http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
21 June 2012
Some ‘significant progress’ was made during three
days of talks to finalize
a draft of the new constitution by COPAC, the
Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister said on
Thursday.
Eric Matinenga said following a tense round of talks in Nyanga
between
parties to the GPA, it was encouraging that the management committee
had
recorded success on some of the issues that had previously threatened
the
completion of a draft constitution.
‘Unfortunately there was not
sufficient time to enable us to finish the task
on hand, that is why when we
adjourned yesterday (Wednesday) we had not yet
completed our task,’
Matinenga said.
The lawyer-come-politician told SW Radio Africa that
because of the delicate
nature of the process he was not at liberty to say
what was agreed and how
far they’d gone in revising the draft.
‘As I
said, significant progress has been made, but as management committee
we are
keen to finalize this process, and we certainly want to see to it
that we
deliver that document to the people of Zimbabwe.
‘We are fully aware of the
expectations of the people of Zimbabwe and we
want to meet their
expectations,’ the Minister said.
The management committee will resume
talks on Monday next week with the aim
of sealing an agreement before the
end of June. The Nyanga meeting was
attended by Matinenga as chairperson of
the management committee.
Party negotiators were Patrick Chinamasa and
Nicholas Goche, ZANU PF, Tendai
Biti and Elton Mangoma MDC-T; Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Moses
Mzila Ndlovu, MDC.
COPAC co-chairs
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana ZANUPF, Douglas Mwonzora MDC-T and
Edward Mkhosi
MDC were in attendance at the secluded lodge. However, the
area surrounding
the Ruparara lodge was teeming with aides representing the
parties and state
security agents, all keeping a close watch on the events
from a
distance.
While Matinenga was reluctant to divulge what was agreed, SW
Radio Africa
was informed there was some sort of agreement over
devolution.
A source told us that while they agreed in principle on
devolution, there
was no information on how they settled the matter, amid
suggestions its
inclusion in the new charter would be enacted by an Act of
Parliament.
‘In principle, they (management committee) could argue that
they resolved
the devolution issue by agreeing to have it finalized by a
full parliament.
Others may disagree and say it has been parked until it has
been dealt with
by Parliament, which is what ZANU PF wanted,’ Dewa Mavhinga,
a lwayer and
pro-democracy activist said. Other contentious issues were not
discussed
owing to the manner in which the revision of the draft was
structured.
‘We went through quite a number of chapters and what we were
doing was not
to pick on issues but just to start from page one and going
through the
whole draft, chapter by chapter. Ideally we were not looking for
outstanding
issues or issues in contention. We tackled issues as they came
up from page
one going forward,’ Matinenga added.
It is believed a
positive outcome of the talks would open the way for the
release of a final
draft of the constitution that has taken three years to
compile. Following
the formation of the inclusive government in 2009 there
was optimism the
country would have a new constitution by 2010.
But political bickering
among the parties in the shaky government derailed
this time frame.
Continuous disputes between ZANU PF and the MDC-T have
complicated the
process, a spectacle that Zimbabweans are observing with
increasing
dismay.
‘They are bickering mostly over the issue of executive structure,
devolution
and dual citizenship not for the benefit of Zimbabwe as a whole,
but for
their own satisfaction,’ remarked Munjonzi Mutandiri, a South
African based
political analyst.
‘They are wasting time on these
issues instead of agreeing and moving ahead.
We may not be surprised if the
12 months set by SADC to resolve issues
arrives without the country having a
new constitution,’ he said.
The executive structure that Mutandiri
referred to is a proposal to reduce
presidential powers. Under the present
constitution Robert Mugabe enjoys
immense powers.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Fanuel Jongwe
I AFP
DRAFTERS of the new constitution are this week combing
through hundreds of
points of contention, an exercise that is deepening the
uncertainty over the
country's future.
Officials crafting the charter
are reviewing more than 200 issues, according
to Paul Mangwana of Zanu
PF.
“Some of the issues where we are disagreeing are serious and some are
trivial. In some cases it is just political posturing by certain
individuals,” he told local media this week.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change was
blunter.
“They no
longer want the constitution to provide for an independent
prosecution. They
no longer want a constitution which says the army should
not participate in
politics. They no longer want the devolution of power.
“In short, it's a
rewrite of the whole draft constitution and departing from
the views that
came from the people during the outreach,” said Jessie
Majome.
A new
constitution is a key condition of reforms agreed in 2008 when
President
Robert Mugabe was forced into a unity government with his
arch-rival,
Tsvangirai, to avoid a descent into conflict after a bloody
presidential
run-off.
After three years of work, the process has yet to wind up, with a
referendum
of approval constantly postponed.
“Disputes over the
drafting of the new constitution are likely to intensify,
stalling the
referendum and the likelihood of progressive legal and security
reforms,”
said London-based risk analysis agency Maplecroft.
The main disputes
centre on the devolution of power to provinces, dual
citizenship, gay rights
and the role of the military in politics.
Ordinary Zimbabweans
contributed their thoughts during an outreach
programme, “but there is an
invasive proposal to change the draft coming
from Zanu PF,” Majome
said.
“They are proposing so many changes,” she said.
Feuding on the
charter comes on top of other political clashes.
Finance Minister Tendai
Biti, a Tsvangirai ally, raised alarm bells last
week after it emerged that
the Mugabe-controlled ministries of defence and
home affairs had gone on an
unbudgeted recruitment spree.
Biti said the hiring of 4,600 army and
1,200 police recruits had created
“serious problems”, with food shortages in
military barracks forcing the
diversion of pension and customs funds to feed
the recruits.
A meeting of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), which
brokered the 2008 post-electoral peace, early this month told
the country's
political rivals to set specific deadlines for the completion
of political
reforms.
Facilitators from South Africa are expected in
Harare next week to check on
progress.
Completing the constitution
would mark a crucial milestone toward elections
to replace the shaky unity
government.
Once the document is out, it will be translated into major local
languages
before going to a public conference for discussion.
Parliament
would then debate it before it is put to a referendum. If
approved,
elections would soon follow.
With the haggling ongoing, elections are
unlikely to take place before June
next year, leaving Zanu PF in an
uncomfortable position, according to Dewa
Mavhinga of the Crisis Coalition
Zimbabwe, which gathers more than 300 civil
society groups.
Mugabe, who
has dominated politics for 32 years, is already his party's
candidate.
He wants to exit the power-sharing deal as soon as
possible -- with or
without a new constitution, while Tsvangirai insists
that key reforms be
implemented first.
“They (Zanu PF) are investing
in Mugabe as an individual and he is 88 years
old, and they don't want to
leave too many things to chance,” Mavhinga said.
“Will Mugabe be able to
campaign next year when he will be 89?”
http://www.panapress.com/
Nairobi, Kenya
(PANA) - Troubled Air Zimbabwe has been given 90 days to
comply with
international air safety standards or risk losing its membership
of the
International Air Transport Association (IATA), the organisation said
on
Thursday.
IATA said contrary to media reports that Air Zimbabwe’s
membership had been
revoked, the troubled airline was still a member but
risked losing its
membership if it failed to comply within 90
days.
"IATA remains committed to developing aviation on the African
continent.
Safety is a key component in ensuring that Zimbabwe can benefit
from all
that safe skies can bring,” said Mike Higgins, IATA Regional Vice
President
for Africa.
IATA conducts a biennial Operational Safety
Audit (IOSA), which measures an
airline's system of operations, covering the
operation of flights, boarding
procedures and other aircraft safety
issues.
“In order to retain IATA membership, Air Zimbabwe, like all other
IATA
member airlines, must submit to and pass the IATA Operational Safety
Audit
(IOSA),” IATA said in a statement sent to PANA Thursday.
Since
the introduction of the IOSA certification, the airlines body says
there
have been improvements in the hull loss rate, an issue it said was of
significant importance in the building of safe and sustainable aviation in
Africa.
