zimbabwejounalists.com
By a Correspondent
KOFI Annan, the United
Nations secretary general, met with President
Robert Mugabe yesterday on the
sidelines of the African Union's 7th Ordinary
Summit but details from the
meeting are still sketchy.
Mugabe and Annan met for about 40
minutes, according to the
state-controlled Sunday Mail. Also in the meeting
held at the Sheraton Hotel
were foreign affairs minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, Patrick Chinamasa, the
justice minister, foreign affairs
secretary Joey Bimha and the UN
Under-Secretary General for African Affairs,
Ibrahim Gambari.
A statement on the meeting is yet to be
issued.
Annan has been trying to meet with Mugabe in an effort to
engage
Harare in international talks about the crisis engulfing the country,
its
future, and possibly set a date for a visit to the country.
The politburo, Zanu PF's supreme decision making body, gave Mugabe the
green
light meet with Annan but not to agree to any conditions he may set
for him
to leave office and pave way for fresh elections. It is not yet
clear
whether this subject came up or not in the meeting.
Following
widespread media reports that Annan was coming with a deal
in his pocket to
help ease Mugabe out of power so a transitional government
could be put in
place ahead of free and fair elections, the politburo said
their government
would "not accept any suggestions for a transitional
government or economic
rescue packages tied to veiled attempts of regime
change".
Before leaving New York Annan told journalists the international
community,
should find a way of assisting Zimbabwe to come back to the fold
and to turn
around its economy and its social systems.
However emphasising his
government's refusal to even discuss
constitutional change and an interim
administration with Annan ahead of the
meeting, Mugabe insisted Zimbabwe did
not need any international rescue
package.
"There are so many
so-called 'initiatives' to rescue Zimbabwe. We are
not dying. We don't need
any rescue. We will not collapse. Maybe we are
suffering, yes. But we will
never die," Mugabe said last week.
The Scotsman
IAN MATHER
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
WHATEVER happened to the Commission for Africa?
Created by Tony Blair ahead
of the Gleneagles Summit a year ago, "to make a
real difference to Africa",
this high-powered body of international
dignitaries was presented to the
world as the centrepiece of a global drive
against African poverty.
But last week when Blair announced plans to
chase up the Group of Eight (G8)
countries on the pledges they made last
year the job went not to the
Commission for Africa but to a new United
Nations panel to be led by the
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and including
Bob Geldof and Nigeria's
President Obasanjo. The panel will be funded by
Bill Gates, founder of
Microsoft.
The Commission for Africa ceased to
function after the Gleneagles summit in
Scotland, and has not met for nearly
a year. Its press office has closed.
Yet the record of the past year shows
that many governments have failed to
live up to their promises, and that
there would have been plenty of work for
the Commission to do.
The
three main pledges made at Gleneagles related to debt relief, aid and
trade.
Geldof, organiser of the Make Poverty History campaign that forced
the G8
leaders to make Africa a priority, last week summed up the results so
far as
"the good, the OK and the ugly", with performance on debt relief
being good,
on aid as "OK" and on trade as ugly.
The Gleneagles summit did produce
some genuine help for Africa. By next
month, the debts of the 18 poorest
countries, most of them in Africa,
totalling $50bn, will have been cancelled
according to plan.
The world's poorest countries can now choose how to
spend the money they
were using to repay debts. Some are using it to tackle
their own country's
poverty. In Zambia, the government has recruited 4,500
new teachers and made
healthcare free. In Tanzania, it has bought food for
areas hit by drought.
In Ghana, the money saved has been spent on
infrastructure such as road
building.
The G8's promise to double aid
by $50bn a year by 2010 - half to Africa - is
impossible to assess at this
stage. Aid did rise by a third in 2005, but
most of that was to write off
the debts of Iraq and Nigeria rather than to
help the poorest.
The
US-based DATA (Debt Aids Trade Africa) non-governmental organisation
said
last week that France was the only country on track to meet the target.
The
US, Britain and Italy were "off track". Canada and Germany's aid had
fallen
and Japan's figures were not made available.
But the biggest failure is
on trade. Many analysts regard the removal of
trade barriers by the advanced
countries as the key to lifting Africa out of
poverty. There is no sign of
agreement on how to rectify the imbalance of
trade between Africa and
western nations. At a recent World Trade
Organisation meeting in Hong Kong,
"staunch opposition" from the US and
Japan scuppered G8 plans to open up
their markets to all goods from the
poorest countries, according to
Actionaid.
"Not a banana has been delivered," says Richard Dowden,
director of the
Royal African society. "Nothing has been achieved, and
Europe and America
keep the agricultural subsidies that do so much damage to
Africa's ability
to earn its own living in the world."
There was
another side of the Gleneagles bargain. African leaders promised
to promote
democracy and economic growth, while showing "zero tolerance" of
corruption.
Some, including Rwanda, Mozambique and Liberia are trying
to deliver health
and education to their people. Others, such as Sudan,
Zimbabwe and Kenya are
still run by corrupt élites.
Embarrassingly
for Blair, two of his former close allies in Africa,
President Yoweri
Museveni of Uganda and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of
Ethiopia, have already
ditched the principles of good governance for which
the latter gained a seat
on Blair's Commission for Africa.
The Department for International
Development (DFID) says that it was always
intended that the Commission for
Africa would stop its work once it had
produced a report. But it now looks
as though it was a temporary public
relations exercise to appease the Make
Poverty History movement. The whole
subject of aid for Africa has been
dropped from the forthcoming G8 summit in
St Petersburg.
This
article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=964642006
Last
updated: 02-Jul-06 01:32 BST
Washington Times
By
Heidi Vogt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 2, 2006
BANJUL, Gambia --
A summit of African leaders opened yesterday with a
special welcome for the
firebrand presidents of Iran and Venezuela, each
visiting the world's
poorest continent to win support for his anti-American
agenda.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh hailed the presence of Venezuela's
President
Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the summit
of the
53-nation African Union as "a morale booster as well as an assurance
that
Africa can make it."
Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit was seen as an attempt to
bolster Iran in its
standoff with the United States and Europe over its
nuclear program. The
Iranian president has made several high-profile trips
to Asia, where he drew
crowds of Muslims cheering Tehran for defying the
West.
He prayed with African Muslims at Banjul's main mosque Friday,
encouraging Gambian Muslims to "come together on the path of Islam to
God."
Ninety percent of Gambia's 1.6 million people are Muslim, and Islam
is a
powerful force throughout much of Africa.
Mr. Chavez repeated
his attacks on the United States and President Bush
in his speeches, and
worked to form Latin American trading blocs to
counterbalance U.S. economic
power.
His country, the world's ninth-largest oil producer, has talked to
African oil producers about potential collaborations, though no agreements
have been signed, said Richard Mendez, deputy head of mission at the
Venezuelan Embassy in Ethiopia.
Iran is the world's fourth-largest
oil producer.
Mr. Mendez added that Venezuela is hoping for African
support in its bid
for one of the rotating seats on the U.N. Security
Council, a proposal
opposed by the United States.
But Mr. Chavez's
appearance was more reflective of a broad desire to
show solidarity with
Africa, Mr. Mendez said.
The Venezuelan leader also is planning to visit
Iran next month to
discuss energy issues.
Leaders at the weekend
summit were expected to address issues including
the conflict in Sudan's
Darfur region, the rise of a hard-line Islamic
regime in Somalia and
often-deadly illegal migration by Africans to Europe.
Even if resolutions
are passed, African Union members aren't bound by
them and the body has
little funding to pursue independent action.
