http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha, Staff Writer
Friday, 17 June 2011
16:30
HARARE - Speculation around President Robert Mugabe ’s health
reached fever
pitch yesterday after the frail 87-year-old leader visited the
Medical
Chambers in the Avenues area of Harare.
Business around
the medical facility came to a halt when Mugabe’s long
motorcade —
comprising overzealous security outriders, top-of-the-range
Mercedes Benz
vehicles, his limousine and medical team blocked the entrance
to the
upmarket clinic.
This is not the first time that the Zanu PF leader has
visited the facility
in the recent past.
Medical Chambers, which
houses specialists such as neuro-surgeons,
cardiologists, orthopaedic
surgeons, urologists, psychiatrists and other
internal medicine specialists,
does not admit patients and deals with
emergency specialist diagnosis and
treatment.
The Daily News managed to sneak as far as the pharmacy on the
ground floor
where soldiers and plain clothes security details manning the
entrance tried
to Mugabe visits Harare’s Medical Chambers blocked our news
crew.
Workers at Medical Chambers who spoke to the Daily News later in
the day
said it was difficult to tell which doctors Mugabe had visited as
the
facility had been “flooded” with security officials.
“Mugabe was
definitely here although we don’t really know where exactly he
went because
people were not being allowed to move from one floor to
another. This place
is for specialist doctors where they conduct various
tests and give
treatment. But it is difficult to tell what exactly the
problem with the
president is because everyone is afraid of saying
anything,” said a worker,
who spoke after Mugabe left the clinic.
Mugabe spent more than an hour at
the chambers before his huge entourage
made its way out.
Presidential
spokesperson George Charamba was not available for comment
yesterday evening
as his mobile was not reachable.
It is no longer a secret that Mugabe has
not been feeling well for some time
now, with medical experts saying people
of his age are expected to suffer a
number of ailments, including prostate
cancer, that are associated with that
age group.
At the Sadc troika
on politics, defence and security meeting in Livingstone
in March, Mugabe
had to be moved around in a golf cart because he was having
difficulty
walking.
The frail-looking Mugabe has made at least five trips to the Far
East for
medical treatment since the beginning of the year, although he
claimed in an
interview with state-owned media that he was fit enough to
reach 100 years.
Mugabe’s aides have vigorously denied that the
87-year-old has prostate
cancer, claiming instead that he has problems with
his eyes.
But medical experts say that while it may be true that he has
problematic
cataracts, this would not require visits overseas — hence the
more likely
scenario that it was something more serious such as prostate
cancer — a
disease which is common among people of his age.
A medical
expert who spoke to the Daily News last night also said there
were, in some
instances, links between prostate cancer and cataracts.
“Apparently, men
who took tamsulosin hydrochloride, which treats urinary
retention, were at
high risk of developing complications after cataract
surgery.
Mugabe’s illness is causing a lot of division within Zanu PF
with several
party heavy weights jostling to succeed him.
“Even the
military has waded into the issue, with one service chief
apparently also
keen to take over power from the octogenarian who has
avoided either naming
or grooming — which has left his party deeply divided.
Constitutionally,
if the president is incapacitated the last acting vice
president will take
over the reins until elections can be held within three
months.
Sadc
leaders have also voiced concern about whether Mugabe was still fit to
rule
given his advanced age and failing health, and have urged him to step
down.
Regional leaders, human rights organisations and the MDC have
all raised
concerns that the military, and not Mugabe are in charge of the
country.
Mugabe’s wife, Grace is also sick as exclusively revealed by the
Daily News
in March.
University of Zimbabwe Political Science
lecturer John Makumbe recently said
Zimbabweans deserved to know if the
president was ill or not because a
significant amount of money had been
spent on the president’s trips while
civil servants were denied salary
increments.
Makumbe said releasing information on the state of the
president’s health
was a matter of transparent governance where people had
the right to know
about the health of the president and his wife.
“If
he was not ill why would he go to Livingstone with six medical
doctors?
“We think the smart thing to do is to step down. Nobody will
chase him away.
“To assume that at 87 he still has what he had at 37 is
guess work, ”
Makumbe said.
The outspoken university lecturer also
urged Mugabe to step down while
Morgan Tsvangirai was still at the helm of
MDC.
“It’s time for him to take a rest, with a person like Tsvangirai
still in
charge of the MDC.
“He should take advantage of that and
leave because he will not take him to
the Hague. Other guys will parade him
along First Street,” Makumbe said.
http://www.newstime.co.za/
Friday, June 17, 2011
By Munesu
Benjamin Shoko;
On June 7, liberation hero and Mugabe's friend-turned-foe
Edgar “2boy”
Zivanai Tekere died, finally succumbing to prostate cancer, an
illness that
had plagued him for the last five years.
It was Tekere’s
tenacity of spirit, bravery and courage that remained a
defining feature of
his lifetime, as much in struggle as in illness and, not
surprisingly, he
would defy the odds, including the doctor’s advice to stay
in
bed.
Reports suggest that on one occasion last year, while at Avenues
Clinic,
Harare, he tried to get out of bed unassisted, stumbled and fell,
broke his
right leg and bruised his head seriously.
Such are the
heroics of people who struggle to fight for their endeavours in
life.
Tekere's long time friend and fellow liberation war hero,
Robert Mugabe is
unfortunately in the same predicament - he has prostate
cancer.
Wildly contradictory reports of Mugabe’s health surface regularly
and in the
last three months he has been seen barely able to walk, as well
as making a
sprightly appearance in a Harare stadium under a sizzling
sun.
But his frequent trips for medical treatment in Singapore have
apparently
alarmed his military allies- a dangerous situation that could
prompt an army
takeover and subsequent suffering to the Zimbabwean people
under another
tyrant leader.
While Tekere struggled for five years
with the same ailment, Mugabe's
deteriorating health is a cause of concern
to the health of the government.
What makes Mugabe's health more of a
cause for concern than Tekere's
unpublicised sickness is the predicament he
leaves the country in if he
happens to get bed ridden.
As rumours
constantly swirl around the health of 87-year-old autocrat who
has clung to
power for three decades and reduced the country to ruin, this
week a
military official and high-ranking members of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party
reportedly leaked anonymous reports that armed forces chief Constantine
Chiwenga would take over in the event that the president was too sick to
rule.
The reports said that the plan is “secret,” and would skip over
two rival
candidates within Mugabe’s party who were expected to fight for
top place if
he left office.
Obviously in this case, Joyce Mujuru and
Emmerson Mnangagwa will have no
shot at the hot throne.
Although
unconfirmed, the reports are certain to draw negative reactions
from both
inside and outside the battered country.
“It’s a warning shot across the
bow of the government of national unity and
the other parties,” said Knox
Chitiyo, a Zimbabwean researcher at Royal
United Services Institute in
London. “It could be telling them not to think
about taking over if Mugabe’s
health fails.”
Zimbabwe is officially led by a coalition government that
includes Mugabe's
bitter rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the
Movement for
Democratic Change. But in reality Tsvangirai has little power
and the
military, and ZANU-PF, hold sway.
Chiwenga, a 55-year-old
career soldier, is a sworn enemy of Tsvangirai, and
announced after the
coalition was formed that he would not salute him.
While the country's
ill economy has seen little revival under the
stewardship of Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti, will an uneducated Chiwenga
be able to direct any
economical issues if he was to take over?
The country is in a situation
where capitalistic views are of much
importance and moving away from the
liberation struggle history will do
better to enhance the lives of the
majority.
For one to be recognised as a leader within the ZANU-PF ranks,
your fighting
in the liberation is the first pointer to your
recognition.
Such ideas have left the country on the brink of collapse as
people who are
holding vital positions in the government lack the required
knowledge and
qualities of today's leadership.
Young economists and
well educated politicians are not afforded a platform
to show their ability
as army generals are regarded as the best.
Because in a despotic
government like this might is right.
If Mugabe is unable to rule and the
military steps in there would be two
issues. :
Who heads the party? ;
and
Who will take the presidency?
Mugabe currently executes both
roles.
If the military try to impose a leader on the party it will lead
to enormous
tension in light of the existing friction over the presidential
succession
within the ZANU-PF setup.
Such is the time-bomb that is
set to explode in Zimbabwe.
If the international community cannot bring
about free and fair elections
which would Zimbabwean's prefer - the Army or
Joyce Mujuru/ Mnangagwa ?
Ugly!
http://moneyweb.co.za/
Sapa
17
June 2011 16:58
Zimbabwe
has asked South Africa for a US50 million rescue package for
struggling
companies in Bulawayo, The Herald in Harare reported on Friday.
