http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Thursday 11 March
2010
HARARE - South African President Jacob Zuma is expected in
Harare next week
to press Zimbabwe's squabbling political parties to end a
power-sharing
dispute holding back their coalition government, diplomatic
sources told
ZimOnline on Wednesday.
Zuma, who controls the region's
biggest economy and is the Southern African
Development Community (SADC)'s
mediator in Zimbabwe, is known to favour a
fresh vote as early as next year
to end political stalemate in his northern
neighbour.
The sources,
who are senior officials at the South African embassy in
Harare, said Zuma
was expected to raise the issue of elections in talks with
President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy PM
Arthur
Mutambara.
"President Zuma will be coming to Zimbabwe on Tuesday next
week," said one
source who spoke on condition he was not named. He added:
"The visit is
meant to try and find a somewhat solution to the issues
related to the GPA
(global political agreement or power-sharing
agreement).
"It's now more than a year, yet there are still outstanding
issues which
have to be addressed. The issue which might be on the agenda is
the issue of
elections given that the GPA is now more than a year
old."
Zuma's spokesman Vincent Magwenya would neither confirm nor deny
that his
boss was planning to visit Harare next week.
Magwenya said:
"I am not denying that he will visit Zimbabwe . . . all I am
saying is that
the reports that he will visit Zimbabwe do not originate from
the presidency
and I cannot confirm those reports."
The 2008 GPA that gave birth to the
Harare coalition government in February
2009 requires Zimbabwe to hold fresh
elections following the drafting of a
new and democratic constitution to
ensure the new vote is free and fair.
But the constitutional reforms are
lagging behind, prompting suggestions
that the new vote that was initially
expected in 2011 might have to be
delayed to probably 2012 or 2013 - unless
Zuma can convince the Zimbabwean
parties to agree new electoral laws to
enable the holding of elections
before drafting of a new
constitution.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have in recent days urged
supporters to prepare
for new elections with the former, who is empowered to
call elections,
adding that Zimbabwe will have to go to polls whether the
constitutional
reform exercise flops or succeeds.
According to
sources Zuma, who is coming to Harare two weeks after a trip to
London where
he failed to convince Premier Gordon Brown to back his call for
lifting of
Western sanctions against Mugabe and his top allies, will prod
the
Zimbabwean parties to speed up resolution of a host of outstanding
issues
from the GPA.
Some of the outstanding issues that have threatened to
destabilise the
coalition government include Mugabe's refusal to rescind his
unilateral
appointment of two of his top allies to head Zimbabwe's central
bank and the
attorney general's office.
Mugabe has also refused to
swear in Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy
agriculture minister while
the PM's MDC-T party is also unhappy by what it
says is selective
application of the law to target its activists and
officials.
On the
other hand Mugabe's ZANU PF party, which insists that it has met all
its
obligations under the GPA, accuses Tsvangirai of not keeping a promise
to
lead a campaign for lifting of Western sanctions against the party's top
leaders. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 11 March
2010
HARARE - A meeting between civil servants union leaders and
government
representatives failed to take place Wednesday after the
government
requested for more time allegedly to fine tune fresh proposals it
wants to
offer the disgruntled public workers.
It also emerged
yesterday that civil servants' representatives resolved to
abandon an
earlier strategy to stage a sit-in at the Public Service Ministry
if the
government failed to meet them, after it was impressed on the
negotiators
that the government was serious in addressing their plight and
was busy
hammering out a fresh offer which might include possible scrapping
of
payment of school fees for workers in the education sector.
On Tuesday
the civil servants, who have been on a somewhat muted industrial
action in
the past month, officially called off the strike claiming they
wanted to
give dialogue a chance.
But the meeting they requested with the
government was aborted after the
government sent an independent arbitrator
in the dispute - a Dr Samburella,
who chairs an independent committee set up
by the coalition government to
look into the disgruntlement in the civil
servants.
Tendai Chikowore, president of the civil servants joint
negotiating team -
known as the Civil Service Staff Association Apex Council
- who also doubles
up as the president of ZIMTA, confirmed that the meeting
which had been
scheduled for yesterday afternoon failed to take
place.
"The government is saying that they can only see us next week
after the
parliamentary select committee responsible for the issue meets on
Monday
(next week) to discuss their position on civil servants' salaries,"
She
said.
"We have no other option but to wait for Tuesday to hear
their position.
Tuesday is not far away and if we have waited this long we
can surely wait
for Tuesday."
But a source who claimed to be privy to
the negotiations said the government
was seriously looking at subsidising or
scrapping payment of fees by
children whose parents are in the education
sector. It is also looking at
reducing tariffs for electricity, water and
telephones to cushion the civil
servants, added the same
source.