Among African leaders
confirmed to attend were South Africa's Thabo
Mbeki, Libya's Moammar
Gadhafi, Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Nigeria's
Olusegun Obasanjo,
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Kenya's Mwai Kibaki.
Zim Standard
BY FOSTER
DONGOZI
THE Zanu PF Politburo has revived investigations
into the
operations of the ruling party's business empire - formerly
presided over by
Emmerson Mnangagwa - in what insiders said were renewed
attempts to
frustrate Mnangagwa ahead of President Robert Mugabe's
retirement.
President Mugabe has kept people guessing about
his retirement
plans, amid suggestions that he wants to cling to power until
2010.
Despite getting the backing of six out of the party's
10
provincial structures in 2004, Mnangagwa was elbowed out of the race by
Mugabe, who elevated Joice Mujuru to the position of vice
president.
However, Zanu PF information chief, Nathan
Shamuyarira,
dismissed the claims.
"That is not true;
there is no re-opening of investigations. The
companies you mention were
touched upon in a report to the Politburo. In
fact, no serious debate took
place on that. So there is no return to the
original
report."
Politburo members told The Standard that a meeting,
which they
held at the end of May, had resulted in questions being raised on
the
operations of the ruling party's business empire.
"Some of the questions on the operations of Catercraft, First
Banking
Corporation, Zidlee Enterprises, Zidco Holdings and other companies
were
asked by President Robert Mugabe himself. In fact, other members of the
Politburo were afraid to ask questions on how the business empire was run
because they feared Mnangagwa," said another Politburo
member.
The Standard's sources claimed a defiant Mnangagwa
shot back
saying there was nothing he did without Mugabes knowledge. He
reportedly
said he was not seeking anybody's protection.
Mnangagwa was not immediately available for comment.
At the
burial of former Information Minister, Tichaona Jokonya,
on Thursday, Mugabe
recognised the presence of Retired General Solomon
Mujuru ahead of serving
ministers. The retired soldier is the husband of
Vice President Mujuru, who
did not attend the burial.
Zanu PF chairman and Speaker of
the House of Assembly, John
Nkomo, was further down the list of dignitaries
acknowledged by Mugabe.
Probes into Mnangagwa's financial
past were reportedly
resuscitated by the Mujuru camp, allegedly to "finish
him off".
Mnangagwa, who is the Minister for Rural Housing,
has apparently
been consolidating his position in rural areas, Zanu PF's
stronghold.
Upon discovering this, the Mujuru camp panicked
and drew up a
programme for the Vice President to visit all rural
centres.
Zim Standard
By Terry Mutsvanga
A REVOLT by
Warren Park residents and calls for resistance by
the Combined Harare
Residents' Association (CHRA) last week, forced the
bungling Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (Zinwa) to reverse massive water
increases it had
effected The Standard can reveal.
On Friday, the Minister of
Local Government, Public Works and
Urban Development Ignatious Chombo
convened an urgent meeting with Zinwa and
Harare City Council officials
fearing the demonstrations could spread to
others suburbs and explode into
uncontrollable national protests.
The government is edgy
about any forms of protests after the
opposition MDC, the labour movement
and students threatened imminent
demonstrations to protest against
government's misrule.
Zinwa had put up bulk water rates from
$8 000 to $80 000 a cubic
metre while the council added a surcharge of
50%.
Warren Park angry residents last Wednesday staged a
demonstration at the District Council Offices forcing council workers to
lock themselves up in the offices.
The workers -
including the District Officer a Mr Mupindu - were
rescued by the armed
police from irate ratepayers brandishing water bills
and baying for their
blood.
The situation only calmed down after the police drove
the
protestors away from the district offices. The residents threatened to
take
to the streets on Thursday again, forcing the government to suspend the
increases.
The residents had received high water bills
ranging between $9
and $24 million for the month of June. The amounts are
beyond the reach of
most urban Zimbabweans, who are already struggling to
make ends meet.
One of the residents, Future Munagwa, said he
received a bill of
$18 million.
"I was shocked to see
such a high figure on my account as I just
use water for cooking and
washing. This is totally unacceptable," he said.
One of the
Warren Park residents, who identified himself only as
Mavuto queried what
exactly had caused such huge increases in their bills.
Others
were more forthright telling off council officials that
the infrastructure
they were using was installed during Ian Smith's time and
wanted to know the
justification for the shock increases.
The huge water bills
were received in other suburbs of Harare.
Fay Vermaark of
Greystone Park, for example, was shocked to
receive a bill amounting to $71
101 857,00 for June.
"Last month (May) I paid $18 million and
this new bill comes as
a shock because as a family, our water is for
domestic purposes only," she
said.
CHRA last week
encouraged Harare residents to boycott payment of
rates until new elections
for the city are held.
It is not the first time that Zinwa
has bungled. Early this
year, the water authority reversed high water
tariffs it had charged
commercial farmers after a national outcry, which
forced government to
intervene.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF Harare
province has called for the ouster of
the chairperson of the Commission
running the affairs of Harare, Sekesai
Makwavarara, saying she was
liability.
Zimbabwe's extravagant but totally inept political
turncoat last
week suspended Town Clerk, Nomutsa Chideya, allegedly for
incompetence.
Other than high water bills, Harare residents
are up in arms
against frequent power cuts. Several people have lost
electrical gadgets
such as DVD players, TVs, Radio and fridges as a result
of power surges by
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa).
Zesa spokesperson, James Maridadi, said most people
in
high-density areas were actually paying less money than the power utility
uses to send statements to residents.
Zim Standard
By our staff
FEMALE Zimbabwean
students at Fort Hare University in South
Africa have resorted to
prostitution in order to raise money for survival
while their male
counterparts have opted to sell cigarettes to make ends
meet.
This comes at a time when the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee
on Education made startling revelations that female
students in the country's
higher learning institutions had resorted to
living with men and
prostitution to raise money for tuition and examination
fees.
Speaking to The Standard last week a guardian who said
he had a
nephew at Fort Hare said the Zimbabweans had turned Fort Hare
University
into a "Sodom and Gomorrah" after the government dumped them in
South Africa
with promises that money would be deposited into their accounts
as soon as
they arrived in South Africa.
The guardian,
who requested anonymity for fear of having his
relative victimised, said:
"Zimbabwean students are living a pathetic life
at the university. My nephew
narrated to me how they had been reduced to
destitutes."
The Fort Hare Presidential scholarship scheme was a brain child
of President
Robert Mugabe and was supposed to benefit underprivileged but
intelligent
students.
Of late, relatives of politicians have been among
the
scholarship beneficiaries.
According to the guardian,
a few well-connected students on the
scholarship programme have not been
affected by the hardships.
"The students went in January and
only returned last week. How
else could they have survived other than to
sell their bodies and
cigarettes," he asked.
The students
only escaped the harsh realities after buses were
organised to bring them
back home several days ago following the closure of
the university for
holidays.
The normal arrangement, according to the students,
has been that
they get money before the end of the semester. "This time we
have been given
nothing. They have given us money only for transport to go
to Zimbabwe and
have tightened up the conditions of the scholarship because
they were not
happy to see articles in the newspapers," one of the students
told The
Standard.
"We have been desperately surviving up
to Wednesday, two weeks
after closing," the student said. "Strictly
speaking, things have changed
for the worst."
As a result
of the hardships, some students have remained in
South Africa because of
inadequate resources. Through assistance from
relatives, some of the
students have managed to travel home during the
vacation.
Students had also appealed to President Mugabe in the hope their
case would
be speedily resolved.