It said
the matter was raised in a meeting between Zimbabwean President
Robert
Mugabe and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg
last
Friday.
Zimbabwean presidential spokesman George Charamba confirmed the
request,
saying Zuma had agreed to look into ways his government could
assist.
Charamba said a figure of US50 million had been mentioned as a
possible
rescue package for ailing companies in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's
industrial hub.
The firms were failing to access cheap finance for
recapitalisation, causing
many of them to close down or scale down
operations.
As a result, thousands of workers were losing their jobs to
the street.
Mugabe told Zuma some of the firms required as little as
US500,000 to revive
operations, Charamba told The Herald.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Zimbabwe Peace Process
Friday, 17 June
2011 17:05
INTRODUCTION - Before the political raptures of North
Africa and the Arab
World which affected Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the
Republic of Zimbabwe was
pretty much a focal point of the international
community.
Once the dust settles in those countries either way, there is
no guarantee
that the world will not return back to its favourite
pastime.
The developments in the northern part of our continent should
impress upon
all of us within the Sadc region, about the need and importance
of resolving
the Zimbabwean impasse speedily and in a way that will not just
satisfy the
Sadc Region but also that would be acceptable to the entire
world.
There is a growing impatience within the region as well as the
world about
the long period of time it is taking us to find a permanent and
lasting
solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe.
This report
covers the Zimbabwe Peace process and the programme of
facilitation. The
report focuses on the matters relating to the Global
Political Agreement, as
well as the Facilitator’s engagement with the role
players.
The
report follows up from the recommendations by the Troika Organ on
Politics,
Defence and Security Cooperation, to the Sadc Summit, held at
Windhoek,
Namibia, on August 15, 2010. As will be recalled, the
recommendations were
endorsed by the Summit.
The continued engagement with the Zimbabwe Peace
Process relies on the
declaration of commitment by the Zimbabwe parties
captured as follows in the
GPA:
“The Parties hereby declare and agree
to work together to create a genuine,
viable, permanent, sustainable and
nationally acceptable solution to the
Zimbabwe situation and in particular
to implement the (Global Political
Agreement ) with the aims of resolving
once and for all the current
political and economic situation and charting a
new political direction for
the country”. [Article II, 2.]
2.
ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION:
We have been engaged in a process of
mediating since the establishment of
the GPA in January 2009, and we have
not made much progress. As Sadc we
need to re-double our efforts in finding
a permanent and lasting solution to
the challenge that Zimbabwe
faces.
There have been moments which have given us hope in the past that
a
breakthrough would be found but we have been continuously disappointed by
the slow pace and lack of progress in areas which are critical. We have
been disappointed by continuous backtracking and lack of implementation of
resolutions and agreements made.
It is time that Sadc must speak with
one voice in impressing to all the
parties concerned that this situation can
no longer be tolerated. The focus
that Zimbabwean parties have placed on
elections without creating the
necessary conducive climate for those
elections an unfortunate side-track.
The fact that Zimbabwean parties
are in an electioneering mode, and are
more and more agitating for the
holding of elections while they have not
done enough groundwork towards
ensuring that the building blocks and
institutions are firmly in place
towards the holding of free, fair and
democratic elections is
counterproductive.
We must dissuade all parties from thinking that they
can hold elections in
the prevailing atmosphere that is characterised by
violence, intimidation
and fear.
The holding of elections in this
current climate will lead Zimbabwe back to
the situation it was in about
three years ago when it held its last
elections, or even find itself in a
far worse situation than before. We
cannot have elections when the ground
has not been sufficiently prepared.
3. FURTHER ENGAGEMENTS;
In my
capacity as Facilitator, and in pursuit of the desire to keep the
parties
working closely together in the implementation of the GPA and in the
best
interest of Zimbabwe, I arranged a meeting in Harare on November 26,
where I
met the Political Principals, President Robert G. Mugabe, Prime
Minister
Morgan R. Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur G.O
Mutambara.
Among other things I took up with the leaders, was the
Sadc decision “to
help Zimbabwe to draw up guidelines for a free and fair
election”.
There was agreement among us that a roadmap needed to be
developed as a
guideline for democratic, free and fair election without
violence and
intimidation and where the playing field would be level for
all.
3.1. Implementation Matrix:
I also raised the matter of the
Implementation Matrix (Annexure “A”) of
decisions taken by the negotiators
and endorsed by the Political Principals,
especially those matters which
could not be resolved.
As will be recalled, the Sadc Summit endorsed the
recommendation of the
Troika that:
“ The parties, assisted by the Troika,
should discuss the outstanding
matters in keeping with the decisions of the
Maputo Troika Summit and
resolve them within one month as part of a
confidence-building measure,
based on appropriate consultation (within the
ambit of ) Zimbabwe’s law and
any other relevant legal instrument.”
I
will not go into details about what issues have been points of contention,
suffice to say that we are all familiar with those issues as they were dealt
with extensively during the last Sadc and Troika Summits.
But of
concern to us is the fact that while there are many agreements
reached by
signatories to the Global Political Agreement there has been a
lack of
implementation even on the issues that had been agreed upon, which
clearly
indicate a lack of political will to move the process forward by
implementing those things that all parties are in agreement
about.
While the Media Commission has been established the biggest
challenge is
that the Board of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation has not
been
appointed nor has the Media Trust been constituted.
Those
matters, including the absence of enabling legislation, restrict the
Media
Commission in discharging its functions.
The Media Commission is an
important instrument in the creation of a level
political field en route to
elections, where, among other things, there
should be unbiased and equal
access by all stakeholders regarding print
space and air time, with
unfettered access and equal rates for advertising,
and where all
stakeholders should have a right of reply when subjected to
adverse
publicity.
The Human Rights Commission was also established, however, the
absence of
enabling legislation is also undermining the effectiveness of
Human Rights
Commission.
The Commission also suffers from inadequate
resources, human and material,
including funding.
In addition to
these, there are also other important commissions that have
not been
established yet; these include the Land Audit Commission and the
Anti-
Corruption Commission.
The challenges we have highlighted are admitted by
the Zimbabweans
themselves as can be seen in the report of the Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC), which is attached for your
information as
Annexure B.
3.2. Sanctions:
Suspicion continues
to dog the campaign for the lifting of sanctions against
Zimbabwe, a matter
that all parties agreed to in principle.
A sanctions removal strategy was
agreed to and Party Leaders, Executive
Party Organs and other lower level
structures of the GPA partners were
instructed to implement that strategy
and publicly call for the removal of
the sanctions.
That is not
happening as regularly and consistently as we envisaged.
3.3.
Facilitation:
The Facilitation Task Team has travelled in and out of
Zimbabwe interacting
with the leaders there and their parties, as well as
other formations, to
get updates on matters relating to the GPA and the
Implementation Matrix and
to pursue the development of the
roadmap.
The Team visited Zimbabwe on January 17-18; February 7; February
22-24 and
March 15-16.
The first engagement was with the Political
Principals and at a time when
polarisation in Zimbabwe was creeping in among
the GPA partners.
The full implementation of the negotiated positions as
encapsulated in the
Implementation Matrix, including the outstanding
matters, was raised with
leaders. Also raised was the construction of the
roadmap towards free and
fair elections.
The scope of the interaction
was broadened to include sessions within
Election Commission (ZEC), the
Parliamentary Select Committee on the
Constitution (COPAC), the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (ZESN) and the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR).
Those organisations were met as part of preparations for the
development of
the roadmap.
Given that the question of human rights
also speaks to the ability by all
concerned to participate in all activities
of their country without any fear
of intimidation and physical
injury.
4. WAY FORWARD
The Zimbabwe Negotiators met on Monday,
March 21, and agreed to the
following:
They will meet on April 1 and
draft the Review Mechanism Report as well as
the roadmap towards Harmonised
Elections in Zimbabwe.
The Negotiators will meet later at a workshop with
the Facilitation Team in
order to arrive at a common understanding between
the parties as well as
resolve outstanding matters.
The agenda of the
workshop will include the report of the review Mechanism;
the report of
JOMIC and the roadmap that is under consideration. The date
of the workshop
is being finalised.
4.1. Review Mechanism:
The Review Mechanism is
one of the instruments created by the GPA to
establish peace, security and
stability in Zimbabwe. Article 23.2 of the GPA
says; “The Parties will
continually review the effectiveness and any other
matter relating to the
functioning of the Inclusive Government established
by the Constitution in
consulting with the Guarantors.”
