Zimbabweans based in South Africa demonstrate against the address
by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono in Midrand last weekend. —
AFP.
Zim Independent
Ministers defy Mugabe on farms
Dumisani Muleya/Loughty
Dube
TOP government and Zanu PF officials have defied President Robert
Mugabe's
ultimatum to surrender farms grabbed at the height of the land
seizures.
A report by the Presidential Land Resettlement Committee
compiled in April
confirms that ministers and Zanu PF officials are clinging
to their
ill-gotten farms in defiance of Mugabe's order to give up
surplus
properties.
The report, compiled by a committee chaired by
Special Affairs minister for
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, John Nkomo,
says the VIP multiple
farm-owners are resisting a presidential directive
issued last year to
surrender their extra land holdings.
"There
are cases of senior party and government officials who grabbed more
than one
farm using their positions of influence," the report says. "In most
cases
these officials would have received only one offer letter (for a
farm). They
have clandestinely held on to numerous other farms through
their
relatives."
Mugabe ordered people with more than one farm to
surrender the other
properties in July last year. However, his directive was
largely ignored.
Mugabe then set up Nkomo's committee which started work
on October 23 to
deal with the issue and to clean up the chaotic land reform
exercise. The
committee includes Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Higher
Education
minister Herbert Murerwa, Labour minister Paul Mangwana, and
Minister in the
Vice-President's Office, Flora Buka.
It is backed
up by the National Inspectorate team which comprises army,
intelligence and
police officers and a national coordinating centre headed
by Willard Chiwewe.
The technical advisory team is led by Charles Utete.
Nkomo's detailed
report says 329 officials - including ministers and Zanu PF
bigwigs - were
holding on to numerous farms.
"A total of 329 people have multiple
farms measuring 55 513, 668 hectares,"
it says. The report indicates that as
a result of the resistance there are
still a number of farms to be
recovered.
"In excess of 45 000 hectares of land were recovered
during this exercise,
but there continues to be some resistance from
high-ranking members of the
ruling party and senior government officials to
surrender the land," it
notes.
"This resistance and the
clandestine manoeuvres have a combined effect of
maintaining the status quo
on the ground as regards the issue of multiple
farm
ownership."
The latest land report, seen by the Zimbabwe Independent
this week, reveals
that influential people in Zanu PF were allocated farms in
prime farming
areas with some individuals getting farms measuring up to 2 000
hectares
each.
According to the report senior officials and
businesspeople grabbed multiple
farms during the land reform
exercise.
The majority of the Zanu PF chefs, the report says, got
land in the prime
commercial farming Region One, displacing mainly tobacco
and cotton-growing
commercial farmers.
After defying Mugabe's
order of last July, officials further resisted the
crack National
Inspectorate team assigned to "investigate and recover land
from multiple
farm owners".
The team includes Air Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena,
deputy CIO director Menard
Muzariri, deputy police commissioner Godwin
Matanga, Brigadier General S
Khumalo, retired colonel R Dube, retired colonel
Z Moyo, and senior
assistant prisons commissioner S Matunhira.
The
report said it was worrying that there were people accumulating farms
in
violation of government's "one household, one farm" policy, while there
were
hundreds of thousands of people on the official waiting
list.
It says there are 249 473 people on the Model A1 waiting list
and 99 971 on
the A2 waiting list. Under A2 people were allocated more than
one farm by
the Agriculture ministry which did not have clear records of land
parcelled
out or beneficiaries. Double allocations of farms riddled both A1
and A2.
Past investigations by the Buka team, Utete committee and a
parliamentary
committee also revealed that senior officials had grabbed farms
for
self-enrichment.
The Nkomo report said there were altogether
126 843 A1 beneficiaries made up
of 22 976 self-contained, 102 786 villagised
and 1 081 three-tier plots.
Under A2 there were 12 888 beneficiaries, which
gives a total of 137 995
(their figure) people resettled. This figure is
similar to that of the Utete
report and is a further indictment of repeated
official claims that there
were 300 000 beneficiaries under A1 and 54 000
under A2 resettlement models.
Last year media reports named several
senior government officials as having
grabbed more than one farm against
government policy.
The report also says apart from politicians,
senior civil servants, business
people and high ranking government officials
who bulldozed their way into
getting more than one farm, a sizeable number
gatecrashed the lucrative
wildlife conservancies and safari areas.
Zim Independent
Church coalition remembers torture victims
Loughty
Dube
IN what threatens to set local churches on a collision course with
the
authorities, the Bulawayo Christians Together for Justice and Peace
group
will tomorrow hold a service for victims of torture and violence
in
Zimbabwe. The prayer service meeting, to be held at the Roman Catholic
St
Mary's Cathedral in Bulawayo tomorrow, coincides with the United
Nations
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Torture
victims are expected to give testimonies on violence by the state in
the past
few years.
The service will take place simultaneously with another
prayer meeting for
Zimbabwean torture victims lined up at St Martin-in-the
Fields in Trafalgar
Square, London.
Bulawayo Christians Together
for Peace and Justice spokesperson, Father
Barnabas Nqindi, said they had
lined up several torture victims who are
expected to give testimonies on
torture.
"In keeping up with the international family, we in Zimbabwe
will join the
rest of the world in commemorating the International Day in
Support of
Victims of Torture by reminding those in our midst who use torture
as a tool
to stop doing so," Fr Nqindi told the Zimbabwe Independent this
week.
"We pray to the Almighty to intervene and eradicate all forms of
torture in
Zimbabwe and the world at large."
Nqindi said they
would also be praying against denial of access to food and
health care,
and against violence and the politics of hatred.
"We will pray for
human rights, especially the rights of arrested persons,"
said
Nqindi.
Zimbabwe's human rights record has worsened since President
Mugabe unleashed
war veterans and youth militias on the opposition following
his defeat in a
constitutional referendum in February
2000.
Zimbabwe's ratings by organisations such as Amnesty
International and the
United Nations Commission for Human Rights have
continued to plummet.
On whether they have sought police clearance to
hold the prayer session, Nqi
ndi said there was no need to seek permission as
the meeting would be held
within the confines of the
church.
According to Zimbabwe's draconian security laws, police
permission has to be
sought before people can hold a meeting.
The
service in London will be followed by a procession to Zimbabwe House
where
flowers will be laid in support of torture victims and those who
succumbed to
torture.
Zim Independent
'Political interference damaging ZBC' -
report
Dumisani Muleya
THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), which
is technically insolvent,
is in debt to the tune of $25 billion, it emerged
during a recent
parliamentary debate on the parastatal's debt assumption by
government.
Presenting a second report of the parliamentary portfolio
committee on
transport and communications on ZBC, now known as Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Holdings, committee chairman Silas Mangono said the company had
a $4,5
billion "historical debt".
But other MPs said the current debt
amounted to $25 billion. MDC MP David
Coltart said ZBC was $25 billion in the
red because "$13 billion in local
currency and almost US$2 million (about $12
billion)" were due.
Mangono said ZBCwas in a deep financial crisis due to
dwindling advertising
and licence revenue as well as poor management. He said
his committee heard
from former managers that it should actually be closed
down.
"According to Dr Gideon Gono (former ZBC board chairman), when
your
committee interviewed him on 20th October 2003, ZBC should not be
operating
if we look at the balance sheet of the company," Mangono
said.
"Mr (Munyaradzi) Hwengwere (former ZBC chief executive) echoed the
same
sentiments. He informed your committee that in December 2002,
liquidation
was imminent as was evidenced by daily notices of attachment on
property."
Mangono said ZBC's situation was worsened by the current
"institutional
instability and ad hoc planning". ZBC, which uses "archaic
equipment", has
been unbundled into nine subsidiaries each headed by a chief
executive.
These include ZTV, Newsnet, National Television, On-Air Systems,
Channel C,
and four radio stations, Radio Zimbabwe, Power FM, National FM,
and SFM.
A past parliamentary investigation discovered that the ZBC
was stuffed with
corrupt and incompetent employees. It also found that undue
political
interference was destroying the corporation.
Mangono
said his committee came face-to-face with crude interference when
"an
official in the Department of Information and Publicity in the
President's
Office had the temerity to query why the committee wanted to
interview Mr
Hwengwere".
"This depicts interference in its worst form," Mangono
said. "Such
interference, if not properly checked, can have a deleterious
effect on
operations of the (information) department and its
parastatals."
Coltart said assuming ZBC's debt would not resolve the
company's crisis as
long as it remained "overly partisan". He said ZBC
operated like the
Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, a mouthpiece for the
Rhodesian Front.
Another MDC MP, Welshman Ncube, said ZBC's financial
problems had worsened
under the current "Minister of Propaganda". He said $10
billion of the
current $13 billion debt in local currency "is directly
attributable to what
can only be described as a misguided attempt to make all
Zimbabweans think
alike".
Ncube said taxpayers were now being
forced "dig deep into their pockets to
pay for the folly of a few misguided
politicians".
Mangono said ZBC was biased in its news coverage, in
particular during
elections. He said it was also unable "to be there when it
happens" because
of "operational problems due to a depleted and antiquated
fleet of
vehicles". ZBC also has "less than three cameras and a lot of
obsolete
equipment". This explains, Mangono said, why "we hear the same news
for the
rest of the day, everyday, up to 6:00pm".
Zim Independent
Claws out for foreign media
Vincent Kahiya in Jo'burg
and Gift Phiri in Harare
GOVERNMENT has set its sights on foreign newspapers
circulating in the
country, accusing them of trying to publish secretly in
Zimbabwe and using
unaccredited journalists.
Officials are making
threatening noises about foreign publications including
the Mail &
Guardian, which they claim to be hostile to President Robert
Mugabe's
government.
At the beginning of the week, the state controlled Sunday
Mail - which
usually mirrors the government's views - published a story
accusing the Mail
& Guardian of using unaccredited journalists. The state
weekly, quoting
unnamed sources, also questioned why the Mail & Guardian
was circulating in
Zimbabwe when its major shareholder, Trevor Ncube, was
running another
paper - the Zimbabwe Independent.
The impression
that the story was officialdom thinking aloud was given
credence this week
when MIC chairman Tafataona Mahoso, in remarks that
appeared to represent a
firming of his position since the weekend, described
the Mail & Guardian
as "unprincipled".
He said the paper was violating Aippa by using
unaccredited journalists.
"We have noticed that there are Zimbabwean
journalists who are exporting
stories to the Mail & Guardian's foreign
desk but who are not accredited
with the Media and Information Commission,"
said Mahoso.
"There are two offences here. Firstly, they are not
registered with the MIC.
Secondly they earn rands for publishing their
stories.
"That money is not accounted for. So you see there is a
forex question here
and that of registration. It's not only Aippa, even the
RBZ (Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe) would be concerned," he said.
