http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, June 30, 2012 -Prime Minister,
Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday said
the Cabinet has set up a team of
Ministers to deal with rampant food
politicisation by
Zanu-PF.
“The Cabinet has already set up a team of Ministers to
investigate and deal
with the issue of food politicisation.
“This
food is for every Zimbabwean and we want to make sure that deserving
people
in rural areas benefit from it regardless of the parties which they
support,” Tsvangirai told journalists in Tsholotsho after commissioning of a
United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)funded water sanitation and
hygiene programme.
Early this year the government announced that it
has extended the grain loan
scheme to March next year to cushion villagers
whose crops were wiped off by
a dry spell during this cropping
season.
Under the scheme, all households facing food deficits will get
maize from
state owned Grain Marketing Board. Provinces that are facing food
shortages
include parts of Manicaland, Masvingo, Matabeleland South and
North and some
parts of Midlands.
Recently human rights group
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said hundreds of
hungry Zimbabwean villagers
are being denied food handouts and forced to
denounce their own parties in
return for assistance as marauding Zanu PF
militants continue to wage war of
attrition against perceived political
enemies.
The MDC accuses Zanu
PF of using local councilors, village heads, and
traditional chiefs to
sideline their supporters in rural areas from
government food lists that are
used when distributing food.
According to statistics from the World Food
Program (WFP) indicated that
more than one million Zimbabweans are currently
in need of food aid
following the continuous dry spell that has been
affecting the national
produce.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Written by Own Correspondent
Saturday, 30 June
2012 14:24
HARARE - Military generals dabbling in politics will
be forced to retire if
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai wins the next
election.
Tsvangirai, whose relations with the military top hierarchy
is rocky, said
this in Bulawayo yesterday.
Tsvangirai warned
uniformed forces against meddling in politics. He urged
them to stick to
their constitutional mandate of safeguarding the nation
from external
threats.
“I will remove one rotten tomato from the basket so that it does
not spoil
all other tomatoes,” he said while addressing civic organisations
and church
leaders in the country’s second biggest city.
They had
asked him about the worrying trend of military generals making
public
comments about elections.
The groups were concerned that the generals, by
declaring that they will not
support or allow anyone other than Mugabe or a
liberation war veteran to
take over the presidency, were effectively
threatening a coup ahead of
elections.
The generals’ statements have
also raised fears of a return to the
instability of the 2008 disputed
elections when military commanders took
charge of Mugabe’s re-election
campaign.
The church and civic leaders wanted assurances from Tsvangirai
that the
military would be kept in check when elections are held.
The
army generals have continued with their public statements despite
regional
Sadc leaders also warning that such behaviour undermined democracy
and put
Zimbabwe at risk of volatility.
Tsvangirai said soldiers should
concentrate on their core role and desist
from interfering in other people’s
duties.
“And the uniformed forces must stick to their duties while I, as
a
politician, stick to my constitutional duty to the nation,” he
said.
Tsvangirai told journalists at a press conference on the same day
that
Mugabe’s comments about elections being held this year were
empty.
He described the demand for elections this year as a pipe dream by
Zanu PF
because an elections roadmap that stipulates electoral, media and
security
sector reforms as agreed by coalition partners and endorsed by
regional Sadc
leaders, remained unimplemented.
“Elections are process
driven. They should be guided by satisfactory
implementation of media
reforms and electoral reforms and the way forward
depends on a new
constitution which will guarantee a peaceful transfer of
power,” he
said.
He said a draft of the new constitution will be available next week
after
being delayed by more than a year due to political bickering and
funding
problems.
Tsvangirai added he remained unfazed by reports of
defections from his party
in Bulawayo.
“We are a democratic party and
it is a democratic right for every individual
to choose which party to
belong to. There have been defections to our party
but should we then parade
those that opt to join us each time someone does
so?” the PM asked.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, June 30, 2012- Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairperson
Simpson Mtambanengwe says he is in
the dark on when the country’s next
elections will be
held.
Mtambanengwe told a meeting of civic society groups this week that
he is
just like many Zimbabweans in the dark about the election
date.
He said his office is working on speculation in preparing for the
eagerly
awaited plebiscite which President Robert Mugabe ad his Zanu PF
party says
should be held this year.
“When I came from Namibia in
2010 to take up this appointment it was
envisaged that the constitutional
referendum will happen in July but now two
years down the line and we are
approaching another July and the
constitutional draft has not gone before
the principals and even if it does
there are certain steps that has to
happen and one of them is the All
Stakeholders Conference,” said
Mtambanengwe.