However, in a letter purportedly
written by some Fort Hare
students, some claimed all was well at the
institution.
"The publication of the letter alleging
starvation has shocked
all Zimbabwean students under the Presidential
Scholarship. We wish to
enlighten the country and all its detractors that we
are very well catered
for by the government and excelling in our studies as
testified by the
recent graduation which produced distinctions among
Zimbabweans," reads part
of the letter.
Efforts to get a
comment from the university were fruitless as
the institution has closed for
holidays.
Zim Standard
By
Godfrey Mutimba
MASVINGO - Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement Minister, Didymus
Mutasa, has ordered seven war veterans to
move out of Chikore Farm in
Masvingo to pave way for Higher and Tertiary
Education Minister, Stan
Mudenge, who had been embroiled in a bitter wrangle
over ownership of the
land with the former freedom fighters since May this
year.
As a result of the evictions, the war veterans who
invaded the
farm in 2000 were forced to abandon their 24-hectare-tomato
project, where
they expected to earn about $90 billion.
Mudenge has allegedly started harvesting the tomatoes.
Mutasa, who visited the farm a fortnight ago, told the war
veterans that
they risked being arrested if they fail to move out of the
farm, which he
said, was officially allocated to Mudenge's late wife,
Eunice.
"Makarima mumunda usiri wenyu saka munofanira
kusiyira vaMudenge
ndivovakapiwa farm iri vanotori ne offer letter saka
zvamakaita izvi hazvisi
pamutemo (You planted your crops in Mudenge's farm
so you must leave. He has
an offer letter. What you did was unlawful),"
Mutasa said.
Mutasa, who was addressing representatives of
war veterans -
Mike Murindiri and Fabian Muwandi - said the former freedom
fighters would
be arrested if they tried to disrupt operations at the
farm.
The police have already set a "base" at the
farm.
Mutasa said the farm was allocated to Mudenge's late
wife, who
died in 2004 and so the Higher Education Minister "had the right
to inherit
the farm".
Mutasa, also in charge of national
security, promised to find
alternative land for the
farmers.
But the war veterans, however, claimed that they
have been
undertaking horticultural activities on the farm since 2000. They
said
Mudenge only came to the disputed farm in May and ordered them to move
out.
"He (Mudenge) has started harvesting our produce, which
he didn't
plant or maintain. We lost millions of dollars buying seeds,
fertilizers and
looked after the crop but someone comes to harvest and sell
the crop to
enrich himself," fumed Murindiri, one of the families'
representatives.
At the meeting, the war veterans pleaded
with Mutasa to allow
them to finish harvesting their crops but the Lands
Minister maintained that
they should move out
immediately.
They said they had invested about $500 million
on the farming
projects and anticipated earnings of about $90 billion after
harvesting.
Muwandi said the move was a blow to their
livelihoods, as they
had no other means of generating
income.
"This was our only means of survival and our families
will be
affected extremely," he said. "Our children will drop out of school
because
we will no longer afford to pay fees for them."
Muwandi, who says his Chimurenga name was Comrade Jongwe, said
the ministers
were using "their political muscle" to drive them out.
Mudenge could not be reached for comment.
Zim Standard
By
John Mokwetsi
RONNIE Mutumba, a civil servant, is one of
thousands whose homes
were destroyed during the clean up blitz last
year.
He wracks his brains over how his meagre salary will
stretch to
cover rentals, transport, and school fees on his new
salary.
He used to live in a backyard cottage behind the main
house
before the government, in what many believe was a moment of madness,
decided
to demolish houses and flea markets in May 2005. Now he sits
dejected among
rubble in the high-density suburb of Glen
View.
Ironically, the government and local authorities had
sanctioned
the housing schemes and flea markets destroyed during "Operation
Murambatsvina".
While civil servants celebrated the
"windfall" that came their
way through recent hefty salary increments, they
knew they would have to
share with others.
His landlord,
he knew, would immediately demand a sizeable
portion of the
"cake".
"My landlord raised my rentals from $1.5 million to a
staggering
$6 million a room for the three rooms I am
renting."
Every time he receives phone calls from the
landline in the main
house he is required to pay a fee.
Mutumba said: "Sometimes I wish the newsmen and government could
just not
publicise our salaries. You have these landlords budgeting on how
you will
use your money the day it is announced."
Mutumba's case is
not isolated. In most high-density areas the
rentals are now equivalent to
those in upmarket places like Avondale and
Belvedere as demand for shelter
outstrips supply.
The abuse of rentals is an issue that has
been talked about many
times with the government making empty promises of
dealing with errant
landlords.
Chengetai Kureva from
Highfield said the government should not
make a lot of noise about landlords
overcharging tenants. "They destroyed
houses and gave landlords the power to
do whatever they want with us."
"Operation Murambatsvina",
believed to have displaced or
destroyed the livelihoods of over 700 000
persons further strained the
country's poor and depressed economic
activity.
Government officials have portrayed "Operation
Garikai" as a
success, but Zimbabweans say very little has been
achieved.
Last year in an interview, Roman Catholic
Archbishop Pius Ncube
described "Operation Garikai" as a monumental
joke.
He said: "The few houses built so far are tiny
structures meant
for government forces and not families. Pastors, who looked
after families,
a month ago, had found them dumped by the government 130
kilometres away
outside Bulawayo. They had been left in the middle of
nowhere with no
shelter and no water.
"Putting them out
of sight has been government's solution to the
housing crisis it created,
and an admission that Garikai has failed to
provide accommodation for the
displaced."
The rights of internally displaced persons
characterised the
situation as a massive internal
displacement.
In Anna Tibaijuka's report on her fact-finding
mission to
Zimbabwe, the UN Special Envoy emphasised "an immediate need for
the
Government of Zimbabwe to recognize the virtual state of emergency that
has
resulted and to allow unhindered access by the international and
humanitarian community to assist those that have been
affected."
Sasha Jogi, the president of Zimbabwe Institute of
Regional and
Urban Planning, said it was not possible to normalise the
housing situation
under the current set up. He said: "It will take a minimum
of 10 years under
the current situation for housing to normalise in the
country."
He said although land was available in the
metropolitan region,
which includes Chitungwiza, Harare, Ruwa and Norton,
the limitations are
that less of it is serviced.
Jogi
said: "Yes, we have plenty of land, but not enough serviced
land for people
to stay on. The vast land means nothing without water and
electricity
because you need those to service the land that you eventually
give to
people to start building houses on."
He however justified
rental increases saying they are in line
with inflation.
Freda Garapu of Warren Park urged the government to look at the
issue of
rents in high-density areas and live up to the promise of providing
shelter.
"Rent is eroding the whole salary. Sometimes you
wonder what has
gotten into people. One thing you are certain of is that
rent is increased
after every two months. We all know the same cannot be
said about salaries,"
Garapu said.
Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - The government has allegedly
told villagers in Dete,
Matabeleland North, to make way for an irrigation
scheme commissioned early
this year by Vice President, Joice
Mujuru.
The Standard learnt that the affected villagers in
Makwandara
area of Dete are close to the proposed 100-hectare Magoli
Irrigation Scheme.
They have, however, not been compensated for their
relocation or allocated
an alternative resettlement area.
Mujuru commissioned the irrigation scheme in March. Nearly 50
hectares of
land have been cleared.
A source said: "Villagers in
Makwandara area have been told
their area falls under the irrigation scheme
and have been informed that
they have to leave and make way for the
irrigation scheme.
"What irks them is that the irrigation
scheme was initiated
recently yet they have been staying there for years.
