VOA
By Patience
Rusere
Washington
13 March 2006
Following the
weekend arraignment in Mutare, Zimbabwe, of a group of men
accused of
plotting the assassination of President Robert Mugabe,
authorities have
released a regional official of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change without charges.
Legal sources said MDC Manicaland Treasurer Brian
James was released Sunday
night. Reached at his home Monday, James declined
to comment, saying he
remains under a court gag order in what authorities
say was an assassination
conspiracy.
The exact number of those
remaining in custody could not be determined, but
at least seven men are
still detained by police, including alleged
ringleader Michael Peter
Hitschmann, said to have served in the
pre-liberation Rhodesian armed forces
and to have worked closely with Mutare
police in the more recent
past.
Members of the political opposition still in police hands included
Mutare
North member of Parliament and MDC defense spokesman Giles Mutsekwa,
Manicaland youth chairman Knowledge Nyamuka and activist Thando Sibanda.
Three Mutare police officers were also being held, legal sources
said.
The seven could be back in court on Wednesday to face charges under
Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act and possibly its Terrorism Act, the
sources said.
One lawyer representing the accused, Tafadzwa Mugabe,
said late Monday that
he and other attorneys were still trying to negotiate
bail release for their
clients.
Sources close to the investigation
say the state case is mainly based on
statements by Hitschmann, who
according to state media disclosed a plot to
assassinate Mr. Mugabe on his
way to a gala celebration in Mutare of his
82nd birthday last month. This
could not be confirmed as Hitschmann not only
remained in custody but
according to legal sources has refused
representation by legal
counsel.
Reporter Patience Rusere asks Mutare lawyer Chris Ndlovhu for
the latest in
a murky case of alleged conspiracy that some consider to be
politically
motivated on the part of the Mugabe administration as a way to
further
weaken a divided opposition.
Zim Daily
Tuesday, March 14 2006
@ 12:05 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Roy Bennett fled
Zimbabwe Thursday
through Mozambique to South Africa after being fingered in
Zanu PF's dubious
arms cache unearthed in Mutare last Tuesday. Bennett, who
spent a year in
prison last year after shoving Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa during a
heated Parliamentary debate, could not stomach going back
to prison, sources
close to the family said.
He was said to have fled through
undesignated entry points
dotted along the Zim/Moza border. Zimdaily heard
that police have sent out
search teams across Mutare but their efforts have
been futile, and they will
remain so, according to this latest revelation.
Senior police officer Ronald
Muderedzi confirmed yesterday that various
teams were still out in the field
hunting for Bennett and they were expected
to report back yesterday.
"We are still pursuing our
investigations in the matter and we
have sent out teams to look for possible
leads," Muderedzi said in a press
statement. "We are only expecting them
later today. If we are convinced that
he is not in Zimbabwe, then we will
seek the help of Interpol. But so far no
further arrests have been made
except for those who were nabbed and are
helping police with
investigations." Investigations into the arms cache have
led to the arrest
of a number of top MDC officials and two ex-policemen and
the recovery of
numerous police and army uniforms and rounds of ammunition.
Several other suspects were also picked up for questioning in
Mutare,
including Mutare North MP Giles Mutsekwa who has already appeared
before a
Mutare magistrate. They were remanded in custody to Wednesday. All
are
facing charges of contravening Section 10 (1) of the Public Order and
Security Act Chapter 11:17, that is conspiracy to possess weaponry for
insurgency, banditry, sabotage and terrorism. The State alleges that the
eight men had plotted to kill President Mugabe when he travelled to the
eastern city on 25 February for a party to celebrate his 82nd birthday. "To
achieve this, the group agreed to spill oil on Christmas Pass Highway when
the motorcade would be approaching so that the motorcade would slip and get
involved in an accident," the document said.
The Zimbabwe
authorities claim that Peter Hitschmann, an ex
Rhodesian soldier, at whose
house the arms cache was found, is linked to an
organisation called the
Zimbabwe Freedom Movement, and that this group is
seeking to overthrow
Mugabe's government. Security Minister Didymus Mutasa
warned anyone planning
violence: "If it came to a position where we have to
eliminate them
physically because of what they are doing, then it is their
fault, that is
what they are looking for, and we will not hesitate to do
that." The
opposition MDC has denied all knowledge of the alleged plot, and
says it is
an attempt by the state to derail the party's congress next
Friday.