“As always IATA is ready to assist Air Zimbabwe wherever
possible in
renewing its IOSA certification and continuing to benefit from
the financial
and other services IATA members participate in," said
Higgins.
The Zimbabwean carrier has faced difficulties, including
management of its
debts from aircraft leases and acquisitions among other
operational
difficulties.
-0- PANA AO/VAO 21June2012
21 june 2012
18:26:24
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by
AFP
DOZENS of lawmakers on Thursday underwent HIV tests at
parliament, with many
pledging to undergo circumcision the following day, at
the start of a new
anti-AIDS campaign.
At least 60 members of
parliament from the country's two main political
parties took turns to
receive counselling, before getting tested in a
makeshift clinic set up
inside the parliament building.
"Tomorrow we will proceed with
circumcision. So far about 60 MPs have been
tested," said Patience Dube,
spokeswoman for Population Services
International, the organisation
conducting the tests.
Zimbabwe has made gains in fighting HIV, which
infected 14 percent of the
population in 2009, down from 23 percent in 2003,
according to the United
Nations.
"The response has been very
overwhelming as the MPs came out in large
numbers," said Dube.
More
lawmakers were expected to undergo tests on Friday when they take the
campaign to a public square in the capital.
Blessing Chebundo, an MP
from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T
party, said taking part in the
campaign was his way of leading from the
front.
"By knowing my status, I
am trying to fight discrimination. What we are
doing here is unique," said
Chebundo.
"This also inspires the people we represent to follow suit," he
said, adding
that the campaign will help the government to formulate better
policies to
fight the pandemic.
Zimbabwe has 1.1 million people living
with HIV, including 150,000 children,
according to the National AIDS
Council.
"I tested negative and I am very happy. The sad thing is that
although women
MPs are here in full force, our male counterparts have been
slow in having
tests," said Sarah Mahoka, a Zanu PF MP.
In March, Mugabe
told parliament that some of his political allies had died
of AIDS, in a
rare open talk about the disease.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance
Guma
21 June 2012
ZANU PF’s Shamva North MP, Nicholas Goche, is today
exposed as having led
violent and murderous campaigns in his constituency
that led to the deaths
of dozens of opposition activists and serious injury
to hundreds of others.
According to a dossier supplied to SW Radio
Africa, the transport minister’s
trail of brutality “stretches as far back
as the 2000 elections when scores
of people where butchered in and around
the Shamva Gold mine areas.” Goche
and his gangs used so-called ‘pungwe’
(re-education) sessions to carry out
these attacks.
After MDC-T
leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 2008 presidential
election the Joint
Operations Command (JOC), a grouping of all the state
security agencies,
responded with the brutal Operation Mavhotera Papi (where
did you vote).
Over 500 perceived MDC-T supporters were killed, while tens
of thousands
were tortured and maimed.
Goche was busy playing his part in Shamva. On
the 11th May 2008 his mob
descended on Elias Kahari Madzivanzira’s
homestead. “They accused the family
of being MDC supporters and they started
randomly beating up everyone in
sight and destroying whatever they could lay
their hands on.”
Elias was struck on the head with an axe and witnesses
said his head split
in two and he died on the spot. His wife Erica was also
beaten up but
survived. The perpetrators are well known in the local
resettlement area and
had been seen in the company of Goche during the day,
drinking beer and
singing Mugabe’s praises.
Five days later on the
16th May Goche addressed a campaign meeting at
Chidembo School in the
morning where he instructed all youths in the area to
“guard their land
jealously” against what he called “the whites
re-invasion.” He told them to
wipe out all MDC supporters in the area.
In his speech that day Goche
mentioned Edson Zaya as a “known sell out in
the area” and the mob captured
him at Chidembo Shopping centre in Shamva.
Zaya was heavily assaulted for
more than an hour and was badly injured. He
died shortly after the assault
on the same day.
On the 27th May Goche’s gang of ZANU PF youths dragged
Kidwell Zvavamwe from
his bed during the night. They assaulted him badly and
he died from the
injuries a week later. Kidwell’s wife Lucia Mukaru said
that the youths
barred her husband from seeking medical help.
In
other incidents the youths “dragged Roy Barwa from his hut with a wire
tied
around his neck like a leash and his face covered with a red cloth,
which
they said represented death. They destroyed his homestead burning all
what
was inside the huts. His entire family was assaulted, including the
children
and the mother.”
The mob was also responsible for the abduction of
Florence Muponya from her
home. They also beat up her husband before burning
all the huts, kraals and
a car. Showing the impunity with which Goche and
his gang operated, the
incident was reported to the police but Goche ordered
the police to arrest
his victims instead.
Muponya and her family were
made to face political violence charges before
the court in Bindura. The
charges were subsequently thrown out.
It is remarkable given this
background that Goche is one of ZANU PF’s key
negotiators of the Global
Political agreement (GPA), and in fact he was part
of the team that crafted
the GPA that shaped the coalition government.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
21
June 2012
Almost two years ago the neglected widow of revered national
liberation war
hero Josiah Tongogara approached Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai for
assistance. In that meeting Angeline Kumbirai Tongogara
revealed how she and
her five children were struggling to make ends meet and
wanted the
government to assist.
This week on Monday the director for
War Veterans’ Affairs in the Ministry
of Defence, Retired Major General
Richard Ruwodo, told parliament that the
families of war heroes who died
before 1997 were not entitled to get any
assistance because they (the
heroes) were not physically present to prove
they fought for the
country.
Ruwodo appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Defence and
Home Affairs and said: “Our (War Veterans) Act has discrepancies
in that it
does not recognise war veterans who died prior to 1997 before
vetting took
place and it means national heroes like Tongogara are not
catered for.”
While other war veterans received Z$50,000 lump sums in
1997, monthly
pensions of US$160 and medical and educational benefits, this
technicality
left widows like Angeline Tongogara in the lurch. Ruwodo said:
“The heroes
who died prior to 1997 are catered for through the Department of
Social
Welfare.”
But clearly that arrangement is not working.
Relatives close to Tongogara’s
widow say she has received no help from ZANU
PF leaders, especially Robert
Mugabe who she met several times. “Angeline is
living from hand to mouth and
was not even given a farm like others to
sustain herself,” one relative
said.
The plight of Tongogara’s family
will only add to the suspicion surrounding
his mysterious death in a car
accident in 1979 in Mozambique, on the eve of
Zimbabwe’s independence. Most
speculation has alleged that he was killed as
part of a vicious plot within
ZANU PF to get rid of potential leaders.
The neglect of family members of
war heroes blows open the hypocrisy of ZANU
PF in continually using the
liberation war to claim a right to rule the
country forever. Commentators
say there is more focus on the rhetoric around
the struggle than in actually
respecting and looking after the welfare of
those who
contributed.
This has prompted the Zimbabwe Liberators’ Peace Forum
(ZLPF) to demand that
the coalition government appoint a minister to
represent their interests.
Spokesperson Max Mkandla spoke to the NewsDay
paper and told them:
“We are different from other organisations in the
country. We are demanding
to represent ourselves in Parliament or have a
minister who deals with the
maintenance of the aims and objectives of the
armed struggle to represent us
in cabinet,” he said, adding that they had
been overlooked for many years.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
21 June 2012
Zimbabwe’s mines ministry is being accused of
‘encouraging’ the ongoing
destruction of the environment, after it emerged
it is handing out
explorative mining licences in forestry areas.
This
was revealed by the head of one of the country’s largest timber
companies,
while raising concerns about the onslaught of illegal settlers on
forestry
land.
Dr Joseph Kanyekanye, the CEO of Allied Timbers, was quoted in the
Herald
newspaper this week saying that many people were coming into forestry
areas
with mining permits, handed out by ZANU PF led Mines Ministry, because
it is
believed there could be gold and diamonds in timber
forests.
“The government does not allow any settlements on forestry land,
any offer
of land is given by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement only,”
he said,
adding that ‘special grants’ were being issued by the Mines
Industry.
