live
positively with AIDS. Batanai also taught me to be self-reliant, now
I can
look after my mother and myself. I am also teaching others how to live
positively with AIDS."
Meja was tested in 1998 and found
out that she was already HIV
positive. She was devastated and thought that
she was going to die.
However, hope came her way when she
joined Batanai support group
and received counselling, information and
support.
Now Meja can confidently declare: "Although I am HIV
positive I
feel like anyone else.
I am careful about what
I eat and I also train others how to
live positively with
AIDS."
It all started in 1992 when 12 men and women came
together in
Harare to discuss the plight of people living with HIV and AIDS.
They
decided to go back home and start support groups. This was the birth of
the
support group movement in Zimbabwe.
The late Auxillia
Chimusoro came to Rujeko Township in Masvingo
and started Batanai support
group. Batanai later facilitated the formation
of numerous other support
groups all over Masvingo Province and brought them
together to form a
provincial network under the umbrella of a national
network that is now
called Zimbabwe National Network of People living with
HIV and AIDS
(ZNNP+).
Today Masvingo can boast of being the strongest
provincial
chapter of ZNNP+.
Today Zimbabwe is basking in
the glory of being one of the few
counties in the world that has recorded a
dramatic reduction in HIV
infections. A number of reasons for this reduction
have been thrown around,
but I am still to hear one that mentions any
contribution from people living
with HIV and AIDS.
Sadly,
as usual they are looked at just as statistics.
It is my
strong conviction that people living with HIV and AIDS
through their support
groups are contributing significantly to the dramatic
reduction of HIV
infections that we are witnessing in Zimbabwe. Support
groups are making
people living with HIV and AIDS more visible while
empowering them with
survival skills.
They bring HIV and AIDS into the open and in
the process help to
reduce stigma. The support group is a very effective
awareness and
prevention tool. It is most unfortunate however that we do not
give enough
recognition and support to the support group
yet
it is a powerful weapon that we can use in the fight against
HIV and
AIDS.
The Batanai HIV and AIDS support group, a registered
PVO, fully
recognises the value and importance of the support group and is
in the
process of turning itself into a fully fledged AIDS Service
Organisation
focusing on empowering support groups through programmes that
include
positive living, psycho-social support, treatment and care, gender,
advocacy
and lobbying, and youth development, all in a spirit of love and
care.
* Peter Marimi is co-ordinator of the Batanai HIV
& AIDS Support
group.
Zim Standard
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUTARE - The
government has shot down a request by commissioners
running the eastern
border city to be awarded an assortment of exit perks
describing the request
as a potential scandal.
The Ministry of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban
Development said it was impossible for the
commission's chairman and his
deputy to be awarded exit perks given the
limited duration of their term.
The commission's term ran for only six
months.
The chairman of the commission Fungayi Chaeruka and
Irene Zindi,
his deputy, wanted the council to give them vehicles and
commercial stands,
an upmarket council house and terminal benefits for the
six months they
served on the commission.
But Patson
Mbiriri, the ministry's permanent secretary, shot
down the request saying:
"Given the limited duration of the Mutare City
commission, this ministry is
somewhat surprised at the request which can
only set a dangerous precedent
and is potentially scandalous.
"The commission is requested
to focus on service delivery to the
residents of Mutare and re-establish
normalcy in the affairs of the city. It
should build on its accomplishments
to date."
Mbiriri continued: "By submitting the request, the
Commission
runs the real risk of being misunderstood by Mutare ratepayers
and the
nation at large. The Commission's good record and positive image are
threatened by the request."
Chaeruka, a businessman and
Zindi, a former MP for Hatfield,
Harare, wrote to the permanent secretary
for local government requesting
that they be awarded terminal benefits and
an assortment of other benefits
which includes keeping council vehicles they
were allocated and commercial
stands in recognition for their
services.
Apart from wanting a four-by-four vehicle and a
commercial
stand, Zindi also wanted the council to sell her a suburban house
she
currently occupies in the city for 40% of the actual cost. Property
development analysts have put the cost of the house at about $10
billion.
The commissioners claim they should be awarded the
exit packages
on grounds they helped improve the city's financial
situation.
Zim Standard
By Foster Dongozi
CHURCH leaders
who gathered at State House to meet President
Robert Mugabe in May have
reportedly refused to meet Harare and
Chitungwiza-based pastors to give them
feedback on their meeting with the
Head of State, it has been
learnt.
This emerged from a Zimbabwe National Pastors
Conference (ZNPC)
meeting held in Harare on Wednesday and attended by more
than 60 pastors
from around the country.
ZNPC is the
umbrella body for all pastors in Zimbabwe and cuts
across
denominations.
Three weeks ago, the pastors wrote letters
demanding an audience
with the heads and bishops of Christian denominations
who met Mugabe at
State House.
Leaders from the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches (ZCC), Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, (EFZ) and the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference
(ZCBC) met Mugabe.
The Harare Chapter chairperson of the ZNPC, Reverend Vimbai
Mugwidi, told
the meeting: "We had no response from ZCC and EFZ while the
only response we
had was from Father Chiromba from the Catholic Church, who
said he would be
unable to meet us as he would be out of the country."
The
pastors expressed surprise that their leaders were ready to
hop into bed
with Mugabe while studiously avoiding a meeting with their
constituency.
Church leaders are being accused of helping
Mugabe to recruit
supporters from the Christian community to his Zanu PF
agenda.
Religious leaders have been avoiding the pastors
after it
emerged that they had plotted with Mugabe to create a new Zimbabwe
National
Day of Prayer on 25 June and sideline the traditional National Day
of Prayer
held for many years on 25 May.
Bishop Trevor
Manhanga, the EFZ president, who is the
spokesperson for the bishops who met
Mugabe, said he had not heard about the
request for a feedback meeting with
the pastors.
"This is the first time that I am hearing about
that request. I
am not aware of such a desire by the pastors," he
said.
The Standard is in possession of a copy of the letter
written to
the bishops on 23 June.
It is directed to the
EFZ and copied to the ZCC and ZCBC.
In what could be a
defining moment for Zimbabwean church
politics, the pastors also resolved to
stage a prayer march to express their
solidarity with the poor and
downtrodden people of Zimbabwe.