"We wish to place it on record that the MDC does
not have any
links with Mr Hitschmann, the so-called Zimbabwe Freedom
Movement or any
other person or group that seeks to effect a regime change
through the
barrel of the gun, an armed struggle, violence or
unconstitutional means,"
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. Repeated efforts
to obtain comment from
Bennett's wife Heather remained fruitless. Her
cellphone was indicating that
she was not available.
Zim Daily
Tuesday, March 14 2006 @ 12:04 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Waves of violence and repression
are shuddering through
Zimbabwe ahead of the opposition party's national
congress set to be held
weekend where a resolution to roll out mass protests
against President
Mugabe's inept regime is expected to be made. Violent
clashes erupted in
Mbare weekend where opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
addressed a rally at
Stodart Hall. The meeting was attended by a record 15
000 people.
Four party members sustained serious injuries and
are currently
receiving medical attention at the Avenues Clinic where one of
them's
condition is said to be "critical." The attack on the MDC members as
they
were leaving the rally was masterminded by one Oripa, a member of the
police
special constabulary. Oripa reportedly resides at number 18, block 14
Matapi
Hostels in Mbare.
The MDC has since made a report
at Mbare police station but the
suspects had not been arrested at the time
of going to print last night. One
of the four MDC supporters currently
receiving medical attention told
Zimdaily that the Zanu PF thugs abducted
him and took him to a secluded
place where his genitals were repeatedly
pierced by a bicycle spoke,
rupturing one of his testicles. He told Zimdaily
he was also forced to drink
a poison, which is causing him terrible stomach
pains.
An injured female MDC supporter, with bright red
lipstick and
makeup, could not disguise her swollen, bruised face. She told
Zimdaily she
was attacked because she was wearing an MDC T-Shirt after
Tsvangirai's
rally. "They told me to go to (British premier) Tony Blair
because they
would kill me here in Zimbabwe," she said. "I was lucky to
escape. The
police would not help me," she said. Harare MDC spokesman Willas
Madzimure
condemned the attack saying the MDC was a registered political
party whose
members were allowed by law to engage in party activities
without fear of
assault by rowdy Zanu PF vigilantes. "These assaults will
not dampen the
people's desire for change," Madzimure told Zimdaily. He said
the "Zanu PF
vigilantes will not save this dictatorship from imminent
demise."
"If anything, the assault of our members will
embolden them in
their fight against this tyranny," Madzimure said. "Zanu PF
hooligans will
dismally fail in their project to derail the people's vision
for a new
Zimbabwe and a new beginning." The MDC is expected to hold its
congress from
March 17 to 19. "The MDC deplores the institutionalization of
political
violence as a culture in Zimbabwe," Madzimure said. "We believe in
the
battle of minds and ideas and not unadulterated violence as a
communication
tool. We condemn the abuse of Zimbabwe's youths by a regime
fighting
desperately for political survival. We believe citizens reserve
their rights
to freedom of movement, freedom of association and freedom of
speech. We
believe in a new dispensation and a new Zimbabwe in which we
celebrate ideas
and diversity of opinion."
The ruling
Zanu PF party has over the years used its youth
militia, trained in "Terror
Camps" dotted around the country, to unleash
violence against opposition
supporters. Zimdaily understands that Zanu PF is
stepping up violence on
white-owned farms as well. One farmer and one
security guard were seriously
injured last week in peri-urban Harare, 50
farmers were illegally evicted
and the government seized 88 properties,
including a huge estate owned by
the South African conglomerate despite the
presence of bilateral agreements
banning the extrajudicial expropriation of
estates.
In
Harare police closed down weekly public discussions at the
popular Book
Cafe, using the new draconian Public Order and Security Act.
Zimdaily heard
that there were also disturbances in Chegutu in the aftermath
of a weekend
election where Zanu PF won the mayoral poll characterised by
heavy apathy.
Soldiers and youth militia were reportedly going from house to
house with
lists of people who served as MDC polling agents and other MDC
officials
during the poll.
Zim Daily
Tuesday, March 14 2006 @ 12:03 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
President Robert Mugabe has
reportedly resolved to cede
Zimbabwe's untapped uranium resources to his
erstwhile ally Namibia as the
country continues to consolidate its position
as Africa's biggest uranium
producer after its envisaged plan to open a new
mine at Trekkopje near
Arandis, mining sources have
revealed.