The government should
have foreseen such a situation."
Another source said: "The government has not told them where
they will be
resettled or whether they will be compensated for their
relocation."
Contacted for comment, acting Hwange
District Administrator
(DA), Siyatimbula Mupande, confirmed that the
irrigation scheme had affected
many villagers.
However,
he could not say where the affected villagers will be
resettled or how many
were expected to abandon their homesteads.
Mupande said: "We
can't talk of where they will be taken to and
how many have been affected
before our assessments are over. There is an
on-going assessment to find out
how many people will be affected because the
irrigation scheme is expected
to expand into their areas and it is likely
that some will be
affected."
Asked to comment on the issue, Simon Madyiwa,
director for
irrigation in the Ministry of Water, which is carrying out the
assessments,
said: "That kind of information can only be complete next week
after I get
all details from our provincial staff."
"It's
an issue of concern to everybody. It's a process (to find
out how many
villagers would be affected) as we have to meet all
stakeholders, chiefs,
farmers, villagers to find out how many will be
displaced."
Jealous Sansole, MP for Hwange West, said it
was unfortunate
that villagers would have to vacate as the government failed
to initially
come up with proper measures of ensuring that all the people
affected would
be well-catered for.
Zim Standard
By our correspondent
THE Sunday
Mail Chief reporter, Emilia Zindi, is facing charges
of stealing oranges
worth over $80m from a farm in Chegutu.
Zindi recently
appeared before a Chegutu magistrate facing
charges of theft after she
allegedly stole 2 660 kg of oranges belonging to
Wilhelmina Hancing Swart at
his Hippovale farm in Chegutu.
"The accused (Zindi) stole 2
660 kgs of oranges valued at $82, 4
million and nothing was recovered. The
accused had no right to steal the
oranges," reads part of the charge against
Zindi.
She was remanded out custody to 28 July
2006.
It is the State case that on 25 April, Zindi stopped
the driver
of the complainant, Wright Milanzi, who was on his way to Chegutu
with a
tractor loaded with 16 bins of oranges.
The
oranges, according to the court papers, were being taken to
Dodhill Packing
shed.
But Zindi, it is alleged, ordered the driver to park
the tractor
and was told to go away leaving behind the tractor and two
trailers loaded
with oranges.
The following morning, the
bins were then checked by the
complainant, who discovered that seven bins
had been emptied. A report was
made to the police and nothing was
recovered.
Zindi who is popularly known as "the daughter of
Zanu PF" in
Chegutu is a beneficiary of the government's land redistribution
exercise
and owns part of Hippovale.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE MAPONGA
DESPERATE for hard currency, the
government is planning to raise
foreign exchange through goat exports to the
Middle East.
The Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender and
Community
Development, Oppah Muchinguri, told villagers at Nyamahumba
Primary School
in Nyanga last week that there is a "ready international
market" for their
goats to help raise foreign currency.
Muchinguri said: "We have plans to build abattoirs across the
country for
this project because we have got a ready market for the goats in
the Middle
East. The government does not have enough foreign currency to buy
food in
cases of drought so we urge you to engage in projects that will keep
your
communities self-sustainable."
Muchinguri was speaking at a
function organised by the Canadian
Embassy for the commissioning of poultry
and piggery projects aimed at
reducing poverty in the Ruwangwe and
Nyamahumba communities.
She took the opportunity to discuss
other projects, which her
ministry intends to roll out.
The minister also urged the villagers to change eating habits
and start
growing cassava as the tuberous plant fares well in dry regions
compared to
the staple maize.
On the shortages of drugs in the country's
hospitals and
clinics, Muchinguri urged people to use
herbs.
Canada, through the Canadian International Development
Agency,
contributed $8,8 billion towards projects in the district.
Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - A man from Gwanda in
Matabeleland South will appear
at the Gwanda Provincial Magistrates Court
tomorrow facing charges of
allegedly insulting President Robert
Mugabe.
Bassanio Chikwiriri will appear before Gwanda
Magistrate,
Douglas Zvenyika, facing allegations of making derogatory
statements about
Mugabe as well as accusing him of being the architect of
the country's
economic crisis.
Chikwiriri was arrested in
October last year and taken to court
on 29 May this year. He is out on free
bail.
The State case is that on 24 September last year at the
Talk of
Gwanda Restaurant and Nightclub, Chikwiriri made the derogatory
remarks in
reference to Mugabe in Shona. But Chikwiriri is denying the
charges.
Through his lawyer, Chikwiriri argues that the
allegations
emanate from frosty relations he had with a Zanu PF official
over the
government's reconstruction programme, "Operation Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle".
Chikwiriri, who is a builder by profession, argues
that Timothy
Sibanda, a Zanu PF secretary in the province, caused his arrest
after he
refused to be part of builders in "Operation Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle".
It is a crime punishable by either imprisonment or
heavy fine to
insult the President, his office or to make gestures about him
under
provisions of the draconian Public Order and Security Act
(Posa).
Meanwhile, Gwanda North MP and deputy Minister of
Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Abedinico Ncube, threatened to
deregister non-governmental organisations (NGOs) accused of expressing
political views about Zimbabwe.
Ncube said this when he
handed over medical drugs and hospital
supplies worth $5 billion donated by
World Vision Zimbabwe to Gwanda
Provincial Hospital.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
painted a gloomy
picture for embattled Zimbabwe's economic situation
forecasting that real
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be in negative
territory in 2006 and 2007.
Real GDP is the number reached by
valuing all the productive
activity within the country at a specific year's
prices.
In its World Economic Outlook report for April 2006,
the global
lender said Zimbabwe's economy would shrink by -4.7% this year
but the rate
of decline would improve to - 4.1% in 2007.
However, this year the government anticipates that that Gross
Domestic
Product would decline by 3.5%.
Zimbabwe is going through a
bad patch over the past seven years
attributed to inept policies enacted
that are inimical to economic growth.
With annualised inflation of 1 193.5%
as of May, Zimbabwe the highest
inflation rate in the
world.
Although central bank governor Gideon Gono said the
inflation
rate would taper off at the end of the year, analysts believe the
rate would
continue on its upward trend.
Analysts say
Zimbabwe's new economic recovery programme New
Economic Development Priority
Programme (NEDPP) would be another pie in the
sky as conditions prevailing
on the ground point to a deteriorating
situation. NEDPP was launched early
this year as a panacea to the country's
economic ills.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
QUOTED telecommunications concern Econet Wireless
says it will
expand its network capacity before the end of the year in line
with rising
demand for its products and services.
Company
chairman Tawanda Nyambirai said in Econet 2006 annual
report released last
week that the expansion will include installing
additional network equipment
such as base stations across Zimbabwe to boost
and create additional
capacity for the network. Econet is the largest mobile
provider with more
than 457 000 subscribers as at the end of February.
Econet
spent more than Z$920 billion on capital expenditure
during the year to the
end of February during which its carrying capacity
was upgraded
to
500 000 customers, and plans are afoot to further increase the
capacity, Nyambirai said without giving figures and
time-lines.
"Acquisition and development work continues on a
number of sites
in anticipation of the next phase of the network upgrade.
The business has
adopted an infrastructure development strategy to secure
all local currency
based materials and civil works so as to minimize project
cost escalations
and delays associated with the erratic foreign currency
market," Nyambirai
said.
Nyambirai said Econet had in the
year under review commissioned
42 new base stations and upgraded a number of
existing sites across Zimbabwe
to further improve service, while new radio
transmission links had also been
commissioned to enhance network
reliability. Other significant projects
undertaken included upgrading the
capacity of the pre-paid platform and the
short text messaging
system.