4.2. Free and Fair Election:
The
Sadc Summit endorsed the view of the Troika regarding elections in
Zimbabwe
that would be free and fair, on the basis of the following Troika
submissions:
“The suggestion (of a Roadmap) is designed to ensure a
sustained focus on
developments in Zimbabwe towards the elections; the
monitoring of the
situation and timely interventions to deal with problems
if and when they
arise.
“Leading to the elections, the inclusive
Government should be united in its
efforts to ensure everything is ready for
the elections.
“The constitution-making exercise, as well as the
referendum on that
constitution, should be a joint task of all the parties
in the inclusive
Government. This united action will ensure a peaceful
election.
It is important that the Troika recalls the report to the Sadc
Summit
because, flowing from it are clear instructions to all of us on how
to
assist to restore peace security, justice and stability to
Zimbabwe.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
The Troika should call upon all GPA
Partners to implement all decisions made
to advance the ideals of the GPA,
in particular the full implementation of
the Matrix, and the creation of an
environment conducive to peace, security,
and free political activity for
all, and the elimination hate speech.
The Troika should call on the
Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe to complete
all steps necessary to finalise
the constitution-making process, including
calling for a referendum on the
draft constitution, and the drafting and
endorsement by all stakeholders of
the roadmap with the assistance of Sadc
through the Facilitator.
The
Troika and Sadc must help Zimbabwe to formulate guidelines that will
assist
in holding an election that will be peaceful, free and fair and where
the
political field will be level, in accordance with the Sadc Principles
and
Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
Given the fact that Sadc is a
key guarantor of the GPA, the Troika should
recommend that Sadc should
appoint a team to work together with the
Facilitation Team in order to
engage directly and dynamically with JOMIC for
purposes of monitoring and
ensuring that implementation of all matters that
flow from the GPA,
including the full implementation of the Matrix.
REPORT BY THE SADC
FACILITATOR, PRESIDENT J. G. ZUMA, OF THE REPUBLIC OF
SOUTH AFRICA, TO THE
TROIKA SUMMIT OF MARCH 31, 2011, HELD AT VICTORIA
FALLS, LIVINGSTONE,
REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA.
http://www.voanews.com/
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti says he wants to renegotiate the deal so that
ordinary
Zimbabweans will benefit from the Anjin diamond operation, not just
Beijing
and the Zimbabwean military
Sandra Nyaira |
Washington
Little is known about any of the five companies
operating in Marange, but
the Chinese-operated Anjin remains the least
transparent of all
Controversy over a US$98 million Chinese loan to
Zimbabwe to build a defense
college, funded by Harare's share of revenues
from a diamond mining deal
with a Chinese firm, became a case study of the
questions around China's
burgeoning economic relations with Africa just days
after US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton raised the
issue.
Interviewed in Lusaka, Zambia, Clinton expressed misgivings about
Beijing's
potentially negative influence on governance across Africa and
warned
against a “new colonialism” developing as Beijing sought African
resources
to fuel its industrial expansion.
Touring three African
countries to promote trade between the United States
and Africa, Clinton
said Chinese foreign aid and investment on the continent
have not always
been consistent with international norms for transparency
and good
governance. She said Beijing is pursuing its own interests, not
advancing
Africa's - a sentiment that was echoed soon after by Zimbabwean
Finance
Minister Tendai Biti.
“It is easy to come in, take out natural resources,
pay off leaders and
leave. And, when you leave, you don't leave much behind
for the people who
are there," Clinton told her Zambian television
interviewer. "You don't
improve the standard of living. You don't create a
ladder of opportunity. We
don't want to see a new colonialism in
Africa.”
A few days later, Biti addressed Zimbabwe’s parliament to
question the deal
involving a $98 million loan from China to build a
military college outside
Harare, funded by the cash flows from Anjin
Investments, a joint venture
between the Zimbabwean government and Chinese
construction company Anhui
Foreign Economic Construction Group.
Biti
told Parliament that the deal was “criminal." But backers of the deal
within
President Robert Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF party noted however
that he
signed the deal in March along with three other commercial
agreements with
China.
Biti told VOA that he signed the loan documents in March because
they were
presented to him with three other agreements in the presence of
the Chinese
Vice Premier Wang Qishan, and he “didn’t want to create a
diplomatic furor"
though he had misgivings.
“The agreements were
presented before me in the presence of the Vice
Premier, and I didn’t want
to embarrass Zimbabwe and embarrass the Vice
Premier of China." But the
finance minister added, "I think China is capable
of assisting
Zimbabwe.”
Though Zimbabwe needs the funding, Biti said the terms of the
four loans for
a total of US$500 million are problematic. He said the
interest rate is too
high, and he added that Zimbabwe has more urgent needs
to address than the
lack of a defense college.
Another sore point for
some Zimbabwean is that the college is being
constructed not by a local
concern but by Anhui Foreign Economic
Construction Group.
The
agreement states that "the goods, technologies and services purchased by
using the proceeds of the Facility shall be purchased from China
preferentially and also from Zimbabwe where this will benefit the project
and end user.”
Biti says he wants to renegotiate the deal so ordinary
Zimbabweans will
benefit from the Anjin diamond operation, not just Beijing
and the
Zimbabwean military. He said he has written to the Export-Import
Bank of
China seeking reduced interest rates.
But some are skeptical
he will be able to undo what was signed and sealed in
March.
“It
seems that it is all too late for any such hope," commented Harare
economist
John Robertson. He noted that if there were going to be a
meaningful
parliamentary debate on the project "it should have happened
maybe a year
ago."
Though declining to comment specifically on the deal, Mines
Minister Obert
Mpofu said it was an example of the success of President
Robert Mugabe's
“Look East” policy.
“The technical details of that
contract [are] agreeable to Zimbabweans,”
Mpofu said.
“This is a deal
that will see our academy developing its technological
expertise through
collaboration with China. It is a deal that is really one
of the best deals
that this country has ever entered into since
independence. We are very
grateful for that.”
Mpofu blamed Washington for what he termed hype
against the agreement,
saying the Americans are worried the Chinese will
brush them aside in
Africa.
China recently replaced the United States
as Africa’s largest trading
partner. Chinese trade with the continent rose
more than 40% in 2010 to
around $127 billion.
Mpofu also accused the
United States of being hypocritical by doing business
with China while
discouraging Chinese investment and commercial development
in
Africa.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara told Parliament that
Harare should
take a fresh look at all the deals it has signed with China.
Like many in
Zimbabwe, he said the deals largely benefit China rather than
the
impoverished Zimbabwean people.
China’s expanding role in the
Marange diamond field is of particular concern
to many in the country and
around the world who have noted the almost total
lack of transparency in
general in Zimbabwe's development of the rich
alluvial diamond
deposits.
Little is known about any of the five companies, including
another
Chinese-Zimbabwe venture, operating in Marange. But Anjin remains
the least
transparent.
The terms of the Sino-Zimbabwean joint-venture
are protected from public
scrutiny by a non--disclosure agreement. A report
on Chinese investments in
Zimbabwe by the Labor and Economic Development
Research Institute, an arm of
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said
many Chinese companies in
Zimbabwe were highly secretive.
Such
companies told trade union researchers they did not need to share any
information because “their deals were more on a government-to-government
basis.”
An ongoing controversy over the commercialization Marange
diamonds in the
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is keeping these
rough stones from
being sold openly to major dealers. The companies
operating in Marange are
seeking a consensus in Kimberley’s inter-sessional
meetings next week to let
them sell without oversight.
But the lack
of Kimberley certification has not prevented Marange stones
from entering
the international diamond market through smuggling. Mpofu told
VOA that
Anjin is not yet selling its rough stones. In April Anjin announced
that it
has stockpiled a million carats of diamonds. But sources suggest far
more
than that has already been shipped by air to China given that Anjin has
been
operating in Marange since early 2010.
While other companies operating in
Marange must find buyers willing to deal
without a Kimberley certificate.
But a Chinese state enterprise mining
diamonds in Marange has a vast home
market into which it can sell large
quantities of stones, no questions
asked.
China has been aggressively seeking to acquire rough diamonds
across Africa
in a bid to displace India as the world’s top cutter and
polisher of the
precious gems.
Partnership Africa Canada Research
Director Alan Martin says Anjin has
shadowy ties to the Chinese and
Zimbabwean militaries. “We’ve had
information that the deal is actually
military to military,” Martin said.
“One of the concerns people have about
Anjin is that it has not done what is
expected of every other foreign
company in Zimbabwe, which is to register
itself with the relevant
authorities ... Anjin has skirted the current
Zimbabwean laws which are
applicable to every other foreign company.”