Zimbabwe's public workers embarked on an indefinite strike last
month to
press the cash-strapped unity government of President Robert Mugabe
and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's government to hike salaries from $155
to
$630 per month.
But the government which is struggling to revive
an economy battered by
years of hyperinflation and lure back investors has
only managed to raise
the salaries to an average $236 a month. - ZimOnline
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Wednesday,
10 March 2010
Third one-day international, St Vincent:
West Indies 245-9 (50
overs) bt Zimbabwe 104 (31.5 overs) by 141 runs
West Indies took
a 2-1 advantage in the five-match one-day international
series against
Zimbabwe following a commanding 141-run victory in St
Vincent.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck two fours and a six to top
score with 58 as
the Windies made 245-9 after being put in.
Kemar
Roach then yorked Vusi Sibanda with the third ball of the Zimbabwe
reply and
Darren Sammy struck in each of his first three overs.
Zimbabwe were 104
all out in the 32nd over, Sammy taking a career-best 4-26.
After Roach
stunned the Zimbabweans with a 90mph delivery that saw Sibanda's
off-stump
cartwheeling out of the ground, Sammy was introduced to bowl the
10th
over.
The 26-year-old St Lucian was top-edged for four over the
wicketkeeper's
head by Brendan Taylor but soon took a simple return catch,
and in his next
over got one to hold its line and take the edge of Tatenda
Taibu.
After Dwayne Bravo trapped Stuart Matsikinyeri lbw first ball
with some late
swing, Sammy claimed the key wicket of Masakadaza, who had
earlier flicked
Ravi Rampaul over square-leg for six, as another delivery
held its line and
caught the edge.
The Windies will now attempt to
secure the series in the fourth match, which
is also at St Vincent, on
Friday.
http://www1.voanews.com
Attorney
Davison Kanokanga, representing Farmtech Spares and Implements,
said that
although the sheriff has attached numerous RBZ assets, more are
likely to be
attached to cover the US$2.1 million debt
Gibbs Dube | Washington 10
March 2010
The Zimbabwean Sheriff's Office has attached more property
of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, including 52 vehicles - and a number of
refrigerators - to
settle a US$2.1 million debt incurred buying
tractors.
Attorney Davison Kanokanga, representing Farmtech Spares and
Implements,
said the Sheriff's Office also attached three tanker trucks
owned by the
RBZ.
Kanokanga told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube
that while the sheriff has
attached numerous RBZ assets including household
goods such as
refrigerators, more assets must be attached to cover the
debt.
Other RBZ property attached since January includes real estate in
Harare,
the Manicaland capital of Mutare and the north-eastern resort town
of
Kariba.
The central bank ordered 150 tractors from Farmtech under
the Farm
Mechanization and Agricultural Support Enhancement Facility, a
government
program intended to boost agricultural program, and received 60
machines
worth US$2.1 million.
The remaining 90 were to be delivered
once the bank paid for the first
consignment. Farmtech obtained an order
from the High Court to seize RBZ
property after the central bank failed
complete payment.
Political commentator Brilliant Mhlanga, meanwhile,
said Reserve Bank reform
legislation passed Tuesday by the Senate should
boost investor confidence.
"The passing of the bill should be seen as a
positive development for
Zimbabwe which desperately needs foreign direct
investment," said Mhlanga.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Zimbabwe Peace Project Director Jestina Mukoko was abducted in
late 2008 by
state security agents, held for a month, and later prosecuted
for allegedly
plotting to overthrow the government of President Robert
Mugabe
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye | Washington 10 March
2010
Zimbabwe Peace Project Director Jestina Mukoko, abducted in late
2008 and
later prosecuted for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the
government, was
to be honored Wednesday in Washington with one of 10
International Women Of
Courage awards by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
The U.S. State Department gives the awards to women who have
demonstrated
exceptional courage and leadership in advancing women's
rights.
In an interview, Mukoko told VOA Studio 7 reporter Marvellous
Mhlanga-Nyahuye that she is honored by the award and will continue human
rights activism despite her harrowing personal experiences.
http://www1.voanews.com
Parliamentary
sources said Zvoma told the committee that it has the power to
demand Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu, Permanent Secretary Thankful Musukutwa
and the elusive
directors of Mbada Holdings answer questions on a joint
venture to develop
the rich Marange alluvial diamond field
Sandra Nyaira | Washington 10
March 2010
The influential Zimbabwean Clerk of Parliament Austin
Zvoma has thrown his
weight behind an investigation by the Committee on
Mines into questionable
aspects of the government's development of the
diamond field in Chiadzwa,
Marange district, Manicaland province where a
range of abuses have been
reported.
Parliamentary sources said Zvoma
told the committee that it has the power to
demand Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu, Permanent Secretary Thankful Musukutwa
and the elusive directors of
Mbada Holdings, a partner with the government
in developing the rich Marange
field, answer questions on those business
relations.