"Acquisition and development work continues on a
number of sites
in anticipation of the next phase of the network upgrade.
The business has
adopted an infrastructure development strategy to secure
all local currency
based materials and civil works so as to minimize project
cost escalations
and delays associated with the erratic foreign currency
market," Nyambirai
said.
Econet had also invested in
additional generators and other
power back-up devices to reduce the impact
of scheduled and unscheduled
power outages.
Zim Standard
Comment
SOMEONE is trying hard to stoke the
fires of revolt.
Firstly, more than a year ago the State in
its combined wisdom
decided to unleash an anti-people campaign and then
proceeded to mock them
by christening the Red Terror tactic, "Operation
Murambatsvina" as if to
suggest that the people - the victims of the
exercise - were themselves
filth of which the cities in Zimbabwe had to be
cleansed.
Then the government rejected United Nations
assistance -
implying the shelterless preferred that status to being given
model homes
designed jointly by experts from the world body and government
specialists.
Since May last year, the cost of living, as if
part of a darker
plot, has been galloping and in the process, impoverished
the majority of
people. Companies have continued to cut back on workers and,
in worst case
scenarios, closed down.
Desperation among
the lesser but majority Zimbabweans was
worsened by fare increases that are
so unpredictable. It has become even
more expensive for the few who still
have jobs to ensure they can afford to
continue working. It is as if someone
is determined to dare the majority in
order to see whether they can put up
with the wave of hardships being
visited upon them.
Bread, a common substitute for morning and afternoon meals, has
shot up,
putting the government in a quandary. Because the government only
listens to
itself and no one else, it decided to arrest bakers, ignoring the
self-evident realities and economics of producing bread in a country that
lacks the capacity to produce sufficient wheat for domestic
consumption.
So the majority of God-forsaken Zimbabweans have
no proper
shelter, have lost their jobs, and cannot afford to look for new
ones
because jobs are dwindling faster than the rate at which new employment
opportunities are being created.
Whenever fare or bread
price increases have been effected, the
government has sought to intervene.
The rationale proffered has always been
that this is being done in the
interests of safeguarding vulnerable groups
in society.
But events over the past fortnight defy logic. Water and
power-cuts have
become a daily occurrence. One would expect that because for
the greater
part of every month households are without electricity and
water, their
bills would be significantly lower. Official Zimbabwean logic
is that the
less you get the more it should cost!
Poor households in the
high-density areas have been slapped with
water and electricity bills that
jumped from less than one million dollars
to between $10 and $20 million.
These are households whose combined incomes
are nowhere near what they are
being asked to pay. Someone in government
wants to empty the cities of
people by forcing their return to the rural
areas. Alternatively both Zesa
and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority
want to ensure that a greater
proportion of the majority of Zimbabweans can
no longer afford water and
electricity. Is the strategy to create conditions
that would result in
disease outbreaks with more people succumbing?
The government
will react angrily to such suggestions, but if it
is genuinely concerned,
why has it not acted to put an end to the wave of
unjustifiable electricity
and water tariff increases? This sort of cost
recovery would embarrass even
the IMF!
The government should intervene to put an end to
this descent
into the dark ages. Someone is stoking the fires of an
uprising.
Zim Standard
Sunday Opinion By Marian Tupy
ON 26 May, South African
government denied political asylum to
Roy Bennett, the outspoken critic of
President Robert Mugabe and former MP.
Bennett fled to South
Africa in April 2006 to escape
incarceration on trumped-up charges of
attempting to assassinate Mugabe. If
returned to Zimbabwe, he will likely
end up in jail. Bennett's treatment
stands in stark contrast with Pretoria's
treatment of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, whose corrupt and authoritarian rule
over Haiti did not prevent
him from getting an asylum in South Africa.
Clearly, as far as Pretoria is
concerned, not all political refugees are
equal.
Bennett made the news in May 2004, when he scuffled
with Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa on the floor of Zimbabwe's
Parliament. Bennett,
who lost his farm during Mugabe's disastrous land
expropriation policy, lost
his cool when Chinamasa said that Bennett "has
not forgiven the government
for acquiring his farm, but he forgets that his
forefathers were thieves and
murderers". Though he later apologised for the
incident, Bennett was
sentenced to one year in prison by the Parliament
dominated by Mugabe's
loyalists.
Bennett was "made to
stand naked in front of prison guards and
... given a prison uniform covered
with human excrement." While in jail, the
once stocky farmer ruined his
health and lost about 30kg.
Earlier this year, Bennett went
into hiding and later fled to
South Africa. His flight followed the alleged
discovery of an arms cache on
a farm in eastern Zimbabwe. The government
immediately started rounding up
opposition figures and put out a warrant for
Bennett's arrest.
Once he arrived in South Africa, Bennett
petitioned for
political asylum under that country's 1998 Refugees Act.
According to the
act, "no person may be refused entry into (South Africa),
expelled,
extradited or returned to any other country ... if as a result of
such
refusal, expulsion, extradition, return or other measure, such person
is
compelled to return to or remain in a country where he or she may be
subjected to persecution on account of his or her race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group;
or his or her life, physical safety or freedom would be threatened on
account of external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or other
events seriously disturbing or disrupting public order in either part or the
whole of that country."
Under normal circumstances,
Bennett would have a strong case for
remaining in South Africa. He is a
political refugee from a country where
public order and the rule of law have
totally broken down. The government
routinely ignores court orders it
disagrees with and murders its political
opponents.
The
country's economy is being run by and for the benefit of
Mugabe and his
cronies. And there is little doubt that Bennett's personal
safety would be
imperilled, considering that Zimbabwe's Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa
already threatened the regime's opponents with physical
elimination.
Absurdly, Mutasa's fellow cabinet minister in charge of Home
Affairs, Kembo
Mohadi, recently stated that the government has "never
persecuted anybody in
Zimbabwe".
However, South Africa's ruling elite is strangely
enamoured with
Mugabe, the former Marxist revolutionary turned despot. South
Africans have
pursued a policy of appeasement toward Mugabe, which they
euphemistically
call "quiet diplomacy". The policy has been a massive
failure. In the last
few years, Zimbabwe has deteriorated into a primeval
State marked by
violence, famine and disease, 80% unemployment, and 1 000
percent inflation.
And so Bennett's request for political
asylum was denied.
Contrast that with Pretoria's treatment of the deposed
ex-president of Haiti
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. According to a report by the
US State Department,
Aristide ran a "corrupt" government "shot through with
drug money".
Another recent report by the US Bureau for
International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs claimed that "8 percent
of illegal
drugs entering the United States had passed through Haiti".
Moreover, during
his 2004 trial in Florida, Beaudoin Ketant, a former
confidant of Aristide's
and his daughter's godfather, testified that
Aristide "controlled the drug
trade in Haiti. He turned the country into a
narco-country. It's a one-man
show. You either pay (Aristide) or you
die".
South African government's response to the mounting
evidence of
Aristide's misrule was to send him a shipment of armaments to
keep him in
power. When that failed, he was welcomed to South Africa, where
he enjoys
luxurious exile paid for by the South African
taxpayer.
Pretoria's treatment of Bennett drips with
hypocrisy. Isn't it
about time that South African government started living
by the high
principles it preaches around the world?
Marian L. Tupy: is Assistant Director of the Project on Global
Economic
Liberty at the Cato Institute.