Parliamentary Legal Committee
Chairman Shepherd Mushonga led spirited
efforts by the Movement for
Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister
Tsvangirai to block the
defense college deal - with little success as Biti
had already signed off on
it.
Asked why MDC members of Parliament ratified the agreement, Mushonga
offered
an explanation similar to Biti’s: “There were visiting Chinese
military
leaders, they were sitting in the gallery. It was going to be a
very
embarrassing scenario.”
Moreover, the defense college is nearly
completed. Biti said that when he
had signed the deal he was just
“legitimizing what was taking place de
facto.” Mushonga confirmed that the
construction of the defense college
began about a year ago, a little after
rumors emerged that a Chinese company
was actively mining in
Marange.
Economist John Robertson said Zimbabwe will not benefit much
from the deal.
“Most of the projects I’ve heard about do not employ
Zimbabwean people, they
bring their laborers with them from China and they
don’t involve many
Zimbabweans at all in any of the projects that they have
engaged in, even
the sports stadium in Harare was built with Chinese
laborers they didn’t
employ any Zimbabweans.”
Mushonga noted that the
deal does not adhere to the country’s new
indigenization law requiring a 51
percent stake in foreign enterprises for
local black investors. "Going into
that agreement, there is nothing for
Zimbabwean companies. There is totally
nothing.”
It remains to be seen if Biti can undo or rewrite the deal or
whether, as in
so many other instances in Marange, the ZANU-PF and military
officials who
control access and the development of the zone will have their
way. But the
seemingly expanding Chinese role in the Marange diamond zone
could fuel
Zimbabwean resentment at the disappearance of a precious resource
that could
meet many crucial needs - but is not doing so.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
17 June, 2011
Questions are being raised by political
observers as to why the MDC-T agreed
to a US$98 million loan from China, to
build a controversial defence college
on the outskirts of
Harare.
Described by observers as “a giant spy centre”, the project was
earlier this
month approved by Cabinet, then hastily rubber-stamped by both
houses of
parliament, suddenly recalled for this specific purpose. This was
despite
strong objections from MDC-T legislators who could have used their
majority
in parliament to block the deal.
At the time the party said
they were concerned at this “clear indication of
misplaced priorities” but
said their hands were tied because they were part
of the inclusive
government. MDC-T Chief Whip Innocent Gonese said; “We didn’t
support it, we
simply did not vote against it, there is a difference. We can’t
oppose
something from government when we are part of government.”
Finance
Minister Tendai Biti has now admitted that he signed-off on the
project
“under duress” and that the deal was “criminal”. Observers are now
asking
why cabinet members from the MDC-T, including Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, would approve a loan for such a project and exactly what sort of
“duress” forced Biti to go along with it.
Political and economic
analyst Bekithemba Mhlanga said orders to push the
deal through can only
have come from top officials either within the MDC,
ZANU PF or the
military.
Asked why Tsvangirai would support a military project, Mhlanga
said:
“In the absence of facts we can only speculate that it was a way for
Tsvangirai and the MDC to buy support from military chiefs who would
otherwise have no allegiance to them. Remember that Tsvangiari had a meeting
with military chefs recently”.
Regarding the finance minister,
Mhlanga said Biti may be protecting himself
by revealing that he signed the
deal under duress and knew it was criminal.
“Maybe in the future Zimbabweans
will look back and realize that it was a
price worth paying in order to move
forward and gain military support”.
A top level MDC-T official, who chose
to remain anonymous, told SW Radio
Africa that they were ordered to vote in
favour of the deal or risk being
considered “rebels” within the party. The
orders allegedly came “from the
top”, meaning Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai himself.
Zimbabweans have looked to the MDC-T as the party
that will bring democracy
to the country, so reports that MPs are being
forced to vote against their
true wishes are disturbing.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
17 June
2011
The United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, has put the
cat among
the pigeons by suggesting that Robert Mugabe is now just a
figurehead and
his departure will not change anything, because the army is
already firmly
in charge.
Addressing journalists in Bulawayo on
Thursday Ray said the focus on
Zimbabwe should be to change the system of
governance, not individuals.
“There is no way you can build a house from the
roof. Some people might
argue about this but removing him from power will
only see minor positive
developments in the country,” he said.
The
comments from the US envoy come as speculation swirls in the country
that
military and state security chiefs are plotting to impose army general
Constantine Chiwenga as the next president, should Mugabe die in office or
become too ill. The security chiefs are said to be disillusioned with the
serious infighting within ZANU PF and Mugabe’s failing health has only
served to heighten their anxieties.
In March this year Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai claimed there had been a
“hostile takeover” in the running
of affairs in the country, with “dark and
sinister forces” in control.
Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga from the
smaller MDC faction called it a
‘silent coup’.
However political commentator Bekithemba Mhlanga advised
caution in drawing
conclusions. Speaking on our Reporters Forum programme he
said; “We need to
be careful about elevating the army to a status it
actually does not have.”
He said the “perceived authority” of the army comes
from its relationship
with Mugabe and should Mugabe depart the scene it was
likely to be
different.
Mhlanga said Mugabe might have the backing of
some of the top army
commanders but this did not translate into general
support within the
military structures as a whole. He said just like Al
Qaeda and the Taliban,
there are fanatical followers who view themselves as
an extension of the
movement. The Zimbabwean generals had a similar
relationship with Mugabe.
Amidst the speculation, the one clear thing is
that both serving and retired
army figures under Mugabe’s rule have snaked
their way into many spheres of
influence. They can be found in the election
and media commissions, state
media, parastatals, judiciary, sports and
business. The controversial
diamond mining in Chiadzwa is predominantly
controlled by senior army and
state security figures, with some help from
China.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Edward Jones Friday 17 June
2011
HARARE – Southern African leaders may have last weekend
spoken with the
proverbial one voice to urge Zimbabwe’s political rivals to
quicken
democratic reforms but their efforts could still come to nought as
President
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC
continue to bicker.
The Southern African Development
Community (SADC) bloc is anxious to avoid
contentious elections in Zimbabwe
and is pushing Mugabe and Tsvangirai and a
splinter MDC to fully implement
terms of their power-sharing agreement
officially known as the global
political agreement (GPA) signed in 2008.
ZANU (PF) and MDC all emerged
from the weekend summit in South Africa
claiming victory but analysts say
the challenge is for the unity government
partners to agree on an election
roadmap and political and electoral reforms
to avoid past electoral
disputes.
“I very much doubt that parties that have failed to fully
implement what
they have agreed in the past will be able to reach an
agreement on these key
aspects of an election within the timeframe
prescribed by SADC,” Eldred
Masunungure, a leading political commentator
said.
“It is possible but I do not believe there is enough political will
from the
political parties for their own reasons.”
Political analysts
said one of the contentious issues could be putting
timelines to the roadmap
as ZANU (PF) still insists on elections this year,
which looks increasingly
impossible, while its MDC rivals see a vote next
year.
Before the
elections can go ahead, Parliament would need to pass amendments
to the
Electoral Act and the Public Order and Security Act while the
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission cleans-up the voters’ roll and the country
adopts a new
constitution.
But the parties are likely to clash on security sector
reforms, especially
MDC demands to keep the military out of elections and
the withdrawal of the
army from the countryside where the MDC made
significant gains in the March
2008 general election.
Zimbabwe’s
military brass has been accused of being openly partisan in an
effort to
intimidate ZANU (PF) opponents to vote for the octogenarian
Mugabe, the
country’s sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.
ZANU (PF_
denies the military has deployed personnel in the countryside and
rejects
any attempts to reform the security services.
The roadmap and the reforms
to prepare the ground for free and fair
elections should be ready by August
when SADC hosts its annual summit and
the leaders do not want to hold
another meeting on Zimbabwe until elections
are held in the
country.
Analysts said while the tone used by the SADC leaders was softer
compared to
the one used by the SADC troika in April – which was openly
critical of
Mugabe – this was expected of a full summit but the regional
body seemed to
be pushing for more urgency in the resolution of Zimbabwe’s
political
problems.
This Sandton summit also signaled the regional
body’s intention to get more
involved in resolving the country’s political
problems when it instructed
its troika to send representatives to join the
ineffective Joint Monitoring
and Implementation Committee
(JOMIC).
This is expected to strengthen the conflict resolution function
of JOMIC,
which has struggled to take measures to deal with parties who
violate the
global political agreement.
“This will allow JOMIC to be
impartial because the current composition of
the body makes it difficult for
representatives of political parties to
reprimand their colleagues,”
Masunungure said.
“The fact that some of the parties are uncomfortable
with the presence of
the troika representatives is a sign that there will be
investable changes
to the way JOMIC has been operating. Hopefully this would
be positive
change,” he said.