Sources said
Zvoma told the committee Wednesday that it can exercise powers
conferred by
the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act should
Mpofu and
Mbada directors snub the panel.
Zvoma noted that the committee could
discuss sensitive issues in closed
session, depriving Mpofu and other
officials and Mbada officers of the
excuse that matters being investigated
are currently in litigation.
Mines Committee Chairman Chindori Chininga
could not be reached for comment.
But panel member Moses Mare said the
committee has sent final warning
letters to Mpofu and the Mbada board of
directors as to the risk of being
found in contempt of
Parliament.
The committee in particular wants to ask Mpofu and the Mbada
directors about
the planned January auction of some 300,000 carats of
diamonds by Mbada
Holdings, which was canceled at the last minute when the
sale came to the
attention of the government, conditions in Marange, the
unauthorized
construction of an airstrip in Marange and the transfer of at
least 10
executives from the troubled Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to run Mines
Ministry
services dealing with Marange diamonds.
The committee says
Reserve Bank executives dismally mismanaged the economy
into near collapse
through early 2009, so the ministry would be ill-advised
to give them any
purview over national diamond resources.
Meanwhile the Movement for
Democratic change formation of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has demanded
that all mining in Marange be halted until
the parliamentary probe is
completed and the government has a coherent plan
for developing the
resource.
Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told VOA Studio 7
reporter Sandra
Nyaira that the precious diamond resources of the Marange
field are serving
only a few individuals and not the whole
country.
Spokesman Rugare Gumbo of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party refused to
comment when reached by VOA, saying the party stood by
Mpofu.
http://www.zicora.com
Posted By Own Staff Thursday, 11 March 2010
01:26
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is lobbying Government
to
reform the country's labour laws. The labour body has since handed its
proposed reform draft to the government ahead of the constitution- making
process.
This came in the wake of rampant violation of trade
unions and workers
rights, by the then ZANU PF government and some sections
of the current
government who still revert to the old system that was used
by ZANU PF.
Speaking at the ZCTU Regional Women Advisory Council (RWAC)
legal training
and civic education workshop at the ZCTU Bulawayo's board
room, the labour
centre's Western Region Paralegal Officer, Mandla Sibanda
said most of the
issues that should be included in the Labour Act were not
there hence that
affected the workers most.However, workers needed to enjoy
these rights
according to the African and Declaration of Human Rights
Charters which
Zimbabwe is a signatory to.
Employers were
denying them those rights on the grounds that they were not
part of Labour
Act of Zimbabwe.He said most of the laws made across the
world were meant to
reflect the mind set of those ruling the countries at
that time.
"We
at ZCTU have submitted our labour laws reform draft to government as a
way
of trying to reform them in this transitional period when the other
partners
in government are still new before they accumulate more wealth that
may make
them not to allow the reforms in future when they are in the
helm.Our
intensions are to make the labour laws in the country conform to
the
International Labour Organisation (ILO)conventions and we want the
labour
laws here harmonised for both workers in the government and the
private
sector as civil servants are being regulated separately from other
workers
across the board," said Sibanda.
He lamented failure by the Zimbabwean
ruling elite to comply with the
international charters to which the country
was a signatory.He said there
were some sections in the labour laws of the
country which needed to be
scrapped completely as they promoted violation of
the workers and human
rights.
"The section that says workers have to
make a 14-day notice of industrial
action to the employers is a big
violation of the workers'democratic right.
For workers to reach that stage
they will have tried all they can to make
the employers understand their
grievances, but employers fail to comply.
Expecting them to give yet another
notice is unfair. We are saying that
period of notice must be reduced to 48
hours or even 24 hours is enough,"
said Sibanda.
He also said there
was no secondary strike allowed in the country, meaning
that workers were
not allowed to act in solidarity with their counterparts
who would be having
a labour dispute with their employer. He said that
regulation prevented the
industrial action from making an impact to the
employers.
"We
therefore want the provisions that will enable workers across the board
acting in solidarity to each other on circumstances such as the current
civil servants salaries crisis, we must be joining them, for their
industrial action to make impact," he said.
The other section of the
labour laws which he said affected workers most was
the involvement of the
police in the workers issues saying that was
unnecessary. He also said the
educational leave issue was also not included
in the Labour Act, which means
workers were being suppressed by employers
when they wanted to take
educational leave yet the same employers were
demanding high profile
curriculum vitaes. He said it was unrealistic and
unreasonable for the
employers to demand CVs yet they did not want their
workers to educationally
upgrade themselves.
"Who do they expect to educate the workers they want
if they are not
prepared to send then to school?" said Sibanda.