"We find it particularly
patronising that bishops who have no
idea of the kind of suffering being
experienced on the ground could just
rush off to State House without
consulting pastors on the situation
prevailing on the ground," suggested one
pastor.
"We are the ones who have to look for food, school
fees and
clothes for our flocks and should therefore have been consulted by
our
leaders before they went to wine and dine."
Last
week, angry members of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches
kicked out of office
Bishop Peter Nemapare, one of Mugabe's praise singers
in an election that
sent shockwaves among the President's allies in the
church.
Already attention is focusing on the Evangelical
Fellowship of
Zimbabwe assembly in November when elections to choose new
leaders will be
held.
Manhanga is the darling of some
Zanu PF-controlled media
organisations which have, on the other hand, been
spearheading a campaign to
demonise Mugabe's fiercest critic, Bulawayo
Catholic Archbishop, Pius Ncube.
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY
MUTIMBA
COMMUTER bus operators in Masvingo have expressed
concern over
police, military and intelligence officers, who are looting
subsidised fuel
for public transporters from Mandava Service
Station.
Maina Mandava, a Zanu PF central committee member,
owns the
service station.
Petrol is selling at $23 300 a
litre while diesel is $21 000 a
litre and is meant for commuter bus
transporters.
Fuel sales are controlled by a taskforce, which
comprises
officers from the police, intelligence service and the army and is
led by
Assistant Commissioner Loveness Ndanga.
Police
officers, soldiers, CIO and Zanu PF members have become
the major
beneficiaries at the expense of transport operators - the intended
beneficiaries. They get the fuel in broad daylight at the expense of
commuter buses.
Disgruntled commuter drivers told The
Standard they were
unhappy.
"The fuel is meant for us but
there is rampart corruption as
police officers and soldiers are taking our
fuel, several times before we
are allowed to refuel our vehicles. These
officers will then come to us and
sell the same fuel at the parallel market
rate. We have raised complaints
with their bosses but nothing has been done
so far," said Taurai Murambwa
who was in the queue at the service
station.
When The Standard visited Mandava Service Station on
Wednesday,
security officers and Zanu PF officials who came to the station
were allowed
to fuel their vehicles without even joining the queue while
transporters
were asked to wait until all the officials were
served.
Ray Muzenda, who is a transporter, was barred from
being served
by police officers. He is the National Constitutional Assembly
regional
chairperson for Masvingo.
"I was barred from
buying fuel at the service station by the
police who told me that I was not
Zanu PF because I am the NCA chairperson
here. But what I know is that the
fuel is for the public transporters not
Zanu PF and government officials.
They have their own facilities at CMED yet
we see them getting fuel here
which they sell at the black market," Muzenda
said.
Other
operators said even top police officers were helping their
relatives to get
fuel when the ordinary transport operators were struggling
to get
fuel.
Ndanga declined to comment. "Madii kubata vaBvudzijena
ini
handitauri nemi nyaya dzechipurisa." (Why don't you get in touch with
Bvudzijena. I don't discuss with you police issues), said
Ndanga.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena was not
immediately
available for comment.
Zim Standard
BY A CORRESPONDENT
CHEGUTU
- Two sitting Zanu PF councillors in Chegutu have taken
the council to court
over the demolition of their buildings during last year's
much-condemned
"Operation Murambatsvina".
Alderman Phineas Mariyapera of
Ward 8 and Councillor Mubaiwa
Chikazhe of Ward 10 want to be compensated for
loss of business when their
grinding mills were destroyed during the ensuing
confusion.
According to documents lodged with the High Court,
Mariyapera, a
former deputy Mayor, is suing the Municipality for loss of
business which he
suffered after his grinding mill was destroyed last
year.
Chikazhe is also demanding that the council pays him
$350
million for loss of business emanating from the destruction of his
mill. The
two are arguing that their properties had been built within the
stipulated
areas.
But the council is disputing this,
saying their plans were
fraudulently approved. A council employee, who it
alleges aided them, has
since been dismissed.
Mariyapera,
and Chikazhe, who is the ruling party deputy
chairman for Chegutu District
Co-ordinating Committee (DCC), were on
suspension from the council when
their properties were destroyed.
Chegutu Mayor Martin Zimani
refused to comment on the case
saying the matter was before the courts. The
case began when the council was
headed by MDC Mayor, Francis
Dhlakama.
Chegutu residents say the case could give hope to
many others
who lost their properties during "Operation
Murambatsvina".
Zim Standard
BY
OUR STAFF
SHARP divisions have emerged in Masvingo over
the suspension of
Zanu PF officials amid reports that some members of the
provincial executive
could be settling personal scores.
The Samuel Mumbengegwi-led executive has started purging members
of the
Josiah Hungwe faction, accusing it of plotting his downfall during
last
year's general election.
Mumbengegwi lost the primary
election in Chivi North to Enita
Maziriri. Maziriri is among those who are
suspended, who include Mwenezi
legislator and deputy minister for Education,
Sport and Culture, Isaiah
Shumba, and Chivi District Co-ordinating Committee
chairperson, Sanders
Magwizi.
Five other party officials
in Chivi were also suspended for
allegedly campaigning against Mumbengegwi
during last year's general and
senatorial elections.
The
Masvingo provincial executive has also recommended that the
Zanu PF central
committee suspend former Masvingo provincial governor,
Hungwe, after it
failed to suspend him because he is a member of the ruling
party's central
committee.
A Zanu PF insider, who declined to be named told
The Standard
that Mumbengegwi and Dzikamai Mavhaire, the provincial
political commissar
were on a revenge mission against Hungwe's faction,
blaming it for their
downfall in party politics over the
years.
Mavhaire, who could not be reached for comment
yesterday, was in
the political wilderness for several years and only
bounced back last year
after aligning himself to Masvingo's young Turks such
as Masvingo South MP
Walter Mzembi, who revived the Zvobgo
faction.
A source in the executive said there was no
consensus on the
suspension.
"Mumbengegwi and Mavhaire
are fighting their personal
differences with other members at the expense of
the party. At the end of
the day it is the party that will be affected. They
should settle their
differences alone," said the
official.