The weekend summit called for the
implementation of the outstanding
power-sharing issues, nearly two years
after the global political agreement
was signed.
Zimbabwe’s unity
government has helped stabilise an economy that had
spiraled out of control
and eased political tension somehow but increasing
talk of an election has
reignited tension and raising fears that the country
could see a return of
political violence seen in June 2008.
ZANU (PF) and MDC continue to fight
over Mugabe’s re-appointment of central
bank head Gideon Gono and Attorney
General Johannes Tomana and the veteran
leader’s refusal to swear-in
officials from Tsvangirai’s party to the
influential posts of provincial
governors.
But ZANU (PF) says it has made enough concessions and accuses
MDC of failing
to get Western powers to remove financial and travel
sanctions imposed on
Mugabe’s inner circle and failing to stop foreign radio
stations from
broadcasting into Zimbabwe.
Regional diplomats say SADC
leaders are developing fatigue over Harare’s
political problems but while
they would have preferred a quick election,
they are afraid that without
reforms, Zimbabwe’s crisis would continue to
blight the region. -- ZimOnline
http://www.insiderzim.com/
Friday, 17
June 2011 09:46
Britain has released a list of projects for which its
Export Credit
Guarantee Department is owed 190.4 million pounds by
Zimbabwe.
The list was released by Employment Minister Edward Davey in
the House of
Commons yesterday.
Last month Davey said the ECGD was
owed 2.4 billion pounds by 24 countries,
eight of them from
Africa.
Zimbabwe is one of those which have not indicated when they will
repay the
money.
The list is as follows:
1,500 vehicles
and spare parts
300 vehicle kits and spare parts
Construction and
commission of a new international airport terminal
Power station
refurbishment—Bulawayo
Construction of a pipeline
Design, supply
and delivery of transformers and reactors
Gas coke oven
Iron ore
crushing equipment
Iron ore sintering plant
Iron ore sintering
plant—supplemental
Mobile phone system
Power station
refurbishment—Harare and Munyah
Radar equipment, spare parts and
servicing
Supply of coke oven plant and machinery
Timber
processing plant
Transceiver ancillary equipment
http://www.radiovop.com/
12 hours 55 minutes ago
Bulawayo, June 17, 2011- Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has filed an urgent
chamber application in the High
Court seeking to evict some police officers
who have been occupying one of
their offices in Bulawayo since last week.
Members of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) have since last Friday been
occupying the property
which WOZA uses as an office in one of Bulawayo’s
suburbs.
The ZRP
raided the offices when WOZA members were holding a meeting to
discuss the
electricity outages bedeviling the country more particularly the
incessant
load shedding coupled with the inexplicable and exorbitant
electricity bills
with a view to petitioning Parliament to seek redress to
the
situation.
Since the raid last week, the police have maintained a
continuous presence
at the house thereby depriving WOZA of possession and
usage of the house
under the guise of searching for subversive
materials.
Kossam Ncube of Kossam Ncube and Partners representing WOZA
filed an urgent
chamber application on Tuesday seeking an order compelling
Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Chief Superintendent P.R
Moyo, the
Officer Commanding CID Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central
Police
Station and the Officer In Charge CID Law and Order Section at
Bulawayo
Central Police Station to remove all police officers from the house
and the
yard outside with immediate effect and to bar the police from
removing
anything whatsoever from the house.
In the application, the
Jenni Williams led WOZA wants the High Court to
restore back to the
organisation full and undisturbed occupation of the
house.
WOZA says
because of the occupation it has been unable to use the property
for its
purposes.
WOZA says it decided to petition the High Court after the
police occupying
the WOZA offices chased away lawyers for the organisation
Ncube and Nosimilo
Chanayiwa of ZLHR when they attempted to
intervene.
High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi will on Friday hear
the
application in chambers which seeks to evict members of the ZRP who are
occupying the property.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai Karimakwenda
17 June,
2011
A parliamentary question-and-answer session is reported to have been
postponed on Wednesday because only one minister was in attendance.
According to Newsday, cabinet ministers have stopped attending parliamentary
sessions and nothing is being dealt with.
The report said the Speaker of
Parliament and his deputy have complained
about the “truancy” but without
success. Finance Minister Tendai Biti and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara are reportedly the only ones who
attended the Wednesday
question-and-answer session.
The Minister for Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs, Eric Matinenga,
admitted that bunking off by
ministers is a serious problem and explained
that he raises the issue every
Tuesday in cabinet meetings.
“Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is
also reminding ministers of their
obligation to attend all sessions,” he
added.
Matinenga said he has no powers to force ministers to attend but he
would
now bring the issue to the leaders of the political parties, so that
they
may take a more “threatening” approach than he is able to.
Each
minister is responsible for an area of government that affects people’s
daily lives, such as water resources, energy, justice, health, education and
transport. Ministers are given time to do research on any pending issues
before being quizzed by MPs, who then vote on legislation. Parliament does
not function if they do not attend.
The ministers are given time to
research issues to be discussed in
parliament, and those that were delayed
this week had been waiting to be
discussed for more than two months.
Some
observers have strongly criticized MDC ministers for not taking their
parliamentary duties seriously. They say party members are being assaulted,
tortured or murdered for supporting representatives who are not bothering to
bring their concerns to parliament.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
17
June 2011
Victims of a self-confessed ZANU PF henchman, who has
controversially been
granted asylum in the UK, are being urged to come
forward with any evidence
of his alleged crimes, so that he can face trial
for torture.
More information is still being uncovered about Phillip
Machemedze, said to
be either a former CIO agent or police officer under
Mugabe’s regime.
Machemedze made headlines earlier this year when it was
revealed that during
his UK asylum appeal he admitted shocking acts of
torture and brutality on
suspected MDC members in Zimbabwe. An immigration
judge has since granted
him asylum, saying he faces real danger if he is
deported back to Zimbabwe.
A British paper has now revealed that
Machemedze was still on the CIO’s pay
roll until recently, despite his
insistences that he came to the UK 11 years
ago to escape working for the
notorious agency. According to the UK’s Daily
Mail, “Far from repenting and
turning his back on his brutal secret work for
Mugabe he has, in fact,
remained in the employment of Zimbabwe’s security
services since entering
Britain on a six-month tourist visa in 2000.”
Intelligence records seen
by the Daily Mail show that Machemedze has been
paid thousands of pounds by
the CIO to identify the regime’s enemies living
among the Zimbabwean
community in Britain. He reportedly has also been
receiving an addition £300
per month for school fees for his two children in
Zimbabwe, all paid by the
CIO.
The paper also reported that one senior member of Mugabe’s security
forces
alleged this week that Machemedze had been on the official CIO
payroll until
just a few weeks ago. Apparently the payments only stopped
when his handlers
in Zimbabwe discovered that he had revealed details of
their operations
during his asylum hearings. The Mail was also shown
documents, including
birth certificates and secret internal communiqués
about Machemedze, which
show that he was still working for the CIO until
April.
Calls for Machemedze’s arrest and deportation have continued ever
since the
story broke, with the MDC’s UK branch insisting he must be
deported.
Meanwhile, a UK politician has also called for the Home Office to
arrest him
Machemedze, calling him a “dangerous man,” that poses a risk “to
both
Zimbabweans in the UK in particular and to the British public in
general.”
Sarah Harland from the UK based Zimbabwe Association meanwhile
said that
rampant calls for Machemedze’s arrest will mean nothing until
there is real
evidence that can be used to charge him.
“I am very
uneasy about any sort of witch-hunt for any person. The process
of the law
must be followed,” Harland said.
She said that any victims of
Machemedze’s or anyone else with information
should come forward if they
want him to face trial for his crimes.
Some doubts have been cast about
Machemedze’s shock confessions, and some
observers have questioned whether
he intentionally over-dramatised his
behaviour in order to remain in the UK.
Evidence, therefore, would be
critical to prove this too.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Helen Kadirire, Staff Writer
Friday, 17 June 2011
16:54
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said elections
could possibly
be held end of 2012 if the Sadc led-elections roadmap is
implemented,
pouring cold water on President Robert Mugabe’s assertions that
polls will
proceed early next year.
He said this while addressing
investors at a conference in Victoria Falls.
Tsvangirai assured investors
that the Sadc roadmap will be fully implemented
to ensure a free and fair
election.
“Given the processes this (elections) will definitely not be
possible this
year but maybe the later part of 2012 if the roadmap is
adhered to,” said
Tsvangirai, who is trapped in a dysfunctional coalition
with bitter rival
Mugabe.