Kanyekanye said: “People are coming in with letters and these
include
Chinese, Russians and many others.”
Zimbabwe’s timber
federation has said it will petition the government over
the destruction of
forestry areas, which has included the invasion of land
by illegal settlers.
Thousands of people have moved into the areas, burning
down the trees to
make room for crops. Kanyekanye has said that more than
4,000 families
across the country had invaded 12,000 hectares of forestry
land.
“US$200 million has been lost because of these culprits, these
people are
destroying our economy,” he said.
Meanwhile the impact of
mining operations on Zimbabwe’s environment has
already been red flagged,
with reports of devastating pollution levels at
the Chiadzwa diamonds fields
and the destruction of conservancy land due to
coal mining
operations.
The Gwayi Valley Intensive Conservation Area has complained
about the
growing number of coal mining companies operating in the
conservancy,
fearing their operations would destroy tourism. During a
consultative
stakeholders meeting last month it emerged that open cast
coal-mining
activities have affected 32 farms in the conservancy where more
than 1,000
people reside.
Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
(ZCTF), told SW Radio Africa on Thursday
that, combined with the government’s
‘blind eye’ towards illegal settlers,
the environment was on the verge of
total destruction.
“This is a big
problem and it is all linked to impending elections. The only
way the ZANU
PF regime can win is to let people do whatever they want and
give them
whatever land is available,” Rodrigues said.
Rodrigues also warned that
the failure to conduct proper environmental
impact assessments during mining
explorations was contributing towards a
very bleak future.
“If the
corruption and lawlessness continues then we will soon have a
massive
problem, and we are leaving a legacy of destruction,” Rodrigues
said.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE government has so far received about US$25 million from
diamond sales,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai revealed in Parliament
Thursday.
Tsvangirai told legislators Cabinet was concerned with the
performance of
diamond revenues adding funds received to date had been very
disappointing
and far short of budgetary estimates.
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti said in his 2012 budget that he had been
promised US$600 million
from diamond sales by the Mines Ministry with most
of the money already
allocated to various infrastructure development
projects.
However,
mid-way through the financial year only US$25 million has been
remitted to
treasury, according to Tsvangirai.
The cabinet recently held an emergence
meeting over the economy as it
emerged the 2012 national budget was way out
of whack, with revenues falling
far short of projections.
Biti claims
funds are being diverted from Treasury by the diamond companies,
allegations
denied by the firms.
Five companies are currently operating in the
Marange diamond fields, all of
them joint ventures between private investors
and state entities.
“We are also deeply concerned that the ZMDC, which is
supposed to be
government’s representative in Anjin, is actually not a
shareholder in
Anjin, but some other body which we do not know,” Biti said
last month.
“We, in the Ministry of Finance, now fear that there may be a
parallel
government where these monies may be going and not coming to
us.”
Mps asked Tsvangirai if it was not possible for the government to
cancel its
agreements with the companies mining at Chiadzwa and re-tender
the
concessions in a more transparent process.
But the Prime Minister
said the problems were not so critical as to warrant
cancellation of mining
licences.
He said measures needed to be taken however, to ensure
accountability and
transparency in the mining operations at Chiadzwa.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ruled out a wage
freeze for civil
servants and insisted the government was still looking at
ways of improving
salaries for state employees.
State workers have
been fighting for a wage increases for much of the year
and reacted with
fury to reports Finance Minister Tendai Biti would impose a
wage and
recruitment freeze in his economic review statement next week.
Biti
reportedly hinted at the wage freeze during a special cabinet meeting
which
discussed the country’s economy as it emerged the 2012 national budget
was
way off track with revenues falling far below projections.
But Tsvangirai
told legislators Wednesday that there was government policy
for a wage
freeze adding the cabinet was still exploring ways of meeting the
demands of
state employees.
“I do not know whether the Government has adopted the
policy of wage
(freeze). There is no such policy,” The MDC-T leader
said.
“But let me say that Government is committed to upgrade salaries of
civil
servants and other Government departments.”
Tsvangirai said
while the economy had failed to perform to expectations the
Finance Ministry
could not take unilateral decisions regarding the salaries
of civil
servants.
“The issue is if we continue to have an economy which is not
performing, we
face a fiscal squeeze because the Minister of Finance will
always say there
is no money,” he said.
“It is malicious to try and
blame the Finance Minister alone for those
actions. An individual minister
cannot make a decision to increase or do
otherwise on salaries. It is a
collective Cabinet position.
“It is not Tendai Biti’s money, it is
Government money and that money is
distributed according to budget and
Government decisions. In this case,
there is no policy position regarding
salaries or any increase or otherwise
pertaining to civil servants.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Fungi Kwaramba, Staff
Writer
Thursday, 21 June 2012 17:03
HARARE - Evidence in the
trial of 29 MDC activists accused of murdering a
policeman last year in
Harare’s Glen View suburb could have been tampered
with, sixth witness
Spencer Nyararai admitted yesterday.
Nyararai claims he picked a broken
police radio which was in two pieces,
which is one of the state exhibits
beside the lifeless body of inspector
Petros Mutedza on May 29 last year at
Glen View 3 Shopping Centre.
“I picked the radio near the deceased’s
legs,” claimed Nyararai.
However, Mtetwa disputed his claims saying the
police radio in court is in
three pieces and not two as claimed by
Nyararai.
“That could not have been the police radio in court because it
has three
pieces, so they must have been interference with exhibits,” said
Mtetwa to
which Nyararai agreed.
Nyararai contradicted another state
witness Victor Mugutarima who claimed to
have been handed a broken police
radio by a child close to Munyarari Bar on
the tragic day.
“You could
not have picked up the radio because one of the police officers
said he was
given the radio by a child,” questioned Mtetwa.
Like other five witnesses
before him, Nyararai made contradictory statements
about circumstances which
led to Mutedza’s death.
For instance Nyararai admits he did not see the
persons who pelted them with
stones but claims they are the MDC activists in
custody.
“I can confirm that I didn’t see any of the accused throwing
stones or
missiles. I did not see how deceased was injured. I did not see
his fall on
the tarmac,” admitted Nyararai.
“With this lack of
knowledge how then do you say (MDC activists) they are
responsible,”
questioned Mtetwa to which Nyararai replied “I saw them at
Munyarari
Bar.”
Following the denial of bail by High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu,
the
defence team led by Mtetwa is now seeking leave for appeal in the
Supreme
Court.
The case has been adjourned to Monday next week
following the death of
Master of High Court Charles Nyatanga.
The
inspection in loco that was also set for Glen View 3 Shopping Centre
today
has been postponed to Tuesday next week.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, June 20, 2012 ----
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has
accused police commanders of
forcing their subordinates to support President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF
party.
Tsvangirai on Wednesday told Parliament that he had obtained
recordings of a
meeting of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) where police
were told to
support Mugabe alone.
Kwekwe Central MP Blessing
Chebundo (MDC) had asked him to comment on
reports that army and police
commanders were actively campaigning for Zanu
PF.
“I want to quote
minutes of a meeting recently held at one of the district
police meetings
where police were told every member of the force should be
aligned to Zanu
PF,” he said.
“They were told there was only one Commander in Chief of
the Defence Forces,
President Robert Mugabe and the army and police were
expected to pay
allegiance to him and be aligned to Zanu PF.
“If such
an attitude becomes the norm, at the end of the day then why go for
elections when people have made such declarations,” he said.
There
were reports last week that police recruits at a pass out parade in
Harare
that was reviewed by Mugabe chanted slogans declaring that the
veteran ruler
was the only God chosen leader for Zimbabwe.
Service chiefs have come
under fire for openly supporting Mugabe in
violation of the
constitution.