Asked
if there was any substance to the information that the Mail &
Guardian
could soon find itself in trouble with Zimbabwean authorities,
Mahoso said:
"You should contact the people who have that information. All I
can say is
that the Mail & Guardian is unprincipled because it is using
unaccredited
journalists."
Mahoso had problems explaining who the
complainant in this case was. "Are
you knowledgeable about Aippa? If there is
a violation of the law, then the
commission institutes investigations. This
story was in the Sunday Mail, a
duly registered entity in Zimbabwe. Because
the Sunday Mail has carried the
story, it is a complainant. Besides, the
commission can institute its own
investigations. All foreign desks should be
registered. Reuters, AFP and
even the Chinese news agency Xinhuanet's foreign
desks are registered with
the commission."
Ncube on Wednesday said
the Sunday Mail article was a good example of how
the Zimbabwe government had
over the past five years abused the state media
to pursue narrow political
agendas and to victimise perceived opponents.
"It is one example of
how state-employed journalists have prostituted
themselves to the political
elite and done away with all pretence at
professionalism," said
Ncube.
"The story is defamatory, malicious and highly irresponsible.
It serves no
public good at all. Its sole intention is to portray me and the
Mail &
Guardian in bad light and to help the Media and Information
Commission build
up a case against the paper.
"I am disappointed
that MIC chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso gave the story some
respectability by
commenting before verifying the veracity of the claims in
the story," he
said
Ncube said the M&G was not using unregistered journalists in
Zimbabwe.
"What would be the point of doing this when we have our own
pool of
registered journalists at the Independent and the Standard? All we
have are
Zimbabwean-based columnists who contribute to the M&G which is
distributed
all over the world. We have no plans now or in future of
publishing in
Zimbabwe as claimed in the story.
"And for the
record, we have turned around the Mail & Guardian in just under
two years
and our circulation is growing in both South Africa and the region
as our
audited circulation figures will attest."
Meanwhile, Mahoso came
under attack this week from the Tribune which accused
him of displaying
"dangerous ignorance of the law".
Mahoso last week issued a statement to
say out of the 20 000 ordinary shares
held by the Tribune's publishers only
100 had been issued. The MIC said the
failure to issue the other 19 900
shares was one of the reasons it had used
to close down the
paper.
"Therefore, failure to produce board resolutions on the fate
of the 19 900
shares was one among the several reasons for the cancellation
of the
licence," the MIC said.
But the Tribune, in a statement
last Sunday, shot back, accusing Mahoso of
"dangerous ignorance of the
law".
"His fight against private media is not based on the laws of
the land, which
he does not understand, but on a sheer wish to repress
independent voices,"
the Tribune said in the statement.
"His
failure to understand the difference between authorised and issued
share
capital is appalling to put it magnanimously."
Mahoso flatly refused
to comment on the Tribune press statement saying the
case was sub judice.
Zim Independent
Zim delays Transfrontier National Park
appointment
Godfrey Marawanyika
ZIMBABWE has delayed the appointment of a
substantive coordinator for the
Gaza, Kruger and Gonarezhou Transfrontier
National Park despite a South
African-based organisation offering to pay the
successful applicant. Once
completed the park will become Africa's biggest
wildlife sanctuary merging
three game parks - Kruger in South Africa, Limpopo
in Mozambique and
Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe. The combined project will be known
as the Great
Limpopo Transfrontier Park.
The delay in the appointment
of a coordinator follows the cancellation of
interviews for the prospective
candidate by the National Parks and Wildlife
Management
Authority.
South Africa and Mozambique already have full-time
employees.
Peace Parks of South Africa says it is willing to fund
Zimbabwe's
coordinator.
The delay in the progress of the project
from the Zimbabwean end has led
investors from South Africa to assist Angola
in its restocking of parks and
infrastructural
development.
National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
director-general, Dr Morris
Mtsambiwa, this week confirmed the
delay.
"Within seven days we should be holding interviews. The delay
was because of
technical problems as we wanted people outside the Parks
Authority to also
apply," he said.
"Since we did not get enough
response we have decided to interview those who
applied and most of them are
employed by the Parks and Wildlife Authority."
Infrastructural
development is also lagging behind on the Zimbabwean side
compared to its two
project partners.
The project has also been greatly handicapped by
lack of funding from both
the private sector and
government.
However, in last year's budget government availed $2,2
billion towards the
parks initiative.
Tourism minister Francis
Nhema this week confirmed that Angola was getting
assistance from South
African investors but said this was a regional
position adding that they had
seconded someone to the parks authority to be
the
coordinator.
"There is a regional agreement to assist them. The last
time when we met as
Sadc ministers in Angola the hosts asked for assistance
from everyone.
That's why South Africa is assisting them," Nhema said.
Zim Independent
Lawyers slam detentions
Munyaradzi Wasosa
THE Law
Society of Zimbabwe has criticised the police for the rise in
arbitrary
arrests and detention of suspects.
In a statement on Tuesday the
society's president, Joseph James, deplored
what he called unnecessary
arrests and detentions.
"There has been an increasing tendency to
arrest and detain persons who are
facing relatively minor offences," James
said.
"In fact, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has pointed out that
the detention
of a person who has been arrested should only be effected where
it is
necessary."
James said according to the Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act Chapter
9:07, detention was only necessary for serious
crimes.
"The Act says detention can only be effected in situations
such as when the
alleged wrongdoer is a threat to society, or he or she may
abscond or is
facing serious charges," he said.
James cited the
arrest of school heads over school fees in April which he
described as
unnecessary.
"It is in this vein that the arrest and detention of
persons such as
headmasters who are employees of schools, and board members
of media
organisations is to be deplored," James said.
James also
said the arrest and detention of people for minor offences over
weekends
constituted abuse of power by the police.
"The police arrest and
detain the accused persons just before or over the
weekends, and this is
unnecessary and uncalled for," he said.
In an interview yesterday,
James, himself a criminal lawyer, said weekend
arrests led to accused people
being held for more than the normal period of
detention of 48 hours, which
constituted an infringement of their rights.
"In many instances of
weekend arrests, the detention period is exceeded
because the police know it
is difficult for the accused to find a lawyer
during weekends," James
said.
Zim Independent
Chanetsa helped nuns occupy Malabar Farm
Munyaradzi
Wasosa
FORMER Mashonaland West governor Peter Chanetsa allegedly sanctioned
the
seizure by nuns of Malabar Farm in Darwendale, even before the
874-hectare
farm was listed for compulsory acquisition, the Zimbabwe
Independent heard
last week.
Sagar Farming (Pvt) Ltd managing
director, Arthur Swales, who is leasing the
farm, said in a statement that a
Chinhoyi Arex official revealed in 2002
that Chanetsa wanted half the farm
for the nuns.
In November 2002, Sister Helen Maminimini, the
superior-general of the order
of the Little Community of the Blessed Lady,
six nuns and a Chinhoyi Arex
official, Shepherd Muvhunzi, asked Sagar Farming
for land for the nuns.
Swales said an unidentified nun from Father
O'Hea Memorial Hospital in
Kutama then brought LA3 forms to be
completed.
"We were confused as the wording on these forms was not
relevant to our
position since the farm had never been listed," Swales
said.
LA3 forms are an agreement to downsize a farm in compliance
with government
policy that every agriculture region should have a particular
farm size.
Swales took the forms to the Chinhoyi Arex offices in December the
same year
seeking clarification.
It was then that Muvhunzi
disclosed that Chanetsa wanted the nuns to get
half of the
farm.
"After looking at the forms, Muvhunzi said the portion we had
offered the
nuns for use was not good enough," Swales said. "He said we
should divide
more of the farm as the (former) governor (Peter Chanetsa)
wanted the
sisters to have half the farm."
Muvhunzi could not be
reached for comment.
This paper was told that Muvhunzi had quit Arex
and was now lecturing at
Chinhoyi University.
On June 20 2003 a
meeting attended by Swales, Maminimini and Zvimba district
lands officer,
Stanford Katonha, was held at the Ministry of Lands offices
in
Chinhoyi.
Swales said: "At this meeting, Katonha said the governor
for Mashonaland
West, Peter Chanetsa, had instructed him to get a subdivision
of 340
hectares for the LCBL sisters, or he would gazette the farm and issue
a
Section 8 (acquisition) order."
Chanetsa refused to comment
saying he was no longer in government. "I cannot
speak on behalf of the
government because I am no longer the governor,"
Chanetsa said. "When I
retired in November last year, I left all government
issues, therefore go to
the incumbent governor and ask him."
In a letter carried in this paper on
June 11, Maminimini said she wanted the
farm seizure to be kept a secret "to
prevent confusion".
"The agreement between Swales and us that farm
issues should only be
discussed with the regional superior and myself was to
prevent confusion in
administration," Maminimini said.
Zim Independent
Political tension up in Manicaland
Munyaradzi
Wasosa
POLITICAL tension is running high in Manicaland amid claims by the
Movement
for Democratic Change that police are acting with Zanu PF officials
to bar
the opposition from holding campaign rallies.
In an interview
with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, MDC Mani-caland
provincial
information secretary, Pishai Muchauraya, said police were
preventing his
party from holding rallies.
"We are facing two major problems
especially in Chimanimani," Muchauraya
said. "We have the police as an
institution barring us from holding
political rallies on the one hand, while
Zanu PF through violence on the
other hand is preventing our supporters from
having political gatherings."
Muchauraya said the MDC had made six
applications to the police in Chipinge
to hold rallies but was turned
down.
"We requested clearance from Chipinge police to hold rallies,
some of which
were to be addressed by Chimanimani MP Roy Bennett, six times,
but we were
turned down by the police," Muchauraya said.
He said
the police said there was a possibility of Bennett being attacked by
incensed
Zanu PF supporters after the incident in parliament when the MDC MP
floored
two Zanu PF ministers.
"They said it was not possible for the MDC to
have rallies addressed by
Bennett because they did not have enough manpower
to protect him or anyone
else in the event of a Zanu PF attack," Muchauraya
said.
Bennett was involved in a brawl in parliament last month in
which he floored
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa and Anti-graft minister
Didymus Mutasa.
Zanu PF supporters, in retaliation, launched an
anti-white campaign that saw
the abduction and assault last month of Birgit
Kidd, a Finnish citizen who
lives in Chimanimani.
The police
officer commanding Chipinge and Chimanimani, Chief
Sup-erintendent
Musarashana Mabunda, could not be reached for comment.
Muchauraya
accused the police of acting as an extension of the ruling party.
"It
seems the police, instead of being apolitical, are now a wing of Zanu PF
as
manifested by their refusal to allow us to hold rallies in Chimanimani
and
other areas in the province," he said.
Muchauraya also accused Zanu
PF of using violence to intimidate voters in
Chimanimani, one of the MDC's
rural strongholds.