He
said the ZCTU was lobbying for the inclusion of provisions that would
constitutionally allow workers to go on educational leave at the employers'
expense. He said at the moment there were no such provisions.The other issue
of concern to the ZCTU is the lack of provisions that provide for sick
leave. Sibanda said doctors were the ones who give people leave of which in
some cases employers acted contrary to the doctors leave on the grounds that
there were no provisions which regulate that status in the Labour
Act.
"We are saying the labour laws reforms must include workers being
given the
provisions which will constitutionally allow them to go for sick
leave even
before one goes to the doctor," said Sibanda.
According to
ZCTU's draft several other sections of the labour laws must be
scrapped
while a number of new provisions must be put in place. Although the
ZCTU
distanced itself from the current constitution making process,
decisions to
have some changes being made in the labour laws have been made
and the draft
has been handed to the government.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Taurai Bande
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
08:07
MARONDERA - One of Zimbabwe's top Human Rights defender, Pelagia
Semakweli
Razemba, was recently short listed for the Front-Line
International
Organization for Protection of Human Rights Defenders
award.
There could be no better recognition for a selfless woman who
devoted her
life for democracy despite the occupational hazards.
The
desire for a free Zimbabwe with laws that observe Human Rights, has been
the
driving force behind the Zimbabwe Human Rights (ZimRights) Deputy
National
Chairperson, Razemba (36). The woman with a lion heart, who has
battled it
out against the most evil of governments, had her efforts
appreciated at a
training workshop she attended in Ireland recently. How did
the humble woman
rise to such heights?
God-given rights
"Born outspoken and a
peace-loving Christian, I had no other platform to
exploit my love for a
fair and just society, other than being a defender of
Human Rights. Human
Rights are god given and witnessing individuals treading
upon other people's
freedoms, made me sick," she said at the workshop.
"We live in a society with
individuals and institutions which craft and pass
draconian laws that
cripple freedom and peace of citizens. There was no way
I could seat idly
without fighting the inhuman practice. Intimidation and
threats to helpless
citizens by powers that be, forced me to join ZimRights.
"I will not rest on
my laurels until rule of law prevails in the country.
Public officers
holding key positions must be non-partisan and the political
playing field
levelled."
Razemba joined ZimRights in 1994 as an ordinary member. From 1999
to 2000,
she became the first Organizing Secretary for MDC Mashonaland East
Interim
Provincial Committee, after the coalition meeting at Zimbabwe Women
Bureau
(ZWB).
From 2000 to 2002, she was employed as MDC provincial
office secretary and
was later promoted to Provincial Administrator. She
then volunteered as
ZimRights Welfare Officer between 2003-2005, and was
responsible for affairs
affecting internally displaced political
victims.
Helping rape victims
In 2007 she was appointed ZimRights
Regional Chairperson for Mashonaland
East. Her responsibilities were
challenging, given the province's political
upheavals. ZimRights recognized
her capabilities and she was upgraded Deputy
National and Board
Chairperson.
She became a member of Front-Line International Organization for
Protection
of Human Rights Defenders. And is also Programmes Coordinator for
Doors of
Hope Development Trust. The organization deals with women affected
with
politically motivated violence. The majority of whom are rape
victims.
Razemba is founder of Live and Love Care Giving Project. The
organization is
not yet institutionalized but identifies HIV/AIDS
orphans.
"We assist the orphans' subsistence and pay school fees. I have
three
biological children and adopted three others. Threats from violators
of
Human Rights, will not break my spirit to see mankind enjoy same freedom
and
peace. My objective and ambition is to help people at personal and
professional level. Defending Human Rights is my life long occupation," she
said.
http://www1.voanews.com
Norwegian Development Minister Solheim told reporters in
Lilongwe, Malawi,
that he wants Malawian President Bingu wa Mutarika, now AU
chair, to take a
'leading role' in resolving the crises in Zimbabwe and
Kenya
Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington 10 March 2010
Norwegian
Development Minister Erik Solheim, who met with Zimbabwean
President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last year in
Harare, called on
the African Union Wednesday to intervene to break the
political deadlock
between the partners in the power sharing government in
Harare.
Solheim told reporters in Lilongwe, Malawi, after meeting
with President
Bingu wa Mutarika, now in the African Union chair, that Oslo
wants Mr.
Mutarika to take a "leading role" in the resolution of crises in
Zimbabwe
and Kenya which both plunged into political turmoil following
disputed 2008
election results.
Norway last year increased its aid to
Zimbabwe to fund basic education and
health and promote
democracy.
The AU has been criticized for failing to take action on
Zimbabwe even
political violence erupted in 2008.
But Executive
Director Nicole Fritz of the South African Litigation Center
told VOA Studio
7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that there is little the AU can
do, especially
with Harare on its security council.
Elsewhere, International Monetary
Fund Managing Director Dominique
Strauss-Kahn told reporters in Johannesburg
that his institution was
concerned about the political deadlock in Harare
and is not ready to make
new loans to Zimbabwe.