They have also issued statements vowing never to salute
Tsvangirai even if
he beats Mugabe in elections claiming that the MDC leader
does not have
liberation war credentials to lead the country.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
21 June 2011
An official from the MDC-T party in Bulawayo
has denied allegations by the
smaller MDC-N party that 84 MDC-T members from
Makokoba district defected
last week, accusing their MP Thokozani Khupe of
abusing them and secretly
working with ZANU PF.
The defections first
appeared in recent press reports, in which the alleged
defectors accused
Thokozani Khupe of neglecting her constituency, causing
divisions and
promoting violence ahead of the MDC-T 2011 congress.
The MDC-T insists
the members alleged to have defected were not known to
them and did not
belong to their structures. Mandhla Sibanda, spokesperson
for the MDC-T in
Bulawayo, described the allegations as “very unfortunate”
and “simply
politicking” by the MDC-N.
“We have done a critical analysis of our
structures and none of the names
claiming to be defectors were known to us.
They are total strangers and were
probably found on a street somewhere,”
Sibanda told SW Radio Africa on
Thursday.
But the MDC-N spokesperson
for Bulawayo, Edwin Ndhlovu, said that the
defections had taken place and 84
MDC-T members had been welcomed on Sunday,
after buying party cards and
t-shirts. Ndhlovu said the members had even
refused to meet MDC-T President
Morgan Tsvangirai next Saturday.
“He has been trying to set up a meeting
with them through his security staff
so they can meet on Saturday when he
comes to Bulawayo. But it is too late
because the youths are now
card-carrying members and they refused,” Ndhlovu
said.
Sibanda said
it was “unreasonable” to suggest that the MDC-T President
Morgan Tsvangirai
would request a meeting with just 84 ordinary members who
have defected,
given his busy schedule and the number of party members he
commands.
Sibanda also dismissed suggestions that MP Khupe visits
ZANU PF officials
when she travels to Bulawayo and even dines with them.
“Everyone knows how
resolute she has been against ZANU PF. It is very
unreasonable to insinuate
she would even work with them,” Sibanda
stressed.
The allegations are serious because Khupe is not only a
legislator, but she
is also the deputy Prime Minister in the coalition
government and deputy
President of the MDC-T.
The MDC-T National
Executive announced last week that a Commission of
enquiry set up to
investigate violence that rocked the party ahead of the
2011 congress had
concluded that infiltration by ZANU PF was to blame. The
party also said
officials implicated in the violence would be dealt with.
Trusted sources
have told SW Radio Africa that Thokozani Khupe is one of the
names
implicated in promoting that violence. The co-Home Affairs Minister
Theresa
Makone and provincial leaders in Manicaland were also named by our
sources.
We were unable to contact Thokozani Khupe for comment, as
she was said to be
in parliament most of the day Thursday. We will continue
to try.
http://www.radiovop.com
By Professor Matodzi, HARARE, June
20, 2012-The Law Society of Zimbabwe
(LSZ) has asked judges to report acts
of misconduct committed by legal
practitioners during the execution of their
duties as it intensify efforts
to police the legal profession.
The
LSZ reported lawyers to the judges early this month alleging that some
of
them were conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner which
warrants
the judges to raise complaints against them.
In a memorandum addressed to
Judge President George Chiweshe, the LSZ
appealed to judges to report acts
of misconduct in order to nip misbehaviour
among the legal
practitioners.
“A realisation has been made through various platforms of
interaction
between the LSZ and the judiciary that some of the conduct being
displayed
by legal practitioners as officers of the court is below
professionally
acceptable standards. The LSZ Council would like to enlist
the support of
the judiciary in curbing instances of professional
misconduct,” reads part
of a letter written to Chiweshe by LSZ executive
secretary Edward Mapara
entitled “LSZ request for judges’ complaints against
members of LSZ”.
Mapara said the LSZ would take action against lawyers
once the regulatory
body receives alerts about any delinquencies.
“I
therefore write to kindly request you and all judges of the high court to
assist by referring all the complaints of unprofessional conduct by legal
practitioners for actioning by the LSZ. I further highlight the long held
practice of judges mero muto referring all cases of prima facie misconduct
to the LSZ for noting and taking appropriate action,” Mapara said.
In
response to the LSZ request, High Court Judge Lavender Makoni, who heads
the
court’s civil division advised all judges in the court’s civil division
to
pass on their “views, comments and actions” emanating from Mapara’s
letter.
http://www.voanews.com/
20 June
2012
Chris Gande |
Washington
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party
is denying press
reports that it is intimidating former members who have
defected to a rival
faction led by Industry Minister Welshman
Ncube.
At the weekend, 84 activists claiming to have deserted the
Tsvangirai MDC
formation for the Ncube wing, were paraded in
Bulawayo.
Another 24 youths from the second city's Pumula surburb have
since followed
their 84 counterparts, it is said.
State media
reported Wednesday that some of those who crossed the floor are
now leaving
in fear, claiming former colleagues in the Tsvangirai MDC were
threatening
them.
The Bulawayo-based Chronicle newspaper quoted one Ruth Ngwenya as
saying:
“Some of the people that I used to work with before I left the MDC-T
came to
warn me on Monday. They said the party was mobilizing youths to
teach those
who left a lesson.”
But deputy spokesperson, Thabitha
Khumalo, of the Tsvangirai MDC, told VOA
her party has not received any news
about the defections, adding they do not
condone violence.
“Our party
is implementing recommendations from a commission of inquiry that
addresses
the question of violence," said Khumalo. "So it does not make
sense for
anyone to accuse the party of violence, we are a party of
excellence.”
Organizing secretary, Qhubani Moyo of the Ncube MDC
formation said his party
is expecting more defections in the province
regardless of the alleged
threats.
“The people of Matabeleland have
seen that the MDC-T has nothing new to
offer," said Moyo. "They have since
seen that MDC and Zanu PF are two sides
of the same coin.”
http://www.mdc.co.zw
Thursday, 21 June 2012 10:46
The MDC
registers serious concern over increasing road accidents across the
country,
resulting in unnecessary loss of life.
More worrying is the loss of life
and injury to civilians by Robert Mugabe’s
motorcade which has been involved
in three separate accidents in two weeks
leaving three people dead and 15
others injured.
It is a known fact that Zimbabweans are hassled out of
the road when the
motorcade is approaching, so one wonders how these
accidents have been
happening if it was not just pure negligence by those
driving and riding in
the motorcade.
If for nothing else, the drivers
in this ridiculously long motorcade should
go for retesting so that other
road users are not endangered. While at it,
the powers that be would do us
all suffering Zimbabweans a favour by
reducing the motorcade’s size and
saving thousands of dollars in the
process.
The MDC is saddened to
note that on Tuesday, 13 people were killed in a
fatal kombi crash along the
Bulawayo – Fort Rixon road in Matebeleland
South.
On the same day, six
people died after a Wedza – Harare kombi was involved
in another
accident.
The two accidents come just a month after 13 other people were
killed in
another fatal accident which occurred along the Harare-Bindura
highway when
a mini-bus driver lost control and veered off the
road.
On Wednesday, nine people perished and 18 others were hospitalized
after a
Gweru-bound Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) bus rammed
into a
broken-down heavy goods truck in Kwekwe.
Since March, 50
people have died in road accidents across the country in
accidents that
could have been avoided if due care had been taken.
The MDC encourages
all police officers manning our roads to perform their
duty religiously in
order to avoid road carnage. The accidents should
therefore be a wake up
call for the Zanu PF Police Commissioner, Chihuri to
realize his
incompetence and quit the police force.
The MDC recognizes road safety as
a priority in the quest to build a safe
and secure nation based on the
effective enforcement of traffic laws, road
safety education, better driver
training and licensing as well as the
reduction in incidents of drunken
driving.
The people’s struggle for real change – Let’s finish it!!!
Following reports of the third accident by Zimbabwe’s presidential motorcade in two weeks, Kubatana sent an SMS to our subscribers asking their opinion: Should the motorcade slow down, or should we get out of the way.