The Namibian government, sources say, is making
overtures to get
special uranium licenses being offered to foreigners by the
Zimbabwe
Investment Centre (ZIC) although no foreign investor has been
issued with a
license following governments directive a fortnight ago to put
the license
issuances on ice.
"Namibia has indicated an
interest in Zimbabwe's uranium
reserves, which are believed to be the fourth
largest in Africa," said a ZIC
executive member last weekend. "Gathering
from the information at hand,
Namibia is likely to get a second preference
to mine uranium ahead of South
Africa which appears to be interested in
platinum"
"The Namibians have showed willingness to pour in
significant
investment running into billions of US dollars through their
foreign
partners in Australia, as you're aware that uranium mining is an
expensive
undertaking. I can confirm to you that Namibia is definitely lined
up for a
license once government finalises mining legislation,". Namibia is
set to
become the continent's biggest uranium producer once the Trekkopje
mine is
commissioned.
The new mine will bring to three
Namibia's uranium mines and
move it upwards as Africa's biggest producer on
the continent. The outlook
of the uranium industry is said to be extremely
bullish with demand forecast
to outstrip supply in at least the coming
decade, considering the viable
prices its fetching on the global market,
thus Zimbabwe stands to gain in an
enormous way if government opens doors to
foreign investors.
At the moment, in Africa, Namibia comes
second to Niger, which
produces nine percent of the world's uranium,
followed by South Africa, with
a production of two percent. President Robert
Mugabe last year announced
that the country had vast uranium deposits and
called upon foreign investors
to establish their mining ventures in
Zimbabwe.
Zim Daily
Tuesday, March 14 2006 @
12:02 AM GMT
Contributed by: roscolee01
By
Emmanuel Abalo
The long term fiscal, political and
developmental stability of
stronger African nations in modern times is
directly threatened by "failed
states" largely due to a number of factors
such as ineffective and weak
opposition parties and conflict proliferation
coupled with monumental
humanitarian crises. Consequently the problems posed
by the failed African
states continue to pose a stark distraction to moving
the continent forward
in the global effort of nations'
empowerment.
The focus on failed African states is germane to
this discussion
due to the fact that the continent maintains the dubious and
notorious
distinction of having some of the worst humanitarian and civil
conflicts
repeatedly and must rely in international donor assistance and
peacekeeping
to exist. Today, the International Crisis Group, (ICG) reports
that conflict
situations or very weak nations span from Burundi in East
Africa to Sierra
Leone in West Africa and recommends close monitoring,
judicial and security
reforms in some of these countries to vigorous
enforcement of international
fiscal oversight of government accounting in
one instance.
French President Mr. Jacques Chirac has
expressed his own
concern of the issue of failed states when he states,
"World leaders once
worried about who was amassing power; now they worry
about the absence of
it." Failed states have shown overtime that they can
effectively and
markedly threaten their neighbors, regional, continental and
global
stability. For example, the Mano River basin In West Africa made up
of the
countries of Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast remains a fragile region
which
has exported its brand of rebel incursions, gruesome genocidal
tendencies
and hundreds of thousands of refugees due to the initial
implosion and
destruction of the Liberian state.
Rebels
from the Mano River basin are now being recruited to
provide the "muscle"
for all sides in the ongoing situation of the "No
Peace, No War" in another
West African hotspot - Cote d'Ivoire. This country
risk immediate collapse
without the continued presence of United Nations
peacekeeping
personnel.
This sub region remains an attractive magnet for
black market
gun-running, international drug trafficking, export and
exchange of "Blood
Diamonds' for arms and a haven for international
terrorists seeking a base
for launching attacks against Western interests
and their allies. For
example, the former Liberian President Charles
Taylor's regime is reported
to have harbored and facilitated the movement of
Al Qaeda operatives in
Monrovia in addition to doing "Diamond trade" with
them. Al Qaeda has
claimed responsibility for some of the worst terror
attacks against the
United States and its allies in recent years and
continue to pose a threat.
Root Causes:
It
is generally agreed that democracy presents the best
alternative to
dictatorship and non-representative government which breed
the use or
illegal and unconstitutional accession to state power. And so
then the
primary question for the pursuance of democracy in most African
states is
what is the basis of the state and the reason to be?
The answer
to this question is bound to produce a fair amount of
dissension. Logically,
this dissension and its supporters, the minority,
must have a genuine way to
channel their grievances and seek redress in an
organized fashion - thus -
opposition political parties in a democracy.