Mumbengegwi who was beaten by Maziriri in the party
primary
elections last year also accuses Hungwe's faction of having links to
the
United People's Party led by former Masvingo provincial chairman, Daniel
Shumba. Hungwe denies the allegations. Among some of the prominent Masvingo
Zanu PF provincial executive members opposed to the suspension is Kudzai
Mbudzi, the secretary for economic empowerment and
indigenisation.
Mbudzi was quoted recently saying: "There are
some people here
who would want to use the platform of the provincial
executive to fight
their own political adversaries. If we allow the chairman
to use the
province to fight personal political battles, I will also do the
same when I
become the provincial chairman tomorrow."
Mumbengegwi told The Standard that he was not aware of any
suspensions in
Masvingo.
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
THE Combined Harare
Residents' Association (CHRA) reports that
it is overwhelmed by complaints
from people who have lost their electrical
appliances as a result of
untimely power cuts and electrical surges by the
Zimbabwe Electrical Supply
Authority (ZESA).
Last month, ZESA introduced load-shedding
on the back of an
increase in demand for power that is normally associated
with the cold
season.
However, The Standard understands
that many people are losing
household appliances such as televisions, stoves
and refrigerators as high
voltage power surges destroy their
gadgets.
CHRA Information officer, Precious Shumba, says
since the power
cuts started early last month the association has been
inundated with
complaints from residents from suburbs such as Waterfalls,
Mufakose, Glen
Norah, Highfield and Belvedere whose electrical goods have
been damaged.
CHRA reports that at least 80 households in
Waterfalls lost
electrical gadgets as a result of a recent power cut that
lasted almost
three weeks.
Shumba said the numerous
complaints of damage to property due to
power cuts are proving a "major
problem" and CHRA is exploring the "legal
route" in partnership with its
legal partners as recourse for affected
residents.
National Constitutional Assembly chairman, Lovemore Madhuku,
said affected
residents have a "legal right" to bring ZESA to a civil rights
court and sue
for damages as long as they can prove that damage to their
property has been
as a result of power cuts or surges.
Madhuku said: "The power
cuts by ZESA are intentional and not as
a result of electrical faults.
Therefore ZESA have an obligation to warn
residents prior to any power cuts.
ZESA must be answerable to any damages in
property arising due to their
failure to warn people."
Asked whether the courts would not
be overwhelmed by cases from
individuals suing ZESA, Madhuku said it is
another issue whether or not the
courts have the ability to listen to all
these cases as the bottom line is
that individuals have a legal right to do
so.
A snap survey conducted by The Standard in the central
business
district showed that the cost of electrical goods has sky-rocketed
over
recent months with the cost of replacing them, in the event of damage,
soaring.
Durable television sets with brand names such as
Sony, Philips
and Panasonic are selling in the region of $60 million to $250
million.
Refrigerators with brand names such as Defy, Kelvinator and
Imperial now
cost between $100 million and $450 million.
Some affected residents who spoke to The Standard said they are
irked by the
lack of concern the power utility has shown for their property
by cutting
electricity without any notice. They say that ZESA "played them
for fools"
by publishing a timetable with schedules of power interruptions
in various
suburbs that it has failed to adhere to.
Tinashe Chaza from
New Marimba says his family lost a television
set last month and has failed
to repair it due to the high cost of doing so.
Caroline
Kizito from Waterfalls says it has become increasingly
difficult to plan
anything because of the untimely power cuts.
Reached for
comment ZESA spokesperson, James Maridadi, said the
loss of property as a
result of the power cuts was "very unfortunate" and
urged people to use
surge protectors to avoid damages to their appliances.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
ZIMBABWE has lost a staggering $124.9
trillion to maintain
subsidies, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
(CZI) has said.
A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given
by a government to
lower the price faced by producers or consumers of goods,
generally because
it is considered to be in the public
interest.
In a paper, CZI Input into Fiscal Policy Review
July 2006, CZI
said: "The total estimated cost is a massive $124.9 trillion.
The main
beneficiaries of these subsidies are not vulnerable groups but
speculators
and middlemen and middle classes."
CZI said
that for 900 000 tonnes of maize, the estimated cost is
$26.5 trillion. It
also said that for 300 000 tonnes of cotton it was $8.1
trillion, 45 000
tonnes of tobacco ($2.7 trillion) and 20 million litres of
fuel ($7.6
trillion).
CZI said it was costing $50 trillion to maintain
the $10
trillion Agricultural Sector Enhancement Facility (ASPEF). ASPEF was
launched last year to provide cheap funds to farmers. It offers an interest
rate of 20% per annum. CZI called for the removal of subsidies adding that
"they provide completely the wrong incentives for people; in effect the
quickest way to get rich in Zimbabwe is to abuse
subsidies".
CZI recommended that the responsibility for
subsidised credit
such as ASPEF, parastatal requirements be brought under
the management of
the Ministry of Finance.
"These should
be accounted for under the central government
budget. Therefore we recommend
that the revised budget which will be
produced by this mid-term review
includes specific provision for these
previously quasi- fiscal activities,"
CZI said.
Economic commentators implored government to remove
subsidies.
"The major problem with subsidies is that they are
a source of
inefficiency in the system," said economist David
Mupamhadzi.
Mupamhadzi said that subsidies for commodities
like fuel were
promoting arbitrage, a system whereby an individual buys a
commodity at a
cheap price in one market and sells the same commodity at a
higher price on
another market.
John Robertson, an
economic consultant, said: "Subsidies are
expensive. Even rich countries are
saying that they cannot afford
subsidies."
Zim Standard
By Our Staff
COAL Zimbabwe, a
new entrant in the coal mining industry says it
has invested US$5,3 million
in a mine in Chiredzi and plans to go into power
generation in the near
future.
The company, which is wholly owned by Steelmakers, a
Redcliff-based steel manufacturer, says it ventured into mining in a bid to
revive its Masvingo sponge iron plant which had been closed because it was
not getting sufficient supplies from the Hwange Colliery
Company.
So far the mining concern has produced 15 000 tonnes
of coal
since it opened a month ago and hopes to undertake an expansion
programme
that will help improve the country's dwindling
supplies.