We received nearly 200 responses, with about 2/3 of opinion arguing in favour of the motorcade slowing down, and 1/3 arguing that the rest of us should get out of the way. Where possible, we’ve mapped responses here. Other opinions are shared below. What do you think? Submit your opinion as a report on this site or via twitter – hashtag #zwmotorcade.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Xolisani Ncube, Staff
Writer
Thursday, 21 June 2012 17:05
HARARE - The mainstream
MDC has vowed not give Local government minister
Ignatious Chombo a probe
report on allegations of corruption by their
councillors because he is not
sincere to service delivery.
Sesel Zvidzai, Chombo’s deputy, said as long
as Chombo did not act on their
previous investigations, the party will not
cooperate with him.
“He should first deal with our Chitungwiza report,
because as far as we
know, he is a hypocrite and his demands are in bad
faith,” Zvidzai said.
The MDC in 2010 probed allegations of corruption in
Chitungwiza city council
and dismissed all elected councillors after
convicting them of being
corrupt. But Chombo, through the Urban Council’s
Act, protected them.
Zvidzai said Chombo should be transparent when
dealing with local
authorities because the MDC will not tolerate corruption
within its ranks
and file.
“Why is he interested in our probe report
today when in the past he has
refused to act on our advice to dismiss the
whole Chitungwiza council? This
is not how we do things,” said
Zvidzai.
The former opposition party, that enjoys control of all urban
local
authorities in the country embarked on a probe to ascertain claims
that some
of their councillors are corrupt and have contributed to poor
service
delivery.
According to sources in the MDC, close to 11
councillors from Harare risk
dismissal as they were found guilty of being
corrupt.
The report is yet to be tabled before the party’s
leadership.
Zvidzai also lashed out at Chombo saying he is the chief
culprit of poor
service delivery through his handpicked commissions that
once controlled
most councils a decade ago.
Chombo after the MDC had
taken over all urban councils went on rampage
dismissing them and replacing
them with his handpicked commissions.
According to Zvidzai, the current
messy affecting Harare is because of
Chombo’s disregard of rule of law and
anti-democracy.
On Tuesday Chombo heaped praise on former Harare mayor
Elias Mudzuri, a man
he hounded out of town house on allegations of
insubordination and
disregarding his authority.
He claimed Mudzuri
was better and productive than Muchadeyi Masunda.
In response Masunda
said; “If he indeed thinks that Mudzuri was better than
me, then why did he
hound him out of office and replace him with a series of
commissions?
“He allowed these commissions to remain in place in
contemptuous defiance of
the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe which had ruled them
illegal.”
Thursday, 21 June 2012
The MDC-led
Bindura Town Municipality is fighting a Harare based
construction company to
recover a total of US$1, 5 million that was meant
for road maintenance in
the town last year.
Bindura last year received US$1, 5 million from the
Zimbabwe National Road
Authority (Zinara) to carry out maintenance on the
town’s roads.
The town’s mayor, Ivory Matanhire, said a total of 40km was
to be covered
but the contracted company, Twalumba Contractors only managed
to surface a
road, which is less than a kilometre long.
The council
is angered that Zinara and the Mashonaland Central provincial
administrator,
Josphat Jaji imposed Twalumba on the council to carry out the
work without
going for tender, which is against the Road Authority Act.
Jaji even
threatened the Bindura Council that he would pressure Zinara to
take back
the funds if the council refused Twalumba the right to carry out
the work
but the contractor failed to do the work although the company was
paid its
money in full.
However, the Bindura Town Council has since moved in and
sacked the town
engineer, Batsirai Musona for allowing such shoddy work to
be carried out
and agreeing to the payment of Twalumba for the unfinished
job.
The council has also blocked another attempt by Zinara to bring in a
new
contractor, Heingate which is owned by Danny Kasukuwere. Kasukuwere is
the
elder brother to Saviour Kasukuwere, a Zanu PF Politburo member who
hails
from the province.
Mayor Matanhire said the council would not
allow Jaji, the provincial
administrator to continue approving dubious
companies and not engaging the
council as this was not procedural. He said
council would take further steps
to recover money that was given to
Twalumba.
Meanwhile, an MDC activist Dickson Kazingizi (69) who is the
Secretary for
Musana, Bindura South district, has died. Kazingizi succumbed
to a long
illness following his assault by Zanu PF thugs during the bloody
election
re-run of 2008. He died at Parirenyatwa Hospital in
Harare.
Kazingizi will be buried at Mumhurwi School in Musana village
tomorrow.
In Maramba-Pfungwe constituency, Maria Maworera, the MDC Women
Assembly
Chairlady for Ward 6 on Tuesday had her hut torched by suspected
Zanu PF
thugs in the area.
She lost valuable household goods and this
year’s yield.
The incident took place during the night after a warning by
Cleopas Kufuka,
the Zanu PF district chairperson for Maramba-Pfungwe that
they were out in
full force to crush the MDC in Mashonaland East.
She
reported the incident to Mutawatawa police who opened a docket under RRB
1089906 and Constable Kufa is investigating the case.
Political
violence in Maramba-Pfungwe constituency in Mashonaland East
province has
continued unabated despite numerous pleas by political leaders
for people to
stop.
Last month, Mai Kazembe a provincial member of the MDC Women’s
Assembly had
her hut destroyed by fire after another arson attack by Zanu
PF.
The people’s struggle for real change: Let’s finish it!!
http://www.voanews.com
20 June
2012
Tatenda Gumbo |
Washington
Residents in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, claim
employers and officials from
the country's power utility are targeting bill
defaulters, seeking backhand
payments to bypass disconnections.
In a
new report the Harare Residents Trust says it has received numerous
complaints from residents saying ZESA employees were threatening and abusing
them and asking for bribes to by-pass disconnections for customers who are
failing to cope with huge bills.
Also worrying residents is ZESA’s
billing system, which they say is
short-changing them.
The power
utility recently warned consumers and businesses to brace for
increased
load-shedding as it works to recover nearly $500 million in debts.
Many
consumers argue ZESA has been over-estimating the power they are using
and
are angry at the long load shedding periods and poor debt management by
the
power utility.
HRT coordinator, Precious Shumba, says the most concerning
has been the
sub-par response from ZESA officials when it comes to dealing
with residents’
complaints.
"Residents particularly in Glen Norah,
Highfield, Kuwadzana Extension are
saying when ZESA employees visit those
areas, they move around in two
groups, the other group is threatening and
hurling abusive statements at the
affected residents and the other one
trying to negotiate and get bribes,"
said Shumba.
"They have actually
raised money they demand in bribe, they used to demand
around $15 to 20 now
they are asking for $30."
ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira told VOA
residents must work directly with
utility officials to avoid losing
hard-earned cash to fraudsters.
"While I am not exonerating our staff,
the issue of corruption is a two-way
street, somebody must offer and
somebody must accept," said Gwasira.
"I would like to urge our customers
to pay and do the right thing, if you
been asked to pay your bill, pay your
bill to ZESA and not just any
individual," said Gwasira.
Gwasira said
no customer should be disconnected if they have made their
necessary
payments.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
ZIMBABWE is set to introduce an indigenisation levy with
all companies
expected to pay the new tax, a senate empowerment report has
revealed.
The report tabled in the senate on Tuesday added that the
introduction of
the levy is a requirement of the country’s empowerment law.
The Finance
Ministry was said to be responsible for the gazetting of the
levy.
“The National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board also
indicated
that it had been unable to collect the Indigenisation and
Empowerment levy
from all companies operating in Zimbabwe in terms of
Section 17 (1) of
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act,” reads part
of the report.
Under the country’s economic empowerment legislation,
foreign companies are
required to transfer control of 51 percent their
Zimbabwe to locals.
The levy is one of the ways through which the
government hopes to raise
funds for the acquisition of shares in the foreign
companies with the bill
estimated to run into billions of
dollars.
Meanwhile the report also expressed concern over the
disbursement of the
government’s Youth Development Fund which is being
handled by CABS bank.