The IMF executive
said South African President Jacob Zuma had pressed the
IMF to resume
extending loans to Zimbabwe, but Strauss-Kahn responded that
Harare must pay
down its substantial arrears and make further progress on
governance
issues.
The IMF restored Zimbabwe's voting rights last month at the
request of
Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
In Harare, meanwhile, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai celebrated his 58th
birthday with a small
gathering at his Strath Avenue residence. He thanked
members of his
formation of the Movement for Democratic Change for showing
resilience in
their fight for democracy. President Mugabe was not invited,
MDC sources
told VOA.
http://www1.voanews.com
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has assured the Cabinet he
will resolve the
portfolios crisis with President Robert Mugabe - but
sources in the Movement
for Democratic Change and ZANU-PF say their talks
have deadlocked
Blessing Zulu | Washington 09 March 2010
Both
formations of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change will ask South
African President Jacob Zuma to intervene in the latest dispute troubling
the Harare unity government - this time over president Robert Mugabe's
recent shuffle of ministerial portfolios removing powers from a number of
MDC ministers, political sources said Tuesday.
The state gazette last
week reallocated responsibilities and portfolios for
ministries controlled
by the MDC to ministries in the hands of Mr. Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
Those
portfolios include Information Technology, Labor, Science and
Technology,
Parastatals and State Enterprises, Parliamentary Affairs and
Regional
Integration and International Cooperation, this last controlled by
the MDC
formation of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
The reorganization
also gave Mr.Mugabe's office communications interception
and national
emergency powers, and authority to administer the National
Security Council
Act.
Sources said President Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
deadlocked in discussions on the portfolios issue Monday, adding that Mr.
Tsvangirai later told the Cabinet that the principals will discuss the issue
again next week.
But sources said the dispute between Information
Communications Technology
Minister Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC
formation and ZANU-PF
Transport Minister Nicholas Goche has been going on
for a year with no
solution in sight. Those sources said it is time for
South African President
Jacob Zuma, mediator in Zimbabwe for the Southern
African Development
Community, to step in.
Political analyst Charles
Mangongera told VOA that Mr Mugabe's actions
clearly indicate he is getting
ready for another round of elections.
"It's an indication ZANU-PF is
already looking beyond the Global Political
Agreement (for power sharing)
and the government of national unity - they
are already preparing for
elections," Mangongera said.
President Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai have
both indicated they are ready for
elections in 2011.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Staff Reporter
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
13:23
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) has embarked on a
membership drive targeting former members,
in a move meant to provide
it with the "financial wherewithal" to mount an
effective legal challenge of
the country's controversial land reform
programme.
The union, which,
at its peak in the late 1990s, was Zimbabwe's strongest
farmers' body with a
membership of more than 4,500, is seeking to bring back
into the fold some
of its former members who left the organisation in 2000
after they were
ejected from their farms by President Robert Mugabe's
supporters.
"While
by far the majority of our previous membership are obviously no
longer
farming and fall into the lowest payment fee category, if all 4,500
previous
members all come back on board we will have sufficient funds to
afford the
intended cases which will assist farmers in their bid for
adequate
compensation," a CFU official said.
The drive to entice former members back
into the CFU is motivated by the
fact that the union still represents all
white farmers - both current and
evicted - particularly with respect to
payment of market-related
compensation for properties expropriated by the
Mugabe regime since the
controversial land seizures began 10 years
ago.
Mugabe has refused to pay market-related compensation to dispossessed
white
farmers, insisting that his government would only pay for
infrastructural
developments on the acquired farms.
He has insisted that
the ‘former colonial master’, Britain, should
compensate its kith and kin
for the land.
Hordes of Zanu (PF) supporters, so-called war veterans and
members of the
army and police have stepped up farm invasions despite the
formation of an
inclusive government by Mugabe and arch-rival Morgan
Tsvangirai last year.
Commercial farmers' organisations say invaders have
since raided at least
100 of the about 300 remaining white-owned commercial
farms, a development
that has intensified doubts over whether the unity
government will withstand
attempts by Zanu (PF) hardliners to sabotage
it.
Welcomed back to the fold
The CFU official said the courts
appeared to be the union's sole defence at
present.
"To this end we once
again appeal to all 4,500 previous members to come back
into the fold as
members again and thereby afford us the financial
wherewithal to enable us
to pay the costs of an increasing number of cases
which we are undertaking
at the moment," the official said.
The Attorney General's Office has in
recent months stepped up prosecution of
white farmers it claims are refusing
to vacate land acquired by the
government for purposes of redistribution to
land less blacks.
This is despite the fact that the Southern African
Development (SADC)
Tribunal ruled two years ago that the government's land
reform programme is
discriminatory and illegal under the SADC Treaty to
which Zimbabwe is
signatory.