"We had to close our Masvingo plant because we were
not getting
enough of coal supplies from Hwange Colliery Company. As a
result we decided
to go into coal production also as a way of reducing
production costs,"
Steelmakers' group general manager, Alexander Johnson,
told
Standardbusiness.
Zimbabwe consumes 320 000 tonnes
of coal a month but HCC has not
been able to meet demand.
Johnson said it had already found a market for its product and
had sold to a
number of companies in Harare and Bulawayo.
He said there
were also plans to increase production to 50 000
tonnes in the next six
months when the company constructs washeries meant to
improve the coal
grade.
Johnson said tests conducted so far show that their
coal was of
"superior" grade with low sulphur and phosphate
content.
He said the new mine based in the Mukuvisi area of
Chiredzi
should go into power generation in the future, subject to the
approval of
the board.
The plan could augment dwindling
supplies from ZESA Holdings and
avert a crisis.
"It's at
the back of our brains. I do not want to let the cat
out of the bag but we
should go into power generation in the future,''
Johnson said.
Zim Standard
Business
Analysis By Ndamu Sandu
IN days to come Finance Minister,
Herbert Murerwa, and Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, will
announce mid-term fiscal and
monetary policy respectively to chart the way
forward for troubled Zimbabwe.
The reviews come at a time
when the economy has been at its
lowest ebb with indications on the ground
pointing to a rocky path before
the economy can be expected to be back on an
even keel. The reviews also
come at a time when government launched a new
blueprint, the National
Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP) seen
as a panacea for the
country's economic woes.
Although
the economic model was launched early this year, the
document is still
elusive nearly three months after its unveiling.
Murerwa and Gono
have an unenviable task of trying to reduce the
gap between the official and
parallel market rates for foreign currency.
The gap between
the parallel and official market has widened to
the extent that analysts
believe the actual rate is between the two systems.
Economic
consultant Daniel Ndlela said the monetary and fiscal
policies should
address the difference between the official and parallel
market
rates.
"The misalignment has widened to the extent that the
difference
is over 200%," said Ndlela an associate of Zimconsult, an
independent and
economic planning consultants' firm.
"The
black market is now the official with fuel selling at $470
000 per
litre."
Ndlela said the monetary policy has to support the
"supply side"
by supporting exporters who bear the brunt of the official
exchange rate.
Another consultant John Robertson concurred
with Ndlela but
added that Zimbabwe was using a political idea to correct an
economic
problem through fixing an exchange rate.
Robertson said that market forces have to determine both the
exchange and
interest rates.
He said government was using low interest
rate loan and
subsidies as compensation for not addressing the exchange rate
problem.
Robertson said: "The government is saying that we
can't devalue
but we will lend you cheap money. The companies will be
absolutely dependent
on low interest rate loans for
survival."
He said subsidies and low interest rate loans were
addressing
the symptoms not the problems.
"If we have the
right exchange rate, farmers won't need low
interest rates, loans and
subsidies. Subsidies are expensive. Even rich
countries are saying that they
cannot afford subsidies."
Robertson warned that government
would not succeed by
controlling the exchange rate.
"They
(government) think they have limitless power to defy
market forces. They
don't have. Any government that goes into battle with
market forces will
come out second best. Soviet Union tried to defy market
forces for 70 years
and it collapsed."
Jonathan Kadzura, an analyst says the
fiscal and monetary
policies have to address distortions that are
inflationary. He said there is
need to remove subsidies that are not
designed to stimulate production.
Kadzura said: "We need
productive subsidies such as
internationally competitive prices for our
produce."
In its input into the fiscal policy review, the
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) urged fiscal authorities to deal
with the exchange
rate decisively.
In a paper, CZI Input
into Fiscal Policy Review July 2006, CZI
said: "Whilst we appreciate that
the exchange rate management is the reserve
of the Central Bank, its impact
on fiscal policy is such that it needs to be
considered when developing the
fiscal policy framework. CZI recommended that
the country moves back to a
two-tier system where exporters retain 80% of
proceeds for own use and 20%
is surrendered to government at a controlled
rate of 200 000 to the US
dollar.
"Exporters are severely prejudiced by hyper-inflation
and the
current surrender requirements are making it extremely difficult for
exporters to remain viable," CZI said.
Zim Standard
Sunday Opinion By Hilton Zvidzai
THE restructuring of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH)
with the
merging of its former nine companies into two entities still falls
far short
of fulfilling and meeting its expected mandate as an independent
public
broadcaster.
The late Minister of Information and Publicity,
Dr Tichaona
Jokonya, effected the restructuring in June 2006 as part of
efforts to turn
the loss-making broadcaster into a viable entity. This
followed
recommendations by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Transport and
Communications.
While these developments
were welcomed as long overdue, the
restructuring cannot be expected to usher
in a new era of independent
broadcasting at ZBH unless massive legislative
reforms are undertaken to
repeal or amend sections of the Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA).
These legislative reforms will trigger
the transformation of ZBH
from a state-controlled to a truly independent
public broadcaster as
envisaged under the African Charter on Broadcasting
and the SADC Guidelines
on the Conduct of Democratic
Elections.
The African Charter stipulates among other
provisions that all
State and government controlled broadcasters should be
transformed into
public service broadcasters that are accountable to all
strata of the people
as represented by an independent board, and that serve
the overall public
interest, avoiding one-sided reporting and programming in
regard to
religion, political belief, culture, race and
gender.
It also provides that public service broadcasters
should, like
broadcasting and telecommunications regulators, be governed by
bodies which
are protected against interference. It provides that the
editorial
independence of public broadcasters should be
guaranteed.
The SADC Guidelines simplify and amplify the
provisions of the
Charter by stating that citizens and political parties
should especially
during elections, enjoy equal and equitable access to the
public
broadcaster.
Under the present set-up as dictated
by the prevailing
legislative environment, the credibility and integrity of
Zimbabwe's sole
broadcaster has been seriously compromised by the
government's stranglehold
on ZBH's editorial independence which chokes it
from fulfilling its public
mandate.
ZBH as presently
constituted and structured is accountable to
the government which in turn
determines its editorial policy and content. To
argue otherwise would be an
exercise in futility.