However, just
being the opposition party in name or during
election year is not a panacea
for the effective practice for democracy.
Failed or ineffective opposition
parties across Africa, over the years have,
in a way, contributed to the
alienation of a large group of the national
population for which the parties
were organized in the first place. Not all
their troubles are self-induced.
Some stem from election laws or government
policies that weigh heavily
against them.
Some African leaders have taken advantage of
this vacuum of an
"opposition political party on paper only" and
metamorphosed into "monsters"
and record breaking human rights violators.
Incumbent leaders will apportion
and utilize unlimited power as they can get
away with without any check and
or balance. In the Central African Republic,
former President Jean Bedell
Bokasa became Emperor Bokasa amidst unconfirmed
reports of cannibalism. Poor
in resources and unable to rejuvenate
themselves, most African opposition
political parties appear set to continue
to play a minor role for a long
time.
The fractious
opposition in Zimbabwe has unwittingly allowed
President Robert Mugabe to
mislead his nation into economic depravity and
hunger. All of the
ingredients for a violent uprising and regional
instability such as - a
disaffected military, marginalized population, human
rights abuses, and
gradual collapse of social and political institutions -
may be present in
this southern African country which was once the bread
basket of that
region.
In Guinea, current President Lansana Conte seized
power military
coup 1984 and managed transfer to civilian government 1993
based on 1990
constitution. President Conte strengthened power through
harassment of
opposition, students and press. Constitutional amendment
approved November
2001 extended presidential term from five to seven years.
December 2003
presidential elections widely considered fraudulent. Mr. Conte
won over 95
per cent of vote. The opposition in Guinea has been decimated
though
harassment by the government, financial woes and inability to mount
an
effective national and united campaign to challenge President Conte. The
resultant is the slow demise and steady deterioration of social and
political institutions in that country.
The fear in
Guinea is how the vacuum of state power will be
filled upon the demise of
President Conte at some point. In Liberia,
diplomatic and human rights
sources are already grumbling about the "no
show" of the opposition since
the inauguration of the Ellen Johnson
Administration. It appears, due to
high poverty level, most opposition
politicians would rather hustle for a
government job under the guise of the
"need for an inclusive" government
rather than fulfill their obligation of
representing and projecting the
views and interests of the minority who hold
a different view for an
effective democracy. The age old argument of some of
these opposition
politicians is "I have to eat before I talk politics."
Recently in South Africa, the ruling African National Congress
(ANC) swept
local polls as a result of a weak and non credible opposition's
failure to
capitalize on the Thabo Mbeki government's failure to address
glaring
poverty conditions affecting about 23million South Africans, a 26
percent
unemployment rate and bitter infighting in the ANC.
AN
EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION ROAD-MAP
Opposition political parties in
most African countries must
first identify their rights as guaranteed in the
national constitution and
vigorously exercise those rights. A credible
opposition in Africa today must
demonstrate that it is viable, credible and,
above all, can focus on
maintaining a national presence rather than ethic
loyalties. They must see
themselves as a government-in-waiting and fully
capable of participating in
the national life of the nation and not merely a
party out of power and
based in the capital. Its own philosophy and ideology
must appeal to the
largest and ethnically blind populace as possible to
merit any relevance.
The opposition must also work diligently
to attract the best
minds locally that can research, develop and apply
political, social, fiscal
and economic alternatives to national issues for
the general good of the
nation. Another ideal is the formation of a united
opposition climate such
as building alliances and constituency building
capacity in an effort to
yield a credible representation in elections. Long
term planning for
political maturity and ultimate governance is not a luxury
either. And so in
an effort to break the cycle of contributing to one party
state,
dictatorship and failed nations, the African opposition must
transcend
"protest politics" and elect a path to national
relevance.
About the Author:
Emmanuel
Abalo is an exiled Liberian journalist, media and human
rights activist. He
is a former Acting President of the Press Union of
Liberia (PUL). Mr. Abalo
presently resides in Pennsylvania, USA and works as
an analyst with
CITIGROUP, North America.
VOA
By Blessing
Zulu
Washington
13 March 2006
United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in Cape Town Monday to
open a Southern
African tour, while some officials in Harare reacted angrily
to the news
that Zimbabwe was not on his itinerary though such a visit has
been long
awaited.
Annan is slated to meet Mr. Mugabe's counterparts in South
Africa,
Madagascar, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic
of the
Congo.