The International Monetary Fund and Western
countries have - on top of other
conditions - made it clear that they would
not consider giving aid to the
Harare government while the farm invasions
continue.
Zimbabwe relied on food imports and handouts from international
food
agencies since 2000, mainly due to failure by resettled black peasants
to
maintain production on former white farms.
Poor performance in the
mainstay agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as
hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs
while the manufacturing
sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is
operating below capacity.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Paidamoyo Chipunza
10 March
2010
Harare - FIVE people, who died from what was initially
believed to be
malaria in Mabvuku, actually succumbed to typhoid fever,
Harare City
Council's health department has said.
City health
services director Dr Stanley Mungofa said they had moved into
the area where
40 other people have been infected.
"Some people might be carrying the
bacteria, but do not show any signs of
the water-borne disease so
examinations will assist to detect carriers and
potential cases early," he
said.
Typhoid symptoms usually develop one to three weeks after exposure
to the
bacteria.
Dr Mungofa said as of Monday, 30 people were being
treated at the Beatrice
Road Infectious Diseases Hospi-tals.
He said
they had positively identified the bacteria in five patients and
were
certain that they were dealing with an outbreak, though they were
confident
it could be contained.
Dr Mungofa said council would also improve the
supply of water to the suburb
through deployment of bowsers and increased
health awareness campaigns.
"Our health promoters are moving door-to-door
emphasising sanitation and
hygiene and seeing if there are any other new
cases," he said.
Dr Mungofa urged people to stick to basic standards of
hygiene such as
washing hands before handling meals and after using the
toilet.
He said people should also eat food while it is still hot and
should not
hesitate to seek medical attention once they observe any slight
symptoms of
typhoid.
Typhoid is transmitted by the ingestion of
food or water contaminated with
the waste of an infected person.
It
is characterised by a slowly progressive fever as high as 40°C, profuse
sweating and non-bloody diarrhoea.
Less commonly a rash of flat,
rose-coloured spots may appear.
Untreated typhoid fever manifests itself
through a headache, coughing,
nosebleeds and abdominal pain.
Typhoid
can only spread in environments where human waste or urine comes
into
contact with food or drinking water.
Flying insects feeding on human
excreta may occasionally transfer the
bacteria through poor hygiene habits
and public sanitation conditions.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
10 March
2010
Harare - ONE case of deadly multi-drug resistant
tuberculosis has been
confirmed in Epworth and two more people in the same
area are suspected to
be infected.
Health experts say the disease has
an 80 percent mortality rate.
In a recent interview at Epworth Clinic,
which is run by Medecins sans
Frontieres (Holland), Mr Zakaria Mwatia
confirmed the cases, saying the
disease attacks people with weakened immune
systems.
Mr Mwatia said samples had been taken to Bulawayo for laboratory
analysis
and came back positive for the TB strain.
"TB is one of the
opportunistic infections that we treat at Epworth Clinic
and we can confirm
a case (MDR-TB) in one of our patients," he said.
MDR-TB is resistant
against major TB drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid, while
Extreme Drug
Resistant TB resists even flouroquinolones and injectable
aminoglycosides.
Mr Mwatia said Zimbabwe did not have treatment for
MDR-TB.
Head of the Aids and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child
Welfare Dr
Owen Mugurungi said they were yet to receive the
reports.
MDR-TB results from poor adherence to prescriptions or
inappropriate
treatment. It can also be found in people who develop TB after
completing a
previous course of first-line drugs and in those who come from
areas where
MDR-TB is common.
It is unusual for MDR-TB to be
contagious except in sero-positive people or
those with seriously suppressed
immune systems.
http://www1.voanews.com
Deputy Chairman
Chaka Mutskwa of the De Doorns Displaced Committee,
representing the
Zimbabweans, said non-governmental organizations like the
Red Cross are no
longer assisting the displaced Zimbabweans
Patience Rusere | Washington
10 March 2010
Four months after being displaced by xenophobic attacks
by resentful South
Africans in a dispute over farming jobs, some 1,000
Zimbabweans in the
Western Cape town of De Doorns remain
stranded.
Deputy Chairman Chaka Mutsakwa of the De Doorns Displaced
Committee,
representing the Zimbabweans, said non-governmental organizations
like the
Red Cross are no longer assisting the displaced
Zimbabweans.
Mutsakwa says conditions at the rugby field they have been
camped since
January, have deteriorated with irregular water supplies and
insufficient
food.
Despite promises from the South African government
and the Congress of South
African Trade Unions to help them, he said the
immigrants remain bereft.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Tony
Saxon
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:37
MUTARE - The media should be involved
and should work freely if the
constitution making process is to succeed, the
Centre for Peace Initiatives
in Africa (CPIA) has said.