The ZBH board is handpicked by the
Minister of Information and
Publicity in consultation with the President
which runs against the grain of
the principles of the African Charter on
Broadcasting. Ideally, in a
democracy the people, through parliamentary
public hearings should nominate
individuals to sit on such boards.
Transparency and accountability are
guaranteed only if the board is well
representative as opposed to the
present set-up.
Transformation from a state to a public broadcaster entails the
repealing of
the current legislative framework that allows the existence of
ZBH in its
current format. The law should be repealed or amended to allow
the
metamorphosis of ZBH into a truly independent omnibus broadcaster which
carries the voices of all sectors regardless of economic, political,
language or racial differences.
Parliament should
therefore push for holistic changes to the
broadcasting legislation which
enforces open, transparent and democratic
appointments of the board, key
staff while reinforcing editorial
independence at ZBH.
Independence from editorial interference does not necessarily
mean that the
government should not be involved, but simply means that more
sectors and
sections of society are involved especially parliament and other
key
civilian bodies in the running of the public broadcaster.
Meanwhile the parliamentary portfolio committee noted technical
weaknesses
in the running and performance of ZBH. Questions should be raised
on whether
the technical challenges facing ZBH are not a result of lack of a
clear
mandate for the public broadcaster.
ZBH cannot, in its
current state, serve its public mandate
because as a holding company it is
geared to make profits a scenario that
compels it to operate on the lines of
a commercial broadcaster. The purpose,
structure and orientation of a public
broadcaster are markedly different
from that of a commercial
broadcaster.
Parliament should, therefore, encourage the
Ministry of
Information and Publicity to do away with the concept of
commercialisation
and seek to come up with a funding structure that ensures
that the public
broadcaster meets its running costs.
Stations such as National FM should revert to their initial
mandate of
serving disadvantaged communities; carry the voice of civic
society, public
education and cultural issues. This, however, can only be
possible if
parliament has a direct say in the appointment of the board and
the
commensurate editorial charter.
As things stand ZBH has no
editorial charter that legislators
and indeed citizens of Zimbabwe can make
reference to as to whether the
company is meeting its mandate or not. The
confusion and management crisis
at ZBH is a result of an unclear mandate,
lack of democratic management and
muddled reporting structures at the state
broadcaster.
If ZBH is to emerge as a bona fide national
broadcaster, it
should reach out to each and every part of the country in
all languages.
This is however, not feasible with the archaic equipment
being used by
Transmedia, the country's sole transmission licensee. Entry of
private
players in the transmission industry will definitely aid the cause
since
Transmedia has failed to upgrade its coverage of
Zimbabwe.
Editorial independence can only be underpinned by
the public
broadcaster's respect for the right to freedom of expression and
information, freedom from undue government interference - principles upon
which a public broadcaster can become more public serving and
efficient.
An independent, accountable and transparent method
of appointing
a board for the public broadcaster complimented by an
independent editorial
charter will guarantee a true public broadcaster for
Zimbabwe.
That is still far from being achieved given the
restrictive
legislative environment posed by the Broadcasting Services
Act.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE question the majority must be asking is:
Just whose
interests does this government, which purports to be a people's
government,
serve?
The question is prompted by recent
developments. But by far the
main one is that despite an economy that is
virtually on its knees and
despite a crippling power shortage, the
government has decided with effect
from October this year, work on a new
parliament complex will commence in
the Kopje area of
Harare.
There may be no resources to build houses for
hundreds of
thousands of families - victims of last year's brutal "clean up"
operation.
There may be no funds to pay farmers for the grain they are
delivering to
the Grain Marketing Board. There may be no money to
reconstruct bridges
damaged as far back as 2000 by Cyclone Eline. There may
be nothing to invest
in power generation to ease the daily power cuts. But
the government will
find trillions of dollars for a new parliament building
on the Kopje.
If the government applied itself to solving the
problems it
creates with the same determination that it pursues pet
projects, Zimbabwe
would be a different and better place.
But for the government and the ruling party, being in power is
the quickest
way to untold riches, as long as they can successfully hoodwink
the majority
into believing that all this is being done in their interest.
When the re-introduction of a Senate was mooted, the majority
opposed it on
the grounds that it was not a priority and that at any rate
the economy
would not be able to sustain such a burden, given the current
circumstances.
But the government went ahead and now it
is splashing billions
in perks on senators and attendant staff when
hospitals cannot afford drugs
and more people are dying, not because the
resources are unavailable, but
because they are being redirected to serve
the interests of those in
government and the ruling
party.
The government has given up on trying to improve the
fuel supply
situation even though this is critical for economic recovery. It
has decided
to do nothing because those who rule the country have found a
new source of
self-enrichment. Either they bring in fuel and are being
transformed into
instant billionaires or they use the State-run procurement
agency, NOCZIM to
access heavily subsidised fuel, which they in turn
off-load on the parallel
market. That is why there is paralysis in resolving
the fuel crisis.
The major crisis facing this country and
even the government's
much talked of economic turnaround is ensuring
regularity of energy
supplies. Lack of reliable power stifles development
and deters investors,
even from the government's new-found friends from the
Far East.
Millions of residents of Masvingo and
Matabelelandprovinces will
find cause to accuse the government of
deliberately and systematically
marginalising them after years of being
promised funding for the giant
Tokwe-Mukorsi dam and the stillborn
Matabeleland- Zambezi Water Project.
What Zimbabwe needs now
is to ensure that the power crisis is
addressed immediately so that
factories and industries are not redundant for
days on end and residential
areas are blacked out for weeks. How does such a
return to the Dark Ages
promote an economic turnaround?
Load-shedding is not the
response we expect to a crisis that was
anticipated years ago. And a new
parliament building is not an answer to
resuscitating the economy either.
The only people who will benefit are
contractors and businesses aligned to
the ruling party.
Zim Standard
Sunday
Opinion By Marko Phiri
THE latest incident is the Trudy
Stevenson assault and we
already know how the State- media has made a feast
out of it.
From the days Zanu PF chanted: "we will beat up
those who do not
understand (the land reform programme) until they
understand", to the days
of the re-education camps, surgeries
-turned-torture-chambers, there seemed
to be ready explanations that what
Zimbabwe was witnessing was a historical
legacy. These were the ugly
vestiges of pre-independence politics.