“Only a legitimately elected government and
not a coalition can develop and
implement a common vision and programmes
that will deal with the massive
unemployment and poverty that we are
currently facing. It is only such a
government that can guarantee the
consistency and predictability of policies
which is a key imperative in your
business models,” said the former trade
unionist.
He said the
security of business will be guaranteed once this was done.
“My
interactions with business people have taught me that political
stability is
a key factor influencing business and investment decisions. Our
investment
situation has been worsened by the mixed messages coming from the
same
government especially on the issue of indigenisation,” Tsvangirai
said.
Both Tsvangirai and Mugabe agree that they want out of their
constantly
quarreling coalition, but differ on election timing.
A
weekend meeting of Sadc leaders, who are the midwives to the coalition
government, insisted on the implementation of a roadmap to a free and fair
election.
The roadmap includes a new constitution and a raft of other
reforms that the
coalition parties are still negotiating.
http://mg.co.za
JASON MOYO Jun 17 2011 14:20
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party may resist a regional plan to deepen the
Southern African Development
Community's (SADC's) involvement in Zimbabwe's
reform process, in what would
be a test for a region that appears to be
slowly moving away from years of
appeasement.
Southern African leaders, at a summit in South Africa last
week, resolved to
send representatives to monitor progress in talks on a
road map towards new
elections in Zimbabwe. SADC leaders want to see the
road map in place by
August when they meet again in Angola.
Three
representatives would join the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee, the multiparty body that monitors implementation of Zimbabwe's
unity agreement, and "mobilise resources" for the body. Zanu-PF rejects this
as interference in Zimbabwe's internal affairs.
The decision to send
a team of representatives was taken earlier this year
at a meeting of the
SADC troika on security and defence -- made up of the
presidents of Zambia,
South Africa and Mozambique in Livingstone, Zambia,
where the region took an
unusually firm line against Mugabe, criticising
intimidation and violence.
But Zanu-PF said this week the Livingstone
resolutions were rejected last
weekend, a position dismissed by Jacob Zuma's
international adviser, Lindiwe
Zulu, and Tomaz Salomao, the head of the SADC
secretariat.
Zanu-PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said: "Contrary to what the MDC (Movement
for
Democratic Change) formations and the private media would like people to
believe, the summit threw the Livingstone troika communiqué into the
dustbin." The decision to send a SADC team was not yet finalised, he
said.
But the MDC insisted that, contrary to Zanu-PF's refusal to allow
the SADC
team in, "the founding (SADC) document on defence and security
[says] that
SADC has a mandate to intervene in the internal affairs of a
troubled member
state such as Zimbabwe".
Jameson Timba, the minister
of state in Morgan Tsvangirai's office and a
close ally of the prime
minister, said Tsvangirai was "satisfied with the
outcome" of the SADC
summit. The next stage would be talks to come up with
firmer
timelines.
A week after the summit, many Zimbabweans are still debating
about who won.
After years of watching much-anticipated summits on
Zimbabwe peter out, the
meetings have, for Zimbabweans at home, become
something of a reality game
show. The communiqués released at the end of the
meetings have become score
cards, with Zimbabweans sifting through the
diplomatic language to pick a
winner.
This week's debate centred on
SADC's announcement that it had "noted" the
outcome of last month's meeting
of its troika in Zambia. Zimbabwe's foreign
minister, Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, said "noted" was diplomatic talk for
"rejected", but the MDC
said it meant regional censure for Mugabe.
Mugabe had hoped to have the
Livingstone resolutions set aside and for
endorsement of his bid for
elections this year, a broadly unpopular plan
supported by a radical core of
loyalists. The SADC instead demanded that
Zimbabwe "move faster" to come up
with a road map for elections by August.
Zuma's report on Zimbabwe in
Zambia criticised the lack of movement on
electoral regulations and media
restrictions. Zanu-PF hardliners responded
to the report with vicious public
attacks on Zuma, from which Mugabe's
handlers later retreated. In a bid to
smooth things over with Zuma ahead of
last weekend's summit, Mugabe met Zuma
at his official residence. State
media reported glowingly on the meeting,
saying Mugabe had had pictures
taken with Zuma's family. "It was like a
family reunion," said a reporter.
But other reports suggested clashes between
Mugabe and Zuma.
According to Zulu, the meeting drew "mixed feelings with
some expressing
displeasure and discomfort".
On the SADC's vague
communiqué, Zulu said the wording did not matter.
"Whether you use 'noted'
or 'endorsed', it means the same. The leaders used
'noted' because it is the
language they felt like using on that day. If
people want to be honest, they
will tell you what happened during the
meeting and what was agreed and what
was not."
Her remarks will further anger Zanu-PF, which already wants her
removed from
the process because of her abrasive style.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
17/06/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe mistakenly referred to his South
African counterpart
Jacob Zuma as Nelson Mandela, and then in an attempt to
correct his mistake
suggested South Africa’s first black leader was DEAD,
reports said on
Friday.
Mugabe made the gaffe while addressing SADC
leaders at a weekend summit on
Zimbabwe hosted by South Africa, the Zimbabwe
Independent newspaper
reported, quoting “unimpeachable”
sources.
After Zuma, SADC’s point man on Zimbabwe, had presented a
report, Mugabe
took the floor and began: “May I compliment our facilitator
for the report
given verbally. We would want it in writing. This is
different from
Livingstone [SADC troika summit] where we didn’t see the
report.
“We were not happy with what happened. I have spoken to Mandela,
sorry Zuma,
about it. We would want to rebut some allegations.”
In an
attempt to brush aside his mistake, Mugabe is alleged to have said:
“May
Mandela’s soul rest in peace.”
Mugabe, 87 this year, is said to have
quickly realised his mistake again and
added: “I hope he is in good
health.”
The Independent said Mugabe’s “slip-ups suggested loss of memory
or
confusion due to pressure”.
Mugabe, in power since 1980, is set to
lead his party into the next
elections now expected next year even as media
reports suggest that his
health is failing. Zanu PF is believed to want
early elections while
Mugabe's health can still hold.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
17 June 2011
A leading Zimbabwean expert on Travel and Tourism
said on Friday that Air
Zimbabwe must undergo a fundamental restructuring
programme in a bid to
return to profitability, with its workforce being cut
and loss making routes
scrapped.
Dr Arthur Sea Khoa-King (a
Zimbabwean who has assumed a Suthu surname) added
that key stakeholders like
customers, employees, the business community and
government should have a
say in the revamping of the ailing airline.
Sea Khoa-King, a lecturer in
Travel and Tourism at Hertfordshire University,
told SW Radio the airline
should design a plan aimed at reducing cost and
increasing profitability
based on partnerships and strategic alliances.
‘The good thing about
private sector partnerships or alliances is that it
promotes accountability
and efficiency in the airline’s operations and
reduces the financial strain
on public funds,’ he said.
The national flag carrier is teetering on the
brink of collapse as it
struggles to secure fuel for its ageing fleet. It
owes its fuel suppliers
$1.6 million and overall the airline is struggling
to service a debt of $100
million to its various creditors.
This week
the airline was forced to cancel regional and international
flights when
fuel suppliers blocked delivery of Jet A fuel, demanding the
airline pay its
debts first.
Cabinet Minister Gorden Moyo told Parliament on Wednesday
that Air Zimbabwe’s
financial position made it almost impossible for the
airline to be
offloaded. Moyo, the State Enterprises and Parastatals
Minister, said
finding an investor to buy the ailing airline was likely to
prove a mammoth
task.
Sea Khoa-King said it is true ‘nobody would
want to buy Air Zimbabwe as it
is now’ but government could start by
enforcing critical changes to the way
the airline is run to save it from
collapsing.
‘It’s apparent problems facing the debt-ridden carrier are
due to decades of
cumulative management failures and flawed government
policies. The airline
should start by concentrating on profitable routes,’
Sea Khoa-King said.
The national carrier some time ago rolled out flight
schedules to China and
Dubai, routes that have seen the airline’s long haul
Boeing 767 flying half
empty. The company’s only profitable routes are the
Harare-London and
Harare-Johannesburg destinations.
‘Years of
political interference and management incompetence including
diverting or
chartering planes leaving passengers stranded, have led to the
demise of Air
Zimbabwe,’ he said.
He added; ‘There is no question that efforts by the
government to negotiate
deals with some private companies to form
partnerships with Air Zimbabwe are
steps in the right direction. But the
airline badly needs to undergo drastic
administrative and operational
reforms.’