In an
interview with The Zimbabwean, Dr Leonard Kapungu, executive chair of
the
CPIA, which specialises in conflict management and peace-building, said
the
organisation had just convened a meeting of provincial and discovered
that
people didn't even know the constitution process had begun.
He said: "The
media is the mechanism through which our people are informed.
We urge the
media to effectively play its important role. History will judge
us all on
what we do to help our nation go forward in peace and harmony."
Kapungu, a
former United Nations chief negotiator, said the media should
help the
constitution making process to reconcile the nation.
"People must be given
space and time to express their views freely on the
national consultation of
the constitution. A constitution sets out the
values of the people of a
nation and it is also a compromise of the national
consensus," he
said.
"As CPIA, we therefore appeal to the media to play its role in this
process.
The process cannot succeed without effective reporting by the
media," said
Kapungu.
He said CPIA was also establishing a monitoring
mechanism.
"Firstly, our provincial co-ordinators will constantly issue
reports to CPIA
headquarters. Secondly, the Group of Eminent Persons, which
is responsible
for providing and analysing information at national level,
will also work in
that process. And finally, we will work with the Advisory
Group of Church
Leaders, which will assist in analysing the vision and
values of the
nation," said Kapungu.
"The process of national healing
and reconciliation should be reconsidered.
The media should send teams to
the provinces to collect information on what
wounds the people have," he
added.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com
By: Oskar Wermter SJ
Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 10:57
pm
The mountains of rubbish are growing. Pazarangu Street which
runs past
Stoddart Hall, a national monument, is at one point half covered
with
stinking refuse making it difficult for cars and people to pass; now
the
other lane is beginning to be covered as well. Our young people were
organized into a cleaning brigade and began, dressed in new T-shirts and
equipped with new shovels, to move the stinking mass, for some days with the
help of City Council trucks. Then an aid agency activated adults. They too
were given uniforms and tackled the dirt enthusiastically. At the end of it
they enjoyed a nice meal of sadza and beef.
The trouble is, you need
trucks to remove the garbage from Mbare. Otherwise
you merely move it from
one place to another, but don't get rid of it. And
more importantly still,
people need to do this on their own and make it
their own personal concern
to keep their environment clean, even if no NGO
provides nice shirts and
shovels, sadza and beef.
Our archbishop warned in a letter to his flock
to be prepared for another
drought and hunger. There is no drought, though,
in the Zambezi valley. An
unemployed member of our parish ( and who is not
unemployed?) went to buy
dried fish at Cabora Bassa for sale in Mbare. He
got very little. There is
no sun to dry the fish. It rains incessantly, the
roads are water-logged,
the buses can't pass. It took him two weeks to come
back, instead of three
days.
Everybody tries to buy and sell
something. What else can the jobless do? But
the competition is getting
tough and tougher. Too many go to South Africa to
buy electronics or to
Botswana for food stuffs and clothing. Who is really
producing something and
creating real wealth?
She has one child of her own and four left to her
by her late sister. Her
husband has deserted her. They live on the banks of
the Mukuvisi River under
some black plastic sheets. Some of the children are
sickly and need
medication, some need clothing, all need food. We gave her
some mealie meal
and beans and second-hand baby clothing. Now our volunteers
have to go and
make a proper assessment of her situation. One of many such
cases in their
notebook.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by DAVID R.
KATERERE
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 07:15
We arrived in Gweru just after
lunch, burning 50l of fuel in the process
with a misfiring luxury car. It is
a Sunday and we literally snake our way
along the gulleys of the township
road (these are not just pot-holes).
The kids are excited to see their
cousins and play in the streets, my wife
is excited to see Maiguru and
exchange tidbits of family escapades and
village gossip. I am despondent;
worried about the car and the other leg of
the journey to the East and what
it is all costing. Further to that I keep
in the shadows lying in bed
because there is no man's company here. About 3
months ago babamukuru (my
brother - in - law) finally threw in the towel and
escaped. He now teaches
in far away Kuwait and has indicated that he will
not be able to make it
home for Christmas. Kuwait, Dubai, China, Cayman
islands, Indonesia,
Bermuda, all these exotic and far-away climes, is there
no place that
Zimbabweans are not exiled? In the face of an unyielding
regime Zimbabweans
have opted to put their tails between their legs and
choose life rather than
confrontation. And this apparent cowardice has
served us well on the
individual level but it has also wreaked havoc with
marriage and family
life. In some cases the very fabric that makes us who we
are, the cultures
and sub-cultures that make us Zimbabweans, haven been
lost.
Zimbabwe
on my shoulders
I am still grumpy when I take a commuter taxi into town - I
cannot afford to
get the fuel -guzzling car to town and back - to check out
e-mails and try
to connect with the outside world. Normally when I need
cheering, the
virtual world sometimes offers solace, but after 30 minutes of
catching up
with the saner outside world (I deliberately avoid opening work
e-mails), I
am still walking around feeling the whole of Zimbabwe on my
shoulder.