Some 162,816 applications for funding had been
received by February this
year but only 76 have been approved to date with
US$99,206 so far released
at an average loan size of
US$3,400.
Legislators also expressed concern over the fact that most of
the
beneficiaries were from Harare but CABS officials have since pledged to
ensure that at least US$1 million is allocated to each province.
The
report also commended the structure of the indigenization programme
under
which shares are allocated to employee and community trust schemes.
Part
of the shareholding making up the 51 per cent threshold is also
allocated to
the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund as
well as an
envisaged Sovereign Wealth Fund.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
21 June
2012
Zimbabweans around the world on Thursday gathered for the sixth
round of the
Free Zimbabwe Global Protests, aimed at pressuring Southern
African leaders
into ensuring real democratic change in Zimbabwe.
The
monthly demonstrations, dubbed the 21st Movement, are organised by the
international structures of the MDC-T and have been taking place outside
Zimbabwean and South African embassies and consulates around the
world.
The protests for the last five months have been primarily
targeting South
Africa, as the mediator in the ongoing political stalemate
in Zimbabwe, as a
way of putting pressure on Jacob Zuma to ensure real
change before a fresh
election.
But for the sixth round the focus has
shifted to Zambia, with the organisers
of the demonstrations saying they are
“dismayed” by recent comments and
actions of Sata, Zambia’s
president.
Most recently Sata chanted ZANU PF slogans at a regional
summit of Southern
African leaders in Angola, while referring to Mugabe as
‘sekuru’
(grandfather). He has also previously denigrated the MDC-T,
accusing it of
being a ‘puppet’ of the West.
Thursday’s protest
action got underway in various cities across the world,
including
Johannesburg, London and Washington. Demonstrations were organised
to get
underway outside Zimbabwean embassies in the different cities, before
moving
to Zambian embassies.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
City Treasurer Albert Zingwe, who was suspended
last year on allegations of
corruption, has been
fired.
19.06.1205:26pm
by Brenna Matendere
Munyati
Government minister Ignatius Chombo made a dramatic
U-turn and fired Zingwe,
10 months after he ordered the council to
unconditionally reinstate him with
full benefits.
Zingwe was in
August 2011 relieved of his duties after a four-member
investigating
commission found him guilty of corruption. However, Chombo
wrote to the
council insisting that the treasurer be reinstated. The move
caused an
impasse with the city fathers who refused to take Chombo’s
instructions.
According to minutes of a recent full council meeting
held at town house,
The Zimbabwean can reveal that the council and local
government ministry
have fired Zingwe.
Part of Chombo’s letter to
city mayor Shadreck Tobaiwa reads: “The said team’s
report also indicated
that indeed Zingwe as head of department was liable
for the infringements in
his department and therefore guilty as accused, it
is therefore against this
background that I wish to uphold council as well
as Local Government Board
decision that Zingwe remains dismissed.”
http://www.voanews.com
20 June
2012
Gibbs Dube | Washington
Despite the formation of
an inclusive government in 2009 and the
establishment of a one-stop
investment center, Zimbabwe remains one of the
most difficult places to
conduct business compared to 183 other nations.
According to the World
Bank’s latest report on doing business globally,
Zimbabwe was this year
ranked 171 out of 181 countries – three places down
from 168 in
2011.
The bank said some of the difficulties are caused by serious
challenges in
business power connectivity, delays in the issuing of
construction permits
and intricate procedures in getting credit
information.
It takes about 125 days to get electricity connection and at
least 614 days
to deal with construction permits in Zimbabwe, a situation
which is viewed
as not being business friendly.
The country scored
highly in the collection of taxes and legal rights index.
Bulawayo
businessman Bulisani Ncube said doing business in Zimbabwe is
further
complicated by corruption in state corridors.
Economist John Robertson
concurred, adding that political tension in
Zimbabwe promotes bad government
and business procedures.
The ‘Doing Business’ analysis provides
qualitative measures of regulations
for starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting
electricity, registering property, taxes,
trading across borders, enforcing
contracts and resolving
insolvency.
According to the World Bank, policy makers often keep an eye
on relative
rankings that compare economies at a point in time. In the past
six years,
policy makers in 163 economies made domestic regulations more
business
friendly.
The bank said they lowered barriers to entry,
operation and exit and
strengthened protections of property and investor
rights.
“Only a few economies moved in the opposite direction … Venezuela
and
Zimbabwe went the furthest in making business regulation less
business-friendly,” it said.
http://www.news.com.au/
AFP
June 22, 2012
1:21AM
ZIMBABWE failed to build on their stunning win over South
Africa and fell by
six wickets to Bangladesh overnight in a non-cap
Twenty20.
Much was expected of Brendan Taylor and his team after they
shocked strong
favourites South Africa by 29 runs on Tuesday, but a total of
8-149 off 20
overs proved insufficient at Harare Sports
Club.
Bangladesh, needing a win to retain a chance of making the final
this
Sunday, responded with 4-153 off 17.3 overs to give recently appointed
England-born coach Richard Pybus his first win in charge of the
Tigers.
South Africa play Bangladesh today and Zimbabwe tomorrow and the
top two
finishers in the table qualify for the final of an unofficial
tournament as
it falls outside the future tours schedule.
"I am much
happier now," said Bangladesh skipper and batsman Mushfiqur
Rahim, "because
today our batsmen and bowlers clicked whereas one department
or other let us
down in previous matches."
Zimbabwe skipper and batsman Taylor cut a
dejected figure as victory would
have assured the hosts of a place in the
final of a tournament blessed by
good mid-winter weather and lively
crowds.
"We were off the boil today and lost too many wickets, making it
hard for us
to come back. The boys let themselves down and I got the sense
that
Bangladesh wanted the win a little bit more," he
admitted.
Opener Hamilton Masakadza (56) top scored for the hosts with
Taylor and
Stuart Matsikenyeri (27 each) the only other notable run
contributors while
Mashrafe Mortaza (2-28) was the most successful
Bangladeshi bowler.
Nasir Hossain (41 not out) led the run chase with
Rahim (31) and Mohammad
Mahmudullah (29) lending most assistance while Kyle
Jarvis (1-18) was the
pick of an attack that did not recapture the form
shown against South
Africa.