Aspiring Zanu PF candidate for next year's
parliamentary election, Munacho
Mutezo, was named in the High Court as having
led Zanu PF supporters in the
invasion of MDC district offices in Chimanimani
last month.
The High Court last week ordered Police Com-missioner
Augustine Chi-huri to
evict Zanu PF militia who invaded Kidd's property at
Chimanimani business
centre.
Zim Independent
Sweden scales down operations in Zim
Munyaradzi
Wasosa
SWEDEN says it will maintain its firm stance towards the
Zimbabwean
government over human rights abuses and repressive media laws, and
has
revealed plans to scale down operations in the country.
In an
interview with the Zimbabwe Independent last week, Swedish ambassador
to
Zimbabwe, Kristina Svensson, said her country was sticking to the
European
Union resolution on Zimbabwe.
"We are members of the European Union,
and we are fully supportive of the
EU's position on Zimbabwe," Svensson said.
"We will therefore not change our
position."
Zimbabwe fell out
with the international community, including the European
Union, in 2000
following the government's violent land invasions and
elections that were
widely viewed as flawed.
The EU imposed targeted sanctions on
government officials which bar them
from entering EU member states. Svensson
however said she was optimistic
that the frosty relations between Harare and
Stockholm would soon thaw.
"I sincerely hope that we soon will be
back to a normalised relation between
our two countries where our two
governments cooperate, and we can intensify
our support to Zimbabwe,"
Svensson said.
However, in the meantime operations were being scaled
down, she said.
"This year we will further decrease the number of staff
in the embassy and
one of the posts will be moved to Mozambique," Svensson
said. "We are
definitely relocating our regional department of Water
Resources Development
to Mozambique on August 15 this year."
In a
statement to mark the Swedish National Day, Svensson also said Swedish
aid in
Zimbabwe has drastically decreased due to what she termed "changes
that have
taken place" in the country.
"Although our Swedish community in
Zimbabwe has decreased considerably
during the last few years, we remain
committed," Svensson said.
Sweden recently invited Zimbabwean
journalists on a study tour of the
country's media system in a bid to rebut
government claims that Sweden's
media laws are worse than Zimbabwe's
draconian Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy
Act.
Information minister Jonathan Moyo blocked state media
journalists from
going to witness the Scandinavian country's undemocratic
media laws.
In 2003, the Swedish parliament adopted a bill for global
democracy in which
economic aid would be given to countries that uphold basic
principles of
democracy and respect for human rights.
"The
principles that Sweden supports today are the same principles that
were
supported by (Swedish) missionaries," Svensson said.
"They
are the same principles that motivated us to support the future
leaders of
this country."
Zim Independent
Bill in offing to clamp down on NGOs, churches
Gift
Phiri
GOVERNMENT plans to table a Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO)
and
Churches Bill in a move that analysts say will allow it to clamp down
on
what it sees as errant operators.
The Bill, which has already been
drafted and is expected to be tabled in the
next parliamentary session
starting in July, will allow government to have
greater influence in the
operations of NGOs and churches.
The Bill proposes a code of conduct
for all churches involved in
humanitarian aid. The monitoring of NGOs,
especially those involved in food
aid, "will ensure they do not mix
humanitarian work with politics".
Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare minister Paul Mangwana said the
Bill was aimed at dealing with
churches and NGOs that were inciting people
to rebel against
government.
"Some NGOs and churches are causing confusion in the
country because they
are converting their humanitarian programmes into
politics," said Mangwana.
"The government cannot allow that to happen, so we
are saying they should
come under scrutiny where we revise all the modalities
of their operations
in the country. Failure to do that we are going to simply
close all the
doors and not allow them in this country anymore because the
Bill will set
out a code of conduct which they will be expected to stick to,"
said
Mangwana in an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this
week.
NGOs operating in Zimbabwe have been at loggerheads with government
over the
past three years, with government accusing them of promoting
foreign
interests and those of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Government two years ago ordered NGOs to register under the
Private
Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act, a law that civil society blasted
as
"undemocratic" and too restrictive on the operations of
NGOs.
MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said the Bill reflected the
"pariah
state" that Zimbabwe has become.
"These are part of
attempts to turn this country into a fascist state," said
Nyathi. "Clearly
the government has become paranoid and is trying to control
virtually all
aspects of life. This is how fascists or dictators behave."
Zim Independent
Poaching threatens megapark project
Munyaradzi
Wasosa
THE illegal occupation of Gonarezhou National Park by the Chitsa
people
threaten the implementation of the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou
Transfrontier Park
agreement.
This comes amid reports that the illegal
settlers continue to destroy the
wildlife population in the park through
rampant poaching activities.
In a report tabled in parliament last
week, the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Mines, Energy, Environment and
Tourism, accused Chiredzi South
MP Aaron Baloyi of encouraging the occupation
of the park.
"The chief lands officer and the local MP for the area,
during oral
evidence, clearly showed that they are backing the occupation of
the Chitsa
community in the park," the committee said.
Committee
chairman Joel Gabhuza told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that
Baloyi
said the Chitsa people's occupation of Gonarezhou was
justified.
"Baloyi himself told us that the Department of National
Parks should leave
the Chitsa people alone and instead extend Gonarezhou into
the Ngwenyeni
area towards Mozambique," Gabhuza said.
He said
poaching of wildlife was rampant in the park.
"People are poaching
game for commercial use and subsistence, and the
illegal settlers have
destroyed a 10km stretch of the park's perimeter
fence," he
said.
The Chitsa people invaded about a third of Gonarezhou at the
start of
countrywide farm invasions in 1999 claiming it was their ancestral
lands
taken from them in the 1960s.
The committee said the
occupation was scaring away investors and threatened
the implementation of
the tri-nation megapark involving Mozambique, South
Africa and
Zimbabwe.
"It sends bad signals to other parties to the agreement and
investors as
well as setting a bad precedent to other communities adjacent to
national
parks," the committee said.
"Great strides have been made
in South Africa and Mozambique in implementing
the project due to donor
support," the committee said.
"However, in Zimbabwe donor support has
been virtually withdrawn due to
negative sentiments held by donors on the
implementation of the fast track
land resettlement programme."
The
three countries signed a treaty in December 2002 formalising an
earlier
agreement to implement the project.
The park includes
Limpopo, Kruger and Gonarezhou national parks in
Mozambique, South Africa and
Zimbabwe respectively.
The committee said Zimbabwe was lagging behind
in implementing the project.
"A lot has been documented by NGOs
interested in the area on the
implementation of the project and very
little seems to be happening on the
Zimbabwean side," the committee
said.
The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is the implementing
agency for
Zimbabwe.
The committee said National Parks operations
director Vitalis Chadenga
conceded that infrastructure in Gonarezhou was far
from ideal.
"The National Parks director informed us that the park
has very poor
infrastructure in terms of road networks within and linking the
park to
other areas of the transfrontier park," the committee
said.
The committee said the $300 million budgeted for the
rehabilitation of the
park's roads was not enough.
It added that
the authority had no funds to repair the Runde bridge damaged
by cyclone
Eline in 2000 and that there was no electricity.
Under the Public Sector
Investment Programme, $35 million was provided in
the 2004 budget for the
installation of power lines in Gonarezhou.
Zim Independent
MPs urge broadening of Zim sanctions
Gift
Phiri
BRITAIN'S House of Commons last week heard calls for the extension
of
European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe to include all key figures in
the
governing Zanu PF party.MPs complained that EU sanctions against
President
Robert Mugabe's regime were not tight enough. They called for the
extension
of the EU sanctions list to include a travel ban on Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ) governor Gideon Gono who they said was bankrolling the ruling
party
through his monetary policies.
"The Zimbabwean government is
threatening to starve millions of people,
spending extortionately on defence
and sending the head of the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe to this country with his
begging bowl to stump up cash to
sustain their brutal tyranny," said John
Bercow, a Conservative MP.
"Wouldn't it be better to seek to extend
the EU sanctions so that the head
of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, is
included in them? In my view that would
be a vital contribution in
humanitarian terms to helping the people of
Zimbabwe who have suffered too
much for too long with too little help from
the outside
world."
Gono two weeks ago travelled to Washington where he held
meetings with
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank officials for
balance of
payments support. During the trip he pleaded with the Bretton
Woods
institutions not to expel Zimbabwe for its arrears.
The RBZ
governor proceeded to the United Kingdom where he attempted to
persuade the
estimated 400 000 Zimbabweans to use a new government
initiative, Homelink,
to send money to relatives back home. By offering the
same exchange rate as
the black market, the scheme is expected to inject
millions of dollars in
hard currency into the government's bankrupt coffers.
International
development minister Hillary Benn told the House that
Britain's sanctions
policy against Zimbabwe was coordinated with the
European Union and the
Commonwealth.
"As the honourable gentleman will be aware, the
sanctions that were reviewed
earlier this year were extended," said
Benn.
"There is always an argument to be heard about which names
should be
included on that list and which should not, but the list was
extended. The
action that he advocates in relation to Dr Gono would not
affect Dr Gono's
current visit, but the government has always said that,
along with our EU
colleagues, we shall continue to review the effectiveness
of the sanctions
to make sure that we take the right steps to affect those
who are
responsible while not further harming the people of
Zimbabwe."
Although Gono has played a key role in sprucing up Zanu
PF's battered image,
he is not on the list of 95 Zimbabwean officials banned
from visiting the
EU.
Other MPs blasted the Zimbabwean government
for its misguided policies. Sir
Nicholas Winterton said he was angered that
despite the serious problems
facing Zimbabwe including the chronic fuel, food
and currency shortages, a
contracting economy and growing starvation, the
government had ordered 12
jet fighter aircraft and 100 military vehicles from
China.
Benn said the international community should continue to apply
pressure on
Zimbabwe to halt the continuing erosion of democratic principles.
He said
although the EU had imposed an arms embargo, assets freeze and visa
ban
against Zanu PF officials, other African states needed to exert
more
pressure on Zimbabwe.
Zim Independent
Govt obsessed with information control
Gift Phiri
THE government of Zimbabwe has become increasingly
paranoid about the
flow of information in and out of the country and analysts
fear this could
be part of efforts to narrow democratic discourse ahead of
elections next
year.
The obsession with information control had
led to the closure of
critical newspapers and the expulsion from the country
of most foreign
journalists previously reporting from here, they
say.
Several local journalists have been arrested under
government's
draconian media laws enacted soon after President Robert
Mugabe's
controversial reelection in 2002.
Just last week
Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge threatened to
shut down United Nations
(UN) agencies over their alleged failure to control
the flow of information
from Zimbabwe. Mudenge accused UN officials of
"spreading lies" about
Zimbabwe, deepening the rift between the country and
the world
body.