“I can tell and my honest answer is that we don’t know when
elections will
happen, we are only waiting and speculating.”
Further
pressed on what he will do if his commission is forced to organise
an
election in an environment which is not free and fair the former Namibian
High Court judge told the gathering that he will cross the bridge when he
gets to it.
“If it comes to a crunch time, where we say do we stand
by the principle or
we succumb to being bulldozed into conducting an
election you know will not
be free and fair, that choice we will make when
we get to that position,”
said Mtambanengwe.
Mtambanengwe himself a
war veteran also took the opportunity of the meeting
to implore the
country’s liberation war heroes who have often been
implicated in acts of
political violence to live by the ideals of the
country’s war of liberation
by safeguarding people freedoms and democracy.
“Political violence is
sometimes associated with ex-combatants or war
veterans, we forget that in
bringing liberation to this country those of us
who were involved as leaders
in the struggle, actually taught them (violence
perpetrators) the philosophy
of violence with the slogan that power comes
from the barrel of the gun and
we continued with the ideas that you want
something you must use force,”
said Mtambanengwe.
“We have to start re-educating them to say if you
fought for freedom and
democracy and you go and force someone to vote the
way you want and not the
way he or she wants are you abiding by the
principals which motivated you to
sacrifice your life for the liberation of
Zimbabwe. It’s a hard lesson to
teach, it takes time.”
Mtambanengwe
said he holds probably the most difficult job in the country
because of the
pressure that usually comes with elections in the country.
“As chairman
of ZEC I am very much at the receiving end, I include my fellow
commissioners because we have a very awful responsibility. In the context of
peace, we bear a very heavy responsibility.
“Someone at the beginning
of my tour of duty as chairperson of the
commission said something very
profound and that without God’s intervention
you can’t do it. I believe so,
the duty that has been put on our shoulders
is a heavy duty particularly in
the context of Zimbabwe,” he said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Lloyd Mbiba, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 30 June 2012 14:27
HARARE - The holding of a
constitution referendum hangs in balance as
Zimbabwe does not have an
existing law that allows for it to take place,
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(Zec) revealed yesterday.
Justice Simpson Mtambanengwe, chairperson of
Zec told journalists on the
sidelines of a workshop on election management
yesterday that areferendum
cannot be held presently because the existing
referendum law needs to be
amended to accommodate changes that have taken
place.
He said if a new referendum law was passed, his commission is
ready to hold
the referendum.
Mtambanengwe said: “However, as you may
be aware the conduct of a referendum
is governed by the provisions of the
Referendums Act (Chapter 2:10). The
current Referendums Act was promulgated
in 2000 for the 2000 referendum and
makes reference to structures that were
in place then, to conduct elections
as well as referendums that is the
Registrar General of Elections.
“The conduct of referendums is now a
function of the commission and there is
need for the act to be amended first
before referendum can be held.
“The commission has held discussions with
the minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs responsible for
administering the Referendums Act, to
discuss possible amendments to the
act.”
Eric Matinenga, minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs said he
wants a new referendum law to be passed as it will not take
too long to
enact if all parties involved agree on the draft.
“In the
coming weeks I will pitch the draft to the Cabinet. If it is
approved by the
Cabinet committee on legislation the Attorney General will
look at it before
it goes to Parliament,” Matinenga said.
Lack of a legislation which
permits Zec to hold the referendum further puts
hold to President Robert
Mugabe’s call for early elections.
Mugabe has been calling for early
elections arguing that the unity
government is dysfunctional. However, the
time consuming stages that a draft
bill undergoes for it to be passed into
law can further delay
the holding of elections, as the ballot vote has to
take place under a new
constitution.
The Referendums draft bill,
after being drafted has to pass through
Parliament and be assented to by the
President for it to be a law.
Mtambanengwe further said the ministry of
Finance has not availedfunds for
either the referendum or the
constitution.
Asked by journalists on claims that Zec consists of
partisan staff
Mtambanengwe said “ This statement is not true, the Zec
commission consists
of members who went through a rigorous parliamentary
interview process and
were selected by the President from a list of 12
nominees submitted to him
by the parliamentary committee on standing rules
and orders.”
Zec roundtable meeting on election and conflict management
involved Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee, Organ on National
Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission
and the
police.