Annan's decision to bypass Harare was perceived there
as a snub. The
state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Foreign Ministry
spokesman John Mayowe
as saying that U.N. Under Secretary for Political
Affairs Ibrahim Gambari
assured President Robert Mugabe in December at a
summit in Mali that Annan
would visit the country this
month.
Zimbabwe's permanent representative to the U.N., Boniface
Chidyausiku, said
Britain and the United States were trying to politicize
the proposed Annan
visit by urging that Gambari visit Harare first to ensure
conditions set by
Annan have been met - among them fuller cooperation by the
government with
U.N. humanitarian aid efforts.
President Mugabe has
declared that he has had his fill of U.N. envoys and
would only receive
Annan. He dubbed the last U.N. envoy in Harare,
humanitarian aid coordinator
Jan Egeland, "a liar," and has also had hard
words for special envoy Anna
Tibaijuka, who in July 2005 delivered a damning
report on Harare's slum
clearance drive.
Relations have remained tense between Harare and the
U.N. Late last year,
Mugabe refused to allow the U.N. to set up tents to
shelter thousands made
homeless in the government's now-infamous May-July
2005 Operation
Murambatsvina. It has also proposed to level a model home
built with U.N.
assistance at a transit camp.
UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks
March 13, 2006
Posted to the web March
13, 2006
Maputo
The Mozambican authorities and emergency partners
are on high alert as the
water level in the Zambezi River continues to rise
well above flood warning
levels.
Mozambique's largest river cuts
through the northern province of Tete, and
central provinces of Zambezia and
Sofala.
On Monday morning the level of the Zambezi River in Caia, in the
central
province of Sofala, rose to 6.36 metres, according the National
Institute of
Disaster Management (INGC). The flood alert level is 5
metres.
"This is a cause of concern as the levels continue to rise and
more rain is
forecasted," said Francisco Orlando, the provincial director of
INGC in the
central province of Zambezia, home to over three million
people.
Orlando told IRIN the main concern was that should widespread
flooding
occur, there would be a need for urgent assistance to evacuate
people.
Although nationally the government and its partners are on standby,
in
Zambezia they only have three boats - which take between 10 to 15 people
at
a time. Basic supplies including tents and food, would also be
required.
Orlando said they are especially concerned for communities in
Mopeia and
Chinde districts in Zambezia. In Luabo, the administrative centre
of Chinde,
some 54,000 people live precariously close to the river Licungu
and are
unwilling to leave their farms.
Since the beginning of the
year, 31 people have lost their lives due to the
heavy rains, according to
official figures. "The impact of this year's rainy
season could have been
much worse if it had not been for the government's
programme to evacuate
populations living in low-lying valleys in flood-prone
areas," said Rita
Almeida, head of the INGC's planning department.
Most communities at risk
that live along the Zambezi and the Pungue rivers
have agreed to move to
higher ground, even if they return to farm in the
fertile flood
plains.
The INGC has improved its contingency planning since disastrous
floods in
2000 killed 700 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in the
south of
the country.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations ]
March 13, 2006,
By
Andnetwork .com
Government will soon come up with legislation
banning gold panning,
which has resulted in serious environmental
degradation in some parts of the
country, chief mining commissioner Mr
Fredson Mabhena has said.
Mr Mabhena told the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Mines,
Environment and Tourism last week that there
was need to find a lasting
solution to the problem of gold
panning.
He was briefing the committee on the progress made in
drafting the
Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill.
"On the issue
of panning, we think it is a short-time gain measure and
basically we are
banning that. My minister (Mines and Mining Development
Minister Cde Amos
Midzi) is the one who should announce this, but we are
moving towards that,"
Mr Mabhena said.
Gold panning, he said, had caused a lot of damage
to the environment.
It has also resulted in the death of those
involved, apart from
haemorrghing the economy through illegal gold deals and
facilitating
smuggling. Government has in the past tolerated gold panning
activities
provided they were conducted in a manner that did not pose a
threat to the
environment.
Mr Mabhena said in a widened move to
ensure that the mining sector
played a pivotal role in conserving the
environment, an environmental fund
would be established to which mining
companies would contribute.
Turning to the issue of dormant mining
claims, he said there were
proposals to reclaim them.
"There
are numerous claims lying idle. We want to come up with a
situation in which
when you register a claim you must be able to work on
it," Mr Mabhena
said.