The new rulers had
learned their violence and intolerance from
the Ian Smith regime. Perhaps we
cannot re-write history. But it becomes
tedious when, though popular black
governments came to power decades ago,
there is still that throwback when
events in the here and now are analysed.
What caused them, what is their
genesis, who occupied the seat of power a
hundred years ago, etc as if
present day Africans were zombies with no mind
of their
own?
The irony of all events that centre on violent African
politics
is that politicians always claim to be bringing their own identity,
their
own brand of popular democracy that is defined ironically along the
Western
model. With the attack on Stevenson, we get stories about violence
within
the MDC being inevitably an unfortunate influence of Zanu PF. These
MDC
people are an offshoot of Zanu PF thus violence must be expected from
them,
goes some weird school of thought.
But it has to be
recalled that the birth of any African
political opposition has been
informed by attempts to do things differently
from the despotic regimes.
That they soon apparently fall into the
psychological mode of the unpopular
regimes does not merely point to the
inheritance of the traits of the
governments accused of human rights abuses.
It could in fact
point to leaders being unable to rein in
supporters. But then, that still
stretches it as leaders ideally cannot
claim responsibility over adults who
support them but feel the leaders too
pacifist for their cause. Thus, the
difference within Zanu PF and both MDC
factions is that Zanu PF leaders are
on public record threatening and
carrying out violent acts on their
opponents.
Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara may say to
the public "no
to violence" and those sympathetic to the opposition cause
may attribute
violence alleged to have been perpetrated by either faction as
the work of
people beyond the control of these leaders. Thus, the case for
both leaders
is spoken for. If this were a Zanu PF analysis, we would simply
say these
are acts of people bent on tarnishing the image of the regime and
let the
matter rest.
This time the attack on Stevenson
being simply an attack by
elements claiming affiliation to the MDC just to
tarnish the image of
whatever faction to which they claim allegiance. But
these are grave matters
that point to a country in political comatose which
have to be looked at
from the point of view of a clairvoyant seeking to look
into the future and
interrogate the country's kismet.
Zanu PF itself has been accused of using Smith's tactics in
brutalising the
opposition, yet the argument still goes that it is within
the power of the
leaders to merely raise their fingers to stop the brutal
punches. Where do
we draw the line between blaming history and charting our
own course and
defining our own political identities? My father abused my
mother therefore
I will abuse my wife. All this psychobabble, while it
carries some truth for
some, it still remains cryptic for many.
It is true that
every generation blames the one before, but when
such violence as seen
within the MDC is easily blamed by some observers on
Zanu PF then one has to
ask where we are at in the stakes of political
maturity. If this party
blamed for so many ills is blamed for violence in
opposition politics, one
then has to ask what the future of the country is
considering the many
crimes this regime stands accused of. And this line has
been peddled since
the ruling party allegedly started clubbing opponents to
death and Smith was
blamed.
One thing that has been mentioned is that all it
takes is for
Mugabe to tell anybody they will be expelled from Zanu PF if
they so as much
raised a finger at an opposition activist. That this has
happened during the
run-up to any election has still been dismissed as
grandstanding as this is
the same regime that is already known for being not
only the masters of
violence but also of deception.
Politics perhaps is different from organised crime where foot
soldiers who
disobey orders not to kill are themselves likely to be punished
by death by
the mob boss, but that the ruling party has pardoned accused
murderers is a
pointer that all intra-party violence in the Movement is
tragic.
If violence in Zimbabwean politics was inherited
from Zanu PF,
is it the only thing that stands to be inherited from that
party considering
the many vices it is accused of?
No solution to Zimbabwe crisis without Zanu PF
THE Standard's
comment of 2 July 2006, entitled, "Someone
igniting the fires of an
uprising" does bring about very important issues.
Indeed the
people of Zimbabwe are being pushed to the limit by
the ever worsening
hardships and anyone who suggests that there are no
problems in Zimbabwe has
no relevance to the current order of things in
Zimbabwe.
There are contestable and contested views on the causes of
Zimbabwe's
problems and it does look like in the absence of an agreement on
such causal
factors there is no hope of ever finding a solution, at least in
the near
future. It is this realisation which makes frustrated analysts and
commentators resort to the otherwise undesirable hope in the power of the
popular uprising.
Those who subscribe to the theory that
the country's problems
are a result of unsound and bad policy from
government have the tried and
tired panacea of regime change as the only
remedy to the country's problems.
On the other hand, those who subscribe to
the theory that the country's
problems are a direct result of external
pressure resulting from differences
in policy between the government and the
West may want to maintain that the
government is not the problem but
sanctions are the problem.
These are highly contested views,
not only nationally but even
the region and the world are divided over the
matter. One thing for sure is
that the country's problems are not as simple
as President Robert Mugabe
just waking up one morning and saying why not
just invade all white-owned
land and fix the whites or why not just demolish
a few urban houses and push
people to the rural areas. These are simplistic
and reductionistic views
which have played up a lot of emotion but
unwittingly empowered the
government to develop an art of managing these
emotions.
This is why the hope of a spontaneous uprising
sounds like mere
wishful thinking just like organised mass protests have
failed to develop
anywhere beyond wishes of the organisers. At the moment,
one wonders to whom
people would hand over power should they miraculously
embark on a successful
spontaneous uprising?
There is no
question of some regions failing to recognise
someone like Morgan Tsvangirai
and the whole "revolution" deteriorating into
a free-style conflict.
Whichever way one looks at the Zimbabwe situation
now, it would appear like
the only foreseeable solution is a compromise
deal, which whether likable or
not, should include rather than exclude or
eliminate the ruling
party.
In fact, the old adage that if you can't beat them
join them
would, to an extent, apply albeit from a compromised position
where the
ruling party has to concede a bit of ground in policy matters,
that way
dissolving the situation the Libya way.
It does
not look like the government is about to be suffocated
at all, rather it
seems to be gaining ground in terms of suppressing
rebellion and the earlier
people choose viable options the better for the
suffering masses whose
contract with their government is just service
delivery in exchange for
votes.