Delegates agreed that a peaceful environment needs to
be established before
elections can take place. Zec said it will continue
holding meetings with
stakeholders to get solutions of electoral-related
conflict.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 22 hours 40 minutes
ago
HARARE - The embattled party led by Robert Mugabe Zanu (PF)
says its
Politburo has recommended to the Central Committee for the removal
of
District Coordinating Committees (DCCs) from the party
structures.
Addressing the Central Committee in Harare this Friday,
Mugabe said they
have realised that the DCCs have been divisive and causing
disharmony in the
party, hence the need to discard them.
"We are
afraid that the DCCs have become a weapon that is dividing the
party," said
the President.
Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Rugare
Gumbo said the
meeting came up with a resolution that the DCCs have outlived
their purpose
and were causing divisions instead of unity among party
members.
"We came up with a resolution that the DCC has to be disbanded
with
immediate effect. There will be an amendment to the party's
constitution to
enable that," said Gumbo.
He said former DCC members
will be either co-opted into district or
provincial structures or should
simply go home and rest and wait for
opportunities in the party.
The
Zanu PF organogramme has the Congress as the supreme organ, followed by
the
People’s Conference, the Central Committee, the Consultative Assembly,
the
Province, the DCC, branches and cells.
During the meeting, the Mugabe
also spoke of Zanu PF as a party that has the
baggage of history and
success, adding that more success has been its
hallmark, as failure was
never considered and option.
Central Committee members were informed to
get ready for an extra ordinary
session to consider the debate on the
country’s new constitution and the
management committee is said to be doing
the final touches on the draft
document.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Written by Fungi Kwaramba recently in Victoria
Falls
Saturday, 30 June 2012 14:39
HARARE - Sanctions should
not be an excuse for failure to deliver services
to the people, Vice
President Joice Mujuru said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) annual general
conference in Victoria
Falls, Mujuru deviated from the usual Zanu PF mantra
that Zimbabwe is
failing to progress economically because of trade embargoes
imposed by
Western countries.
“Excuses that we give each other are that we have
sanctions and no lines of
credit. This means that our minds are sanctioned
as well. The biggest
problem is us and not sanctions which were imposed on
us by some other
people,” said Mujuru.
President Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF party last year launched an
anti-sanctions petition which Mujuru
also signed.
Mujuru admitted that as a government, the parties are
failing the nation
because of constant bickering.
“Why is it that
among ourselves we are working as strangers in the same
country, in the same
government?” asked Mujuru.
Mujuru, who is widely regarded as sober by
business and Zanu PF’s opponents
also challenged business to concentrate on
its role and not to meddle in
politics.
“The business of business is
to do business and make money for us. Leave
politics to us. You want to make
us your masters, but we are your servants,”
said Mujuru.
Mujuru along
with other top government officials, are accused by civil
society of
abandoning the mandate bestowed on them by voters as they focus
more on
wealth accumulation.
Mujuru admitted that, at the moment politicians are
just “enjoying” and not
working.
“We are not supposed to enjoy the
golden chairs you give us, give us
responsibilities because right now we
just enjoy ourselves,” said Mujuru.
As Zimbabwe heads towards elections,
the former ruling party has however
upped the tempo against
sanctions.
Political analysts say the former ruling party uses so-called
sanctions as a
campaign tool along with its populist policies such as
indigenisation.
Human rights activists say sanctions have become a
blessing and not a curse
which Zanu PF politicians use as an excuse for not
being transparent.
Mugabe’s partners in the troubled Government of
National Unity (GNU) running
Zimbabwe have refused to be roped in the
anti-sanctions hype and instead
they accuse Zanu PF and its policies of
stunting economic recovery.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
29/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
FOREIGN-OWNED banks have until July to comply with the
country’s
indigenisation programme, National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment
Board chairperson, David Chapfika, has said.
And in
apparent reference to Finance Minister, Tendai Bit, and central bank
Governo,r Gideon Gono, who have vowed to block implementation of the policy
in the financial services sector, Chapfika warned that any attempts to
resist the programme would be futile.
“There are no sacred cows,
there is no special sector. At this point saying
the banking sector is
special would be foolhardy,” Chapfika told the ZBC.
Foreign companies are
now required by law to transfer control and ownership
of at least 51 per
cent of their Zimbabwe operations to locals.
After forcing compliance in
the key mining sector, Empowerment Minister
Saviour Kasukuwer, now says he
will target the financial sector which is
dominated by British banks,
Barclays and Standard Chartered as well as the
South Africa-controlled
Stanbic.