Solidarity Peace Trust
Two flags fly side by side over the corner of a quiet tree-lined street and a busy thoroughfare in one of Harare's inner northern suburbs. There is the red, gold, black and green of Zimbabwe's national standard (let's not talk of the splash of white just now). But beside it flutters something even more colourful: the international symbol of gay pride. The rainbow flag signifies the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity within the unity of the whole, humanity, democratic rights and freedoms for all citizens. It is a remarkable statement of self-confidence by GALZ (formerly Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe), the owner of the property from which the flags have been hoisted. The association itself has been around for over two decades providing social and legal support, counselling, sexual health education, research, and lobbying for sexual minority rights. Its social centre dates from 1996 courtesy of the courage of its founders and the generosity (and discipline) of its principal funders, HIVOS and the Atlantic Philanthropies, notably. GALZ maintains a website and puts out a well-written, sometimes quite combative newsletter/magazine. Among GALZ' numerous other publications is an overview of the history of same-sex sexuality in southern Africa from pre-colonial times (that is, within traditional African cultures), and a thoroughly referenced legal brief that argued for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the proposed (but eventually aborted) 1999 constitution (GALZ 1999). I was at the centre recently to chat with members, and I have to admit my expectations coming in were not all that high. GALZ' long-time director and resident dynamo Keith Goddard, had died suddenly a couple of years ago, while many of the other movers and shakers from the early days had left. I'd heard that following the last police raid, the library and archives had been moved away for safety. Harare in general is a mess, people are close to starving in the rural areas, and I had frankly never seen a tobacco leaf as pathetic as the ones hanging from spindly stalks in the new resettlement farms I had passed through. The press was meanwhile once again full of bile, stereotypes and mockery of homosexuals and the very concept of gay rights. The prospect of elections always seems to bring out this nasty streak in Zimbabwe's political discourse, although of course Zimbabweans are not alone in that regard. From Uganda to Senegal to Burundi, sexual minorities have been the target of increased demagogic attacks and quite explicitly, expansively oppressive legislation in the last few years. Uganda's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill would criminalize mothers who didn't report their own children to the police if they suspected homosexual behaviour, among other insanities justified in the name of protecting the nation from immoral foreign influences. Yet in all my years of visiting, GALZ has never looked quite so ... solid. It was not just the flag. The grounds of the centre were neat, the computers new-ish, the staff professional and efficient. And the members who came to my event were all black by the usual measure of these things. They ranged from mature Shona women to nattily dressed young puppies (male "queens"), from articulate and well-informed professionals to somebody smoking mbanje in the back row. I was informed that membership is well above the levels of the late 1990s. There now affinity groups in most of the major cities of the country with outreach projects extending even into the rural areas. My visit to GALZ this time was to present my perspectives as an academic researcher on the current state of the struggle for sexual minority rights on the continent, and in the process to take the pulse of opinion on the topic. More than 100 people turned up on a chilly Friday afternoon to listen, and respectfully to contest my basically optimistic view of things. After a lengthy Q and A, we broke for bread and some enthusiastic dancing. I was not convinced that lgbti (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) people are as oppressed and fearful today as they were in the mid-1990s when the political homophobia (and my own involvement) began. To be fair, no one really tried all that hard to persuade me that they were. Not to say that GALZ is strong, per se. Like most such associations in the region, it remains heavily dependent on foreign donor support. Acts of violence, blackmail, and dehumanizing speech against members are common, while the temptation to gap it to the West or South Africa for asylum or simply to make ends meet is powerful. Yet GALZ has not only survived with growth through the devastating last decade. It has also been able to build bridges with other civil society groups working towards a democratic Zimbabwe. In May, GALZ joined with representatives of several of those groups to present their anxieties about the current situation to the visiting UN envoy on human rights, Navi Pillay, an outspoken supporter of the seamlessness of sexual minority rights with gender equality and all the other rights and freedoms enshrined in the vast array of international declarations, treaties and convenants to which Zimbabwe is signatory. Human rights in a general sense are indeed back in public discourse as Zimbabwe prepares for the end of the Government of National Unity next year. Part of that process is the drafting of a new constitution that would enable free and fair elections - and the rule of law thereafter - in accordance to the high standards enunciated by SADC. A committee of parliament comprised of representatives of all three parties known as COPAC was struck and started gathering public input in 2010. COPAC presented its first draft in February of this year, with further revisions suggested in May. Negotiations are currently stalled, however, and it is not hard to see why. A truly democratic constitution would have dire consequences for the ruling party's grip on power. It would prevent the many layers of human rights abuses, cheating and looting by which ZANU-PF has entrenched itself while driving the economy into the ground over the past decades. No one doubts that the stakes are high, not least of all the security apparatus. Members of the latter have hinted darkly at they would not allow the forces of colonialism to re-take the country, a not-too-subtle threat against the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai, and a gesture of contempt towards SADC. SADC has nonetheless insisted that the process must be adhered to, while Pillay directly chastised the military for intervening in the discussion. She warned all parties, but with most obvious allusion to ZANU-PF, that human rights are not negotiable or divisible. Unsurprisingly, ZANU-PF has shown little enthusiasm for the constitutional process and has sought to derail it by whatever means it can. It lodged no less than 90 objections to the first draft of the constitution, including over such huge political questions as the devolution of power from the national to provincial jurisdictions and limitations on the executive powers of the president. Judging from coverage in the state-controlled (sycophantic) Herald, however, the biggest threat posed to the nation would seem to be "the gays." On the day of my arrival, a front page story worried about language in the draft that called for no discrimination based on "circumstances of birth." This was a rewording of the original February draft ("natural difference or condition or [...] other status," which had already been rejected by ZANU-PF. The problem? It was too open to interpretation that it included sexual orientation. In case readers didn't get the point, this story was followed by another of a brutal paederastic rape and a warning from visiting American evangelists on how much they love homosexuals as people but hate the sins that homosexuals allegedly commit. The "circumstances of birth" clause was not the only one to raise the alarm for various ZANU-PF critics. Attack dog Jonathan Moyo, for example, denounced COPAC (despite having ZANU-PF members on it!) for using "trickery and deceit" to sneak gay rights into the constitution against the democratic wishes of the mass of the population. Unlike Zambia's new constitution, for example, the draft does not explicitly define marriage and family as based upon opposite-sex unions only. COPAC was hence almost inviting "the gays" to use the document's other generous equality and human rights provisions, or its respectful mentions of international obligations, to press their "scandalous" demands. Competing ZANU-PF factions are meanwhile assiduously courting traditional chiefs and popular evangelical Christian leaders using barely coded language of hate that would be prohibited under the proposed constitution's definition of what would not allowed under freedom of speech. As it happens, gay marriage is not a priority for GALZ, which also adamantly rejects any connection between sexual minority rights and pederasty, rape and bestiality, common misleading associations made by its enemies. GALZ further rejects the notion of gay rights (that is, rights specific to lgbti). It insists, rather, that all it seeks are equal protections against discrimination, violence, and hate speech to those offered (at least theoretically) to the rest of the citizenry. To that extent, the present draft of the constitution is promising. People have of course come to expect abuse and misinformation from ZANU-PF and its fellow travellers, while few were surprised last year when MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai sided with Mugabe on the need to exclude sexual orientation as a category requiring constitutional protection on the grounds that it would be against Zimbabwean culture. Tsvangirai has since stated that he would, after all, accept a clause protecting sexual minority rights but that these were an extremely low priority for his party. Unsurprisingly, therefore, confidence both in Tsvangirai's leadership on this issue and that the present draft of the constitution will be adopted, appears to be low among GALZ members. As for the American "friends" of Zimbabwe who propose to show their love for African homosexuals by offering to cure or convert them back to God's supposed plan, they are a new and worrisome development. The so-called ex-gay movement lends a cloak of moderation or pseudo-scientific validity to the denial of human rights to lgbti. Yet it has been directly linked to the rise of extremist homophobia in Uganda, and has been used as a justification for vigilantism that serves opportunistic politicians well. It is a fraught situation given the other very strong appeals that evangelical Christianity has among Zimbabwe's struggling population. I would nonetheless like to argue that there is greater hope for thwarting the ex-gay movement than might first appear. A new report by the World Bank is a good starting point. That institution is not normally given to strong statements on matters of religious faith or psychological theory. In this case, however, it states rather forcefully that: "An overwhelming body of evidence supported by the international community of professional organizations who have reviewed the extant literature on the efficacy of conversion therapy has rejected it as ineffective, unnecessary, potentially harmful, and ethically controversial. On the basis of expert consensus in combination with a lack of biologic plausibility and efficacy data, reparative or