Zim Standard
Sunday view By Pedzisai Ruhanya
OTTO
von Bismarck belonged to a generation of European
politicians, like Benjamin
Disraeli in Great Britain, Napoleon III in France
or Camillo Cavour in
Italy, who were prepared to use radical, even
revolutionary means to achieve
fundamentally conservative ends.
But Bismarck saw that after
the frustrations of 1848 Revolution,
many liberals would be prepared to
sacrifice at least some of their liberal
principles on the altar of national
unity to get what they wanted. This
brought both the liberals and the
conservatives together to fight for German
unification and the creation of a
stable state.
In 1848 then Bismarck postulated that the
issues of those days
were not going to be solved by speeches and other
diplomatic overtures but
by blood and iron. It was a clear call for a
violent revolution in order to
achieve the quest for a united state. It was
after negotiations and
diplomatic overtures had failed.
Zimbabwe is in a similar situation but the strategies to be used
by
Zimbabweans in order to achieve a democratic regime change should be
different from those used by Bismarck in that there is no need to be
involved in violent political upheavals that have a potential to slide the
country into anarchy.
It is however, important to note
that during the upheavals at
the time Bismarck was in charge, he sought to
unite both the liberals and
his conservatives to take a united front to
confront the problems they faced
despite their different ideological
backgrounds. They realised that the
problems they faced were beyond
ideological posturing but were critical for
nation-building.
In the case of Zimbabwe there is need to
sacrifice these and
come up with a united approach to deal with bad policies
being pursued by
President Robert Mugabe irrespective of what Jonathan Moyo,
the two Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) groups, civil society and other
players'
ideological underpinnings could be.
If
oppositional and pro-democracy forces agree that the ruling
Zanu PF party
led by Mugabe and its repressive state apparatus are
responsible for the
political and economic crisis that the country has been
grappling with since
1997, then there is no reason why the MDC, Moyo, the
churches and other
civil society bodies such as the National Constitutional
Assembly should not
unite to confront the source of the country's
misfortunes before anarchy
prevails which is the worst thing that
Zimbabweans should not allow to
happen.
I make these views guided not only learning from
the history of
Bismarck and the creation of Germany but critically looking
at the
foundation of our country and how we become an independent State and
even
other regional initiatives especially the South African
experience.
Most fundamentally was the Second Chimurenga
where the country
had two critical liberation movements the one led by the
late Joshua Nkomo
and the late Ndabaningi Sithole. They both defined the
problems and the
source of the problems and decided to take up arms against
the colonial
administration led by Ian Smith and his
predecessors.
They differed on methodology, approach and
other petty issues to
the struggle to liberate this country but they were
united that the country
needed to be independent and to get rid of the
oppressive infrastructure
enacted by the colonial administrators although
Mugabe and his colleagues
failed to implement these ideals but even went
further to out do their
colonial predecessors by coming up with even more
oppressive laws and grave
violations of human rights.
More critically even during their differences, both Zanu and
Zapu not Zanu
PF refused to be put into Smith's pocket. They never
celebrated the trials
and tribulations they faced against the Rhodesian
regime and refused to be
given unlimited media coverage in the Rhodesian
media of the then Rhodesian
Broadcasting Corporation.
The South African case before the
African National Congress
(ANC) came into power in 1994 should also be
instructive to Zimbabweans
fighting for democracy and good governance in the
country. Under the United
Democratic Front (UDF), the South African
oppositional and pro-democracy
forces waged a credible and united onslaught
against the Apartheid regime
until it was forced to come to the negotiating
table leading to the first
democratic elections in that
country.
The UDF was composed of different and diverse
political and
civic players with different ideological underpinnings. Others
were
liberals, workers, students, conservatives, communists, socialists and
radical liberation movements but were all clear that the Apartheid regime
was the greatest threat to the development of a non-racial South Africa that
respects human rights and other democratic values as enshrined in the United
Nations Charter and particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of 1948.
It is my view that the church leaders by
inviting known and
unrepentant violators of human rights to National Day of
Prayer are working
to redeem the fortunes of a decadent regime. I am not
aware of the value of
inviting Mugabe to a church gathering when what he
does is contrary to the
teachings of the Bible.
Outside of a national confession by Mugabe and his
administration, it is
disastrous for that sect of the church to do what it
is doing. It is equally
wrong for that group of church leaders to call
opposition leaders to accept
Mugabe's legitimacy when Mugabe has not
accepted that he rigged elections,
that his government and security forces
did nothing to the victims of the
Gukurahundi Massacres, the violent farm
invasions, past electoral murders
and "Operation Murambatsvina".
These church leaders must know
that history will record that
they were used as public relations officers of
a human rights violating
regime. The MDC did not put sanctions against Zanu
PF officials and there
are no sanctions against Zimbabwe.
If the church leaders want to have sanctions against Mugabe and
his cronies
removed the dubious church leaders should engage Brussels the
headquarters
of the European Union or the White House.
By attempting to
involve the opposition in the issues of
sanctions, the church leaders are
telling Zimbabweans that the MDC was
involved in the issue of sanctions
against Zanu PF cronies. They should be
dismissed because they are behaving
like Zanu PF political commissars.
If the church leaders
voted for Zanu PF and don't believe
elections were violent and rigged, let
them recognise him and his government
but it's wrong for them to force
others to do so outside of a properly and
democratically held
election.
Like Bismarck and other political forces did after
the failures
of the 1848 Revolution, Zimbabweans should unite and compromise
some of
their views and make a concerted democratic civil disobedience
programme
against the Harare dictatorship before it is too late.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
VIOLENCE and torture are
forcing economically active Zimbabweans
to seek asylum in South Africa, a
report by the Zimbabwe Torture Victims
Project (ZTVP) has
revealed.
At least 7 211 Zimbabweans sought refugee status in
South Africa
in the first quarter of 2006.
According to
interviews conducted with asylum seekers the forms
of physical torture
included beatings, electric shocks, falanga (beatings on
soles), burnings,
rape and indecent assault, ZTVP said.
"In terms of
psychological torture, clients were asked whether
they experienced threats,
harassment, witnessing of torture on others, as
well as 'psychological
torture' as an encompassing category inclusive of
verbal abuse, false
accusations, abuse with excrement and sexual abuse
without
violence."
ZTVP said Zanu PF members were implicated in 45%
of the reported
cases, followed by members of the police (27% of cases), and
Zanu PF youth
(22% of cases).
ZTVP said: "In a number of
cases, activists, 'war veterans',
Central Intelligence Organisation members
and members of the militia were
also responsible for inflicting
torture."
Members of the opposition MDC represented only 1%
of all
perpetrators thus further corroborating previous findings which are
sceptical of the contention that the violence in Zimbabwe is primarily a
result of inter-party conflicts, ZTVP said.
ZTVP said its
clients were economically active.
The report continued:
"Regardless of sex, the average age of
clients was 30 years; however, female
clients assisted by ZTVP tended to be
slightly younger than male clients.
Most clients fell within the
economically active population age
group."
Church mission stations must never collapse
CHURCHES are our
inheritance just as churches are the
inheritance of the people all over the
world and must never be allowed to
collapse.
Colonial
church mission stations in Zimbabwe have been centres
of great developments
and places of refuge for the persecuted. The majority
of our current and
departed government leaders received their education from
mission
stations.
Besides receiving education, these leaders were
given protection
from persecution from the likes of Ian Douglas Smith and
his government who
had no qualms at all when dealing with black
politicians.