People care little if service delivery has been
stalled by
external or internal forces just like they care little if it has
been
provided by external or internal forces. However, the mere absence of
an
efficient service delivery system cannot be good enough a reason to hope
for
an uprising just as the situation is proving itself.
I fail to see any immediate solution to Zimbabwe's problems
which would
succeed minus the presence of Zanu PF and I guess those
genuinely fighting
for a change for the better should best focus on how they
can engage the
ruling party and push for compromises which are not an option
but a must for
the ruling party as well.
Reason
Wafawarova
Harare
------------
Church has moral duty to denounce
injustice
THANK you for allowing us space to congratulate the
Church and
the government for joining hands and working
together.
We believe that this act will leave an indelible
mark in the
annals of the history of this country.
We
lend our support to the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and
their
representative Eunice N Guti for this historic initiative. We also
understand and appreciate that the government and the Church are important
structures in a State and more importantly should complement each
other.
We believe from the onset that parameters and
stipulations of
such covenant relationships should be clarified. Without
taking much from
the just-ended National Day of Prayer, the Church should
have first educated
their followers on the purpose and objectives of such an
initiative.
Now that the day has come and gone, should we
expect a change of
attitude by our rulers? Should we expect an end to
misrule and
mismanagement, an end to joblessness, hunger, and selective
application of
the law, rape, and killings of innocent souls, torture and
other acts of
transgression?
It is the role of the Church
to offer moral guidance to those
who govern the nation. It is in this
context that the church should have
openly denounced the evil that is being
exercised and perpetuated upon the
innocent and disadvantaged majority.
Charity begins at home and I believe
justice and moral righteousness should
first be championed from the Church.
Thus the Church should first unite
before trying to unite the nation.
Not long ago, a similar
grouping of churches organised a day to
commemorate "Operation
Murambatsvina" and to console the victims. Was it not
a good opportunity for
the ZCC, all of us from ZAOGA under the leadership of
Guti to take a stand
and tell the government its evils in much the same way
that Prophet Nathan
did to King David?
Why is it that Christians are quick to
provide food, blankets,
shelter and other things to victims of man-made
atrocities but at the same
time failing to tell the perpetrators to
stop?
The Church, especially its leaders as torch bearers,
the voice
of the voiceless need not stand aside and watch while inhuman
policies are
implemented and only for them to come later and organise a Day
of National
Prayer, especially after an infant had died from cold weather,
after
millions are made jobless, homeless, foodless and destitute in their
own
motherland.
Is it not an insult to the Almighty to
organise and pray for the
healing of our nation when the perpetrators of
evil do not want to confess
their sins? Please lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
Even after implementation of evil
policies, it is incumbent upon
the Church to denounce them and call the
parties involved to repentance. The
question still stands: Has the Church
denounced the government for its
wrongs before being married in this
relationship?
We are not saying that Church leaders should
not be for or
against the government. We are saying they should speak and
tell the truth.
As Christians we believe we are ambassadors
of Christ, the light
of the world and shepherds of justice. By wining and
dining with evil, as
they are doing, they are actually perpetuating evil
because the only thing
necessary for evil to prosper is for the good men not
to say anything.
Concerned ZAOGA
members
Harare
-----------
Attack on
Trudy Stevenson vindicates Tsvangirai's critics
HOW soon has
vindication visited the likes of MPs Job Sikhala,
David Coltart and
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga's statements about the
violent disposition
that characterises Morgan Tsvangirai!
Was Sikhala prophetic
when he said if Tsvangirai gets hold of
State machinery like the army and
the CIO some individuals will either go
into exile or will have their blood
flowing in Manyame River and get their
heads
refrigerated?
The recent attempted murder of Trudy Stevenson
and others by
thugs allegedly loyal to Tsvangirai provides an eloquent
vindication,
confirmation and certifies the prophecies of the above
mentioned persons.
These are men and women who worked closely with
Tsvangirai for a long time
and hold a better and close-up version of
Tsvangirai than the majority of
Zimbabweans, his supporters
included.
It is quite imperative that this butchery should be
traced to
and located at Tsvangirai's door step and sadly announces
Tsvangirai's
political existence as the emergence of a potential "Butcher of
Harare". We
are likely to witness a violent simulation of the Matabeleland
atrocities
not only in Harare but in Kadoma and Chitungwiza as mayoral
elections are
getting nearer.
We have been exposed to
contrite press statements from
Tsvangirai's camp in the Press condemning the
butchery but that shedding of
crocodile tears should be dismissed for what
it is - a mere public relations
dust-off.
There is no way
more than 50 thugs can organise themselves in
spontaneity without the tacit
approval and resources of and from leadership.
We have heard Morgan Femai,
Tsvangirai's chairman for Harare declaring that
Harare will be cleansed of
any Arthur Mutambara element by uprooting them
before they go for Zanu PF.
Past attempted murders on Peter Guhu's life and
Sikhala's family in 2001
were either not investigated on or had their
results and recommendations
stifled by the president's office.
Most of those implicated
got suspended or expelled but were
brought back by Tsvangirai and welcomed
by promotion - one is now a
presidential aide and the other is an MP
notwithstanding the fact that they
were pivotal cornerstones of past
internal thuggery.
It becomes rational, in the face of the
above, to question the
sincerity behind the so-called commission of inquiry
announced by Tendai
Biti. The greatest question of the day is what will
happen if results of the
inquiry get too close to home for Tsvangirai's
comfort given that they view
and hold him as someone above reproach? Are we
not likely to see another
repackaged reward for the perpetrators in the form
of a by-election chance
in Chikomba or a cozy asylum in South
Africa?
Tsvangirai should shed off the terror-president tag
he is
putting on. He should prove that he can have a political existence and
relevance outside the bracket of thuggery. As I write, a number of political
parties and some embassies have strongly condemned the attempt on
Stevenson's
life- probably the first female MP to have received an attempt
on her life
by political thugs in Zimbabwe.
We want to
hear the church's voice, we want to hear WOZA
speaking, and we want to see
gender organisations and activists yelling.
My final appeal
goes to all Zimbabweans; we should not allow the
excesses and evils of
President Robert Mugabe to be practised by and
tolerated by Tsvangirai or
anyone who hopes to rule this country one day. We
need change, yes, but the
change should be progressive, promotional and
tolerant to democratic
divergence and existence. We don't need another
Mugabe.