Mudenge summoned a UN World Food Programme (WFP)
representative to his
office to explain a report compiled by one of its
officials that outlined
increasing crime and lawlessness in the
country.
"There is a persistent trend of malicious intent on the
part of some
UN staffers in Zimbabwe who are deliberately demonising this
country and its
leadership through lies and misinformation," Mudenge said.
"It is
unfortunate the United Nations in Harare continues to tolerate people
who
tarnish the name of Zimbabwe. This is unacceptable to the
government."
A WFP official, Denis Mpanda, whom Mudenge said was
"probably drunk",
compiled the report warn-ing of a sharp rise in violent
crime, including
street robbery, rapes and vehicle hijackings.
"He just sits down, his hang-over gets to him, and he puts it out,"
Mudenge
said.
He also complained about an official at the UN Development
Programme
who previously descri-bed Zimbabwe as "a no-go country" where
policing was
ineffective and the lives of UN personnel were in
danger.
Mudenge accused UN officials sympathetic to the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change of using their positions to promote a
political agenda
with "evil intent" against the country.
Mudenge's comments came soon after UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's
special
envoy for humanitarian needs in southern Africa, James Morris,
cancelled a
planned trip to Zimbabwe, saying neither Mugabe nor his top
officials were
available to meet him.
In fact officials had been working on plans
for the visit for over six
weeks.
Mudenge warned the UN that if
it continued employing "political
zealots who seek the cover of the UN to
propagate treacherous messages, then
the government would take appropriate
action". He said failure by the world
body to control the flow of information
from Zimbabwe could lead to the
collapse of the UN system in the
country.
The government's obsession with information flow was also
illustrated
last month when the state proposed new contracts for all Internet
service
providers (ISPs) meant to force them to block content or to
report
"malicious messages".
The contract obliges ISPs to
"provide, without delay, all the tracing
facilities of the nuisance or
malicious messages or communications
transported through his equipment and
network, to authorised officers of...
the government of Zimbabwe, when such
information is required for
investigations of crimes or in the interests of
national security".
In December Mugabe vowed that Zimbabwe would
control the means to get
information to its citizens, and emphasised
Zimbabwe's sovereignty. But in
March, the Supreme Court ruled as
unconstitutional legal provisions that
gave the president powers to eavesdrop
or intercept mail, e-mails or
telephone conversations.
Despite
the court order, the state went ahead and proposed the gagging
order for all
ISPs.
Information minister Jonathan Moyo recently clashed with Zanu
PF
spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira over the interview Mugabe had with Sky News
of
Britain. Moyo said "it was outdated and no longer relevant to think
that
the only way of speaking to the world is via Sky News, BBC and
other
colonial mouthpieces".
He said nothing would be gained by
communicating "through colonial,
neo-colonial, imperialist and oppositional
mouthpieces". He said it was
better to communicate through the "national
media", over which he appears to
exercise total control.
Ruling
party sources say Shamuyarira, who had organised the Sky News
interview, was
opposed to Moyo's policy of shutting out the outside world
while bombarding
the country with Zanu PF propaganda.
As if to confirm this notion,
government two weeks ago shut down
another independent national newspaper -
the third in less than a year.
The banning of the weekly Tribune
came hard on the heels of the forced
closure of the Daily News and its sister
paper, the Daily News on Sunday in
September last year. The Tribune had
recently been bought by a consortium of
five managers headed by an MP from
the ruling Zanu PF, Kindness Paradza. But
that didn't stop the paper from
criticising government shortcomings.
Paradza, a former journalist, was
suspended from Zanu PF last month for
criticising Zimbabwe's restrictive
media laws in his maiden speech to
parliament in March. He said the laws,
which also prohibit private
broadcasting, discouraged investment in the
media.
The speech was condemned by his party chiefs who accused him
of
conspiring with Britain against Mugabe.
Paradza said the
banning of the newspaper was a "barbaric act" and has
vowed to fight it in
the courts. He has already sued the Media Information
Commission and its
executive chairman Tafataona Mahoso for illegally
shutting down his paper.
The reason given for the closure was that the
Tribune had changed ownership
and directors without informing the MIC. But
Paradza said his paper was being
targeted for its independent editorial
policy.
Under the new
media law, the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, all news
organisations and journalists are required to seek
licences from the MIC to
operate in Zimbabwe. Scores of Zimbabwean
journalists have been refused
registration. All foreign correspondents who
used to be based in Harare have
been expelled.
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe coordinator
Andy Moyse said there
were concerted efforts by government to shut down all
critical sources of
information ahead of the parliamentary ballot scheduled
for March next year.
"These are part of moves by government to shut
down all democratic
space and civil rights," said Moyse. "It is in fact a
campaign to terminate
all critical sources of information ahead of the next
election."
Moyse said government would want to have all the
democratic space to
themselves.
Political analyst and Southern
Africa Publishing House chairman, Ibbo
Mandaza, acknowledged that there were
attempts to control the flow of
information from Zimbabwe.
"But
we need to look at each case's merits or demerits," said Mandaza.
"For
instance, the case of the closure of the Daily News and the Tribune is
still
before the courts and it would be sub judice to discuss them. I would
rather
reserve my comments."
Zim Independent
Comment
A fearful party hides behind
repression
THE ruling party's campaign to close democratic space and
criminalise
opposition to the regime was given voice in parliament this week
with claims
that disruptions of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono's roadshow
meetings in
Britain and South Africa and calls to extend sanctions to include
Dr Gono
were "an attack on the economic interests of the country" and
therefore a
crime under the law.
This followed remarks made in the
London Times by MDC secretary-general
Welshman Ncube.
Nothing more
graphically illustrates the siege mentality currently gripping
a party that
more often prefers to communicate its mastery of power. The
motion tabled on
Wednesday linked MDC "treachery" to moves by the ICC to
suspend Test cricket
matches against Zimbabwe.
Several chickens are coming home to roost here.
Firstly, Zanu PF's attempts
to hijack Gono's monetary reform programme are
exposing him to international
embarrassment, just as political interference
with the ZCU has isolated
Zimbabwe's cricket team. The world reacts to what
it sees. It doesn't need
the MDC to stimulate a response to mounting signs of
repression.
This week we have seen attempts to tighten the already
draconian provisions
of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act, the regime's
chosen instrument in suffocating press freedom. An
independent newspaper has
been closed down under the provisions of that Act,
ostensibly because it
breached registration rules but in reality because its
publisher spoke his
mind in parliament on laws that choke off investment. The
case brought
against him is manifestly devoid of merit and exposes a woeful
ignorance of
business practice by the regulatory body.
The Botswana
authorities have been castigated for allowing the Voice of
America to utilise
broadcasting facilities in that country at a time when
Zimbabwe has refused
to open up its airwaves in conformity with a court
ruling and persists in
manipulating the public media in a way that benefits
ambitious individuals in
Zanu PF instead of the public generally.
It is an abuse of power writ
large. At the same time Zimbabweans are
arrested for exercising their right
to protest against unjust laws.
Forty-six women were arrested in Bulawayo
this week for demonstrating
peacefully against Posa. And despite a court
ruling striking down provisions
of the Posts and Telecommunications Services
Act relating to the monitoring
of mail, the state is again attempting to lean
on Internet Service Providers
through the back door of operating
contracts.
Then there is the climate of intimidation generated by
government's growing
paranoia. Newspapers have been denounced in vitriolic
terms for carrying
remarks by Vice-President Joseph Msika on the occupation
of Kondozi farm or
those by Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo on land reform. And
United Nations
security officers have been reprimanded for warning about
crime and
insecurity in the country.
In defence of its propaganda
claims of abundant harvests, government has
refused to meet UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan's special representative for
humanitarian
affairs James Morris while the UNDP/WFP has been prevented from
assessing the
crop situation on the ground.
This is playing politics with people's
lives on a grand scale and has
inevitably attracted world-wide condemnation.
On Wednesday UN agencies said
two million people in Zimbabwe were at risk
from food shortages.
Morris said this week he applauded the government's
willingness to take
responsibility for feeding its people. But he said it
would be "one of the
most remarkable turnarounds in history" if the country
in which the WFP was
feeding more than six million people last year could now
support all but the
most vulnerable on its own. UN crop forecasts estimate
Zimbabwe will produce
only half the food it needs this year.
It is
against this background that Zanu PF is attempting to work up charges
of
"treachery" against those who have the genuine interests of this country
and
its people at heart. Zimbabweans abroad - a growing proportion of our
overall
population forced into exile by failed economic policies - have
every right
to express themselves on what they think of Gono's Homelink
scheme,
especially when they are not allowed to do so at home.
Gono himself said
last weekend in Midrand that protestors should have their
say. In practising
democracies that is unremarkable. Only in Zimbabwe is
it
"treachery".
So long as it continues to prevent democratic
discourse, close newspapers
and harass the opposition with repressive laws,
Zanu PF will be confronted
by people impatient with its empty mantras and
demanding change.
Tyranny and repression work only in the short term.
Eventually dictatorship
gives way to democracy. Zanu PF's pretence that it is
besieged by foreign
forces is a self-evident lie. There were no foreigners
protesting in Britain
and South Africa last week.
They were
Zimbabweans exercising the rights they have been arbitrarily
stripped of at
home because the ruling party fears freedom of expression.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
Poll win supersedes national
needs
OFFICIALLY, the next parliamentary elections are to take place a
full nine
months away, in March 2005.
Whether that will be so or
whether the elections will suddenly be brought
forward to an earlier date
remains to be seen, although the president has
outspokenly said that there is
no intent to spring an earlier than as yet
announced poll.
After all,
he may well suddenly decide that it is strategically merited to
do so, in
order to catch the opposition unaware and ill-prepared. And it
could well be
politically prudent to do so ahead of inevitably pronounced
food
shortages.
Despite the categorical statements by several ministers that
Zimbabwe will
have a surfeit of food this year, on the ground it is well and
widely known
that the reverse is the case. All but those who find it in their
own best
interests to be oblivious to the realities are very conscious of the
fact
that the 2004 commercial maize crop will, at the most, be 30% of
that
projected by the government.
And present indications are that
despite strenuous, albeit belated, efforts
by the government, the winter
wheat crop will also be markedly less than the
government
expects.
However, whether or not the elections are brought forward from
March 2005,
it is undeniably apparent that the government is strenuously
preparing
itself for the polls, for once again - as has been the case prior
to all
previous - the virtually sole motivant for any governmental actions
and
ministerial statements is clearly in order to garner votes.
There
is a total disregard for that which would be in the best interests of
the
electorate. Instead, the acts embarked upon are such as perceived
to
influence the electorate to support the ruling party, and to
eliminate
support for the opposition.
So too are the many statements
made by the governmental hierarchy,
encompassing assurances which cannot
credibly be expected to be fulfilled.