However, at independence most Zimbabwean
churches opted to break
away from their mother churches because of the
political zeal sweeping the
country at the time. In my humble opinion, the
result of this political move
was the beginning of the decay of these
churches. A few examples of these
churches include the Dutch Reformed Church
(The Reformed Church of
Zimbabwe), the Anglican or Church of England (The
Anglican Church of
Zimbabwe), the American Methodist Church (The United
Methodist Church - this
new name is world wide, I believe) and the British
Methodist.
I do not believe that changing the names of
churches to more
authentic names was wrong but these changes alienated them
from their mother
churches. The financial support the churches received from
their countries
of origin dried up and missionaries from the home countries
also cut ties
with Zimbabwe.
Congregations which
maintained ties with their mother churches
such as the Roman Catholic, the
Jehovah's Witness and the Lutheran Church
are still receiving financial and
material help from the countries of their
mother
churches.
The case of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe is very
pathetic.
What was once a shining example of missionary work is slowly
collapsing. The
Dutch left a very vibrant church organisation. The mission
station at
Morgenster was completely self-reliant - the missionaries had a
saw mill
which processed abundant trees from gum plantations into timber for
building
purposes. The saw mill collapsed when the Reformed Church in
Zimbabwe was
divorced from the Dutch Reformed Church.
The
Dutch Reformed Church missionaries had a large herd of
cattle from where
they produced their own beef, milk, cheese, cream and
butter. Today the
place is strewn with abandoned dip tanks, dairy facilities
and a faltering
butchery.
Morgenster mission was a well-known printer of
Shona textbooks
and bibles. The mission's schools were supplied with
exercise books produced
at Morgenster. The mission's press is currently
struggling to remain viable
because of failure by the church to replace old
equipment at the printing
press. The current machinery is fit for the museum
because of age and
function.
A petrol pump station still
stands next to the printing press
but a number of items have been plundered,
presumably by officials while the
mission hospital is now a ghost of its
earlier fame. The place needs a lot
of renovations to attract doctors and
nurses who have abandoned the
hospital.
A new mortuary is
urgently needed to replace the old one which
can no longer cope with demand.
The entire mission station is threatened by
encroaching vegetation,
particularly of the lantana weed.
Waddilove institution is in
the same predicament as Morgenster.
The facilities left by the British
missionaries have been allowed to
collapse. What I saw of the place saddened
me because I knew the station as
a blooming flower during colonial days
before the likes of the Aeneas
Chigwederes of Zimbabwe were allowed to ruin
it.
My next visit was to St Augustine's Mission. As secondary
school
pupils, we used to compete with the mission station secondary school.
It too
was once upon a time a self-contained station with many facilities
similar
to Morgenster mission's but my recent visit to the station left me
devastated.
The place is also being taken over by
encroaching vegetation. A
couple of weeks ago I visited St Paul's Mission
Kutama. Does the name ring a
bell Cde President? Do you recall the farming
activities which took place at
Kutama? If you do, how could you have allowed
farming activities in the
whole country to be so
disrupted?
St Paul's Kutama, like many other mission stations
in the
country was well-known for its self-reliance. Missionaries running
the
mission and indeed other missions were jacks of all trades. Besides
being
priests, they were doctors, veterinary surgeons, builders, artists,
farmers
and much more. A far cry from what our current mission workers can
claim.
Why are these mission stations being allowed to
collapse?
St Paul's Kutama at least has a semblance of some
developments
taking place. The hospital is well maintained, other new
buildings have been
put up since the country attained independence, old
buildings are
occasionally given a fresh coat of paint and regular visits to
the mission
are made by officials from the mother
country.
'Pro-missions Stations'
Masvingo
-----------
Zimra charges stifle sports
development
MANY of us cried when Zimbabwe failed to be
nominated as
the hosts for the 2010, Africa Cup of Nations (ACON). But what
were we going
to show?
Our soccer is not developing
and by castigating the
Confederation of African Football (CAF)'s organising
committee, before
correcting our own problems is not the solution. We have
been watching the
FIFA World Cup tournament going into the knock-out stages.
Almost all
countries participating have quality regalia. At full-time
players exchange
jerseys, the same can not be said of our national
team.
At ACON 2006 in Egypt, it was the worst dressed
team in
terms of quality. I have not met a single Zimbabwean player from
that
tournament who said he exchanged his jersey with anyone. The same goes
for
the previous tournament at ACON 2004, we had poor quality
material.
There are many individuals, companies and
other donors
abroad and local, who are willing to donate sport equipment and
kit to the
Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and any other sporting
organisations
but the prohibitive duties and taxes that are charged by the
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) have chased them
elsewhere.
When the Warriors were about to go to Egypt,
their sport
equipment was held by ZIMRA even though they knew very well that
these were
for use at the bi-annual tournament. The Ministry of Education,
Sport and
Culture intervened for the uniforms to be
released.
Right now donations to the SOS Children's
homes are being
held, though according to the United Nations Charter of
which Zimbabwe is a
signatory, "humanitarian gifts and donations should not
be held for duties
and taxes and should be delivered to recipient group or
individual as soon
as possible".
For a team like
CAPS United, who had their replica jerseys
held, it was fair because theirs
were imported with the intention of
reselling.
As a
country, we need to develop our sporting disciplines
but we do not have
adequate sporting equipment or facilities. When donors
come forward to help
it is hard to pay an amount more than the assessed
values of the donated
equipments or kit. It has also been observed that when
we prepare for any
international assignment, the same tone is sung: "We
played a country whose
players are coming from countries where facilities
are
abundant."
How then do we acquire such equipment when
ZIMRA policies
are not changing for the development of sports? Their charges
on duties and
taxes on gifts and donations are
discouraging.
Lucias
Mathew
Dzivarasekwa
Harare
-------------------------
Churches' charade: how
does light and darkness mix?
I am distressed to
see the apparent lack of
moral voice and action that some in the traditional
organisations of the
clergy, have exhibited in the face of the corrupt and
oppressive misrule we
are experiencing in
Zimbabwe.
In your front page headline story
entitled
"churches, clergy in Mugabes pocket" the EFZ secretary general,
Andrew
Muchetetere, apparently believed that "one government representative,
who
could be the State President, will declare the nation back to God" on 25
June. He may well declare this; but declarations can be cheap and very
deceptive.
If there is no fruit from
the heart of the
individual making the declaration, aren't such words the
kind of
hypocritical lie that God hates most of
all?
Muchetetere is quoted in the
pro-government
Sunday Mail, also in the front page headline story as saying:
"The church
believes it can persuade its brothers [in the MDC] to recognise
the
government. We are concerned with the effects that sanctions are having
on
the common man in Zimbabwe".
What is
the agenda here? The Zimbabwe
sanctions do not affect the common man! They
are merely specific sanctions
clamped on a small contingent of specified
people involved with misrule. It
is misrule that affects the common man! The
sanctions are designed to
specifically target those involved with the
misrule that affects us all so
terribly.
Bishop Trevor Manhanga, the
EFZ president is
quoted as having said that "Government and the church could
be effective
partners". How does light and darkness mix? Does the Bible not
say that we
must not be unevenly yoked? Is the Bishop suggesting that he
will be a
partner in injustice and misrule? Does the Bible not tell us to
"break every
yoke"?
I have been told by
the EFZ leadership to
merely "trust
us".
In the true totalitarian pattern that
we have
seen through Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany and Mao's China
(amongst many
others) there have always been some church organisations that
have been
infiltrated by "wolves in sheep's clothing". These men have set
out to
legitimise and sanitise their governments using lies and
deception.