Stevenson, get well soon, sainted mother of democracy.
Mwanawashe Virimayi
Mt Pleasant
Harare
-------------
MP neglecting his
voters
IT has long been said that MPs are the servants of the
people, but the
MP for Mutare South, Fred Kanzama, is not serving the
transport needs of the
people of Dora Pindo and Dora Dombo in Zimunya
communal lands.
The people from these two areas have suffered in
silence for a very
long time in terms of official transport to and from
Mutare. As a result,
most of them walk the long distance.
There
are no regular long distance or commuter buses that operate on
these routes.
Instead, the villagers are being charged $350 000 for shorter
distances by
drivers of pick-up trucks who ply the short route. The
villagers simply
cannot afford such fares but the pick-up drivers are taking
advantage of the
plight of the villagers.
D R Mutungagore
Mutare
----------------
Was that true about
Islam?
HAVING read the letter from the US in The Standard of 9
July 2006 my
inquiring mind posed a few but very important
questions.
If Islam really teaches killing all non-believers and if
it is so
barbaric and intolerant then why is it the fastest growing religion
per
capita in the US according to athe same letter? Are the people in the US
that foolish?
If that is the true Islamic teaching, why is it
that there are many
non-Moslems who are living peacefully as citizens in
predominantly Moslem
countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Malaysia among
others?
Are there not more than a billion followers of Islam? Then
why are the
overwhelming majority of Moslems good, peace-loving and kind
people? This is
because it is very clear in the Quran that "Whosoever kills
even a single
innocent person is equivalent in sin to the one who has killed
the entire
mankind." (Holy Quran 5:32).
Ilyas
Chimbende
Houghton Park
Harare
---------------
No individual owns the struggle for
democracy
THE struggle for democracy and political discourse in
Zimbabwe
does not belong to an individual or group of individuals. It
belongs to the
people of Zimbabwe.
Leaders will come and
go as they should but the spirit of
democratising Zimbabwe will remain
anchored in the minds of all citizens for
as long as President Robert
Mugabe's dictatorship continues to rear its ugly
head against the
peace-loving people of Zimbabwe.
It is therefore
disconcerting to hear some people ascribing the
success of the struggle
against the government of Mugabe to certain
individuals. Some Zimbabweans
are coming up with theories that give rise to
the perception that without
these perceived "gods", the success of the
struggle is
doomed.
Zimbabweans must move away from the personality cult
syndrome.
This is what has brought the nation to the state where it is
today. In the
eighties people took Mugabe to be no sinner. He never erred,
if he did, it
was because "he had been misled by his ministers". When he
behaved angrily,
it was because he had been angered by unpatriotic citizens
who had no
appreciation of his liberation war credentials. He was a saint.
Today the
country is in a mess because the people did not take the
leadership to task
when it became evident that the country was being led
into ruin.
Today we witness the importation of the same
thinking in the
opposition politics that Morgan Tsvangirai cannot be wrong.
He is the
founder of the struggle against the current government and he
should not be
subjected to any democratic scrutiny. He is irreplaceable and
in fact he
owns the struggle. The national project cannot survive without
him. Those
who try to oppose him must be taken to some concentration camps
for
political orientation because they are wrong and should not be allowed
to
challenge the dear leader.
We hear people making
careless remarks such as "what did they
want in Tsvangirai's stronghold,
they deserve it?" referring to the recent
unfortunate incident in which some
members of one faction of the MDC were
allegedly attacked by a rival faction
suspected to be affiliated to
Tsvangirai.
My fear now is
that we might be cultivating the same intolerant
and violent thinking that
has been sown by Zanu PF and has pervaded the
nation during the past 26
years. Some people may be tempted to ask as to why
it is taboo to stray into
Tsvangirai's political domain when all along
Zimbabweans have been crying
foul over Zanu PF's strategy to litter all the
rural constituencies with
hordes of youth militias to terrorise, intimidate,
attack and shut-out the
opposition from its perceived stronghold?
If indeed the rural
constituencies belong to Zanu PF, why do
they become nervous each time the
opposition tries to penetrate the rural
constituency to seek support? In the
same vain, why does Tsvangirai feel
threatened by a group of people that has
no support?
The opposition is opening up itself for
manipulation by Zanu PF
and if it does not wake up now, it will pay for its
political blunders. How
is the nation expected to believe that the attack on
the MDC officials was a
top-notch scheme by Zanu PF and the CIO when someone
in the Tsvangirai
leadership such as the likes of Morgan Femai, who is said
to be the
provincial chairman for Harare, is on record as having said his
party will
start by dealing with those that have left Tsvangirai first
before they
proceed to deal with Zanu PF?
He went on
further to say that his group would not allow the
Arthur Mutambara faction
to put up posters or to campaign in Harare. How is
the nation expected to
reconcile such reckless talk with the ascribing of
the senseless attack on
Trudy and company to Zanu PF and the state agents?
Tsvangirai
must wake up and deal with the unscrupulous
characters in his midst
now.
Z Vusimbe
Harare
-------------
'Darkest hour is before
dawn'
PEOPLE all over the country are in mourning as they watch
helplessly the destruction of their country.
The majority
wish they could turn back the hands of time - to
the times when we used to
be the breadbasket of the region and when our
currency was still stronger
and the President was still respected, not just
in Africa but even
beyond.
It is disturbing that our leader has learnt nothing
from his
former colleagues from the region who led their countries along the
destructive path and Zimbabwe is going through a man-made
crisis.
By destroying the agricultural sector, we killed the
goose that
laid the golden eggs. The so-called agrarian reform only achieved
reduction
of the production base and this in turn meant low exports and low
foreign
currency earnings. It appears that President Robert Mugabe is
prepared to
take down the whole country with him.
The
challenge for the democratic opposition is to re-invigorate
the people's
desire to take part in elections. In both the 2000 and 2002
elections we
witnessed a massive voter turn out but that has since fallen
off
dramatically.
The MDC and other progressive forces must fight
for a new
democratic and people-driven constitution
Mamuse M Mlambo
Checheche
Chipinge
South