The government claims foreign banks are undermining economic
recovery and
growth by refusing to fund agriculture and black-owned
businesses.
But Gono has warned that the indigenisation programme could
destabilise a
sensitive economic sector adding he was prepared to issue new
banking
licences to locals keen to start their own banks.
“We are
ready to issue licences along the lines of villages, friendships and
totems
should people so wish to go into banking,” Gono said recently.
“It is
improper, it is not right for us to want to destabilise the financial
sector
by pursuing short-term gratifications and which can only lead us to
unintended consequences.
“This is not a stance that is
anti-indigenisation, definitely not. We are
simply saying let’s have order
and we will not tire in insisting on the need
for order in the financial
services sector.
“A bank is different from a manufacturing company, and
mining. It is a
custodian of people’s confidence.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
29/06/2012 00:00:00
by Roman
Moyo
THE average price of tobacco went up by 39 percent from an
average of
US$2,69 per kg in May 2011 to US$3,74 per kg in May 2012, the
African
Development Bank (AfDB) has said.
According to the banks’
June Zimbabwe economic review released this week,
AfDB said the 2012
tobacco-selling season had continued on a positive note,
a development that
had benefited the farmers.
“The average price of tobacco went up by 39
percent from an average of
US$2,69 per kg in May 2011 to US$3,74 per kg in
May 2012,” said AfDB.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) on
Wednesday said tobacco
worth US$465 million had been sold at the country’s
three auction floors
compared to US$321 million sold during the same period
last year.
In 2011, a total of 125 million kgs of tobacco had gone under
the hammer
over the same time. The sales volume translate into a 6,32
percent increase
from the 118 million kg sold last year.
TIMB
statistics show that the daily average price was US$3,52 compared to
US$3,13
per kg last year.
Premier Tobacco Floors auctioned 9 million kg worth
US$32,7 million at an
average price of US$3,63 per kg.
Boka Tobacco
Auction Floors handled 14,5 million kg worth US$51,2 million at
an average
price of US3,53 per kg.
Millennium Tobacco Floors auctioned 8,5 million
kg valued at US$30,5 million
at an average price of US$3,61 per
kg.
Contract sales amounted to 76,6 million kg worth US$290,6 million at an
average price of US$3,79 per kg.
http://www.voanews.com
29 June
2012
Gibbs Dube | Washington
Zimbabwe's parliamentary
agriculture committee says lack of state funding
and serious power outages
are hampering efforts to boost wheat production
amid revelations government
is spending millions of dollars on cereal
imports for domestic
consumption.
Reacting to reports that the government has so far spent
almost $27 million
this year on wheat imports instead of funding winter
wheat production, some
members of the committee told Studio 7 that most
farmers are not accessing
capital to buy the necessary
inputs.
Committee member Moses Jiri said Zimbabwe’s failure to release
$20 million
which was set aside this year for wheat production also
indicates that the
government wants to import cheap wheat at the expense of
local producers.
Indications are that farmers have so far only cultivated
10,000 hectares of
wheat instead of the projected 26,000 hectares. The
country needs 400,000
tonnes of wheat annually.
Jiri said wheat
imports are not even creating jobs in the agriculture
sector. “Importing
wheat will not solve serious challenges being faced by
local farmers,” he
said.
Independent economist Rejoice Ngwenya believes that government
should stop
funding under-performing wheat farmers.
http://www.voanews.com/
29 June
2012
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye | Washington
Zimbabwe
is not yet ready to scrap charges for pregnant women, Health
Minister Dr.
Henry Madzorera revealed Friday, dismissing reports in Harare
that clinics
and hospitals will in the next two weeks stop asking women and
children to
pay.
Madzorera said the government had adopted a policy to scrap user
fees but
was not ready to implement it just yet.
The minister said a
feasibility study is currently being carried out to see
whether the
government can afford to scrap the user fees completely, adding
it will only
be around December that he would know whether funds to allow
that would have
been made available by the finance ministry.
Madzorera said the
government should move quickly to bridge the gap left by
the European Union,
which is pulling out of a program that assisted pregnant
women with
complications to get blood transfusion for free.
He said Harare will tap
into the Health Transition Fund, financed by the EU
and other partner
organizations, to ensure pregnant women continue to
receive transfusion if
required.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
maternal mortality
ratio (MMR) in Zimbabwe has worsened significantly over
the past 20 years.
At least eight women die everyday while giving birth.