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Friday, 17 June
2011 16:51
HARARE - Ministerial interventions, huge debts and
political unwillingness
by the central government to help the
recapitalisation of local authorities
have contributed to the failure of
municipalities to provide quality service
delivery, the country’s local
authorities have said.
Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe
President Femias Chakabuda said local
government minister Ignatius Chombo’s
meddling in the running of local
authorities’ affairs was the biggest
obstacle to effective service delivery.
He was addressing delegates at a
workshop on improving the capacity and
accountability of local authorities
in financial management attended by
local authority bosses country
wide.
Chakabuda said Chombo’s theatrics left councillors and mayors as
spectators
of the minister’s action in councils.
“The powers of local
authorities are delegated powers by the responsible
ministry and this is
causing a lot of problems,” said Chakabuda, also the
Masvingo
mayor.
Bulawayo deputy mayor Amen Mpofu said it was disappointing for
central
government through the responsible ministry to issue directives to
local
authorities without opening dialogue with councillors.
“We have
a system where the minister directs what needs to be done by the
local
authorities. Even if you as the mayor agrees in a meeting with your
management to do something, before you even implement it a directive would
have been given out already. This has affected service delivery,” said
Mpofu.
“Up to this day the minister has not approved our budget and
then you wonder
how we will operate if we don’t have a budget,” said Mpofu.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
17/06/2011 07:43:00 By
HARARE -
Mutambara, who wanted his rival Prof Welshman Ncube's negotiators
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Moses Mzila-Ndlovu to be replaced by
Joubert
Mudzumwe and Tsitsi Dangarembga, was humiliated after SADC refused
to accept
his two officials.
Media reports suggested that an infuriated Mutambara
returned home while the
SADC summit was in progress because he had been
snubbed. He was spotted on
Sunday at the burial of Edgar Tekere at the
National Heroes Acre, spawning
intense speculation why he was not with the
other two principals President
Mugabe and prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
in Sandton.
MDC-T MP Matthias Mlambo asked the DPM to brief the lower
house what
transpired at the summit.
Mutambara said there was a
fixture congestion in terms of the logistics and
planning of the
summit.
"The motivation was that the meeting was supposed to happen on
Saturday at
1400 hours the 11th June 2011," Mutambara told the House of
Assembly. "That
was the time and day for the SADC Summit. As you are aware,
there was a
funeral for Albertina Sisulu that dragged our summit into the
evening and to
the next day the 12th June 2011, Sunday.
"As you are
aware, there was a national hero we were burying in the country,
Edgar
Tekere. There was a plan and a possibility for the Zimbabwean
delegations to
go to South Africa, attend the Summit and come back to bury
Edgar Tekere on
Sunday. However, this became a challenge. Unfortunately,
because the summit
was delayed from 1400 hours, on Saturday 11th June to
Sunday 12th June 2011
evening. It was not possible for the delegation to
come back to Zimbabwe and
bury Edgar Tekere. That is when, yours truly,
Mutambara made a decision that
our colleagues would continue to negotiate
and do justice to our country but
Mutambara would come back to bury Edgar
Tekere. This must be understood by
these busy bodies in the media that it
was a deliberate decision by the
Deputy Prime Minister to be present at the
burial of the hero of heroes,
Edgar Tekere. That is why I was present in the
country."
Mutambara
said the outcome of the SADC Summit in Sandton was a victory for
the people
of Zimbabwe in their generality.
"It was a victory for democracy," he
said. "It was a victory for the people
of Zimbabwe. This means the political
parties in this country should not try
to score points against each other
over the summit. There was no loser, no
winner in SADC in terms of political
parties. This means the SADC Summit was
a victory for the people of
Zimbabwe. No defeated party and no victorious
party, but just a victorious
nation," Mutambara said in apparent reference
to the different responses
that have been garnered on the communique issued
after the summit.
A
communique issued after the summit was ambigous on the resolution of the
March 31 meeting of the SADC Troika Organ on Politics, Defence and Security
that met in the Zambian resort of Livingstone.
President Mugabe's
Zanu PF said the Livingstone communique had been "noted"
and not
endorsed.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party said the fact that
the full
SADC summit communique had urged the Organ Troika to appoint
representatives
to participate in the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC)
and oversee implementation of the GNU resolutions - a key
resolution of
Livingstone - meant the Livingstone communique had been
endorsed.
> Mutambara told the House of Assembly that Zimbabwe
must not be reduced
to a nation that debates between the difference between
noted or endorsed.
"It is the words a travesty to our common sense and
integrity as a nation to
be reduced to a bunch of people who debate whether
the Troika Report from
Livingstone was endorsed or noted," Mutambara
said.
"We must realise that neighbours, SADC and South Africa are there
to enable
us, to facilitate us. The buck stops with us. The solutions to our
country
reside in this august House. Let us have pride and honour. We cannot
out-source the management of our country to Mswati and Zuma. We have the
capacity in this country to run our affairs. While we are grateful to SADC
and South Africa, I want to appeal to all of us to say let us find each
other. Let us resolve our challenges together as opposed to expecting
foreigners and external players to provide solutions to
ourselves."
Mutambara said the SADC summit had a good
outcome.
"The outcome from the SADC is good for the country," Mutambara
said. "Let us
not score points against each other. Let us implement the GPA
completely.
Let us work on the time lines for the road map. Let us make sure
we embrace
recommendations on JOMIC and create conditions in our country for
free and
fair elections." - The Zimbabwean
Media Alert
17 June 2011
Mirror offices ransacked
Unknown criminals
broke into the offices of The Mirror weekly newspaper in
Masvingo on the
night of 15 June 2011 where they tampered with computers and
laptops before
stealing a memory card from an editorial camera.
According to the acting
editor Garikai Mafirekureva, nothing of substance
was stolen except the
memory card and a bunch of office keys.
Mafirekureva said the burglars also
broke a safe containing personal
information and administration documents.
Surprisingly, a cash box that was
inside the safe was left
intact.
Police detectives visited The Mirror offices on 16 June 2011 and
asked
members of staff not to remove anything from the offices until
completion of
their preliminary investigations.
“We suspect that the
motive of the break-in is … to spy on us and intimidate
us from carrying out
our duties. This cannot be an ordinary burglary because
if it is, the
assailants (sic) should have taken away a cash box containing
money, laptops
and cameras. The suspects could also be on a mission to bug
us,” he
said.
He said the memory card contained pictures of chiefs at a meeting
where they
demanded the removal of Senator Josiah Hungwe and MP Tranos
Huruva from
office. At that meeting, the chiefs demanded for the senator and
parliamentarian to step down or they would decampaign them ahead of the much
speculated elections.
“The Mirror will not be distracted or
intimidated from carrying out its
mission of getting people to hear and be
heard because of such thuggery. We
hope Police investigations will lead us
to the culprits.” said Mafirekureva.
End
For any questions,
queries or comments, please contact:
Nyasha Nyakunu
Senior Programmes
Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
Friday 17th June 2011
If, like me, you woke up last Saturday in
breathless anticipation that
something definite might emerge from SADC then
you were disappointed. It is
true that Zanu PF failed to get SADC member
states to reject the Livingstone
resolutions but, that aside, there seemed
little to cheer about. Now we have
to wait until the next SADC meeting on
August 11th by which time both sides
will be expected to have fully
implemented the GPA. We are told that SADC
Monitors will be sent to Zimbabwe
to police the completion of the reforms
laid out in the GPA – whether that
will happen remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, very little changes inside
Zimbabwe. The police continue to be a
law unto themselves and in the latest
example of lawlessness, police
officers have occupied a WOZA house in
Bulawayo for six days now on the
grounds that WOZA are concealing
‘subversive documents’ inside the house.
WOZA served the police with High
Court papers calling on them to leave the
premises and preventing them from
removing any property whatever from the
place. The police reaction was to
say that regardless of any court order
they will continue to ‘guard’ the
house from outside until they get their
hands on Jenni Williams and search
the house and vehicles parked in the
yard. The matter is due to come before
the court today, June 17th.
The police are of course part of the Security
Sector reform that the MDC is
demanding. Mugabe argues that such reform
would usurp Zimbabwe’s sovereignty
but the reality is that without control
of the police and army Mugabe’s hold
on power would be seriously eroded.
Crisis in Zimbabwe reports that he is
planning to deploy thousands of
militia and military in the run-up to
elections to intimidate the
population, particularly in the rural areas, to
vote Zanu PF. It is already
happening if reports that soldiers are already
beating up MDC supporters in
Zvimba and Manicaland are anything to go by.