By so doing they may have
"saved" themselves;
but the oppressed remained in prolonged oppression due
to their complicity;
and the name of Christ was dirtied and trampled on by
their infamy.
I for one will not be
unevenly yoked with the
oppressor. I thank God that the "Christian Alliance"
is in place, partnered
not with the oppressor, but with other Christians of
like mind, to cry out
about the wound in Zimbabwe, and call for repentance
and an end to
unrighteousness, injustice and oppression
uncompromisingly.
Ben
Freeth
Harare
---------------
Government should stop
demonising Zimbabweans
in Diaspora
I read
with fascination the address by
Ambassador Amos Midzi, the Minister of Mines
and Mining Development that
people in the diaspora should contribute to the
"resurrection" of the
economy.
What
he forgets to tell people is that the
government through the State media has
been demonising these same people
calling them all sorts of names,
denigrating them, and when they come to
Zimbabwe they are harassed at points
of entry, as if they are criminals and
less Zimbabweans because they are
coming from the Diaspora.
We love our
country but the treatment is so
horrifying that one is left with a sense of
not belonging to Zimbabwe any
more.
The government and the mainstream media
should stop this campaign of
insinuations and denigrating Zimbabweans
working outside. It's ironic that
children of politicians attend schools in
the Diaspora, but the generality
of people with no means attend educational
institutions in
Zimbabwe.
Midzi would do us a big favour
by telling
his colleagues in government and their State media to stop
insulting us. We
are very willing to work with the government and that's our
country no
matter that we are here by situations not of choice but
necessity.
He should tell the officers
manning the
points of entry that Zimbabweans coming are no less Zimbabweans
than them
and that therefore they deserve to be treated with
dignity.
We cannot be harassed for being
out of the
country. We are Zimbabwean citizens and the remains of our
ancestors are
interred in
Zimbabwe.
M
Mhepo
Australia
------------
Mutambara, a sensitive
man
THE president of the pro-Senate MDC
faction,
Professor Arthur Mutambara, is a very sensitive man. At least from
the tone
of his message of condolences to the Tsvangirai family on the death
of
sekuru Dzingirai Chibwe Tsvangirai, the father of Morgan, the leader of
the
other MDC faction, he sounded very touched by the death of the elder
Tsvangirai.
He praised Tsvangirai
senior, for having
nurtured Morgan to become the national symbol of hope in
our struggle for
democracy and freedom against Robert Mugabe. This was a
very mature
statement, to say the
least.
I also noticed that Mutambara and
his faction
are the only group that issued a statement on the death of
Tsvangirai
senior. Even MorganTsvangirai's faction did not issue a statement
and we do
not know why.
Tsvangirai must
appreciate that he is now a
national asset. What ever happens even in his
personal life or in his family
is of national
significance.
May the soul of sekuru Chibwe
rest in eternal
peace.
Zivai
Vusimbe
Harare
----------
An SOS plea to
Chombo
WORKERS at the Hwange Local
board are
appealing to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and
Urban
Development, Dr Ignatious Chombo, to send a delegation here so that it
can
meet both residents and workers to establish their views on how the
affairs
of the local board are being
conducted.
The Provincial Administrator has
failed to
solve these problems because this is a small community and people
know each
other, so it is difficult to rule against those one interacts with
on a
daily basis, who expect one to support
them.
A lot of workers are being fired for
trying to
bring justice to the Council and this cannot be an example of
proper
management.
The lowest paid
worker gets $6 million a month
whereas the Poverty Datum Line is put at $53
million. How are employees
expected to
survive?
Troubled
workers
Hwange
----------------------
The sad realities
of our collapsed nation
I have struggled with
the reality of how
this beloved country of ours has sunk so low in
solidarity with some of our
neighbours.
When we talk about this
country being on its
knees, some people would need to encounter real
difficulties where you would
normally have none in executing a simple
task.
Below are some situations that I
came
face-to-face with:
I went to
Mbare on the 6 May in the late
afternoon and lying by the toilets there was
a corpse which had been
discovered in the early hours but until then it was
only half covered by a
transparent
plastic.
On inquiring, it was confirmed
that the
police had been told and obviously there would be others on foot
patrol in
such places. A stone's throw away there was a fist-fight and
hardly moments
later the police were
there.
There was more commotion with the
vendors
running in all directions - fleeing from the police
obviously.
The second example was that of
a kombi,
which had a burst front tyre before Headlands and the passengers
were
seriously injured at around 3PM but were only taken to Rusape Hospital
at
about 7PM by a Good Samaritan.
Once there, the injured were told they did
not have any medication therefore
they had to go to Mutare. When Mutare was
contacted, the ambulance there had
no fuel to travel to Rusape. The owner of
the kombi was contacted and he
eventually got to Rusape at about three in
the morning. He then took the
injured all the way to Parirenyatwa Hospital
and got there at 8AM. They were
eventually attended to at around 5PM.
Despite the evidence of all this that the
country needs fresh ideas we
continue hoping that the current leaders will
realise which path they have
led us to.
We are our worst enemies as we
watch people
on a destructive mission. Our unhealthy fear of confronting our
oppressors
and telling them to quit and save the nation is our undoing.
Those who are
obviously taking advantage of the situation do not realise
that we are not
moving forward as a
nation.
Lance
Saungweme
Dangamvura
Mutare
--------------
Shumba hogs the limelight
while his workers
starve
I am shocked at
the level of positive
publicity the private media has given to the
TeleAccess boss, Daniel Shumba.
The
private media seems to look up to him as
the saviour of this nation. This is
totally wrong. If you have not found a
suitable candidate please we would be
better off with our old Robert Gabriel
Mugabe.
Your article on his party's
launch is a
mockery as Shumba wines and dines with diplomats while his
workers starve.
He is not only under-paying them but not paying them at
all.
He has not been able to manage a
company and
you want to present him with troubled Zimbabwe. You guys are
either paid to
advertise him or you have become desk journalists. Your
offices are less
than 100 metres from Kopje Plaza where Shumba's employees
are starving and
yet you see his success in
Masvingo.
The case between him and his
workers is
before the Ministry of Labour and it seems no reporter has heard
anything.
How much longer can we trust your independence when you do not
stand for the
poor workers?
Once upon
a time you said he has a 112 000
line exchange and CDMA base station(s).
Please show us pictures of these as
has been the case with Strive Masiyiwa's
Econet and the other operator,
Telecel. As I write electricity has been cut
off on his floor and
information is that he has not been to the office for
ages fearing a
thorough beating from his
workers.
Guys, give us facts and not
hogwash. We are
sick and tired of Shumba's
lies.
C
Bandah
Harare
------------
New insurance body, a
hoax
THERE used to be a Commissioner of
Insurance
within the Ministry of Finance, which regulated the operations of
the
industry.
However, after
prolonged half-hearted
consultations with the industry and in order to be
seen to be doing
something in the context of "turning around the economy",
the government
fast-tracked the establishment of a so-called independent
commission to
oversee the industry, the reason being that it is the norm in
other
countries.
What, however, they
forget is that other
countries have normal operating economies, that
commissions in other
countries genuinely add value to the industry, and that
issues of commission
composition, terms of reference budgets and funding are
discussed and agreed
upon before and not after the commission is
operational.
In our case, the commission
is appointed and
then we are told that we will be levied in order to foot
the commission's
operations and that these levies should be paid by 1 July
2006 as there are
capital and running expenses to be attended
to.
Struggling as we are due to the harsh
economic environment created by the same government, the industry finds
itself asking if this is the right time to undertake these change
overs.
Robbed even of the
crumbs
Harare