This translates to a
maternal mortality ratio of 725 deaths per 100,000 live
births, according to
the Zimbabwe Maternal and Perinatal Mortality
Study.
Meanwhile, the health ministry Friday launched an anti-smoking
campaign in
Binga, Matebeleland North Province, hoping to convince hundreds
of thousands
of tobacco smokers to quit the practice that kills about 6
million people
around the world every year.
Binga South lawmaker and
State Enterprises Minister, Joel Gabuza told VOA
the anti-smoking campaign
highlighted the dangers of smoking to the young
and old
alike.
Smoking is associated with fatal lung and heart diseases such as
heart
attacks, strokes, lung cancer and the chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease,
among others.
Gabuza said the campaign also seeks to appeal
to tobacco companies to stop
misleading the public with glamorous
advertisements that encourage the
public to smoke without pointing out the
dangers of lighting up.
http://www.newstrackindia.com
Harare, Sat, 30
Jun 2012 ANI
Harare, June 30 (Xinhua-ANI): Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe on Friday
said the country wants 100 percent control over the
economy by local people
while foreigners come in as partners.
Mugabe
said Zimbabwe must get the lions share from the exploitation of its
natural
resources, arguing the 51-49 percent ownership model was no longer
acceptable as it was leaking the country. Foreigners benefits must be
minimal, around 10 percent, he stressed.
He said this when addressing
his ZANU-PF party's central committee.
Zimbabwe's Indigenization and
Economic Empowerment Act, passed into law over
three years ago, says that
Zimbabweans must be majority shareholders with a
minimum of 51 percent in
major companies across the economy.
"It is a leakage, the 49 percent. Now
we want the 100 percent to remain in
the country," Mugabe said, reiterating
that Zimbabweans must be in control
of the economy while foreigners come in
as partners.
"That is why we are talking of ownership and not mere
participation. We are
no longer inviting outsiders to come and do business
for us, we want to do
business ourselves. Outsiders must come as
participants, as workers or as
employees. Even if they come as companies, we
hire them to do our own
business," he added.
Mugabe said Zimbabwe
with the highest literacy rate on the African continent
Zimbabwe had trained
enough people to be able to run the economy. He however
said there appeared
to be a "lack of zeal" among locals to run the economy.
He said
professionals in various fields must form ventures that will
participate in
different sectors of the economy.
Mugabe said after successful conclusion
of the land reform program, it was
now time to venture into other sectors to
empower locals.
He said the West had adopted covert means to take over
control of the
continent's resources. "They also use, subvert and twist
international law
and even twist the charter of the United Nations, " he
said.
Mugabe said the West was also using 'gullible' African leaders in
pushing
forward their agenda.
He warned members of his party to be
wary of being used in the quest to take
over Africa by the West.
(Xinhua-ANI)
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The Council for Assisting Refugee
Academics (CARA) and Econet Wireless
officially launched a new Virtual
Lecture Hall (VLH) at the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) on Friday
morning.
30.06.1212:54pm
by Steve Eldon Kerr
The VLH allows
lectures, complete with slideshows and video conferencing, to
be streamed
into UZ from around the world with the use of a screen,
speakers, and the
internet.
Speaking at the launch, Laura Broadhurst, Zimbabwe Programme
Manager at
CARA, said that the project grew out of a series of consultations
with
Zimbabwean academics in 2010.
“One of the critical issues raised
was the brain drain of academic staff,”
said Broadhurst.
The ‘Virtual
Lectures’ were therefore designed to help with teaching
shortages in the
College of Health Science and the Faculties of Science and
Veterinary
Science, but CARA hope the technology will also be used to engage
the
diaspora in Zimbabwean academic life.
“It is hoped that this project will
not only enable members of Zimbabwe’s
academic diaspora to re-engage with
UZ’s future but that it will improve
standards of teaching and research, and
facilitate increased networking and
collaboration with universities outside
Zimbabwe,” said Broadhurst.
Trial lectures have already been successfully
broadcast from Buffalo
University in New York, UNESCO-IHE in the
Netherlands, and Tanzania, while
academics from King’s College London will
start streaming lectures in
Anatomy and Physiology in the new academic year,
as will lecturers from
Queen Mary’s School of Dentistry.
“With
capacity for 200 students in this lecture hall, this project has the
potential to reach Zimbabwe’s next generation of students studying at the
CHS, FoS and FoVS: 3 extremely important areas for the future of [the
country],” said Broadhurst.