The determination to hijack the
elections with diverse actions which are,
prima facie - but not in actuality
- in the best interests of the populace,
is of such magnitude that there is a
total disregard for any prejudicial
consequences of such actions.
In
particular, no consideration is given to the extent that the economy
may
suffer as a result of those actions and, therefore, to the probable
medium
and long-term prejudice to the populace which the government is
pretending
to assist, solely in order to obtain the voter support which it
needs if it
is to be returned to power.
Examples are numerous, but
among the highlights was the foolhardy, immensely
damaging confrontation,
some six weeks ago, launched by the Education, Sport
and Culture minister
against the independent schools. He forced 46 schools
into temporary closure,
contending that their fees were excessive and,
therefore, he refused approval
of such fees.
The facts that none of the schools operated for financial
gain, that they
are as subject to the impacts of inflation as are all
commercial
enterprises, the populace and the government and that in most
instances the
majority of parents had accepted the need for the fee increases
were all of
no consequence to him.
The minister was prepared to place
the education of tens of thousands of
children in jeopardy and, if necessary,
have the schools become insolvent
and close for the sake of a short-term
political gain of being able to
demonstrate to the electorate the depth of
the ruling party's concerns to
minimise costs of education.
In like
manner, the Local Government and National Housing minister last
week
unilaterally imposed a freeze upon scheduled increases in rates
chargeable
by the city of Bulawayo. Although the city is faced with massively
rising
costs, including salaries and wages, imported requirements for
road
maintenance, water supply, sewerage management and much else, he
applied
severe, authoritarian dictate to prevent the city from obtaining the
funding
it needs.
And the only conceivable motive for doing so is in
order to impress the city
's residents as to how vigorously the government -
ie the ruling party - is
conscious of their hardships and is determined to
minimise them.
The minister is in a "win-win" situation for, when the
municipality becomes
even less able then it is at present let alone as it was
previously - to
service the city's needs, he can attribute all blame to the
city fathers,
most of whom are members of the opposition party.
He
will be able to assert that all responsibility for a further collapse in
the
city's street-lighting systems, its traffic lights, refuse collection
and so
forth lies wholly in the hands of the Bulawayo City Council,
notwithstanding
that it will have been his actions as he deprived the
council of the required
wherewithal to service the city's needs.
The minister sought to justify
his action on the grounds of an improving
economy, but there is little to
support any contention that the economy is
undergoing an upturn. Admittedly,
inflation has declined over the last five
months, and is now at a
backbreaking rate of 448,75% only.
But there is little, if anything else,
to support his contention. Between
1998 and 2003, total manufacturing output
fell by 40% and continues to fall
in the face of shrinking consumer spending
power and loss of export
viability for most exporters.
It is
recognised by all other than the myopic leaders of the ruling party
that
agriculture is in a continuing decline, with a near-total destruction
of the
tobacco industry, a massive shrinkage in output of maize and other
cereals,
decimation of the national herd and unemployment for more than 300
000 former
farm workers.
Tourism is similarly deeply distressed, with no recovery in
numbers of
tourist arrivals - exclusive of cross-border traders defined by
the
government as tourists. Much of the mining industry is on
a
care-and-maintenance basis.
Moreover, although the year-on-year
inflation rate has fallen from 622,8% in
January 2004 to 448,75% in May 2004,
the compounded month-on-month inflation
for the period of January to May was
a devastating 42%. Not exactly
indicative of an improving
economy!
Again, it must be with elections in mind - over and above trying
to please
"the Boss" by telling him what he would like to hear - that
motivated the
Agriculture and Rural Resettlement minister to claim a 2004
total grains
crop of over 2,8 million tonnes, including a crop of
commercially produced
maize in excess of 2,4 million tonnes. The minister
must know that such
figures defy the wildest of imagination.
After
all, the commercial farmers, inclusive of newly resettled farmers,
the
suppliers of agricultural inputs, the relief organisations and many
others
are fully aware that there is as much prospect of Zimbabwe achieving
such
crop levels this year as there is of it having a rocket scientist who
can
successfully launch a spaceship to Mars before the end of 2004!
By
now an almost traditional vote-gathering modality is for the government
to
give vociferously expressed assurances that the Matabeleland Zambezi
Water
Project, first conceived of in 1912, is about to come into being. It
is
irrelevant to point out that the government does not have the trillions
of
dollars necessary to convert that project from a mirage into reality.
It
is equally irrelevant to point out that if the funding is
sought
commercially, the resultant debt- servicing burden will be
unsustainable and
the cost of water will be prohibitive for all consumers -
be they in
agriculture, industry, commerce, domestic consumption or
otherwise. The
project can only be viably funded with international aid and
soft loans, and
those will not be forthcoming for so long as Zimbabwe is an
international
pariah.
Despite those realities, the government assured
the populace of
Matabeleland - ahead of the 2005 elections - that
commencement of the
project was imminent. The same assurances were
forthcoming ahead of the 2000
parliamentary elections and the 2002
presidential poll.
One waits with bated breath to witness the
government's next attempt at
collecting votes. Perhaps, by mistake, it will
be some act which will
benefit economic recovery.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
Press puppies puddle party
parade
ZIMBABWE'S ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, has
been
complaining that a Sunday Independent story by "discredited and
disgraced"
journalist Basildon Peta claiming that Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono had
been "sent packing" by irate Zimbabweans in Midrand at the
weekend was a
fabrication. Peta was "a decomposing puppy", Moyo
said.
In particular, the ambassador objected to the report that he had
been pelted
with salt-shakers and cutlery. Where were his injuries from this
attack, he
asked? The well-attended meeting was full of peaceful Zimbabweans
wanting to
know more about the Homelink scheme, Moyo said.
Then "20
hooligans carrying MDC placards interrupted the governor as he took
the
podium". They were paid R20 each for their efforts, he claimed.
But the
rest of the audience "restrained themselves".
"Shame to their sponsors,"
Moyo said of the protestors. "These misguided
hooligans will remain in limbo
for a very long time while others seize the
golden opportunity. Zimbabwe
shall prosper and indeed shall never be a
colony again."
We found it
rather strange that the "discredited and disgraced puppy" Peta
should be
blamed for this version of events when it revealed marked
similarities to a
report carried by the Sunday Mail.
Gono and his team had expected
protests, the report said, but the governor
was willing to let the
demonstrators in.
"However, the protestors refused to allow him to
address the meeting," the
Sunday Mail said, "singing, dancing, throwing
missiles and doing press-ups."
Eventually "the governor had to
leave".
So not quite the glowing success the ambassador would have us
believe!
And who inserts silly lines like "Zimbabwe shall never be a
colony again"
into his and other people's statements? Why can't Zimbabwean
officials be
allowed to think for themselves without this sort of
heavy-handed
assistance? After all, SK was a senior party official when his
current
creative directors were just "puppies"!
We had a good
chuckle over the Herald's latest descent into delusional
journalism. Under
the heading "Refugees opt for Zim", we were told over 10
000 were being
sheltered here.
"Zimbabwe's long years of peace, tranquility and
stability, coupled with a
good human rights record since Independence in
1980, has seen the country
attracting the refugees."
Good human rights
record? What planet are these guys living on?
Why are over three million
Zimbabweans living abroad? What conditions forced
two million to seek refuge
in South Africa with thousands more streaming
across the Limpopo and into
Botswana every month?
How does 10 000 compare with three million? And who
in their right mind
would try and pretend Zimbabwe has a good human rights
record?
Only last week United Nations security officers were being
threatened by the
authorities for daring to suggest that Zimbabwe wasn't
altogether stable and
peaceful. What sort of society is it that has to insist
that it is stable
and peaceful and that those claiming otherwise could be
liable to
prosecution?
Those asserting that Zimbabwe is stable and
peaceful may want to ask Mrs
Kidd what her experience was!
This week,
the Sunday Mail came up with one of its many speculative
masterpieces that
only the most naïve of its readers would take seriously.
It claimed the Mail
& Guardian of South Africa wanted to "clandestinely"
publish in Zimbabwe
without registration.
The paper was also using unregistered local
journalists to write
"anti-Zimbabwean stories for foreign publications", the
Sunday Mail claimed
without seeing the need to produce at least some
evidence.
Of course this would have been hard to come by. Why would the
M&G want to
use unregistered journalists when there are so many
registered ones who the
government's Media and Information Commission is
putting on the streets by
closing down their newspapers?
And how would
it be possible to publish such a high-profile newspaper
"clandestinely" under
a paranoid regime like this one?
To his credit, MIC chairman Tafataona
Mahoso appeared sceptical about the
Sunday Mail's fictional
report.
"If that is the case (publishing clandestinely), then this is a
serious
matter that needs to be looked into," was his luke-warm
response.
Since Trevor Ncube's acquisition of the M&G in 2002, it had
"lost
considerable readership in South Africa", the Sunday Mail
claimed.
An anonymous South African editor was quoted as saying "most
publishers and
journalists" in South Africa did not understand why Ncube
needed a South
African paper to cover Zimbabwean stories when he already had
a Zimbabwean
paper.
"Ncube is just a hatchet man, that's why his paper
is lynching everyone who
represents African interests," the "editor" said.
The paper had been
critical of the ANC and lambasted the likes of Jacob Zuma,
we were told.
Who is this brave South African editor, full of opinions
but who wants to
remain anonymous?
And being critical of the ANC is an
offence?
The M&G, as the recent survey by The Media magazine, cited
by the Sunday
Mail, revealed, is one of the few South African publications to
have
increased its circulation in recent years.
Why didn't the Sunday
Mail ask the advertising agencies that monitor these
things for their
findings? They are freely available. And is the M&G not
allowed to cover
Zimbabwean stories just because the publisher owns another
paper in
Zimbabwe?
Soccer fans appear miffed, to say the least, over ZTV's
refusal to bring
them any coverage of Euro 2004. The Sunday Mail's TV
reviewer Garikai Mazara
last week said he had received a number of queries
from viewers. But he
gallantly defended the public broadcaster's refusal to
screen the matches.
"There has been a major shift in policy by ZTV since
they started
restructuring, a shift which has seen the television company
thrust its
synergy towards promoting our local values or the Pan-African
paradigm,"
Mazara ventured, bravely voicing the official line.
ZTV had
undergone a "tremendous makeover", he claimed, and their general
focus had
changed, "mainly leaning towards decolonising the local mental
framework.
Such a change had been met with some resistance, which given
time, will
dissipate." People tend to "realign their emotions",
he
suggested.
They certainly hadn't realigned their emotions by the
following Sunday.
Viewers were livid about being deprived of the
opportunity to watch one of
the world's leading football championships and
weren't going to be
bamboozled by the regime's mantras about "decolonising
the local mental
framework".
They wanted to see the action.
Period.