Gweru - this used to be a vibrant little town, the "warm heart of
Zimbabwe",
it's residents used to call it, and I fell in love once here. But
that was
15 years ago and, like the rest of the country, it remains firmly
in the
1970s. There are no new buildings here, or any sense of economic
activity
apart from the Sunday flea markets selling sub-standard Chinese
goods.
The central feature of the main street is the tower constructed to the
memory of those who served the crown in defending the English world from the
Germans. Next to it is the Midlands Hotel, an early 1900's building. Walk in
there and you will be greeted by uncensored photographs of the struggle for
Zimbabwe. This colonial building is now in the Kombayi family estate, and
the late politician has chronicled his personal story and that of Zimbabwe
on the photographs hanging on the walls spanning from 1976 to the
1990s.
Pictures of Zanu (PF) leaders arriving in Mozambique, Tongogara's
disfigured
body and the gory details of a mortician's job, independence with
Kombayi
becoming the first black mayor of the Gwelo, Kombayi's botched
assassination
attempt.All these pictures are accompanied by detailed notes
and it makes
fascinating reading.
More like a village
Now Gweru
operates more like a remote rural village than a modern city. The
roads are
pot-holed everywhere and the few traffic lights don't work. In the
townships
there is no water and people trek miles with buckets on their
heads to well
that were provided by donor finance. In some cases, my
sister-in-law tells
me that she wakes up in the dead of night to wait for
water to fill up the
various buckets; and in the bathroom, the scummy water
used for bathing and
laundry is not thrown away but rather kept aside for
ablutions. The cholera
will be back here soon, if it ever went away and it
will probably be as
vicious as it was in 2008.
All these thoughts fill my mind as I walk into the
sunlight with streets
filled with people. I decide to go into OK bazaars to
buy bread. The shop is
abuzz with activity, people pushing trolleys, holding
baskets and picking up
items - sweets, Mazoe juice, rice, drinks, beer.
There are long queues of
half-laden trolleys (the US dollar would not allow
for the filling of
several trolley loads for these people) and excited
chattering. Who can look
on this site and fail to be uplifted? Uplifted in
spirit because despite the
intransigence of the regime, people are going
ahead and living their lives;
grateful for small mercies. There and then my
grumpiness dissipated and I
could not help but smile ruefully at such a
people. God bless Zimbabweans,
God damn its leaders!
When we finally land
in Cape Town on a warm late December, post -Christmas,
pre-New Year, evening
we are exhausted and bemused. As we drive to the house
under the beam of
street lights through the Cape Flats, my daughter Paida
heaves a palpable
sigh of relief and says nonchalantly, "we are back in our
country" There be
truth in the mouths of babes! My wife and I look at each
other and smile
knowingly. "Ah, yes, we are back home" I say, stifling the
urge to tell her
that perhaps it's just home not really our country and out
there in the
townships of this beautiful country our fellow country men are
living in the
constant fear of being attacked as unwanted black foreigners.
The shadow of
xenophobia, what I like to call black on blacker racism looms
large.
But
then Paida is South-African born, so perhaps she has the legal right to
call
it "our country" and God knows she means well. This is the only place
she
knows and Zimbabwe is kept alive by our constant reference to it, the
Shona
we try to speak to her, the flag that flies alongside the South Africa
one
in our home and the music that we play in the car. When exactly it
became
home for me, I am not quite sure. For the longest time I would be
impatient
with myself for not going back to Zimbabwe and being part of the
process
there. In 2002, I was in Pretoria feeling despondent because I was
not on
the bus to go and vote and help move the process of change forward.
Not that
it would have mattered, as my mother wisely pointed out, for
Harareans were
denied the vote in another brazen act of
So for almost ten years I have
floated around this country talking about
"when we were" and "when we will"
dreaming of the Zimbabwe that was and that
will be again - a kind of
colonial nostalgia that ignores the reality that
things change forever and
in Africa irreversibly, horribly. And in that time
I have married and
started a family and while my wife and I remain
Zimbabwean on paper, more
and more we are now part of the South African
milieu - we take part in the
debates about the politics and culture of this
country and at work we
represent South Africa in international meetings. So
we have, it appeared to
me that night as we were welcomed back into our home
by cousins, that we
have gradually been swallowed into South African life.
And now this is my
home in as much as it is our Afrikaans neighbour, Mr van
Staden or Tandeka
and Jabu at work and church. Because after all, like my
cousin John remarked
back then as I battled with my identity, "Sekuru, home
is not really a place
where you are born but rather where you are, a state
of mind" Perhaps.
-
http://katerere.blogspot.com