corrective therapy is given a Grade 4, or inappropriate recommendation" (Chris Beyrer et al 2011, xxxiii). The World Bank report, coming on the heels of similar statements from the UNAIDS, WHO, the US government and other weighty international bodies, is a good point to begin critically assessing the commonly-held view that homosexuality and gay rights are a form of Western cultural imperialism, a fad or new religion being foisted upon Africa (hypocritically, since many jurisdictions in the West themselves do not enshrine or consistently enforce said rights). This is a point where ZANU-PF and many of its opponents seem to basically agree. Even if reluctantly accepted as a legitimate extension of human rights, the protection of sexual orientation and gender variance is a luxury that Africans can ill afford, "elitist" in Tsvangirai's terms. In this view, African leaders who do more than pay lip service to the principle are spinelessly kowtowing to donor pressures rather than defending the cultural integrity and other supposedly real interests of their people. Indeed, Malawi's new president Joyce Banda has already received a lot of grief from African critics for her quick and unambiguous denunciation of her predecessors' homophobia. No one disputes that many Africans are sincerely upset by the challenge to traditional culture posed by the emergence of openly gay identities in Africa. And few would deny that there are clear ties between this new-ish kind of sexual politics and "the gay international" (as one Arab critic put it). It is a big mistake, however, to go from there to denying the African-ness, including the patriotism, of African sexual rights activists. Yes, there is sometimes discomfiting pressure from Western donors these days, with no small sums of hypocrisy in their human rights discourse. But my reading of that discourse is that human rights are in fact often rather understated in the broader foreign policy or development priorities. The main thrust of the World Bank report, for example, is to calculate the economic costs of continuing to ignore the HIV pandemic associated with African msm. Using various models, it comes up with dollar and lives-saved figures for different levels of public health interventions. Even the cheapest options (for example, educational materials, partial coverage of the most-at-risk msm with condoms and lubricant) would save tens of thousands of lives each year. The most expensive option would include full coverage of msm with anti-retroviral medications. While it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars continent-wide, it would save billions of dollars depending on how much value is attached to the lives of young adults and children infected at birth. The World Bank report draws on recent data that show up to 15-20% of all new infections in places like Kenya and Senegal involve msm either infecting each other or, more commonly, the wives and girlfriends with whom they also maintain relations. Why would msm also have sex with women? No doubt some enjoy the variety for what they experience as its inherent pleasures. For many, however, wives and girlfriends are a strategy to hide their "real" sexuality from public exposure and the risk that such brings of ostracism from family, loss of employment, violence, and social disgrace. This secretive de facto bisexuality means that a high percentage of the victims of homophobia in Africa are heterosexual women and the children they bear who may carry the infection passed to them from their fathers, something which GALZ has been warning its own members about for many years. How to achieve 100% coverage of msm and the consequent economic benefits? It is an impossible target if men are afraid to be identified due to homophobic laws and social stigma. Human rights are thus strongly implicit in the World Bank argument, however clumsily economistic it may sound. Any leader who wilfully ignores such evidence in the name of supposed African culture (while at the same time wearing Saville Row suits) would be criminally negligent, no? Tsvanigirai's recent lukewarm, if not token nod in favour of the principle of sexual minority rights takes on a new light in that perspective. Terming them "elitist," he is clearly not aware of the overwhelming evidence that connects human rights for all citizens to public health and economic development. Since this connection is clearly stated in Zimbabwe's National AIDS Strategy, he is also clearly unaware of his own government's official (albeit in practice almost totally disregarded) policy. GALZ members on the whole do appreciate the public health argument to the extent that it puts their concerns forward in an ostensibly apolitical, scientific, and morally neutral manner. A range of euphemisms and acronyms (like msm and MARP or most-at-risk-population) is also useful for getting a foot in the door for interventions that might otherwise not make it past the guardians of public virtue. But medicalizing the debate is also highly problematic. How will women who have sex with women be included in an approach that necessarily emphasizes the high risk nature of many current msm practices? How can a stigmatized population avoid further stigmatization if publicity focuses on the health dangers they pose to the general population? How are the goals of self-esteem and political confidence nurtured among young lgbti when the main association representing them prioritizes disease and practices mild deception? And who wants to trust the World Bank? A question then is how to make the case for human rights for sexual minorities without submerging it in medical or pathologizing language while at the same time avoiding the appearance of being "elitist" or simply aping the West? Armed with good research, this is actually not as difficult a task as people often assume. For example, one reason people justify discrimination against gay men is because they do anal and oral sex which are supposed to be against nature. Those practices are widely assumed to be exclusive to gay men (indeed, this was often flatly asserted in the early biomedical research on HIV in Africa). Yet new research shows that anal and oral sex are common among heterosexual couples in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere in Africa. If heterosexuals can do these acts, why can't same-sex couples? If they should not do those act, will, and how will the state then intervene to stop heterosexual couples from their unnatural behaviour? The Western cultural imperialism argument is also getting easier to refute. Is South Africa part of the West? Brazil (where last year for the first time the majority of the population identified as African)? Those two countries co-sponsored last year's UN resolution to include sexual orientation in the list of reasons not to torture, kill or otherwise cause harm to people. Interestingly, the South African ambassador to the UN justified his country's newly assertive foreign policy on this issue by reference to the struggle against colonialism. He pointed out how most of the African countries that persecute lgbti (including Zimbabwe) do so on the basis of laws inherited from the colonialists (he could have added shoddy science, racist ethnography, and colonialist interpretations of scripture). African liberation thus requires decriminalizing sodomy laws, among other inherited discriminatory legislation, as South Africa and Cape Verde have already done and several other countries are currently mooting (eg., the Botswana High Court is considering that application as I write). The turn in South African foreign policy on this issue is important to the Zimbabwean case as South Africa is the "point man" for SADC's monitoring of Zimbabwe's political reform process. President Jacob Zuma has his critics and no doubt holds fairly deep personal reservations about sexual minority rights even in his own country. But he deserves credit for apologizing for homophobic statements he has made in the past, and for supporting the move to square South Africa's foreign policy with the principles laid out in its domestic constitution. It is difficult to see how his party could now accept a public back down to appease ZANU-PF on this file. There has meanwhile been a veritable explosion of new research, art, literature, and film about and by African lgbti. New social media make this material more available to Zimbabwean citizens than ever in history. GALZ members and their allies in civil society can now read about lesbian sangomas in South Africa, legal victories by lgbti in Uganda (Argentina, Mexico, Jamaica, India, and so on in the Global South), an openly gay candidate for senate in Kenya, gay-friendly churches and ministers in Nigeria, queer support groups and networks for Muslims, and much, much more on their (ubiquitous) mobile phones. In short, GALZ members, family and allies need no longer fret that they are alone in Africa or somehow un-African for their beliefs and practices. Nor need African lgbti always and necessarily remain on the defensive. On the contrary, another noteworthy development over the past year is that African activists are no longer passive recipients of the fruits of rights victories in the West. They are taking the fight directly to the West. A suit filed by Sexual Minorities of Uganda earlier this year in a federal court in Massachusets will be a case to watch. SMUG is using US federal law to hold US ex-gay minister Scott Lively and four Ugandan "co-conspirators" accountable for the homophobic violence they are alleged to have fuelled with their activities in Uganda. Should SMUG win it will have done an important service not only for Africans who are anxious about the spread of US-style bigotry, but also for Americans anxious about the role of Christian fundamentalists in fomenting homophobia in the US. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the case was well-known to the GALZ membership. Given all that President Mugabe has said since 1995 about lgbti as avatars of colonialism and continental moral decline, and given Prime Minister Tsvangirai's obvious lack of understanding and commitment to sexual minority rights, it is hard to believe that those rights will be accepted in the constitution as long as these two leaders remain key players in the constitutional debate. The tide, however, is clearly shifting under their feet. Rights reserved: Please credit the author, and Solidarity Peace Trust, as the original source for all material republished on other websites unless otherwise specified. Please provide a link back to http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org This article can be cited in other publications as follows: Epprecht, M. (2012) 'The Constitution Process and Sexual Minority Rights in Zimbabwe', 21 June, Solidarity Peace Trust: http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/1226/the-constitution-process-and-sexual-minority-rights-in-zimbabwe/ SELECT SOURCES Beyrer et al 2011. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTHIVAIDS/Resources/375798-1103037153392/MSMReport.pdf GALZ. 1999. Sexual Orientation and Zimbabwe's New Constitution: A Case for Inclusion. http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/sexual/090702galz.asp?sector=SEXUAL Zimbabwe: Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee http://www.copac.org.zw/ For further information, please contact Selvan Chetty - Deputy Director, Solidarity Peace Trust Email: selvan@solidaritypeacetrust.org Tel: +27 (39) 682 5869 Address: Suite 4
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