"I must have touched an open wound last Sunday when I suggested
that the
scrapping of the Euro championships was somehow good for us," the
besieged
Mazara wrote. "What vitriol I got in my e-mail box."
People
were looking for him at the National Sports Stadium, "ostensibly to
vent
their anger", he was warned.
Mazara pleaded that he was only playing
"devil's advocate" in reflecting the
official view the previous
week.
"Last week many might have misconstrued my contribution to mean
that I was
defending the stance by ZTV. Nada, I was just putting facts on the
table."
And, as if to make up for his devilishness, he did a good job
this Sunday in
reflecting public disaffection.
Just because ZTV
withdrew coverage did not mean people weren't watching the
matches, one
caller said. One simply had to visit sports cafés and clubs
around Harare to
see how people were packing them to watch Euro 2004
matches.
ZTV
should not expect viewers to renew licences when they were "forcing us
to
watch what we don't want", another said. She said "many more are shifting
to
DStv because ZTV is not giving them an option".
Mazara ended up conceding
that we need a window through which we can see the
world around us. But he
remains seriously deluded in thinking the 25% left
of viewing that is not
local content provides it.
That window, like all others in the country is
being slammed shut. The
information iron curtain is descending across the
land. Only now when it
blacks out their favourite sport are Zimbabweans
waking up to the danger!
In another report headlined "Private
schools overstaffed" the Sunday Mail
quoted Education minister Aeneas
Chigwedere as saying among such schools was
St George's College which had an
enrolment of 600 students versus 65
teachers. This gave a teacher/pupil ratio
of 1:9. Thus the school was
overstaffed by 40 teachers, he declared. Parents
were being made to pay
salaries for superfluous staff.
But the
headmaster's secretary at St George's told the paper enrolment was
720 versus
44 fulltime teachers, giving a teacher/pupil ratio of 1:16. She
also
explained that they offered 15 subjects at O level and 15 at A level
plus
other subjects not normally on offer at government schools such as
music and
drama. But it is clear the Sunday Mail was too lazy to find out
the correct
enrolment figures.
Where did the minister get his statistics? Dreamt up
just like most of his
historical accounts?
Muckraker was happy to get
into the contorted workings of the Zanu PF mind
this week courtesy of Lowani
Ndlovu who appears so provoked by the
succession debate it makes him choke
with fury. To help us put that debate
to rest, he told us Emmerson Mnangagwa,
John Nkomo, Joseph Msika and Sydney
Sekeramayi and their sponsors couldn't be
in the running to succeed
President Robert Mugabe because they don't lead or
represent any discernible
movement in the ruling party. The truth, thus spoke
the Oracle, "is that
today the revolutionary task of the ruling party is
being led by the new
resettled farmers.specifically the peasant farmers and
war veterans".
The conclusion therefore must be that "this is a movement
inextricably
intertwined with President Robert Mugabe's leadership and is
therefore not
interested in any succession because they do not see or have
any leader who
is irreversibly committed to true and total land reform from a
white
minority to a black majority. This is why the chiefs' meeting in
Masvingo
last month unanimously asked President Mugabe to stand for
re-election in
2008."
So it had nothing to do with the massive pay
hike they were given (3 000% in
the case of headmen)? And the future of this
nation is going to be
determined by peasants and the few remaining war
veterans, the majority of
whom probably don't even read Lowani's convoluted
columns?
Unfortunately Lowani didn't disclose the other social movements
through
which other leaders might emerge. So what happens when Mugabe finally
quits
by whatever means since everything is "intertwined with his
leadership"? Or
will his departure mark the death of the party, according to
Lowani's
thesis, since none of the others are "irreversibly committed to true
and
total land reform"?
It looks like the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
has some explaining to do about
its inflation figures. This was clear at a
recent NECF meeting when Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe regional manager
Comfort Muchekeza asked to be shown
"concrete benefits to the man on the
street" of the allegedly falling
inflation.
The Sunday Mirror quotes
him: "We read in the press that from November 2003
to May this year, year on
year inflation has fallen from 600% to 448% and
month on month inflation has
also fallen from 33% to 6% over the same
period. We are also told that by the
end of June this year foreign currency
reserves were at US$675 million, more
than double the whole of last year's
figure of US$300
million.
"Consumers have no need for statistics, they want to be told
that the price
of bread has dropped from $3 000 to $1 500 and that drugs are
now readily
available in hospitals due to availability of foreign currency.
Where is the
foreign currency going?"
We have no doubt millions of
Zimbabweans are asking the same question,
seeing as the excitement in the
state media has failed to translate into
cheaper food or affordable water and
electricity bills. Instead prices of
all basic commodities seem to buck the
inflation trend. Latest bullish
projections tell us inflation could drop
below 200% by year-end. But what
does that mean to a family that receives a
water bill of $20 million and is
told to pay up or we cut
supplies?
Muchekeza warns: "The RBZ must not create an impression of
over-expectation
among the citizens or they will end up with egg on their
face."
It seems like the chickens are coming home to roost for Ignatius
Chombo.
Harare's popularly elected first executive mayor Elias Mudzuri was
hounded
out of office ostensibly because he had failed to deliver proper
service to
ratepayers. Only two weeks ago over a dozen MDC councillors were
suspended
by the self-important Local Government minister for disrupting
council
business.
So now we have the apple of Chombo's eye, Sekesai
Makwavarara, his blue-eyed
boy Leslie Gwindi, the original town clerk whom
Chombo ordered reinstated,
Nomutsa Chideya, and President Robert Mugabe's
appointee Witness Mangwende
all presiding over the affairs of Harare against
voters' express wishes.
But, as fate would have it, Harare is
experiencing unprecedented water
problems with cuts now lasting for 24 hours
in most suburbs. Why is Chombo
not as enthusiastic to crack the whip as he
was in raising all sorts of
calumny against MDC councillors and their mayor?
Now that Zanu PF has
virtually stolen the reins at Town House why is central
government not
releasing the resources that were denied the Mudzuri
council?
We can be certain that there will be no spontaneous
demonstrations organised
by Zanu PF to protest this shoddy service!
Zim Independent
Gono backs Mugabe on land
Ngoni Chanakira
RESERVE
Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has spoken out strongly on the
emotive
land issue, pointing out that both white commercial farmers and new
black
farmers are key cogs to the country's agriculture wheel.
Defending his
monetary policy statement to an audience gathered at Oxford
University in the
United Kingdom on June 14, Gono said the land issue was
however
irreversible.
He also threw his weight solidly behind government's recent
decision to
introduce 99-year leases for farmers, saying the initiative had
removed
uncertainty on land tenure and enabled the banking sector to
support
agriculture.
Zimbabwe and the UK have been locked in a
diplomatic row over the
controversial land issue ever since the fast track
resettlement programme
was introduced by President Robert Mugabe three years
ago.
The UK and most Western nations including the United States have
blasted the
land programme saying it was not transparent.
President
Mugabe and his government, on the other hand, contend the
programme was
necessary and has benefited landless peasants.
Gono's sentiments also
come as tension between the Commercial Farmers Union
and the Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers' Union continues to rise.
Gono, who has just returned
from the United States, UK and South Africa,
told the Oxford University
gathering that diversions of views had largely
been on how the land
redistribution process was or could have been effected.
Analysts however
point out that the land programme benefited a few
government ministers,
politicians and business executives with strong
political
connections.
The economic crusade took Gono and his team to the US
(Dallas, Atlanta,
Philadelphia, New York and Washington), the UK (London,
Birmingham and
Oxford) and Johannesburg, South Africa.
"Numerous and
varied international opinions have been and continue to be
passed on
Zimbabwe's land redistribution programme," Gono said in
London.
"Diversions of views have largely been on how the land
redistribution
process was or could have been effected. This notwithstanding,
it is
heartening to note that there is mutual consensus among all Zimbabweans
and
the international community that this process was an inevitable chapter
the
country had to go through for an equitable distribution of
Zimbabwe's
primary national resource - land."
He said to establish a
quick turnaround in agricultural production and hence
cultivate a broad-based
participation in economic production the RBZ,
through the banking system, was
working closely with both "white commercial
farmers and the new black
farmers" providing working capital and other
resources to retool the
sector.
Zim Independent
Nine parastatals to go
Godfrey Marawanyika
THE
Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe (PAZ) has earmarked nine parastatals
for
restructuring and privatisation by 2006.
The parastatals being considered
for offloading include Air Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), National
Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Company (Zisco), Tel*One,
Net*One and the Forestry Company of
Zimbabwe.
Government has not
privatised any of its parastatals over the past two
years.
PAZ
spokesperson Priscilla Mapuranga this week confirmed that the
restructuring
would cover a wide range of options from complete to
partial
privatisation.
"The options range from complete or partial
privatisation of various
public-private partnership that introduce market
incentives into the
state-owned enterprises but enabling the government to
retain strategic
equity holding," she said. "The focus for the public
enterprise reform
programme for the period 2004-2006 will be towards the
restructuring and the
turnaround strategies of the public
enterprises."
Government hopes the restructuring programme will,
among other things,
attract foreign direct investment, reduce public sector
borrowing and access
globally competitive technology.
PAZ had been
made redundant by government's privatisation policy shift last
year, which
resulted in any proposed restructuring or unbundling being put
on
hold.
Instead government opted for commercialisation of the
non-performing
parastatals.
Government has considered that
agricultural parastatals be created to bring
"transparency in the pricing and
marketing of commodities".
Over the years, government has been
extending financial support to
loss-making parastatals.
Despite
the bailout, they have continued to operate below capacity with some
failing
to provide basic services.
Government has a 100% stake in Air
Zimbabwe.
The PAZ hopes any improvement in the national airline will
directly
influence "perceptions on Zimbabwe and impact on its
development, as it will
contribute to the tourism sector".
Air
Zimbabwe had attained a bad reputation for its sudden cancellation
of
flights.
The PAZ says it hopes the ZPC will help power
importation since the country
imports 35% of its electricity
needs.
It says this would be done through the energy sector reforms
to be
implemented by ZPC under a "fast track capacity expansion programme
to
reduce dependency on imports".
Zesa's unbundling process has so
far led to the creation of ZPC, Powertel,
Zesa Enterprises, Zimbabwe
Electricity Distribution Company and the Zimbabwe
Electricity Transmission
Company.
Mapuranga said the NRZ's restructuring exercise would take
the form of
unbundling and concessioning through long-term
contracts.
The PAZ says it is scouting for an investor that would
inject a 30% equity
into both Tel*One and Net*One.
She said
various strategic measures were being implemented at Zisco, which
had now
engaged an advisor to work on its balance sheet.
The move is meant to
pave the way for increased private sector
participation.
Zim Independent
Gono's trip overshadowed by politics
Shakeman
Mugari
WHEN Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono quietly slipped out of the
country
two weeks ago he had three main missions on his agenda. This week
he
returned home almost empty-handed, having accomplished less than he
had
hoped.