The project, funded by Econet Wireless,
has been welcomed throughout the
academic community. Dr. Sue Onslow,
Visiting Lecturer at The London School
of Economics offered her
congratulations to the team and called the launch
of VLH “superb news”, and
Prof. Midion Midion Mapfumo Chidzonga of the
College of Health Sciences at
UZ said, “this is the great moment we all have
been waiting for: turning the
virtual into reality.”
In response to a question from The Zimbabwean
about the frequent power
outages in Harare, Broadhurst assured the paper
that “there is a dedicated
generator and internet cable for the project
ensuring reliable internet and
electricity.”
CARA was founded in 1933
to provide periods of sanctuary for academics and
support continued academic
engagement worldwide in the face of unfavourable
world
events.
Academics, Zimbabwean and non Zimbabwean, who wish to be involved
should
contact CARA's Zimbabwe team with details of their teaching
background in
the Health, Natural and Veterinary Sciences and where they are
based. The
organisation’s website is http://www.academic-refugees.org.
Dear Family and Friends,
Standing on a bridge, looking down into a cold
mountain river, I
wondered what the chances were of seeing a trout. It was a
quiet
winters morning in an uninhabited area and my patience was
rewarded,
not with a fish but with a reptile. A thin green snake swam across
the
river, sliding on the surface of the water, from one bank to
the
other. At the far side, the snake struggled to get a grip on
the
slippery bank before disappearing into the bush. It had all
happened
so fast that for a moment I wondered if it had been an
illusion.
Walking away from the river along a red dirt road, square chips
of
mica sparkled and glistened where they lay amongst the dust and
stones.
Turning off the road onto a narrow little path which wound
around tussocks of
sun bleached grass and dry, scratchy shrubs,
another surprise awaited. Right
there, in the middle of the path, was
a great excavation: a pile of red soil
alongside a deep, angled hole
which you could not see the bottom of. This was
an Antbear hole but
could just as well be hiding some other creature and its
innocent
appearance was as much of a deception as the swimming snake
and
shining mica sparkling in the dust.
A little later, near a pool in the
river, a sudden movement in the
water caught my eye. It was an eel and within
seconds disbelief was
confirmed as a few of us gathered at the water’s edge
to witness
this rare sight. Over a metre long, the African mottled eel
swirled
and twisted in the crystal clear, mountain water. For a few
seconds
the eel lay still in a patch of sunlit water, cameras clicked
madly,
capturing a memory that will long be cherished.
Back in the real
world, newspapers and emails provided the contrasting
image of Zimbabwe – the
one we struggle to live in and survive every
day. One news report told of
Russia holding negotiations to supply us
with military helicopters in
exchange for platinum mining rights in
the Darwendale area of Zimbabwe. It’s
impossible to understand moves
likes this which are in direct contradiction
to the incessant
propaganda about indigenisation and the mantra that
Zimbabwe’s
resources, in, on and under the ground, are only for indigenous,
black
skinned Zimbabweans. Another report told of 300,000 tonnes of
maize
recently imported from Zambia. The irony was that the maize had
been
grown in Zambia by Zimbabwean farmers who had been evicted from
their
farms and had their property seized by the Zimbabwe government in
the
last decade. The Zambian grain is being given out to rural
Zimbabweans
by the government’s GMB (Grain Marketing Board) in a grain
loan
scheme. One rural recipient described bags of grain he received
which
had stickers with the name and address of the grower –
a
dispossessed ex Karoi farmer now producing food in Zambia. The sad
story
got worse with a statement from a source in the GMB who said
they had now
been ordered to repackage the imported maize and destroy
the Zambian bags
which showed the identity of the growers.
Finally, came the photograph taken
recently of our town’s fire
engine. The fire department to whom all of the
town’s residents are
required to each pay a monthly levy of US$ 1.82, was
hard at work.
They weren’t busy extinguishing a blaze but with carrying
people.
The double cab of the fire engine was so full of people that more
had
perched on top. Four people, in their own clothes, are clearly
visible
sitting on top of the fire engine as it stopped to cross
an
intersection in the town. And this is what we are all paying a
‘fire
levy for?’
After a week of swimming snakes, antbears and eels
followed by
Russians, helicopter gunships, burning maize bags and
passengers
sitting on top of the fire engine – you have to wonder what
is
reality and what is illusion. Until next time, thanks for reading,
love
cathy. 30th June 2012. Copyright � Cathy Buckle.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