The Attorney General has
openly declared that he will continue to prosecute
opposition members. In
the same breath he says that the MDC should learn to
respect him and his
office; rather a strange request when he so clearly
demonstrates his
partiality for the former ruling party. Tendai Biti was
once again under
attack by mobs of Zanu PF youths this week following last
week’s bomb attack
on his home. This time it was dozens of militant youths
who descended on
Biti’s offices demanding that he sign the Anti-Sanctions
Petition, something
Biti categorically refused to do. With IMF and World
Bank officials in the
country it was an obvious propaganda move designed to
prove that EU
sanctions are hurting the population at large when we all know
that it’s
only the top echelons of Zanu who are affected. The EU however
remains firm
in their view that sanctions will remain in place until there
is ‘real
change’ in Zimbabwe. Discussions on the ‘road map’ to plot Zimbabwe’s
future
will apparently resume in July between Zanu PF and the MDC. Will
‘real
change’ emerge from those discussions? Hard to believe when the
situation on
the ground remains as tense as ever; there are ongoing farm
invasions and
yesterday a group of Zanu officials accompanied by militant
youths invaded
Longville Ranch in Gwanda which is allegedly rich in gold
deposits. Diamonds
too, are still attracting unscrupulous investors from
China and now Russia
is getting in on the act. Zimbabwe has a stockpile of
between 4 and 5
billions worth of the gemstones and the recent Chinese loan
will be repaid
over the next 20 years in diamonds. The combination of
massive mineral
wealth and acute political uncertainty does not seem to
justify much hope
for the future. GeoffreyVan Orden MEP refers to ‘glimmers
of light’ when
talking this week about the situation in Zimbabwe. He
maintains that SADC
has recognised the true nature of the situation in the
country. That may be
true but it certainly does not follow that regional
leaders will follow
through with concrete actions – including Monitors - to
ensure that Mugabe
fully implements the GPA .
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH aka
Pauline Henson author of the Dube
books available from Lulu.com
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 17th June 2011.
As more information is
coming to light on what really transpired last week
in South Africa, it is
becoming clearer that Mugabe cannot leave SADC and
survive politically. We
say so because: a) there is mandate for SADC
intervention; b) there is no
more appeasement; c) the adoption of the
‘foot-in-the door’ technique via
Jomic monitors; d) the prospect of
unsustainable international isolation,
and e) Zanu-pf’s ever-widening
internal leadership crisis.
Mandate
for SADC intervention
Contrary to brinkmanship by Zanu-pf spokesman Rugare
Gumbo that his party
may resist the appointment of Troika representatives to
monitor progress on
the election roadmap talks, the founding document on
defence and security in
SADC provides for intervention in the internal
affairs of a member state.
No more appeasement
Judging from the lively
exchanges and tough resolutions adopted at the
Livingstone Troika Summit in
March and endorsed in Jo’burg on Sunday 12th
June 2011, there is no more
appeasement of Mugabe. Botswana Vice President
Mompati Merafhe has openly
said his country is sick and tired of Zimbabwe’s
political impasse. Gone are
the days when Mugabe managed to have the SADC
Tribunal suspended on flimsy
grounds just to get away with farmers’
compensation for his chaotic, racist
and partisan land grab.
‘foot-in-the door’ technique
The
‘foot-in-the-door’ (FITD) technique is a compliance tactic that involves
getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them up to
accept a modest request (wikipedia). This is represented by the appointment
of Troika representatives to Harare to make weekly visits to the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) in addition to the
facilitators’ monthly visits to oversee progress in the negotiations for a
roadmap to free and fair elections. This FITD could prove to be Zanu-pf ‘s
litmus test.
Unsustainable international isolation
Unlike the
Commonwealth where Mugabe played up blacks against whites, former
colonies
against former coloniser and eventually withdrew after suspension,
he can’t
do the same with SADC and survive politically after being slapped
by the US
& EU with a travel ban and an assets freeze. Proof lies in Mugabe’s
humiliating retreat from his attacks on Jacob Zuma, dispatching envoys to
mend fences with SADC and a pre-summit ‘peace-making’ visit which he made to
Zuma’s official residence last week.
Zanu-pf’s leadership
crisis
Mugabe’s Zanu-pf party is in the throes of an internal leadership
crisis
that threatens the relative peace ushered in by the GPA. This is
Zanu-pf’s
weakest link. With the succession crisis and his ageing now
determining the
pace of nearly everything from a new constitution to a
roadmap, it is safe
to say the clock is ticking fast against
Mugabe.
©Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com
http://www.iss.co.za/
Judy Smith-Hoehn
15
June 2011
Following the deferral of Zimbabwe from the agenda at an
extraordinary
regional meeting in Windhoek, Namibia in May 2011, SADC
members tackled
Zimbabwe on the margins of the Second Tripartite Summit of
the Common Market
for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African
Community (EAC) and the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) held in
Johannesburg this past
weekend.
The discussion, which was initially
scheduled to take place on Saturday, was
postponed to early evening on
Sunday as many dignitaries attended the
funeral of the late South African
struggle icon Albertina Sisulu on 11 June
2011.
In the run-up to the
meeting, ZANU-PF and the MDC-T lobbied intensively
around the extent to
which the outcomes of the Livingstone Summit, in April
2011 would be
endorsed by the SADC member states. The meeting of the SADC
Troika of the
Organ on Politics, Defence and Security in Livingstone was the
last time
Zimbabwe was discussed. The communiqué of the Livingstone Summit
made
explicit mention of the "polarization of the political environment",
calling, among others, for an end to the violence and harassment and the
development of a roadmap for elections. Many perceived this as the strongest
rebuke to Zimbabwe's main political principals by the regional
body.
Expectations were high that SADC would endorse the Troika's
decisions at the
Johannesburg meeting.
From remarks made by one of
the SADC-appointed facilitators, Ambassador
Lindiwe Zulu, at a meeting of
the Southern African Liaison Office held a few
weeks ago in Pretoria, it
appears that the South African team were pushing
for a resolution of the now
well-known outstanding issues. At the time,
Ambassador Zulu had noted that
all parties at the negotiating table were in
agreement that elections would
not be held in 2011. However, one also
recalls the almost immediate reaction
by ZANU-PF spokesperson refuting such
statements. There thus continues to be
disagreement both between and within
parties.
The latest communiqué
reveals an unwillingness by SADC member states to take
a firmer position on
the Livingstone communiqué as the Troika's decisions
were merely "noted",
and not "endorsed" as some had hoped. This position
could very well be
construed as yet another victory for Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF, which had
lobbied extensively for Livingstone decisions not to be
adopted. While MDC-T
representatives might also claim that the latest
meeting had ended in their
favour, it is a difficult argument to make given
that the communiqué nowhere
calls for an end to violence, arrests and
intimidation, nor does it mention
explicit timelines for the implementation
of the GPA, but essentially
repeats the sentiments of previous communiqués.
A three-member team of
representatives from the SADC Troika have yet to be
appointed to assist the
twelve-member Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC), which
was up to ensure "full and proper implementation of
the letter and spirit"
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed on 15
September 2008. Their
activities are expected to feed into a report on
progress made at the next
annual SADC Summit that will be hosted in August
in Luanda by the incoming
Chair of the Organ, Angola.
It remains difficult to forecast what the
outcome of that report will be and
whether they will indeed present a road
map outlining the conditions
necessary to hold the next free and fair
election, but what can be said at
this point is that if such a document or
any other negotiated agreement
between the parties continues to include
issues that are not within the
control of its signatories, then one can
hardly expect any significant
progress in terms of fully implementing the
GPA. The issue of sanctions
comes to mind here.
The road map might
prove to be a litmus test for a break from the past.
ZANU-PF has on numerous
occasions argued for an election in 2011, and there
are concerns that if one
were to be unilaterally declared there is little
SADC could do to veto such
a decision. An early election is arguably sought
amidst growing concerns
over President Robert Mugabe's health and the lack
of an obvious successor.
However, nothwithstanding these challenges, there
also remains the
ever-present question as to whether SADC has any leverage
to enforce
decisions that are made by the Organ. While it may have
enforcement
mechanisms - such as sanctioning, and even expelling a member -
it is
unlikely to take such an approach, particularly if one recalls the
lack of
such measures being put in place to ensure compliance with past
decisions
issued by the Organ.
Regardless of the outcomes of this weekend's
meeting, there is little doubt
that any transition in Zimbabwe is likely to
be lengthy, and there can be no
quick-fix solution given the continued
fragmentation and lack of consensus
that continues to characterise the
relationship between the partners in the
Interim Government.
Judy
Smith-Hoehn is senior researcher of the ISS's African Conflict
Prevention
Programme