His first task took him to Washington hoping to persuade
the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume much-needed balance of
payments support.
He also visited the United Kingdom to convince
Zimbabweans in the diaspora
that his Homelink initiative was a patriotic,
safe and convenient means of
sending money back home.
Another
issue on the agenda was to sweet talk investors into pouring
funds into
the economy.
But judging by recent events in the UK, Gono has
achieved only modest
success on all three missions.
He, however,
says the trip was a success.
The reasons for his failure is more
political than economic analysts say.
The political crisis in Zimbabwe
will continue to haunt Gono's efforts to
resuscitate the economy, which has
been affected by President Robert
Mugabe's policies.
His drive to
lure investors will hit a brick wall because Zimbabwe is still
classified as
a risky investment destination.
His attempt to persuade people in the
diaspora to send money back home will
not yield much because they want a
change of government, political experts
say.
The Bretton Woods
institutions will not give financial support unless the
Zimbabwean government
is committed to pay its mounting debt and stop
destructive economic
policies.
Gono might be trying to sell noble and viable policies but
because of his
association with the regime his initiative could come to
nought, analysts
warn.
"His visits achieved nothing. He got
nothing from the multilateral
organisations (IMF and World Bank). And the
stumbling block is politics,"
said Eddie Cross economic advisor to the
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
"The country remains
suspended and the government's token payments have not
changed that. It's the
political crisis in this country that is causing
problems for
him.
"The answer is in addressing the political crisis before we
engage the
organisations otherwise we have no chance of getting foreign aid
and balance
of payments support."
The IMF has in the past
expressed concern over what they called destructive
economic
policies.
Zimbabwe owes about US$273 million to the IMF and continues
to lag behind in
terms of payments.
Analysts also said they feel
the lack of agreement in the government on the
role of the IMF also add to
the organisation's sceptical attitude towards
Gono's overtures.
In
his monetary policy statement Gono said Zimbabwe would reengage
the
multilateral organisations in order to pay off its debt.
"We
will engage whoever we owe money," said Gono in the statement.
This bold
statement was however immediately shot down by President Mugabe
when he again
attacked the IMF. This inconsistency in national policy also
made Gono's task
in Washington more difficult. The World Bank and the IMF
remain concerned
about the political turmoil in the country, which has not
improved since the
last election.
Gono's setbacks continued in the UK where angry
Zimbabweans who protested
against the Homelink initiative confronted
him.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are reported to have
taken to the
streets in protest against both Gono and his Reserve Bank team
that is
having Homelink road shows.
Zimbabweans in the diaspora
want their voting rights before they can send
money back, the media reports
say.
They were, according to reports, also demanding a regime
change.
"The attitude of the three million people in the diaspora is that
Gono is a
front man for the Zanu-PF government," said an economic analyst
with a local
bank.
"The feeling is that Gono is part of the regime
that has brought so much
chaos. So sending money is as good as helping
Zanu-PF clean up its mess."
Other analysts said they felt that due to
the their illegal status
individuals in the diaspora are likely to be
reluctant to use an official
institute to send their money.
They
note that most Zimbabweans in the UK are either political or
economic
refugees who are uneasy about revealing their
whereabouts.
"People in the diaspora might want to send money home
but they want
something in return and that is their right to vote. It's
indeed a tall
order for him," said a local economist with a leading
bank.
"As for the IMF issue I think Zimbabwe must just pay up to get
more. And our
politics also comes in. Zimbabwe's high-risk profile will
continue to haunt
Gideon Gono and government's efforts to lure foreign direct
investment and
to acquire foreign funding for local business. Local business
firms have
been battling to secure funding for their business due to the
uncertain
political and economic situation."
Leading business
intelligence organisations continue to produce damning
analysis of the
country's risk profiles and environment.
Zim Independent
Cheap goods influx turns sour
Godfrey
Marawanyika
STUNG by the job losses and continued inflows of goods from the
Far East,
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has raised concerns on
the
dumping of finished and cheap quality products in the
country.
Acting ZCTU secretary-general Collen Gwiyo said the government's
decision to
look to the Far East had hit hard some of the local industries,
especially
those in the leather, electrical and clothing
industries.
"We have always raised concerns on the opening up of our
markets for a long
time but government refused to listen," he
said.
"Problems really started when our previous trade agreement with
South Africa
was cancelled soon after their Independence. From Zimbabwe's
economic point
of view it makes sense to go back to the previous agreement
with its
neighbour."
For the past two years, Zimbabwe has begun to
experience a massive influx of
shoddy and inferior products largely from
China, Malaysia, Pakistan and
Singapore.
The products, which have
literally flooded the market, have since led to the
slow collapse of the
local industry, something which the government appears
not be taking into
consideration.
The economic and policy shift has seen the government
appealing to local
industrialists to do more business with companies from the
East.
Previously, industrialists and employers used to do a lot of
business with
many Western countries but since the introduction of sanctions
after the
election in 2002, the government has been heavily lobbying that the
latter
do more business with the East.
"We are not only worried
about the sub-standard products from the Chinese,
Malaysian or Singapore
products," Gwiyo said.
"Many times the workers are paid poor wages
that are way below the minimum
quality threshold. The truth is that
government is to blame for our problems
in the industries right now. They
simply opened up the markets, and they are
not even concerned with some of
the quality of the products."
Gwiyo said many of the products which find
their way into the country, were
not durable at all in the process citing the
example of the high inflow of
shoes from the East.
He said most of
the shoe products did not have a long life-span when
compared to the shoes
that were made locally.
"Zimbabwe has got one of the best leather
industries in the world, but right
now a number of employees have been
affected by the shoes made from either
China or Malaysia," he
said.
"Worse still some of the products do not even last for 10
months. We are
also worried that when these so-called new investors come here
they bring in
a huge number of experts, at the expense of our local
guys."
Gwiyo said the economy was not largely benefiting from the
influx of goods
from the Far East.
"Some government officials are
benefiting from their coming here, but if you
look at it the country has
nothing to show for their investments," he said.
Zim Independent
Letters
Nuns didn't tell the truth
IN
response to the letter published in the Zimbabwe Independent from
the
Superior General Sr Helen Maminimini, I would like to correct
certain
misleading information.
Sister Maminimini mentions a "plot"
and goes on to mention "small scale
farming". She goes on further to indicate
that "an Arex officer advised us
that the land, already allocated for LCBL
(Little Community of the Blessed
Lady) use, was too small to carry a few
beasts", and most amazing of all "we
continued with our farming activities
but suddenly he (Mr Swales) engaged
the Ministry of Lands and
Agriculture".
I wish to give a correct account of the nuns'
complicity in the invasion of
Malabar farm. A report was sent to the
leadership of the Roman Catholic
Church in Harare asking them to investigate
the matter and report back, as
the media were interested in publishing the
story. This was followed up with
several phone calls to them but they failed
to reply. Only two weeks later
was the article accurately published in the
Zimbabwe Independent of June 4.
During November 2002, six LCBL
sisters approached both Mr Harvey (farm
owner) and myself (farm lessee). They
had two Arex officers with them, a Mr
Mavunzi and a Mr Reward. At no time was
subdivision or land ownership
mentioned, and they merely requested a few
small lands alongside the Manyame
river frontage. Of course we were happy to
assist, thinking and believing
that we could assist in helping the mission
hospital supplement their food
requirements.
On March 20 2003, the
LCBL sisters requested a meeting at the farm and an
Arex officer called
Bartholomew Mupariwa attended at the sisters request.
At this meeting
we asked the sisters: "Are you Al or A2 settlers?" The reply
was "Neither, we
are commercial farmers". They were asking for title deeds
and land ownership.
We explained that to get title deeds they would need to
purchase a farm, and
told them that Malabar was Mr Harvey's only property,
therefore his only
source of income. The future of our 80 employees and
their families hung in
the balance.
When all this was happening, the farm was not listed.
Under intense
pressure, we gave the LCBL the use of an additional 20ha
arable. They now
had the use of 55ha arable and several fenced grazing
paddocks. On June 3
2003, we discovered LCBL employees putting up poles for a
"boundary fence",
demarcating 110ha of the farm's total 160ha arable land for
the LCBL
sisters. It also included most of our irrigation lands. We were told
that Sr
Notvurgo (the farmer nun) had instructed that should we have any
queries we
were to phone the district administrator at
Murombedzi.
I then phoned the late Bishop Helmut Recktor, in
desperation, and he said he
would talk to Sr Electa about it. Later Sr Electa
phoned me, absolutely
furious that I had phoned the Bishop.
We
then had a meeting with Mr Stanford Katonha (Zvimba district lands
officer),
a Mr Ernest Chikambi, a representative for LCBL (also an A2 new
farmer on
neighbouring Rocklands farm), Mr Vitalis Matambudziko (an Al
settler on
adjacent Taunton Farm), Mr Zimuto, a Zanu PF councillor and
headmaster of
Kasawe School, Bartholemew Mapariwa and a police officer from
ZRP
Darwendale.
At this meeting we are told by Mr Katonha that Mr Harvey
had one week to
give the nuns part of the farm or he (Katonha) would issue a
Section 8.
I asked Sr Manimimini in front of all present, whether as head
of the LCBL
order she was happy to take part in this. Her reply was
"yes".
On November 14 2003, Sr Notvurgo and Ernest Chikambi arrived
and Chikambi
was extremely angry that we were intending to plant for the
2003/2004
season. He said he would be ringing DLO Katonha to "sort us out". I
then
phoned the Ministry of Lands Chinhoyi, and spoke with an official, who
asked
if the nuns had ever shown us a letter of offer.
When I replied
in the negative, he said it was highly irregular so we were
allowed to
continue farming. On November 17 2003, an ambulance from Father
O'Hea
Memorial Hospital drove into our barnyard. Present were: Sr Joanna
Mawire,
the matron of the Father O'Hea hospital, Sr Notvurgo, Eernest
Chikambi, and
Katonha.
Katonha was extremely rude and was shouting at both Mr
Harvey and myself. He
said that he could demarcate and allocate this farm as
he wished, and that
when we left, we would remove nothing off the farm. I
went to see what all
the noise was about, and could not believe my eyes to
see both sisters
laughing.
On December 1 2003, Katohna, being
driven by a nun in a white pickup,
arrived and served us with a Section 8
Order, I wish to make it known that
Mr and Mrs Harvey own no other property
in Zimbabwe or anywhere else in the
world and that the lease income from
Sagar is their only source of income.
On Monday May 3 2004, Katonha
and three sisters arrived. Katonha said we had
24 hours to leave the farm as
the LCBL sisters had been given 495ha of the
farm, which included the houses
and barns, sheds etc. I refused, telling him
I had a lawyer's letter
confirming that the Section 8 had not been
registered with the Administrative
Court, and was therefore ineffective.