A senior official in the Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development, Mr
Titus Nyatanga, told the committee that it had taken long to
finalise the
Bill because there were a number of issues that needed to be
considered.
"What we are striving for is that at the end of the day
we have a
durable document," he said.
Other highlights of the
Bill included provisions for Government to
acquire 50 percent ownership of
some mines, both new and existing, over the
next seven years.
Source: The Herald
The Herald
(Harare)
March 13, 2006
Posted to the web March 13,
2006
Harare
SEVERAL tonnes of Zimbabwean kapenta fish worth
billions of dollars are
being smuggled into Zambia daily by employees of
some fishing rigs in
Kariba, the hub of the country's kapenta
industry.
Investigations by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
have revealed
that the scam could be prejudicing Zimbabwe of more than $30
billion every
week. The workers, who are employed by licensed fish
operators, reportedly
meet fish poachers on the Zambian side where they
offload the bulk of the
kapenta, which they quickly sell and sail back to
the Zimbabwean side to
under-declare their catch to the National Parks and
Wildlife Management
Authority.
The fish is then smuggled into Zambia
through undesignated crossing points,
where it is understood there is a big
market for kapenta. Although the bulk
of the kapenta fish goes undeclared,
the operators still make an estimated
$5 billion per day as kapenta has now
become expensive. In supermarkets, 250
grammes of dried kapenta fish cost
around $270 000, which is more than the
cost of a kilogramme of low grade
beef in some butcheries. The parks
authority has over the years failed to
capitalise on the fishing industry to
benefit f rom its management
efforts.
Not only have some Zimbabwean fish operators become overnight
billionaires
by clinching illegal deals with agents from neighbouring
countries, but they
also pay unrealistic permit fees that are not
sustainable for the proper
management of major water sources. Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority
public relations manager Retired Major Edward
Mbewe yesterday said the
authority was failing to meet some of its
obligations in the areas of
management and research because of the
dishonesty of some fish operators.
"The permit fees we were charging were
based on the wrong figures of fish
declared to us and now we are aware that
more fish and in particular kapenta
is being smuggled into Zambia. There is
a likelihood that foreign currency
is also being exchanged in the deals and
at the end of the day it is the
country that loses out," Rtd Maj Mbewe said.
He said most fish operators
were hoodwinked as the clandestine deals were
normally conducted away from
Zimbabwean shores but in some cases operators
are involved.
"We are intensifying our patrols at Lake Kariba because we
intend to
continue raising our permit fees in accordance with what they are
benefiting
from the kapenta fish. We are not able to charge the actual
amount we want
at the moment because during the meetings we held with the
operators, they
indicated they were not making much out of the business at
the moment," Rtd
Maj Mbewe said.
He added that a further review of
the permit fees will be made as soon as
they have acquired enough tangible
evidence on the under-declaring of fish
caught. "We know this is what is
happening but need to strengthen our
evidence to be able to present it in a
court of law before we come up with a
decision to further hike permit fees
depending on our findings," he said.
Last week the authority increased
the Kariba fishing permits to $500 million
up from $15 million per year
while Darwendale, known for some of the best
rare fish species i n the
country, was raised to $250 million from $10
million. Last month the
authority increased operators' permit fees for Lake
Chivero to $1 billion a
year up from $20 million. Lake Chivero has the
largest population of fish in
Zimbabwe owing to the high nutrient value of
its water. Apart from the
permit fees, all fish operators are required to
pay an additional
development fee of $10 million every month.
The parks authority, which
does not have the foreign currency it needs to
enhance its operations, can
realise trillions of dollars if it also engages
regional fishing companies.
Stakeholders in the fishing industry said it was
apparent that various types
of Zimbabwean fish species are on demand in
regional and international
markets.
They said what was missing was a proper marketing strategy that
would close
all loopholes that promoted or encouraged illegal trade.
Environment and
Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema said Zimbabwe could
survive on proceeds
from its wide array o f natural resources if all
stakeholders were serious.
"We have to work hard to ensure that we maximise
benefits from our natural
resources. We have a vast array of them from
aquatic to wildlife species and
the beautiful scenery of some of our tourist
destinations. What we also need
to make our mission complete is to closely
and jealously guard against the
abuse of these resources by some elements
without the development of the
country at heart." In addition to other
aquatic benefits, crocodile farming,
which contributes significantly to the
national income of other countries,
is under-rated in Zimbabwe.