When I asked for the letter of
offer, Katonha flew into a rage and said he
had instructed the sisters never
to show us their letter of offer.
Interestingly, the sisters plated
approximately 10ha of maize in one of the
lands allocated to them in
2002/2003 season (land preparations all done by
us, free of
charge).
Using the same piece of land, they planted even less in the
2003/2004
season. They have never ever used the balance of 40ha arable that
we gave
them the use of.
It is a disgrace to the church that these
nuns invaded a farm working with
undesirable elements. Father Thamm recently
came and extended his and the
church's sincere apologies of the nuns'
unbecoming actions.
Ansy Swales.
Zim Independent
Letters
What is happening to diaspora
forex?
FIGURES released by the Reserve Bank of funds flowing from the
diaspora
since the introduction of the Gono/Bloch "auction rate" initiative
provide
interesting reading.
The Financial Gazette (June 10) reported
that as much as US$16 million (a
little later "an estimated US$20 million")
has been received since the new
measures were introduced. The Zimbabwe
Independent (June 11), reports Gideon
Gono's announcement that an average of
US$750 000 a day was being recovered,
with "some agencies sometimes receiving
as much as a million US dollars in
one day".
And I read with
interest the statement by RBZ exchange control division
chief Moris Mpofu
(Zimbabwe Independent, June 11, page 17) that all foreign
currency mobilised
under these arrangements will be directed for auctioning
at the currency
exchange.
But is that actually happening? Let us consider. An average
of US$750 000 a
day builds to a weekly (six-day) total of US$4,5 million or a
monthly total
of US$20 million. Interesting, and good news for Zimbabwe. But
since the
introduction of the "diaspora channel", the twice weekly forex
auction has
had its "amount on offer" increased only by US$500 000 (US$8
million to
US$8,5 million from May 17), a total of US$1 million a week or
US$4,5
million in a month.
I realise, of course, that these are
early days, and I am sure Gono is
preparing, as soon as a pattern is
established, to increase the amount on
offer commensurately with the level of
funds received each week.
However, it will be interesting to see how long
it will take before the
amount on offer rises to US$10 or US$12 million twice
weekly to cater for
the US$20 million apparently now being
received.
On another tack, I note that many bids are turned down at
the auctions: in
the six weeks from May 3 to June 10, in fact, 3 711 bids
totalling US$57
million or so were refused against the US$100 million
allotted. Some
unsuccessful bidders will no doubt reapply, perhaps
successfully.
The remainder? And there must be many others unable to
provide them
information necessary to allow them to apply to the auction for
forex. If
this US$20 million increase were made readily available for all,
how much
more successfully this country would be able to face the task of
recovery.
And many more Diaspora dwellers might be persuaded to move their
forex back
home.
If the twice-weekly amount on offer were not
increased in line with the
amounts being received daily according to Gono,
one might be inclined to ask
where the unoffered balance was going and what
it was being used for? And
one might then have to counsel those in the
diaspora to consider whether, in
happily sending their funds back to Zimbabwe
through this means, they might
perhaps be funding the purchase of grain
through the back door to fill GMB
granaries for issue to starving voters next
March (if they vote Zanu PF, of
course), or for a host of other useful
purposes - for one party only.
PNR
Silversides,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Letters
Gono's reforms show past folly and
evil
SO Gideon Gono has forgiven his fellow bankers and politicians for
forex
offences, but not "Mr Citizen" or "Mr Businessman" (Zimbabwe
Independent,
June 11).
A businessman who acquired forex on the
parallel market to keep his business
going, give his family bread, reward his
shareholders fairly - all moral
activities - is now fined or
imprisoned.
Surely Gono's reforms show the folly and evil of what
went before. And why
weren't these reforms instituted years ago? Any fool
could see the future
then when billions of (then) valuable dollars were given
to "war vets".
Soon what was political was legal, which would have
delighted the homicidal
and immoral Mao.
Cowardly, wasn't it, as
well as disastrous and immoral? I haven't mentioned:
"Thou shalt not
steal".
Lying is sinful yet we were told farmers could keep one farm
and would be
recompensed for improvements.
So legality means
illegality and over 20 years ago reconciliation meant
whites being
"reconciled" to the premier's dictum that they had no future in
government
service.
Historian,
Bulawayo.
Zim Independent
Letters
Where is the Homelink money?
IF the
Homelink scheme is such a resounding success, bringing in US$750 000
a day,
why is it only US$8 million that continues to be made available on
the three
auction days every week since the introduction of the public
foreign exchange
auction?
Last week the demand varied from US$16 million to nearly US$24
million.
I notice that most of the "people" who are claimed to have
pledged to send
more money through Homelink appear to be Zimbabwean students
abroad.
It is not beyond our rules to use them as rented mobs - with the
students
only too happy to come for free meals. My statement is informed by
the
rented crowds who are being used to demonstrate how popular numero uno
is
among the masses in the region.
Tirivanhu
Mhofu,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Letters
Is this Christian love?
PLEASE
allow me a space in your paper to advance a few thoughts. Many
peace-loving
Zimbabweans were shocked by an article which appeared in your
paper on June
4, reporting that three Little Community of our Blessed Lady
Sisters led by
their Superior General sought the assistance of Zanu PF
youths to invade
Malabar Farm in Darwendale.
If this is true, I wonder what these nuns
were and are up to. How can they
demand that someone who had been on the farm
for many years is given just 24
hours to vacate?
If they wanted a
farm, why did they not apply to the Ministry of Lands and
Resettlement for a
piece of land as many Zimbabweans did without employing
violent
means.
This was a clear case of intimidation. These nuns have
demonstrated the
worst Christian love of their neighbour and that kind of
love is
reprehensible and unchristian. They should ask themselves if Christ
ever
invaded someone's property without the owner's
permission?
True, it was a good idea to get a farm for self-reliance
programmes and
projects. But their action can be likened to a thief who goes
out at night
to force someone to hand over his property at
gun-point.
I would encourage these confused and misguided nuns to
emulate the examples
of the SJI Sisters, the Dominican Sisters, the Carmelite
Sisters, the
Precious Blood Sisters, the Mary Ward Sisters who got their
pieces of land
through the correct channels without causing pain to other
human beings.
Remember, my dear ladies, the Bible which you always
read every morning and
evening teaches in Matthew 25:40 "whatever you do to
the least of my
brothers, that you do unto me". It goes further to say: "You
shall love your
neighbour as you love yourself" (Matthew
22:39).
If Christ were to come today, would he justify your invasion
of Malabar
Farm? How would you feel if your farm at Martindale was invaded
and you were
given 24 hours to leave?
I am sure you will receive a
decree of praise from Zanu PF for invading
Malabar Farm.
Samuel
Nyoka,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
'Don't give up'
I HAVE in
recent weeks said goodbye to a number of ambassadors who have
served their
countries with distinction in Harare under very
trying
circumstances.
They include Javier Sandomingo of Spain and
Peter Schmidt of Germany who
both did much to ensure the European Union spoke
with one clear voice on the
deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe.
Peter left last weekend and will soon take up the reins at
the German
embassy in Tunis. He speaks fluent Arabic which should help him
settle in to
his new post.
Peter invariably managed to put
together at his functions a broad
cross-section of Zimbabweans - and Germans
- who could meet and discuss the
country's problems in a cordial atmosphere.
Very often his efforts to
improve relations with his hosts, such as
encouraging ties between Harare
and Munich, were thwarted by political
obduracy.
Javier and his New Zealand-born wife Megan did much to raise
Spain's profile
in this country but, like so many other long-established
diplomats,
witnessed with sadness the country's decline.
Javier
spoke at a Spanish national day function over a year ago of his
country's
experience: an isolated fascist dictatorship cut off from the
prosperity of
its neighbours and locked in the mantras of the past. But,
upon the departure
of its dictator and restoration of democracy, it quickly
became a modern and
prosperous nation at the heart of Europe.
Now we are preparing to say
goodbye to Sir Brian Donnelly who leaves for the
UK soon after a three-year
tour of duty with his wife Julia. As he pointed
out at his farewell party
last Friday, which was held in tandem with the
Queen's Birthday, he is the
only British high commissioner here who has been
transformed overnight into
an ambassador, following Zimbabwe's departure
from the
Commonwealth.
Sir Brian spoke of the frustrations successive British
envoys have
experienced in dealing with their host government.
He
quoted from a predecessor: "There is a deep suspicion and even
conviction
that the British government is determined to undermine and
overthrow the
elected government and that the high commissioner is the chosen
instrument
to achieve this."
That was Lord Alport, high
commissioner from 1961/3, speaking of his vexed
relationship with Sir Roy
Welensky's federal government.
"So nothing much has changed," Sir
Brian observed to laughter from the large
throng gathered on the lawns of his
official residence in Chisipite.
"We were both sent here to persuade
a sitting government to give its
opponents a fair chance to express their
opinions and to face up to the need
for radical change if this country was to
ensure prosperity and a harmonious
future," he said. "Unfortunately that
message was as unwelcome in 2001 when
I tried to deliver it on my arrival as
it had been in 1961 when Lord Alport,
as Harold Macmillan's representative,
was trying to give practical effect to
Macmillan's winds of change speech.
And, as is often the case, it is the
messenger who gets the
blame."
Echoing Australian ambassador Jonathan Brown who left in
April, Sir Brian
spoke of the people he had seen both in communal areas and
towns struggling
to eke out an existence "and being offered ideological
panaceas instead of
sustainable development programmes".
"We have
seen people who have suffered physically and emotionally simply for
standing
up for their civil rights," he added.
But democracy, he pointed out, as
elections in India and Europe had recently
demonstrated, had a wonderful way
of biting back at those in power when they
least want it to.
His
critics have suggested he was sent here to effect regime change, or "do
a
Milosovic", he reminded us. But they had not done their
homework.
"When I left Yugoslavia in 1999 Milosovic remained firmly
in power and
apparently invulnerable to democratic challenge," Sir Brian
said.
"His downfall came only several months later when he tried to
steal one
election too many. And then it was not any single ambassador, or
even any
foreign government that was responsible. It was the Yugoslav people
who
simply decided that they had had enough.
"So my final message
to all Zimbabweans who want to see political tolerance
and economic
prosperity restored in this country is simply this: Do not give
up hope now.
The tide of democracy will prevail."
Whatever the views of our
hostile leaders, Zimbabweans will wish Brian and
Julia all the best for the
future. We admire diplomats who speak up for
democratic governance and the
rule of law.
The new ambassador is Dr Rod Pullen who was until
recently high commissioner
to Ghana. He will therefore know something about
autocratic African states
obliged by their people to undergo the
transformation to democracy and
recovery!